Scariest Road Elements (not bridges)

[CoreySamson]

We all have a "scariest bridge" that we've crossed over (Brookport Bridge, anyone?), but what other aspects of roads have "scary" instances? For example, what is the scariest exit ramp? Or what is the scariest passing lane? Or just maybe, what is the scariest urban freeway? It could be any road category, as long as it is the scariest of that category.

I'll give my answer for what I believe to be the scariest turning lane I have ever used. The SB median turning lane from US 69 onto OK 43 in Stringtown, OK has to be the most uncomfortable I have ever felt using a turning lane:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FfJXbwYqw6bA3EjE6

The area is tight and congested (and a main truck traffic thoroughfare), and the turning lane itself is pretty narrow. There are two lanes of trucks barrelling down the highway at 60 mph on either side of you if you are stopped there, and the hill ahead makes it difficult to ascertain oncoming traffic. Probably one of the most intimidating moments as a driver was making this turn and waiting for an opening.


So what category of road element do you have the scariest example of?

[Max Rockatansky]

Turning left across grade onto U.S. 101 from Rocks Road or Cannon Road in the Eucalyptus Forest near San Juan Bautista was pretty wild due to the high traffic volume.  That at-grade intersection was so infamous for crashes that CHP and Caltrans closed it off last year.   I want to say it was the last left hand turns that were closed off on US 101 between Prunedale and San Juan Bautista.  Essentially the segment is an expressway that has been squeezed into a quasi freeway.

Recreationally speaking there the more worrisome the road I find the more fun I tend to have.  The last road that I drove on that got me nervous was Chowchilla Mountain Road last year.  A 1860s era stage road (like Chowchilla Mountain) that has basically no grading and inclines of 16% is creeping into overlanding territory.

I suppose that I was also concerned about the remoteness of the abandoned part of New Idria Road (past Postmile 20.6) last October.  I way over prepared for that day trip and it was pretty much a breeze.  The dirt part of Panoche Road was considerably more difficult given how torn up it was.  I was surprised to see the concrete ford of Panoche Creek still had about a foot of water in it.

[Rothman]

That turning lane doesn't look so bad.

Somewhere out on US 20 and east of NY 10, I believe, if you're headed eastbound, there's an intersection just beyond the crest of a hill.  Have no idea why left turns are allowed there, but if you've seen One Battle After Another you get the idea of the risk.  I have no idea why there aren't more of those kinds of accidents in that kind of situation.

Anyway, turning out onto a road where it's more blind than it should be given speeds is probably the situation that scares me the most.  See countless locations in Appalachia, stretching from Kentucky to Pennsylvania.

***

I also seem to remember some nutty on-ramp onto the Pulaski Skyway -- possibly from Raymond Boulevard -- that may have even come up to a stop sign back in the day?

[PNWRoadgeek]

There's some strange exit ramps on I-405 in Portland, some strange auxiliary lanes as well, they aren't scary more so difficult to deal with but to a newer driver they could be scary because of how old they are.

When I was a young kid I used to be a little afraid of tunnels but that changed after a while. Same with roads going through forests but now those are probably my favorite types of roads.

Overall, not a lot of elements of roads scare me besides when I was like really really young.

[pderocco]

The things that scare me the most are single-lane mountain roads, where you may have to back up if you encounter someone coming the other way. These can be paved or not. Examples include parts of Kaiser Pass Road beyond the end of CA-168 in Lakeshore, and Wards Ferry Road in the Tuolumne River canyon between Groveland and Sonora CA.

[DandyDan]

Generally speaking, I find 4 lanes undivided to be potentially scary. If you have to make a left turn, there are 3 lanes of traffic that can collide with your vehicle, the two going your way and the oncoming left lane. And most of the time, everyone is speeding.

[Max Rockatansky]

The things that scare me the most are single-lane mountain roads, where you may have to back up if you encounter someone coming the other way. These can be paved or not. Examples include parts of Kaiser Pass Road beyond the end of CA-168 in Lakeshore, and Wards Ferry Road in the Tuolumne River canyon between Groveland and Sonora CA.

Heh, I mentioned those two in the sedan thread. 

[kphoger]

The things that scare me the most are single-lane mountain roads, where you may have to back up if you encounter someone coming the other way. These can be paved or not. Examples include parts of Kaiser Pass Road beyond the end of CA-168 in Lakeshore, and Wards Ferry Road in the Tuolumne River canyon between Groveland and Sonora CA.

My scariest was in Mexico.  We had taken a bit of an excursion up into the mountains south of Parras (Coah) and, shortly after we got to the summit and began our descent, we decided to turn around and head back.  But the descent was nothing but steep rocky switchbacks down and down and down.  The hairpin turns were the only reasonable places to turn around, but even still there wasn't much room to do so—and the grade was steep enough that I kept worrying about tipping the vehicle over halfway through the three-point (or was it nine-point?) turn.

By this point it was time to turn around and pick somebody up in town.  So I said:  "Here's the part we're not going to do!  Let's find a spot to turn around and head back."  Well, there was no good spot to turn around until several switchbacks down the mountain.  Nothing but loose rocks for pavement, a mountain on one side and a sheer expanse on the other, hairpin turns...


Finally we found a hairpin with room enough to do a three-point turn and head back up again.  Whew!

[interstatefan990]

Revisiting one of my first posts on the forum, this is still one of the more "scary" exits to take in Downstate NY, unless there's no one even close to being behind you.

[Rothman]

Revisiting one of my first posts on the forum, this is still one of the more "scary" exits to take in Downstate NY, unless there's no one even close to being behind you.

That's what blinkers are for.

[PColumbus73]

1. US 52, Exit 109A tight curve, slow speed and short merge area always makes me nervous.

2. Church St (US 17) & Dozier St, Georgetown, SC I was injured in a car accident here last year, plus with the blind curve at the Hardee's entrance and the intersection with Dozier Street. Since then, I approach this curve at the posted speed limit or slower than that.

[interstatefan990]

Revisiting one of my first posts on the forum, this is still one of the more "scary" exits to take in Downstate NY, unless there's no one even close to being behind you.

That's what blinkers are for.

You'd think, but tailgating is all too common on the parkway, and having to drastically slow down in fast moving traffic doesn't help.

[Rothman]

Revisiting one of my first posts on the forum, this is still one of the more "scary" exits to take in Downstate NY, unless there's no one even close to being behind you.

That's what blinkers are for.

You'd think, but tailgating is all too common on the parkway, and having to drastically slow down in fast moving traffic doesn't help.

*shrug*

I've always found blinkers helpful in those kinds of situations. Put on blinker, slow down...

I often wonder if all the non-NYCers complain about driving on Manhattan due to not using their blinkers and cutting over, ticking everyone else off ("Driving here is terrible!").  I've found that the vast majority of drivers in NY respect the blinker.

[kphoger]

I can't think of very many scary road elements that weren't bridges.

This might be the worst "on-ramp" that I've used.  Every year's GSV shot shows a closed gate there, even with the stop sign still proudly standing.  It might have been before GSV that I entered US-65 there, though.

Probably the most nerve-wracking left turn is just I-290 @ Harlem Avenue, just because oncoming traffic has a green right arrow at the same time as your green left arrow, and everyone just has to trust that everyone else will turn into the correct lane.

[interstatefan990]

Revisiting one of my first posts on the forum, this is still one of the more "scary" exits to take in Downstate NY, unless there's no one even close to being behind you.

That's what blinkers are for.

You'd think, but tailgating is all too common on the parkway, and having to drastically slow down in fast moving traffic doesn't help.

*shrug*

I've always found blinkers helpful in those kinds of situations. Put on blinker, slow down...

I often wonder if all the non-NYCers complain about driving on Manhattan due to not using their blinkers and cutting over, ticking everyone else off ("Driving here is terrible!").  I've found that the vast majority of drivers in NY respect the blinker.

Try needing to get over quickly in NYC because of a double parked car sitting in your lane ahead (or any other reason really), and see how many people respect your blinker then.

This might be the worst "on-ramp" that I've used.  Every year's GSV shot shows a closed gate there, even with the stop sign still proudly standing.  It might have been before GSV that I entered US-65 there, though.

That entrance isn't confidence-inspiring, but it doesn't look any worse than your average stop sign turn onto a four lane expressway. Seems to have decent visibility too. Just need a properly powerful engine to floor it up to speed on that uphill.

[jeffandnicole]

Driving up the unpaved Mauna Kea Access Road may have been one of the most scariest roads I've been on.

[webny99]

Probably the most nerve-wracking left turn is just I-290 @ Harlem Avenue, just because oncoming traffic has a green right arrow at the same time as your green left arrow, and everyone just has to trust that everyone else will turn into the correct lane.

Reminds me a bit of this situation, which I find to be very jarring. There's often a long line of cars waiting to turn left, so waiting for the right turn lane to clear during a limited green arrow seems problematic. U-turning vehicles also usually need to turn into the rightmost lane due to turning radius, so double-turning is a non-starter.

I don't think I've ever needed to U-turn here myself but I'd probably go to significant lengths to avoid it unless other traffic was nonexistent in both directions.

[Rothman]

Revisiting one of my first posts on the forum, this is still one of the more "scary" exits to take in Downstate NY, unless there's no one even close to being behind you.

That's what blinkers are for.

You'd think, but tailgating is all too common on the parkway, and having to drastically slow down in fast moving traffic doesn't help.

*shrug*

I've always found blinkers helpful in those kinds of situations. Put on blinker, slow down...

I often wonder if all the non-NYCers complain about driving on Manhattan due to not using their blinkers and cutting over, ticking everyone else off ("Driving here is terrible!").  I've found that the vast majority of drivers in NY respect the blinker.

Try needing to get over quickly in NYC because of a double parked car sitting in your lane ahead (or any other reason really), and see how many people respect your blinker then.

Heh.  Done that many times in the City.  Driving down there just takes some patience.

[kphoger]

This might be the worst "on-ramp" that I've used.  Every year's GSV shot shows a closed gate there, even with the stop sign still proudly standing.  It might have been before GSV that I entered US-65 there, though.

That entrance isn't confidence-inspiring, but it doesn't look any worse than your average stop sign turn onto a four lane expressway. Seems to have decent visibility too. Just need a properly powerful engine to floor it up to speed on that uphill.

Correction:  Just need enough common sense to use the shoulder while getting up to speed on that uphill.

It amazes me how many people are out there who think it's a good idea to enter the main travel lane at 5 mph.


FWIW, when I used that entrance to US-65, I was actually heading southbound, so I then had to flip a u-turn here.

[kphoger]

In Mexico, this stretch of Carr. Fed. 57 makes me nervous in the spots where there's a steep drop-off right at the edge line and a turnpike double is passing me in the left lane with its rear trailer wiggling all around.

[TheCatalyst31]

Since nobody's said the Arroyo Seco Parkway yet, I will. Good luck entering at something like this in fast-moving traffic.

Also the 35 MPH sharp curve on I-90 in downtown Cleveland. The scary part isn't even driving it yourself so much as hoping that every other schmuck on the road slows down enough to stay in their lane.

[interstatefan990]

This might be the worst "on-ramp" that I've used.  Every year's GSV shot shows a closed gate there, even with the stop sign still proudly standing.  It might have been before GSV that I entered US-65 there, though.

That entrance isn't confidence-inspiring, but it doesn't look any worse than your average stop sign turn onto a four lane expressway. Seems to have decent visibility too. Just need a properly powerful engine to floor it up to speed on that uphill.

Correction:  Just need enough common sense to use the shoulder while getting up to speed on that uphill.

It amazes me how many people are out there who think it's a good idea to enter the main travel lane at 5 mph.

Well that's technically not legal, not to mention you are putting your tires at risk with all the road debris that can potentially be sitting on shoulders.

FWIW, when I used that entrance to US-65, I was actually heading southbound, so I then had to flip a u-turn here.

Also not legal by the looks of it. But to each their own.

[jay8g]

The scariest on-ramp I've ever personally used is definitely Wollochet Dr at SR 16. It could be worse (there is a bit of an acceleration lane at least), but a 10 MPH U-turn onto a freeway is a bit much.

Well, the scariest one that still exists, at least. The old Western Ave on-ramp to the SR 99 Battery Street Tunnel was pretty special too, with poor visibility thanks to the grade difference with the mainline, no acceleration area, and absolutely no room for error due to the walls right next to the road on both sides (no shoulder, of course). I only ever drove that way once... after that I just used surface streets if I needed to get around that area.

Any other "scariest road infrastructure" categories would have to go to Iceland, though most of the things I remember from back in the late 00s and early 2010s have since been upgraded thanks to the tourism boom of the 2010s. One that still seems to exist is the one-lane tunnel to Siglufjörður. It doesn't look as bad in that video as what I remember in person.

[kphoger]

Just need enough common sense to use the shoulder while getting up to speed on that uphill.

It amazes me how many people are out there who think it's a good idea to enter the main travel lane at 5 mph.

Well that's technically not legal, not to mention you are putting your tires at risk with all the road debris that can potentially be sitting on shoulders.

1.  Obviously, this depends on your state's particular traffic laws, but I don't see anything in the UVC that prohibits doing so.  Of course, I could be missing something in the UVC, so please let me know if I am.  And of course, Texas, whose traffic laws regarding use of the shoulder surpass all other states', explicitly allows doing so:  "An operator may drive on an improved shoulder to the right of the main traveled portion of a roadway if that operation is necessary and may be done safely ... to accelerate before entering the main traveled lane of traffic [TRANSP § 545.058(a)(2)]."

2.  In many a circumstance, I'd rather risk picking up a screw in the tire than risk getting rear-ended by another vehicle, or rather than risk another driver having to dangerously swerve around me.

FWIW, when I used that entrance to US-65, I was actually heading southbound, so I then had to flip a u-turn here.

Also not legal by the looks of it.

Based on what?

If you're referring to the [KEEP OFF MEDIAN] sign a little bit to the south, then I'm not sure that's intended to prohibit turns across the median—just "driving into or parking on" the median [2009 MUTCD 2B.57].  In fact, on the very same highway farther north, just such a sign is posted between two at-grade intersections.

The u-turn spot that I posted doesn't have any signs prohibiting u-turns, it's maintained with gravel, and it has a culvert running underneath it:  that is to say, it looks like they expect it to be used by people doing a u-turn.

[kphoger]

Well that's technically not legal

FWIW, I went ahead and compared the traffic laws of New York and Kansas.  Your state's law that prohibits driving on the shoulder (VAT, Title 7, Article 25, § 1131) has no counterpart in my state's traffic laws.  Those portions of the vehicle codes go like this:

New York
§ 1129 — Following too closely
§ 1130 — Divided and controlled-access highways
§ 1131 — Driving on shoulders and slopes
§ 1140 — Vehicle approaching or entering intersection
§ 1141 — Vehicle turning left

Kansas
§ 1523 — Following another vehicle too closely
§ 1524 — Driving limitations on divided highways and controlled-access highways ...
§ 1525 — Regulation and restrictions on use of controlled-access highways and facilities ...
§ 1526 — Right-of-way; approaching or entering intersection
§ 1527 — Same;  turning left

But, as this particular location is in the state of Missouri, I also took a look at their traffic laws.  While I likewise don't see any prohibition against driving on the shoulder in Missouri, I did confirm that you were likely correct in asserting that my u-turn was...

Also not legal

According to Missouri state law:  "It is unlawful ... to make any left turn or semicircular or U-turn on any such divided highway, except at an intersection or interchange or at any signed location designated by the state highways and transportation commission or the department of transportation" [Title XIX, Chapter 304, § 015].  While Missouri's vehicle code unfortunately does not define the term intersection, I think it's reasonable to assume that an unsigned crossover doesn't count as one.