Not going the whole 100 yards

[roadman65]

US 22/30 where it leaves I-376 near Pittsburgh Airport.  Its got some traffic signals at that interchange, but basically going WB from the interchange independent US 22/30 is a freeway just as the interstate is.  You figure a freeway to freeway connection would have been built instead of this. 

However the same goes from PA 581 to S Bound US 15 at Camp Hill near Harrisburg with one traffic light governing the movement between the two freeways as well.

Also I-99 and I-80 they never built the typical freeway to freeway interchange, but stopped I-99 a few hundred feet south of I-80 as well.

[noelbotevera]

I-283 at PA 283.

So what's happening here is that you have to make a tight loop ramp onto a surface street briefly, then turn right at the beginning of PA 283 (vice versa). The other movements place you on PA 283 because the route has already begun at the surface street. Only SB-EB does this (vice versa).

[jp the roadgeek]

The CT 72 extension into Bristol is a letdown considering what it could have been and could be.  Should've been a freeway extension to CT 8 in Thomaston.  Instead, the extension is a 4 lane boulevard about 1.5 mi long with at grade intersections and a 40 MPH limit connecting to an existing street running parallel to the old route.  Once there, the route has plenty of at grade intersections and business driveways.

[english si]

Any chance the Highways Agency will grade-separate that roundabout?

It's Coventry City Council's road, rather than a trunk road and always has been.

And no. If it wasn't done with the rest of the road, it won't be done now. J6 was recently remade to make it less of a barrier, and adding more grade-separation would be against that (as well as making the road flow worse)

[PHLBOS]

I-676/US 30 - Vine Expressway/Ben Franklin Bridge interchange in Philadelphia.  The thru- I-676/US 30 movements (Expressway to Bridge & vice-versa) involve encountering two signalized intersections (one for each direction).

There were plans to construct the above as a full-free-movement highway-to-highway/bridge interchange but was dropped when the Vine Expressway (eastern half) was scaled down to its current design during the 1980s.  Proposals of converting the current interchange with free-movement ramps have been talked about from time to time but no action has been taken to advance such from CAD screens & posterboards to reality..

[ekt8750]

I-676/US 30 - Vine Expressway/Ben Franklin Bridge interchange in Philadelphia.  The thru- I-676/US 30 movements (Expressway to Bridge & vice-versa) involve encountering two signalized intersections (one for each direction).

There were plans to construct the above as a full-free-movement highway-to-highway/bridge interchange but was dropped when the Vine Expressway (eastern half) was scaled down to its current design during the 1980s.  Proposals of converting the current interchange with free-movement ramps have been talked about from time to time but no action has been taken to advance such from CAD screens & posterboards to reality..

Gotta love that that block of 6th St is part of the Interstate system.

I wonder if there were ever plans to tunnel under 6th St and the Lightning Bolt sculpture and connect with the bridge that way.

[jeffandnicole]

I-676/US 30 - Vine Expressway/Ben Franklin Bridge interchange in Philadelphia.  The thru- I-676/US 30 movements (Expressway to Bridge & vice-versa) involve encountering two signalized intersections (one for each direction).

There were plans to construct the above as a full-free-movement highway-to-highway/bridge interchange but was dropped when the Vine Expressway (eastern half) was scaled down to its current design during the 1980s.  Proposals of converting the current interchange with free-movement ramps have been talked about from time to time but no action has been taken to advance such from CAD screens & posterboards to reality..

Gotta love that that block of 6th St is part of the Interstate system.

I wonder if there were ever plans to tunnel under 6th St and the Lightning Bolt sculpture and connect with the bridge that way.

Nope.  There's a subway system there that's in the way.  In fact, there's an entire subway station there that hasn't been used since the 1970's.

[odditude]

I-676/US 30 - Vine Expressway/Ben Franklin Bridge interchange in Philadelphia.  The thru- I-676/US 30 movements (Expressway to Bridge & vice-versa) involve encountering two signalized intersections (one for each direction).

There were plans to construct the above as a full-free-movement highway-to-highway/bridge interchange but was dropped when the Vine Expressway (eastern half) was scaled down to its current design during the 1980s.  Proposals of converting the current interchange with free-movement ramps have been talked about from time to time but no action has been taken to advance such from CAD screens & posterboards to reality..

Gotta love that that block of 6th St is part of the Interstate system.

I wonder if there were ever plans to tunnel under 6th St and the Lightning Bolt sculpture and connect with the bridge that way.

Nope.  There's a subway system there that's in the way.  In fact, there's an entire subway station there that hasn't been used since the 1970's.

and yet it still could be reopened.

[Katavia]

US 74 between Albemarle Rd and Eastway (?) still has some at grade intersections - probably because of the Coliseum...

[PHLBOS]

I-676/US 30 - Vine Expressway/Ben Franklin Bridge interchange in Philadelphia.  The thru- I-676/US 30 movements (Expressway to Bridge & vice-versa) involve encountering two signalized intersections (one for each direction).

There were plans to construct the above as a full-free-movement highway-to-highway/bridge interchange but was dropped when the Vine Expressway (eastern half) was scaled down to its current design during the 1980s.  Proposals of converting the current interchange with free-movement ramps have been talked about from time to time but no action has been taken to advance such from CAD screens & posterboards to reality..

Gotta love that that block of 6th St is part of the Interstate system.

I wonder if there were ever plans to tunnel under 6th St and the Lightning Bolt sculpture and connect with the bridge that way.

Nope.  There's a subway system there that's in the way.  In fact, there's an entire subway station there that hasn't been used since the 1970's.

For those not completely familiar with the area, the Franklin Square Station is located on the west side of Franklin Square itself (along 7th St.).

Location of former entrance.

[Sykotyk]

US 22/30 where it leaves I-376 near Pittsburgh Airport.  Its got some traffic signals at that interchange, but basically going WB from the interchange independent US 22/30 is a freeway just as the interstate is.  You figure a freeway to freeway connection would have been built instead of this. 

However the same goes from PA 581 to S Bound US 15 at Camp Hill near Harrisburg with one traffic light governing the movement between the two freeways as well.

Also I-99 and I-80 they never built the typical freeway to freeway interchange, but stopped I-99 a few hundred feet south of I-80 as well.

What makes that US22/30/I-376 interchange more maddening was that it WAS a full freeway interchange that was scaled back. Previously, on 376 WB, you had a right ramp that took you to Campbells Run Rd and then the loop ramp under that only went to WB 22. Essentially, it was a very tight cloverleaf with the one leg cut short from 376 WB to PA 60 EB). But, with the high traffic on the ramps, merging traffic became a nightmare.

So, they turned it into a parclo with the lights. Rumor was a 376 WB/US22-30 WB flyover ramp is a long term goal. But, not a pressing issue.

[tckma]

US-29 at Diamondback Drive in Columbia, MD.  MD SHA has already removed the other at-grade intersections on 29 in Columbia.
MD-100, implied exits 21 and 22.
MD-32 between MD-108 and I-70, though I think construction is planned to fix this.  See the implied exit 23 recently constructed at Linden Church Road, the entrance to the Dayton MD SHA shop at implied exit 25, and implied exit 27 with Ten Oaks Road/Burntwoods Road.

[vdeane]

US 15/PA 581 - both freeways, but the interchange has stoplights.  Worse, it used to be a freeway/freeway interchange, and is on the Rochester/DC corridor, which IMO should be made entirely freeway.

[tckma]

US 15/PA 581 - both freeways, but the interchange has stoplights.  Worse, it used to be a freeway/freeway interchange, and is on the Rochester/DC corridor, which IMO should be made entirely freeway.

This is the route I take to/from the Harrisburg area.  The 15/581 interchange has stoplights because of the lane configuration.  You have three lanes coming off the ramp from PA 581 west to US 15 South, which is three lanes at the beginning of a freeway.  If there were no stoplight there that would be quite the CF of a merge.  But they can't (I suppose) widen 15 to make that a smooth merge unless they knock down the Boscov's there.

Adding to this suggestion, the entire section of US-15 in PA through Dillsburg, from County Line Road through to Carroll Drive.  IMO, this should be a bypass route and keep the original road as Business 15 through Dillsburg.  Looking at Google Maps, it seems like a bypass to the west to carry US-15 proper would probably be do-able.

(Furthermore, WHY does US-15 in southern PA NOT have exit numbers?)

[tckma]

MD 140 from the end of I-795 all the way through to Westminster is in most places a freeway-quality road, and in some places I would say even Interstate grade.  In several places, Old Westminster Pike could function as a kind of frontage / service road.  BUT it's covered with at-grade intersections, stoplights, and businesses that have no other road access.

This one likely belongs in the "fictional highways" thread, but I'd say extend I-795 through to Gettysburg so that Baltimore-Gettysburg is an all-freeway route.  Hell, connect it to the PA Turnpike (via the US-15 modifications previously mentioned) and renumber it to I-776 -- A spur (1st digit odd) 3di that actually connects to its parent which 795 does not, and I-776 kinda looks like 1776 so you can say take 1776 to Gettysburg.

[vdeane]

US 15/PA 581 - both freeways, but the interchange has stoplights.  Worse, it used to be a freeway/freeway interchange, and is on the Rochester/DC corridor, which IMO should be made entirely freeway.

This is the route I take to/from the Harrisburg area.  The 15/581 interchange has stoplights because of the lane configuration.  You have three lanes coming off the ramp from PA 581 west to US 15 South, which is three lanes at the beginning of a freeway.  If there were no stoplight there that would be quite the CF of a merge.  But they can't (I suppose) widen 15 to make that a smooth merge unless they knock down the Boscov's there.

Adding to this suggestion, the entire section of US-15 in PA through Dillsburg, from County Line Road through to Carroll Drive.  IMO, this should be a bypass route and keep the original road as Business 15 through Dillsburg.  Looking at Google Maps, it seems like a bypass to the west to carry US-15 proper would probably be do-able.

(Furthermore, WHY does US-15 in southern PA NOT have exit numbers?)

The whole issue appears to be a result of the decision to make that loop ramp three lanes.  They need a light to deal with the number of lanes, but it would appear that they only need the lanes because of the light.  Also, there's the US 15 NB to PA 581 WB left turn abomination too, and that's where the through traffic from Washington, DC to Rochester, NY travels!

[MisterSG1]

US 15/PA 581 - both freeways, but the interchange has stoplights.  Worse, it used to be a freeway/freeway interchange, and is on the Rochester/DC corridor, which IMO should be made entirely freeway.

This is the route I take to/from the Harrisburg area.  The 15/581 interchange has stoplights because of the lane configuration.  You have three lanes coming off the ramp from PA 581 west to US 15 South, which is three lanes at the beginning of a freeway.  If there were no stoplight there that would be quite the CF of a merge.  But they can't (I suppose) widen 15 to make that a smooth merge unless they knock down the Boscov's there.

Adding to this suggestion, the entire section of US-15 in PA through Dillsburg, from County Line Road through to Carroll Drive.  IMO, this should be a bypass route and keep the original road as Business 15 through Dillsburg.  Looking at Google Maps, it seems like a bypass to the west to carry US-15 proper would probably be do-able.

(Furthermore, WHY does US-15 in southern PA NOT have exit numbers?)

The whole issue appears to be a result of the decision to make that loop ramp three lanes.  They need a light to deal with the number of lanes, but it would appear that they only need the lanes because of the light.  Also, there's the US 15 NB to PA 581 WB left turn abomination too, and that's where the through traffic from Washington, DC to Rochester, NY travels!

I don't know, what if they removed one of the lanes in that big loop ramp, as there are an impressive 3 lanes in a loop ramp. If it's the wide loop ramp that causes the need for the light, why can't they instead, erect a long flyover ramp that carries two lanes over, and conveniently dumps you onto US-15?

[cl94]

US 15/PA 581 - both freeways, but the interchange has stoplights.  Worse, it used to be a freeway/freeway interchange, and is on the Rochester/DC corridor, which IMO should be made entirely freeway.

This is the route I take to/from the Harrisburg area.  The 15/581 interchange has stoplights because of the lane configuration.  You have three lanes coming off the ramp from PA 581 west to US 15 South, which is three lanes at the beginning of a freeway.  If there were no stoplight there that would be quite the CF of a merge.  But they can't (I suppose) widen 15 to make that a smooth merge unless they knock down the Boscov's there.

Adding to this suggestion, the entire section of US-15 in PA through Dillsburg, from County Line Road through to Carroll Drive.  IMO, this should be a bypass route and keep the original road as Business 15 through Dillsburg.  Looking at Google Maps, it seems like a bypass to the west to carry US-15 proper would probably be do-able.

(Furthermore, WHY does US-15 in southern PA NOT have exit numbers?)

The whole issue appears to be a result of the decision to make that loop ramp three lanes.  They need a light to deal with the number of lanes, but it would appear that they only need the lanes because of the light.  Also, there's the US 15 NB to PA 581 WB left turn abomination too, and that's where the through traffic from Washington, DC to Rochester, NY travels!

I don't know, what if they removed one of the lanes in that big loop ramp, as there are an impressive 3 lanes in a loop ramp. If it's the wide loop ramp that causes the need for the light, why can't they instead, erect a long flyover ramp that carries two lanes over, and conveniently dumps you onto US-15?

This is PennDOT we're talking about. They will do whatever is the cheapest option at the moment regardless of future costs or demand. PTC is no better (see: King of Prussia interchange with room for 2 lanes on extremely tight loop ramp).

[Joe The Dragon]

Palatine Road at wheeling road

IL-83 has a few kind of's

o plaine rd and IL-120

[tckma]

This is PennDOT we're talking about. They will do whatever is the cheapest option at the moment regardless of future costs or demand. PTC is no better (see: King of Prussia interchange with room for 2 lanes on extremely tight loop ramp).

Not sure I agree with you there.  The complete and total resurfacing of I-380 when I was in college in the mid-to-late-1990s (I took 80-380-81 from Long Island to the Finger Lakes region) didn't seem like a particularly inexpensive option compared with patching potholes.  They had that road one lane in each direction for close to two years, too, which means paying all those people working on the road for that long.

(I used to joke with college friends from my area I drove up to school with after this construction was complete -- there was a sign for the Dunmore area that says "Dunmore Exits" with a list -- I'd say, "Look, they told us what they did with the construction.  They done more exits.")

[Buffaboy]

There's a lot more than one.

The "freeway" portion of the Saw Mill effectively ends at Executive Blvd. North of there there are over a dozen at grade intersections, although not all of them are signalized.

Hell, there's even one right next to the end of the southbound ramp from the New York State Thruway. I don't know why they don't close the thing and turn it into a dead end street.

What genius came up with that idea?

[Buffaboy]

Infamous in Central New York is the North South Arterial in Utica. They just spent a ton of money upgrading the viaduct on what could theoretically be an expressway from Binghamton to Utica and points north, but there are 2 traffic lights in the middle of it. There is also an at grade railroad crossing that should be eliminated near the NY-840 interchange.

[Bitmapped]

US 22/30 where it leaves I-376 near Pittsburgh Airport.  Its got some traffic signals at that interchange, but basically going WB from the interchange independent US 22/30 is a freeway just as the interstate is.  You figure a freeway to freeway connection would have been built instead of this. 

However the same goes from PA 581 to S Bound US 15 at Camp Hill near Harrisburg with one traffic light governing the movement between the two freeways as well.

Also I-99 and I-80 they never built the typical freeway to freeway interchange, but stopped I-99 a few hundred feet south of I-80 as well.

What makes that US22/30/I-376 interchange more maddening was that it WAS a full freeway interchange that was scaled back. Previously, on 376 WB, you had a right ramp that took you to Campbells Run Rd and then the loop ramp under that only went to WB 22. Essentially, it was a very tight cloverleaf with the one leg cut short from 376 WB to PA 60 EB). But, with the high traffic on the ramps, merging traffic became a nightmare.

So, they turned it into a parclo with the lights. Rumor was a 376 WB/US22-30 WB flyover ramp is a long term goal. But, not a pressing issue.

Overall, the parclo is an improvement over the old cloverleaf. The weaves were bad. In the current setup, traffic from I-376 WB to US 22/30 WB basically never has to stop because while there is a traffic light, it would only stop that movement for a pedestrian and there never are because it's otherwise a freeway to the west. Traffic from US 22/30 EB to I-376 EB has a free flowing right turn.

[vdeane]

Infamous in Central New York is the North South Arterial in Utica. They just spent a ton of money upgrading the viaduct on what could theoretically be an expressway from Binghamton to Utica and points north, but there are 2 traffic lights in the middle of it. There is also an at grade railroad crossing that should be eliminated near the NY-840 interchange.

I'm not sure if that section of NY 5/12 is considered a freeway or not.  In any case, a freeway-freeway connection doesn't exist between NY 5 east/NY 12 north and NY 8 south, so there's more issues than that... not to mention the at-grade crossings on NY 840 right there (definitely a freeway), and NY 49 (which might become future I-790!).

[TheOneKEA]

US-29 at Diamondback Drive in Columbia, MD.  MD SHA has already removed the other at-grade intersections on 29 in Columbia.
MD-100, implied exits 21 and 22.
MD-32 between MD-108 and I-70, though I think construction is planned to fix this.  See the implied exit 23 recently constructed at Linden Church Road, the entrance to the Dayton MD SHA shop at implied exit 25, and implied exit 27 with Ten Oaks Road/Burntwoods Road.

MD 32 is definitely going to become a full freeway between MD 108 and I-70. The state has committed to constructing a 2nd carriage way between MD 108 and Linden Church Road and I believe the next major construction project will be the removal of most of the driveways and side roads.

US 1/MD 24 in Bel Air fits into a similar category. It was always supposed to be a freeway grade bypass but the state ran out of money or move it elsewhere and left behind a half-complete partial freeway that is mostly grade separated but has at-grade crossings for through traffic on MD 24 south.