The Worst Interchanges In The US 

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The Orange Crush is terrible mainly because rush hour traffic to LA moves one way, while rush hour traffic to South Orange County moves the other way. They both go through the Orange Crush. As well as the Inland Empire traffic and Disneyland traffic.

Honorable mention to I-95/I-64 west interchange in Richmond. The off-ramp from I-64 westbound to I-95 southbound is also the exit for downtown Richmond and it becomes a surface street, complete with sidewalks to nowhere, before an on-ramp takes you to I-95 south. This is even more mind-boggling when you realize it's not just local traffic, because through traffic to I-85 southbound has to go this way because the I-295 bypass dumps you beyond the I-85 interchange.

On the subject of terrible interchanges, let's not forget the Boyle Heights Interchange, just southeast of Downtown Los Angeles (also known as the East L.A. Interchange). This is the confluence of the Hollywood Freeway (U.S. 101), the San Bernardino Freeway (I-10), the Golden State Freeway (I-5), the Santa Monica Freeway(1-10), the Pomona Freeway (SR 60), and the Santa Ana Freeway (I-5). There is NO getting out of this one, alive. No matter which direction/connection taken, the driver is subjected to over a mile of wild ramps.

Of all these, the Dallas Mixmaster is probably one of the best laid out but craziest to navigate interchanges in the US. Even after four years of living there, I had to memorize the routes because many exits didn't have much advance warning, and all routes divide up for three additional highways (Woodall Rogers, I-45/345/US-75, & the DNT) plus all downtown traffic right after the big interchange. If you miss your exit, just commit and keep going.

As someone who has to use the Hillside Strangler a bunch, it’s arguably the worse interchange in the country. The worse part about it is you have 2 different organizations in charge of it since I88 and 294 are part of the Illinois Tollway system and I290 is managed by IDOT. They’re in the process of reconfiguring the interchange somewhat, but the 294N to 290W ramps are not being upgraded, which is the second busiest movement on this mess of an interchange. So expect this to be high on the list of the worse for a long time.

An honorable mention The Newark Airport Interchange that connects Interstate 78, U.S. Route 1-9, U.S. Route 22, New Jersey Route 21, and Interstate 95 (the New Jersey Turnpike) at the northern edge of Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey is probably one of the most complicated interchanges I have ever seen in NJ and probably in the whole northeast and still has a bunch of traffic on sections of I-78 and US 1/9 due to the bottle necks after the interchange on both highways.

Honorable mentions are the three major interchanges of the Big Dig in Boston: The first is I-90 Mass. Pike / I-93 Southeast Expressway interchange which also accesses Albany Street, Kneeland Street, and Atlantic Avenue in downtown Boston. The second is the I-93 / US-1 Tobin Bridge / SR-3 Storrow Drive / Rutherford Avenue interchange in Charlestown which includes the Zakim Bridge and is nested with the ramps for the SR-1A Callahan and Sumner Tunnels, SR-28 McGrath & O'Brien Highway, and Sudbury Street. The main part of this interchange has several loops to connect US-1 with Rutherford, I-93, and SR-3, The whole intersection extends over a mile long along I-93. The third is the I-90 / SR-1A East Boston Expressway / Logan Airport interchange in East Boston. Like the one in Charlestown it has a lot of ramps that make loops to essentially reverse direction.

This is what happens when you dont have any transit in a city

The Springfield Interchange (aka "Mixing Bowl") in Northern Virginia now carries 500,000 vehicles a day. I-95 was widened to 24 lanes, and the interchange has spread a mile to the south to engulf SR-644, a very trafficky "stroad" on its own. The flyover ramp from the westbound Beltway to I-95 south (the East Coast's "main street") is almost a mile long and 120 feet in the air. The project was originally intended to be three different interchanges overlaid on each other: one for trucks, one for HOV, and one for mere cars. All this, on top of two streams and several railroad routes. It's hard to tell from the results what we ended up with. What could go wrong? Well, it's now the worst accident spot on the Capital Beltway.

I’m from Virginia and the Springfield interchange, AKA “the mixing bowl”, always makes me nervous when I’m driving through it

It's the Springfield Mixing Bowl. It's BEEN the Springfield Mixing Bowl since the early 70s.

It must be loud living in the houses that were pinched between that triangle junction

The riverside interchange between the I-215/CA-60-/CA-91 interchange was a former full cloverleaf. They got rid of it with two flyovers but kept half the cloverleaf. It’s as bad as ever. I get that there’s no room, but it’s ridiculous that they had a chance to fix that cloverleaf problem and caltrans half assed fixed it

As a Northern Virginia resident I was thinking there was no way the Springfield interchange doesn't make this list 😂

Definitely the interchange of i85 and i285 Atlanta had to be on this list....its constantly backed up either in the morning or afternoon.....even weekends

Grandview Triangle in Kansas City, anyone? They did some major reconstruction to it but it was one of the most congested interchanges in the country at one point. Now it’s the Three Trails Crossing interchange but everyone still calls it Grandview Triangle.

The I-376/I-279 and I-376/PA 837 interchanges on either side of the Fort Pitt bridge in Pittsburgh is pretty gnarly.

You should see some of the interchanges here in New Jersey

Awe yeah a new beaver geography episode YIPPEEEE

As a resident of DFW, thanks for including the wild Mixmaster interchange in Dallas! It’s not as congested as it used to be, but the large design and ramps make it easy to get disoriented. And shoutout to the image you used twice of an interchange near where I live - 35W & 820 in Fort Worth!

Another honourable mention, this time for I-295 / I-76 / NJ-42 mess which has been undergoing reconstruction for over a decade. The old (still in use) looping 295 sb alignment looks like something I drew with crayons at kindergarten and the entire layout is a slowly morphing nightmare. Hopefully this will all be fixed by, er, 2028.

I’ll mention a few different ones here. Firstly the interchange with the nj turnpike by Newark airport with about 5 different highways colliding with a port, international airport, and a rail line. Secondly, a bit of an unusual one but some of the interchanges in Trenton, NJ along route 29 are truly god awful. Also, us route 1 just past 295 near Quakerbridge, NJ isn’t so much awful interchanges as it is awful intersections mixed with driveways and interchanges creating one giant disaster of a highway. And lastly the 322, I 476, I95 interchange just south of Philly is also a consistent mess with 4 lanes of traffic being forced into 2 in a short span on 476.

Another worth mentioning: US 412 - I 244 - LL Tisdale Parkway off the NW corner of downtown Tulsa OK. None of the piece of this interchange were built correctly. The interchanges to and from 244 are some of the tightest turns I've seen on an expressway with the recommended speed of 20 mph. The through traffic of 412 is worse. Westbound has a tight turn that is banked AWAY from the turn! It's so deceptive the first time you go through it. Eastbound, the left lane becomes an exit only into downtown with zero warning. 3 lanes of eastbound traffic have to cram down to a single lane through the interchange. Tulsa may not be big enough to draw much attention, but this monstrosity deserves attention

That's all I need, my geography beaver telling me to talk to a therapist. 😆

I personally think some rural interchanges can be overly silly--like, think of the Portland-Columbia interchange in Columbia, NJ, which carries far more capacity than is necessary for a free-flowing interchange... to a bridge that doesn't carry that much traffic a day.

I-4 & I-275 interchange in Tampa is a mess too

There are other bad interchanges such as; l-35 @ l-90 in Minnesota, l-39 @ l-88 in Illinois, l-69 @ l-80-90 in Indiana, l-69 @ l-94 in Michigan, l-10 @ l-75 in Florida, l-26 @ l-95 in South Carolina, l-40 @ l-77 in North Carolina, l-40 @ l-95 in North Carolina, l-70 @ l-77 in Ohio and l-79 @ l-80 in Pennsylvania. Because all of these interchanges were built in the middle of nowhere. It's scary that these interchanges exist without there being a city near these interchanges.

I could have enjoyed more on this topic. Great job!

Honorable mention to the Medford Supercollider, the intersection between SR 28 and SR 16 in Medford, Massachusetts, which is all sorts of spaghettified chaos but all on one level, using only surface streets.

Beav, Malfunction Junction in Knoxville was actually the Junction of Interstates 40 and 75 pre Worlds Fair. They completed the loop around Knoxville for the Fair, so 75 was put on the west part of the loop. The Junction. was built in 1961. An early stub of 40, from Western Avenue eastbound to just east of where the Junction would be, at Magnolia Avenue, was called the Magnolia Expressway. It was Tennessee's first limited access highway, but not the first to be designated an Interstate The Eastern end of the stub was right in front of the front door of a local restaurant owner, a big supporter of our then governor. Finally, I told you that the Junction was built in 1961. It took them 15 years or more to finish 75 to the Kentucky state line.

Thank you for mentioning the Knoxville one. I’ve had to deal with it many times driving between IN and SC. 1-40 between Knoxville and Asheville is a very stressful drive in general.

while "Springfield interchange" might be it's official name, no one calls it that. it's the Mixing Bowl

we only have one motorway interchange in my country: spaghetti junction

I would like to see you branch out to other countries highways and how they are similar/different than the USA.

2:20 The biggest issue with the 275/40 Junction is coming from the north it has a rare Left lane for Westbound and Rightlane for eastbound ramps.

To answer your final question, I think we will see a shift to much more compact interchanges that minimize impact. NDOT proposed upgrades to the interchange between I80 and I580/US395 in Reno and surrounding portions of both freeways, and they got MASSIVE pushback on their proposals and just how much space they would take and how much they would cost. What they ultimately settled on, while still very ambitious (and very expensive) has roughly half the needed land acquisition and while a slightly lower cost overall had huge shifts in funding from land acquisition to engineering to develop solutions in a much more confined space. The people made their voices very well heard, wholesale demolishing of neighborhoods is no longer a price we are willing to pay for slightly reduced traffic delays. It may have made a difference that one of the areas that NDOT was proposing demolishing would have pushed the freeway directly adjacent to a public square that is very popular for holding events in and people didn't want a very loud and dirty freeway directly above such a popular spot, but even disregarding that, it really did seem like we've finally drawn a line in the sand of "this far and no further" when it comes to expanding existing freeways in urban areas. Of course, the flip side is that there is almost no resistance to the construction of new freeways and near-freeways in areas just outside of urban areas to act as bypasses. So, I'm not sure that it is really that much of an anti freeway sentiment and more of a "yes in someone else's backyard" sentiment.

Interesting to see Knoxville on there with the I-275 / I-40 interchange. But, the other interchange at I-640 / I-75 / I-275 is a big mess too.

Being honest, putting the sponsored portion in the middle of your video does really detract from the topic at hand and causes people to quickly lose interest and just skip ahead to whenever the sponsored segment ends. I'd prefer it if you put the segment at the beginning or end of the video to not confuse viewers or annoy them with the sudden topic change. Thank you and have a wonderful week.

Until 2006, the Grandview Triangle(officially called Three Trails Crossing) in KCMO was a royal pain in the backside. You have Interstates 435, 470, and 49/US 71. 49 didn’t become official until 2012. The Triangle was a hot mess! I dreamed going through it. Today, it is so much better.

I’ve driven too much apparently. I have been through three of these interchanges-all between 2003 and 2023. Great work you’re doing.

I love in Dallas and have driven before and after the reconstruction of the mix master. Needles to say, if you're not familiar with it and know exactly what exit to take ahead of time, you'll. End up going in some other random direction. I don't know how many times i was going south on 35E and ended up on West 30 or on Woodall Roger's. During rush hour, you have better luck going around downtown. I hate the interchnge so much.

I drive through the Hillside Strangler every Wednesday going fron NB294 to WB290 and I can say it is one of the worst interchanges to deal with traffic wise.

The interection bettween Interstate 15 and US Highway 95 in Las Vegas is known as the 'Spaghetti Bowl'.

FYI, there is a nickname for what you call the Springfield Interchange. Locals have been calling it the Mixing Bowl for decades.

you miss 410 in San Antonio Tx. All the exits. are terrible!!!!!!

In Ottawa, Ontario they would build bike lanes on these interchanges. This is how "insane " and out of control bike lanes have gotten in the nation's capital...

My family has always hated the I-40 at Briley Parkway interchange in east Nashville. Doesn't look too bad at first, but when driving it, none of the lanes are intuitive regarding where you need to be. Then in New England, around Springfield, MA... going from eastbound I-90 to southbound I-91 is weird as hell.

An honorable mention I think should be the Rocky Butte interchanges in Portland, they look manageable from satellite imagery, but when you are actually driving through them, it becomes a massive tapestry of roads, tracks, and trails spanning multiple levels of tunnel and bridge

75/85 SB at 20 is absolute dogs***, so too is 20W ramping onto Downtown Connector. Langford Parkway deserves a dishonorable mention due to the extremely short entrance/exit pouring in/out of blighted neighborhoods, and the 285 interchange at Langford is cloverleaf hell. 285 at 400 with the ever-changing lane configuration make driving there miserable. 285 at 20 both sides are severely outdated.

1) The biggest remaining issue with the 88/290/294 interchange in Hillsdale is with Oak Lawn, as there I-290 shrinks to three lanes. That portion of the expressway was placed in as tight a space as possible, and Oak Lawn consistently opposes any proposal to expand the expressway there. 2) When I was up in Knoxville in 1989, the portion of the interchange that went to Broadway and Western Streets hadn't been completed yet. That was likely finished in the early nineties.

You should look at the interstates/interchanges in Twin Cities MN…in particular I-494/35W…and even though they are in the process of ‘fixing’ it…I have to ask why they are doing what they are doing…same with I-494 and hwy 169….then there’s I-94 and the new highway 610 ‘interchange’ (if you want to call it that)….oh…and then there’s I-35 and highway 8 in forest Lake…I could go on.

One of the worst interchanges I deal with is I-91 South to route 15 south in Connecticut. The design I don't think looks that crazy but it gets so backed up and interferes with the other traffic on 1-91 as the traffic in the right two lanes can be backed up for over a mile before the actual exit

The MSP area used to have several interchanges where highways would briefly merge for a mile or two, but the one that entered from the right would exit on the left. I think they've fixed them all now, but the worst of these was I-694 and I-35E near White Bear Lake; it was known simply as "The Weave" and had a crash rate several times that of the rest of the 494/694 loop.

An interesting one to look at is the south I-15/I-215 interchange near Salt Lake City. Once you’re used to it, it is okay, but it isn’t kind to someone dealing with it for the first time, especially the NB 15 to both WB and EB 215. Another one nearby would be the elongated I-15/I-80 interchanges/overlap, throwing in SR-201 into the mix. (Why SR-201 is not mainline I-80 west of Salt Lake is not clear to me.)

I drive near the Hillside interchange quite a bit. Even though I don't use the actual interchange regularly, since I usually go further north on 294, it does kinda suck once you get to 290. The ramp for 88 is fine. That area has been under construction to fix it though. I'm only talking about going northbound. I never use the southbound interchange.

The Lamar/290/360 interchange is wild when you take the fly over from 290 to 360 because its like ALL DOWNHILL right into a traffic light always stacked with traffic because people are trying to get to Mopac/Loop 1

I should add that the Buford-Spring Connector suffers the same problems as Langford Parkway with short entrance/exit ramps, and only one lane to enter/exit 85 on the southern end.

Huntsville, AL has our own "malfunction junction" at the interchange for I-565 and Memorial Parkway. Eastbound to southbound traffic can back up both morning and evening rush hour, for maybe a half mile to a mile.

Take a look at Sacramento CA, ..a total mess right in the center of the state capitol...I-50,80,5,hwy-99, business routes, failed clover leafs, failed beltway that only resulted in a four lane off ramp to a two lane cross street intersection..it's nuts

Cincinnati's I-75 at I-71 and US 50 is bad too. Thank goodness they are going to rebuild it during the Brent Spence Bridge Reconstruction project

Nightmare interchanges are in small cities too. I've mentioned this before but trying to follow US 395 through Kennewick and Pasco, WA (i.e., two of the three Tri-Cities) would challenge even the most experienced motorist who isn't from the area. It's very easy for long-haul traffic between Portland and Spokane to get diverted into heading toward Yakima, Walla Walla, and beautiful downtown Pasco.

Jane Byrne near downtown Chicago was not mentioned and I'm surprised. It's super duper complex and gets backed up fairly easily but surprisingly it's not nearly as bad as it used to be several years ago after a super long construction project.

I knew when I saw this title The Mixing Bowl would be on it! (Springfield interchange mentioned in the video)

I live a few minutes from the first interchange (I-290/294/88) and I can confirm that it is awful. What wasn’t stated in the video is that it is currently under construction and has been for the last few years. I’ve looked at the plans for it and It should be a great improvement for traffic flow.

i have an idea for a video! how about top 10 interchange improvements? like the SR408 and i4 interchange in orlando would be a great example of better land use and efficiency

How about MacArthur maze Oakland, CA in Bay Area? The problem is that you need to pay $7 and go all the way to the other side of the bay if you choose the wrong lane.

I’ll just confirm/deny your comment about the mixmaster. In the DFW area, the term “mixmaster” is only ever used to refer to the interchange between Interstates 35E and 30. The Woodall Rogers (SH-366)/IH-35E interchange doesn’t really have a common name used however. If I had to recommend an interchange for a possible part 2, I’d say the interchange between IH-15 and IH-20 in Jackson, Mississippi being a messy looking one

You've gotta do a video on the I95/78 /78 Express, US1/9/22, NJ 21/27/81, Newark Airport, Port of Newark and NJ Turnpike interchange.

I find the one outside of salt lake city interesting, by the downtown. Connecting the 201 freeway with I-15 and I-80, while also having another interchange with 2100s crammed in there also.

I think one of the most insane interchanges in Florida is in between Miami and Hollywood where Interstate 95 intersects between the Florida Turnpike, The Palmetto Expressway, US 441, State Road 9, and 167th street. I haven't been down there just yet but it looks like an absolute spaghetti nightmare. The 595 and 95 intersection in Fort Lauderdale seems pretty bad too.

The I-30/I-35E interchange is not as bad as it used to be. If you want to check out a bad interchange in Dallas, you should check out the interchange at I-30 @ Loop 12 in west Dallas. The design is a holdover from when I-30 between Dallas and Fort Worth was known as the Dallas/Fort Worth Turnpike between 1957 and 1977. There are plans to redo the interchange with direct connectors, but that project is currently unfunded.

The Hillside Strangler 🤣 that's great.

The mixmaster in Dallas is a little wild. There is always slow traffic during rush hours around the entire loop around downtown Dallas. It morphed into a giant mess. Also you said "state route 366” everyone calls it by its name. Woodall Rogers Freeway. And on the rare occasion it's called by the number, It's SPUR 366. It's also a parking lot for a few hours 😅

the one for des moines, I-35/80/235 on the west side is pretty outdated.

They are are fixing the other problems with the 88/290/294 ramp with the biggest one being access with east I-290 to south I-294 merges with south I-294 to west I-88. They are making it so only I-294 can access I-88 instead directly from before the on ramp. The previous design backups I-290 from North ave during rush hour. This is because lots of trucks just get on I-294 from I-290 so I-88 access from I-290 isnt needed. So the new design will make I-290 faster and make I-490 useless to bypass this problematic area now The other big problem being fixed is north I-294 to west I-290. Its a freaking cloverleaf that holds literally all of the traffic from northwest indiana. Yeah its going to be a underpass it looks like now.

Route 9 interchange in Poughkeepsie, NY is crazy and I try to avoid at all costs

The Mixmaster is still a bear to drive thru.

It isn’t a big interchange, but you should look at the SR18 and SR167 in Auburn, WA. You have to get off NB SR167 to get to the to the on ramp for WB SR18. You also have to get off EB SR18 to get to the on ramp for SB SR167.

The I290/I294/I88 Interchange is actually being redone to fix the issues.

Correction: The State Route 360 in Austin is actually State Loop 360. State Route 360 (or State Highway 360) is located in the Fort Worth area...in fact, it's the road that serves Six Flags over Texas and it also has a toll road attached to it (360 Toll Road). Loop 360 in Austin is the Capital of Texas Highway. The only reason I even know Loop 360 is that I did two videos for my channel (one for Loop 1 and one for US-183) and both cross Loop 360. In Texas, a highway number can be a State Highway, a State Spur or Loop, and a Farm-to Market or Ranch-to-Market Road. FM 121 and SH-121 are both in the Dallas area. It became so confusing for people coming from Sherman, Texas and Denton, Texas on US-75 that they have a sign on the FM-121 exit telling drivers that D/FW Airport is on SH-121 and not FM-121.

Bronx has one of the worst - I-95, I-278, I-678, I-295, and the Hutch. And you can throw I-695 in the mix to complete the triangle with I-95 and I-295. What a mess....

The I 5 us 101 I 10 and Ca 60 interchange in LA is really crazy.

The one interchange I dread going through is the US421/US52 interchange in Winston-Salem, NC. It's not an overly complex design, just a simple cloverleaf that was built in the 60s. Why I can't stand this interchange is because you have to weave in and out of traffic, which is usually heavy, if you want to exit or merge. The ramps are simply too short. I've driven through three of the interchanges on your list, the one in Knoxville, the one in Chicago, and the one in Dallas. Those are heaven compared to the one in Winston-Salem.

For some reason I had a feeling that you'd start with the Hillside Strangler in Illinois 😅

Not really a crazy or complex interchange, but the 101 - 880 interchange in San Jose is truly awful no matter which direction you're going.

I love that my Lamar and 290 suggestion made the end of the video. My family calls it the clusterf#@!

7:30 - A part of a complex interchange is building ramps for car-pool express lanes.

I lived by the hillside strangler(Kinda) And I never realized the little neighborhood inside the triangle was that small since I just zoomed by on the bigger road. Kind of cool it's a small little island.

The interchange between Interstates 87 and 90 in Albany should be rebuilt into a four level stack where Interstate 87 crosses under Interstate 90. The portion of Interstate 87 between the south access point of the interchange and the west access point should be demolished.

I’m really curious of any center lane on/off ramps from 8-lane or wider interstates. We have several on/off ramps that are closer than a mile & really slow down traffic. I’m interested in seeing if a center (left lane) exit situation could work with a roundabout at the connecting road. I see a number of benefits for intercity highways where the “fast lane” is an outdated concept & even as a passing lane is barely functional. It would replace the HOV lanes if they exist but could improve traffic flow without needing that dedicated lane. Plus, based on my initial design, could be more space efficient than the right side on/off design.

I am convinced that every highway project in Texas starts with "hold my beer..."

Mixmaster may be a lot of lanes but it’s not too bad, that stretch of I-35 W between I-30 and hey 121 near Ft Worth downtown is worse as you have to get over like 2 lanes within a quarter mile as those lanes are exit only and that contributes to a lot of wrecks

I recognized the pic at 0:39 as soon as it popped up. Ft Worth, I-35W and I-820

Going on a smaller scale, but very dangerous, I 20 and I 26 interchange in Columbia, S.C., which is named Malfunction Junction.

I 84 in Waterbury, CT is the wort junction I been on. Needs a redesign.

You really shouldn’t be taking sponsorships from Better Help, i’ve heard nothing but bad things about it from people. Their “therapists” tend to be very shady and mostly unhelpful. I even heard a story of someone trying to sell their book to a patient rather than actually help them. It actually makes a lot of people’s mental health WORSE than before they joined

That feeling when you see your city mentioned on one of these lists! o_o

Can you talk about how short I-30 and I-45 are

I'm surprised you didn't mention Boston's South Bay Interchange. It stretches for a few miles thanks to the Big Dig