The US's most pathetic highways

[Duke87 1,070]

What, you want an intro? Sorry, no, straight to the stuff.

Interstate 86 (Idaho):

One of two Interstate 86es (the other is in PA/NY), this highway is pathetic for several reasons. First, it serves absolutely no major cities (Unless you consider Pocatello a major city). Second, It's under 100 miles long. In all logic, this really should be a 3 digit route. Try numbering it I-184. More fitting.

Interstate 97 (Maryland):

The shortest 2 digit route there is, stretching from south of Baltimore to Annapolis, all of 17 miles. This is another one that really should be a 3 digit route. Try numbering it I-995. That frees up I-97 for the envisioned Delmarva interstate corrideor along US13/DE1.

Interstate 238 (California):

Better known as Interstate "Indigestion" 238, this little 2 mile connector in the bay area defies the rules. Not only does it never meet interstate 38, THERE IS NO INTERSTATE 38!!! It wasn't good enough being part of CA 238, it absolutely needed an Interstate designation for some reason. Trouble was, at the time, no x80 numbers were available. 480 now is, since the Embarcedaro freeway is gone, but Caltrans isn't renumbering anything.

Cross Bronx Expressway [part of I-95] (New York):

Easily the worst highway in North America, this 40-year old demon from hell was obsolete the day it opened. It'a a very interesting urban drive, and an amazing feat of engineering. Too bad it's plagued by traffic problems at all hours of the day, leading it to oft be called the "Cross Bronx Parking Lot". The reasons are several. Firstoff, heading northbound from the GW bridge, the highway's 3 northbound lanes absorb a fair portion of the 7 on the bridge, making it a major bottleneck point. Second, the road is old, narrow and "claustrophobic, mostly existing beow grade with zip room for expansion. Third, it's a bit hilly, and all those trucks shifting gears slow things up a lot.

Beyond that, recent NYSDOT renumbering from a milepost experiment is being impimented rather poorly and slowly, such that currently, northbound travellers pass (in this order) exits 1, 2, 3 or 1C (depending on the sign), 2A, 2B, 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B, 11, 12, and 7C. Southbound travellers will pass exits 7A, 7B, 6B, 5B, 5A, 4B, 3, 2A, 3, and 1. Brilliant.

feel free to add your own.

[ACEfanatic 7]

I-81 around here (Harrisonburg, VA) is pretty bad. Four lanes except for a section in the middle of nowhere south of Staunton where it widens to six. (Why? Who knows.) The amount of truck traffic is insane - go out on a Friday night and it's not uncommon to see trucks backed up for miles. It really needs several more lanes, if VDOT ever gets off their ass and adds them.

-ACE

[S_C_mbody 0]

LIE (Long Island Expressway)

Is pretty bad too. The police make you get off the highway for the smallest accident, and then make you get back on in such a way that you are in the biggest traffic jam imagined for about two hours. A number of the exits are brutal as well as being very funkey and not easy to work with.

[Equilibria 16]

It isn't really an issue with the road, but I-95/I-93 from Canton to Braintree, MA.

If you look at a map, the Yankee Division Highway (or Route 128) really curves around and meets the SE Expressway, which continues down to Cape Cod as MA-3. Problem was, MA-3 isn't up to interstate code yet, and it seemed silly to MADOT to just end I-93 in an interchange with a couple of state routes. So, in the early 1980s, with the I-95 extention into Downtown effectively dead, they came up with a horribly confusing solution.

I-95 meets 128 from the South, and continues to the north along that road. The MA-128 designation was dropped for some reason along the southern section. Instead, I-93 continues around the curve and meets I-95 at the junction.

The problem is that because I-93 makes a 180-degree turn, mainline I-95 South becomes I-93 North at the interchange in Canton. In effect, I-93 runs backwards for a good distance simply because MADOT didn't want to end it in Braintree.

Even better, the actual "End I-93" sign is about 3/4 mile away from the beginning of MA-128, so for a short distance the road is, well, nothing.

[mcalmvp2 2]

If you live in SoCal you know about CA state route 91...and the demonic bottleneck between Anaheim Hills and Corona. Yes, yes...it is one of those LA freeways..but what makes this particularly worse is that CA SR 91 handles the bulk load of residents out in the suburbs of Riverside County (cuz they want a cheap and fancy house) who work in LA/OC.

The main problem?...it goes through a pass..a narrow pass which means of course...narrowing the freeway and thus of course..taking a few lanes with it. There have been a number of ways to try to solve it. Proposals have included double decking the highway for that stretch of 5 miles...of course that would make it "ugly" and cost a lot. Another plan?...to build a small toll highway through the Santa Ana mountains to the south with a nice tunnel. Of course that would be a very nice suggestion...except when the environmentalists scream about it and when the "all-powerful" Irvine Company (that controls practically a 1/3 of Orange County) fears that it will disrupt their carefully planned and conceived city. Then there are the calls to make SR 74, a winding road between the South part of the OC on the I-5 to the south part of Riverside county on the I-15, into a highway. But of course..NIMBYism in posh south OC and the environmentalists win again.

So of course...we're back to CA SR 91...a parking lot of cars virtually from 7AM in the morning to 8PM at night...taking a lot more money from CalTrans because of the constant need of maintainence...which could have been, of course, been used to fix the mess, but no.

[simcitystar1167 0]

I-95 in CT can be a really pain because after you pass New Haven going north, in turns into two-lanes and there are just too many cars all squeezed together.

[antsel 841]

A pathetic stretch of highway I want to refer all of you to is not in the US, but Canada. Sorry for breaking the consistency and undermining the title. Anyway, this highway is not pathetic because of the great traffic jams, but because it's in the worst state of disrepair I have ever witnessed. I'm talking about Highway 32 west of Swift Current, SK, a small highway that branches towards the northwest. This highway is in such terrible condition, that there are pot holes the size of vehicles everywhere. If you fall in one, you might not be able to get out. And of course, the Department of Holidays (Department of Highways), instead of repaving this stretch of road, they shovel bucket loads of gravel into them. So instead of having some 200 pot holes in a stretch of 80km, you have 100 pot holes, and 100 speedhumps. The speed limit on this highway is 70km/h, for those metrically challenged that's around 45 mph, and that's still pushing it. The condition of this highway is so bad, ambulances refuse to pick up patients who live along that highway. Now that, my friends, is pathetic.

[sEAhAwk fAn121 0]

I-435 in Kansas City!!! you go through the worst parts of KC and its backed up 3/4 of the time

[david1314 44]

I think I'll stick with Kansas City...

Isn't it I-670 through there that's only 1 lane for a good portion of it's length?

I forget what road it was specifically, but I think it was to the north of town, and if you're passing through on I-70 it's the quick way to meet someone near the airport.

Edit:  I'll tell you what doesn't suck... Newly finished I-25 through Denver!  I have an exit 3 blocks from my house for the southern half of the highway.  It kicks ass.  What used to be a 30 min commute home through T-REX (the I-25 rebuild project name) is now a 10 min drive.

[pjmch7 1]

I-95 In Philadelphia is terrible not because it it too small, or the roads are bad, but it completely disconnects the city from the Delaware River front. On one side are the historical and trendy neighborhood of Old City, the ritzy Society Hill, and the working class Italian/Irish South Philadelphia. On the other side there are parking lots, big box stores, and strip clubs. Basically, the east border of Philadelphia is I-95, not the Delaware River.

On the New Jersey side, mass transit is horrible, with only one 14-mile commuter line and terrible bus service, so every highway and major road is jam packed going both in and out of the city at rush hour. This isn't really a highway problem but more of a problem with the lack of transit and the amount of sprawl in south jersey.

[phattonez 1]

California again, although most of the highways are great.

CA110, the Pasadena freeway. It was made a long time ago and it was made for traffic that went 40 miles an hour. Getting off the freeway is dangerous and getting on is even worse. You have to come to a complete stop, and wait for a hole in the traffic to jump onto the freeway. The link below shows portions of the freeway.

http://www.scvresources.com/highways/sr_110.htm

[Haljackey 17,398]

I gotta say Interstate #69 is terrible in Port Huron, USA as well as Interstate #75 in the southern half of the American State of Michigan. I commute across the Blue Water Bridge international boarder crossing in Sarnia, Canada, from time to time. You go from the nice smooth asphalt of highway #402 on the Canadian side to riggity, bumpy, unmaintained concrete surface of these roads. You get this same result when you cross the Ohoio/Michigan state boarder on interstate #75. The highway's condition is in terriable shape and needs to be adressed.

Just the Opinion of a American forigner. The USA is Canada's only neighbour, so theres no sense of us saying South of the boarder like you need to do to recongnise Mexico.

[joeynymets 19]

Originally posted by: S_C_mbody LIE (Long Island Expressway)

Is pretty bad too. The police make you get off the highway for the smallest accident, and then make you get back on in such a way that you are in the biggest traffic jam imagined for about two hours. A number of the exits are brutal as well as being very funkey and not easy to work with.quote>

well it depends if the accident happens in Nassau or Suffolk sometime suffolk police will only close a lane  

[sEAhAwk fAn121 0]

no i truthfully dont know about the one lane

i drive I-670 all of the time well it ok

[bakercity 270]

There are two bad highways in and around Wisconsin area. They are the Skyway (I-90) on the southside of Chicago. People say they take I-294 or I-94 than the Skyway. The otherone is The Marquette Interchange (I-94/US41, I-43, and I-794) in downtown Millwaukee, WI is bad because of construction; but people and I go on the Bypass (I-894) on the southside. It is quicker than going through downtown Milwaukee. And this is coming from a Resident of Kenosha, WI (approx.35 miles south of Milwaukee.)

[SockoJr53 51]

A few people are saying I-95 and I have to agree, I-95 through NY and CT are horrible, its bad enough when a 4 lane highway is gridlocked, but when all 8 or 10 lanes aren't moving in Bridgeport or New Haven it really sucks.

[Duke87 1,070]

Well, I-95 in Connecticut from the NY state line to exit 76 was built as part of the Connecticut Turnpike. The interstate designation came later. Up until the late 1980's, there were actually tolls on this section of the road. Then a tractor-trailor collided with several cars northbound at the Stratford toll Palza, and CONNDOT began removing all the tolls in the state. This is why Connecticut isn't on the EZPass network- it doesn't need to be. No tolls!

Of course, this is one of three famous accidents that have happened on the road in Fairfield county. The most notable is the collapse of the southbound span of the Mianus river bridge in greenwich in 1983. It happened at about 4 AM, and a truck and two cars got dunked in the drink 50 or so feet below. Only the passenger of one of the cars survived, having escaped and swam to safety.

The collapse occured because careless road maintnece crews had paved over the stormdrains on the bridge, causing rainwater to instead tricke down into the support structure, severely accelerating the rusting of several key elements. It was a connecting bracket that broke and caused the collapse.

The third you may remember from a couple years ago, as it made national news. A tanker truck crashed on an overpass in Bridgeport, and the severe heat of he resulting fire caused the support beams to sag, damaging the bridge beyond repair. The highway had to be closed for about 12 days while construction crews worked around the clock to build a new overpass.

In New York, from Exit 8A to the Connecticu state line, i-95 is the New England Thruway, maintained by the New York State Thruway Authority, not NYSDOT. There still is a single toll here (between exits 16 and 17), but it's only collected northbound.

Overall, these two portions of the highway are actually well built and nice, but merely suffer from congestion issues at rush hours.

There was a proposal a few years back to double deck I-95 through fairfield county, having the second deck be "express lanes" only having enterances and exits at major interchanges. It would be left up to New York to continue such a thing further south. As interesting as the proposal is, it would be one hell of an engineering job, the cost would be astronomical, and building it would take a decade at least.

[fivedayrental 0]

I-95 in fairfield county is really bad. I read an article in the local newspaper saying that it is hard to get judges to go to work in Stamford because of the traffic. Also in the article, a lawyer said that it takes about 1 1/2 to to go from Bridgeport to Stamford. If I think the traffic is bad at my end of the county (northern), I would be going insane in the lower end.

[Cjah 15]

Ok...many SoCal peeps are right...but we already got like three tollraods to deal with the CA91....

We go the ever stupid 241.....then the ever grander piece of crap called the 261....and what was the other...oh yeah...didn't they make part of the CA33 a tollroad now???

Also...I don't really think the CA73 is even a freeway anymore...more like a tollroad...so thats pathectic...

Well...atleast I'm not the only one that thinks the Irvine Company sucks...

Oh... CA210....that sucker is like the original LA freeway....

umm on top of that I'd say the I-710 is a bad Freeway...it has the largest big rig accidents every year when the fog rolls in and parts of the I-710 were supposed to be finished to connect to another highway.....so its almost like the I-710 is unfinished...

[wjwestmoreland 0]

Have a good one for you. Here in the Twin Cities almost all the highway interchanges are cloverleafs (done b/c of winter, but cause horrible traffic backups). The worst though is the multiple duplexes (two highways sharing the same road for a period) major interstates and state/US highways. I-35W in south Minneapolis/Richfield duplexes with MN-62 (Crosstown) in what is called the Crosstown Commons. To stay on I-35W or MN-62 you must cross two lanes of traffic in less than 2 miles. It backs up badly on a good day, but when the weather turns bad or there is a wreck along either highway it makes both highways back up for miles and turns the Crosstown Commons into a parking lot for hours. The design was caused b/c Minneapolis and Richfield would not compromise where I-35W should go. To make matters worse, it now will cost over $300 million to fix this stretch and our Govenors little plan to fix it (having the Road Contractors pay for it up front until the Feds kicked in their part in 2008) was laughed at. Construction was supposed to start this summer but we will see when/if it will ever be done.

[funkalunatic 0]

I get to drive through that almost every day, along with this gem of a fully directional interchange

[tSlater 134]

Not a traditional restricted access highway... more like an SC4 Avenue, but is listed as Highway M11 (28th Street). This highway stretches from Grand Rapid's furthest SW suburbs, skirting along the souther edge of Grand Rapids proper, and continues on to the easternmost suburbs. The whole stretch in its entirety is 90% commercial suburban sprawl, with each lot having 1-2 entrances/exits onto the road. Not to mention the road is 5 lanes (2 in each direction with central turning lane)

If you ever want to turn left onto the road at any time of the day, you will spend several minutes just trying to get into the turning lane, and another minute getting out of the turning lane and into the proper lane. This corridor is several tens of miles long, and the entire corridor is like this. It's not quite at parking lot status, but definately within dangerous status. There's several accidents daily along this road. Not to mention driving it is sure to give a headache.

[poops2u 2]

I gotta say many of the highways in the NYC area are up for the prize, besides the Cross Bronx as you outlined, and the LIE as said by S_C_mbody.

I-278 (BQE-Brooklyn Queens expressway) is way, way, way too narrow to be the only major through route for trucks (who, in fact, must exit at some point simply because the stretch near the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges is just too narrow). It's also plagued by construction-My dad moved to the area in '84 and can't remember a time w/o construction. The road itself is horrible and pot-hole riddled, but the views of Manhattan are nice.

The Belt Parkway has some very intelligent planning-a draw bridge to allow boats to go under, literally creating a parking lot when that damn thing is raised.

[joeynymets 19]

how about the Deagan(I-80 i believe) is a complete deadlock espesially when a New York Yankee game ends.

[Equilibria 16]

I've been hearing about the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge on the Washington Beltway. It looks like a grand piece of engineering, but I'm curious as to how the drawbridge section will affect traffic.

That's correct, just like the one in NY, except this one's still under construction. Apparently the City of Alexandria (VA) wouldn't allow a bridge high enough for river traffic, so now all 12 or so lanes have to stop dead 70 times a year.

Duh...

[Physbo 1]

If you want to talk about bad highway and road systems with in states, Wyoming scored the worst. All the highways scored poor to fair. Not to mention Starting from Rapid City to Casper Wyoming, about half way to casper on the shortest drive in about midwest, they have a sign that points the wrong way to casper.

[Ratieya455 1]

The Twin Cities has another problematic commons, where I-35E and i-694 share a road for a few miles, but it doesn't back up anywhere near as much as the Crosstown Commons. They have just started construction to separate I-35E and I-694 and they should do the same for I-35W and MN 62, if they only had the spare room in that area.

There are two really short highways along the St. Croix River between Minnesota and Wisconsin. One is MN 243, which is about a mile and a half long and leads to a bridge across to WI-243, which is a few hundred yards long. At least they were able to give them the same number, but all they do is span the under-two-mile length beween MN 95 and WI 35.

[Ebullient 1]

NH-101 in southern New Hampshire was called "death highway" by locals untill a few years ago when they separated the four lanes. People would have head on collisions trevaling in excess of 70mph. Luckly, NHDOT finally separated them, but it took FOREVER and cost a fortune.

[blahdy 21]

Originally posted by: Equilibria I've been hearing about the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge on the Washington Beltway. It looks like a grand piece of engineering, but I'm curious as to how the drawbridge section will affect traffic.

That's correct, just like the one in NY, except this one's still under construction. Apparently the City of Alexandria (VA) wouldn't allow a bridge high enough for river traffic, so now all 12 or so lanes have to stop dead 70 times a year.

Duh...quote>

Indeed, that's my biggest gripe about that project.  I love the bridge, but the drawbridge is like throwing a hammer to the TV in the middle of a show.

And the fact that you don't have early warning system well ahead of the draw bridge to alert the drivers that bridge is going up is pretty... annoying (yes, there are flashing signs at the entrance of the bridge, which should be sufficient enough to stop safely, but it does not manage the natural reactions of car drivers backing up behind all of a sudden).  They could've at least installed some lane control signs 1-2 miles ahead or get away with drawbridge altogether   (I mean, if you are going to spend all that money building something new, why not do it differently...)   If height is an issue, I hope they thought about tunneling (assuming it does not leak lol).

Judging the sign post and design asthetics in use, I see that Parsons Brinkerhoff has done quite a bit of design on this   There are some similarities in some utility items on that bridge with Boston's Big Dig highway segments.

[confused04 14]

Originally posted by: Duke87

Interstate 97 (Maryland):

The shortest 2 digit route there is, stretching from south of Baltimore to Annapolis, all of 17 miles. This is another one that really should be a 3 digit route. Try numbering it I-995. That frees up I-97 for the envisioned Delmarva interstate corrideor along US13/DE1.

quote>

Sweet! Delmarva is so isolated for being on the East Coast.  I wonder when they might try to create an interstate highway through Dover and Salisbury.  When the summer comes around, its a pain to drive from Salisbury to Philly north on 13 and Norfolk south on 13.  With  Salisbury's metro area above 100,000 the puny Route 13 (which at best is 4 lanes) is not sufficient for anything.  Also, Route 50 and Route 13 lack an interchange near downtown and rely soley on the bypasses to connect these two roads (way out of downtown).