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poltr1The other day at work, I was thinking about highway intersections. The intersection of two busy US interstate highways, I-75 and I-70, is a perfectly symmetrical cloverleaf as seen from the air. Well, it was, as it was originally designed. Not any more. The problem with cloverleafs is that they aren't designed to handle heavy traffic. Cars coming off the on-ramps have to dodge the cars going onto the off-ramps, and sometimes collide. And so there is a multi-year construction project to demolish the cloverleaf and build a series of "spaghetti bowls" -- large sweeping offramps designed to alleviate the congestion caused by the cloverleaf design.
Anothe notable highway intersection in the Dayton, Ohio area is the intersection of I-75 and Ohio Route 4, just northeast of the downtown Dayton area. The locals call it "Malfunction Junction". Coming from the north, I-75 makes a sharp (for interstates) right turn to begin its sweep around downtown Dayton, and Route 4 peels off from the left. Coming from the south, I-75 makes a sharp (for interstates) left turn after snaking around downtown Dayton, and Route 4 peels off from the right. (To see a map, do a search on "North Bend Blvd." in Dayton, Ohio on any online map site.)
I tried a Googlesearch on "Malfunction Junction" and most of the relevant hits listed another infamous intersection: Tampa, Florida's intersection of I-75 and I-4. (It's somewhat ironic that the route numbers for this intersection in Tampa were almost the same as the one in Dayton.)
There are other intersections that have had major design flaws. The "Can of Worms" in Rochester NY: I-490 and I-590 merge, share a small section of roadway, and unmerge. In order to stay on the same interstate, you have to get from one side of the road to the other. Aieee! I had a friend of mine who used to work for a volunteer ambulance corps, and on one of the walls was a blown-up map of the Can, so they could pinpoint where accidents were. (It has since been untangled -- thank goodness!) Denver, Colorado has "The Mousetrap" on I-25.
What are your least favorite highway interchanges?
BTW, one of the sites which listed Tampa's Malfunction Junction had a link to www.us-highways.com, a site which lists all the US routes by number. The US routes predated interstate highways by over 30 years, and are numbered in a gridlike fashion -- east-west routes are even numbered, north-south routes are odd numbered, starting from the northeast. The routes on the original grid have one or two digits (with the exception of US 101 -- the Pacific Coast Highway); most routes with 3 digits were spurs or connecting roads. From studying the Rand McNally Road Atlas of the United States, I've known there were two US 2 routes, one in the northeast, and another that starts in Michigan. I didn't know there were two US 10s.
The most famous of the US routes is Route 66, which ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. It was decommissioned in 1985, but a number of enthusiasts have lobbied to recommission the road as the road has historical significance. "Historical Route 66" markers have since been erected along many stretches of the highway.
From Gallup, New Mexico, there is a rather curiously-numbered offshoot route from 66 -- US route 666. This road ran north, to Colorado, and at one time, ran all the way to Utah. Those of you familiar with the Book of Revelation know the significance of this number -- the number of the Beast. I've also heard unconfirmed reports that many US 666 road signs were stolen over the years. I suspect both reasons were used as justification for renumbering the road. On June 2 of this year, US 666 was recommissioned as US 491.
Anothe notable highway intersection in the Dayton, Ohio area is the intersection of I-75 and Ohio Route 4, just northeast of the downtown Dayton area. The locals call it "Malfunction Junction". Coming from the north, I-75 makes a sharp (for interstates) right turn to begin its sweep around downtown Dayton, and Route 4 peels off from the left. Coming from the south, I-75 makes a sharp (for interstates) left turn after snaking around downtown Dayton, and Route 4 peels off from the right. (To see a map, do a search on "North Bend Blvd." in Dayton, Ohio on any online map site.)
I tried a Googlesearch on "Malfunction Junction" and most of the relevant hits listed another infamous intersection: Tampa, Florida's intersection of I-75 and I-4. (It's somewhat ironic that the route numbers for this intersection in Tampa were almost the same as the one in Dayton.)
There are other intersections that have had major design flaws. The "Can of Worms" in Rochester NY: I-490 and I-590 merge, share a small section of roadway, and unmerge. In order to stay on the same interstate, you have to get from one side of the road to the other. Aieee! I had a friend of mine who used to work for a volunteer ambulance corps, and on one of the walls was a blown-up map of the Can, so they could pinpoint where accidents were. (It has since been untangled -- thank goodness!) Denver, Colorado has "The Mousetrap" on I-25.
What are your least favorite highway interchanges?
BTW, one of the sites which listed Tampa's Malfunction Junction had a link to www.us-highways.com, a site which lists all the US routes by number. The US routes predated interstate highways by over 30 years, and are numbered in a gridlike fashion -- east-west routes are even numbered, north-south routes are odd numbered, starting from the northeast. The routes on the original grid have one or two digits (with the exception of US 101 -- the Pacific Coast Highway); most routes with 3 digits were spurs or connecting roads. From studying the Rand McNally Road Atlas of the United States, I've known there were two US 2 routes, one in the northeast, and another that starts in Michigan. I didn't know there were two US 10s.
The most famous of the US routes is Route 66, which ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. It was decommissioned in 1985, but a number of enthusiasts have lobbied to recommission the road as the road has historical significance. "Historical Route 66" markers have since been erected along many stretches of the highway.
From Gallup, New Mexico, there is a rather curiously-numbered offshoot route from 66 -- US route 666. This road ran north, to Colorado, and at one time, ran all the way to Utah. Those of you familiar with the Book of Revelation know the significance of this number -- the number of the Beast. I've also heard unconfirmed reports that many US 666 road signs were stolen over the years. I suspect both reasons were used as justification for renumbering the road. On June 2 of this year, US 666 was recommissioned as US 491.
Addendum
Date: 2003-09-28 07:02 pm (UTC)