Highway Planning and Architecture

[tracer1138 1]

Looks like a highway to me!

Believe it or not though, there are many americans who are jealous of your mass transit networks.

Not everyone thinks highways are amazing achievements, especially when you consider that most of them are not as clean as the picture of the one you posted.  Most are old and crumbling because they weren't well made. On top of that, because the US interstate network is so huge it's also very expensive and difficult to maintain.

Most highways especially ones in cities are ugly, congested, noisy and take up a lot of space (sometimes more than they need to).

I have never understood why in many rural areas (like in Michigan, where I'm from) the medians are so incredibly wide.  Seems like an awful waste of space.

Bottom Line: highways are convenient and nice to have sometimes... but HIGHLY OVERRATED.

[Glenni 1,445]

yeah they should have gotten on the train flying by in  one of my pics instead.

[Motina 77]

Date: 8/24/2005 12:27:51 AM Author: tracer1138

Detroit: Before the Interstate System!

quote>

 

Wow! There are actually houses in the downtown core.. in fact there is actually an urban fabric.

[Zeddic 3]

Date: 9/30/2005 7:11:49 PM
Author: tracer1138

Looks like a highway to me!

Believe it or not though, there are many americans who are jealous of your mass transit networks.

Not everyone thinks highways are amazing achievements, especially when you consider that most of them are not as clean as the picture

.....

Bottom Line: highways are convenient and nice to have sometimes... but HIGHLY OVERRATED.

quote>

True... But even so, I'd like to see motorways connecting the biggest towns in the country, then it'd be perfectly fine. And they're actually planning to do so. Then the mass transit, which is - as you said - high quality, shall rule elsewhere... And it rules already. MT in Helsinki was considered to be one of the best in Europe, and I can believe that. Just look at it ! And then, for example, we have an all-country railway network, which pretty much does the job of highways further north... As seen in the map below. And it's all operated by a single state-owned company!

But let's not forget this thread was originally about highways...

/Zed

[Glenni 1,445]

Alright people i found some pics from the Highway section of E6(not all is highway)

 

ok this is from when it was opened but not fully complete as you can see....

 

 

 

 

 heres a pic of Svinesund bridge(part of E6) at the borders to Sweden.

 

 

 

and heres a pic from the normal 2lane road.

 

[bobek 0]

Well, time for more Europe (and another long post of mine ).

First, the network of whole Czech republic


Legend:
solid line - in operation
dashed line - proposed, some parts (few ) under construction
---
purple - highways
green - motorways
red - national roads
yellow - european international road numbering (E...)

And now for Prague...

Won't fit to Imageshack (3000x2212, 1.2MB), so only a link:
map of Prague's highway network (made by UDI - Traffic engineering office)
Legend:
solid line - surface hihway/motorway
dashed line - tunnel
---
black - in operation
red - proposed/under construction (till 2010)
green & not filled - proposed, after 2010

And for some interchanges:

First, I present you the Barrandov bridge (probably the best known interchange in the country):
Built in 1983 (well, at first only one half of it), this 8 lane bridge connects the Prague city ring (MO) to R4 motorway and some local roads (Edit: and - of course - the river banks ). First, a historical picture from early 1990s, taken from the left river bank:

Well, at these times it seemed to be a bit over-planned.

And that's how it looks today (taken from the right river bank):

Now you can see the traffic is a mess here
The city ring runs across the bridge and towards the top-right corner, R4 is on the left side next to the river. The 4 lane road in top-left corner serves as temporary interconnection of city ring and Highway ring R1 (and that won't change till 2010), effectively making the bridge the only way for heavy truck traffic between every highway which ends up in Prague (that is D1, D5, D8, D11, R4, R6, R7, R10). Temporary means for 20 years or so already, thanks to the great planning.

As you can imagine, this part of City ring is plagued heavily by trucks, traffic jams and accidents, I remember that 10km took me more than 2 hours to drive once.

Speaking of highway ring, this will be the interchange between R1 (the ring itself), R4 and road II/101, few kilometers to the south from the Barrandov bridge:

R1 runs left to right, R4 is the one large turn running to the back of the image, II/101+102 is in the front.

[Glenni 1,445]

cool highways dude.and whoa that one therte is REALLY congested!

[FreewayofFlight 41]

I live in Myrtle Beach, SC. This town is a haven for tourists especially during the summer holidays. The US 501 is the ONLY AND I MEAN THE ONLY way from Conway to Downtown Myrtle Beach and it does get backed up ALOT and I live right along that highway. For a few years the people of these cities have been constructing and planning freeways to curtail congestion through Conway onto MB The first freeway built was the SC 22 or the Conway Bypass, it's the equivilant of a rural interstate that was built as a route to North Myrtle Beach instead of the US 17. And the latest freeway, SC 31, or the Carolina Bays Pkwy runs parallel to US 17 and is very lightly traveled. The people of SCDOT are planning to have the proposed Interstate 73/74 run by here this could provide an extra evacuation route from hurricanes. It could also provide a new way into Myrtle Beach instead of the US 501. But thetre are also a route to the south end of the city of MB, SC 544 it goes from US 501 right after Conway to Surfside Beach & Garden City Beach. And last but not least, the SC 707 which goes from SC 544 after the ICW (Intercoastal Waterway) into Murrells Inlet and into Georgetown County.

[Odainsaker 2,135]

tracer1138's aerial photo of Detroit before the coming of the interstate system offers the opportunity to show a cool related image of a drawing of Judge Augustus Brevoort Woodward's visionary 1807 plan to rebuild Detroit after the old city was incinerated by the 1805 fire.

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//detroit1807.jpg align=baseline>

 

The love of the Baroque planning manner for heroically grandiose geometry is taken here to extraordinary extremes.  Indeed, it is artificial triangular pattern making for the sole sake of artificial triangular pattern making, and has zero relationship to either topography of the rather squarish layout of the original city before the fire, much to the displeasure of the city's property owners.  By the 1820's, this radial hexagonal plan moved to a more regular and manageable orthagonal grid, and the diagonals and triangles were eliminated.  However, some sense of this scheme can be seen in Detroit's few remaining diagonals and circuses, such as the one conspicously seen in tracer1138's aerial image.

 

The Detroit plan image comes out of Spiro Kostof's The City Shaped:  Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History.

 

However, this is a highway planning and architecture thread, so let me start with a strikingly sculptural image of the 1973 construction of Austin's IH-35 double decks and their central sunken trench.

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//i35_const_upperdeck_aug_1973.jpg align=baseline>

 

Check out those classic cars of the '70s.  More cool historic images like this can be found at TexasFreeway.com at http://www.texasfreeway.com/

 

Let us look at a different view of this same highway construction, where by way of another image, we can see the often overlooked physical impact of highway planning.  The image below of urban design banality comes from the Transportation section of Thomas B. Gray's Industria Otavalena.com webpage at  http://www.mindspring.com/~tbgray/transpor.htm

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//eastaustinI35.jpg align=baseline>

 

What we see is the expanse of the multi-decked and partially sunken IH-35 cutting through the grid of central Austin, effectively severing the eastern third of the city, known as East Austin, from the central business district.  The viewer is looking from one of East Austin's residential streets, and can see the buildings of the bustling city center, which at only seven downtown blocks away should be in easy walking distance.  However, a massive concrete barrier, as formidable and impenetrable looking as the Berlin Wall, ensures that the mostly African-American residents of poor East Austin will remain segregated from the rest of the prosperous city.  Wherever you go in this area, your view of the city, and even of your own neighborhood, is framed by this monsterous prison box.  Indeed, the massive wall of IH-35 is probably the single most significant physical structure keeping East Austin isolated in poverty.

 

Below is a great colorful aerial photo of the northern edge of central Austin from Daniel's Pictures album at http://cuckoo.com/daniel/pictures/albums.php   Notice how the right-side portion of the city opposite the highway from the glittery downtown looks like it is suffering a general power outage.  Yep, that is East Austin.  All the NIMBY items a SimCity player is familiar with, from sport stadiums and parking fields, to airports and the police headquarters, go on the right side of the photo.  Museums, libraries, parks, and mansions, are on the left side.

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//austinnight.jpg align=baseline>

 

A number of Austin city plans, most having more in vision than they may ever receive in Texas Department of Transportation funding, dream of rebuilding a sunken and camouflaged IH-35 so as to reconnect East Austin to downtown by restoring the original grid streets, thus ameliorating this gross mistake of planning.

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//ih35bridge.jpg align=baseline>

 

This idealized rendering from TxDOT's IH-35 Study site at http://www.i35austin.com/index.shtml  shows the wall removed and all the grid streets reaching downtown restored.  In this case, IH-35 has been redesigned with long-distance/high-speed through traffic sunken below ground and central city traffic routed to side avenues at grade with the street grid.  Presumably, these side avenues would be lined with trees, parallel parking, and dense urban businesses.  The rendering imagines how the scores of reconnected grid streets become short vehicle and pedestrian overpass bridges each spaced 276 feet apart crossing over the sunken highway.  Much depends on these overpasses being camouflaged with their own tree lines, decorative lanterns, and protective screens.  For this huge reconstruction to work, careful attention is needed to prevent this project from turning a giant dividing wall into a giant dividing ditch.  I am not sure I am fully convinced of success by this image, but I can see the intent.

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//ih35traffic.jpg align=baseline>

 

I just don't expect this typical Austin morass to go away anytime soon.  This is just the river bridges...we haven't even reached downtown and the decks yet!

 

[Compromise 1]

Nice highways, might post some of my own if I can find some of my area.

[Duke87 1,070]

Some Good Links for New York area stuff to throw out.

This website in the past did an interchange of the week for New York State. Here's the main page:

http://www.empirestateroads.com/week/

 

And here's the ones that are in New York CIty:

http://www.empirestateroads.com/week/week4.html
http://www.empirestateroads.com/week/week10.html
http://www.empirestateroads.com/week/week32.html
http://www.empirestateroads.com/week/week38.html
http://www.empirestateroads.com/week/week53.html
http://www.empirestateroads.com/week/week54.html
http://www.empirestateroads.com/week/week68.html
http://www.empirestateroads.com/week/week69.html

 

Also, here's a general site for the New York Area:

www.nycroads.com

[MarkSK 0]

Hi there... here's the map of highway network in Slovakia(link):

www.dalnice.wz.cz/Sk/Mapa (broken link)

Original link has 404 error. Go to www.dalnice.wz.cz (Czech only!), on the menu on the left click Slovensko, when menu for it expands, click Mapa and map should show up.

(black in operation, red u/c, green planned, broken green alternative)

 

Highways:

D1 - Bratislava - Zilina - Kosice - Ukrainan border 

D2 - Czech border - Bratislava - Hungarian border

D3 - Zilina - Polish border

D4 - Austrian border - (part of Bratislava outer ring, planned) - D1

 

Expressways:

R1 - D1 - Nitra - Banska Bystrica

R2 - Czech border - (with R1) Zvolen - Kosice

R3 - H border - (with R1) - PL border

R4 - H border - Kosice - (with D1) - Presov - PL border

R5 - CZ border - D3

R6 - D1 - CZ border

 

Expressways under survey:

R7 - D4 - (southern Slovakia to R2 in Lucenec)

R8 - A border - (Northern part of the Bratislava outer ring) - D1

 

Links:

www.highways.sk/indexE.html (English, private)

www.ssc.sk/user/view_page.php?page_id=764 (English version)

www.motorways-exitlists.com (motorway lists, Slovak site anyway)

[jere90 0]

I could add a little more to zeddics posts on the Finnish freeways.

I live about 35 miles east of Helsinki in a little town called Porvoo.

Lemmie present our freeway system:

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Image3.jpg align=baseline>

As you see, we have a dual carriageway freeway coming from Helsinki (west) going eastbound.

A couple of years ago, me and my friends went to a brigde crossing this concrete miracle. The goal was to count the amount of Russian trucks carrying cars.

After 10 minutes, we saw a caravane of 10 or 11 Russian trucks coming towards us.

So our freeways heading eastbound towards St Petersburg are mainly used by Russian trucks shipping cars from Finnish harbors to St Petersburg and other western parts of Russia.

The dual carriageway ends about 20 miles east of Porvoo, then at the city of Kotka we have a 20 miles? of dual carriageway and the rest is single carriageway (1 lane both directions).

 

I've been living in central Europe for 10 years and our house in Brussels was about 100 yards away from a main freeway, the E411 running to downtown. After living 6 years beisde an 8 lane freeway, you learn to appriciate the Finnish quietness.

[tchaos713 5]

Thought that I'd add my two cents on the highway system in my city: Louisville, KY

We have three major interstates:
I-64 (East-West)
I-65 (North-South)
I-71 (North-South...begins in Louisville and runs North)

These three meet at an interchange not-so-fondly called Spaghetti Junction on the eastern side of downtown. Due to poor design, this interchange is the 10th most congested in the US!

We also have two ring roads:
I-264, also called the Henry Watterson Expressway, which is completely inside Louisville-Metro and runs from I-64 on the west side to I-71 on the east side via the Airport and I-65 on the south side where there is another very congested interchange. This interchange brings together I-65, I-264, KY-61 (Preston Hwy.), the Louisville International Airport, the Kentucky State Fairgrounds and Exposition Center, and KY-1631 (Crittenden Dr.).

I-265, also called the Gene Snyder Freeway in Kentucky and unnamed in Indiana. It runs from I-64 in New Albany, IN (west of Louisville) north, bypassing New Albany, Clarksville and Jeffersonville in Indiana. From there it turns south to a stub where a bridge will be constructed over the Ohio River to the east end in Kentucky. Currently, the Snyder Fwy (signed also as KY-841) runs from US-42 in Prospect, KY south and then west intersecting I-71, I-64, and I-65 on the outskirts of the city before ending at US-31W and US-60 (Dixie Hwy.) in Southwestern Louisville-Metro.

In addition, there are several US highways, although none are built to interstate standards:
US-60 (East-West)
US-150 (East-West)
US-42 (East-West...begins in Louisville and runs East)
US-31 (North-South...splits at US-60 to become US-31E and US-31W)

There are some major problems of design. The big ones that the city is facing now are these:
I-64 runs alongside the river in downtown, effectively cutting off river access except in Waterfront Park in Eastern Downtown. Currently, there are no proposals for fixing this urban planning blunder.

Access from Indiana. There are only three bridges from Indiana to Louisville and all of them force traffic through downtown. The Sherman Minton Bridge (I-64) in the west end is adequate. The Second Street Bridge (US-31) is four lanes undivided and is really only suitable for automobile and light truck traffic. The Kennedy Bridge (I-65) has four lanes southbound and three lanes northbound. As it dumps right into Spaghetti Junction, backups can be horrendous during rush hour. Currently, there are plans in motion to build another bridge on the East End connecting I-265 in Indiana to I-265/KY-841 in Kentucky. However, it is expected to take 15-20 to complete.

Spaghetti Junction. Poorly designed and inadequate for the number of cars that pass through it everyday. There are also 4 35MPH curves that bank sharply. One can almost expect a backup somewhere here any time between 7:30A and 7:30P. Currently there are plans on the table to extend the interchange east into a section of the city named Butchertown. This would essential separate the I-71/I-64 junction from the I-65/I-64 junction cutting down on congestion. Also, a second bridge would be built paralleling the existing Kennedy Bridge to bring the total number of lanes over the Ohio to 12-14. However this will not happen until the East End Bridge is built (see above).

Adding to the overall traffic problem (i.e. Louisville has the traffic on a much larger city) is the fact that there is no mass transit except for a bus system that is confusing to use and does not really go anywhere you want it to without at least one transfer.

Anyway, that's my take. Thanks for reading what is surely my longest post to date.

[jcovington 0]

Many interesting posts on this thread.  Figured I'd add one about the nearest major city to me, Indianapolis, IN... nicknamed the Crossroads of America.

Several interstates run through (or around) Indianapolis... those being I-70 (east - west), I-65 (northwest - south), I-74 (northwest - southeast), and I-69 (northeast - soon to be southwest).  We also have I-465 that is a belt around the city, and I-865 on the northwest side which connects the belt to I-65.

 

There are many good points about the design of our highway system, and unfortunately many bad points.  I'll start with the good

 

First, the placement of the highway system is near perfect, especially in downtown.  Indianapolis has a very picturesque skyline, and the highway system allows you to view this skyline from northwest all the way around to southwest.  The interstates spider out in all directions from Indianapolis, making it relatively easy for anyone in the State of Indiana to reach the capitol city in 110 minutes or less.... and this is being expanded upon right now as U.S. 31 to the north is being upgraded to interstate over the next few years.  Additionally, an extension to I-69 to the southwest (to Evansville) is being planned.  The final route has been decided upon, now its just a matter of mitigating problems such as agricultural and environmental concerns along the route so they can begin construction.

 

However, while the placement is near perfect, the roads themselves leave much to be desired.  Unlike other major cities in the US, our interstates are usually no wider than 3 lanes in each direction.... and immediately go down to 2 lanes each way upon leaving Indianapolis.  These highways simply do not meet the traffic needs for a city and region growing as quickly as central Indiana, as they were obsolete prior to completion.  I-465 around Indianapolis was originally routed through entirely rural area, but by the time it was completed, Indianapolis had expanded outside the belt on all sides.  By the time they completed adding a third lane each way to 465, it needed two more.  Another example is I-70 from downtown to the airport... which even now is only 2 lanes in each direction.  They're putting hundreds of millions of dollars into improvements at the airport, including a whole new terminal system, yet the route to get to the heart of the city is narrow and jam packed with traffic.

 

In the last few years they've started to upgrade I-465 again, with a bit more foward thinking approach.  Now they're going to a minimum of 5 lanes each direction, all the way around the city.  However when the upgrade to U.S. 31 to the north, and the extention of I-69 to the southwest are completed, the thru traffic will also be routed to I-465 just as I-74 already is.  Most likely this will again be too much traffic for a single highway. 

 

As of yet I've heard of no plans to improve I-70 and I-65 through the city.  I can only hope that in the not-too-distant future they will.

 

Thanks for reading

jcovington

[chix4free 0]

Here's a link to a map of the Paris metropolitan area freeway network

 

Enjoy...

 

http://www17.mappy.com/sidMQzU1sMO5U/Mn21w/XAGM?out=2;xsl=1;poi_rr=0.5;lr=0.5;flash=1;nav=IE

 

and another link to a map centered on the very street where I live in Vincennes, right outside of the city of Paris

 

Enjoy again

 

http://www17.mappy.com/sidMQzU1sMO5U/Mn21w/AFGM?recherche=0&posl=poi&show_poi=1&ids=0&poix=0&poiy=0&poi_rr=0.5&poi_rx=0.6&poi_ry=0.5&csl=m2&fsl=m2&gsl=m2&msl=m2&xm2=&ym2=&temp_no_prop=0&comment=&xsl=1&out=2&wnm2=20+Avenue+du+Petit+Parc&wcm2=&nom2=&tnm2=Vincennes&pcm2=94300&tcm2=&a10m2=&ccm2=250

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dark Avatar 8]

Singapore's expressway system is quite well-planned I must say. 8 expressways linking the whole country with another new expressway known as the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) more coming up. Because the road system is so well-planned, jams are quite uncommon but the during the rush hour, the volume of traffic is very high and all it takes is just one car to breakdown and a jam will be formed.

 

 

 

 

 

[chix4free 0]

Some freeway pix in the Paris metropolitan area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the last one, you may notice the sign on the left that says Stade de France.

 

Charles de Gaulle is... our former president... but also the biggest Paris airport some 20-25 kms north of inner Paris, the famous CDG for those who're used to flying to France. In France, we rather call it Roissy from the name of the suburban town it was built right next to.

[olly 0]

Here Is A Complete Database Of The Starts And Finishes Of Motorways In England:

M1 - London To Hawk Moor - Length - 200 Miles
M2 - Rochester To Faversham - Length - 25 Miles
M3 - London To Southampton - Length - 61 Miles
M4 - London To Pont Abraham - Length - 193 Miles
M5 - Birmingham To Exeter - Length - 166 Miles
M6 - Rugby To Carlisle - Length - 230 Miles
M6 TOLL - Coleshill To Cannock - Length - 27 Miles
M8 - Edinburgh To Greenock - Length - 61 Miles
M9 - Edinburgh To Dunblane - Length - 33 Miles
M10 - Potters Crouch To Park Street - Length - 3 Miles
M11 - London To Cambridge - Length - 51 Miles
M18 - Rotherham To Goole - Length - 26 Miles
M20 - London To Folkestone - Length - 52 Miles
M23 - London To Crawley - Length - 17 Miles
M25 - Dartford To Thurrock - Length - 118 Miles
M26 - Chevening To Wrotham - Length - 10 Miles
M27 - Cadnam To Portsmouth - Length - 24 Miles
M32 - Winterbourne To Bristol - Length - 4 Miles
M40 - London to Solihull - Length - 89 Miles
M42 - Bromsgrove To Castle Donington - Length - 54 Miles
M45 - Kilsby To Dunchurch - Length - 8 Miles
M48 - Olveston To Caldicot - Length - 12 Miles
M49 - Avonmouth To Severn Beach - Length - 5 Miles
M50 - Tewkesbury To Ross-On-Wye - Length - 21 Miles
M53 - Wallasey To Chester - Length - 20 Miles
M54 - Wolverhampton To Telford - Length - 23 Miles
M55 - Preston To Blackpool - Length - 12 Miles
M56 - Cheadle To Chester - Length - 34 Miles
M57 - Huyton To Aintree - Length - 9 Miles
M58 - Aintree To Wigan - Length - 12 Miles
M60 - Stockport To Stockport - Length - 36 Miles
M61 - Manchester To Preston - Length - 21 Miles
M62 - Liverpool To South Cave - Length - 107 Miles
M65 - Preston To Colne - Length - 28 Miles
M66 - Ramsbottom To Whitefield - Length - 8 Miles
M67 - Denton To Mottram - Length - 5 Miles
M69 - Coventry To Leicester - Length - 16 Miles
M73 - Uddingston To Mollinsburn - Length - 7 Miles
M74 - Glasgow To Gretna - Length - 81 Miles
M77 - Glasgow To Malletsheugh - Length - 8 Miles
M80 - Glasgow To Stirling - Length - 25 Miles
M90 - Dunfermline To Perth - Length - 31 Miles
M180 - Thorne To Elsham - Length - 26 Miles
M181 - Bottesford Moor To Scunthorpe - Length - 2 Miles
M271 - Upton To Totton - Length - 3 Miles
M275 - Hilsea To Portsmouth - Length - 2 Miles
M602 - Eccles To Manchester - Length - 4 Miles
M606 - Cleckheaton To Bradford - Length - 3 Miles
M621 - Morley To Belle Isle - Length - 8 Miles
M876 - Denny To Kincardine - Length - 8 Miles
M898 - Erskine To Erskine Bridge - Length - 1 Mile

A(M) Roads:

A1(M) - London To Gateshead - Length - 300 Miles
A3(M) - Portsmouth To Horndean - Length - 5 Miles
A38(M) - Gravelly Hill To Birmingham - Length - 2 Miles
A48(M) - Castleton To Cardiff - Length - 2 Miles
A57(M) - Hulme To Ardwick - Length - 2 Miles
A58(M) - Armley To Brunswick - Length - 2 Miles
A64(M) - Brunswick To Quarry Hill -Length - 0.5 Miles
A66(M) - Cleasby To Stapleton - Length - 1 Mile
A74(M) - Glasgo To Gretna - Length - 81 Miles
A167(M) - Elswick To Jesmond - Length - 2 Miles
A194(M) - Washington To Felling - Length - 4 Miles
A308(M) - Stud Green To Maidenhead - Length - 1 Mile
A329(M) - Reading To Bracknell - Length - 4 Miles
A404(M) - Stud Green To Woolley Green - Length - 2 Miles
A601(M) - Over Kellet To Carnforth - Length - 1 Mile
A627(M) - Oldham To Rochdale - Length - 6 Miles
A823(M) - Inverkeithing To Rosyth - Length - 1 Mile
A6144(M) - Urmston To Carrington - Length - 1 Mile

Information From CBRD.co.uk .

[ziffdine 0]

Here's how its laid out in Orlando, where I go to school at the University of Central Florida.



Here's a little bit closer map, it shows downtown on the west to UCF on the east. I live right across the street from campus.



Here's a satellite view of the I-4/408 interchange. Its designed so it wouldn't intrude on the downtown area, which begins in the upper right hand corner.

[olly 0]

Ouch Those Orlando Intersection Corners Look Tight!

[Nimisys 0]

San Diego's Freeways are pretty much indicative of every other Southern Califronia Freeway system, albiet without the strong HOV (carpool) lanes of the Orange County Freeway System. The I5-I805 merge is worth noting, that despite its lack luster showing from the air, produces specatcular traffic jams, from the merging of two 8-10 lane freeways being reduced to a single 10 lane freeway with no signifcant reduction of the number of vehicles being driven on it.  

The only real area of note in San Diego is the southern end of Hwy 163 through Balboa Park. this website: http://www.westcoastroads.com/california/ca-163.html does a fine job of illustrating its uniquer presence in a highly developed Urban area.  

[Skym 0]

This is the notorious Kleinpolderplein junction in The Netherlands its completly jammed from day till dawn