The Most Loved Freeway in Your City

[jmacswimmer]

DC: Agreed with the upthread nomination of US 50/I-595.  If MD 200/I-370 continued west and tied into VA 28 I-366 across the Potomac, maybe I'd nominate that...

Baltimore: maybe I-895?  It certainly lost this title during the Canton Viaduct replacement project since it was down to 1 lane each way thru the tunnel and over the viaduct, but that project was substantially completed with all lanes restored in December 2020.  It used to sometimes have backups approaching the toll plaza due to the cash lanes, but this is also moot with MDTA remaining all-electronic permanently post-lockdown (although the toll plaza still needs to be demolished). I know that on the rare occasion I'm passing thru Baltimore on the 95 corridor, I'll always opt for I-895 over I-95 (since it, by design, has far less local traffic).

[dlsterner]

DC: Agreed with the upthread nomination of US 50/I-595.  If MD 200/I-370 continued west and tied into VA 28 I-366 across the Potomac, maybe I'd nominate that...

Baltimore: maybe I-895?  It certainly lost this title during the Canton Viaduct replacement project since it was down to 1 lane each way thru the tunnel and over the viaduct, but that project was substantially completed with all lanes restored in December 2020.  It used to sometimes have backups approaching the toll plaza due to the cash lanes, but this is also moot with MDTA remaining all-electronic permanently post-lockdown (although the toll plaza still needs to be demolished). I know that on the rare occasion I'm passing thru Baltimore on the 95 corridor, I'll always opt for I-895 over I-95 (since it, by design, has far less local traffic).

Since I live between Baltimore and Washington, I was going to give an answer for both.  US 50/I-595 seemed like an easy choice for Washington, but I couldn't really come up with one for Baltimore.  My best thought was to choose I-83 north of Hunt Valley, but that's far enough away from the city that it mat not really qualify as "in your city".

Also temped to say I-97     I know some of you hate the number, but I'm referring to the pavement, not the number.  I lived here before it was built, and it did make a positive difference (Yeah, it does back up sometimes at the Annapolis end... but no road is perfect)

I've had some rough times on I-895, especially when they had one tube of the tunnel closed for work.

[Flint1979]

Detroit's is probably the Jeffries. It has express-local lanes for awhile through the city. I don't think it's really loved though. It's certainly not the Chrysler, the Fisher, the Ford, the Lodge, the Southfield or the Reuther.

[achilles765]

Hmmm... I don't even know what ours would be in Houston.  Mine personally is probably Interstate 45

[JoePCool14]

I could support the Dan Ryan being best in Chicago. The views are indeed pretty cool, but when there's traffic it's pretty terrible.

I-90 out west where it's been built is very nice to drive. Plenty of space and backups are rare. The Tri-State north of O'Hare is also pretty nice when there are no backups. Again, plenty of room and merge space. Views certainly aren't anything to write home about though...

Oh, and Lake Shore Drive. I'm stupid. Of course it's Lake Shore Drive for Chicago.

[Occidental Tourist]

I-210 from CA-118 to CA-134@CA-710 interchange because it's scenic in the LA area
CA-2 Glendale freeway would be up there for most love freeway in the LA area.

CA-163 south end in San Diego because of the parkway feel
CA-110 Arroyo Seco Parkway  because it's California first freeway.

I-780 Vallejo to Benicia because this freeway is rarely jammed and it's in a suburban setting for the entire route.
CA-13 Warren Freeway because it's the Bay Area's answer to Arroyo Seco Parkway.

Around Los Angeles it has to be by far the Arroyo Seco Parkway. 

With the subpar curves and the people barreling up on you in the right lane while you're dodging cars exiting and entering the freeway at unsafely slow speeds.  Not sure about that.

I'd say it has to be the Hollywood Freeway between the Cahuenga Pass and Melrose.  It has the elevation change, the historic buildings and landmarks, and the views of the Basin.

[Ned Weasel]

I don't think this is a good question. "Most hated"  works because there might be something that makes a certain freeway notoriously bad among roadgeeks and non-roadgeeks alike, other than the traffic volume. Whereas "most loved"  doesn't reach through to non-roadgeeks because they see freeways simply as a way to get where they are going, so their favorite freeway is always going to be the fastest one with the least amount of traffic.

I don't think that's a good way of looking at roads.  One doesn't have to be a car enthusiast to love a car, so why should one have to be a roadgeek to love a freeway?

Sure, maybe your most loved car is the one that's most efficient and most reliable, but I still think there's something about cars that holds special value for people, even outside of auto enthusiast circles, so roads should be seen in the same kind of light.

[Scott5114]

I don't think this is a good question. "Most hated"  works because there might be something that makes a certain freeway notoriously bad among roadgeeks and non-roadgeeks alike, other than the traffic volume. Whereas "most loved"  doesn't reach through to non-roadgeeks because they see freeways simply as a way to get where they are going, so their favorite freeway is always going to be the fastest one with the least amount of traffic.

I don't think that's a good way of looking at roads.  One doesn't have to be a car enthusiast to love a car, so why should one have to be a roadgeek to love a freeway?

Sure, maybe your most loved car is the one that's most efficient and most reliable, but I still think there's something about cars that holds special value for people, even outside of auto enthusiast circles, so roads should be seen in the same kind of light.

Well, there's a commercial interest in glorifying the car and creating car enthusiasts, so there's tons of things like car commercials, car shows, car trade shows, media outlets that breathlessly cover all of the minute details of yet-to-be-released models of cars, fictional characters in TV shows depicted as being "car people" (think of Tim Allen in Home Improvement), etc. All of this generates tremendous amounts of interest about cars.

Road people don't have anything like that. We have road meets and hobbyist blogs but there isn't like a road convention or anything you can go to. Nobody covers SCOURN meetings in the media. If a roadgeek appeared in a sitcom they'd be the weird nerd character and not something that the viewer is supposed to identify with, like the car guy.

To most people, "name your favorite freeway" would come off exactly like the random Pink Jazz threads we get sometimes where he asks about our favorite kind of faucet or favorite brand of polo shirt or whatever and we're all like "ummm, were we supposed to have an opinion on that?"

[Roadgeekteen]

I don’t think this is a good question. “Most hated” works because there might be something that makes a certain freeway notoriously bad among roadgeeks and non-roadgeeks alike, other than the traffic volume. Whereas “most loved” doesn’t reach through to non-roadgeeks because they see freeways simply as a way to get where they are going, so their favorite freeway is always going to be the fastest one with the least amount of traffic.

I don't think that's a good way of looking at roads.  One doesn't have to be a car enthusiast to love a car, so why should one have to be a roadgeek to love a freeway?

Sure, maybe your most loved car is the one that's most efficient and most reliable, but I still think there's something about cars that holds special value for people, even outside of auto enthusiast circles, so roads should be seen in the same kind of light.

Well, there's a commercial interest in glorifying the car and creating car enthusiasts, so there's tons of things like car commercials, car shows, car trade shows, media outlets that breathlessly cover all of the minute details of yet-to-be-released models of cars, fictional characters in TV shows depicted as being "car people" (think of Tim Allen in Home Improvement), etc. All of this generates tremendous amounts of interest about cars.

Road people don't have anything like that. We have road meets and hobbyist blogs but there isn't like a road convention or anything you can go to. Nobody covers SCOURN meetings in the media. If a roadgeek appeared in a sitcom they'd be the weird nerd character and not something that the viewer is supposed to identify with, like the car guy.

To most people, "name your favorite freeway" would come off exactly like the random Pink Jazz threads we get sometimes where he asks about our favorite kind of faucet or favorite brand of polo shirt or whatever and we're all like "ummm, were we supposed to have an opinion on that?"

I would guess that more people would have an interest in non highway scenic roads.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Because freeways for the most part are not scenic and don't interest people. They're the Everyman of roads, unspectacular and utilitarian, and fairly uniform to the untrained eye. Charles Kuralt quoted in one of his books that Interstates make it possible to travel from coast to coast (or perhaps coat to cost) without seeing anything. You never see freeways in car ads. People see the real adventures as being off freeways.

[Scott5114]

I would guess that more people would have an interest in non highway scenic roads.

I don't even think that's a thing many people have an interest in. Most people don't leave their metro area on a regular basis, and when they do, they have a specific non-road destination in mind. Exploring scenic routes is not something most people do as a regular recreational activity.

[Roadgeekteen]

I would guess that more people would have an interest in non highway scenic roads.

I don't even think that's a thing many people have an interest in. Most people don't leave their metro area on a regular basis, and when they do, they have a specific non-road destination in mind. Exploring scenic routes is not something most people do as a regular recreational activity.

Not most people, but a larger subset of the population.

[jaehak]

I'll always opt for I-895 over I-95 (since it, by design, has far less local traffic).

Interesting pick. I'd actually go against 895 for that same reason. I lived in the Baltimore area briefly and have visited several times. Because of 895's layout, it doesn't really serve local traffic. In fact, I've clinched every mile of interstate in Baltimore City/County except for 895, which I've been on zero times.

Personally, I've always liked the JFX (83) best, mainly for the views.

[US 89]

I'm not sure if the average person can "love" a freeway, but if I had to pick one in Salt Lake it would be the I-215 east belt (from 62nd South up to I-80). It has great views of the Wasatch Mountains/Salt Lake Valley/downtown SLC and traffic is almost always pretty good on it. Also, northbound is way better - there's a sound wall on the west side that blocks some of the view from the southbound lanes, but the northbound lanes are a bit higher and you can for the most part see over the sound wall from there.

[Roadgeekteen]

If you are having trouble with the question try "most disliked".