Your preference for highway service stops?

[SkyPesos]

Speaking of Angola... what is it with upstate New York and foreign cities and countries?

I have no idea. There's a Warsaw, Naples, Rome, Copenhagen, and a bunch more. It must be a New York thing.

I mean, New York itself was named after a foreign city by a foreign country.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Well, I posted this in the thread inspired by this thread, so to come full circle I may as well post it here too, since it certainly describes my "preference" for highway service stops.   

And then there's Angola, which in terms of facilities shared by both directions of traffic, I think is better than the other examples mentioned so far for several reasons:

1. Ramps are on the right so traffic doesn't have to enter/exit from the left lane
2. Doesn't require a massively wide median since parking isn't in the median
3. You get to walk over the highway in a covered bridge, which is pretty cool
4. For toll roads, it can't be used to U-turn since the bridges are pedestrian-only

So yeah, all of that is basically a long way of saying Angola is one of the best service areas there is.

I always liked this solution for sharing services without a left exit/entrance. It's a regular interstate rest area rather than a full-service toll road service area. But northbound traffic goes under the interstate to use the same stop as southbound traffic on the west side of the highway. There was already going to be a bridge here for a local road so they just added a longer bridge for the rest stop access.

Illinois also does a decent job of maintaining this rest area. I've probably stopped here at least a couple dozen times when I lived in St Louis; it's a great halfway point when going to Chicago and even more useful when I was travelling on I-39 with its lack of rest areas south of I-80.

There's a similar one on the Allentown service plaza on the Northeast Extension of the PA turnpike.

https://goo.gl/maps/gn8vmx81zRZ5Gh4K9

[skluth]

Speaking of Angola... what is it with upstate New York and foreign cities and countries?

I have no idea. There's a Warsaw, Naples, Rome, Copenhagen, and a bunch more. It must be a New York thing.

I mean, New York itself was named after a foreign city by a foreign country.

It's not any different than other states. I grew up in Wisconsin. We had Luxemburg, Krakow, and New London within bicycling distance. Other "international" towns include Lake Geneva, Berlin, New Berlin, New Glarus, Cuba City, Ontario, Sparta, Genoa City, among others. I lived in Missouri which had as many; Cuba, Caledonia, Hayti, Lebanon, Carthage, California, Odessa, and another New London. I'm in California now with towns like Bagdad (sic), Mecca, Ontario (again), Alhambra, Monterey, Aberdeen, Cadiz, and Ben Lomand. I think US towns with foreign names are fairly common wherever you are. It's what happens with a nation of immigrants who bring their names with them.

[webny99]

Speaking of Angola... what is it with upstate New York and foreign cities and countries?

I have no idea. There's a Warsaw, Naples, Rome, Copenhagen, and a bunch more. It must be a New York thing.

I mean, New York itself was named after a foreign city by a foreign country.

There's an Amsterdam too, and Corinth, Dunkirk, Ithaca, Syracuse, Utica, etc.

I'm not sure it's specific to upstate New York though... isn't this the case in many other parts of the country too (edit: as just confirmed by skluth)?

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Speaking of Angola... what is it with upstate New York and foreign cities and countries?

I have no idea. There's a Warsaw, Naples, Rome, Copenhagen, and a bunch more. It must be a New York thing.

I mean, New York itself was named after a foreign city by a foreign country.

I think it's an everywhere thing, it just changes based on where the people involved came from. MN has Oslo, Finland, Stockholm, Upsala, Malmo Township, Ronneby, Karlstad, Cologne, Hanover, and other "New" cities that seemed ambiguous whether they were meant to be included. (Montevideo is also one, but likely unrelated ethnically to the white settlers that founded it).

[webny99]

Well, I posted this in the thread inspired by this thread, so to come full circle I may as well post it here too, since it certainly describes my "preference" for highway service stops.   

And then there's Angola, which in terms of facilities shared by both directions of traffic, I think is better than the other examples mentioned so far for several reasons:
...
So yeah, all of that is basically a long way of saying Angola is one of the best service areas there is.

I always liked this solution for sharing services without a left exit/entrance. It's a regular interstate rest area rather than a full-service toll road service area. But northbound traffic goes under the interstate to use the same stop as southbound traffic on the west side of the highway. There was already going to be a bridge here for a local road so they just added a longer bridge for the rest stop access.

That's not a bad design either, although it does require a bit more ROW than the Angola design. The northbound ramps are also quite long, especially when compared to Thruway standards (which admittedly are usually as short as possible; that may be why I tend to find convoluted designs like this one in Ohio a bit baffling).

[skluth]

Speaking of Angola... what is it with upstate New York and foreign cities and countries?

I have no idea. There's a Warsaw, Naples, Rome, Copenhagen, and a bunch more. It must be a New York thing.

I mean, New York itself was named after a foreign city by a foreign country.

I think it's an everywhere thing, it just changes based on where the people involved came from. MN has Oslo, Finland, Stockholm, Upsala, Malmo Township, Ronneby, Karlstad, Cologne, Hanover, and other "New" cities that seemed ambiguous whether they were meant to be included. (Montevideo is also one, but likely unrelated ethnically to the white settlers that founded it).

Looks like someone started a thread for these names.

[andrepoiy]

Well, I posted this in the thread inspired by this thread, so to come full circle I may as well post it here too, since it certainly describes my "preference" for highway service stops.   

And then there's Angola, which in terms of facilities shared by both directions of traffic, I think is better than the other examples mentioned so far for several reasons:

1. Ramps are on the right so traffic doesn't have to enter/exit from the left lane
2. Doesn't require a massively wide median since parking isn't in the median
3. You get to walk over the highway in a covered bridge, which is pretty cool
4. For toll roads, it can't be used to U-turn since the bridges are pedestrian-only

So yeah, all of that is basically a long way of saying Angola is one of the best service areas there is.

I remember stopping there. Thought it was definitely a unique rest stop.

[jeffandnicole]

Well, I posted this in the thread inspired by this thread, so to come full circle I may as well post it here too, since it certainly describes my "preference" for highway service stops.   

And then there's Angola, which in terms of facilities shared by both directions of traffic, I think is better than the other examples mentioned so far for several reasons:

1. Ramps are on the right so traffic doesn't have to enter/exit from the left lane
2. Doesn't require a massively wide median since parking isn't in the median
3. You get to walk over the highway in a covered bridge, which is pretty cool
4. For toll roads, it can't be used to U-turn since the bridges are pedestrian-only

So yeah, all of that is basically a long way of saying Angola is one of the best service areas there is.

I remember stopping there. Thought it was definitely a unique rest stop.

Extremely inconvenient though for anyone with a disability.

[kalvado]

Well, I posted this in the thread inspired by this thread, so to come full circle I may as well post it here too, since it certainly describes my "preference" for highway service stops.   

And then there's Angola, which in terms of facilities shared by both directions of traffic, I think is better than the other examples mentioned so far for several reasons:

1. Ramps are on the right so traffic doesn't have to enter/exit from the left lane
2. Doesn't require a massively wide median since parking isn't in the median
3. You get to walk over the highway in a covered bridge, which is pretty cool
4. For toll roads, it can't be used to U-turn since the bridges are pedestrian-only

So yeah, all of that is basically a long way of saying Angola is one of the best service areas there is.

I remember stopping there. Thought it was definitely a unique rest stop.

Extremely inconvenient though for anyone with a disability.

Are you sure you actually think Angola? If my memory serves me right - and Google maps agree - parking is actually above highway level, so the walk across those bridges from parking lots to actual building are perfectly level without any steps. I don't like the building, though, but that is a whole different story

[webny99]

And then there's Angola, which in terms of facilities shared by both directions of traffic, I think is better than the other examples mentioned so far for several reasons:
...
So yeah, all of that is basically a long way of saying Angola is one of the best service areas there is.

I remember stopping there. Thought it was definitely a unique rest stop.

Extremely inconvenient though for anyone with a disability.

Are you sure you actually think Angola? If my memory serves me right - and Google maps agree - parking is actually above highway level, so from bridges from parking lots to actual building are perfectly level without any steps. I don't like the building, though, but that is a whole different story

Looking at the eastbound side, there is a few steps, but there is a ramp as well. It's a bit of a longer distance to the facilities because of the covered bridge, but I certainly wouldn't say it's not accessible.

[epzik8]

Service area on turnpike. Someplace off an exit on free highway.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Service area on turnpike. Someplace off an exit on free highway.

Ditto.

[jeffandnicole]

And then there's Angola, which in terms of facilities shared by both directions of traffic, I think is better than the other examples mentioned so far for several reasons:
...
So yeah, all of that is basically a long way of saying Angola is one of the best service areas there is.

I remember stopping there. Thought it was definitely a unique rest stop.

Extremely inconvenient though for anyone with a disability.

Are you sure you actually think Angola? If my memory serves me right - and Google maps agree - parking is actually above highway level, so from bridges from parking lots to actual building are perfectly level without any steps. I don't like the building, though, but that is a whole different story

Looking at the eastbound side, there is a few steps, but there is a ramp as well. It's a bit of a longer distance to the facilities because of the covered bridge, but I certainly wouldn't say it's not accessible.

I didn't say it wasn't accessible...I just said it's inconvenient to those with disabilities.

[HighwayStar]

And then there's Angola, which in terms of facilities shared by both directions of traffic, I think is better than the other examples mentioned so far for several reasons:
...
So yeah, all of that is basically a long way of saying Angola is one of the best service areas there is.

I remember stopping there. Thought it was definitely a unique rest stop.

Extremely inconvenient though for anyone with a disability.

Are you sure you actually think Angola? If my memory serves me right - and Google maps agree - parking is actually above highway level, so from bridges from parking lots to actual building are perfectly level without any steps. I don't like the building, though, but that is a whole different story

Looking at the eastbound side, there is a few steps, but there is a ramp as well. It's a bit of a longer distance to the facilities because of the covered bridge, but I certainly wouldn't say it's not accessible.

I didn't say it wasn't accessible...I just said it's inconvenient to those with disabilities.

Well, I guess we need to demolish it and not let anyone use it then since it does not provide the highest level of service to everyone.

[jeffandnicole]

And then there's Angola, which in terms of facilities shared by both directions of traffic, I think is better than the other examples mentioned so far for several reasons:
...
So yeah, all of that is basically a long way of saying Angola is one of the best service areas there is.

I remember stopping there. Thought it was definitely a unique rest stop.

Extremely inconvenient though for anyone with a disability.

Are you sure you actually think Angola? If my memory serves me right - and Google maps agree - parking is actually above highway level, so from bridges from parking lots to actual building are perfectly level without any steps. I don't like the building, though, but that is a whole different story

Looking at the eastbound side, there is a few steps, but there is a ramp as well. It's a bit of a longer distance to the facilities because of the covered bridge, but I certainly wouldn't say it's not accessible.

I didn't say it wasn't accessible...I just said it's inconvenient to those with disabilities.

Well, I guess we need to demolish it and not let anyone use it then since it does not provide the highest level of service to everyone.

That makes no sense in the context I was referencing.  But that's not surprising...there's been a long history of able-bodied people not really understanding the needs of the disabled.

That said, as this style is quite unique, there are numerous reasons why it's not generally duplicated elsewhere - cost and accessibility being 2 of them.