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Widest freeways in the World (22-26 lanes is not uncommon in H-Town). More 5 level stacks than most cities. Most modern of the bunch. Can be navigated blind folded after you get used to it. Hub & spoke design makes it extremely efficient.
Downside: Ugly strip malls fronting the feeders/access roads, but what can I say its a Texas thang y'all.
Last edited by Metro Matt; 10-21-2013 at 09:32 AM..
Widest freeways in the World (22-26 lanes is not uncommon). More 5 level stacks than most cities. Most modern of the bunch. Can be navigated blind folded after you get used to it. Hub & spoke design makes it extremely efficient.
Downside: Ugly strip malls fronting the feeders/access roads, but what can I say its a Texas thang.
To me it's a toss up between Houston and Los Angeles.
To me it's a toss up between Houston and Los Angeles.
LA's network is far more extensive than Houston's, it has to be, but Houston has LA beat on wider freeways & more miles of HOV lanes. Also, LA doesn't light up its freeways with 200' tall steel masts like Houston does. When I visited LA that's one thing that surprised me was how dark their freeways were at night time.
These 200' tall light poles line all of Houston's freeways.
This should be based on congestion, quality, connections with other cities, and coverage throughout the city and it's surrounding area.
LA does pretty poorly on three of those (congestion, quality, and coverage), not sure why so many people think it's "the best". A lot of the freeways are older and not up to modern day standards. Road quality is pretty subpar in a lot of places. And coverage is actually pretty bad in a lot of areas, which is good and bad. You don't want a bunch of freeways tearing up the city but at the same time it leads to a lot of street traffic and congestion issues in LA. Orange County and surrounding areas are better overall than LA proper/basin when it comes to freeways.
LA does pretty poorly on three of those (congestion, quality, and coverage), not sure why so many people think it's "the best". A lot of the freeways are older and not up to modern day standards. Road quality is pretty subpar in a lot of places. And coverage is actually pretty bad in a lot of areas, which is good and bad. You don't want a bunch of freeways tearing up the city but at the same time it leads to a lot of street traffic and congestion issues in LA. Orange County and surrounding areas are better overall than LA proper/basin when it comes to freeways.
This.
Los Angeles does not have a great freeway system. When it was built, it was state of the art. But for many routes, that was over 50 years ago. I just moved to Pasadena and the 110N has got to be one of the most antiquated freeways in the nation (i.e. stop signs on the off-ramps and about 15 yard-long ramps to get up to speed).
It is between LA and Houston, with the edge to Houston. The network may not be as large, because the area itself isn't as large as LA, but it is more modern and, perhaps, efficient.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Phoenix isn't a poll choice but that's what I would choose as the nicest freeway network. They are wide enough, several routes throughout the whole valley, large flyover interchanges, most if not all of the freeways in the metro are pretty well illimunated with mast lighting in the medians, and probably the most modern and effiecient freeway network I've seen anywhere.
I haven't seen Houston's but obviously they are well known as the champion city of freeways. Other honorable mentions...
-Salt Lake City: the whole system got an overhaul makeover for the Olympics in 2002, nice wide & modern freeways there.
-Toronto: The 401 freeway coming from Montreal crossing the northern tier of the city to the airport is a monster, comparable to Houston's freeways with a dizzying lane count.
-Dallas: The Central Expressway/75 and the High Five interchange are very nicely done.
The worst....
-Philadelphia: The four laner (two each way) on I-76 is ridiculous.
-Boston: The Big Dig works OK through town , but the cloverleaf loop interchanges and all highways south town suck.
-Portland: not terrible but compared to most Western cities not very good, especially where I-5 narrows to four lanes (two each way ) on the East side of downtown.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 10-21-2013 at 02:49 PM..
I voted for Chicago, very easy to navigate for a big city. Plus I like the term expressway as opposed to freeway. Kennedy Expressway, Eisenhower Expressway, Dan Ryan Expressway, Stevenson Expressway, Edens Expressway, and this one don't have expressway in its name but The Chicago Skyway is another one. I just love the name of all of these, its just like you know you are in a serious metro area with these names. Chicago has a few freeways as well, not sure where Lake Shore Drive falls on being an expressway or freeway but a nice drive.
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