Longest yellow line?

[mgk920]

This was an item of discussion in MTR back during the late 1990s and with time, things have changed and evolutionary upgrades and reconfigurations have been completed since then.   What is the longest unbroken 'yellow line' on North America's highway network?  For the purposes of this discussion, I am assuming that in the cases of maintenance/police crossovers, tollgates and customs checkpoints, the line continues on as though such barriers were not there and that the question of 'interstate or non-interstate?' does not matter.

Mike

[Duke87]

The answer is likely the same as the answer to the question, "What is the longest you can travel on a freeway in the US without having an entrance or exit from the left?". Given this there are quite a few unbroken yellow lines that are several hundred miles long.

Any non-freeway example isn't going to match up since it will inevitably be broken by a passing zone or cross street in very short order by comparison.

[corco]

The answer is likely the same as the answer to the question, "What is the longest you can travel on a freeway in the US without having an entrance or exit from the left?". Given this there are quite a few unbroken yellow lines that are several hundred miles long.

Where are there yellow lines on freeways? - I guess on the left shoulder, but I assumed this question to imply a center line


I'd guess it's probably in Wyoming or Nevada

[hbelkins]

In Kentucky, eastbound I-64 gets a yellow line past I-65 and I-71 in Louisville. That yellow line continues into West Virginia and then follows I-77 north to...

I think there is a continuous yellow line staring at I-77 and I-81 in Wytheville, Va., then running all the way up to I-64, then I-64 west to I-75 in Lexington.

Not sure where the yellow line on I-75 in Kentucky begins -- probably I-275 and I-40 in Knoxville, but it runs north on I-75 and then continues west on I-64 to I-65 in Louisville.

[agentsteel53]

I'd guess it's probably in Wyoming or Nevada

if you're counting a dashed (passing allowed) yellow line, then Nevada sounds to be quite likely.  solid yellow center line, however?  maybe West Virginia on one of those mountain roads with no visibility around the bends?

[NE2]

The yellow line on a roundabout is infinitely long.

[roadfro]

I'd guess it's probably in Wyoming or Nevada

if you're counting a dashed (passing allowed) yellow line, then Nevada sounds to be quite likely.  solid yellow center line, however?  maybe West Virginia on one of those mountain roads with no visibility around the bends?

Looking at the OP, they seem to be inferring about a solid yellow line. If we're talking two-lane roads, that's definitely not going to be Nevada. Nevada has two-laners that go for perfectly straight from one mountain pass through to the next with wide open visibility...we're talking 20 or 30 or more miles of broken yellow line at a time.

Going with Duke87's rephrasing and the original assumptions, I-80 in Nevada is 420+ miles of freeway with no left hand ramps or other barriers to the yellow line. It goes quite a ways into California before encountering a left ramp, but not sure about Utah. That might be a contender...

[Mdcastle]

Two interchanges with left exits/entrances have been revised since then on I-90 WB in Rapid City, SD leaving a line that I believe goes from Madison, WI along I-90 and I-25 to Denver.

Any left exits/entrances on I-90-94 between Seattle and Bismarck?

[realjd]

Other than roundabouts, I imagine that we can find other circular yellow lines if we count freeways.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Other than roundabouts, I imagine that we can find other circular yellow lines if we found freeways.

I-275 - Cincinnati, 83 miles

[realjd]

Other than roundabouts, I imagine that we can find other circular yellow lines if we count freeways.

I-275 - Cincinnati, 83 miles

No left exits or on ramps? That would break the yellow line.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Other than roundabouts, I imagine that we can find other circular yellow lines if we count freeways.

I-275 - Cincinnati, 83 miles

No left exits or on ramps? That would break the yellow line.

Forgot about the split with I-74 west of Cincy. Cross that off.

[vtk]

The yellow line on a roundabout is infinitely long.

Then so is Interstate 270.

By the way, this question isn't entirely equivalent to the longest stretch without left exits or entrances.  A ramp that is a left exit from one freeway and a left entrance to another freeway (or similar topology) connects the yellow lines from different roadways.  So, for example, the yellow line on the inside ETW of EB I-74 coming into Ohio loops around the east side of Cincinnati on I-275 and ends at the intersection of I-471, US 27, Alexandria Pike, and Sunset Drive in Kentucky.  Or, on SB OH 315 from north of Worthington to downtown Columbus, looping counterclockwise around the Innerbelt and back over itself out I-670 and I-70 WB, all the way to downtown Indianapolis.  Or, starting from the West St entrance to I-65 SB and then to I-70 EB in Indanapolis, all the way back to Columbus, around the north and east sides of downtown and back out on I-70 again, to the entrance from I-77 SB near Cambridge.

PS my examples involving downtown Columbus are as of September, before Columbus Crossroads got started.  Now pavement striping seems to change every weekend somewhere in the project, though it'll probably settle down when the phase 1 pattern is fully established...

[realjd]

By the way, this question isn't entirely equivalent to the longest stretch without left exits or entrances.  A ramp that is a left exit from one freeway and a left entrance to another freeway (or similar topology) connects the yellow lines from different roadways.  So, for example, the yellow line on the inside ETW of EB I-74 coming into Ohio loops around the east side of Cincinnati on I-275 and ends at the intersection of I-471, US 27, Alexandria Pike, and Sunset Drive in Kentucky.  Or, on SB OH 315 from north of Worthington to downtown Columbus, looping counterclockwise around the Innerbelt and back over itself out I-670 and I-70 WB, all the way to downtown Indianapolis.  Or, starting from the West St entrance to I-65 SB and then to I-70 EB in Indanapolis, all the way back to Columbus, around the north and east sides of downtown and back out on I-70 again, to the entrance from I-77 SB near Cambridge.

That's more what I was originally thinking of - a yellow line that is continuous from freeway to freeway due to splits/exits, but still loops back on itself several states later.

[1995hoo]

The center line on westbound I-66, I-81, and I-581 may well be unbroken from roughly milepost 55 on I-66 (where the left-lane exit for Stringfellow Road that was once restricted to HOV traffic splits off) all the way to somewhere around I-581 transitions to US-220. I'm pretty sure there are no left exits from either road in this direction except for the left-exit connections from I-66 to I-81 and I-81 to I-581, and the rest areas are all on the right. (The line does not connect back to itself, however.) Total distance works out to around 222 miles.

The same is not true in the opposite direction because the connections between northbound I-81 and the part of I-64 west of I-81 are on the left, I-66 leaves I-81 on the right, and I-66 has a left entrance at US-17 near Delaplane.

My brother is driving down to Roanoke later this week but I think he'd look askance at me if I asked him to confirm the unbroken yellow line!

[mgk920]

Two interchanges with left exits/entrances have been revised since then on I-90 WB in Rapid City, SD leaving a line that I believe goes from Madison, WI along I-90 and I-25 to Denver.

Any left exits/entrances on I-90-94 between Seattle and Bismarck?

I-90 has an eastbound left exit at Butte, MT (I-115). 

Mike

[formulanone]

The yellow line on a roundabout is infinitely long.

Pie too, are round, not square.

[mgk920]

One that comes to my mind starts on EB I-90 at I-94 at Billings, MT, continues on through Wyoming, South Dakota and Minnesota to I-94 at Tomah, WI, then turns northwestward on I-94, ending at a left exit at 6th and Broadway in downtown Saint Paul, MN.

Mike

[Mdcastle]

There is a left entrance where east/south US 14/61 merge onto eastbound I-90

[apjung]

I was the one who asked this question on MTR back on November 14, 1998.
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/misc.transport.road/nBouDe3rB_A

There is a yellow line that starts on Eastbank bound Business US 90/future I-49 just after at the Crescent City Connection HOV left hand entrance ramp just before the tollbooth in New Orleans.
http://goo.gl/maps/AKXT

It shortly becomes I-10 Westbound in Downtown New Orleans...
http://goo.gl/maps/MaqD

...and keeps going until a left hand exit connects to US 59 in Downtown Houston where it becomes a right hand entrance ramp thus ending the yellow line. According to Google Maps, it's about 349 miles.
http://goo.gl/maps/EGV4

[Special K]

The yellow line on a roundabout is infinitely long.

Really? Because it's fairly easy to measure the perimeter of a circle.

[JustDrive]

Two interchanges with left exits/entrances have been revised since then on I-90 WB in Rapid City, SD leaving a line that I believe goes from Madison, WI along I-90 and I-25 to Denver.

Any left exits/entrances on I-90-94 between Seattle and Bismarck?

There's a left exit on SB I-25 at US 26 north of Wheatland, WY.

[JREwing78]

I can give you a fun international one. The yellow centerline that starts on NB US 127 when it splits from I-496 runs into Canada. It would follow US 127 to the left merge with I-75 south of Grayling and then continue through Northern Michigan, the UP onto the International Bridge and over the border.

Wait, what? It's broken in a whole slew of places, at least Northbound:
- Every intersection on the not-yet-freeway section between St. Johns and Ithaca
- The left exit for Business US-127 in Mount Pleasant
- The left exit for Business US-127 in Clare
- The left exit for the rest area immediately north of Clare
- The left exit for Business I-75 in Grayling
- At the toll booths for the Mackinac Bridge

Now southbound, you have a nice long stretch. Start at the I-75 split south of Grayling, ignoring the non-freeway stretch between Ithaca and St. Johns, you have a solid yellow line all the way down to I-94 in Jackson.

[JREwing78]

Now, try from the other side of the International Bridge in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, head south, ignoring the section at the Mackinac Bridge tollbooths, you have a solid unbroken yellow line all the way south to the interchange with I-475 south of Flint.