Worst Highway Ideas

[njroadhorse]

Here's one from across the pond:
http://www.cbrd.co.uk/media/photo/micklehambends/

This documents one of the most accident prone pieces of highway in the UK, and it helps if you have Google Maps/Earth open while viewing the photos.

BTW, incidentally, the above link gets you to an excellent British roads site if you're interested.

[codyg1985]

Here are a few in Huntsville, AL:

• I-565/US 231 interchange in Huntsville, AL: Movements between US 231 NB to I-565 WB in the morning rush and I-565 EB to US 231 SB in the evening rush are often slowed to a crawl. Traffic often stacks up onto I-565 in the evening and down US 231 in the morning. As a bonus, US 231 NB to I-565 WB is a loop ramp. The space given for the interchange is not a lot to work with, but now it can be seen that the design is inadequate for the traffic volumes in the area. Planners didn't (or couldn't) think of the 110,000 AADT on US 231 just south of the I-565 interchange, with about 10,000 of that going to I-565 WB. This leads me to my next point...
• US 231/Memorial Pkwy in Huntsville, AL: This should have been constructed as a freeway with modern interchanges from the Tennessee River to Meridianville. Right now it is a pseudo-freeway with a 50 mph speed limit, service roads, and slip ramps. These days that is about all that can be built with the development surrounding the road. Again, planners couldn't have possibly imagined the amount of growth in Huntsville when they would have had the change to design something that would be more suited to the traffic it experiences today.
• I-565's eastern terminus: For the longest time, I-565 ended at a traffic signal at US 72 northeast of downtown Huntsville. In 2004, a modern interchange was built there that extended I-565 east by about a half mile. When I-565 was being built, the scope of the work for the interstate was to connect downtown Huntsville, MSFC, and Redstone Arsenal with I-65. A huge oversight I think was not to build I-565 further east across Chapman Mountain and out of the Huntsville City Limits. Today, the US 72 stretch between I-565 and Shields Rd is notorious for wrecks, many involving 18-wheelers, that shut down the road for hours at a time. Up until this year the curve on the eastern side of Chapman mountain was banked the wrong way, which combined with speeding drivers, cars and trucks would be sent careening off the highway. Now, the road needs to be upgraded to a freeway with modern design standards at least past Shields Rd, at best to Ryland Pike a few miles to the east.

[BigMattFromTexas]

Im not sure if this is strictly highways or not, but just about every intersection in San Angelo is horrible
There aren't really any bad highway idea's in San Angelo but is think it's kind pathetic that it took 37 YEARS to build Houston Harte Expressway!

[Hellfighter]

Okay, so I have a problem with this intersection. It's horrible, busy all the time, the lights are never timed right, and it's confusing as hell. At least cut off access to the side street.

[Revive 755]

This wonderfully screwed up intersection in Lincoln, NE, consisting of Old Cheney Road, 14th Street, and L55W:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=40.756701,-96.701295&spn=0.003503,0.010986&z=17

Originally, 14th Street was US 77.  But some year a genius in NDOR apparently got the idea to half build the bypass for US 77 and transition US 77 back to its old alignment through this intersection.  So now this screwed up intersection has an overloaded SB L55W to SB 14th Street movement that backs up badly due to the stopsign where it crosses NB L55W:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=40.757026,-96.702068&spn=0,359.978027&z=16&layer=c&cbll=40.757111,-96.702097&panoid=VhKZDXehSHwmA6p17krm0A&cbp=12,173.64,,0,8.16

The city of Lincoln is planning to redo the intersection with Old Cheney being realigned to transition into the southwesterly angled part of L55W:
http://www.oasites.com/14thwarlick/design.aspx

[Duke87]

The glutton of interchanges along that stretch of Interstate 95 is partially was dooms it to traffic congestion.

I'd blame increasing population with an increase in "reverse commuting". It's noticeably worse now than it was ten.. fifteen years ago. I remember it being open save for at rush hour in the peak direction. Now it's reliably a bit crowded albeit moving at 55-60, and you'll sometimes just randomly hit traffic, even on saturday afternoon.

Althopugh, there is some noticeable redundancy in the exits, and it certainly doesn't help. Why do exits 12, 20, 37, and 49 even exist? Did downtown Stamford really need 8 ramps to the service road instead of just 4? Exits 24 and 25 are way too close together, as are 25 and 26. Exit 39 should not be a full cloverleaf.

What also doesn't help is the substandardness of some of the design. the southbound onramp at exit 5 is fun to access from route 1 north (sudden 180!), and the offramp is also just kinda squeezed in there. The northbound onramp and southbound offramp at exit 10 are awful, as is the southbound onramp at exit 11. Exit 13 is a mess (put the entrance before the exit. Brilliant! ), and 14 has a similar problem. Two of the ramps at 22 route you around the service areas. The loop ramp at exit 27 is rather tight (when ConnDOT redid that interchange they should've just outright replaced the northbound ramps with flyovers). The northbound onramp at 43 shouldn't be a loop. The situation at 44/45 is just funky in general (horrible weave southbound).

And yeah, dropping to four lanes past East Haven hurts.

[CL]

SR-67, aka Legacy Parkway, north of Salt Lake City is poorly executed. Originally planned to be a six-lane freeway meant to bypass the terrible congestion that I-15 suffered just north of Salt Lake, the Sierra Club and the former mayor of Salt Lake City (even though Legacy does not enter his city) got involved to rid the world of this "monstrosity," so in turn a watered-down compromise was built, more easterly than it was before due to the "sensitive wetlands."

It opened in September as a four-lane, 55 mph "parkway" (though it's still a freeway) with pseudo-landscaping every now and then and half of the route it directly parallels I-15, with railroad tracks the only things separating them (go figure). The area of severe congestion on I-15 is getting rebuilt now anyway, and Legacy Parkway dumps you onto I-215 at its southern terminus when more people are interested getting onto I-15. The 55 mph limit deters drivers as well, so as a result you'll find that even with its four lanes it's being underutilized. So for $685 million we got a pretty waste of asphalt that's a cop's dream (Utahns enjoy driving 80 on the freeways). Argh...

[akotchi]

SR-67, aka Legacy Parkway, north of Salt Lake City is poorly executed. Originally planned to be a six-lane freeway meant to bypass the terrible congestion that I-15 suffered just north of Salt Lake, the Sierra Club and the former mayor of Salt Lake City (even though Legacy does not enter his city) got involved to rid the world of this "monstrosity," so in turn a watered-down compromise was built, more easterly than it was before due to the "sensitive wetlands."

It opened in September as a four-lane, 55 mph "parkway" (though it's still a freeway) with pseudo-landscaping every now and then and half of the route it directly parallels I-15, with railroad tracks the only things separating them (go figure). The area of severe congestion on I-15 is getting rebuilt now anyway, and Legacy Parkway dumps you onto I-215 at its southern terminus when more people are interested getting onto I-15. The 55 mph limit deters drivers as well, so as a result you'll find that even with its four lanes it's being underutilized. So for $685 million we got a pretty waste of asphalt that's a cop's dream (Utahns enjoy driving 80 on the freeways). Argh...

I'm guessing it hasn't had the desired impact yet?  It is not even a year old, though.

LP was supposed to be a good bypass of I-15 for those wanting to get to the Airport.

I have some knowledge of the "freeway" design (before it became the parkway design).  There were supposed to be connector ramps between SB LP and SB I-15 and NB I-15 and NB LP.  This was to be a second-phase improvement to the I-15/I-215/LP interchange area, effectively providing the missing movements in the interchange, but I presume that was shelved with the redesign of LP.

[njroadhorse]

This was a pretty dumb PennDOT idea in Pittsburgh.  On PA 28 when it intersects PA 8, traffic on both sides is narrowed to one lane each way, while a substandard left exit is jutted out from PA 28 North to PA 8 North.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=62nd+Street+Bridge&sll=40.495918,-79.941963&sspn=0.005711,0.01369&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=A

Here's street view:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=62nd+Street+Bridge&sll=40.495918,-79.941963&sspn=0.005711,0.01369&ie=UTF8&ll=40.494074,-79.942424&spn=0.011423,0.02738&z=16&layer=c&cbll=40.49424,-79.942722&panoid=NUStbHfXg1Y9_qgt-W69tA&cbp=12,64.02,,0,4.37

[Mergingtraffic]

How about this interchange of I-691 & I-91 in Meriden, CT complete with left exits and all.  CT15 is also in this interchange. Ths should be rebuilt as a stack...but the NIMBYS won't like that I'm sure.  Plus the CTDOT doesn't really think big.

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=41.537458~-72.764366&style=h&lvl=17&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1


or
Route 25 which splits here from CT Route 8...ends a few miles ahead.  SHould go all the way to I-84!
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=bridgeport,+ct&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.599615,56.25&ie=UTF8&ll=41.263872,-73.081398&spn=0,359.649811&z=12&layer=c&cbll=41.216643,-73.181586&panoid=8NwBUQFIszoJ0TpvoVCxtQ&cbp=12,27.52,,0,-2.94

[Bryant5493]

Boulevard - Montgomery, Alabama: It's too built-up, especially East and South Boulevards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fri1vWiB6OM

Be well,

Bryant

[CL]

I'm guessing it hasn't had the desired impact yet?  It is not even a year old, though.

LP was supposed to be a good bypass of I-15 for those wanting to get to the Airport.

I have some knowledge of the "freeway" design (before it became the parkway design).  There were supposed to be connector ramps between SB LP and SB I-15 and NB I-15 and NB LP.  This was to be a second-phase improvement to the I-15/I-215/LP interchange area, effectively providing the missing movements in the interchange, but I presume that was shelved with the redesign of LP.

Ah, thanks for the insight. Yes, the second-phase connector ramps make sense as the northern interchange of I-15/I-215 is about to be rebuilt, so I'm guessing the connector ramps were integrated in that design prior to the redesign of Legacy Parkway.

[Mr_Northside]

This was a pretty dumb PennDOT idea in Pittsburgh.  On PA 28 when it intersects PA 8, traffic on both sides is narrowed to one lane each way, while a substandard left exit is jutted out from PA 28 North to PA 8 North.

This is actually being fixed right now.  The one lane Rt. 28 thru lane bridge is being demolished (causing what I'm sure is an aggravating detour) and will be replaced with a 2-lane bridge.  The exit to / entrance from Rt. 8 in Etna will still be left-handed though.

I don't know if there are any plans at all to reconfigure the Highland Park Br. interchange to allow for 2 thru lanes.

[SidS1045]

There are times when I think the traffic engineers in Massachusetts are unable to reason their way out of a paper bag.  Best example is about a mile from my house.  Back in the late 1960's, when I-93 was built, MA-128 (now concurrent with I-95 through that area) was already a major highway with frequent heavy traffic and traffic jams during rush hours.  So, the interchange between the two roads was designed as (drum roll, please) a cloverleaf.  Yes, you read it right.  This interchange usually ends up on the state's top-5 list of accident-prone intersections every year, and has for at least the past 20 years or so.

They're also in love with lane-drops and rotaries (the rest of America calls them traffic circles), and of course Massachusetts is still the home of the flashing-green traffic signal and the red-yellow interval for pedestrians to cross an intersection (not many of those left, but it's still part of the state's motor vehicle law).  Signage at rotaries formerly under the jurisdiction of the now-defunct Metropolitan District Commission is so damned confusing it's a wonder anyone from out of town knows which road spins off to where.  The signs use directional arrows as if the rotary were a normal intersection (left arrows for a road that leaves the rotary??).

[akotchi]

I think the southerly I-95 interchange with Route 128 would also have been a cloverleaf, if I-95 would have gone through to downtown.

[agentsteel53]

SidS, as a fellow Mass. roadgeek - I don't suppose you remember I-86, do you?

[UptownRoadGeek]

Not extending the Earhart Expwy to the I-10/Claiborne Flyover interchange.

[florida]

-The I-4/FL 408 trumpet interchange, so smart to put it in a downtown area.

-The spur of 408 (to 417 north) and mainline 408 split is not very convenient to traffic coming on and off Goldenrod Rd/SR 551.

-No center turn lanes on Lake Underhill Road from Anderson/South Streets to Goldenrod Rd.
-No signal or caution light at Cosmos Drive and Lake Underhill Road.
-The left-lane-merge on Curry Ford Road east of SR 417 where the left lane merges into the center lane (which becomes the left lane after the merge) because the right lane is NOT right turn only. This is immediately after a traffic light.
-"Running out of money" to build a connector to SR 528 for the Avalon Park neighborhood. It's more important to build up the area, congest a 2-lane road, and the only other way out is a winding road through the neighborhoods at 30-35mph, than to efficiently move traffic.

[Bickendan]

In Portland, OR-217....4 lanes the entire length, apart from the 6 lane bits between certain exits. constantly backed up.  traffic lights at the junction with I-5

ODOT's not done with the 'Traffic lights on a freeway at a freeway' blunder yet: http://www.sunrise-project.org/files/sunrise_sdeis_chapter_2.pdf (Page 15, Sunrise Freeway/OR212/224)

Well, the one stupid one I can think of is more of proposed stupidity . . . the planned new I-5 bridge over the Columbia River on the Oregon/Washington border.  They want to spend close to $5 billion on the sucker, and since they're not going to fix the Delta Park/North Portland bottleneck, it's going to do absolutely nothing to fix traffic.

The Delta Park bottle neck is currently under reconstruction and will be six lanes. It's the Eastbank Freeway bottleneck that will be the issue.

I'd also put the whole US-26/OR-10/OR-99W/OR-43/I-5 setup on the west end of the Ross Island Bridge on the list.  Worst interchange ever.

Meh. It's merely a maze, easy to deal with once you know where everything goes, though the ramp from OR99W north to US 26 east and OR 43 to US 26 east are ridiculous with stop signs at the ends...

The Delta Highway (a Lane County, OR-maintained facility) is also pathetically substandard--it's Eugene's equivalent of OR-217.  It's impressive that a county built a freeway (they built current OR-569, too, before handing it over to ODOT), but it's not nearly wide enough to account for all the traffic trying to get between Downtown and North Eugene/Santa Clara.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[SidS1045]

SidS, as a fellow Mass. roadgeek - I don't suppose you remember I-86, do you?

Sure do.  I used to spend a lot of time on it, while I was living in New Hampshire and my in-laws lived in NYC.  We'd go visit every six weeks or so, and instead of taking I-91 all the way south to I-95, we'd go west on I-86 to I-684 to the Saw Mill River Parkway to get down to the Big Apple.

Of course, now NY-17 is morphing into I-86, slowly but surely, and the old I-86 is now I-84, eastern branch.

[thenetwork]

Denver = E-470/C-470/Northwest Parkway corridor.

-  The majority of the 470 bypass, to the east and north of Denver is high-tolled with not much traffic using the under-used road.

-  The majority of the C-470 bypass, to the south & west of Denver is mostly 2 lanes in each direction and is need of a major overhaul & expansion.

-  The area of 470 that WAS to have finished the 470 loop, to the North & West of Denver -- where they desperately need a bypass the most, has fallen victim to community and political opposition, and will probably will never see the light of day.

In other words "470: Build it where they aint/Don't build it where they are!"

[froggie]

I think the southerly I-95 interchange with Route 128 would also have been a cloverleaf, if I-95 would have gone through to downtown.

Aerials suggest there would've been a flyover from SB 95 to "EB" 128 (now NB 93).

Not extending the Earhart Expwy to the I-10/Claiborne Flyover interchange.

That actually wasn't the original plan.  Original Plan A would have created a long loop, generally parallel to the river, to tie into the cancelled Vieux Carre near where Tchoupitoulas crosses under the Westbank (BUSINESS 90).  Plan B would have created a connector to the I-10/Airline (US 61) interchange, but that didn't get anywhere either.

But since you mention New Orleans, here's 2 to add to the list:

- Not upgrading Causeway Blvd to a freeway between the Causeway and I-10 when I-10 was built.
- Not building Clearview Pkwy as at least a limited-access highway (if not full freeway) between the Huey Long Bridge and I-10.

[Sykotyk]

The Legacy Parkway is a joke. First, for all that money, and you still bottleneck truck traffic entering or exiting West Valley City and points west to stay on I-15 to I-215.

The low speed limit was a nuisance when I drove it. Funny the light board on I-215 nb would give estimated times to Ogden taking each route, and every time I've seen it, the times for both roads are the same.

Sykotyk

[Bickendan]

Sounds like the Legacy Parkway will indeed leave a legacy.

[Revive 755]

Three problems with the widening of US 36 in Missouri between US 63 and Hannibal:

1) The wonderful use of a dashed yellow centerline with "do not pass signs" instead of a solid double centerline on a section of the future WB lanes that are currently handling both directions of traffic.

2) The setup at the future diamond interchange at MO 151.  Both directions of US 36 are routed up the northern ramps at the interchange.  There is a three-way stop at the cross road, with the overpass being closed to traffic - the next closest stop sign or stop light on US 36 is either at I-35 in Cameron or in Decatur, IL.  Would it have been that hard to phase it so US 36 stayed on the WB lanes and only WB traffic had access to MO 151.

3) The use of a strange Michigan left type setup near Rte E on the section of US 36 multiplexed with US 24.  If there is a safety problem already to require such a setup, then an interchange should have been built to start with.