I've driven I-70 across Ohio many times on trips out east over the years, and I've always found this stretch of that highway (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9781281,-83.1726823,3a,37.5y,110.1h,87.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjBs2cJ0QfThsTvImnPm7QA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192), approaching Columbus from the west, to be a very strange one - what with seeing all the advance signage for a variety of businesses at the upcoming exit (namely, Exit 91 for Hilliard-Rome Road, the first one in Columbus eastbound) while the interstate itself is still very rural, seemingly in contradiction with the signs - until, that is, you reach the exit itself, at which point the development hits all at once. The linked Street View, by the way, is just 10 miles west of downtown Columbus.
Throughout the country, where else have you driven along a freeway that looks very rural or undeveloped, such that you don't realize how close you are to the center of a major city - until one point where, all of a sudden, you are made aware? The most famous example that comes to mind, of course, is the approach to the Fort Pitt Tunnel on I-279 coming into downtown Pittsburgh, and another one that I know personally is I-35 northbound in Minnesota at Exit 81 in Lakeville - 7 miles out from the 35W/35E split in Burnsville and less than 25 miles from downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Aside from the ones I've mentioned, where else have you seen the phenomenon I've described? I'm eager to find out more - I'm sure there are a number of examples.
North Carolina - I-85 Mile 166 - 171.
Immediately after 85 gets shunted from 40, it (briefly) becomes a deceptively rural 4-lane 60s/70s interstate with little room for driver error.
Less than 10 miles from Downtown Durham.
GSV at Exit 170, a rather unusual (for NC standards, anyway) interchange: https://goo.gl/maps/oY7EJ679t1T4LD947 (https://goo.gl/maps/oY7EJ679t1T4LD947)
How about US-101 coming out of the Waldo Grade tunnel by Sausalito and suddenly seeing San Fran?
Or WB CA-24 after coming out of the Caldecott Tunnel and rounding the bend?
Or the US-26 tunnel coming into Portland from the west?
Not quite a "major city", but I've always liked coming into California's Coachella Valley on I-10 from the east a night, because at some point you suddenly see an ocean of lights below you, after a few hours of darkness since Phoenix.
Or I-11/US-93/US-95 over Railroad Pass coming into Vegas.
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=26989.0
The Merritt Parkway (CT-15) in Connecticut.
I-93 through the Middlesex Fells Reservation in Medford/Stoneham.
Brookshire Freeway Southbound NC-16 between I-85 and I-77.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/JrN7NrD43Tv83hNr9
Rural style 4 lane freeway crosses I-77 and becomes the northern half of I-277, Charlotte's central beltway.
Nashville on I-40 West. Tennessee does a good job mandating trees along the ROW. But once you hit Nashville ... CITY! HELLO!
I-30 in south Little Rock keeps things pretty rural up to the I-440 / I-530 interchange. Same goes for I-40 inbound from the east. Somebody in Lonoke is sitting on a shitpile of development property and isn't selling.
Quote from: Road Hog on August 27, 2022, 03:35:59 AM
Nashville on I-40 West. Tennessee does a good job mandating trees along the ROW. But once you hit Nashville ... CITY! HELLO!
The 70 mph rural interstate limits also extend way closer to the city center in Nashville than they do in most eastern cities, which certainly helps that feel. I'd nominate I-24 coming into Nashville from the northwest myself if not for the absolutely awful traffic I experienced on that last time.
CA 99 and I-5 north of downtown Sacramento.
I-680 between Benicia to Fairfield it's only 4 lanes wide but it is a major commuter corridor to the Bay Area.
I-780 Vallejo to Benicia is also 4 lanes wide.
These two freeways have a rural look but it's in a suburban area due to a carryover when they were considered the middle of nowhere.
I-77 leading to Charlotte, especially north of Statesville
Quote from: US 89 on August 27, 2022, 09:06:25 AM
Quote from: Road Hog on August 27, 2022, 03:35:59 AM
Nashville on I-40 West. Tennessee does a good job mandating trees along the ROW. But once you hit Nashville ... CITY! HELLO!
The 70 mph rural interstate limits also extend way closer to the city center in Nashville than they do in most eastern cities, which certainly helps that feel. I'd nominate I-24 coming into Nashville from the northwest myself if not for the absolutely awful traffic I experienced on that last time.
You can see downtown Nashville on that stretch of I-24 and still be in a rural area.
Quote from: KCRoadFan on July 28, 2022, 11:44:28 PM
I've driven I-70 across Ohio many times on trips out east over the years, and I've always found this stretch of that highway (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9781281,-83.1726823,3a,37.5y,110.1h,87.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjBs2cJ0QfThsTvImnPm7QA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192), approaching Columbus from the west, to be a very strange one - what with seeing all the advance signage for a variety of businesses at the upcoming exit (namely, Exit 91 for Hilliard-Rome Road, the first one in Columbus eastbound) while the interstate itself is still very rural, seemingly in contradiction with the signs - until, that is, you reach the exit itself, at which point the development hits all at once. The linked Street View, by the way, is just 10 miles west of downtown Columbus.
Throughout the country, where else have you driven along a freeway that looks very rural or undeveloped, such that you don't realize how close you are to the center of a major city - until one point where, all of a sudden, you are made aware? The most famous example that comes to mind, of course, is the approach to the Fort Pitt Tunnel on I-279 coming into downtown Pittsburgh, and another one that I know personally is I-35 northbound in Minnesota at Exit 81 in Lakeville - 7 miles out from the 35W/35E split in Burnsville and less than 25 miles from downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Aside from the ones I've mentioned, where else have you seen the phenomenon I've described? I'm eager to find out more - I'm sure there are a number of examples.
Hilliard Rome is the exit to get to my house; my girlfriend lives 45 miles west. It never fails to amaze me how the city just "shows up" . Part of it is due to the Big Darby Accord (https://bigdarbyaccord.org/). You can see the general boundary and its effect on development, as everything seemingly stops at Alton & Darby Creek Road. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220910/e8f9e1488d51cf8e07ef2a75ccfa7d16.jpg)
Quote from: Avalanchez71 on September 10, 2022, 01:32:00 PM
Quote from: US 89 on August 27, 2022, 09:06:25 AM
Quote from: Road Hog on August 27, 2022, 03:35:59 AM
Nashville on I-40 West. Tennessee does a good job mandating trees along the ROW. But once you hit Nashville ... CITY! HELLO!
The 70 mph rural interstate limits also extend way closer to the city center in Nashville than they do in most eastern cities, which certainly helps that feel. I'd nominate I-24 coming into Nashville from the northwest myself if not for the absolutely awful traffic I experienced on that last time.
You can see downtown Nashville on that stretch of I-24 and still be in a rural area.
You can see the AT&T ("Batman") building peek between the hillsides in a couple places there.
The transition as I-24 merges with I-65 heading into Downtown is jarring, too. The entirety of the skyline suddenly comes into view as you round the curve at the interchange, and the highway goes from a standard four lane to a superhighway (not to mention the weaving).
I-64 between I-264 and I-71/I-65 in Louisville; specifically the stretch between the Mellwood/Story and Cannons Lane exits.
Here is a GSV of I-81 (future Business I-81) at Exit 17 three miles south of downtown Syracuse: https://goo.gl/maps/jjHhuHj8ErTYs5ZHA
The countryside has a rural feel--I-81 itself does have a non-rural vibe with the streetlights and the concrete divider, though. Feel free to pan around if you choose to look at the GSV.
Quote from: amroad17 on September 11, 2022, 10:31:54 PM
Here is a GSV of I-81 (future Business I-81) at Exit 17 three miles south of downtown Syracuse: https://goo.gl/maps/jjHhuHj8ErTYs5ZHA
The countryside has a rural feel--I-81 itself does have a non-rural vibe with the streetlights and the concrete divider, though. Feel free to pan around if you choose to look at the GSV.
That's just due to a wider-than-usual ROW just north of the I-481 interchange.
The speed limit drops there right to 55 and then you pass Brighton Towers on the right, so I suppose, yes, for this 100 feet or so, it feels rural, but it really isn't a big stretch before you feel you're in the city.
The Lincoln Alexander Parkway in Hamilton ON seems like a good contender for this.
Even though the freeway is located in suburbia, it feels rural because 1) no lighting 2) only 4 lanes 3) grass median
(https://i.imgur.com/ooWmsaY.png)
I-74 starts looking pretty rural about 10 miles SE of downtown Indy, especially when compared to 10 miles out from downtown on any of the other interstate spokes.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.852917,-87.9412236,3a,75y,212.11h,87.9t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sB0F0LeIu66FPRXp63AAIFg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DB0F0LeIu66FPRXp63AAIFg%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D120.84317%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192
About ten miles south of downtown Milwaukee
The dense nature of Spanish cities and the fact they stop quite abruptly lead to situations like this one on Z-40 around Zaragoza (https://www.google.es/maps/@41.6542718,-0.8407509,3a,75y,164.54h,86.95t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sXgxo2OtpXoL0F3C8rDalQg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192), which is literally only two miles (in a straight line) away from the very city center.
I-10 approaching Baton Rouge from the west. The real urbanization doesn't appear until you are on the approach to the Mississippi River bridge.
Not a freeway, but you can view the BR skyline looming over sugarcane fields on LA 1 near Port Allen: https://www.google.com/maps/@30.4701013,-91.2115575,3a,37.8y,127.98h,87.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sSoh6nsg5Vtv-Ylmbi48YOg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DSoh6nsg5Vtv-Ylmbi48YOg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D101.43928%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192
Quote from: andrepoiy on September 12, 2022, 12:04:43 AM
The Lincoln Alexander Parkway in Hamilton ON seems like a good contender for this.
Even though the freeway is located in suburbia, it feels rural because 1) no lighting 2) only 4 lanes 3) grass median
[img snipped]
I know what you mean, it definitely doesn't feel urban/like a big city necessarily, but it does feel kind of suburban to me because of the noise barriers on both sides.
Maybe it's because it closely parallels the Missouri River, but I-29 going south towards Council Bluffs and downtown Omaha is quite rural looking.
There's quite a few situations in the Mississippi and tributary valleys where the main city is on one bank because many of these cities are on a bluff with the opposite side often being floodplain. Entering St Louis from I-55/70 looks fairly rural until you enter the heart of East St Louis and you're only about two miles from downtown St Louis. Same is true coming into Memphis from Arkansas, I-64 from Indiana into Louisville, and a couple examples already posted.
Quote from: skluth on September 15, 2022, 12:16:09 PM
There's quite a few situations in the Mississippi and tributary valleys where the main city is on one bank because many of these cities are on a bluff with the opposite side often being floodplain. Entering St Louis from I-55/70 looks fairly rural until you enter the heart of East St Louis and you're only about two miles from downtown St Louis. Same is true coming into Memphis from Arkansas, I-64 from Indiana into Louisville, and a couple examples already posted.
The AR side of the Memphis metro seems so desolate.
The Parkway North just north of Pittsburgh looks just like any rural highway, save for the 55mph speed limit. Then you come around a bend, Downtown Pittsburgh hits you full in the face, and in two more minutes you're on a flyover through downtown.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5069356,-80.0359372,3a,40y,108.55h,90.6t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sJn1nrjwanffJMCz-UTXHcQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DJn1nrjwanffJMCz-UTXHcQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D331.6212%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192
Interstate 35 and interstate 37 in south San Antonio. Rural, sparse development, mostly 4 lanes even inside the 410 loop until their respective interchanges with interstate 10/US 87/US 90. And for that matter, interstate 10 heading west from Houston into San Antonio. The first few times I went to San Antonio I remember being surprised at how quickly things change once you get to the IH 37/US 281 interchange and then BAM downtown San Antonio, IH 35, and the awesome double deck sections.
Having lived in Houston for so long, and knowing that San Antonio was the second largest city in the state, I was expecting it to be like Houston where the city starts 30 miles from downtown in every direction (and even more than that in a few)
I-57 around Chicago comes to mind. Feels pretty rural even once you get into Cook County for a bit.