In your opinion, what is your "most hated" sections of road in the United States and Canada and why. This can include offramps and intersections.
My picks, and the reasons why...
- Elvas Freeway (CA-51/Business 80) between E Street and Arden Way, Sacramento CA - I lived in Sacramento for 41 years, and this section of road has never been improved. Going northbound between Exposition Blvd and Arden Way, this freeway goes from THREE to TWO lanes, causing congestion even on a Sunday afternoon.
- Eastbound 580 to Southbound 680, Pleasonton, CA - This cloverleaf intersection makes cloverleafs look bad. Because of the truck traffic, you must go from 55 to 5 and play dodge-ems with the semis. You are better off taking CA-84.
- Westbound Interstate 30 to University Drive (Exit 12A), Fort Worth, TX - This is a very short exit with a hairpin turn. How it was even allowed under interstate standards is beyond me.
The section of I-25 northbound from the Santa Fe onramp to the US6 exit. Everyone from Santa Fe wants to get to the left lanes and everyone trying to exit on US6 needs to fight against that current. Not to mention that the onramps create one permanent lane and one that ends, and I never remember which is which so I have to wait to get over.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on December 18, 2023, 03:09:41 PM
The section of I-25 northbound from the Santa Fe onramp to the US6 exit.
That section is 384 miles long.
Quote from: 1 on December 18, 2023, 03:16:00 PM
Quote from: JayhawkCO on December 18, 2023, 03:09:41 PM
The section of I-25 northbound from the Santa Fe onramp to the US6 exit.
That section is 384 miles long.
Probably should have said Santa Fe Drive. But I'll leave it vague. :)
I-95, between DC and essentially Richmond.
Crosstown TH 62 in southwest Minneapolis/suburbs from Tracy Avenue to Cedar Avenue.
Never cared for any of the transitions from I-275 on the Howard Franklin Bridge onto FL 60.
I-93/US 1/MA 3 overlap southeast of downtown Boston, also known as the Southeast Expressway.
I-65 between IN 43 and IN 2. Longest 4-lane segment of I-65 left in the state. Frequently backed up/shut down due to crashes. Agonizingly clogged with trucks when it isn't.
I-80/94 between I-294/IL 394 and I-65. Highest volume of truck traffic for any interstate. No room to add more lanes. Badly needs an alternate route (aka the Illiana).
US 30 between Pioneer Dr (Marshall County) and IN 205. Should have planned better and been making most/all of these stoplights interchanges gradually over the years.
Chicago: I-290, the Eisenhower Expressway.
Los Angeles: I-405, the San Diego Freeway.
Seattle: I-5.
NB I-75 to I-75 ramp in Detroit.
(SB isn't much better)
I-70, Breezewood, PA.
Because, well, everyone here knows why...
The southern I-95/93 interchange in Canton, Massachusetts specifically the sharp curve where 95 exits itself
The Ford/Lodge interchange in Detroit.
I-77 and I-277 in and around Charlotte
Quote from: MikieTimT on December 20, 2023, 08:57:39 AM
I-70, Breezewood, PA.
Because, well, everyone here knows why...
Somehow this is a point both NUMTOTs and roadgeeks can agree on. NUMTOTs hate it because of arguments summed up by "car bad". Roadgeeks hate it because it's a violation of Interstate standards.
My personal answer is the surface section of QC 175 in Québec City. It's a pain to go through, it's always jammed.
Quote from: LilianaUwU on December 20, 2023, 09:55:37 PM
Quote from: MikieTimT on December 20, 2023, 08:57:39 AM
I-70, Breezewood, PA.
Because, well, everyone here knows why...
Somehow this is a point both NUMTOTs and roadgeeks can agree on. NUMTOTs hate it because of arguments summed up by "car bad". Roadgeeks hate it because it's a violation of Interstate standards.
My personal answer is the surface section of QC 175 in Québec City. It's a pain to go through, it's always jammed.
....I kind of like Breezewood. It's quirky.
My least favorite is I-95 in Fredericksburg, VA.
Lake Buena Vista, FL on I-4 WB at SR 535. Soon a band aid project to lengthen the existing problematic ramp that dumps exit signal overflow onto the freeway will commence.
The ultimate plan is to have the ramp relocated as part of the Beyond The Ultimate project awaiting to be finalized.
Quote from: The Nature Boy on December 21, 2023, 03:43:39 AM
Quote from: LilianaUwU on December 20, 2023, 09:55:37 PM
Quote from: MikieTimT on December 20, 2023, 08:57:39 AM
I-70, Breezewood, PA.
Because, well, everyone here knows why...
Somehow this is a point both NUMTOTs and roadgeeks can agree on. NUMTOTs hate it because of arguments summed up by "car bad". Roadgeeks hate it because it's a violation of Interstate standards.
My personal answer is the surface section of QC 175 in Québec City. It's a pain to go through, it's always jammed.
....I kind of like Breezewood. It's quirky.
My least favorite is I-95 in Fredericksburg, VA.
The times I've been to Fredericksburg I-95 never really pissed me off that much. Exit 130 is a royal pain though.
I-65 northbound at two points in Tennessee:
-the interchange with TN 396 in Spring Hill
-the southern interchange with I-24 in Nashville
I-565's remaining four-lane section out around Madison, AL, is also an annoying bottleneck, but at least work on widening that will be happening before too long, hopefully.
In my experience the worst Nashville freeway section isn't I-65, but rather, the I-40/24 overlap
I-285 north side ("Top End") in metro Atlanta. It's not just metro Atlanta people that hate it, it's longer-range traffic that also hates it, because there aren't any good east-west routes north of there to connect, for example, rural NW GA and rural NE GA.
The single-lane ramps on I-75 at I-275/I-640 in Knoxville have to be up there.
Quote from: ran4sh on December 23, 2023, 07:41:11 PM
In my experience the worst Nashville freeway section isn't I-65, but rather, the I-40/24 overlap
Admittedly, I don't usually find myself going through there, and I don't recall it being too much worse than the parts of I-65 I mentioned? Maybe I'm just getting lucky with my timing, lol.
Quote from: ran4sh on December 23, 2023, 07:44:46 PM
I-285 north side ("Top End") in metro Atlanta. It's not just metro Atlanta people that hate it, it's longer-range traffic that also hates it, because there aren't any good east-west routes north of there to connect, for example, rural NW GA and rural NE GA.
That part of I-285 also ain't treated me too badly the handful of times I've had to use it. Heavy, yes, but nothing to necessarily write home about. But, then again, I don't think I'd hit it at rush hour any of the times I took it.
Let's go with some obvious examples:
• I-278 Brooklyn-Queens Expressway BQE :ded:
• I-95, especially the Cross Bronx Expressway (I-295 included)
• I-76 Schuylkill Expressway
• I-4 anywhere there aren't Express Lanes
The one I personally loath, to the point of driving through Pine Bluff, AR and the delta to avoid, is I-55 just before crossing the Mississippi River into West Memphis, AR.
Thankfully, its days are numbered.
The Mixmaster in Dallas isn't great even after some major upgrades.
For starters, the cloverleaf off Woodall to southbound I-35E/ I-30 is still a single-lane stack-up. Then you have single-lane ramps leading to both freeways and two ramps merging into a single lane with basically no room to merge. Then you emerge on I-30 and have an immediate spaghetti effect as traffic attempts to align to whichever destination. Finally, if you're headed south on I-35E, you get to try and get into the left lane to access the one-lane ramp onto that highway.
The only thing they did was move the goatscrew downstream and off I-35E proper.
Anyplace one has to merge onto an interstate highway from the left. People noticeably drive faster, especially since the start of COVID, and those merges have become particularly scary for me.
Two places near me:
MD 32 EB to I-95 NB.
US 15 SB US 40 EB to I-70 EB (Frederick MD --> US 40 EB uses this ramp)
Thie last one is where, if you are coming on US 15 SB from PA, where you would get on I-70 EB. US 15 SB has already exited about 1/2 mile earlier. If you were to continue straight it would become I-270 MD, but I don't think it is actually I-270 at this point.
For me, this is always at the end of an hourlong (~57 miles from Dillsburg PA) stretch of US 15 with no traffic lights, so I always think of it (and describe it) as US 15, but it really isn't.
I-395 in the District of Columbia. Old road, obsolete design with left-side merges (at least they improved the worst one of those recently), relatively poor signage (including not signing the right lane at the 12th Street exit as "Exit Only" until the last second), low speed limits, a speed camera in the 45-mph zone through the tunnel, and constant congestion and frequent crashes both due in part to the road's design.
Yes, I recognize that I-395 is to be rerouted at some point, but it hasn't happened yet, and I assume I would still hate the same stretches of road regardless of what number appears on the signs.
Any part of I-5 from south of Tacoma to north of Everett. Matter of fact, almost any freeway in the Seattle area. The traffic is insane.
The I-70/K-18 interchange in Kansas east of Junction City and southwest of Manhattan. That interchange is a diamond that badly needs upgrading to a flyover. There's just too much Manhattan-bound eastbound traffic coming off I-70 onto the K-18. KDOT has this in the IKE pipeline, so hopefully we'll see relief in a few years.
The I-35 (Kansas Turnpike) interchange with I-135 in Wichita. The tollbooth is just plain hard to get through even if you have a K-Tag/Pikepass.
Most of US-70 between Ardmore and Durant, Oklahoma. The worst parts are the two-lane portions in Marshall County. On the weekends, Madill and Kingston are jammed up with Lake Texoma-bound traffic. The powers-that-be in Madill have done everything they can to fight the bypass. Then there is the Roosevelt Bridge. This bridge is narrow, built almost 80 years ago, and accident-prone. With the growth in the area and the lack of funding, it's just going to get worse.
Almost any older US or state highway in Oklahoma. Narrow, hilly, no shoulders, crappy pavement, and steep ditches. A state highway in Oklahoma would be a county road in Kansas. I believe ODOT does what it can, but they are limited by funding. People in Oklahoma don't like to pay for good roads, and it shows. Only a state like Oklahoma would build a toll road like the Chickasaw Turnpike.
Quote from: Robinsml on March 15, 2024, 10:52:01 PM
The I-35 (Kansas Turnpike) interchange with I-135 in Wichita. The tollbooth is just plain hard to get through even if you have a K-Tag/Pikepass.
What do you mean? I've never had any problem getting through the toll booth.
An oddly specific regional example: Exits 29 and 28 on "southbound" US-101. Problem here is Exit 28 is like a quarter mile or so after Exit 29, so it's one of those weaving instances where oncoming traffic moves to the left, outgoing traffic moves to the right. Then Exit 28 dumps onto a tiny neighborhood street with two stop signs, so you end up with a huge line of traffic in the right lane that can only move one car at a time. This lane is dangerous most times of the day because of the amount of traffic. The exit was obviously designed during the earlier days of the Ventura Freeway when traffic counts were much lower. For years I've been thinking about ways this exit could be improved. Perhaps signal lights on the side road? A total redesign featuring a trumpet off-ramp?
Quote from: ZLoth on December 18, 2023, 02:42:19 PMElvas Freeway (CA-51/Business 80) between E Street and Arden Way, Sacramento CA - I lived in Sacramento for 41 years, and this section of road has never been improved. Going northbound between Exposition Blvd and Arden Way, this freeway goes from THREE to TWO lanes, causing congestion even on a Sunday afternoon.[/li][/list]
This interestingly is the section that originally was supposed to be bypassed with a new I-80 along the railroad tracks in North Sacramento, that ended up getting nixed ca. 1979 in favor of funding Sacramento's light rail system. This, combined with the contemporaneous cancellation of the Route 143 bypasss freeway connecting Elk Grove and the then-80/880 (now Business 80/I-80) interchange near Foothill Farms, essentially has left this river crossing permanently overloaded. Always made going from downtown to Arden a chore on weekdays, back when I lived in the area...
I know there's been some talk of reworking that freeway due to the high traffic counts, but not sure anything is happening in the near future.
US-23 between the Michigan/Ohio state line and Flint. Most of it is four lanes (two in each direction) with very heavy traffic volumes that justify at least eight lanes in spots. It really is mind boggling that MDOT has neglected this highway for so long and hasn't come up with any plan to widen it other than the stupid flex lanes. You have people using it to bypass Detroit, the part between I-94 and I-96 is especially a joke.
Downtown Grand Rapids US-131 70mph with some dangerous merge lanes/interchanges (wealthy st) and a S curve mixed in to the mess
For me it's I-83 between I-76 and I-283. It's a sampler platter of everything that can go wrong with a highway. It's slowly being brought up to standard, but really should've been fixed 20 years ago.
The only section of road in the upper great lakes region that I 'hate' is the outbound express lane merge on the Edens Expressway (I-94) at Wilson Ave in Chicago. There is no room there for that left lane mainline merge ( a *POX!* on IDOT for that one).
Mike
Quote from: mgk920 on March 31, 2024, 11:17:09 AMThe only section of road in the upper great lakes region that I 'hate' is the outbound express lane merge on the Edens Expressway (I-94) at Wilson Ave in Chicago. There is no room there for that left lane mainline merge ( a *POX!* on IDOT for that one).
Well, the good news is that the lanes are closed till November or thenabouts.
Quote from: TheHighwayMan3561 on December 18, 2023, 03:46:23 PMCrosstown TH 62 in southwest Minneapolis/suburbs from Tracy Avenue to Cedar Avenue.
I-394 EB to I-94 EB in Minneapolis. Always a mess.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, my personal most hated is the single lane ramp from I-490 EB to the Thruway EB at Thruway Exit 45 in Victor, NY. I can tolerate/accept some congestion on suburban/urban freeway networks and arterials, but I simply cannot fathom it on the main access point from the entire Rochester metro to the entire Northeast. It is painfully obvious that it should have been two lanes decades ago, and the toll booths removed in 2021 after the AET conversion were the only thing preventing it from generating regular backups. Plus, it's highly annoying even when it's not backed up due to the widely varying speeds at which individual drivers choose to take the ramp. A single driver taking the ramp at 25 mph can easily cause a string of 20-30 cars to accumulate, which is a pain to deal with and can cause aggression/road rage approaching the merge to a single lane even if it may not be recognized by mapping services as slow-moving traffic.
Quote from: webny99 on June 19, 2024, 10:35:09 AMand the toll booths removed in 2021 after the AET conversion were the only thing preventing it from generating regular backups
Because they themselves generated backups.
Quote from: webny99 on June 19, 2024, 10:35:09 AMPlus, it's highly annoying even when it's not backed up due to the widely varying speeds at which individual drivers choose to take the ramp. A single driver taking the ramp at 25 mph can easily cause a string of 20-30 cars to accumulate, which is a pain to deal with and can cause aggression/road rage approaching the merge to a single lane even if it may not be recognized by mapping services as slow-moving traffic.
I had hoped that the removal of the toll booths would coax traffic to not doing that as often, and it did for a few months, but then people seemed to settle back into their previous driving patterns after the novelty wore off. Same with going the other way.
Quote from: vdeane on June 19, 2024, 07:33:35 PMQuoteand the toll booths removed in 2021 after the AET conversion were the only thing preventing it from generating regular backups
Because they themselves generated backups.
They did, but not to the same extent that the merge does now, at least not in the era of the majority of traffic having EZPass. As annoying as the toll booths were, traffic being able to split up into 3-4 lanes at once with the expectation of just using an open lane and all merging back together from a lower baseline speed ended up being more efficient than two lanes of traffic attempting to merge at freeway speeds... especially since the EZPass lane was on the right, which enabled the mindset of "pick a toll lane and figure out the merge afterwards" and de-facto prevented the way-too-early mergers that we get now.
Honestly, even changing the lane configuration so that both lanes continue to I-90 EB beyond the I-90 WB exit and zipper merge before the overpass would be a significant improvement over what we have now.
I'm not a fan of I-95 in NC. Heavy traffic and lots of construction. I'm hoping that the first widened section from north of Fayetteville to Dunn is completed this year, but I'm not holding my breath. They're also well underway between I-74 south of Lumberton and south of Fayetteville, and from Dunn to I-40 at Benson. But even in those areas where widening construction isn't happening, the scenery is extremely meh.
Also most of I-26 in SC and I-95 south of I-26 in SC. Heavy traffic, frequent wrecks, and in the case of I-95 rough concrete pavement.
In Columbia, the cloverleaf ramp from I-26 E to I-20 E
In Winston-Salem, the cloverleaf from US 52 S to US 421 S
Both ramps are extremely tight and don't have enough of a merge area.
Quote from: PColumbus73 on June 21, 2024, 09:17:32 AMIn Columbia, the cloverleaf ramp from I-26 E to I-20 E
In Winston-Salem, the cloverleaf from US 52 S to US 421 S
Both ramps are extremely tight and don't have enough of a merge area.
The Columbia interchange will be converted to a turbine interchange in the coming years. Right now construction is focusing on the 26/126 exchange, but will eventually shift to the 26/20 interchange. Entire area will see construction for at least the next 10 years.
And the I-74 northeast portion of the W-S Beltway is meant to bypass both of the bad cloverleaf transitions from US 52 south to US 421 south and I-40 east. Not sure if they'll ever truly fix those interchanges anytime soon, but at least I-74 is providing relief.
Quote from: wriddle082 on June 21, 2024, 07:05:28 PMQuote from: PColumbus73 on June 21, 2024, 09:17:32 AMIn Columbia, the cloverleaf ramp from I-26 E to I-20 E
In Winston-Salem, the cloverleaf from US 52 S to US 421 S
Both ramps are extremely tight and don't have enough of a merge area.
The Columbia interchange will be converted to a turbine interchange in the coming years. Right now construction is focusing on the 26/126 exchange, but will eventually shift to the 26/20 interchange. Entire area will see construction for at least the next 10 years.
And the I-74 northeast portion of the W-S Beltway is meant to bypass both of the bad cloverleaf transitions from US 52 south to US 421 south and I-40 east. Not sure if they'll ever truly fix those interchanges anytime soon, but at least I-74 is providing relief.
I am curious if US 52 will be closed and reconstructed the same way US 421 was. I can't remember if there were any plans for this.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on December 18, 2023, 03:09:41 PMThe section of I-25 northbound from the Santa Fe onramp to the US6 exit. Everyone from Santa Fe wants to get to the left lanes and everyone trying to exit on US6 needs to fight against that current. Not to mention that the onramps create one permanent lane and one that ends, and I never remember which is which so I have to wait to get over.
Yep.
Quote from: wriddle082 on June 19, 2024, 09:17:34 PMI'm not a fan of I-95 in NC. Heavy traffic and lots of construction.
To be fair, this only came to be within the last couple of years, and before that it was basically hassle-free.
What some of us wouldn't give for "lots of construction" if it meant a major widening project was underway...
I dislike westbound I-80 from the Yolo Causeway west of Sacramento to I-505 in Vacaville. It's three lanes each way, which was probably fine in the 1970s but doesn't quite work now, but moreover there are some extended merge lanes at on-ramps. That induces some folks to jump over into that #4 lane only to have to merge back. The result is that several times, now we're doing 50 mph, whoops here are brake lights, now we're doing 5 mph and looking nervously at the rearview mirror hoping we don't have some dummy on their phone behind us.
For whatever reason the eastbound direction does not seem quite so bad. It might just be the times I tend to travel that freeway. When I lived in the Bay Area I did the Friday afternoon escape a few times a year and eastbound probably felt worse then.