States with the most pointless highways (employment, living, military)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
To me, a highway is pointless if meets at least one of the following criteria:
1. It's redundant and has a parallel highway nearby.
2. It's a relatively short highway that serves a thinly-populated area.
3. It's incomplete.
Which states do you think have the most pointless highways?
Every state has a few pointless highways, but I'd say Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Oklahoma have the most.
I don't know about states as a whole, but Detroit and Atlanta come to mind. Atlanta seems to have many spur routes that dump into suburbia but serve no purpose of connecting military or commercial zones. But hell, what do I know, I'm just basing this off of google maps.
No highway is really pointless. But some of them are less traveled than others. So I could see why you said Connecticut. It looks like it has many pointless highways, and that's because many of them were never completed as intended. For example, I-384 was supposed to connect Hartford to Providence, RI. Route 11 was supposed to connect to the interchange of I-395 and I-95. And I-291 in Hartford was supposed to be a beltway around Hartford.
Upstate NY has a lot of pointless highways, due to population decline in general. For example, Rochester has a complex network of highways, but the metro area only has 1 million residents. Same with Syracuse, which only has about 700,000 people in the area. I think the population is technically growing, albeit at a VERY slow rate these days, however.
Northeastern OH definitely has a lot of highways for a metro area of its size. There are actually several metro areas in that area.
The highways in NC aren't too pointless. They were built in response to growth over the past few decades.
The Seattle area seems to have a lot of useless highways, but I could be wrong, as I've never been there.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,743 posts, read 23,798,187 times
Reputation: 14645
Quote:
Originally Posted by nep321
The Seattle area seems to have a lot of useless highways, but I could be wrong, as I've never been there.
You're definitely wrong on that one, none of Seattle's freeway are useless at all, they are all packed to the gills. Also Seattle has fewer freeways than many areas of comparable size. I-5 and I-90 are the primary ones, go's without saying.
520 is a vital link to the Eastside suburbs, yes I-90 go's over there too, but 520 links Seattle, the UW campus, Kirkland, and Redmond where the Microsoft campus is at so there is a lot of employment connctions on that freeway.
Then 405 connecting the Eastside (Bellevue and Renton which a major employment areas) with metro north and metro South.
The 167 Valley freeway is a vital connection to the heavily populated sububs of Kent, Auburn, and Puyallup.
There are few spur highways 525 and 526 that connect 405 and 5 with the Boeing plant around Everett, and 705 connecting Tacoma city center with I-5. So they are all useful and vital links and quite crowded I may add.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 03-19-2013 at 07:18 PM..
You're definitely wrong on that one, none of Seattle's freeway are useless at all, they are all packed to the gills. Also Seattle has fewer freeways than many others of comparale size. I-5 and I-90 are the primary ones, go's without saying.
520 is a vital link to the Eastside suburbs, yes I-90 go's over there too, but 520 links Seattle, the UW campus, Kirkland, and Redmond where the Microsoft campus is at so there is a lot of employment connctions on that freeway.
Then 405 connecting the Eastside (Bellevue and Renton which a major employment areas) with metro north and metro South.
The 167 Valley freeway is a vital connection to the heavily populated sububs of Kent, Auburn, and Puyallup.
There are few spur highways 525 and 526 that connect 405 and 5 with the Boeing plant around Everett, and 705 connecting Tacoma city center with I-5. So they are all useful and vital links and quite crowded I may add.
Naturally, for Seattle is flawless, as everyone knows.
What would be the LEAST useful highway in Seattle (and don't tell me they're all equal)? It'd be nice to see a little humility from Seattle posters from time to time.
I'll do my own city, Minneapolis:
Hwy 10 and I-94 run parallel with eachother and it seems like Hwy. 10 did not need to be located so close to I-94, even though it's on the other side of the Mississippi River and they both carry a ton of traffic, especially in the summer time. Another obvious choice would be Hwy. 610, which is supposed to connect I-94 with Hwy. 10 but to my knowledge is still not complete yet and it serves only a small area with little purpose until completely finished.
No, the wether sucks there. But nice snarky remark anyway.
Meahhhhhhh!
You didn't answer my hypothetical: what's the least useful highway in the Seattle area? It doesn't have to be "bad", but you can still play this game without touting how great and flawless Seattle is (again).
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,743 posts, read 23,798,187 times
Reputation: 14645
Quote:
Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus
Meahhhhhhh!
You didn't answer my hypothetical: what's the least useful highway in the Seattle area? It doesn't have to be "bad", but you can still play this game without touting how great and flawless Seattle is (again).
Well, WA 18 freeway from Auburn through Covington I guess, or the spur WA 522 to Monroe. I love Seattle but I'm not the run of the mill poster that doesn't see it's flaws and gets super defensive about it. After 5 years of living there I'm pretty well aware of how passive agressive the vibe is, its relative isolation to the rest of the country, and how slow progress has been to finally start building rail transit when it should have been done decades ago, and I'll also say it again..... the weather there sucks for 8-9 months our of the year. However I'm familiar with the area and know where the major employment centers are and its restraining topography in which infrastructure can be built as you can't build a big loop around the city. So in that regard pertaining to the thread topic I will be quick to point out that most freeways there serve a vital purpose.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 03-19-2013 at 07:58 PM..
Well, WA 18 freeway from Auburn through Covington I guess, or the spur WA 522 to Monroe. I love Seattle but I'm not the run of the mill poster that doesn't see it's flaws and gets super defensive about it. After 5 years of living there I'm pretty well aware of how passive agressive the vibe is, its relative isolation to the rest of the country, and how slow progress has been to finally start building rail transit when it should have been done decades ago, and I'll also say it again, the weather there sucks for 8-9 months our of the year. However being familiar with the area and knowing where the major employment centers and its restraining topography in which infrastructure can be built as you can't build a big loop around the city. So in that regard pertaining to the thread topic I will be quick to point out that most freeways there serve a vital purpose.
Fair enough....good answer! I appreciate your honesty...without hostility! I have a sincere question: if Seattle is hemmed in by mountains and the ocean, how does its grid assist the freeway system? For example, in Minneapolis or Chicago you can get off at any exit within the "grid" and zig-zag your way or find alternative routes to wherever you need to go without staying on the freeway (except true suburbia, where nothing is connected). Can you do this in Seattle? And if not, does that play into the traffic nightmare that exists there currrently??
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
