Toll Road - Highest percentage through traffic, Least useful to state residents

[DandyDan]

What about the Illinois toll roads?  I'd have to suspect a lot of truck traffic drives the Tri-State and the Jane Addams Tollways end to end, but the Ronald Reagan does not since one could easily take I-80.  I can't even see someone in Sterling or Rock Falls taking I-88 east to Chicago, since they could just take US 30 to Sugar Grove and then possibly catch I-88 by Aurora.  In the years since I left the DeKalb area, I've driven I-88 several times and it always seems empty west of DeKalb.  (And BTW, did they really have to change the names of the Northwest and East-West tollways?)

Actually, the fastest way to get from Sterling and Dixon to Chicago is I-88.  US-30 goes through a lot of towns east of I-39.  I've also noticed more traffic west of I-39 in the past few years.  Most of the plates are Illinois ones, but there's a few Iowa ones here and there.  Thus, I conclude that I-88 is mostly used by locals and people going to/from DeKalb, Rochelle, Dixon, and Sterling.

That might be true, but I'm sure there's some shunpikers who prefer US 30.  In fact, when my father was working for Union Pacific and always had to go to Chicago to ride the rails each year, he always took US 30 and could probably provide gas receipts from gas stations along US 30 to prove it.  It also looks like the shorter route, purely based on mileage (which may also explain why my dad would take it).

I suppose there is also the possibility of traffic going between the Quad Cities (and points west) and Rockford (and points north), which would turn at Rochelle between I-39 and I-88.

[mgk920]

As for highest percentage of 'end to end' for a former tollway, although it is fairly short, the Denver-Boulder Turnpike (US 36) in Colorado probably had a very high percentage of its traffic doing the 'end to end' thing before it was freewayized.

What were the 'end to end' percentages of the various Kentucky Parkways before they were freewayized?

Mike

[hbelkins]

What were the 'end to end' percentages of the various Kentucky Parkways before they were freewayized?

Hard to know, but given the OP's criterion of more than 50 miles, the most likely candidate would be the Western Kentucky Parkway. Second most likely is probably the Bluegrass Parkway. Less than 50 miles, I'd guess the Audubon.

[briantroutman]

What were the 'end to end' percentages of the various Kentucky Parkways before they were freewayized?

Hard to know, but given the OP's criterion of more than 50 miles, the most likely candidate would be the Western Kentucky Parkway.

You think much of that would have been through traffic? I'm trying to figure out what the Western Kentucky logically be the through route to...except perhaps Louisville/Lexington to Memphis, as an alternative to I-65 and I-40. Well–I suppose Paducah to Elizabethtown.

[lordsutch]

I'd have imagined a lot of the Pennyrile's traffic was end-to-end, since it was (and remains) the logical route from Nashville to Evansville and the Wabash Valley region all the way up to I-74 or so.

[mrsman]

For purposes of this discussion, I would say anyone paying the highest end to end toll would be considered as driving the whole toll road.

So in the example of the NJTP, if you start at the Del Mem Bridge, you would pay maximum NJTP toll if you don't exit the highway, and go to either the Lincoln Tunnel or the GW Bridge.

So given this criteria, I would guess that the IN toll road probably has the highest percentage of end to end users. 

[Scott5114]

The Turner Turnpike (I-44 between OKC and Tulsa) probably sees extremely high through traffic counts, though it's extremely important to residents of Oklahoma. The Cherokee Turnpike (part of US 412 between Tulsa and NWA) isn't long enough to qualify at only 33 miles, but would also have a huge percent of through traffic. Oklahoma's other turnpikes either have major connections/destinations in the middle (Muskogee on the Muskogee, US 69/McAlester on the Indian Nation, US 69 on the Will Rogers, Lawton on the H.E. Bailey, Stillwater on the Cimarron) or are too short (Chickasaw, Creek, Kilpatrick).

I would imagine the Indian Nation is up there in terms of out-of-state traffic. It is too far east for it to be of any use to anyone in Oklahoma City, Norman, or Lawton (Oklahoma's #1, #3, and #4 cities respectively). It's a straight shot south from Tulsa, but it lets out at Hugo, OK, across the river from Paris, TX, which isn't a major destination for most people. My guess is that the majority of traffic from Tulsa exits at McAlester to follow US-69/US-75 to Dallas. South of there, I have no idea who it's intended for. I do know that part of my family that was living in Nacogdoches, TX used it to travel to Kansas City, so there's your out-of-state use case.

[hbelkins]

You think much of that would have been through traffic? I'm trying to figure out what the Western Kentucky logically be the through route to...except perhaps Louisville/Lexington to Memphis, as an alternative to I-65 and I-40. Well–I suppose Paducah to Elizabethtown.

Although the WK-24-Purchase-51 routing would be my preferred through route to Memphis and points west (because of Nashville and how much I dislike I-40), most through traffic from Kentucky takes 65 and 40. I'd think it's traffic from Louisville, Frankfort and Lexington going to Paducah.

The Bluegrass shed a lot of its traffic at Lawrenceburg for people going to Frankfort.

[dfwmapper]

For purposes of this discussion, I would say anyone paying the highest end to end toll would be considered as driving the whole toll road.

So in the example of the NJTP, if you start at the Del Mem Bridge, you would pay maximum NJTP toll if you don't exit the highway, and go to either the Lincoln Tunnel or the GW Bridge.

So given this criteria, I would guess that the IN toll road probably has the highest percentage of end to end users.

Still not buying it. Too much Chicago-Indy traffic using the Skyway and the ITR to I-65, Chicago-Michigan traffic using the Skyway to the ITR to I-94, and traffic between points north/west of Chicago and Ohio using I-80/I-94, all of which are less than the full toll in either direction.

[roadman65]

Florida's Turnpike, I rarely think anyone goes the whole length of it from Wildwood to Homestead.  Many people do use it from metro area to metro area, including tourists as it carries a lot of people between Miami/ Fort Lauderdale to Orlando.  Some, I am sure, use it to bypass I-95 from Miami to West Palm Beach for South Florida regional users, but if someone goes from I-75 at its north end to Miami exit at Golden Glades which is 47 miles from its actual southern terminus.

Those to Key West are advised to use the Sawgrass part of the way down and return to the Turnpike via I-75, so they in fact leave the toll road for a short bit, so they are not on it fully.

[cpzilliacus]

It has been a long time since I was on it, but Mexico's Highway 1D between between Tijuana and Ensenada might just qualify - when I last was on it, it seemed that few locals were driving it (presumably they shunpike onto nearby (and "free") Highway 1), but over half of the traffic had California or other U.S. registration plates displayed.

[jeffandnicole]

For purposes of this discussion, I would say anyone paying the highest end to end toll would be considered as driving the whole toll road.

So in the example of the NJTP, if you start at the Del Mem Bridge, you would pay maximum NJTP toll if you don't exit the highway, and go to either the Lincoln Tunnel or the GW Bridge.

Technically the Lincoln Tunnel, Interchange 16E, isn't the highest toll, even though it's within the same toll plaza as 18E.  One would have to use 18E or 18W. 

For those starting from the north, there's probably a good possibility those north of I-80 would utilize the entire NJ Turnpike south thru Interchange 1.  But for those living near Interchange 1 and south, there's very few that would use the Turnpike going North for two reasons:  One: There's relatively few people living south of Interchange 1 which would find the Turnpike convenient to use from that point, and Two: They are most likely to jump on 295 North, compared to those coming south to exit the Turnpike to get to 295.

[Brandon]

For purposes of this discussion, I would say anyone paying the highest end to end toll would be considered as driving the whole toll road.

So in the example of the NJTP, if you start at the Del Mem Bridge, you would pay maximum NJTP toll if you don't exit the highway, and go to either the Lincoln Tunnel or the GW Bridge.

So given this criteria, I would guess that the IN toll road probably has the highest percentage of end to end users.

Still not buying it. Too much Chicago-Indy traffic using the Skyway and the ITR to I-65, Chicago-Michigan traffic using the Skyway to the ITR to I-94, and traffic between points north/west of Chicago and Ohio using I-80/I-94, all of which are less than the full toll in either direction.

Most folks going to/from Chicago use the Ryan/Bishop Ford/Borman, not the Skyway/Toll Road for going to/from Indy.

[slorydn1]

For purposes of this discussion, I would say anyone paying the highest end to end toll would be considered as driving the whole toll road.

So in the example of the NJTP, if you start at the Del Mem Bridge, you would pay maximum NJTP toll if you don't exit the highway, and go to either the Lincoln Tunnel or the GW Bridge.

So given this criteria, I would guess that the IN toll road probably has the highest percentage of end to end users.

Still not buying it. Too much Chicago-Indy traffic using the Skyway and the ITR to I-65, Chicago-Michigan traffic using the Skyway to the ITR to I-94, and traffic between points north/west of Chicago and Ohio using I-80/I-94, all of which are less than the full toll in either direction.

Most folks going to/from Chicago use the Ryan/Bishop Ford/Borman, not the Skyway/Toll Road for going to/from Indy.

^This^


When I lived in Schaumburg from 1979-1990, we went on 2-3 out of state trips to the east and south every year and we never used the Skyway. Depending on my dads mood, we would usually take the Ike/Ryan/Ford/Borman routing to either I-65 or the ITR depending on where we were going. Sometimes we would hit the Tri-State if the traffic reports on WBBM-AM weren't indicating massive back ups at what seemed like a million toll plazas back then (have that quarter and dime ready every 10 minutes or so).  Once I even remember doing the Adams (then NW Tollway)/Kennedy/Ryan/Ford/Borman routing but my dad said never again after a massive back up just past the Edens Junction cost us 45 minutes on a New York trip which was a 16 hour marathon back in the mandatory double-nickle days.


My little brother and I used to lobby hard to take the Skyway just once as we had never been on it and my dad was emphatic-NO. He wasn't paying a king's ransom just for the privilege to expose the car to "giant car eating potholes" (my dad was quite prone to hyperbole, LOL).

[cl94]

The Ohio Turnpike is weird because, while many people take I-80 or I-90 through the width of the state, you don't have as many going end-to-end, but the number is still probably pretty high compared to somewhere like New York, where you'd save a couple hours by using I-80 or NY 17 to get between NYC and Ripley and, while some (mainly older) individuals drive a significant portion of the length, most cut the corner. Even if they don't drive the entire length, the Ohio Turnpike is used by people driving through Ohio (by definition, "through traffic") at a high rate.

As far as usefulness to state residents, the Ohio Turnpike does probably rank pretty low given where it runs. Except for Toledo and Elyria, it keeps away from developed areas, but even then exits are limited, making it relatively useless to state residents, and, having driven the thing several times, I know that the percentage of out-of-state plates is pretty high. Compare that to I-71, which is mostly Ohio plates with a similar amount of traffic, if not more.

[gilpdawg]

For purposes of this discussion, I would say anyone paying the highest end to end toll would be considered as driving the whole toll road.

So in the example of the NJTP, if you start at the Del Mem Bridge, you would pay maximum NJTP toll if you don't exit the highway, and go to either the Lincoln Tunnel or the GW Bridge.

So given this criteria, I would guess that the IN toll road probably has the highest percentage of end to end users.

Still not buying it. Too much Chicago-Indy traffic using the Skyway and the ITR to I-65, Chicago-Michigan traffic using the Skyway to the ITR to I-94, and traffic between points north/west of Chicago and Ohio using I-80/I-94, all of which are less than the full toll in either direction.

Most folks going to/from Chicago use the Ryan/Bishop Ford/Borman, not the Skyway/Toll Road for going to/from Indy.

I only do that during off peak hours. During the day I'd rather pay than white knuckle the Borman.