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I-295 is suppose to be a loop road around Fayetteville, which 1/4 complete and unnecessary. Fayetteville doesn't haven't the growth of Raleigh or Charlotte and the money shouldn't be wasted there, especially since it is taking away from Charlotte's loop (I-485) which has yet to completed after two decades of being under construction.
Ditto with I-795. It connects Goldsboro to Wilson and I-95, but there currently isn't enough traffic to justify building it since there are other fast growing areas in the state that need the money.
Thankfully, they are changing the formula for funding highways in NC. Rather than "dividing" funds between urban and rural areas, they will now go by facts and statistics for determining what roads and highways need funding.
Quote:
Originally Posted by caphillsea77
Arn't they extending I-540 to a complete loop around Raleigh with a southern arc around Cary and Apex?
Yes and no.
They are planning on a southern arc around south Wake, but that part, along with the current western section, will not be labeled as I-540, but as NC 540. This has to do with these sections becoming toll roads.
If anything, for me, Kentucky's Parkway system is useless in the west. You won't see a car for miles, even though it's a controlled-access highway.
But Interstate highways? I'd say Interstate 8 is useless in Arizona past Mesa, Arizona. Another useless interstate would be many of the Illinois interstates. Many of them are like the parkways of Kentucky, I-74, 88, 72, 155 (Peoria) and a few others are useless and you won't see a car for miles.
My view on parkways is that the Hal Rogers Parkway is understandable, a major two lane route in a busy freight region is good for the area. But four lane wastes of tax money like the Audubon Parkway is just plain silly.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dylan The Dude
But Interstate highways? I'd say Interstate 8 is useless in Arizona past Mesa, Arizona.
I-8 doesn't go anywhere near Mesa. It serves as an interstate for San Diego going to points east though Yuma and terminates in Casa Grand, AZ at I-10 about halfway between Phoenix and Tucson. It definitely serves a purpose connecting San Diego with a cross country route.
Conversion of US301 into an Interstate linking Ocala and Jacksonville which would alleviate I-4 issues, as well as conversion of SR70 between Fort Pierce on the east coast to Sarasota on the west coast, similar to the conversion of Alligator Alley to I-75 further south.
Needed in Northern Virginia:
Conversion of Route 7/Leesburg Pike into limited access highway versus the current divided highway with stop lights to help alleviate what is quite possibly the worst traffic in the US.
Conversion of US301 into an Interstate linking Ocala and Jacksonville which would alleviate I-4 issues, as well as conversion of SR70 between Fort Pierce on the east coast to Sarasota on the west coast, similar to the conversion of Alligator Alley to I-75 further south.
Needed in Northern Virginia:
Conversion of Route 7/Leesburg Pike into limited access highway versus the current divided highway with stop lights to help alleviate what is quite possibly the worst traffic in the US.
Wasn't the Fairfax parkway supposed to do this a bit - Also the Dulles throughway sort of runs parallel already but do agree 7 is bad
Also weren't there improvements to 28 (from the Dulles) back to 7?
My personal needed highway would be a continuation of 309 from the western Philly burbs (linking with the Blvd expressway) and over to 90 (the Betsy Ross Bridge) and 95
This would help alleviate some of the 76 traffic (from KOP to Center City) which is a bad as about any highway in the US
But there IS a highway that goes across the state between the two cities already.....you may just want/need more lanes.
Without looking at a map, I can't think of that many cities that aren't well connected by Interstate. Perhaps Austin to Houston should be interstate-grade. It's very strange that Austin only has one Interstate for a city its size (but I do know why that is). I've always thought that there should be something connecting the Twin Cities to Rochester to the medium-sized IA and IL cities between there and St. Louis too. I remember growing up that trip took 11 or 13 hours, depending on which alternative route we took to and fro. A direct route from Minneapolis to KC is about 7 hours (6.5 for me), so I'd assume that it would take a similar time from Minneapolis to St. Louis, maybe an extra hour (8 total).
For the most part, the only part of the country that may find itself in need of more connections is the Western half of the country, where the Interstates weren't built nearly to the same extent as there were out East, and also where much of the nation's growth has occurred over the past 65 years since the Interstates were created.
It would be nice if Colorado Springs, with a metro population of over 650,000, had more than one freeway(which runs north/south). A cross-town/beltway or limited access highway on the east side would be useful.
There needs to be an Interstate linking Columbus to Toledo, Ohio.
If I-73 ever gets approved from Michigan to Myrtle Beach, it will convert US-23 which currently connects Cbus to Toledo to interstate standards. But we can't even get I-73 going here in South Carolina for Myrtle Beach, which despite having millions of tourists per year has no interstate within 50 miles (I-95); so not sure if we will see what you are asking for in our lifetime.
I-67 is being proposed between Washington Indiana and Bowling Green Kentucky. It would run through Owensboro KY in between existing I-65 and under construction I-69. If built, it would immediately become the most useless interstate in the country,
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