Strange Interchanges

[roadman65]

I know that there are some strange interchanges that we all know.  We can probably put a list ten miles long on it, but I thought that it would be interesting to post!

In New Jersey where I grew up we not only had the tangle in Woodbridge and Newark, but many local roads to major highways as well!

US 22 and Bloy Street in Hillside,NJ!  It is simple, but actually has no ramps!  Bloy Street itself intersects US 22 at grade being a pair of right in and right outs! There is a connector that crosses over US 22 to the west and intersects Bloy Street on both sides of US 22 and therefore you actually leave Bloy Street to continue across US 22, but it does not seem like it and locals due refer to it still as Bloy Street anyway!

NJ 35 in Keyport, NJ has an interchange with both Maple Place and Broadway at the same time using one overpass!   Maple Place on the east has a dead end stub at NJ 35 and Broadway (Lloyd Road) has a stub west of NJ 35 with the other two roads Maple Place from the west and Broadway from the east being the on and off to NJ 35. The overpass connector has two signalized intersections on both sides with Broadway to the east and Maple Place to the west and continuing across to their other roads shy of the stubs.  See google maps for more on this, as I do not think I can explain this  one for all to understand.

US 22 and CR 531 in North Plainfield has a connector with Somerset Street and Watchung Avenue being right ins and right outs.

How about the Willowbrook Interchange on I-80 in Wayne, NJ leaving out eastbound ramps to NJ 23 considering that one of New Jerseys largest malls is at that intersection!  All other movements are possible, but there is no plans for NJDOT to correct this!

[NE2]

You exclaim too often!

[vdeane]

Just about anything on I-81 between either end of I-481 counts (except for I-90 and 7th North St).

[hbelkins]

The "bowtie" in Poughkeepsie between US 9 and US 44 and the area, due to all those left exits/entrances.

[74/171FAN]

US 501 at SC 31, it's so weird to me I have no idea why it was built that way

[national highway 1]

The junction of I-85 & I-77/US 21 in Charlotte NC, the carriageways of I-77 cross over before and after the I-85 interchange.

[roadman65]

The junction of I-85 & I-77/US 21 in Charlotte NC, the carriageways of I-77 cross over before and after the I-85 interchange.

How about the I-65 and I-20/ I- 59 interchange in Birmingham, AL

[kurumi]

US 501 at SC 31, it's so weird to me I have no idea why it was built that way

It's an interesting tradeoff:
- left exits and entrances on SC 31 (bad)
- no weaving (good)
- smaller footprint than a conventional cloverleaf (good)
- lower elevation than a multilevel interchange (good)

[ftballfan]

I-96/I-696/M-5 in Novi - one of the largest freeway interchanges in America: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.481909,-83.433352&spn=0.025763,0.112267&t=k&z=14

I-496/US-127/Trowbridge Rd in Lansing - the main way to MSU: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.724475,-84.506707&spn=0.012831,0.056133&t=k&z=15

I-96/I-69 northwest of Lansing - it's so big that it has two different numbers (I-69 EB is Exit 91 on I-96 WB and Exit 89 on I-96 EB): http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.785638,-84.663219&spn=0.025637,0.112267&t=k&z=14

US-131/M-6/68th St in Cutlerville - a cloverleaf with a diamond connected to it: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.846678,-85.676966&spn=0.012806,0.056133&t=k&z=15

I-196/US-131 and I-196/Ottawa Ave in downtown Grand Rapids - two for the price of one: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.972753,-85.674584&spn=0.00639,0.028067&t=k&z=16

I-196/M-45 in Grand Rapids - mostly free-flowing despite M-45 being a surface street: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.965939,-85.70647&spn=0.006391,0.028067&t=k&z=16

I-196/M-11, I-196/Baldwin St, and I-196/M-121 - three for the price of one (the Baldwin St ramps were just recently added): http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.909606,-85.773611&spn=0.025586,0.112267&t=k&z=14

Also, I-96/US-131/M-37, I-96/US-31, and I-96/I-196/M-37/M-44, posted in Bad Interchanges.

[Sykotyk]

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Borger,+TX&aq=0&sll=35.661071,-101.39794&sspn=0.005056,0.013078&gl=us&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Borger,+Hutchinson,+Texas&ll=35.661114,-101.400214&spn=0.005056,0.017166&t=k&z=17

Borger, TX Interchange between TX136, TX207 and Wilson Street

[Mr_Northside]

Pretty much all the interchanges on the Parkway East (I-376) here in the 'Burgh (the general region, not just the city proper) are strange and somewhat unique.  (Including, but certainly not limited to, the Squirrel Hill IC, which features a bridge carrying "wrong way" traffic over the parkway... The Penn Hills IC with PA 791 is almost a "normal" trumpet, but it has spurs for PA 791 to continue and end at Business 22)

[agentsteel53]

Penna Turnpike at I-95, taking the General Lee approach.

[realjd]

I-69 at Coldwater Road in Fort Wayne, IN. Loop ramps, left merges, and an usual connector road for a side street in the median next to an old cemetery.

[InterstateNG]

Someone needs to explain this one:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.948333,-92.333889&ie=UTF8&ll=38.962279,-92.293053&spn=0.047184,0.077162&z=14

[agentsteel53]

Someone needs to explain this one:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.948333,-92.333889&ie=UTF8&ll=38.962279,-92.293053&spn=0.047184,0.077162&z=14

I can see why they did it (no room for an interchange with the new 63 freeway) but the lack of a freeway-to-freeway connection is still going to be jarring to drivers.

[rmsandw]

Just went through that many times this past weekend.  Going north-south through it or east-west is a breeze.  The pain is when you come north from Jeff City and head west on I-70 your going 65 mph then have to come to three stop lights to get on I-70.  Or when you exit I-70 and head south on 63 toward Jeff City it is two lanes as you head under SB 63 to connect, but your merging into traffic that itself is coming off a curve and you are on a curve and headin up as one of your lanes ends, then the lane your end becomes the exit lane for MO WW.  Can be confusing the first time.

A half hour south of there I have found the U.S. 50/54/63 interchange in Jeff City to be a bit strange.

[Sykotyk]

Yeah, with the old interchange there and probably limited ROW, they did, essentially, what US35 does in Ohio when it crosses I-70. At least a freeway is maintained through the interchange, even if the offramps require lights, etc.

[InterstateNG]

I believe you mean I-71:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Dayton,+OH&aq=&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.555061,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Dayton,+Montgomery,+Ohio&ll=39.62278,-83.607073&spn=0.023238,0.038581&z=15

[Alps]

I find US 30 at I-83 to be strange in a way. Obviously, the freeway never made it through York. But my best free way home from Baltimore is to take 83-30-222-78. The connection from 83 to 30 requires waiting at just one traffic light. When I get to 30, I can RTOR and the freeway starts. The strange part is that there's no development along this well-traveled and important link! You could easily build a two-lane freeway connector running between 83 and 30 at these points, despite the apparent impossibility of ever connecting the other six interchange movements.

[mightyace]

My hometown interchange, US 11 and I-80.

Left exits and entrances galore, extensive weaving and and to get from US 11 North to I-80 west, a short, tight U-turn ramp followed by crossing two lanes of US 11 S!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Lime+Ridge,+PA&aq=1&sll=38.968352,-92.291679&sspn=0.014982,0.038152&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Lime+Ridge,+Columbia,+Pennsylvania&ll=41.033755,-76.33863&spn=0.007268,0.019076&t=h&z=16

[froggie]

The connection from 83 to 30 requires waiting at just one traffic light.

Two.  The light at Market St (PA 462), and the light in front of Rutters, which is usually where I top off the gas tank when I make my own Baltimore-York-Lancaster-and-beyond runs.

I wouldn't quite say there's "no development" either.  There's a car dealer and a fair bit of industrial development on both sides of North Hills Rd (the connector road in question) between the railroad and US 30...enough to where you'd have to take out at least one business/building (and probably 1-2 more) in order to build the connector you suggest.

[Alps]

The connection from 83 to 30 requires waiting at just one traffic light.

Two.  The light at Market St (PA 462), and the light in front of Rutters, which is usually where I top off the gas tank when I make my own Baltimore-York-Lancaster-and-beyond runs.

I wouldn't quite say there's "no development" either.  There's a car dealer and a fair bit of industrial development on both sides of North Hills Rd (the connector road in question) between the railroad and US 30...enough to where you'd have to take out at least one business/building (and probably 1-2 more) in order to build the connector you suggest.

OK, forgot the second light, true. But "no development" = pretty easy to take out vs. homes or dense commercial.

[froggie]

Except that you have dense industrial, which would be just as difficult to take out as dense commercial.


Back on topic, while it's nominally a standard par-clo, the ramp geometry at the US 68/OH 15 interchange near Findlay can certainly be categorized as strange.

[Michael]

This is the third thread I've posted in that the interchange at Breezewood fits the topic.  (#1, #2)

Just about anything on I-81 between either end of I-481 counts (except for I-90 and 7th North St).

What about the C-D roads between the airport and Taft Rd?  Also, quite a few of the downtown interchanges are just variations of diamonds.  The interchanges at the Carousel Center and I-690 are the strangest, IMO.  In 4th grade, I redesigned the I-81/US 11 interchange in Mattydale.

My hometown interchange, US 11 and I-80.

Left exits and entrances galore, extensive weaving and and to get from US 11 North to I-80 west, a short, tight U-turn ramp followed by crossing two lanes of US 11 S!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Lime+Ridge,+PA&aq=1&sll=38.968352,-92.291679&sspn=0.014982,0.038152&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Lime+Ridge,+Columbia,+Pennsylvania&ll=41.033755,-76.33863&spn=0.007268,0.019076&t=h&z=16

I don't see why this isn't just a folded diamond.

[ftballfan]

Some more from Michigan:

I-96/M-104/112th Ave in Nunica (US-31 will come in here as well when/if it is completed): http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=43.073684,-86.072216&spn=0.012759,0.056133&t=k&z=15

I-96/16th Ave in Marne (it looks like I-96 was built right through the middle of town): http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=43.037905,-85.826043&spn=0.003192,0.014033&t=k&z=17

I-94/US-127 in Jackson (US-127 comes in from the north as a freeway): http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.272371,-84.426949&spn=0.006462,0.028067&t=k&z=16

From Georgia: I-75/I-85/I-20 in downtown Atlanta: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=33.744468,-84.389999&spn=0.007262,0.028067&t=k&z=16

The majority of interchanges on I-75 between Macon and the Florida line look exactly the same.