Really long interchanges

[leroys73]

Garden Ridge &  I-35E in Highland Village north of Dallas.  It is a bit complex. 

It does look a little weird; I don't know if I'd go as far as "complex" (but of course, where I live there are tons of funny-looking interchanges like that). I see that the SB exit ramp is way to the north, which does make the interchange pretty long, and which probably happens a lot given the typical frontage road setup in Texas.

A side question could be, in a Texas frontage road system, what's the farthest in advance an exit ramp diverges, in relation to its signed destination?

The north bound exit goes through a mass transit train station parking lot.  I still think these people go to a special school to see how screwed up they can make exits.  35 is to be redone from Dallas to Denton, more lanes and probably tolls.  They started working on the 407 interchange (south of Garden Ridge) many years ago and stopped.  I am 64 now so I doubt I'll live to see this one finished.   

[formulanone]

I-295 North to the exit for FL 21 is a long ramp.

I-275 West (southbound) to the exit for Himes Avenue (in Tampa) seems to take a long time. It uses the former alignment of 275 for a few miles (whereas I-275 South presently uses the former North-bound lanes).

[NE2]

I-275 West (southbound) to the exit for Himes Avenue (in Tampa) seems to take a long time. It uses the former alignment of 275 for a few miles (whereas I-275 South presently uses the former North-bound lanes).

Not anymore: http://tbinterstates.com/news/details.asp?newsid=3384

[roadman65]

I was once in Fort Lauderdale on I-95 and noticed that when you enter from some of the local roads like Sunrise Boulevard to SB I-95 you have a long way before you merge onto I-95 proper.  In fact to get to I-595 from that location, you do not even enter the main travel lanes at all. 

I do not know if it counts or not, being it could be a long c/d roadway or a local lane rather than an elongated ramp, but its worth noting.

[formulanone]

The ramps to and from 595 are quite long; I think they act as C/Ds, but once you leave I-95 Southbound / I-595 West, there is no way to get back onto it unless you get off at another exit (say, Davie Road). So I suppose it's not a full collector/distributor.

I guess I take to and from work nearly every week, should have mentioned those...

[catch22]

Garden Ridge &  I-35E in Highland Village north of Dallas.  It is a bit complex. 

It does look a little weird; I don't know if I'd go as far as "complex" (but of course, where I live there are tons of funny-looking interchanges like that). I see that the SB exit ramp is way to the north, which does make the interchange pretty long, and which probably happens a lot given the typical frontage road setup in Texas.

A side question could be, in a Texas frontage road system, what's the farthest in advance an exit ramp diverges, in relation to its signed destination?

The north bound exit goes through a mass transit train station parking lot.  I still think these people go to a special school to see how screwed up they can make exits.  35 is to be redone from Dallas to Denton, more lanes and probably tolls.  They started working on the 407 interchange (south of Garden Ridge) many years ago and stopped.  I am 64 now so I doubt I'll live to see this one finished.   

I had the pleasure (?) of negotiating both of these interchanges on a recent trip to attend my nephew's wedding in Highland Village.  When I wound up in the parking lot at Garden Ridge, I thought I must have made a wrong turn somehow.  And exiting from NB I-35 to WB 407 was a rather strange trip indeed.

[leroys73]

Garden Ridge &  I-35E in Highland Village north of Dallas.  It is a bit complex. 

It does look a little weird; I don't know if I'd go as far as "complex" (but of course, where I live there are tons of funny-looking interchanges like that). I see that the SB exit ramp is way to the north, which does make the interchange pretty long, and which probably happens a lot given the typical frontage road setup in Texas.

A side question could be, in a Texas frontage road system, what's the farthest in advance an exit ramp diverges, in relation to its signed destination?

The north bound exit goes through a mass transit train station parking lot.  I still think these people go to a special school to see how screwed up they can make exits.  35 is to be redone from Dallas to Denton, more lanes and probably tolls.  They started working on the 407 interchange (south of Garden Ridge) many years ago and stopped.  I am 64 now so I doubt I'll live to see this one finished.   

I had the pleasure (?) of negotiating both of these interchanges on a recent trip to attend my nephew's wedding in Highland Village.  When I wound up in the parking lot at Garden Ridge, I thought I must have made a wrong turn somehow.  And exiting from NB I-35 to WB 407 was a rather strange trip indeed.

Their must be a college degree in how to build the worst interchanges.

[empirestate]

Their must be a college degree in how to build the worst interchanges.

collage*

[mgk920]

Their must be a college degree in how to build the worst interchanges.

collage*

Some of them look like grade-schoolers' collages.



Mike

[HighwayMaster]

I-80 / I-215 east side of SLC:

http://goo.gl/maps/nlQnr

That ramp that turns into a 2-lane road...

[brownpelican]

I nominate the I-10/Causeway Blvd./Veterans Blvd interchange. The new ramps to/from North Causeway to I-10 are pretty long.

https://maps.google.com/?ll=40.712492,-111.80063&spn=0.013939,0.032809&t=m&z=16

[kphoger]

Did you link to the exact same map as HighwayMaster on purpose?

[SSOWorld]

This puffed up trumpet at the junction of I-39/US 51 and US 10 west is in the spirit of this thread:

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=44.59520,-89.61629&z=15&t=S

It's much bigger than one would've expected and seems to have only been done that way to avoid moving a mere county road.

I've always thought that that one was designed that way to allow full speed on the US 10 ramps in an area with relatively cheap land.

The ramp separating I-94 west from I-80 west in Illinois is a good example. The gore point starts less than a mile after crossing into the state, follows alongside I-80, then pulls away and finally merges with traffic on Illinois 394...nearly three miles after the initial separation. (This does not take into account the separation for Illinois 394 southbound traffic.)

Another candidate could be the high ramps connecting the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) to the westbound Jane Addams Tollway (I-294 North to I-90 West) or Kennedy Expressway (I-294 South to I-90 East). They go for about 1.5 miles before the transition is completed.

Don't forget I-88/355 in west suburban Chicagoland.



Also, the NB off ramp for 75th St (interchange 227) in the SW Kansas Kansas City suburbs diverges from I-35 a short distance south of 87th St (interchange 225).

Mike

What about the Hillside strangler? (88, 290, 294)?