The Worst of Freeways

[barcncpt44]

I would nominate the Red Mountain Expressway in Birmingham.  No acceleration lanes to merge at some exits, no shoulders, rusted out guard rails and light poles, and old signage (many signs being replaced with clear view)

[Revive 755]

Since I don't live in a big city by most people's standards, but I'd still like to nominate I-74 throughout Bettendorf (IA) and Moline (IL). It's still two lanes either direction and a lot of people live in IA and work in IL. Thankfully they're expanding it to 3 lanes/direction and the bridge to 4, but nobody knows when that's going to get done.

I don't recall that section of I-74 being too bad except around the Mississippi crossing due to short merges, a lack of a shoulder, and maybe moderate slowdowns on the bridges at rush hour (which I have only been through once).

My nominations:

* The Kennedy (I-90) in Chicago from the disaster of the Circle to Ohio Street - Seems to have at least one direction congested 24/7, and the section just north of the Circle needs a redesign with one-way frontage roads, braided ramps, express lanes without any access in the area, or some combination of them.

* The Edens (I-94) from I-90 to the Edens Spur off the Tri-State - Seems to have poor drainage, short merges from tight loops, and enough incomplete interchanges one would think it had been built by the toll authority.

[InterstateNG]

* The Kennedy (I-90) in Chicago from the disaster of the Circle to Ohio Street - Seems to have at least one direction congested 24/7, and the section just north of the Circle needs a redesign with one-way frontage roads, braided ramps, express lanes without any access in the area, or some combination of them.

Weekend mornings it's always been a smooth drive for me.

[vtk]

US 23 in Delaware, OH – because it's too short.  It should be a freeway from Worthington to Waldo.

Serously, though, I think central Ohio has done okay with improving deficient freeways.  The Spring-Sandusky Interchange and the North Innerbelt have already been upgraded to version 2.0, and the rest of the Innerbelt will be rebuilt over the next decade or so...

[Interstate Trav]

Ca 91- Through Santa Ana Canyon, also through downtown Riverside. 
Ca 60- Through Moreno Valley.  Really needs to be wider then 2 lanes eachway
Ca 14 From Sand Canyon to Palmdale Blvd.  That freeway should be atleast 3-4 lanes eachway plus the carpool lane.

Infact I think when adding a carpool lane to a freeway, there should be a law that the freeway has to have atleast 3 main lanes, and if not then the 3rd lane has to be added.

[OCGuy81]

I-5 in PDX has so many poor sections that it would be hard to single out one and say "that'll do".

Very true.  I'm not a fan of driving in Portland, and usually opt for the MAX if I'm in town and have business downtown.

The two worst that come to mind is I-5 through the Terwilliger Curves and the Delta Park choke point where it goes to two lanes. I think it does the same after the north 405 split too.

US 26 seems like a bad stretch of road too.  I remember locals saying that inbound 26 is bad morning or evening.  Always a congested spot through the tunnels.  Pretty drive inbound, though.

[Bickendan]

Choke point at Delta Park's gone.
Terwilliger Curves are a nuisance during the rush hours, but with Barbur running parallel to the freeway, it's moreless a non-issue.
Sunset (especially inbound) is mostly a problem because of the interchange with I-405, not the tunnel. The 50 mph limit on the Canyon Rd duplex doesn't help, especially with cars riding the brakes all the way down the hill.
The true problematic point in Portland is the Eastbank Freeway and the Banfield ramps.

[OCGuy81]

Choke point at Delta Park's gone.

That's good to hear.  Are they still looking to replace the drawbridge on the 5 between Portland and Vancouver, WA?

[JREwing78]

US 23 in Delaware, OH – because it's too short.  It should be a freeway from Worthington to Waldo.

I'll echo that one. A horrible lack of foresight on ODOT's part by not obtaining sufficient ROW to expand US 23 in place when it was built, or obtaining it before development made it economically infeasible to do so.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

US 23 in Delaware, OH — because it's too short.  It should be a freeway from Worthington to Waldo.

I'll echo that one. A horrible lack of foresight on ODOT's part by not obtaining sufficient ROW to expand US 23 in place when it was built, or obtaining it before development made it economically infeasible to do so.

Damn shame they couldn't see Delaware County's population quadrupling between the time US 23 was completed (1965) to today (42,749 in 1965; 174,214 as of 2010).
That and everybody wants highways, but refuses to give, err sell, their land for said project.

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

Since I don't live in a big city by most people's standards, but I'd still like to nominate I-74 throughout Bettendorf (IA) and Moline (IL). It's still two lanes either direction and a lot of people live in IA and work in IL. Thankfully they're expanding it to 3 lanes/direction and the bridge to 4, but nobody knows when that's going to get done.

I drove that numerous times last year and I can reasonably say I've been on far worse.  And it sucks about the bridge, as it'll probably just get replaced with some run of the mill thing.

Want a bad freeway?  MA 128 east of I-95, between Peabody and Gloucester...is perhaps the biggest piece of shit I've ever been on.  It's worse than I-70 in Washington County, PA.

[realjd]

I-35 through Austin where it splits to an upper and lower section. That road blows.