Texas has big access roads on almost every mile of highway, and it’s glorious. If there’s one thing Texas does right, it’s highway infrastructure. Except for its obsession with tolls.
Hard disagree there. Driving on the interstate south of San Antonio, there are these overpasses that are, inexplicably, on the highway itself. These are artificial hills that are steep enough at highway speeds, that your visibility is made shorter than your stopping distance. You can’t see past the top until you’re there, and they completely obscure the entire highway on the other side because it’s so straight. Obstructions, stopped vehicles, pile ups, anything could be on the other side and you wouldn’t know. Anyone on cruise control or driving a semi has their trip peppered with these possibly lethal moments at regular intervals.
Everywhere else I’ve been in the lower 48, (slower) local roads pass over freeways, because it literally takes less dirt to make that safe.
I’ve never seen a highway with a hill so steep that your visibility is less than stopping distance. There’s an exception to every rule, but I’d wager that it is at most exceedingly rare. It’s definitely not regular.
Texas has u-turns at basically every highway intersection, with exceptions like this photo. The u-turns bypass the stop sign/lights so that it’s just a yield. I’m not sure if any other states do that at the same frequency. With that design, it’s probably easier to just raise the highway since it’s a straight road rather than raise an intersection. I’m sure it also depends on which road was there first.
The huge access roads also typically stop at intersections, unlike in this photo. In order to support that and have the smaller road use an overpass, the access roads would either need to be built much further away from the highway or curve out and in at every intersection in order to reduce the grade of the overpass’s slope. The overpass would need to be longer too since it’s crossing more lanes.
If the smaller road goes over the highway, it’s pretty common that the highway actually goes down so that the smaller road needs to be raised less.
I’m sure there are plenty of other positives and negatives, but I’m not a structural engineer. I’m just pointing out that it’s not an arbitrary decision and it comes with some benefits like robust access roads and u-turns.
Are you being serious? I can’t tell because you didn’t provide any clue what the benefit is. It looks pretty god damned stupid, so good luck dispelling that impression.
That only explains half of the WTF going on here. Why is there a freeway in the freeway?
Texas has big access roads on almost every mile of highway, and it’s glorious. If there’s one thing Texas does right, it’s highway infrastructure. Except for its obsession with tolls.
Hard disagree there. Driving on the interstate south of San Antonio, there are these overpasses that are, inexplicably, on the highway itself. These are artificial hills that are steep enough at highway speeds, that your visibility is made shorter than your stopping distance. You can’t see past the top until you’re there, and they completely obscure the entire highway on the other side because it’s so straight. Obstructions, stopped vehicles, pile ups, anything could be on the other side and you wouldn’t know. Anyone on cruise control or driving a semi has their trip peppered with these possibly lethal moments at regular intervals.
Everywhere else I’ve been in the lower 48, (slower) local roads pass over freeways, because it literally takes less dirt to make that safe.
I’ve never seen a highway with a hill so steep that your visibility is less than stopping distance. There’s an exception to every rule, but I’d wager that it is at most exceedingly rare. It’s definitely not regular.
Texas has u-turns at basically every highway intersection, with exceptions like this photo. The u-turns bypass the stop sign/lights so that it’s just a yield. I’m not sure if any other states do that at the same frequency. With that design, it’s probably easier to just raise the highway since it’s a straight road rather than raise an intersection. I’m sure it also depends on which road was there first.
The huge access roads also typically stop at intersections, unlike in this photo. In order to support that and have the smaller road use an overpass, the access roads would either need to be built much further away from the highway or curve out and in at every intersection in order to reduce the grade of the overpass’s slope. The overpass would need to be longer too since it’s crossing more lanes.
If the smaller road goes over the highway, it’s pretty common that the highway actually goes down so that the smaller road needs to be raised less.
I’m sure there are plenty of other positives and negatives, but I’m not a structural engineer. I’m just pointing out that it’s not an arbitrary decision and it comes with some benefits like robust access roads and u-turns.
Are you being serious? I can’t tell because you didn’t provide any clue what the benefit is. It looks pretty god damned stupid, so good luck dispelling that impression.
To fix traffic
Just one more lane and we’ll fix traffic forever, promise!
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