Should every major coast-to-coast/border-to-border Interstate be 6+ lanes?

[planxtymcgillicuddy]

Was talking about this with a friend, and I'll propose the same question to you: Should every major coast-to-coast/border-to-border Interstate thoroughfare be at least 6 lanes for its entire length?

[hotdogPi]

No. I-10 and I-20 in western Texas are low-volume enough that an Interstate isn't necessary there, and they were only included for connectivity.

I-95 in northern Maine was initially one lane per direction, and it was changed due to Interstate requirements and to allow passing slower vehicles, not because of traffic counts. There is absolutely no reason to make I-95 in northern Maine 6 lan es.

[jeffandnicole]

Was talking about this with a friend, and I'll propose the same question to you: Should every major coast-to-coast/border-to-border Interstate thoroughfare be at least 6 lanes for its entire length?

One size fits all rarely works well.  Montana will surly object why their I-15 needs to be 6 lanes wide and Wyoming needs I-25 to be 6 lanes wide, when their entire states have smaller populations than many cities.

[TXtoNJ]

Was talking about this with a friend, and I'll propose the same question to you: Should every major coast-to-coast/border-to-border Interstate thoroughfare be at least 6 lanes for its entire length?

One size fits all rarely works well.  Montana will surly object why their I-15 needs to be 6 lanes wide and Wyoming needs I-25 to be 6 lanes wide, when their entire states have smaller populations than many cities.

Even I-80 in Wyoming could stand to be 6 lanes wide, if only for safety purposes. When the winds get going, being next to a 18-wheeler gets dangerous out there.

[D-Dey65]

I-95 in northern Maine was initially one lane per direction, and it was changed due to Interstate requirements and to allow passing slower vehicles, not because of traffic counts. There is absolutely no reason to make I-95 in northern Maine 6 lanes.

NOTE: Typo fixed.
From what I've seen on Google Street View, you're right. But they do need 6 lanes through the Carolinas and southern Virginia.

[Flint1979]

For I-75 much of it is three lanes south of Bay City, Michigan, north of there except for some passing lanes and areas it's two lanes all the way to Sault Ste Marie.

South of there I think a lot of I-75 is more than two lanes but there are certain stretches of it that are still two lanes for longer stretches. I think going through southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee it goes down to two lanes for a while and each direction.

With all that said I do believe that I-75 should be at least three lanes from Standish Michigan where US 23 splits all the way to at least Naples, Florida.

I-75 is one of the only major interstates that I know almost everything about.

[Flint1979]

No. I-10 and I-20 in western Texas are low-volume enough that an Interstate isn't necessary there, and they were only included for connectivity.

I-95 in northern Maine was initially one lane per direction, and it was changed due to Interstate requirements and to allow passing slower vehicles, not because of traffic counts. There is absolutely no reason to make I-95 in northern Maine 6 lan es.

I would think that with even with the low population in western Texas that I-10 and I-20 probably serve a lot of through traffic what are the counts of traffic on those highways out in that area?

[webny99]

The short answer is No.
There's also a question of what constitutes a "major" 2di, but even if you're limiting it to I-X0's and I-X5's, there are segments of all of them - yes, even I-95 - that are fine with four lanes.

If you're interested in which specific segments could use widening, I started what became a lengthy discussion of that here.

[jeffandnicole]

Was talking about this with a friend, and I'll propose the same question to you: Should every major coast-to-coast/border-to-border Interstate thoroughfare be at least 6 lanes for its entire length?

One size fits all rarely works well.  Montana will surly object why their I-15 needs to be 6 lanes wide and Wyoming needs I-25 to be 6 lanes wide, when their entire states have smaller populations than many cities.

Even I-80 in Wyoming could stand to be 6 lanes wide, if only for safety purposes. When the winds get going, being next to a 18-wheeler gets dangerous out there.

Is there accident data to support that, or is it just one's comfort level?

What if a truck was in the center lane? You're still gonna be one lane away.

[Revive 755]

I-95 in northern Maine was initially one lane per direction, and it was changed due to Interstate requirements and to allow passing slower vehicles, not because of traffic counts. There is absolutely no reason to make I-95 in northern Maine 6 lan es.

I thought in one of the other threads there was mention of the two lane I-95 having a high crash rate?

As to the original thread subject:  No to actually building six lanes, though I could see trying to have the ROW available to allow going to six lanes in the future with full shoulders on both sides.  Not that such an idea would always be feasible either.

[planxtymcgillicuddy]

The short answer is No.
There's also a question of what constitutes a "major" 2di, but even if you're limiting it to I-X0's and I-X5's, there are segments of all of them - yes, even I-95 - that are fine with four lanes.

I'm including the major I-x0's and I-x5's, as well as connecting interstates betwixt them. The big ones:

10/20/40/70/80/90

5/15/35/55/65/75/85/95

And other interstates serving as important connecting points:

8/24/44/49/57/59/64/71/eastern 76/77/81/83/91/93

[sprjus4]

No. I-10 and I-20 in western Texas are low-volume enough that an Interstate isn't necessary there, and they were only included for connectivity.

I-95 in northern Maine was initially one lane per direction, and it was changed due to Interstate requirements and to allow passing slower vehicles, not because of traffic counts. There is absolutely no reason to make I-95 in northern Maine 6 lan es.

I would think that with even with the low population in western Texas that I-10 and I-20 probably serve a lot of through traffic what are the counts of traffic on those highways out in that area?

I-10 between I-20 and Kerrville peaks at a whopping 15,000 AADT, dipping to nearly 5,000 AADT in rural areas. West of I-20, it sustains around 15,000 AADT until you get near El Paso.
I-20 between Fort Worth and I-10 maintains around 20,000 - 25,000 AADT east of Midland-Odessa, then dipping down below 10,000 AADT west of there.
Neither of those highways come to close to warranting 6 lanes, and the number of daily through traffic is under 5 digits.

I-10 between Mobile and Jacksonville doesn't even warrant 6 lanes - sustains under 30,000 AADT for most of its length.

[gonealookin]

I would like to see California, Oregon and Washington do this with I-5.

I-80 gets pretty lonely east of Fernley, NV.  6 lanes out there would be pointless.

[rarnold]

Case by case basis. There are some corridors that need more than six lanes (Colorado Front Range comes to mind), but to say all of them need to be at least six is overkill. I would put that effort into expanding some two-lane highways to four-lane. Grade separation and medians could lead to large gains in safety for those corridors.

[thspfc]

Oh please

[hobsini2]

Definitely on a case by case basis. There are a lot of stretches of the major interstates that do not need more than 4 total lanes.

[TXtoNJ]

Was talking about this with a friend, and I'll propose the same question to you: Should every major coast-to-coast/border-to-border Interstate thoroughfare be at least 6 lanes for its entire length?

One size fits all rarely works well.  Montana will surly object why their I-15 needs to be 6 lanes wide and Wyoming needs I-25 to be 6 lanes wide, when their entire states have smaller populations than many cities.

Even I-80 in Wyoming could stand to be 6 lanes wide, if only for safety purposes. When the winds get going, being next to a 18-wheeler gets dangerous out there.

Is there accident data to support that, or is it just one's comfort level?

What if a truck was in the center lane? You're still gonna be one lane away.

https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/west/2015/04/30/263109.htm
https://kslnewsradio.com/1920305/wyoming-crash-i-80/?

[STLmapboy]

I'm sorry, but the good people of Shelby, MT, may not need a six lane I-15.

Rather than spend more on pointless widenings, the money should be directed to maintaining what we already have (well, that and completion of 49 and 69).

[Revive 755]

And other interstates serving as important connecting points:

8/24/44/49/57/59/64/71/eastern 76/77/81/83/91/93

I-94 is not important?

[Bruce]

I would like to see California, Oregon and Washington do this with I-5.

I-80 gets pretty lonely east of Fernley, NV.  6 lanes out there would be pointless.

At least in WA, the only reasonable places I see left to six-lane are from Chehalis/Centralia to Vancouver. The northern stretch doesn't get that congested unless something major happens and would be difficult to widen, especially through Mount Vernon and Bellingham.

[I-55]

And other interstates serving as important connecting points:

8/24/44/49/57/59/64/71/eastern 76/77/81/83/91/93

I-94 is not important?

East of Minneapolis it ought to be 6 lanes by these standards.

[froggie]

^ Not really.  Peters out before you get to Eau Claire, let alone further.

[jeffandnicole]

Was talking about this with a friend, and I'll propose the same question to you: Should every major coast-to-coast/border-to-border Interstate thoroughfare be at least 6 lanes for its entire length?

One size fits all rarely works well.  Montana will surly object why their I-15 needs to be 6 lanes wide and Wyoming needs I-25 to be 6 lanes wide, when their entire states have smaller populations than many cities.

Even I-80 in Wyoming could stand to be 6 lanes wide, if only for safety purposes. When the winds get going, being next to a 18-wheeler gets dangerous out there.

Is there accident data to support that, or is it just one's comfort level?

What if a truck was in the center lane? You're still gonna be one lane away.

https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/west/2015/04/30/263109.htm
https://kslnewsradio.com/1920305/wyoming-crash-i-80/?

That's not data.  That's news stories of 2 incidents that occurred in extremely bad weather, and doesn't justify widening hundreds of miles of highways.

[kkt]

No.  This suggestion seems to suggest the need to make a road trip through the intermountain west.

If it's too windy to keep your rig within its 12 foot lane, perhaps consider pulling over until the storm passes?

[michravera]

Was talking about this with a friend, and I'll propose the same question to you: Should every major coast-to-coast/border-to-border Interstate thoroughfare be at least 6 lanes for its entire length?

In short, NO.

Now, there are plenty of 4-lane interstates that ought to be 6, but it is probably more common that sections that are 8 lanes should be 10 or 12. Larges sections on I-90, 80, 70, and 10 are underutilized in their 4-lane configurations. Now, they need to be 4 lanes in order to be safe, but they don't need to be 6.
I-5 could use 6 or 8 lanes all of the way from San Diego to Sacramento, but there is a 500 mile or so section between basically the Sacramento International Airport and Salem that needs a few 6-lane (or even 8-lane) spots in a couple of cities, but nowhere else and then another 150 or so mile section once you get completely away from Vancouver, WA on up to close to Tacoma.

I haven't driven I-15 much north of Las Vegas, so I don't know how much it would benefit from 6 lanes, but my guess is that once you are completely away from Las Vegas, 4 lanes is just fine until you get into the shadows of Salt Lake (or those cities that want everyone to know that they are real cities and not part of Salt Lake). I haven't been on I-25 away from Denver since it was completed (I was last on it away from Denver in 1975 before I could drive unsupervised), so I can't say how much more lanes might be required, but I-35 between Austin and San Antonio (once completely out of both cities) works just fine with 4 lanes. I suspect the same is true with much of I-35 in Texas. I haven't been on I-45, 55, 65, 75, or 85 away from cities or on I-95 away from the cities since I could drive on my own. Inside the Washington, DC area, I-95 sure seemed like it needed all of the lanes that it had and the same goes for the part between Boston and Washington back it 1975.