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This is silly. Comparing I-75 to Sault Ste. Marie with I-5 to Vancouver is silly. Not an apples to apples comparison. If you think I-5 is not needed to the border, you are nuts. People who regularly cross the border get enhanced licenses or use the Nexus lanes. I-5 at Blaine is so busy, there are two crossings. Getting into Canada can be pretty quick most of the time. Its the reverse that's the bigger pain in the rear.
I didn't compare I-5 to I-75. but somebody else did, and they were then designed and built to carry the same amount of traffic, with the same number of lanes. Since 9-11 there has been a significant decline in the amount of non-commercial traffic crossing the US-Canadian border, and millions of people who used to just wander across the border on a weekend drive haven't been across the border in many years. The roads were designed with pre-9-11 expectations, and a great deal of that traffic has just ceased to exist.
In response to the OP question, the interstates leading to the Canadian border carry much, much less traffic now than when they were planned, and SOME of them qualify as useless interstate highways. I-29 from Grand Forks to Pembina ND has the same number of lanes as it has between Kansas City and Omaha. Same for 15, 81 and 95. That's about half of the interstates that go to Canada, and they carry, even up to the last American city like Houlton ME or Shelby MT, about the same number cars as two lane state roads in the hinterlands of Maine and Montana. That is useless, and I said so in response to the OP.
Post #7 by jtur88: "All interstates to the Canadian border are now pretty useless, since nobody is willing to endure the ordeal of trying to cross the border."
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Since 9-11 there has been a significant decline in the amount of non-commercial traffic crossing the US-Canadian border, and millions of people who used to just wander across the border on a weekend drive haven't been across the border in many years. The roads were designed with pre-9-11 expectations, and a great deal of that traffic has just ceased to exist.
Since 9-11 Vancouver has hosted a Winter Olympics and the Bellingham Intl. Airport on the US side of the border has grown from nothing into the state's third busiest airport, relying predominately on Canadians. The border crossings are as busy as ever.
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In response to the OP question, the interstates leading to the Canadian border carry much, much less traffic now than when they were planned, and SOME of them qualify as useless interstate highways. I-29 from Grand Forks to Pembina ND has the same number of lanes as it has between Kansas City and Omaha.
Winnipeg, Canada's 8th largest market is due north of Pembina. The Grand Forks Intl. Airport has seen its #s rise as Canadians use the airport to save $.
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A mile back from the border, at Blaine, Washington. Where is all that I-5 traffic you were talking about clogging these interstate lanes?
You were the one talking about post 9-11 security slowing down the border. I said there are two border crossings at Blaine, and the crossing into Canada is usually pretty quick. It is the opposite that's the bigger pain in the rear.
You were the one talking about post 9-11 security slowing down the border. I said there are two border crossings at Blaine, and the crossing into Canada is usually pretty quick. It is the opposite that's the bigger pain in the rear.
You mean there are a lot more people using the south-bound lanes of I-5? Don't any of them ever go back? In the streetview I sent, you can see the lanes going the other way, and it doesn't look like they are overstressed with an unmanageable volume of traffic, either.
I thought this was about the need for traffic lanes on highways, not inspection lanes at the customhouse.
What I said about 9-11 security is that it discouraged a large number of highway users from making the trip in the first place, which affects the traffic volume and thus the need for multiple lanes and interchanges.
You mean there are a lot more people using the south-bound lanes of I-5?
Quit playing stupid. It is faster/easier crossing into Canada than vice-versa.
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I thought this was about the need for traffic lanes on highways, not inspection lanes at the customhouse.
I-5 needs 6 to the Truck Crossing exit in Blaine. It will eventually as WSDOT's long term plans have minimum 6 lanes border to border. With major metro areas at each border, it is needed.
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What I said about 9-11 security is that it discouraged a large number of highway users from making the trip in the first place, which affects the traffic volume and thus the need for multiple lanes and interchanges.
9-11 just changed the process. People like me who live near Canada got enhanced IDs, so it is not much different than it was before.
I-794 in Milwaukee has always been pretty useless. I wouldn't be surprised if it got torn down in the next decade. It pretty much just serves Bay View wich isn't that far off I-43.
I-275 in Cincinnati is WAY too large. It's an 83.7 mile loop. (It's longer than Beltway 8 in Houston!?!) There is no reason it should loop into Indiana. They should've had it cut across the river between Delhi and Sayler Park, then meet up with the Northern half at I-74.
Interesting! I recall driving from Atlanta to Memphis a few years ago. IIRC, we took I 20 to Birmingham, then all highway after that. That is the most direct route. An I 22 would be dynamite!
The old road from Birmingham to Memphis was US 78. Stop and go, very slow going through lots of small towns on the Alabama end. The future I-22 (or "Corridor X" in local parlance) has been under construction for many years. MS finished their part some time back, with Alabama building theirs over the last decade. Every year or so a new segment opens, so you may have driven on a good bit of the new limited access road if you traveled that way just a few years ago. All that remains to be done, really, is the last section that connects it ti I-65 just north of Downtown Birmingham. And of course it doesn't directly connect to an interstate in Memphis, instead routing you through an industrial district, but I'm sure that will change in time, too.
Houma/Thibodaux-Baton Rouge-Natchez-Monroe-Little Rock is a needed route.
Augusta-Macon-Columbus-Montgomery-Hattiesburg-Natchez-Alexandria-Waco is the proposed I-14.
I-794 in Milwaukee has always been pretty useless. I wouldn't be surprised if it got torn down in the next decade. It pretty much just serves Bay View wich isn't that far off I-43.
It's plenty trafficked during rush hour. It's been a godsend for a lot of us the last couple years, with all of the construction on I-43. It's a way for us on the southside (not just Bayview) to have an alternate route during accidents and construction. It's a prettier drive, offering the best views of downtown and a beautiful view of Lake Michigan on one side (and piles of fill on the other, true). It relieves traffic on I-43 and serves the southeast side of town well. I'll bet there are hundreds of stretches of interstate with far less traffic than 794. I'm not sure why this road angers so many Milwaukeeans who don't use it, it's frankly bizarre.
^ I think a lot of it is how dominating it is from 43 east to the lake and then south over the Summerfest grounds. If it weren't there you could really tie in the financial/main area of downtown with the 3rd Ward, the river, Amtrak station, public market, summerfest grounds, etc.
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