Worst Designed Expressways/Roads

[agentsteel53]

the most blatant "turn off to stay on" I can think of is I-95 northbound, south of Boston at route 128.  95 exits on a cloverleaf and ... nothing continues.

210 westbound at 134 and anti-710 in Pasadena is pretty bad.  Most people know that 710 was never built, and therefore it is a sensible assumption that at the junction, 210 are the only roads to consider.  However, not only do the leftmost three lanes become 134, but then two more lanes to the right of that are perplexingly signed "to 110", and only then - five lanes over - is 210, as a single lane exiting itself. 

at least there are no signs with Long Beach as a destination...

[agentsteel53]

one more: the Laval Road exit off I-5 in the central valley just north of the grapevine gets an award for "what the Hell is that!??!" design principles.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Laval+Rd,+Arvin,+Kern,+California&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=45.957536,68.378906&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FW_zFQIdIgHq-A&split=0&hq=&hnear=Laval+Rd,+Arvin,+Kern,+California&ll=34.986339,-118.945434&spn=0.011673,0.016694&z=16

note how there are two segments of Laval Road, which do not even pretend to meet, and instead are connected by the one overpass - Wheeler Ridge Road.  It would've been so much simpler to have Laval Road connect as an overpass, with a simple diamond interchange, and Wheeler Ridge Road branch off the eastern half of Laval Road at a traffic light.

but no, they instead invented ... that.  Whatever the Hell that is.  I think it's called "Picasso's Two-Assed Trumpet". 

also, I do not believe that, southbound, Wheeler Ridge Road is noted at all, while northbound it is noted only as an auxiliary sign ("Wheeler Ridge Road, next right") - despite the fact that three of the four freeway off-ramps lead directly to Wheeler Ridge Road, as opposed to one of the several Laval Road instances, which is what is signed.

[Bickendan]

While on the subject of I-5... East LA Interchange. And that counts for I-10, too, at the northern interchange.

[SP Cook]

Nobody has yet mentioned the northern half of the WV Turnpike.  A monsterous mis-design of a road.

The original 2 lane part was built, and designed to no particular standard, in the early 1950s.  Politics dictated a straight line between Princeton, Beckley and Charleston, even though logic would have taken the road east or west about 20 miles into terrain that is more appropriate.  Then the years too late upgrade to four lanes, finished in 1987.  Rather than shutting the road down for a year or so, they maintained traffic and thus had to do "light earth moving" to build a parallel set of lanes.  Thus preserving the twisty dangerousness.

The result?  A 40 mile section of 60 MPH SL, with Jersey barriers rather than a proper median, twisting and snakeing around mountains that in the rest of Appalachia would have just been blasted away.  Among the most dangerous rural interstates in the country, rotunely closed for hours by small accidents because there is no runoff area.  A death road.

[njroadhorse]

I'd like to throw in the Central Scranton and North Scranton Expressways into this discussion, because they are both serious WTF candidates.  Not only do neither of them provide a straight freeway connection across the city, but they don't even meet each other, and create a snarl in downtown Scranton trying to get from one to the other.  Of course it goes without saying that both of them are horribly substandard per PA tradition.

[hm insulators]

the most blatant "turn off to stay on" I can think of is I-95 northbound, south of Boston at route 128.  95 exits on a cloverleaf and ... nothing continues.

210 westbound at 134 and anti-710 in Pasadena is pretty bad.  Most people know that 710 was never built, and therefore it is a sensible assumption that at the junction, 210 are the only roads to consider.  However, not only do the leftmost three lanes become 134, but then two more lanes to the right of that are perplexingly signed "to 110", and only then - five lanes over - is 210, as a single lane exiting itself. 

at least there are no signs with Long Beach as a destination...

The eastbound 210 at the 134/710 junction does the same thing. I think the interchange was designed that way because they were expected more of the traffic to use the 710 to Long Beach. Of course, that segment through South Pasadena was never built, thanks to the NIMBYs in that community!

[thenetwork]

Cleveland is somewhat notorious for TOTSO interchanges:

1)  Eastbound I-90 @ I-490/I-71 -- I-90 (2-lanes) exits via a stack over I-490 (3-lanes).
2)  Westbound I-90/SR-2 @ Dead Mans Curve -- I-90 (2 lanes) exits via DMC while SR-2 continues west (2 lanes).
3)  Westbound I-90 @ I-271 Local & Express) -- I-90 (2 lanes) exits to the right while both the I-271 Local & Express Lanes continue continue straight (4 lanes total).
4)  Southbound I-71 @ I-480 West/SR 237 South -- I-71 (2 lanes) exits to the right via a flyover while the ramp to both I-480 West and SR-237 South continue straight (3 lanes total).

As is Akron:

1) Central Interchange (I-77 North to I-76 West multiplex and the I-76 East/I-77 South Multiplex to I-77 South)
2) I-76 West/I-77 North Split and the I-76 East to I-77 South Multiplex
3) I-76 West to US-224 West Multiplex and the I-76/US-224 East Split.

2) & 3) comprise both the northern and southern termini of the "Kenmore Leg"/Kenmore Expressway respectively.

[The Premier]

Cleveland is somewhat notorious for TOTSO interchanges:

1)  Eastbound I-90 @ I-490/I-71 -- I-90 (2-lanes) exits via a stack over I-490 (3-lanes).
2)  Westbound I-90/SR-2 @ Dead Mans Curve -- I-90 (2 lanes) exits via DMC while SR-2 continues west (2 lanes).
3)  Westbound I-90 @ I-271 Local & Express) -- I-90 (2 lanes) exits to the right while both the I-271 Local & Express Lanes continue continue straight (4 lanes total).
4)  Southbound I-71 @ I-480 West/SR 237 South -- I-71 (2 lanes) exits to the right via a flyover while the ramp to both I-480 West and SR-237 South continue straight (3 lanes total).

As is Akron:

1) Central Interchange (I-77 North to I-76 West multiplex and the I-76 East/I-77 South Multiplex to I-77 South)
2) I-76 West/I-77 North Split and the I-76 East to I-77 South Multiplex
3) I-76 West to US-224 West Multiplex and the I-76/US-224 East Split.

2) & 3) comprise both the northern and southern termini of the "Kenmore Leg"/Kenmore Expressway respectively.

Not to mention the fact that the Kenmore Leg has only four lanes in total (two lanes each way) so it is not uncommon (especially westbound) for traffic to back up all the way to the Innerbelt just to stay on I-76.

You also have to look at SR 8 southbound at the Central Interchange in the fact that they are usually backed up as well, especially due to the fact that the sign for people to go to I-77 South only has one lane when two lanes are actually used. On the recent signs, there is a second arrow pointing that out but it shows that one was added in.

[mhallack]

   Worst design? Been years since I've been to Baja, but the road(s) that lead to Highway 1 toll road. If your not careful, you get LOST easy!!

Here in Maine....the stupid roundabouts. I can get thru them myself, but also easy to get hit here. See video:

http://www.channels.com/episodes/show/4673926/Augusta-roundabouts#/episodes/show/4673926/Augusta-roundabouts

[jdb1234]

I-459 Exit 19 (US 280) is quite messed up.  Traffic going from I-459 South to US 280 has to merge across traffic from Northbound I-459 headed for BOTH directions of US 280.  US 280 westbound still to this day only carriers two lanes through the interchange (the left lane become a turn lane for I-459 South).  The ramp from I-459 S to US 280 W become the right lane and the next traffic light on US 280 is for a major shopping center on the right.

[huskeroadgeek]

Memphis has some of the worst TOTSOs I have seen. One is the I-55 at Crump Blvd/Riverside Dr. interchange. Heading SB on I-55 just past the Mississippi River bridge, Crump Blvd continues straight ahead while I-55 takes a ramp to the right. NB I-55 is even worse-straight ahead is Riverside Dr. while turning on a cloverleaf ramp is required to stay on I-55. Also because of the canceled portion of I-40 running through Overton Park, staying on I-40 requires taking ramps off at both the eastern and western junctions with I-240.

[froggie]

Not anymore at the western junction.  That got rebuilt a few years ago to where I-40 is effectively the "through route" at the interchange now.

I-55 at Crump/Riverside is the worst of the Memphis-area offenders.  But TDOT is studying how to fix it.

[jas]

I am going to nominate the mess that is I-295, I-76 and NJ-42.  If you're heading north on I-295 and wish to stay there, you have to deal with NJ-42 traffic, and four lanes merging into three.  If you are heading south, but wish to head to Philly, you also have traffic from US 130, plus NJ 168 has a connector. 

[bugo]

Memphis has some of the worst TOTSOs I have seen. One is the I-55 at Crump Blvd/Riverside Dr. interchange. Heading SB on I-55 just past the Mississippi River bridge, Crump Blvd continues straight ahead while I-55 takes a ramp to the right. NB I-55 is even worse-straight ahead is Riverside Dr. while turning on a cloverleaf ramp is required to stay on I-55. Also because of the canceled portion of I-40 running through Overton Park, staying on I-40 requires taking ramps off at both the eastern and western junctions with I-240.

They should really route I-55 along I-40 and 240 through Memphis and West Memphis.  The part of I-55 from West Memphis to the Crump Blvd/I-55 interchange would revert to the US highways, while the part from I-240 to the Crump interchange would be an odd 3 digit interstate.