Coolest Interchanges

[cpzilliacus]

Md. 200 (ICC) Exit 16 at U.S. 29 (Columbia Pike) should qualify in the "cool" department.  Especially the two flyovers in the middle, and the loop ramp in the southwest corner of the interchange.

[vdeane]

What's going on with the satellite image out east of there?  It looks like that section of ICC is not open, but at the same time is paved and striped to Virginia Manor Rd with a temporary end and a U turn lane.  Do they really intend to segregate a 0.45 section to US 1 to be built last?

[cpzilliacus]

What's going on with the satellite image out east of there?  It looks like that section of ICC is not open, but at the same time is paved and striped to Virginia Manor Rd with a temporary end and a U turn lane.  Do they really intend to segregate a 0.45 section to US 1 to be built last?

Good question.

You are correct regarding Md. 200 (currently).  It is not open to traffic between U.S. 1 (Baltimore Avenue) and I-95 in Prince George's County.  However, it is open to official (MdTA) traffic, because the MdTA has its Eastern [ICC] Operations Center in a large complex off of Virginia Manor Road just north of Cinder Road (here).  The "road" that leads to Virginia Manor Road ends at-grade at a STOP sign north of where Md. 200 will run under Virginia Manor Road later this year.  The access points to this road are all signed "FOR USE BY OFFICIAL AND AUTHORIZED VEHICLES ONLY" (or something similar).

The rest of Md. 200 (including an at-grade intersection at U.S. 1) and a half interchange at Virginia Manor Road and the completion of the I-95 C-D lanes between Md. 200 and Md. 198 and an interchange at Contee Road, are all being built now by contractors working for Maryland SHA on Contract D/E. Should be complete by the  end of calendar year 2013.

At  one point, there was talk of Md. 200 only going as far as Virginia Manor Road to save money, but the bids came in low enough that all of master-planned Md. 200 will be done by the end of 2013.

[johndoe]

Thanks for sharing the Minnesota example, really unique and interesting.  This site has a lot of interesting visuals: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/169/performance.html

[roadman65]

I was always fascinated by the US 50 & 301, MD 2, and MD 450 interchange.  If you travel from MD 2 to WB MD 450 (that is straight through) you actually cross over the EB US 50 and MD 450 connector to MD 2 NB (also straight through from MD 450) and loop around to actually head into an at grade intersection with EB MD 450 to NB MD 2. 

I have never seen an interchange set up like that, but the original NE interchange of I-95 and I-695 near Whitemarsh, MD, but both sides return to the original configuration at a second grade separation.  I do not know if cool is the word to describe it, or not, but it definitely is impressive.

Even the way the stack set up is where the piers that support the ramps from SB MD 2 to EB US 50 and WB MD 450 are sitting ON TOP of the bridge below it carrying US 50 & 301 over NB MD 2.  Most 3 levels have the piers in the corners or if its in the middle it usually rests to the side of the lowest grade unless its the NJ Turnpike at the Garden State Parkway and CR 514 intersection in NJ where the top CR 514 bridge's center piers rest on top of the Garden State Parkway's bridge's center pier in the middle of the NJT's inner roadway.  This one has a pass under pier support in the middle of US 50 & 301 straddling NB MD 2.  Its basically a bridge on a bridge!

[kphoger]

Thanks for sharing the Minnesota example, really unique and interesting.  This site has a lot of interesting visuals: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/169/performance.html

Awesome!  Thanks for the link!

[roadman65]

The Minnesota one is cool, I must admit! 

[Tom958]

What's the total number of roundabouts slated for construction at that interchange?

5 1/2? 

[Brandon]

Just found this on Google Maps in Borger, Texas: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=35.661306,-101.399238&spn=0.006494,0.009645&t=h&z=17

[roadman65]

I just noticed that Exit 5 on the Delaware Turnpike is cool the way you have an inside cloverleaf ramp from NB DE 141 & US 202 to I-95 NB.  Because I-295 diverges from I-95 northbound just north of DE 141 on the right side, and the NB I-95 ramp to DE 141 North Merges with DE 141 just before it crosses the NB lanes of I-95, it has to exit from the left after the crossing to avoid weaving.

I have never seen a reverse cloverleaf ramp used, and one that loops in the median of a highway.  I did see, however, the original NB I-95 to Inner I-495 in Springfield, VA have its cloverleaf ramp loop continue over I-495 and merge from the left due to the I-95 SB exit departing the Beltway where a proper merging area was needed.  This, though, does not compare to this one although both are cool.

[1995hoo]

I just noticed that Exit 5 on the Delaware Turnpike is cool the way you have an inside cloverleaf ramp from NB DE 141 & US 202 to I-95 NB.  Because I-295 diverges from I-95 northbound just north of DE 141 on the right side, and the NB I-95 ramp to DE 141 North Merges with DE 141 just before it crosses the NB lanes of I-95, it has to exit from the left after the crossing to avoid weaving.

I have never seen a reverse cloverleaf ramp used, and one that loops in the median of a highway.  I did see, however, the original NB I-95 to Inner I-495 in Springfield, VA have its cloverleaf ramp loop continue over I-495 and merge from the left due to the I-95 SB exit departing the Beltway where a proper merging area was needed.  This, though, does not compare to this one although both are cool.

Actually, that wasn't the original design. Originally there was a single exit from I-95 to I-495 and the ramp split after you exited. The right-hand branch went to the Outer Loop and the left-hand branch joined the Inner Loop on the left in the same area where that later long loop ramp joined. The original design with the single exit didn't work well because of the volumes of traffic exiting onto the Beltway. Separating the two exits helped a bit, though as you know it didn't solve the problem.

Scott Kozel has a diagram and photo of the original interchange. I don't know if he's OK with embedding material from his site, so I'll just link it. In this illustration, I-95 South to/from Richmond is to the right, old I-95 (later I-395) is to the left, and the Beltway runs top-to-bottom (Wilson Bridge off the top, Tysons off the bottom).

http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Springfield_Interchange_Orig_XL.jpg

Historic Aerials also lets you view how it evolved over the years (I've set it to start with 1964; in this image, I-95 runs top-to-bottom). You may need to zoom it out a little. Their images only go up to 2005, however.

http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=3.2E-05&lat=38.7897548661164&lon=-77.1765543906248&year=1964

[roadman65]

So, its a second original, and YES it did not work, as many commuters had a nightmare at that location.

It must of been before my time, or too young for me to remember.  The flyover helped out real well as I flew over the old ramps that had the two mile long backups that occurred at one time.

[1995hoo]

So, its a second original, and YES it did not work, as many commuters had a nightmare at that location.

It must of been before my time, or too young for me to remember.  The flyover helped out real well as I flew over the old ramps that had the two mile long backups that occurred at one time.

Yes, absolutely, that interchange is a prime example of a reconstruction that worked to solve traffic problems. I live a few miles east of there and so I drive through it frequently. I believe I mentioned earlier in this thread how prior to the rebuild, I'd often start down the ramp from Van Dorn Street (one exit east of Springfield) onto the Beltway, see it at a standstill, and cut a U-turn across a gravel area near the bottom of the ramp to go a different way.

Of course there are still traffic issues and sometimes traffic still backs up through the Springfield Interchange, the worst instance being during an ice storm a few years ago, but with the exception of that ice storm (when the overpasses froze) the backups are no longer because of that interchange's deficient design but rather due to other issues (construction downstream, lane drop further south on I-95, etc.).

[kphoger]

the backups are no longer because of that interchange's deficient design but rather due to other issues (construction downstream, lane drop further south on I-95, etc.).

Sorry, but David Hume contradicted you clear back in the 18th Century:

In a word, then, every effect is a distinct event from its cause. It could not, therefore, be discovered in the cause, and the first invention or conception of it, a priori, must be entirely arbitrary. And even after it is suggested, the conjunction of it with the cause must appear equally arbitrary, since there are always many other effects, which, to reason, must seem fully as consistent and natural. In vain, therefore, should we pretend to determine any single event, or infer any cause or effect, without the assistance of observation and experience.

Hence we may discover the reason why no philosopher, who is rational and modest, has ever pretended to assign the ultimate cause of any natural operation, or to show distinctly the action of that power, which produces any single effect in the universe. It is confessed, that the utmost effort of human reason is to reduce the principles, productive of natural phenomena, to a greater simplicity, and to resolve the many particular effects into a few general causes, by means of reasonings from analogy, experience, and observation. But as to the causes of these general causes, we should in vain attempt their discovery, nor shall we ever be able to satisfy ourselves, by any particular explication of them. These ultimate springs and principles are totally shut up from human curiosity and enquiry.

[KEK Inc.]

Anyone know of any heart shaped interchanges for valentine's day?

[agentsteel53]

Sorry, but David Hume contradicted you clear back in the 18th Century:

"clear" is not the first word which comes to mind when reading 18th century English.  it seems to me a lot of the writers were cashing out the fifty-cent words like they were gonna be devalued in a week!

[KEK Inc.]

With some Photoshop bullshitting, I can make a heart from this.  (It's US-101 and Fair Oaks Ave.)  Although, you can easily make a very phallic image from it. 

[agentsteel53]

Although, you can easily make a very phallic image from it.

yeah, when I see an interchange with two cloverleaves, in consecutive quadrants... I think of a very particular anatomical construct.

[kj3400]

Although, you can easily make a very phallic image from it.

yeah, when I see an interchange with two cloverleaves, in consecutive quadrants... I think of a very particular anatomical construct.

One of a peninsular quality.

[Bud8Amp88]

The Micmac Parclo

This was an at-grade rotary until the early 90's, and fans out to the widest stretch of highway in the Atlantic Provinces at 12 lanes.

[vdeane]

Although, you can easily make a very phallic image from it.

yeah, when I see an interchange with two cloverleaves, in consecutive quadrants... I think of a very particular anatomical construct.

And on that note, we have this: http://goo.gl/maps/tZlF4

I'm sure men will find this one particularly horrifying: http://goo.gl/maps/Cvb3j

[kj3400]

Not if you look at it from the other direction. Looks fine to me.

</state of denial>