in your opinion, which state has the best and worst network of roads?
Think of:
capacity vs. actual traffic
future planning
traffic flow design
roads that follow the traffic flow etc
From what I've read lately, Utah's seems pretty good. Most western states are relatively logical like South Dakota. Austin is awful for future plans, and I guess most cities in Texas are pretty bad. Illinois is bad.
In Michigan
Best: Grand Rapids (the vast majority of arterial roads in the suburbs are five lanes; M-6 at the current southern end of development)
Worst: Traverse City (most roads are only two lanes, and the roads that are four lanes are overcrowded)
I like Washington's numbering plan. Since most of their state routes are just "spurs" of an interstate or US route, it makes adding more relatively easy.
Illinois is god awful - its no wonder why peeps really refer them as IDiOT.
Illinois had its brief shining moment with the supplemenatl freeway system and then ........
I can say it better than kharvey10
Iowa has its moments and i must give Missouri Credit for creativity under a terrible budget situation. indiana finally got its act together......after years of not much.
It is tough to compare directly Illinois is the wealthist of the Midwest states and I think that makes us even more embarassing in results
Quote from: ftballfan on July 28, 2011, 09:52:22 PM
In Michigan
Best: Grand Rapids (the vast majority of arterial roads in the suburbs are five lanes; M-6 at the current southern end of development)
Worst: Traverse City (most roads are only two lanes, and the roads that are four lanes are overcrowded)
I havent been to Traverse City since the mid-90s. Take it that bypass was never built.
I also like numbering schemes such as the ones used in Florida where state route numbers can usually be deduced by their location. Such as 9xx routes being south of US-90, for example. It also makes adding future routes relatively simple since you can just use the next unused number that follows the pattern.
Quote from: Quillz on July 29, 2011, 01:29:08 AM
Such as 9xx routes being south of US-90
do you mean "south of US-94"? "south of US-90" is vacuously true, as about 80% of the state's area is south of US-90!
but yes, the regional scheme makes a lot of sense for Florida given the layout of the state. 1 to 9 going clockwise starting from the Alabama state line along the Gulf.
Quote from: texaskdog on July 28, 2011, 11:54:55 PM
Quote from: ftballfan on July 28, 2011, 09:52:22 PM
In Michigan
Best: Grand Rapids (the vast majority of arterial roads in the suburbs are five lanes; M-6 at the current southern end of development)
Worst: Traverse City (most roads are only two lanes, and the roads that are four lanes are overcrowded)
I havent been to Traverse City since the mid-90s. Take it that bypass was never built.
I don't think that bypass was even seriously considered. There is, however, a pair of roads that were not designed as a bypass that are used as a bypass: South Airport Rd and Three Mile Rd. Those two, especially South Airport between US-31 and Garfield, is usually backed up. Also, there doesn't look like much room for a bypass of any kind anywhere around TC with lakes and homes on the southern and eastern sides of town. If you look at Traverse City on a state map, you would not realize that it is home to the two largest high schools north of Rockford. However, Cadillac did get their bypass.
Quote from: 3467 on July 28, 2011, 10:21:43 PM
Iowa has its moments and i must give Missouri Credit for creativity under a terrible budget situation.
That's one way to look at it. My way is MoDOT has started going more with designs that are cheap now but will become costly errors in the future, such as the recently rebuilt US 40, the US 40 upgrades in St. Charles County - how the heck is MoDOT not expecting the section between future MO 364 and I-70 to only require two lanes each way - the Missouri half of the Great Lemon Bridge for I-70, and the recently redone I-270/MO 364 interchange.
It sounds like IDiOT been doing from day 1 with designs. Some of their classics involve the location of the western terminus with I-24, I-39 not being built south of BNormal, I-270 in its entirely, the 270-255 interchange involving no aux lanes in the westbound direction, the I-64/I-255 interchange, I-55/72 east split interchange (I-72 exiting itself with a single lane loop ramp LMFAO), where I-57, I-72, and I-74 comes together; where I-55, I-39, and I-74 come together; the Illinois approaches to the replacement Clark Bridge in Alton (took only 8 months for locals to realize that IDiOT screwed them over with that project); I-39 up in Rockford area (until they redid some of that - it too had a single lane loop ramp at US 20); US 50 realignment in St. Clair and Clinton Counties (the locals in St. Clair County simply ignored it and still refer the old alignment as Route 50).
IDiOT. Enough said.
Best I-10 East of Los Angeles in the San Gorgonio Pass.
Also I-15 South of Barstow and entering Barstow from the south. Only problem isw then the 15 goes from 5 lanes northbound to 2 lanes in under 3 miles.
Worst I-5 through Norwalk, where it is still only 3 lanes eachway.