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National Boards => General Highway Talk => Topic started by: Alps on September 30, 2014, 11:37:00 PM

Title: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Alps on September 30, 2014, 11:37:00 PM
There were a lot of innovative or... at least "interesting," if not unique, design solutions developed from the early days of motoring into about the 1950s, before standards really started to be implemented. Most of these early design elements have at least been improved, if not eliminated. But, like US 24 at US 12, the strong survive with no plans for removal.

Here's a list that starts in North Jersey, of inadequate, dated design that hampers traffic flow with no fix in sight:
Essex County
Morris County
Bergen County
Somerset County
Passaic County
Hudson County
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Roadrunner75 on October 01, 2014, 12:24:12 AM
Quote from: Alps on September 30, 2014, 11:37:00 PM
Pulaski Skyway left ramps with no accel/decel space, not being completely fixed by current project
Not being completely fixed in the current project?  Is there some improvement planned for these ramps at the merge?  I would think these either stay pretty much the same, they are closed completely, or they become exits only, given the lack of room on the bridge to make any significant improvement.  They are horribly dangerous, but they can be kind of fun when you zip off the left exit and rocket down the ramp.  Not so much when entering, which requires Porsche-like acceleration to avoid getting plowed down.  These ramps to me are the best example around of an earlier time in roadway design, although they probably weren't even a good idea in those days....
Quote
Traffic signals along "I-78"  in Jersey City
Yes, a big problem, but going eastbound you still jam up at the toll, have to squeeze down to the 2 lane tunnel and end a short distance later in jammed city streets on the other side so you're still going nowhere fast with or without the lights.  Let's just end the I-78 designation at the first signal and call it a day, so those four blocks don't have to make all those 'interstate anomalies" lists.
Quote
Truck 1/9 at Communipaw Ave. — "split Y"  intersection with long delays due to geometry that requires multiple signal phases and long all-red times   
Can't stand this one.  I go through here a lot, and use Communipaw to cut across the city from downtown to the west side.  I can sit for multiple light changes here just to get out to 440.  I've been barreling down side streets to get around this lately.  What's a good fix for this one?
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: NE2 on October 01, 2014, 01:01:13 AM
No way to bike between West Memphis and Memphis without using an Interstate shoulder, which is in a legal gray area. But this will be fixed when a path is added to one side of the old Harahan Bridge (where you used to drive before the current bridges).
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Brandon on October 01, 2014, 11:02:06 AM
Where to begin...

I'll do a short list of ones in Illinois.

* The rapid-fire left entrance ramps on the Kennedy Expressway near the Loop.

* The Hillside Strangler (I-290/I-294/I-88).  IDOT tried a fix and epically failed.  The problem?  Merging 5 lanes down to 3 plus additional traffic from ramps.

I'm fairly certain there's more.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: roadman65 on October 01, 2014, 12:01:37 PM
There are a lot in Orlando to say as most of OBT is not up to today's traffic counts and most likely will never be even if they keep adding one lane at a time as the budget only allows barely.

The I-4 and John Young Parkway interchange has been redone over 3 times and still has not gotten it down right.  That new flyover from I-4 WB onto JYP creates a major weave problem on SB JYP especially because the John Young and LB McCleod Road signal has a long red wait period due to the high traffic counts on both of those two roads.

Then the worthless signal between the I-4 ramp and LB McCleod on JYP at the intersection of Clear Way also does not help matters.  That intersection needs to be a RIRO, but local social issues will not let Orlando remove the signal and do it right.

Many of our highways that are arterials need bus turnouts as our local Lynx buses have to stop in the right lane screwing up traffic always. 

Then not old, but old before it was even built was the OBT and Stable Drive traffic signal that now screws up the flow on OBT big time all because Wal Mart wanted to build a neighborhood grocery store at that location. 
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Joe The Dragon on October 01, 2014, 10:43:25 PM
Quote from: Brandon on October 01, 2014, 11:02:06 AM
Where to begin...

I'll do a short list of ones in Illinois.

* The rapid-fire left entrance ramps on the Kennedy Expressway near the Loop.

* The Hillside Strangler (I-290/I-294/I-88).  IDOT tried a fix and epically failed.  The problem?  Merging 5 lanes down to 3 plus additional traffic from ramps.

I'm fairly certain there's more.

They got rid of some of the left ramps.

plans are being worked on to widen I-290 pass the Hillside Strangler
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Bruce on October 02, 2014, 12:51:37 AM
Interstate 5 in Downtown Seattle narrows to two through lanes per direction under the Washington State Convention Center.

WA-520 has left-hand ramps that forces drivers to veer across I-5 to make it to Mercer Street, causing congestion.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: TheStranger on October 02, 2014, 12:31:16 PM
In some rural segments of US 101 and Route 99 - where the highway used to continue as an in-town surface street and the freeway bypass was built decades later - the original through lanes into town were kept while the newer limited-access carriageways essentially exit off of them.

Abbott Street, southern Salinas http://goo.gl/maps/yhcyu

J Street, northern Tulare (northbound lanes only) http://goo.gl/maps/X7CaL

One example where this HAS been corrected is in southern Tulare (note the wide median where the old road used to continue through) - http://goo.gl/maps/9Bvol
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: roadman65 on October 02, 2014, 12:46:59 PM
How about Virginia where the two carriageways on divided highways are on split grades.  One is hilly while the other is level. Even US 22 in New Jersey has a segment like it near Whitehouse and on parts of US 278 in Alabama in Cullman County.

However, that is a VA attribute and I can live with it.  I only wish modern construction would allow old alignments in divided areas now to keep the old stuff such as bridges and lane configurations.  Here in FL almost all dualization requires the old road to undergo modernization to be as up to date as the new road.  I have seen many classic bridge designs fall do to this and I commend some of the old ways so much.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: hm insulators on October 06, 2014, 04:17:06 PM
I-10 through the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles, where there are what I call "scrunched cloverleafs" that might've been state-of-the-art when the freeway was built in the 1950s but are a royal pain to deal with today.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: NE2 on October 06, 2014, 04:33:07 PM
Quote from: hm insulators on October 06, 2014, 04:17:06 PM
I-10 through the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles, where there are what I call "scrunched cloverleafs" that might've been state-of-the-art when the freeway was built in the 1950s but are a royal pain to deal with today.
Route 4 in New Jersey has one of those from the early 1930s. The obvious reason in LA is to avoid taking more than half a block of houses.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: 1995hoo on October 06, 2014, 05:18:31 PM
Awful left-side ramp with no merge area from the Ninth Street Tunnel onto northbound I-395 in DC.

I-395 in Virginia has two partial cloverleafs with fairly sharp curves on the loop ramps coupled with no C/D roads (Exit 2, Edsall Road, and Exit 3, Duke Street). It significantly slows the traffic in the right lane on the highway.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: akotchi on October 06, 2014, 05:36:16 PM
Quote from: Roadrunner75 on October 01, 2014, 12:24:12 AM
Quote from: Alps on September 30, 2014, 11:37:00 PM
Pulaski Skyway left ramps with no accel/decel space, not being completely fixed by current project
Not being completely fixed in the current project?  Is there some improvement planned for these ramps at the merge?  I would think these either stay pretty much the same, they are closed completely, or they become exits only, given the lack of room on the bridge to make any significant improvement.  They are horribly dangerous, but they can be kind of fun when you zip off the left exit and rocket down the ramp.  Not so much when entering, which requires Porsche-like acceleration to avoid getting plowed down.  These ramps to me are the best example around of an earlier time in roadway design, although they probably weren't even a good idea in those days....

There is some widening proposed in the vicinity of the Broadway entrance ramp outbound (southbound), for the purpose of providing a bit of an acceleration lane for ramp traffic.  This is, by far, the higher of the two left entrance ramp volumes.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: silverback1065 on October 06, 2014, 05:54:23 PM
The two interchanges I hate the most in the Indianapolis area are the 865/465 interchange, and the purposely not fixed 465/69 interchange.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: roadman65 on October 06, 2014, 06:28:46 PM
The Orange Avenue grade crossing in Taft, FL.  It needs to be grade separated as it is at a rail yard entrance where you have trains moving real slow, stopping, then backing up causing up to fifteen minuet delays which during rush hour many cars back up into it on either direction of Orange Avenue.

Being the rails have to right away over roads (only marine traffic is the only thing rails do not dominate) there is no time limit or specific time that a train has to abide by at road grades.  Basically a train can stop and spend hours there and no law can stop it from doing that.

Anyway, it is a nightmare at times to travel that stretch at any time.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Laura on October 06, 2014, 07:54:18 PM
Pretty much any indirect interchange in Pennsylvania between a toll road and non-toll freeway
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: NE2 on October 07, 2014, 05:01:53 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 06, 2014, 06:28:46 PM
Anyway, it is a nightmare at times to travel that stretch at any time.
:420:
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Pete from Boston on October 07, 2014, 07:59:13 PM

Quote from: NE2 on October 07, 2014, 05:01:53 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 06, 2014, 06:28:46 PM
Anyway, it is a nightmare at times to travel that stretch at any time.
:420:

Sometimes I try to do things at any time, but they keep happening at specific times.   
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: SteveG1988 on October 07, 2014, 08:26:31 PM
Speaking of the I-55 bridge in TN/AR, the connection from I-55 to it, requiring all traffic for I-55 to use a 2 lane cloverleaf that was widened from a single lane by restriping. Plus the narrow clearances approaching it.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Jardine on October 07, 2014, 10:45:15 PM
I-80 westbound was throttled down to one lane at the I-480/Kennedy Expressway interchange in the middle of Omaha Nebraska (one of the top 100 largest US cities by population) as originally built.  After the interchange was rebuilt, I-80 now has 2 lanes.

I-680 at North 30th street the eastbound ramp leading  up to the Mormon Bridge over the Missouri has a very short merging length.

Several overpasses on I-680 (originally I-80N) in western Iowa never had the trim pieces installed to hide the joints and expansion gaps between the concrete beams over the pillars.

Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Pete from Boston on October 07, 2014, 11:21:07 PM
The BQE.  Pick a part, any part.  I'll offer the two-lane through-traffic right exit at the Battery Tunnel for starters. 
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: cl94 on October 07, 2014, 11:52:19 PM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on October 07, 2014, 11:21:07 PM
The BQE.  Pick a part, any part.  I'll offer the two-lane through-traffic right exit at the Battery Tunnel for starters.

Hmmm...

-The interchange with the Grand Central
-The Promenade
-The Kosciusko Bridge (I think that's right)

Heck, isn't all of I-278 substandard?
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Zeffy on October 07, 2014, 11:57:21 PM
Quote from: cl94 on October 07, 2014, 11:52:19 PM
Heck, isn't all of I-278 substandard?

I-278 pisses me off and worse yet my parents take it EVERY time we go into New York. Well, I guess since it's the only way from Staten Island to Brooklyn you're pretty much FORCED to take it. Ugh.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Pete from Boston on October 08, 2014, 12:15:38 AM

Quote from: Zeffy on October 07, 2014, 11:57:21 PM
Quote from: cl94 on October 07, 2014, 11:52:19 PM
Heck, isn't all of I-278 substandard?

I-278 pisses me off and worse yet my parents take it EVERY time we go into New York. Well, I guess since it's the only way from Staten Island to Brooklyn you're pretty much FORCED to take it. Ugh.

I have family in Staten Island.  Generally I overshoot it, take the Turnpike, and come in via the Goethals.  It still sucks. 

To touch back on an earlier post in this thread regarding 440, I periodically go from JC to Staten Island, and I pretty much bail onto the Skyway or the Turnpike Extension because 440 is so painfully stop-and-go. 

I feel like by the time Staten Island was connecting to New Jersey, too much of the areas where they meet were more or less disposed of to industry or waste.  The Verrazano then brought in all these people, but crammed them into a place doomed by too few access points.  There should be a fourth bridge to New Jersey feeding into the middle if the island. 



Aside: My biggest complaint about the BQE has nothing to do with the BQE.  I just still miss that moment coming northbound over the Gowanus Canal at night and seeing the mammoth bulk of the World Trade Center, with its scattered handsful of lights still on  at late hours. 





Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Brandon on October 08, 2014, 02:00:31 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 06, 2014, 06:28:46 PM
The Orange Avenue grade crossing in Taft, FL.  It needs to be grade separated as it is at a rail yard entrance where you have trains moving real slow, stopping, then backing up causing up to fifteen minuet delays which during rush hour many cars back up into it on either direction of Orange Avenue.

Being the rails have to right away over roads (only marine traffic is the only thing rails do not dominate) there is no time limit or specific time that a train has to abide by at road grades.  Basically a train can stop and spend hours there and no law can stop it from doing that.

Anyway, it is a nightmare at times to travel that stretch at any time.

Trains and the companies that own them can be ticketed if they block the crossing for too long.  And yes, there are laws that stop that and are merely ignored unless enforced.

BTW, what's a fifteen minuet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minuet) delay?  Fifteen minuets in a row?  Otherwise, the word is spelled "minute (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minute)".
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: spooky on October 08, 2014, 02:04:45 PM
Quote from: Brandon on October 08, 2014, 02:00:31 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 06, 2014, 06:28:46 PM
The Orange Avenue grade crossing in Taft, FL.  It needs to be grade separated as it is at a rail yard entrance where you have trains moving real slow, stopping, then backing up causing up to fifteen minuet delays which during rush hour many cars back up into it on either direction of Orange Avenue.

Being the rails have to right away over roads (only marine traffic is the only thing rails do not dominate) there is no time limit or specific time that a train has to abide by at road grades.  Basically a train can stop and spend hours there and no law can stop it from doing that.

Anyway, it is a nightmare at times to travel that stretch at any time.

Trains and the companies that own them can be ticketed if they block the crossing for too long.  And yes, there are laws that stop that and are merely ignored unless enforced.

BTW, what's a fifteen minuet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minuet) delay?  Fifteen minuets in a row?  Otherwise, the word is spelled "minute (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minute)".

The minuets must be what makes it a nightmare at times at any time.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Brandon on October 08, 2014, 02:07:57 PM
Quote from: spooky on October 08, 2014, 02:04:45 PM
Quote from: Brandon on October 08, 2014, 02:00:31 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 06, 2014, 06:28:46 PM
The Orange Avenue grade crossing in Taft, FL.  It needs to be grade separated as it is at a rail yard entrance where you have trains moving real slow, stopping, then backing up causing up to fifteen minuet delays which during rush hour many cars back up into it on either direction of Orange Avenue.

Being the rails have to right away over roads (only marine traffic is the only thing rails do not dominate) there is no time limit or specific time that a train has to abide by at road grades.  Basically a train can stop and spend hours there and no law can stop it from doing that.

Anyway, it is a nightmare at times to travel that stretch at any time.

Trains and the companies that own them can be ticketed if they block the crossing for too long.  And yes, there are laws that stop that and are merely ignored unless enforced.

BTW, what's a fifteen minuet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minuet) delay?  Fifteen minuets in a row?  Otherwise, the word is spelled "minute (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minute)".

The minuets must be what makes it a nightmare at times at any time.

I mean, I like my Bach, but that's a bit ridiculous.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Pete from Boston on October 08, 2014, 08:22:44 PM

Quote from: Brandon on October 08, 2014, 02:00:31 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 06, 2014, 06:28:46 PM
The Orange Avenue grade crossing in Taft, FL.  It needs to be grade separated as it is at a rail yard entrance where you have trains moving real slow, stopping, then backing up causing up to fifteen minuet delays which during rush hour many cars back up into it on either direction of Orange Avenue.

Being the rails have to right away over roads (only marine traffic is the only thing rails do not dominate) there is no time limit or specific time that a train has to abide by at road grades.  Basically a train can stop and spend hours there and no law can stop it from doing that.

Anyway, it is a nightmare at times to travel that stretch at any time.

Trains and the companies that own them can be ticketed if they block the crossing for too long.  And yes, there are laws that stop that and are merely ignored unless enforced.

BTW, what's a fifteen minuet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minuet) delay?  Fifteen minuets in a row?  Otherwise, the word is spelled "minute (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minute)".

Since a minuet lasts for one minute, the point still holds. 
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: mrsman on October 13, 2014, 01:29:21 PM
Replying to various posts upthread,

I agree on Pulaski Skyway.  Remove the lefthand entrances.  Most of those entrances are close enough to other entrances that it would not be too much burden for traffic to divert there.

For Communipaw, it seems that there is enough room for some type of quasi-Michigan left treatment that might rationalize some of the turn movements and come up with fewer phases in the traffic signal.  I think there is a thread somewhere for redesigning interchanges similar to redesigning signs and some of our computer oriented CAD people may be able to draw their own improvements.

EDITED 10/14:  The thread is in fictional highways.

For I-10 in the San Gabriel Valley, these exits can very easily be adjusted from squished cloverleafs to squished diamonds.  You will still have tight curves, but at least you get rid of the weaving issues.  And the way these ramps are configured, the ramps are so far apart from each other (from the point of view of the cross-street) that you're going to have plenty of room for left turn lanes that left turns shouldn't block cross-traffic as sometimes happens in diamond interchanges.

Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: PHLBOS on October 13, 2014, 03:17:07 PM
In Philly, when the South Street Bridge over the Schuylkill River was replaced several years back; it was decided (for cost reasons) not to reconfigure the adjacent interchange with the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76).  As a result, the interchange still has all-left lane entrance/exit ramps as well as short merges onto I-76 (aka merge or die ramps).
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: TheStranger on October 13, 2014, 03:25:10 PM
The original ramps from the Bay Bridge southwest to 5th Street in San Francisco (which used to carry US 40 and 50) were rebuilt recently...but remain left exits off of 80 west, still forcing drivers who were in the leftmost lanes of the bridge to merge upon reaching the city to remain in the through direction.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Gnutella on November 15, 2014, 06:23:13 AM
I-76 in Philadelphia and I-376 in Pittsburgh combine for 53 miles of epic fail.

At least there's honest-to-God reconstruction and modernization efforts happening on other substandard Interstate segments in Pennsylvania (I-70 near Pittsburgh, I-78 near Allentown, I-80 near Stroudsburg, I-83 near Harrisburg and York).
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: silverback1065 on November 15, 2014, 10:25:20 AM
Quote from: Gnutella on November 15, 2014, 06:23:13 AM
I-76 in Philadelphia and I-376 in Pittsburgh combine for 53 miles of epic fail.

At least there's honest-to-God reconstruction and modernization efforts happening on other substandard Interstate segments in Pennsylvania (I-70 near Pittsburgh, I-78 near Allentown, I-80 near Stroudsburg, I-83 near Harrisburg and York).

seems like a lot of substandard roads reside in pennsylvania
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: GCrites on November 15, 2014, 02:05:07 PM
It's hilly and has been an important state for a long time.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: bugo on November 15, 2014, 02:17:15 PM
Quote from: NE2 on October 01, 2014, 01:01:13 AM
No way to bike between West Memphis and Memphis without using an Interstate shoulder, which is in a legal gray area. But this will be fixed when a path is added to one side of the old Harahan Bridge (where you used to drive before the current bridges).

There's a sidewalk on the south side of the Memphis-Arkansas bridge (I-55/US 61/(63)/64/70/79). Are bikes not allowed on the sidewalk?
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: NE2 on November 15, 2014, 02:32:12 PM
Quote from: bugo on November 15, 2014, 02:17:15 PM
Quote from: NE2 on October 01, 2014, 01:01:13 AM
No way to bike between West Memphis and Memphis without using an Interstate shoulder, which is in a legal gray area. But this will be fixed when a path is added to one side of the old Harahan Bridge (where you used to drive before the current bridges).

There's a sidewalk on the south side of the Memphis-Arkansas bridge (I-55/US 61/(63)/64/70/79). Are bikes not allowed on the sidewalk?

The sidewalk just ends on the Arkansas side.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: txstateends on November 15, 2014, 07:13:48 PM
Quote from: Brandon on October 08, 2014, 02:00:31 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 06, 2014, 06:28:46 PM
The Orange Avenue grade crossing in Taft, FL.  It needs to be grade separated as it is at a rail yard entrance where you have trains moving real slow, stopping, then backing up causing up to fifteen minuet delays which during rush hour many cars back up into it on either direction of Orange Avenue.

Being the rails have to right away over roads (only marine traffic is the only thing rails do not dominate) there is no time limit or specific time that a train has to abide by at road grades.  Basically a train can stop and spend hours there and no law can stop it from doing that.

Anyway, it is a nightmare at times to travel that stretch at any time.

Trains and the companies that own them can be ticketed if they block the crossing for too long.  And yes, there are laws that stop that and are merely ignored unless enforced.

BTW, what's a fifteen minuet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minuet) delay?  Fifteen minuets in a row?  Otherwise, the word is spelled "minute (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minute)".

Aww, come on.  Let him have his 15 minuets of fame ;-)
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: cpzilliacus on November 15, 2014, 09:16:16 PM
Maryland has some of these old design deficiencies:

I-495 (Capital Beltway) Exit 31 in Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Silver+Spring,+MD+20910&ll=39.01339,-77.041798&spn=0.005335,0.008948&cid=5594988270533279403&hnear=Silver+Spring,+Maryland+20910&t=h&z=17) - it was a full cloverleaf at one time, but the ramp from Outer Loop (westbound) of I-495 to southbound Md. 97 (Georgia Avenue) was removed.  But the three remaining cloverleaf ramps are extremely tight (this interchange was designed and engineered several years before most of the rest of the Capital Beltway.

I-270 Exit 22 in Hyattstown, Montgomery County, Maryland (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=hyattstown+md&hl=en&ll=39.278029,-77.322679&spn=0.01063,0.017896&sll=39.01339,-77.041798&sspn=0.005335,0.008948&t=h&hnear=Hyattstown,+Montgomery+County,+Maryland&z=16) - this interchange was designed in the pre-Interstate era (I-270 was originally built as U.S. 240 (Washington National Pike)).

Virginia

I-495 (Capital Beltway) Exit 44 in McLean, Fairfax County, Virginia (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=McLean,+VA+22101&hl=en&ll=38.953919,-77.192988&spn=0.010679,0.017896&sll=38.954603,-77.193933&sspn=0.021359,0.035791&t=h&hnear=McLean,+Virginia+22101&z=16) - this diamond interchange is little changed from 1964, and is frequently overwhelmed by traffic.

Va. 267 (Dulles Toll Road) Exit 11 in Reston, Fairfax County, Virginia at Va. 286 (Fairfax County Parkway) (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.953185,-77.374009&num=1&t=h&z=16) - a diamond interchange that should never have been designed that way, since it was built to connect the Toll Road to the Parkway, an expressway-class road.

I-95 (Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike) Exit 74C in Richmond, Virginia at East Broad Street (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.538656,-77.427353&num=1&t=h&z=16) features very sharp ramps and a design that dates back to the days when the Turnpike still charged tolls.  Ironically, it is right around the corner from the Central Office of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: The High Plains Traveler on November 15, 2014, 09:45:04 PM
OK, I-35W at I-494 is close to the busiest interchange in Minnesota, and it's a tight cloverleaf that doesn't even have C/D lanes. There have been several plans floating around; the latest is to make it a turbine within the current interchange footprint.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bloomington,+MN/@44.8612166,-93.2968016,1199m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x87f624fa09f49987:0x3a72974cdc3905bc
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: flowmotion on November 16, 2014, 01:14:28 AM
Quote from: TheStranger on October 13, 2014, 03:25:10 PM
The original ramps from the Bay Bridge southwest to 5th Street in San Francisco (which used to carry US 40 and 50) were rebuilt recently...but remain left exits off of 80 west, still forcing drivers who were in the leftmost lanes of the bridge to merge upon reaching the city to remain in the through direction.

Back in the 1990s, Caltrans had a plan to fix the downtown SF exits so they were somewhat sensible. But freeway construction is politically radioactive in San Francisco, so they made the intentional choice to rebuild everything almost entirely as-it-was, hoping nobody would notice it was all new construction.

The I-80/US-101 Central Freeway interchange fits this thread, as it is the classic 1959 design with very short left-side "merge or die" lanes. https://goo.gl/maps/piKCw

Again this is a "don't touch it" thing, because if any work was proposed, people would just want to rip the whole thing down.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: DevalDragon on November 16, 2014, 01:22:52 AM
Interstate 35E and Interstate 30 in Dallas is quite the cluster with the left exits, short merge areas and sharp curves.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: 1995hoo on November 16, 2014, 09:24:15 AM
cp, do you perchance mean Exit 44? There is no Exit 55 on the Beltway (closest two are Braddock Road, Exit 54, and Shirley Highway, Exit 57). I assume you meant to refer to the interchange with Georgetown Pike.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: SteveG1988 on November 20, 2014, 08:49:27 AM
I would consider the Trenton Freeway (NJ-29) to be fairly deficent once it passes under the Amtrak bridge.

Some highlights:

Floods due to the fact that it is really close to the river, and built below a flood stage.

US1 connection is for southbound only, to get to US1 north you have to use NJ 33.

The stop lights at Mercer County WaterFront Park (Sponsored by Arm and Hammer, home of the Sam Pulemeri Jr Field) built as a way to get the tunnel project moving.

Tight cloverleaf at the Calhoun street bridge, not that big of a deal due to weight limits, but hinders NJ29 due to the lack of consistent accel and decel lanes.

Moving out of trenton, The weird I-95 interchange. That is being fixed though.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: Roadrunner75 on November 20, 2014, 01:12:52 PM
Quote from: SteveG1988 on November 20, 2014, 08:49:27 AM
Moving out of trenton, The weird I-95 interchange. That is being fixed though.
What do they have planned there?  No more wacky ramps crossing each other at grade with all the "Yield to Left" and "Yield to Right" signs?
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: jeffandnicole on November 20, 2014, 01:39:44 PM
Quote from: Roadrunner75 on November 20, 2014, 01:12:52 PM
Quote from: SteveG1988 on November 20, 2014, 08:49:27 AM
Moving out of trenton, The weird I-95 interchange. That is being fixed though.
What do they have planned there?  No more wacky ramps crossing each other at grade with all the "Yield to Left" and "Yield to Right" signs?


Thru movements for Rt. 29. Roundabouts to get to/from 95. http://www.scudderfallsbridge.com/images/FigureIII-21route29interchangegraphic.jpg

And the flooding issues are supposed to be addressed in a few upcoming projects as well.


Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: roadman65 on November 20, 2014, 09:36:21 PM
The John Young Parkway & I-4 interchange in Orlando is still not perfect after 3 attempts to fix it.

Then the I-4/ SR 482 intersection is been a nightmare for years, but maybe the ultimate I-4 project might handle that one.  However I have seen the plans and really only the Kirkman, OBT, SR 408, and 436 interchanges seem to only have major reconfigurations as part of the major overhaul of that one soon to be project.


BTW, minuet or minute, considering typos are easy, I would take that this is not a music thread, we can all figure that one out, but I am glad I gave some of you a good laugh though.
Title: Re: Old design deficiencies never fixed
Post by: cpzilliacus on November 21, 2014, 11:28:27 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on November 16, 2014, 09:24:15 AM
cp, do you perchance mean Exit 44? There is no Exit 55 on the Beltway (closest two are Braddock Road, Exit 54, and Shirley Highway, Exit 57). I assume you meant to refer to the interchange with Georgetown Pike.

Exit 44, Va. 193 is correct, and fixed the post above.

Thanks for pointing that out.