From the looks of the San Francisco Bay Bridge (I saw a photo at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091029/ap_on_re_us/us_bay_bridge_closure_27 (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091029/ap_on_re_us/us_bay_bridge_closure_27)), it appears that there are a total of 20 lanes in the tolled direction, including high-speed toll lanes. I'm not counting the George Washington Bridge because it's two separate plazas and all of the other wide plazas in NJ are around 15. Is there any single plaza that can beat 20?
I don't think I have ever seen any toll plaza thats over 20 lanes! A lot of the bigger plazas I know off are around 15.
The largest toll plaza in Asia is on the Gurgaon Expressway between Gurgaon, India and Delhi, India. It has 32 lanes! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Toll_Gate.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Toll_Gate.jpg)
There are two that are wider than that plaza, but I'm not sure which plazas those are. I must do research!
Quote from: AlpsROADS on October 28, 2009, 08:35:27 PM
From the looks of the San Francisco Bay Bridge (I saw a photo at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091029/ap_on_re_us/us_bay_bridge_closure_27 (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091029/ap_on_re_us/us_bay_bridge_closure_27)), it appears that there are a total of 20 lanes in the tolled direction, including high-speed toll lanes. I'm not counting the George Washington Bridge because it's two separate plazas and all of the other wide plazas in NJ are around 15. Is there any single plaza that can beat 20?
You are correct. The Bay Bridge toll plaza has 20 total lanes, 4 are reserved for HOV 3+, 6 are reserved for FasTrak (California's electronic toll collection system) and the remaining 10 lanes accept cash or FasTrak.
The 5 FasTrak lanes located in the middle of the toll plaza
are not "high speed" unless you consider a 25 MPH speed limit as high speed. Lane 20 (counting from the left) is also a FasTrak lane and it's supposed to be an "open road tolling" lane meaning cars using that lane can drive through without slowing down.
The 20 lanes have to squeeze into 5 total lanes on the bridge and to keep things relatively orderly, metering lights are used when traffic is heavy.
St. Arnould in Autoroute A10 near Paris, France. 36 lanes
I think this may be the widest toll plaza in France/Europe:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.tinypic.com%2Fff7s3p.jpg&hash=b03e19e30c60f3513a1514b69ea421584bb88b50)
Pre-I-Pass days, the Tri-State Tollway boasted some plazas that were either 20 lanes or almost 20 lanes wide. Some of the sets of plazas were actually split into two separate (one north, one south) 16 lane plazas (for a total of 32 lanes between the two). Now, with the I-Pass (EZ-Pass) Only lanes on the mainline, those have been cut down to six to eight lanes per direction.
The connector between the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway has 26 lanes (24 mainline with two offset at their own plaza):
http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qrpyqh8t7jw5&style=b&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&scene=8239291&encType=1 (http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qrpyqh8t7jw5&style=b&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&scene=8239291&encType=1)
Why does that one on A10 have so many lanes? It' doesn't look like it has enough traffic to justify them.
Widest toll plaza in the Commonwealth goes to Exit 20/Mid-County Interchange at 17 lanes.
Les Eprunes toll plaza on the French A5 just outside Paris has 47 lanes.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fportail.sara-infra.com%2Fphotos%2FA5-010-Peage_des_Eprunes-JRL.jpg&hash=86c47b06c70c640ee0d99940a5d6ad169bf105dc)
Quote from: PAHighways on October 29, 2009, 06:53:06 PM
Widest toll plaza in the Commonwealth goes to Exit 20/Mid-County Interchange at 17 lanes.
And, it seems bigger with the Exit 333 (Germantown Pike) plaza almost adjacent to it.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=plymouth+meeting,+pa&sll=35.817813,-58.710937&sspn=51.644353,114.169922&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Plymouth+Meeting,+Montgomery,+Pennsylvania&ll=40.109834,-75.280423&spn=0.012111,0.027874&t=h&z=16 (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=plymouth+meeting,+pa&sll=35.817813,-58.710937&sspn=51.644353,114.169922&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Plymouth+Meeting,+Montgomery,+Pennsylvania&ll=40.109834,-75.280423&spn=0.012111,0.027874&t=h&z=16)
Quote from: AARoads on October 29, 2009, 11:45:23 AM
The connector between the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway has 26 lanes
And 16E/18E has 24 on the mainline plaza.
Also, the GWB actually has
three separate plazas:
Lower level (11)
Upper level (12)
Palisades Pkwy (7)
for a total of 30 lanes. In one direction, mind you.
There's a weird one on the Mass Pike at Exit 18 in Boston, idk the exact amount of lanes, but it has a lot of little toll plazas all over the place in the interchange.
I guess the Toll Authorities have a Wide Stance? :-D