180 degree alignment shifts

[roadman65]

I was noticing that US 90 Business in LA crossing the Mississippi River (Crescent City Connection), has its alignment in a full reverse where US 90 Business EB is actually heading true west and vice versa for WB going true East.  In fact the Huey P. Long Bridge can be seen on the horizon as you head into New Orleans, where you  just were south of that crossing if you had indeed been traveling US 90 Business EB from conception.

Another is here https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Fort+Lee,+NJ&hl=en&ll=40.859541,-73.974295&spn=0.008049,0.016243&sll=27.698638,-83.804601&sspn=9.563267,16.633301&oq=fort+l&t=h&hnear=Fort+Lee,+Bergen,+New+Jersey&z=16&layer=c&cbll=40.859277,-73.974202&panoid=ifdO0jsrRvvejAB1CPXQaA&cbp=12,1.03,,0,-0.3   In Fort Lee, NJ I-95 does the same after entering NJ from NY heading SB on the interstate you actually head due north as seen by the directional indicator.

How many other places (excluding mountain roads where the roads are aligned very winding due to the topography of the land) have the situation where this happens?

Edit:  Had to search, but found the correct word.  Topography instead of Tiopary.

[NE2]

Any place a highway crosses over or under itself (e.g. Lincoln Tunnel helix, US 441 in the Smokies, I-74 and I-80 near Rock Island).

[jeffandnicole]

I-295 in the Aljo curve nearly does a 180' reverse, and in several areas of 295 between Exit 23 and 31 traffic is going the opposite direction (one can tell as the sun is rising or setting there is several times the sun crosses the path of the roadway, resulting in numerous sunglare issues).  The Delaware Memorial Bridge is also a location where SB traffic is actually heading north, and vice versa.

[agentsteel53]

I-25 south heads northwest for a while.

[NE2]

I-64 ends up doing a 270 at the east end, but no directions are signed after the first I-264 junction.

[hbelkins]

This also happens in a lot of places where the roads parallel winding streams.

[NE2]

This also happens in a lot of places where the roads parallel winding streams.

Like the Mississippi and US 90 Biz, eh?

Also, what the fuck?

the topiary of the land

[agentsteel53]

Any place a highway crosses over or under itself (e.g. Lincoln Tunnel helix, US 441 in the Smokies, I-74 and I-80 near Rock Island).

for I-74 and I-80, a similar example would be I-95 cloverleafing itself in Canton, MA.

[getemngo]

Michigan's M-123 is shaped like an upside down J, so that you're heading due south for its last few miles to its "northern" terminus near Newberry.

They could easily eliminate this by signing it as east-west, or (as I've heard proposed) moving its northern terminus to Whitefish Point and designating another highway from Newberry to Paradise, like an extended M-117. But where's the fun in that?

[SD Mapman]

US 14A in Spearfish has a horribly signed 180 degree reverse...

[agentsteel53]

Michigan's M-123 is shaped like an upside down J, so that you're heading due south for its last few miles to its "northern" terminus near Newberry.

other hook-shaped roads include ME-3 and CA-18.

[Grzrd]

I was noticing that US 90 Business in LA crossing the Mississippi River (Crescent City Connection), has its alignment in a full reverse where US 90 Business EB is actually heading true west and vice versa for WB going true East.  In fact the Huey P. Long Bridge can be seen on the horizon as you head into New Orleans, where you  just were south of that crossing if you had indeed been traveling US 90 Business EB from conception.

This article reports that Governor Jindal's Interstate 49 South Feasibility and Funding Task Force has recommended that I-49 shields be installed from the Superdome to the Westbank Expressway:

The task force voted unanimously to ask Gov. Bobby Jindal to start the process with federal highway officials to install signs from the Superdome to the Westbank Expressway designating the roadway as I-49.

(bottom quote from I49 in LA thread)

If the I-49 signage is installed, then one would have to initially travel in a southeasterly direction from the "southern terminus" of I-49, on "northbound I-49", in order to eventually get to Kansas City.

[TheStranger]

Michigan's M-123 is shaped like an upside down J, so that you're heading due south for its last few miles to its "northern" terminus near Newberry.

other hook-shaped roads include ME-3 and CA-18.

California's Route 70 is somewhat in that vein, as it starts out north-south from Route 99 to before Quincy, then heads southwest-northeast (but signed east-west) to Portola, before flattening out in an east-west trajectory.

Surprised that US 101 in Washington hasn't merited a mention yet, or US 6 in Provincetown, MA.

Minor example:  Eastbound US 50 near Echo Lake (en route to South Lake Tahoe) runs northwestward for a few miles before continuing on in a northeast direction.

[pianocello]

Michigan's M-123 is shaped like an upside down J, so that you're heading due south for its last few miles to its "northern" terminus near Newberry.

other hook-shaped roads include ME-3 and CA-18.

And US-101. It looks like the Olympia-Port Angeles direction is signed northbound, even though it ultimately will take you to Oregon. I'm not sure where the switch is made. (TheStranger beat me to it)

US-321 has a 180-degree shift in signage alone, in Elizabethton, TN. If you leave Elizabethton on US-321 in either direction, you're going southbound. The road itself doesn't make that significant of a turn, and it should be signed east-west west of there.

[roadman65]

This also happens in a lot of places where the roads parallel winding streams.

Like the Mississippi and US 90 Biz, eh?

Also, what the fuck?

the topiary of the land

You're missing it.    Just like mountain areas, of course, rivers would be the same.  I am talking about rare occurrences where a road that is signed one direction has an encounter of some sort taking it the other way for a brief moment due to other circumstances. 

The Crescent City Connection is one of those just like I-95 in Fort Lee, NJ where it interesting turns around 180 for a brief moment to get to where it needs to be not because of mountains, hills, waterways (although even the Mississippi curves here to start the process it still has no bearing on how the engineers constructed this scenario )terrain, and the usual obvious.  If anyone counts how many times a river, stream, mountain pass,  curve in a ramp, or loop at a grade separation, the answers would be astronomical!

To all users I do not mean directional heading turnarounds such as US 101, and US 321, or M22 in MI and most of all ramp loops or the pigtails on some over and under grade.  One where the road literally turns around for reasons other than the norm.  US 90 Business is indeed a rarity where such a case happens where its not to do directly with nature and I-95 in New Jersey it was done to spare Leonia, NJ from having a freeway built through it.

[hotdogPi]

The very north end of US 1.

[TheStranger]

And US-101. It looks like the Olympia-Port Angeles direction is signed northbound, even though it ultimately will take you to Oregon. I'm not sure where the switch is made. (TheStranger beat me to it)

The switch occurs a bit north of WA 104 - it's east-west on the section going through Port Angeles, from what I recall in 1996.

[Kacie Jane]

I believe it's more or less at WA 20.  The BGS at the end of WA 20 directs you South to Olympia or North to Port Angeles, but if you turn "North", the first reassurance marker says "West".

[spooky]

Route 139 in Massachusetts is an east-west roadway that turns south once it hits the shoreline, then turns back west while still signed as east.

Route 28 is a north-south roadway through most of the state that runs east-west on Cape Cod, then turns north while signed as south once it hits the Cape's "elbow".

[roadman65]

What is interesting is Virginia has one on I-64, but does not sign it where it changes back.  I believe that I-264 has something to do with it if it not do to sensible thinking, as I-264 is signed E-W in true fashion as it would make for WB I-64 to be running almost parallel with EB I-264 and EB I-64 running the same way as I-264 WB.  Remember I-64 does the turnaround thing completely between both interchanges of I-264.

[agentsteel53]

speaking of roads which wrap around Cape Cod... US-6 starts out heading east, then turns south, then west. 

the former length of US-6 did a similar thing.  south of the Nevada line, it headed south for a while, entering LA (and even having a few southeast trajectories, like the 6/99 multiplex) before entering Long Beach heading south, and then turning east for the last few blocks.

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

Louisiana is infamous for roads that have no consistent direction. As with the above example, topography plays a role but sometimes the culprit is just non-sensical routing. See LA 27, LA 44, LA 16, LA 112, LA 113, LA 428, LA 606, etc.

[roadman65]

I forgot US 1 in Key West, FL where it heads north into its southern terminus at Whitehead and Fleming Streets.

The sensible thing is to actually end it at the southernmost point in the US which is the other direction of its southern end, but somewhere I heard that it has to do with the Monroe County Courthouse being at the location it terminates at present.  Apparently at the time of route numbering back in the day, courthouses were chosen as places for highways to terminate at end of line cities for some reason.

[hbelkins]

Also, what the fuck?

the topiary of the land

You're missing it.

Yes, I too am curious to learn where a road might shift directions to miss a topiary. 

[Charles2]

Until a couple of years ago, the two frontage roads paralleling I-85 between Exit 11 and Exit 16 east of Montgomery were signed as US 80 (paralleling the northbound [actually eastbound] lanes), and AL-126 (paralleling the southbound [actually westbound] lanes).  When US 80 was rerouted along I-85, the former US 80 was re-designated as AL-126 so that it basically forms an 11-mile horseshoe route around I-85.  The original AL-126 was correctly signed as east-west, but the "new" 126 is signed as west-east.  Fortunately, neither route is significantly traveled, so I doubt few motorists are confused.