In New Jersey NJ Route 17 changes drastically at US Route 46. North of the US Route the highway is expressway grade and south of it the route is arterial with stoplights.
Then to be more technical at NJ Route 3 the arterial changes from divided NJ style with jughandles to local undivided road. So a second metamorphosis takes place giving NJ 17 three characteristics.
Down to Virginia US 1 in Ashland has a drastic change at VA 54. South of it US 1 is suburban in character with stoplights and heavy development, but north of it the road is rural and free flowing 55 mph onward to Fredericksburg. Outside a few reduced speed zones, it's pretty well open.
In Florida I-95 is turning point from rural four lane highway to four lane suburban arterial on US 192.
Further south FL 9336 is the intersection that changes US 1 from congested suburban arterial to very rural highway just south Florida City.
Name a road ( or place) where character of roadway drastically changes.
The only thing CA 4 is missing is a dirt segment. One lane portions, 24% grades, freeways, expressways, levee roads and gentle backcountry highway can all be found on the route.
VA 91 abruptly goes from a relatively standard 2-lane road in Glade Spring, Saltville, and Broadford (even with a few traffic signals) to an unpaved gravel road for about 9 miles. Even after the pavement resumes, VA 91 remains a highly substandard road with no shoulders or pavement markings until just a couple of miles south of its terminus in Frog Level.
I-66 west of the US 15 Haymarket interchange. Goes quickly from urban/suburban to rural.
KY 922 goes from a major arterial in Lexington, KY, (even signed as the way to the Bluegrass Pkwy from I-64/I-75 to US 60) to basically a one-lane KY route by the time you get to its northern terminus at KY 620.
Quote from: hbelkins on November 25, 2024, 11:03:33 AMI-66 west of the US 15 Haymarket interchange. Goes quickly from urban/suburban to rural.
You don't say... ;D
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=16664.0
I think I might nominate VA-7. Its western end is at Cameron Street in the City of Winchester, where it's a city street; it widens into a four-lane suburban arterial and then becomes a rural four-lane divided highway with primarily at-grade intersections until it reaches a point just west of Round Hill. There it becomes controlled-access for a while until just east of the interchange with VA-9, at which point a few at-grade intersections appear again until the Leesburg business route splits off. From there, it's a controlled-access highway (entirely interchanges unless you consider two RIROs on the eastbound side to be something else) until you hit the Cascades area in eastern Loudoun County, at which time the road becomes a suburban arterial until you reach Tysons Corner. It's an urban arterial through that area (complete with elevated subway line for a while) and then becomes a suburban arterial again. I'd consider it a suburban arterial through the City of Falls Church and past the Seven Corners area. I regard it as more of an urban arterial in the Bailey's Crossroads area, then as more suburban again until it reaches the Amtrak station in Alexandria. At that point, it becomes a city street. (I think the portion in Alexandria has more of an urban city street feeling than the portion in Winchester does.)
I-87 goes from a busy road traversing a suburban/exurban area to a much less busy rural road at the US 9/NY 9N interchange in Lake George (exit 22). Given that the transition between boring and scenic scenery is only a few miles to the south (between exits 19 and 20 when heading north), the transformation of the road between just another NYSDOT exurban interstate and a road deserving of the name "Adirondack Northway" is very quick. Something similar happens at exit/sortie 34 (also for NY 9N).
On the other side of the Adirondacks, I-81 goes from just another rural interstate to narrow two-lane bridge (https://www.google.com/maps/@44.3007783,-75.9808793,3a,75y,315.77h,80.44t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1smlMmtnuqSBFbHRNdliywOw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D9.564787695061113%26panoid%3DmlMmtnuqSBFbHRNdliywOw%26yaw%3D315.7708696148118!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTExOS4yIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D) at NY 12 (exit 50).
Quote from: Rothman on November 25, 2024, 11:19:25 AMQuote from: hbelkins on November 25, 2024, 11:03:33 AMI-66 west of the US 15 Haymarket interchange. Goes quickly from urban/suburban to rural.
You don't say... ;D
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=16664.0
I remember starting that thread. Which is why that location came immediately to mind with this new thread.
One side of a roadway looking vastly different than the other is very common in Ontario (especially the GTA) thanks to their tendency to build extremely dense developments on the fringes of urban areas.
Here are a few examples in Oakville (https://maps.app.goo.gl/U8BebaaJVd3zJ6WK9), Milton (https://maps.app.goo.gl/VjitPZUaqW5minsF9), Brampton (https://maps.app.goo.gl/DCHvhtfyUBiLYt9S6), and Markham (https://maps.app.goo.gl/Hfmks93Z6ibRuAkR6).
I-90 at Randall Road in Elgin is a pretty significant change.
M-5 in Michigan starts off as a city street in Detroit, then becomes a major arterial, and then abruptly becomes a full-fledged freeway that even has express/collector lanes in one part before just as abruptly downgrading to an expressway. All three sections have a vastly different look and feel.
MD 24 goes from 4-lane divided highway to 2-lane undivided through a state park and farm fields.
Well, Interstate 93 in NH goes from being 8 lanes wide in southern NH to being om a toll road, to a 4 lane running through forests and hills to....a two lane highway in Franconia Notch. 8 lanes to 2 is a pretty big character change, I'd say. And it's within (maybe) 100 miles?
WI-29 goes all the way across the state. Between Eau Claire and Green Bay, it is a four lane expressway with stretches of freeway. From Green Bay eastward is is a city street and rural, two lane highway. Ditto west of Eau Claire.
Quote from: SEWIGuy on November 26, 2024, 05:18:21 PMWI-29 goes all the way across the state. Between Eau Claire and Green Bay, it is a four lane expressway with stretches of freeway. From Green Bay eastward is is a city street and rural, two lane highway. Ditto west of Eau Claire.
from I-94 in Elk Mound...
The character changes I like are geographic, like I-5 coming down the Grapevine out of the mountains into California's Central Valley, or I-15 doing something similar where it emerges from the Virgin River Gorge in Arizona. It's like stepping out of a doorway.
I've mentioned US 101 and Route 1 in previous threads like this, and I know Route 4 is even more extreme (from freeway at its west end, to hilly one-lane road on its east).
I-80 in California actually deserves a mention, for its changes geographically and spatially:
- starts out as 1940s/1950s urban viaduct (former US 40/50) that barely can funnel traffic to...
- the less iconic but much busier SF crossing, the Bay Bridge
- which then feeds into a mostly suburban route from the MacArthur Maze to Carquinez Bridge, then suburban again through Vallejo...
- then semi-rural with pockets of suburbia from Route 37 all the way to Davis...
- then the Yolo Causeway and its relatively isolated feel...
- then the start of the Sacramento region. The original 80 routing (now US 50/Business 80) goes through a bit of suburbia in mostly-industrial West Sacramento, then the urban core of downtown and midtown Sacramento, then the mature 1950s suburbia of Arden and Arcade. The current 80 routing is somewhat desolate towards Reed Avenue and the immediate crossing into Natomas, then rapidly enters the modern suburban district of Natomas, before skirting past the less-well-off areas of Robla and Del Paso Heights, finally reaching mature suburbs of Foothill Farms, North Highlands, Citrus Heights, and the upper-middle-class Placer County suburbs of Roseville and Rocklin...
- to Auburn where things become distinctly quaint and mountanous rural through the Sierras.
- at Donner Pass is where the freeway leaves civilization, with the final stretch northeast of Lake Tahoe being rathe rocky en route to the Nevada border.
WA 99 in Seattle alternates between at-grade arterial and freeway. The first freeway section starts in Tukwila at WA 599 (which originates this section) and continues to WA 509 and West Marginal Way. The other, much better-known, one goes from Spokane Street to Denny Way; it used to run on a double-decker viaduct, and now it's a tunnel.
- CA-1 north of Rockport turns inland and becomes a twisty drive through the Redwood Curtain. It's no longer near the coast and will not see the ocean again. It feels much more like US-199 than the coastal drive that defines CA-1.
- CA-27 crosses the Santa Monica Mountains between PCH and Mulholland Drive. Then the rest of the way it's a wide arterial city street. Goes from two lanes to six lanes quickly.
- CA-245 is a bog standard, boring Central Valley route. Then once you go north of the CA-201 junction, it turns into a windy, twisty Sierra Nevada route that couldn't be more different from the southern half.
The Iowa grand champion on this front is US 218. It's an urban arterial in Keokuk. It's an expressway when with US 61 and then a two-lane highway. It then jumps onto the Avenue of the Saints and becomes expressway. It becomes freeway as it approaches Iowa City and gets paired with I-380 to become an interstate level freeway. It follows US 30 and becomes freeway and then expressway. It's then a two-lane highway until the edge of Waterloo. It's briefly on I-380 again before becoming an urban arterial. It becomes freeway and then expressway until Floyd. It then becomes a two-lane highway up to Minnesota.
US 41 in Chicago, goes from Lake Shore Drive, a limited access expressway to 2 lane city street (with stop signs), Foster Ave on the north side. Along with other changes.
I-390 is a good example. South of the Thruway, it's a typical rural interstate. North of the Thruway, it's a suburban interstate dominated by commuter traffic. The transformation is very swift.
Quote from: vdeane on November 30, 2024, 08:16:11 PMI-390 is a good example. South of the Thruway, it's a typical rural interstate. North of the Thruway, it's a suburban interstate dominated by commuter traffic. The transformation is very swift.
Very similar to I-84 coming into the Portland Metro Area from the Columbia Gorge. Once you cross the Sandy River it becomes a very heavily trafficked and urban freeway, not even 5 miles ago was it a scenic road that sits by a river.
Interstate 10 east of El Paso, especially coming from the westbound direction...
Historical CA-24 could qualify. At its maximum historical range, it started in downtown Oakland right by the bay. Then meandered through farmland and the Sacramento River before then climbing the Sierra and cresting at Beckwourth Pass (modern CA-70 today). It was somewhat similar to I-80, but had an even more diagonal routing.
I-565 certainly qualifies, I'd say. West of County Line Road, it still feels fairly rural, even with all of the new development cropping-up along it, while east of County Line Road it definitely feels a lot more suburban. The fact that part of the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge crosses part of I-565 in Limestone County probably helps.
Quote from: freebrickproductions on December 02, 2024, 05:49:26 PMI-565 certainly qualifies, I'd say. West of County Line Road, it still feels fairly rural, even with all of the new development cropping-up along it, while east of County Line Road it definitely feels a lot more suburban. The fact that part of the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge crosses part of I-565 in Limestone County probably helps.
So the county line is where all the development stops? Surprisingly, I haven't heard of any metro area that does this. Though I don't really pay attention to metro boundaries.
Quote from: PNWRoadgeek on December 02, 2024, 10:58:39 PMQuote from: freebrickproductions on December 02, 2024, 05:49:26 PMI-565 certainly qualifies, I'd say. West of County Line Road, it still feels fairly rural, even with all of the new development cropping-up along it, while east of County Line Road it definitely feels a lot more suburban. The fact that part of the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge crosses part of I-565 in Limestone County probably helps.
So the county line is where all the development stops? Surprisingly, I haven't heard of any metro area that does this. Though I don't really pay attention to metro boundaries.
Not really, as development has been going up in Limestone County along I-565 for years, most notably around Greenbrier and Mooresville (Exits 3 and 2), but the difference in the amount of development is certainly noticeable when you cross the county line.