Longest stretch of no accessibility in an urban area

[ET21]

I know a couple on the Tri-State (I-294)

Northbound
I-290 to Balmoral: About 6 miles

Southbound
Willow Springs Rd to 95th: 5 miles (includes the mile-long bridge)
95th to Cicero: 6 miles

[jakeroot]

I-5 in Washington, between Highway 18 and Fife. Exits are 142 and 137, respectively. So five miles? I think this area is relatively urban. More suburban, I suppose.

[froggie]

The elevated Gowanus south/westbound has no entrance something like 4-5 miles from the Battery Tunnel to the Belt Parkway, and no exit from the Prospect to the Belt.

There's an exit at 39th.  There's also an entrance from 3rd Ave (just past the Prospect split).

[Pete from Boston]

The elevated Gowanus south/westbound has no entrance something like 4-5 miles from the Battery Tunnel to the Belt Parkway, and no exit from the Prospect to the Belt.

There's an exit at 39th.  There's also an entrance from 3rd Ave (just past the Prospect split).

You're right.  Still a long way for NY, particularly for a road so prone to turning people from drivers into tenants.

[Duke87]

The elevated Gowanus south/westbound has no entrance something like 4-5 miles from the Battery Tunnel to the Belt Parkway, and no exit from the Prospect to the Belt.

There's an exit at 39th.  There's also an entrance from 3rd Ave (just past the Prospect split).

You're right.  Still a long way for NY, particularly for a road so prone to turning people from drivers into tenants.

This is one of those situations where the busyness and congestion of an urban environment exaggerates its actual scale. From the southbound entrance at exit 24 to the southbound entrance at exit 21 is... 2.3 miles. That's it.

There are a few longer gaps on the Belt System, but they don't seem longer because the road's surroundings are less dense.


Similarly, there is no northbound access to the FDR Drive anywhere between 62nd Street and 96th Street. Seems like a long way, right? It's actually less than two miles.

[english si]

The M6 over Birmingham has wide gaps between junctions. It feels really weird to travel on a viaduct across the second largest city (albeit on the thinner axis), and only have one turn off in the middle between two on the edges of the city.

Northbound off-ramp gaps go (M42 to M5): 6 miles, 3 miles, 5 miles, 1 mile
Southbound off-ramp gaps go (M5 to M42): 2 miles, 5 miles, 6 miles, 3 miles

[jakeroot]

The M6 over Birmingham has wide gaps between junctions. It feels really weird to travel on a viaduct across the second largest city (albeit on the thinner axis), and only have one turn off in the middle between two on the edges of the city.

Seems to me like the whole of the British Motorway network has motorways junctions quite far apart. Something I noticed last time I was there (of course, not true for all dual carriageways **cough cough** Coventry Ring Road **cough**).

[Kacie Jane]

I-5 in Washington, between Highway 18 and Fife. Exits are 142 and 137, respectively. So five miles? I think this area is relatively urban. More suburban, I suppose.

I'd say Fife is pretty urban (though of the industrial variety), but I think the reason there are no exits on that stretch is because I-5 goes through an odd patch of nothingness there.  It's definitely a good candidate for this thread, but I'd say the stretch just north of there, from 143 to 147, while shorter and more distinctly suburban, is a more inexplicable lack of access.

[pianocello]

I-74/280 on the IL side of the Quad Cities has a 9 mile stretch between exits.

Well, There's not really anything there. Although it's the de facto boundary of the Quad Cities metro area, I-280 in its entirety is basically a rural freeway.

[hm insulators]

I-105 south of downtown Los Angeles has some pretty long stretches of no freeway access.

[3467]

I-280-Thats why it makes a better route for 80 but that's another debate. Its right next to a stretch of the Rock River with no crossing so there was never any development. There probably wont be . There was another Rock river crossing and 280 interchanged  proposed but I think the MPO dropped those plans. With the need to replace 74 and the extensive work that has been needed on 67( Centennial ) and 80 along with the other bridges from 52 to 67 Beardstown ,Meridosia and Quincy I cant see any new Illinois bridges

[renegade]

I-696 has only one exit between I-96 and the M-10/US-24 complex, a stretch of about 7.5 miles, at Orchard Lake Rd (exit 5)

There's an interchange at American Drive (Exit 7), eastbound exit/westbound entrance just west of M-10/US-24.

[tidecat]

I hesitate to call it urban, but I-64 in Kentucky goes from Exit 19 to Exit 28 (which is really closer to MM 27) with no access in between.  Approximately half of that distance is in the consolidated Louisville-Jefferson County limits.  Even then Exit 19 is the Gene Snyder Freeway (I-265), so it is over 10 miles between access points to surface streets.

[mrsman]

I'd hate to consider express lanes in this topic, if the regualr freeway lanes have frequent exits.

[hbelkins]

I hesitate to call it urban, but I-64 in Kentucky goes from Exit 19 to Exit 28 (which is really closer to MM 27) with no access in between.  Approximately half of that distance is in the consolidated Louisville-Jefferson County limits.  Even then Exit 19 is the Gene Snyder Freeway (I-265), so it is over 10 miles between access points to surface streets.

I wouldn't call that stretch of I-64 between the Gene Snyder and Simpsonville "urban" at all. It's as rural as anything you'll find anywhere else in Kentucky.