The U.S, Interstate Highway System

[jaF0]

Pretty much every body knows (or should know) that it is based on the concept of the Autobahn and that both were proposed by military leaders to move large amounts of troops and heavy equipment quickly.

Routes like I-70 and I-80 were especially difficult cutting though mountains, not dissimilar to the Transcontinental Railroad.

I remember driving I-40 a few years ago and dealing with the incredible head winds through New Mexico that made it tough to keep on the road.

As I recall, I-75 took a number of years to be completed for reasons other than the actual construction. I remember traveling during the early phases, when we could only use parts of it and had to use state routes to get around the parts that weren't open.

I'm not aware of any fully new routes being built today. There are some conversions in process like I-69 which uses existing routes. For that one, some of the older roads have to be modified to Interstate requirements and standards.

Anybody know of any major projects on the scale of I-70/I-80?

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Okay, explain to me why I-70 as it winds through Kansas has been named the Submariner's Highway...

 

[jaF0]

Without digging or searching, I'd guess it has something to do with Sailors traveling to Naval bases in SoCal.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I-70 was built to get the regiments at Forts Riley and Leavenworth to the coasts...

 

[Wat_Tyler]

I-80 through Salt Lake City devolves into a city street for a few blocks. It's a disconcerting clusterfuck.


That was in 2000, and I haven't been back.


I-95 south of Petersburg VA is going to be a candidate for a third lane sooner rather than later, at least around the metro areas.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I guess the interstates that end in odd numbers are for the invasions of Mexico and Canada...

 

[Wat_Tyler]

Yes, for the next time they attack.


I taught Mom about the Zimmerman Note last week.


She gave me a first edition of Pershing's war memoirs when she moved out of her house and into the condo. I cunt remember where I put the damn thing.


That's the kind of thing that only has value to me . . . .

 

[jaF0]

I remember being very grateful I was westbound on I-70 as it was downhill though the Eisenhower tunnel. I was running on fumes and barely made it to the next exit for fuel. Uphill would not have been wise.

 

[jaF0]

I wonder how many I-69 signs will be stolen.

 

[Christobal]

I wonder how many I-69 signs will be stolen.

Snickers like a 13 year old boy.

 

[Radiohead]

Pretty much every body knows (or should know) that it is based on the concept of the Autobahn and that both were proposed by military leaders to move large amounts of troops and heavy equipment quickly.

Routes like I-70 and I-80 were especially difficult cutting though mountains, not dissimilar to the Transcontinental Railroad.

I remember driving I-40 a few years ago and dealing with the incredible head winds through New Mexico that made it tough to keep on the road.

As I recall, I-75 took a number of years to be completed for reasons other than the actual construction. I remember traveling during the early phases, when we could only use parts of it and had to use state routes to get around the parts that weren't open.

I'm not aware of any fully new routes being built today. There are some conversions in process like I-69 which uses existing routes. For that one, some of the older roads have to be modified to Interstate requirements and standards.

Anybody know of any major projects on the scale of I-70/I-80?

Like in Australia, they USed returned servicemen, that they promised wages to build them mostly. Not that them being built wasnt needed, but if the government doesnt have money tied up, it wont happen. Ant least new projects. All private contracts.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

What interstate ends(almost) at a stop light?



I-94, you can travel from New Jersey to Illinois with out seeing a red light and if you miss the turn off to connect to I-294 in Lake County, you continue on down US 41 until you come to a stop light at Park Ave. A bunch of accidents there at night, everyone thinking they are on the interstate and bam a stop light!

 

[Radiohead]

What interstate ends(almost) at a stop light?



I-94, you can travel from New Jersey to Illinois with out seeing a red light and if you miss the turn off to connect to I-294 in Lake County, you continue on down US 41 until you come to a stop light at Park Ave. A bunch of accidents there at night, everyone thinking they are on the interstate and bam a stop light!

There is quite a few, especially single digits, cause how they are built, and the ring road/extentions are the way to fly.

Wierdest thing is I was thinking of going into town on 94 and it does drop into that, I'm just surprised its not earlier. Also, btw 90. I'm assuming that the nearby towns when they built I-94 werent big enough to go into them. 35 in Dallas is fucked no matter how you choose but I never dealt with that outside of there.

 

[Tristyn]

What interstate ends(almost) at a stop light?



I-94, you can travel from New Jersey to Illinois with out seeing a red light and if you miss the turn off to connect to I-294 in Lake County, you continue on down US 41 until you come to a stop light at Park Ave. A bunch of accidents there at night, everyone thinking they are on the interstate and bam a stop light!

Gotta love Illinois!

I-294 & the $15 - $20 in tolls you'll pay for the privilege of traveling a billboard laden roadway.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

There is quite a few, especially single digits, cause how they are built, and the ring road/extentions are the way to fly.

Wierdest thing is I was thinking of going into town on 94 and it does drop into that, I'm just surprised its not earlier. Also, btw 90. I'm assuming that the nearby towns when they built I-94 werent big enough to go into them. 35 in Dallas is fucked no matter how you choose but I never dealt with that outside of there.

I live in Houston now, where they are building a new ring road Texas 99, right now it goes from I-69 to I-69 to the west. Plans are to bring right about to I-69 on the east.

Of course it going to be another toll road, like 8.

 

[pointless]

in michigan they were talking to doing some extensions of 131, but after wasting a few million dollars studying the issue they said fuck it and didn't do shit. it was kind of stupid and it sucked because it would've been nice for the part of the state it would've effected, but fuck 'em. i don't live there anymore. they can rot for all i care.

 

[Radiohead]

Gotta love Illinois!

I-294 & the $15 - $20 in tolls you'll pay for the privilege of traveling a billboard laden roadway.

Yeah, they'd be the one's who DONT toll 90 like indiana and pennsylvania? Maybe thats 94 Either way...

 

[jaF0]

What interstate ends(almost) at a stop light?



I-94, you can travel from New Jersey to Illinois with out seeing a red light and if you miss the turn off to connect to I-294 in Lake County, you continue on down US 41 until you come to a stop light at Park Ave.

There is quite a few, especially single digits, cause how they are built, and the ring road/extentions are the way to fly.

There's one in TN too, maybe Knoxville. Southbound I-75 veers right, but the left lane exit goes almost straight ahead. I was in the left lane and ended up on a surface street looking at a red light.

 

[Colonel Hogan]

I remember when my dad finished reading the newspaper one night and told me that one day we would be able to drive all the way to Florida for vacation without hitting a red light. I thought he was kidding. I couldn't believe it. I was seven years old.

In 1992 I was ecstatic that the final section of the Interstate Highway System through Glenwood Canyon was at last completed. Me and my kayaking buddies could finally get to our Colorado and Roaring Fork river runs in the area without 45 minute traffic delays.

I was 43 years old.

 

[FGB]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_69

 

[jaF0]

I remember when my dad finished reading the newspaper one night and told me that one day we would be able to drive all the way to Florida for vacation without hitting a red light. I thought he was kidding. I couldn't believe it. I was seven years old.

In theory and depending on where you start from and your fuel capacity. The last time I drove it, I did a little over 1,200 miles in about 22 hours. I was getting somewhere between 300-400 miles per tank (don't remember now), so I only had to stop a few times.

 

[Wrong Element]

Okay, explain to me why I-70 as it winds through Kansas has been named the Submariner's Highway...

I-80 through Pennsylvania is called the Shortway, presumably named by someone who never drove it.

Pretty much every body knows (or should know) that it is based on the concept of the Autobahn and that both were proposed by military leaders to move large amounts of troops and heavy equipment quickly.

The story goes that after World War I, the Army was looking to give its permanent officers like the young Dwight Eisenhower something to do. Ike was part of a big military convoy tasked with trying to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast as fast as possible -- basically to answer the question "How quickly can we do this on the roads we currently have?" The answer was, not fast at all. It took weeks and weeks. When Eisenhower saw the Autobahn, the light bulb went off.

There was definitely a defense element to the building of the interstates, but I think that was mostly a way to sell the project to legislators who otherwise would not have wanted the federal government in the road construction business.

I remember driving I-40 a few years ago and dealing with the incredible head winds through New Mexico that made it tough to keep on the road.

The stretch between Oklahoma City and Amarillo is even windier. It feels like you're getting hit by winds that started somewhere around Japan.

I'm not aware of any fully new routes being built today. There are some conversions in process like I-69 which uses existing routes. For that one, some of the older roads have to be modified to Interstate requirements and standards.

Anybody know of any major projects on the scale of I-70/I-80?

They're slowly expanding Interstate 49, which used to be confined to Louisiana, north along the western border of Arkansas and Missouri all the way to Kansas City. They opened a stretch between Shreveport and Texarkana a couple of years ago.

There's a new interstate running across northern Mississippi; I can't recall the number.

I-69, which used to run just between Michigan and Indianapolis, is now slated to go all the way to the Rio Grande. It's being built up little by little. Part of the Eastex Freeway in Houston, going northeast, has been "upgraded" to I-69, though driving on it today is exactly the same as it was back before it got the upgrade..

There's no direct interstate route running northwest (towards Detroit)/southeast (towards West Virginia) through Columbus, and there is occasional talk of making one. But if Ohio couldn't make it happen when Boehner was Speaker of the House, it's probably never gonna happen. I know there are also a lot of people who want to create an interstate running from Vegas into Arizona, though it's not like people aren't already doing 80 on U.S. 93.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I wonder how many I-69 signs will be stolen.

US Highway 69 in the most stolen sign in the nation.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I-80 through Pennsylvania is called the Shortway, presumably named by someone who never drove it.

...

They're slowly expanding Interstate 49, which used to be confined to Louisiana, north along the western border of Arkansas and Missouri all the way to Kansas City. They opened a stretch between Shreveport and Texarkana a couple of years ago.

There's a new interstate running across northern Mississippi; I can't recall the number.

I-69, which used to run just between Michigan and Indianapolis, is now slated to go all the way to the Rio Grande. It's being built up little by little. Part of the Eastex Freeway in Houston, going northeast, has been "upgraded" to I-69, though driving on it today is exactly the same as it was back before it got the upgrade..

There's no direct interstate route running northwest (towards Detroit)/southeast (towards West Virginia) through Columbus, and there is occasional talk of making one. But if Ohio couldn't make it happen when Boehner was Speaker of the House, it's probably never gonna happen. I know there are also a lot of people who want to create an interstate running from Vegas into Arizona, though it's not like people aren't already doing 80 on U.S. 93.

Lol at the first.

KC needs another interstate through it like, I don't know, Los Angeles needs a third NFL team; the Grandview triangle is already hell on earth, I cannot imagine it getting even worse...

 

[Zeb_Carter]

In theory and depending on where you start from and your fuel capacity. The last time I drove it, I did a little over 1,200 miles in about 22 hours. I was getting somewhere between 300-400 miles per tank (don't remember now), so I only had to stop a few times.

I drove from Chicago to Houston in less that 24 hours by about 30 minutes. Forget how often I need to stop for gas and food.