The US's most pathetic highways

[Equilibria 16]

Blahdy:

What intrigues me about the whole thing is that the idea of the Interstate System was to eliminate stops like this. That's why there are only a couple stoplights still in existence on U.S. Interstates, and most bridges meant to carry them have high enough bridges to allow ships to pass.

That bridge not only carries a three-digit interstate (I-495), which sometimes means lower standards, but it also is part of I-95, the main thouroughfare for the entire Eastern Seaboard. That's one heck of a road you're stopping each time a barge needs to go through.

[____----____ 37]

hmmm no chicago area intersates on here I wonder why...pry chi towns dominance

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: aleking hmmm no chicago area intersates on here I wonder why...pry chi towns dominancequote>

Or the fact that no one from chicago other than you has posted here yet.

What about the Chicago Skyway?

Look, let's not turn this into another "city x is the beter than city y" thread, m'kay?

[____----____ 37]

the chicago skyway is one of my favorite drives-it is cool as heck

the only real gripe about chicago roads is the toll system, not that they are the only one

[Pirates29 0]

AK,

Probably not so much the tolls themselves, more like you encounter a half dozen of them just passing  through the city.

[canuck3360 14]

I'd say if you wanna talk pathetic try driving on I-94 from Ann Arbor to Downton Detroit is almost embarassing in some stretchs you almost feel like your on a dirt road with all the potholes and uneven pavement. And any Highway around Michigan is stupid to drive on in Michigan's second season Construction(Commonly known as April-October) All the Construction(which leads to nothing) cause major headaches and no good detours around the Construction(such last year when I-96 was closed from Grand River - I-94 and I94 was down to one lane for about 7 miles starting at I96 let's not even get into I75/M10/I696 Construction)

[tydev417 0]

Originally posted by: poops2u 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.

quote>

You've basically taken all my thoughts, the BQE (I-278) is beyond obsolete. It's nice to see that they rebuilt the northern portion but the southern portion needs tremendous amount of work in order to bring it up to the current (extremely high) traffic levels and interstate standards.

The Belt Parkway would require a fourth lane if they want to solve the traffic problems. All it simply takes is a car being towed on the shoulder lane to back up the highway from JFK Airport to the Verrazono Bridge and turn it into the Belt Parking Lot.

[tonkawom 1]

Unfortunately there are many roads in the NYC area that really need a lot of help. They were basically designed and built from the mid 30's to the very early 70's, at the peak of Robert Moses' power.

For those of you interested, you can try this website. ITs got a lot of historical information on the nyc area roads.

www.nycroads.com

My favorite as a road that is horrible is the Pulaski Skyway in NJ. ITs very narrow, and is so old its falling apart, but what do you expect for a road built just before WWI.

[tydev417 0]

I was going to mention the Pulaski Skyway as well but it didn't exactly phase me as pathetic, I pass by it very frequently and it does look very outdated. It was built in the late 20s/early 30s and opened in 1932, it looks like it's given the maintenance it requires to stand but it still looks like it may need some rebuilding or some sort of replacement in the near future.

[Angrymidget134 0]

theres one in kansas. Its I-50.Little 2 lane highway (go figure). Now traffic is not so bad its just that its out in the middle of nowhere most of the time and trucks travel it heavily. Traffic accidents are terrible on the highway. Its says its one of the most dangerous highways in the state. Maybe even in the USA.

[zakuten 8]

My opinion of the worst interstate is the I-180 in Western Illinois. It was built as a spur to a steel mill in Hennepin IL. However, the steel mill closed down before it finished. So this in an interstate about 15 mi. long with less than 2500 vehicles a day in each direction.

However, it has brought Hennepin one economic benefit: I-180 is one of the few interstates deserted enough to be usable for filming.

But otherwise, useless. 

On another tangent: The Chicago area toll system isn't the problem, Illinois politics (read: Corruption in the toll authority) is. I'm from the Chicago area, and frankly, a lot of the roads are crappy. The Dan Ryan was so neglected they had to pull off the WHOLE pavement-- Now, does that sound like a good road?

[nofunk 1,933]

Originally posted by: canuck3360 I'd say if you wanna talk pathetic try driving on I-94 from Ann Arbor to Downton Detroit is almost embarassing in some stretchs you almost feel like your on a dirt road with all the potholes and uneven pavement. And any Highway around Michigan is stupid to drive on in Michigan's second season Construction(Commonly known as April-October) All the Construction(which leads to nothing) cause major headaches and no good detours around the Construction(such last year when I-96 was closed from Grand River - I-94 and I94 was down to one lane for about 7 miles starting at I96 let's not even get into I75/M10/I696 Construction)quote>

Actually, the entire stretch of I-94 between A2 and Detroit was completely repaved... just in time for the Super Bowl. It's not a bad drive now... which is not to say there aren't still 1,000 other roads in metro Detroit that don't need help.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned I-99 in Pennsylvania. Not only does it break the Interstate numbering conventions, it's basically a road to nowhere. OK, so it goes to up to State College, PA, but does a town of less than 40,000 really need an interstate? It's a good example of squandered money, and that's pretty pathetic!

[coyote_777 0]

Nofunk:

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned I-99 in Pennsylvania. Not only does it break the Interstate numbering conventions, it's basically a road to nowhere. OK, so it goes to up to State College, PA, but does a town of less than 40,000 really need an interstate? It's a good example of squandered money, and that's pretty pathetic!quote>

 

You mean the Bud Schuster Porkway?  

LOL

[mancoolman 3]

I just started reading ur forumand in the first message you said that the highway in new york is the worst in north america and i can't agree. The worst in north america is the 401 turning on to the QEW in Toronto where you have 500 meters or so to cross 6 lanes. Normally that wouldn't be hard but but the 401 is the busiest high in north america and during rush hour everyones an ass. I know its not an americain highway but i just think that everyone who thinks thier highway is bad consider urselves lucky. And if you ask any person commute north to toronto 5 days a week they will probably agree.

[tydev417 0]

I actually think some of New York City's highways to be some of the worst  planned in North America. Robert Moses, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses, the mastermind behind most of the highways and bridges in NYC loved to squeeze these highways in the middle of built-up urban areas displacing thousands of houses and buildings just to get that highway built. A perfect example is the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway which practically squeezes and winds it's way through Southern Brooklyn and even has a section where it's decked right near the Brooklyn Bridge because it wouldn't fit as 6-lane highway.

Although his highways are beneficial to getting around now, his methods of building them have had a very negative on today's society because the traffic levels have risen to the point where his small, windy highways and viaducts are rendered obsolete. Most of the highways cannot be improved without displacing homes, disrupting and rerouting traffic and everything would just be a mess. His highways were built to the standards to when they were built and it appears that it would be difficult to try and improve the infrastructure to the point where most traffic problems are gone. Some long-term work would be required if they ever want to improve traffic, all you have to do is watch the news in the NYC-area to see that backups are extremely frequent even on the largest of highways. 

The BQE has been a major sticking point for me because it's a highway that I use frequently. It has numerous twists and turns, hidden curves, obscured exits, points on the highway were the Gowanus viaducts lacks shoulder lanes and has an obscured exit at 38th Street and Prospect Expwy. The junction on the northbound side where the Battery Tunnel entry and BQE split is always clogged with traffic at any time of the day but the late hours. The BQE lessens from 4 lanes to 2 as the Prospect Expwy merges from the right and the BQE has to merge to the right into those lanes as the main BQE lanes continue to the Battery Tunnel causing a mess.Sounds confusing doesn't it? The pictures below show everything:

Just follow this Google Map, and follow the route of the entire BQE.

http://tinyurl.com/jadlc

http://www.nycroads.com/roads/brooklyn-queens/

http://www.northeastroads.com/i-278b_ny.html

http://www.northeastroads.com/i-278c_ny.html

[jglei701 8]

The problem with some of the Chicago expressways is that they haven't been renovated in 40 years, most notably the Eisenhower. About 6 years ago, they "fixed" the engineering blunder known as the Hillside Strangler (took 2 lanes of Eastbound traffic down to one going under a bridge, right before an interchange with I-88 and I-294. The interchage with Congress Parkway (90-94) is atrocious in the morning, and the great majority of the on/off ramps are on the unnatural left-hand side of the highway and the decelleration/accelleration lanes simply aren't up to today's standards. Add to that the fact that the volume of cars is about 3-4 times what was intended.... yeah, that sucks. Ironically, when they were building the Hillside Strangler "fix" (it's still not great, if you couldn't tell... just managed to move the congestion about 2 miles farther East), the plan they went with was not going to be able to handle the projected volume of traffic from Chicago's ever-growing suburbs. I guess this is progess... instead of a 40 year old engineering blunder that can't handle the traffic volume we've now got a 6 year engineering blunder that allows for more traffic, but still not enough. Oh well!

One thing I do have to give Illinois credit for is to move all the Tollways to open-road tolling and making I-Pass essentially mandatory for the people who use the Tollways often. This will improve the transit times of the Tollways and make the trip in and around Chicago much more managable.

Speaking of progress, the Marquette interchange in Milwaukee was mentioned... there is currently an extensive $810 complete rebuilding going on for that interchange which will get rid of some out-dated and dangerous features. First of all, they are rebuilding the bridges, which showed quite a bit of deterioration. This interchange was about 60 years old and has a large volume of traffic every day. They are also getting rid of all of the left-hand side exits and entrances, which will prevent a current problem... cars who went from I-43 to 794 had to cut across 2 lanes of traffic and so did cars going from 794 to 43. They also are increasing the sightlines and straightening out the curves... there were lots of accidents because drivers couldn't see that cars ahead of them were stopped.

http://www.mchange.org/ <-- website about the reconstruction

Wisconsin has been very forward-thinking in their Highway construction. They have taken pretty major 2-lane Hwy's (of which Wisconsin had many) and they are making them, at the very least, 4 lane divided, as well as many being limited access. They couldn't do this will all of them because so much of Wisconsin's population lives in rural areas.

[tydev417 0]

To no surprise at all, New York City has the second longest commute time in the nation, logging an average of 34.2 minutes.

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=62215

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=longest+commute+new+york+city&btnG=Search+News

[coyote_777 0]

Anyone ever drive the I - 70 viaduct over the stock yards and Purina plant in east Denver?  5 lanes after the moustrap & Washington Street exits, squeezes down to 3 all the way to Colorado Blvd.  (Quite the lovely smell as well) ZERO shoulder.  And if it rains just a little there's usually at least a foot of water standing on the highway.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: coyote_777 Anyone ever drive the I - 70 viaduct over the stock yards and Purina plant in east Denver?  5 lanes after the moustrap & Washington Street exits, squeezes down to 3 all the way to Colorado Blvd.  (Quite the lovely smell as well) ZERO shoulder.  And if it rains just a little there's usually at least a foot of water standing on the highway.quote>

If what you're talking about is west of the exit for Pana boulevard, then yes, I have. The highway didn't seem that bad to me. Though I wouldn't have noticed the smel with the windows closed and the AC on...

Originally posted by: nofunk I'm surprised nobody has mentioned I-99 in Pennsylvania. Not only does it break the Interstate numbering conventions, it's basically a road to nowhere. OK, so it goes to up to State College, PA, but does a town of less than 40,000 really need an interstate? It's a good example of squandered money, and that's pretty pathetic!quote>

Well, it breaking the numbering convention is unavoidable. What would you number a north-south interstate between I-79 and I-81 that doesn't break the rules?

And, actually, the highway is being built along a so-called "high priority corridor". Also, It's not going to stop at I-80. It's going to folow US15 north by Williamsport and up to I-86 in Painted Post, NY.

A look at a map and logic might make it seem like then making I-390 part of it would make sense, but no plans of such exist.

So yes, I-99 as is is a bit pathetic. But it's not finished yet.

[Meg 368]

Confused04 is right:   Route 13 is not sufficient for the Delmarva area.

Another problem in Maryland is the fact that the Washington Beltway and I-95 are the same road for a large stretch.  It would be great if they could be two different roads. 

Traffic taking I-95 that happens to pass through the DC area would be happy to avoid the DC Beltway.  DC area commuters would be happy for the north-south thru traffic to go somewhere else.  Re-routing I-95 would improve life for both groups  The question has been where to reroute it.

Rerouting it through Delmarva could solve the Route 13 problem.  But putting that volume of traffic through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel seems unlikely.  Adding new lanes to the Bridge-Tunnel would no doubt cost a small fortune.

They have talked about re-routing I-95 to what is now Route 301.   The problem with that is Route 301 is not a limited access highway.  It has many intersections and business along the highway, including many on the median strip.  It would probably be easier to build a new highway altogether than to revamp Route 301.  But land for a highway is rapidly being put to other purposes.

[coyote_777 0]

Originally posted by: Duke87 

If what you're talking about is west of the exit for Pana boulevard, then yes, I have. The highway didn't seem that bad to me. Though I wouldn't have noticed the smell with the windows closed and the AC on...quote>

No not that part, that has been recently reconstructed, the part I'm talking about begins about 3 to 4 miles west of there.

This is the part that you are thinking of:

70 goes from that, to this along the elevated viaduct:

The Purina Plant is the large building on the left.

The stockyards and National Western arena are in the distance under the US 85 sign. 

Notice the traffic headed east.

[system439 0]

I-99 is definitely the most pathetic highway.  First of all, it totally screws up the interstate naming rules...it's I-99 but its 4 hours west of I-95, it's west of I-97, west of I-83....hell, it's at least an hour west of I-81.  Not only does it mess up the naming, but it doesn't go anywhere.  It's not like it connects a big city to nowhere, but it connects nowhere to nowhere, then it just ends in the middle of the mountains of Pennsylvania.  It starts at I-76/I-70 in the middle-of-nowheresville, PA, and then just stops before it reaches I-80, forcing you to take US-220 through State College, PA, which turns into a 2-lane road before you even reach I-80...how dumb!

I-99 is also such a pork-barrel project.  It was very expensive to build and maintain since it goes through such mountainous terrain, but if you've ever driven on it (you probably haven't since it doesn't go anywhere), you're the only vehicle on it for as far as you can see in both directions...such waste.  In fact, if you go onto answers.com and look up "pork-barrel", there's a section about I-99...lol

[Duke87 1,070]

Oh, that part.

Y'know, I guess there's perspective here. If you think that highway is bad, you should look at some of the tightly knit expressways in NYC (the Cross Bronx and Gowanus/BQE particularly). At least your "bad" highway is straight and open (even if it is narrow). Ours are claustrophobic and at times, windy.

The only real problem you've got there is lack of shoulders. ANother lane wouldn't hurt, though, I suppose.

Now, since the other part was reconstructed, would it be safe to assume that some plans exist for doing such to that part of the highway, too?

SkiGeek Another problem in Maryland is the fact that the Washington Beltway and I-95 are the same road for a large stretch.  It would be great if they could be two different roads. 

Traffic taking I-95 that happens to pass through the DC area would be happy to avoid the DC Beltway.  DC area commuters would be happy for the north-south thru traffic to go somewhere else.  Re-routing I-95 would improve life for both groups  The question has been where to reroute it.

Rerouting it through Delmarva could solve the Route 13 problem.  But putting that volume of traffic through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel seems unlikely.  Adding new lanes to the Bridge-Tunnel would no doubt cost a small fortune.

They have talked about re-routing I-95 to what is now Route 301.   The problem with that is Route 301 is not a limited access highway.  It has many intersections and business along the highway, including many on the median strip.  It would probably be easier to build a new highway altogether than to revamp Route 301.  But land for a highway is rapidly being put to other purposes.quote>

Or you could, y'know do what was supposed to have happened in the first place and take I-95 through DC via what's now I-395. But no, that would displace too many homes and business, and thus will never happen because people are gonna ***** about it.

system439 I-99 is definitely the most pathetic highway.  First of all, it totally screws up the interstate naming rules...it's I-99 but its 4 hours west of I-95, it's west of I-97, west of I-83....hell, it's at least an hour west of I-81.  Not only does it mess up the naming, but it doesn't go anywhere.  It's not like it connects a big city to nowhere, but it connects nowhere to nowhere, then it just ends in the middle of the mountains of Pennsylvania.  It starts at I-76/I-70 in the middle-of-nowheresville, PA, and then just stops before it reaches I-80, forcing you to take US-220 through State College, PA, which turns into a 2-lane road before you even reach I-80...how dumb!

I-99 is also such a pork-barrel project.  It was very expensive to build and maintain since it goes through such mountainous terrain, but if you've ever driven on it (you probably haven't since it doesn't go anywhere), you're the only vehicle on it for as far as you can see in both directions...such waste.  In fact, if you go onto answers.com and look up "pork-barrel", there's a section about I-99...lolquote>

Um, read my post further up the page on the topic, please.

[KLRowell 1]

How about this.....

I-10 from Kenner, La to New Orleans East, La. I moved to Texas in 1993. At that time they had started work on the section in Metairie right before the N.O. city limit. I come back in 2004....they are working on the same part!!!!! The potholes all over that I-10 strech are so deep and big you could loose a wheel in them. In New Orleans it elevates above the ghetto better known as Claiborne Ave. Where in the 90's you risked being shot. Not from the interstate, but down below gangs would fire guns up at cars traveling on the interstate.

Next.....Toll Road 49 & the East Texas Hour Glass Loop (proposed I-520). This is a multi million dollar project for toll roads in east texas.....No, I am not talking DFW. I am talking Tyler, Tx (pop. approx 105,00) , Longview, Tx (pop approx 80,000), Gilmer, Tx (pop. approx. 5,000) and Marshall, Tx around 30,000. The region has around 500,000 residents, however this is in a radius of about 100 miles. We have I-20, US 80, US 277, Loop 323 and Loop 281 all of which are free with no toll. The only time we see traffic is either because I-20 is detoured for a wreck or it is around 5pm on a high school football night. I don't see any rapid growth here requiring such a high dollar project. No one is going to use a toll road when the free roads aren't congested 95% of the time and Texas Highways for the most part are very well maintained. It is suppose to intertwind with I-20 and all of East Texas towns loops that are inside of the hourglass tollroad. I am sorry if the rant seems ridiculous, but really? We aren't Dallas or Ft. Worth and the closest thing of big size to here is Shreveport/Bossier, La with about 250,000 combined residents which is an hour away.

[bakercity 270]

Thank you for explaining my post further jglei701, and you are correct. The cost is $810 MILLION, not $810. The Marquette project is slated to be done in 2009. In 2009, WiDOT will start working on I-94/ US 41 east (south) to the ILL state line from Mitchell Airport interchange. To me who lives in Wisconsin, The reconstruction to the ILL state line will be hell; since they are redoing our Frontage Roads witch means I need to find a new way to work and back to home.argh!!! The worst State hwy in Wisconsin for me would be WI50 from WI32 in downtown Kenosha to the Interstate. from 2 lanes to 4 lanes, it gets crowded all the way. It makes the trip down WI158 (couple of miles to the north of WI50) like a sunday drive for the same distace (7 miles).

[tydev417 0]

Originally posted by: Duke87 Oh, that part.

Y'know, I guess there's perspective here. If you think that highway is bad, you should look at some of the tightly knit expressways in NYC (the Cross Bronx and Gowanus/BQE particularly). At least your "bad" highway is straight and open (even if it is narrow). Ours are claustrophobic and at times, windy.quote>

I agree with you 100%, some portions of the BQE were built just barely making it, squeezing through tightly knit built-up areas of houses

[jglei701 8]

Originally posted by: bakercity Thank you for explaining my post further jglei701, and you are correct. The cost is $810 MILLION, not $810. quote>

 

Er, oops!  not $810, $810 million like you said!  Other than on the expressways, I haven't spent much time in the Milwaukee area other than downtown, but my sister and brother-in-law are moving to either Waukesha or Brookfield in about a month, so I'll be traveling it alot more in the future!

[bakercity 270]

jglei701, When you do visit the area, just explore the area (region) to see our bad and good roads and highways. There is a web site for the Marquette project and it is www.m-change.com (I think) or at the official WisDOT web site.

[jglei701 8]

Yep, I've been on the site, I actually posted that link in my first post!

Wisconsin has been pretty forward-thinking in a couple ways with several of their projects. Instead of allowing their major carriage-ways to get to the point where they might fall apart and be dangerous (assuming this was not already the case), they've been replacing bridges and completely reworking the Interstates, as well as continuing with the Corridors 20-20 plan, which essentially will link up the great majority of the population and commercial centers together with a divided, 4-lane highway by 2020. Projects such as the HWY 51 North of Wausau and HWY 29 project are mostly finished, as well as parts of certain others, like HWY 10, from Stevens Point to Appleton. They have begun work in Point for a by-pass that will continue the limited-access (for the most part) highway to Marshfield. They've also taken on a major project in reworking the I-39 HWY 29 interchange in Wausau... it's been a mess for some time now, but when it is done, it will be much safer and flow much better. For a state with such tourism, this was a key... getting people to their destinations quickly, efficiently and safely. It also links up the expanding centers such as Green Bay/Fox Valley, North Wisconsin River Valley (Stevens Point/Wausau), Chippewa Valley, La Crosse, as well as the major centers of Madison and Milwaukee.

[DOXXP29 5]

I think the most pathetic highway is the 1.5 mile stretch of I-70 in Baltimore City. (It may have lost it's interstate designation) It's a sunken highway that never got completed to connect with the rest of I-70 due to the usual whiners preferring to have cars sitting on US40 polluting the air instead of driving thru at somewhat higher speeds and causing less congestion. I-66 in Virginia inside the beltway (I-495) is also a two lane parking lot due to the same whining about anything over two lanes being too much, so now cars sit and merrily pollute the very homeowners in Arlington that were against building it at all. Equilibria, the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge has done NOTHING to speed up traffic, no matter what the papers would have you believe. Since it was build, my experiences have been WORSE, with the "stop point" now being a mile FURTHER on the Virginia side and a half mile further in Maryland normally. A couple of weeks ago, on Saturday afternoon, traffic was backed up worse than previous weekday rush hours on the Virginia side. Most commuters avoid it at all costs choosing to drive the long way thru DC to save time unless they have no other choice.