baffling interchanges

[agentsteel53]

some interchanges are paragons of elegance.

others, you have to wonder just what they were thinking.  this is CA-99 at Jack Tone Road in Ripon.

http://goo.gl/maps/MQjn2

I can understand it being a bit tricky that 99 is at a 45 degree angle to the grid, but this is the case for much of its length in the central valley and most places deal with it in a much more coherent manner.  even the existence of two cross streets that need to be served, and a railroad on one side, shouldn't yield this much complexity.

[Brandon]

That's a bit strange.  This set at IL-38, IL-83, and IL-56 is a bit complex, but not that nuts.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.859573,-87.954741&spn=0.009221,0.021136&t=h&z=16

[Zeffy]

When roads collide: https://maps.google.com/?ll=40.517584,-74.299078&spn=0.017715,0.03695&t=m&z=15

[Brandon]

Got another one, from a state known to build interchanges as interesting as those in California:

Michigan Avenue, Wyoming Street, and Ford Road at I-94, Detroit, Michigan:

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=42.325729,-83.159981&spn=0.009217,0.021136&t=h&z=16

[1995hoo]

How about the one near the Short Hills Mall in New Jersey? Depending on the maneuver you want, you might need to use as many as four loop ramps. (I'm sure part of this is due to the unbuilt road some distance to the northwest that would have handled some of the movements.)

http://binged.it/1fk16zs

[Brandon]

How about the one near the Short Hills Mall in New Jersey? Depending on the maneuver you want, you might need to use as many as four loop ramps. (I'm sure part of this is due to the unbuilt road some distance to the northwest that would have handled some of the movements.)

http://binged.it/1fk16zs

There's also two completely missing movements there.

[Ian]

This was formerly just a traffic circle
http://goo.gl/maps/S59sk

Also...
http://goo.gl/maps/pe82U
http://goo.gl/maps/mLS5A

[Gnutella]

FAIL
Post Merge: March 10, 2014, 06:53:27 PM
MOAR FAIL
Post Merge: March 10, 2014, 06:53:30 PM
EVEN MOAR FAIL

[hotdogPi]

[ET21]

^^^ If roads were tumbleweeds

[PurdueBill]

That's a bit strange.  This set at IL-38, IL-83, and IL-56 is a bit complex, but not that nuts.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.859573,-87.954741&spn=0.009221,0.021136&t=h&z=16

I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn on Drury Lane one time and giving directions from westbound on 38 to the hotel was quite the pain, considering you can see and almost reach the hotel but can't turn left there or anywhere nearby.  Loop ramp to 83 south, loop ramp to 56 east, exit for 38 east but take slip ramp to frontage road/Spring/Drury.  Enough people have to do that maneuver with the two hotels, theater, office building, etc., that there are even supplementary signs blazing at least some of the trail. 

[1995hoo]

How about the one near the Short Hills Mall in New Jersey? Depending on the maneuver you want, you might need to use as many as four loop ramps. (I'm sure part of this is due to the unbuilt road some distance to the northwest that would have handled some of the movements.)

http://binged.it/1fk16zs

There's also two completely missing movements there.

Which two? When I trace through it, I find I can make all the missing movements by riding the ramps, though often that means using multiple loop ramps to get through. The most notable is from eastbound NJ-24 to westbound NJ-124. See here: http://binged.it/1cr5JIt  That was my point in citing this interchange as being somewhat bizarre–it may appear to have "missing movements," but in reality you can make all the movements if you follow some convoluted routing.

I read something somewhere once, don't remember where, in which the writer suggested that New Jersey will often start with a relatively basic design and then just throw in as many extra ramps as are needed. Seems like a fair description.

[SD Mapman]

When roads collide: https://maps.google.com/?ll=40.517584,-74.299078&spn=0.017715,0.03695&t=m&z=15

This one should be called the "Octopus".

[catch22]

Back in the late 1990s - early 2000s I had to travel to NJ from Michigan a couple of times a year.  I never did quite figure this one out at the Newark airport:

https://www.google.com/maps?ll=40.709288,-74.171298&spn=0.014135,0.033023&t=m&z=16

[Zeffy]

When roads collide: https://maps.google.com/?ll=40.517584,-74.299078&spn=0.017715,0.03695&t=m&z=15

This one should be called the "Octopus".

I believe we (New Jersians) refer to this as the Spaghetti Bowl. I like the Octopus though.

[Alps]

When roads collide: https://maps.google.com/?ll=40.517584,-74.299078&spn=0.017715,0.03695&t=m&z=15

This one should be called the "Octopus".

I believe we (New Jersians) refer to this as the Spaghetti Bowl. I like the Octopus though.

I just call it "The Tangle." Also, pretty much every interchange in NJ with direct ramps is more screwed up than other states.

[NE2]

http://www.google.com/search?q=echelon+interchange&tbm=isch

[PColumbus73]

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=coastal+grand+mall&ie=UTF-8&ei=TnoeU4iHMIqB1AG3iYDoDw&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ

I don't think there are many interchanges with a corkscrew offramp

[pianocello]

http://www.google.com/search?q=echelon+interchange&tbm=isch

This is included in this FHWA page: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/09060/009.cfm. Also on the page include other unusual concepts like a Michigan Left Interchange and a Center Turn Overpass.

A bit off-topic, but there's a sort-of example of the Echelon Interchange in Florida. Does it function any better than a standard 4-way signalized intersection does?

(edited wording)

[Pete from Boston]

Back in the late 1990s - early 2000s I had to travel to NJ from Michigan a couple of times a year.  I never did quite figure this one out at the Newark airport:

https://www.google.com/maps?ll=40.709288,-74.171298&spn=0.014135,0.033023&t=m&z=16

Funny, the GSP/440 made my mind go right to this spot adjoining immediately west of your link:

http://goo.gl/maps/WblsL

[jakeroot]

WA SR 18 @ WA SR 167. Absolute disaster. It was originally just (this) but then in the 70s it become the cloverleaf/diamond/missing movements disaster it is now. Of course, it's on my naughty list because the movement I do the most (167 N to 18 W) is handled by the side roads.

[briantroutman]

this is CA-99 at Jack Tone Road in Ripon.

http://goo.gl/maps/MQjn2

As recently as the mid '90s, this was basically a simple diamond–with SB side ramps following the original two-lane 99 alignment and NB side ramps meeting the parallel frontage road (part of which is still visible) at a 90° angle.



The most convoluted-seeming aspect of the new design is the semi-directional ramp onto 99 SB (which duplicates the more direct SB on-ramp), and my guess is that this was intended to prevent truck queueing on the overpass–as they all wait to turn left after exiting either of the two large truck stops now located at that interchange. The other redundancy is the second NB on-ramp, which is essentially the old on-ramp, and it also seems to primarily allow truckers non-stop access to reenter the freeway.

If you ignore those two redundant truck-centric ramps, though, it's a fairly straightforward four-ramp interchange.

[NE2]

http://www.google.com/search?q=echelon+interchange&tbm=isch

This is included in this FHWA page: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/09060/009.cfm. Also on the page include other unusual concepts like a Michigan Left Interchange and a Center Turn Overpass.

A bit off-topic, but there's a sort-of example of the Echelon Interchange in Florida. Does it function any better than a standard 4-way signalized intersection does?

That's actually (apparently) the only Echelon interchange to have been built (though, yes, it doesn't quite match the normal design, since both directions of US 1 are at the same level). I would assume it functions better, since only two phases are required for major movements (the street to the east is rather minor; in fact, removing that street makes it almost equivalent to several intersections to the east on A1A with a single flyover).

[agentsteel53]

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=coastal+grand+mall&ie=UTF-8&ei=TnoeU4iHMIqB1AG3iYDoDw&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ

I don't think there are many interchanges with a corkscrew offramp

I think 180 degree corkscrews are confusing enough.

50/50 shot that I would turn in my intended direction at the end of that ramp on a cloudy day.

[OCGuy81]

This is a favorite of mine.  The first time I was in Portland and told to get on the Ross Island Bridge, I had to study a map because of the weird layout and odd approaches onto the bridge.  One of the ways on involves cutting through a residential neighborhood.  I feel bad for the people that live there during rush hour.

http://goo.gl/rlh5L0