Freeways

[Nevada Ed]

How good are your freeways.

Our construction workers, sort of suck, at getting the job repair work done.

5:00pm monday, going home from work and we have a.............
21 minute delay !!

How do you have a delay on a freeway , without a wreck ??

 

[Chuck24]

Hope I hang on long enough to go to lunch without dodging traffic cones and detour signs

 

[tops]

Same here. I would like to think that they are not all alike but so far I've never saw anything to make me believe otherwise. Larry

 

[Ματθιας]

We have two freeways; I40 east/west and I25 north/south and both are, at most, 15 miles in the metro area, with the Big-I interchange being more or less in the middle. Traffic always backs up around the interchange because the bad design and the increased traffic.

Merging and getting off exits is also a problem. The worst is west bound I40 where is crosses the river and then about a mile later goes from 5 lines to 2 lanes with two lanes continuing west out of town. Rush hour starts about 3pm with cars and semis cutting each other off to get where they're going it gets slow.

Good luck if there's a construction project! Good luck if there's an accident - folks will slow WAY down just to look. Lord help you if there's an accident in a construction zone...

Then there are the folks who insist in doing less than the speed limit sitting in the fast lane...

This just daily routine in ABQ.

 

[Rustyt1953]

The >83 mile I-275 beltway surrounding the Cincy Metro area runs through Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. It is well maintained.

I-71 and I-75 are in a constant state of flux.

 

[glenwolde]

I live in Houston. I don't want to hear about it.

 

[Kanewpadle]

They stink.

We have four ports in western Washington. So lots of truckers and a state government that is corrupt.

 

[SMSgt]

All highway construction in S. FL is done by the same three-man crew. Heavy-equipment operator, guy with the shovel, and the supervisor, all of whom are on break. It never gets done.

 

[LVSteve]

The Nevada motto should be "Half a job", because there is never enough money to fund the proper design of any highway project. Consequently, every time an "improvement" is made to our roads, the job is half-baked at best. As result, they go back multiple times to fix the original issue. Meanwhile, traffic volumes have increased beyond what they planned for in the first attempt, so now they are doubly behind the eight ball.

In the 26+ years I've lived here, they have attacked the Spaghetti Bowl in the middle of town three times. It's still a dogs breakfast with HOV lanes and flyovers no one asked for, standing as mute monuments to wasted public money and the abject failure of the NV DoT to understand what was really needed.

 

[jeffrefrig]

Come to Pittsburgh and check it out! Three, actually four if you count the one, two-lane per direction tunnels guard the town. Coming in from the North two highways converge, cross over, co-mingle into one of the bridges. The mountains and rivers prohibit widening the roads. And all three major sports teams inhale excessively.
Edit to add: Sorry, three highways from the North into the funnel.

 

[Golddollar]

Try I-695 around Baltimore. Rush hour traffic routinely would slow down to 20 mph or stop without any construction going on at all. One of the reasons I was so happy to retire.

 

[D Brown]

The freeways in Florida are joke! There are NO access roads running parallel with the freeways like they have in Texas. Any state considering construction of a freeway should go to Texas to see how it SHOULD be done!

 

[Old 44 Guy]

I have traveled from Calif. to Washington state many times for the last 30 plus years to visit Family. It's I-5 and in constant repair, bridges, repaving, etc. California is the worst. Our fuel taxes are the highest in the nation. Washington is next. Rough roads and bridge repairs lead the pack; BC trucks [British Columbia] trucks drive massive loads and rut the highway. Over loaded I do not know.. Just my rant.

 

[jeffrefrig]

I always thought we in PA had the worst roads in the country, from talking to drivers I knew back in the day.
The roads from SW PA to SE SCar we’re nothing to write home about.

 

[TX-Dennis]

I20 here has been under construction for several years now. Often down to a single lane in each direction. There are serious, often deadly, accidents on a daily basis. Most involve semis. Relocating on and off ramps and expanding the number of lanes takes awhile, I guess.

Loop 250 took a couple of years for them to realign the off and on ramps to "smooth" the flow of traffic. Didn't seem to help much.

191 has been under construction for over a year. Realigning on and off ramps (which actually seems to have helped on that freeway), and building a new bridge and new on and off ramps for it. It's still not finished, but the construction has been well planned with minimal traffic disruptions.

Maintenance on most highways in Texas is good to excellent, although there are some exceptions.

 

[coltle6920]

Beltways were once thought to be a solution to congestion in the City. They allowed thru traffic to flow around the City without adding to what was already a traffic nightmare.

Unfortunately land developers already had ideas on how to profit from the new roads. If the City is so congested they could offer opportunity for businesses and individuals looking for a way out of the mess. It didn't take long for massive housing developments and commercial buildings to pop up all along these beltways. Of course you needed on and off ramps to accommodate the new flow of traffic which meant a greater number of drivers inept at traffic merging. That is how we turn a solution into a problem it was meant to solve.

End result is more bureaucratic boondoggles that do nothing for the citizens but merely adds to the insatiable appetite of an already bloated Gov't. Somewhere down the road an insane elected official will suggest making use of the vast open spaces by building more beltways around the congestion.

Insanity (noun)
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

 

[pharmer]

The "information signs" on most highways in Florida should say: "You can't get there from here." Joe

 

[s&wchad]

They say a picture is worth 1000 words...
This MDOT map shows our expressways and current construction projects here in SE Michigan.

 

[Iggy]

I-80 and I-25 intersect in a cloverleaf here. They are going put in a completely new design starting this year. They don’t say how long that’s going to take or how they are going to deal with the traffic.
Normally Wyoming has 9 months of winter and 3 months of traffic cones state wide.

 

[Sistema1927]

We have two freeways; I40 east/west and I25 north/south and both are, at most, 15 miles in the metro area, with the Big-I interchange being more or less in the middle. Traffic always backs up around the interchange because the bad design and the increased traffic.

Merging and getting off exits is also a problem. The worst is west bound I40 where is crosses the river and then about a mile later goes from 5 lines to 2 lanes with two lanes continuing west out of town. Rush hour starts about 3pm with cars and semis cutting each other off to get where they're going it gets slow.

Good luck if there's a construction project! Good luck if there's an accident - folks will slow WAY down just to look. Lord help you if there's an accident in a construction zone...

Then there are the folks who insist in doing less than the speed limit sitting in the fast lane...

This just daily routine in ABQ.

And, Forbes just said that we have the worst drivers in the nation. Not Ματθιας, not me, but every one else.

 

[Doug M.]

Washington has low standards for construction, so the roads are almost always rough and rutted. They also do an abysmal job of plowing the snow flurries they call a storm around here.

Bonus: just saw a news article based on a press release that was done AFTER work started on the Vantage Bridge. Utterly clownshoes.

 

[Magnum_PI]

Oh Lord, don't mention AZ Freeways!

They're terrible. Potholes all over. Terrible drivers. Slow construction. Even slower repairs. The CA drivers seem to be the worst. The kind that think safety, blinkers, and speed limits don't apply to them when they're here.

We have slow downs that come to an outright stop sometimes during rush hour. I wonder the same... freeways should be a constant flow of traffic... but what do I know, I'm just stuck using them to get around how many times a week.

Some weeks, it's a nightmare.

 

[sceva]

In Illinois they are constantly under repair / reconstruction. With the work going to the "Right" contractor I would bet. First time I went to Illinois / Chicago was 1968 and I80 / 94 was under construction. Everytime after that there has been construction going on for at least parts of it. Seems like before they get to the end they are starting back at the beginning.

Speaking of Freeways; what about tollways? The cash cow that keeps on giving.

In Ohio there is one tollway, I-80 across the top of the state. When it was planned and built the charter called for it to be a tollway until it had paid for itself (about 1980 as I recall) then it would be turned over to ODOT as a normal no toll freeway. I believe O'Shaunessy was in charge of the commission and I remember a big 1979 article in Ohio Magazine about how it was not only projected that the tolls would be retired on time; they were likely to hit the paid for point a year early. You can imagine the panic in the government at the thought of no more tolls so of course the powers to be got together to change the rules, again. The Ohio Turnpike is a toll road to this day. There is no such thing as a temporary tax or fee. Once they get a revenue source a government will never let it go.

 

[tlawler]

The freeways in Florida are joke! There are NO access roads running parallel with the freeways like they have in Texas. Any state considering construction of a freeway should go to Texas to see how it SHOULD be done!

Well, to be fair, the exponential influx of people is hard to build ahead of. More people have moved to Florida in the past three years than the next five states combined that are #’s 2 through 6 in growth. But thank you for pointing out how inept we are and how we SHOULD be doing it. Quite refreshing actually…usually it’s our permanent resident benefactors who hail from the Northeast and Midwest that like to point out our shortcomings.

 

[StrawHat]

In Illinois they are constantly under repair / reconstruction. With the work going to the "Right" contractor I would bet. First time I went to Illinois / Chicago was 1968 and I80 / 94 was under construction. Everytime after that there has been construction going on for at least parts of it. Seems like before they get to the end they are starting back at the beginning.

Speaking of Freeways; what about tollways? The cash cow that keeps on giving.

In Ohio there is one tollway, I-80 across the top of the state. When it was planned and built the charter called for it to be a tollway until it had paid for itself (about 1980 as I recall) then it would be turned over to ODOT as a normal no toll freeway. I believe O'Shaunessy was in charge of the commission and I remember a big 1979 article in Ohio Magazine about how it was not only projected that the tolls would be retired on time; they were likely to hit the paid for point a year early. You can imagine the panic in the government at the thought of no more tolls so of course the powers to be got together to change the rules, again. The Ohio Turnpike is a toll road to this day. There is no such thing as a temporary tax or fee. Once they get a revenue source a government will never let it go.

I, for one, am glad it is still a toll road. It is one of the best maintained/plowed roads in the state. Does it get repaired in the summer? Yep! And plowed in the winter because those who use it, pay for it. I hope it stays that way until I stop driving.

Kevin

 

[arjay]

The state is widening a 10 block stretch of boulevard near me from 4-6 lanes which is ten years overdue. They started over a year ago and I just noticed a sign saying it will be finished in June of 26 lol

 

[D Brown]

Well, to be fair, the exponential influx of people is hard to build ahead of. More people have moved to Florida in the past three years than the next five states combined that are #’s 2 through 6 in growth. But thank you for pointing out how inept we are and how we SHOULD be doing it. Quite refreshing actually…usually it’s our permanent resident benefactors who hail from the Northeast and Midwest that like to point out our shortcomings.

The OP asked how good are our freeways? I answered based on my opinion and experience.

In all fairness, I fail to see what population growth has to do with a flawed highway design. I'm not originally from any of the states in the U.S., but if that somehow makes my opinion invalid, I guess I missed that rule somewhere along the line.

 

[moosedog]

Last Saturday I drove down and back from Cincinnati Ohio to go to the OGCA Show. Got to see and feel the difference between Ohio and Michigan.
Like night and day.
I sailed thru Ohio on excellent roads. Getting back into Michigan, my phone map says to expect a 30-minute delay on I-75 into Michigan. Came off the smooth roadway of Ohio and immediately felt the bumper, half-baked repaired surface of Michigan and experienced a 40 minute delay.
Our governor is in her second term and ran on a "Fix the dX** roads" campaign. Five years later they are worse than ever.

 

[wood714]

I'm pretty sure they have been doing construction on I-4 in Orlando since I moved here in 2001.

I had to drive thru there a lot when my folks had a place in Haines City. After my dad died and I got my mom a winter place in Ormond Beach I swore I'd never drive I-4 past Sanford Airport. It's been 3 years, and I've not.

I honestly don't know if I'd drive thru there again for a free NIB 3" K frame.

 

[kozmic]

I often wonder why NY road repair requires more workers than traffic cones in the work zones yet nothing ever seems to get done?