U.S. Major Cities with best interstate highway connections? (how much, college)

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by ajf131

Atlanta is one I'd be willing to count as major because I-85 while not a transcontinental X5 route is a decent length covering all of the Southern east coast states and connecting to I-95 while going through major cities like Columbia, Charlotte, Spartanburg, etc.

Atlanta connects to Columbia via I-20 and connects to Greenville, Charlotte, Greensboro, etc. via I-85.

[fromdust]

Originally Posted by case44

I'd have to make a case for Oklahoma City being "America's Corner", because you've got I-35 and I-40 coming together, connecting coast-to-coast and border-to-border, plus I-44 connecting to St. Louis. Several of you have mentioned Texas highways, and let me say this: We don't have enough interstates in Texas. I-45 could be extended north to Tulsa from Dallas and connect with I-44. Then you have no diagonal from Lubbock to Abilene, Austin and Houston, and a road should have already been built in that area (I-18?), and that would make for some great connections from the Texas Gulf Coast all the way to the Great Plains. I-44 should just end at Wichita Falls and connect with a future corridor tying Fort Worth with Amarillo. There has actually been talk about that. Then Wichita Falls could have a road along U.S 82 stretching to Lubbock and then move northwestward to Clovis and Santa Rosa (possibly I-34). I realize these unbuilt corridors may or may not happen, but we can dream, can't we?

i agree with you. okc it is.

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by M TYPE X

Cleveland rocks! Ohio Turnpike just nearby.
Also: Columbus has I-71! Who needs a direct freeway connection to Detroit when you can go to Cleveland!

I would throw in nominations for Chicago and Cincinnati, but they are nowhere near as interconnected as Indy. You can get out of Chicago ... by sitting in traffic and/or paying tolls.

If I-74 is ever completed from where it ends in the Nati to where the other portion of it ends in at the NC/VA border, you could make an argument for them.

Give the nod to Chicago w/7 interstates (practically unheard of) connecting the city to other places all over the country - I-80, I-90, I-65, I-94, I-88, I-55 & I-57. That's not even taking into account I-39 which passes just west of the metro area.

Indy should also get some consideration w/I-69, I-70, I-74 & I-65.

I'll throw a little shout-out for my adopted hometown of Columbia, while obviously not up to par w/the big cities, for a medium-sized city, it is very well connected w/3 interstates (I-77, I-20 & I-26) that offer very good connection to cities such as Charlotte, Cleveland, Atlanta, Charleston as well as direct access to I-95 and all the east coast cities.

[WestbankNOLA]

Well in the south we have.

Atlanta
*I-20 - Texas <-> South Carolina: Connects I-10 to I-95 by bypassing the Gulf Coast. Only major cities on route are Atlanta and Dallas
*I-75 - Canada <-> Florida: I would consider this one major.
*I-85 - Alabama <-> North Carolina: Only significant to the Piedmont. Major cities are Atlanta and Charlotte

Dallas
*IH-20 - (see above)
*IH-30 - Texas <-> Arkansas: only significant to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Little Rock.
*IH-35 - Canada <-> Major: Definitely major
*IH-45 - Texas (continues to Oklahoma via U.S. 75) Significant to mainly Houston and Dallas, the midwest to extentm but looses IH status.

Houston
*IH-10 - California <-> Florida: The main street of the Gulf Coast/Southwest. Major indeed.
*IH-45 - (See Dallas)

Miami
*I-75 - (See Atlanta)
*I-95 - Canada <-> Florida: Main street of the Northeast/Florida. Major!

Anyone notice that 3 of the big 4 of the south only really have one major freeway. Miami has 2, but is handicapped because they don't actually connect. One dead-ends just outside of Miami and the other defaults into U.S. 1. I-20 is tricky because it can be seen as an extension of I-10, but then wouldn't I-12 would have to be given equal importance. I didn't take the time to see how this works for other regions.

On another note, cities of lesser importance that actually get two major freeways.

Jacksonville, FL
*I-10
*I-95

Knoxville, TN
*I-40
*I-75

Mobile, AL
*I-10
*I-65

Memphis, TN
*I-40
*I-55

Nashville, TN
*I-40
*I-65

New Orleans, LA
*I-10
*I-12
*I-55
*I-59

San Antonio, TX
*I-10
*I-35
*I-37

[04JETTA]

Chicago, def. another one would be D/FW

[lrfox]

Tough call. I never recommend that anyone drive in Boston if they don't need to, but Boston has I-95 (Florida to Canada), I-90 (Seattle to Boston), I-93 (Boston-Vermont), U.S. 1 (Key West FL to Ft. Kent, ME) I-495 and a number of others.

Given the location (Northeast corner of the country) Boston is still a major crossroads, if for nothing else, because of the I-90 and I-95 interchange. It does have the advantage of a central location like some of the other cities listed, but not too many interstate highways are as vital as I-95 and I-90.

[DinsdalePirahna]

St. Louis
Indianapolis
Wilkes-Barre / Scranton
Denver
Albuquerque

[nycricanpapi]

NYC

[backdrifter]

Portland.

It has the 5. What else do you need other than the West Coast?

[CoffeeAndBeer]

Even though interstates, or more specific, expressways within the urban core have wreaked havoc on this region (and the man partially responsible for that went on to learn, and not allow the same damage to be done to D.C.), and have caused the rise of golems like St. Charles County which has eliminated the viewing of the milky way from the night sky out at my family farm, and of course much less trivial things than that to St. Louis City and County, you can arrive at an extremely diverse array of regions (one days drive to the east, west, south and north (Chicago) on the original number. Not to mention both I-64 to the east coast and I-44 to Texas both start/end here.