What Are Interstate Highway Standards? | Interstates that BREAK the Rules 

Theres also Interstate 180 in Cheyenne, WY which is basically a surface road its entire length. Its also the only 3di in Wyoming.

I-93 thru narrow Franconia Notch, NH with a single lane in each direction.

I-110 in Biloxi MS has a drawbridge.

@@adammoldover8769 in Memphis there’s interstate 40. It was originally going to cut through the city, but would have destroyed a beloved local park. I-40 in Memphis now goes north of the city, along what would have been the north side of a 240 loop.

It's also where 93 runs through Franconia Notch State Park and a number of attractions are adjacent to the road as is.

I'm guessing you haven't been up there during ski season? It's clogged when Cannon Mountain closes for the day.

@@cisium1184it was jammed up during an autumn day when I was up that way a few years ago too

A lot of eclipsers recently had a lot of time to learn about this lol

I didn’t learn about this until I heard about all the eclipse traffic on the news - are you a time traveler since you posted about this a few days before the eclipse??? 🤣🤣🤣

good idea! i'd like to know why a lot of i68 in maryland has red pavement

​@@cake7986I noticed the same thing on the stretch of I-89 N in Vermont in the section before williston. Thought it was so cool

Which states thank you or explain the project to the public , vs which states don't at all...would be an interesting analysis. East vs west

Anyone notice how in Texas the roads actually sound like something? It sounds like wind when riding on the freeways in cities

Came to see if this was the top comment. It was!

@@stevenjlovelace honestly surprised myself

​@@stevenjlovelace, me too.!

He probably did it out of spite. Mike's videos are great but he seems to have some kind of ire for Michigan specifically. Sorry for whatever we did, Mike...

And a few of us in neighboring states. 🙂 Good video overall, though! ❤

So less tourist trap and more port of call.

​@@johnrickard8512I think it's somewhere between the two.

One of the truck stops there has closed off most of the parking and it's now overgrown with weeds.

It is a nice drive if you got no where to be soon, I did it from Latrobe to breezewood a couple years ago

Where does this road go?

I think I remember hearing somewhere that there’s a law on the books stating all roads in Texas must be accessible to private property and that includes freeways. It’s why they go nuts with frontage roads there. I suppose that’s why there’s a couple at-grade intersections out in the middle of nowhere. Michigan also had a few at grade intersections. Fort Custer in Battle Creek had direct access to I-94 via a driveway, and when the interstates were first being built there were actually a handful of at grade railroad crossings (one on I-94 in Albion and two in Ann Arbor) because that was cheaper to do. Those thankfully are all gone and the only one left is on the expressway portion of US 127 in Gratiot County, which eventually is supposed to be upgraded to full freeway

Michigan has many of these segments: US 131, US 127, US 23, & US 31 all come immediately to mind. Cheers! ~~ Statmanmi

@@stanleygustafson Yeah, some of those Michigan highways far exceed many interstates in their quality and design speed. I was amazed by the size of the R.o.W. and median on US-31, and how huge most of the interchanges/exits were.

He actually just made a whole video about that.

Sounds like the interchange of PA-51 and I-70. Old, substandard cloverleaf built in the 50's with stop signs at the end of every ramp. Super unsafe and requires gunning it to survive. It's in the process of being replaced with a diverging diamond.

They were still building out the Interstate system when I was growing up. In fact, building I-24 in southern Illinois, which took place when I was in high school, directly led to my hometown being designated the official "Home of Superman". The earliest things I can remember about the system was hearing that the primary reason for building it was to streamline the movement of military hardware across the country. So we could readily shift assets from one coast to the other. I believe that was the primary motivation for the federal government. My hometown was Metropolis, Illinois, which is in the southern tip of the state on the Ohio River. Prior to the Interstate system, traffic flowing from, for example, St. Louis to Nashville would likely be following Illinois State highway 45, since it has a bridge over the Ohio at the neighboring town of Brookport. That same highway runs right through the middle of Metropolis to get there. Which meant there was a constant flow of traffic through town. There's also a State Park there as well, Fort Massac. Building I-24 bypassed all of that. It passes between the two towns, slicing through the back of the state park, and has its own bridge across the river. And just across that river is a town about six times the size that was getting 3-4 exits of its own, Paducah, KY. So, business people realized they needed to give people a reason to stop on our side of the river. A little research, we were supposedly the only town named Metropolis (so named for its location near the junction of Ohio & Mississippi Rivers). So, they contacted the publishers and had it made official. Even took the fairgrounds (adjacent to the park, near the exit) to turn it into a Superman theme park. Not a bad idea in the early 70s. And, they took the skating rink for a museum. The park never got built. That land eventually got incorporated into the park. Nothing beyond that official designation lasted. Later, however, an actual museum was developed in town by the courthouse (with a Superman statue in front of the courthouse) and there's a Superman celebration there every year. I've never been to the celebration, despite it being in my hometown, but I hear it's getting pretty big. There's also an annual reenactment of life around the fort that takes place in Fort Massac. Haven't been to that either. The development of the Interstate system had a lot of impact in a lot of different ways.

No one forces you to stop and spend money, and many people need to stop for gas, food, or beverages. Most of the motels in what used to be called the "Town of Motels" are now gone.

Definitely a money sink. Everything a road to road interchang is proposed, the families that own most of Breezewoods real estate wind up their employees and the local politicians. Personally witnessed it multiple times in my 50 years living nearby.

Same with any other state with cities/rivers named after Indian tribes.

I'm a trucker as well and I always take i70 straight through wheeling vs the hill climb of i470.....

At least with Breezewood, Philly, and the Holland Tunnel approach they’re just segments of a longer route. With I-180 it’s the whole thing. Totally bizarre. Alaska called, they want their interstate back

Breezewood is ridiculous. 70 should connect to the Turnpike. Most of the Breezewood restaurants and motels have closed.

PA doesn’t like that. They do double trumpet interchanges.

Be like Virginia. They do toll exits on a toll road.

Breezewood could easily be cut off if the political will was there to do it. All it would take is creating ramps where I-70 crosses over itself. But the businesses in Breezewood throw a fit every time it comes up. If it’s true they’re starting to close, then perhaps the gap will finally be closed in the near future

The I-10 curve in Baton Rouge does not feel normal. My dad said it used to narrow down to 1 lane. It doesn't now, but if you're in the right lane at the I-110 merger, you have to merge left pretty quickly or else you're forced to exit at Washington St.

Texas off ramps!!😀 I actually used one on a recent trip to Texas! I used it to get off the hopeless mess of I-10 in NW El paso along with obscure roads to bypass the crap!😂🤣😂🤣

I really hope that since i see a growing consensus of people who are less car centric that there will be significant amount of supporters that push for other forms of mass transit outside of cars and planes. It’s been long enough that people can see through the lobbying and know that more lanes and more cars aren’t the way to go, especially in any city that was established before cars became widespread.

I am tired of the anti car crowd. Leave us alone.

@@penguinsfan251 what’s wrong with trains? Or buses? Proliferation of other forms of transit won’t mean gas stations on every corner close, it won’t mean you would have your car forcibly taken from you. It means other people have options to get from one place to another without having to drive. More than 90% of America has access to drive a car so you acting like there’s been a concerted effort to remove them in real life is just you being dramatic. There’s already an epidemic of terrible drivers on the road, would it not be a net positive for some of them to not have to drive and relieve the amount of traffic where trains for example could take some of the share?

Normally, I would be a person in support of train systems, but having had to ride a city bus once when I couldn't use my car, no thanks. Visiting New York City once, something I will never do again, and riding the mass transit system, no thanks. Then, there is the shamble the airline industry has turned into. I, for one, won't give up my car. My own car is and always will be my preferred mode of travel.

@@samhenriques4462 Mass transit only "works" in cities. Strange thing about this country, there's a LOT of it that isn't a city. Considering we have National Guard stationed in mass transit locations in some cases now, I'm not sure you can really say it even truly works in a city, anymore. Not to mention, there's something to be said for the freedom in knowing, if you don't like where you are, all you have to do is get in your car and leave. Not go wait for a bus, etc. That's even a reason I've preferred to drive myself rather than go with others in some cases. I have the freedom to leave and drive away whenever I wish, at a time of my choosing.

The NE had highways essentially tacked onto preexisting cities. That along with the dense area means streets everywhere are narrow, and jammed full of cars

farn equipment accommodating highwayz

same here in the midwest.

Born and raised in Texas, and have lived in the northeast as well and it’s true. Plenty of more wider roads in TX and higher speed limits even on the highway routes that go into the backroad with 1-2 lanes per direction. Northeast is almost like another country compared to it and speed limits are 65 maximum with the exception of Maine and New Hampshire.

@@JonasMatthewBahta new england suxx

Eisenhower never wanted the Interstates in the cities. The developers prevailed over the state governments and got them to build into the cities to allow sprawl into the suburbs. Robert Moses had already built the Cross-Bronx on which I-95 was overlaid.

As a Massachusetts resident, I expect construction to start about 2050 and finish in 2070.

That fast? Oh and when changing lanes, don’t forget to put on ya binkaz !

I-93 through Franconia Notch in New Hampshire is one lane in each direction with a couple of hiking trailheads/parking along the route.

VDOT has plans on widening a huge portion of I-81. Especially where it merges with I-64. I-81 has way too much truck traffic to be 2 lanes In 20 years, it should be 3 lanes statewide

Also consider: even IF the surface streets were blocked off and you just came down the ramps of the NKTPK exit 14 extension (or the “1&9” ramps) and your only choice was straight into the tube, you’d STILL be in gridlock! So what’s a traffic light or two at that point? Hop out of your car, and over the fence, and shop at the Newport Mall for a little while. Eat at the food court. Take in a movie! 🤣

That is fascinating!

How about Mexico?

That is an interesting section of I-81.

Sure would be nice if we could get that Ithaca to St Johns gap closed, but MDOT seems to have decided it’s not worth their time or money to do so and instead have been constructing Michigan lefts at all the cross streets. 16 miles of highway with at grade crossings and people still drive it like it’s a freeway. I’m astonished the crash rates aren’t through the roof.

I am fairly surprised by the amount of freeways that are in Michigan but yet MDOT haven't applied for an Interstate shield for so many of them. It's such a contrast to North Carolina, for example, where they just seem eager to make all kinds of Interstate freeways. Over here in Wisconsin, one that stands out to me is Wisconsin 441 that is a southern bypass of Appleton. After we got the I-41 designation and some of 441 rebuilt, I'm still surprised that WisDOT hasn't applied to make this I-441.

@@jaykebird2go I think there’s a few reasons why MDOT hasn’t petitioned for more blue shields. 1.) they don’t feel the need to/don’t see any benefit in having them signed as interstates. 2.) a lot of them are not to interstate standards (looking at you M-10 and M-39) , and 3.) the routes are incomplete (the aforementioned Ithaca-St Johns gap in US 127, the Grand Haven-Holland gap in US 31, the sections of US 131 north of Manton and south of Portage, M-59 and M-53, etc)

Thanks!

I live in Indianapolis and while I haven’t been on much of US 31, I have noticed how strange that is starting from the north side of Indy that it is basically built like an interstate. Now I’ve only driven from the I-465 interchange up to Westfield but I have noticed that as well in terms of how it’s built, definitely feels like an interstate to me more than a regular US highway

@@lakerskid2013 I haven't been in that area 6 or 7 years, but it's like that at least as far at 236th Street.

@@georgeadams1853 There’s only one time I’ve ever gone past 146th and that was the time I worked at Zerorez for a job assignment in Westfield which I didn’t even get started on that long before the water tank in the van acted up. I haven’t been out in that area in a couple years (mainly because I haven’t had a car since June 2022) but I know that SR 37 they’ve been making that somewhat like what US 31 is in the area.

Those intersections at Fishs Eddy and the other Eddys between exit 84 and 87 (Deposit to Hancock)

Lots of them in upstate NY around the NY Thruway.

I don’t have childhood memories of driving through Jacksonville to/from the big mouse trap between Orlando and Kissimmee. But I still recall driving through the construction 🚧 of 95 & 10 as an adult in 2002. In the dark. In the rain. Who my now-wife and I survived (or at least didn’t have an accident) I do not know. Too bad that Shoney’s at exit 360 is gone.

Haha yeah NYC is a goldmine of all types of violations and strange things when it comes to interstates.

I remember my grandparents lived in Imperial, MO, and I watched them build the route 21 bypass, which i thought was pretty neat!

I-70 between New Stanton and Washington was built before the Interstate system was established. It is being rebuilt.

I-70 in Topeka KS, the road goes from 3 lanes in each direction to 1 lane in Downtown. After passing downtown, it goes to 2 lanes each way Traffic is so light there anyways that it doesn’t cause traffic jams

Being an interstate before interstates means the PA Turnpike was the prototype for the rest. All of standards it does not live up to were written after it was built. As it is reconstructed to 6 lanes most of those issues are being fixed.