What is the busiest freeway in your city/state?

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by unusualfire

^ I don't know what's up with PA's department of transportation. The entire state has narrow highways.

That's not necessarily true. There are only four "problem" Interstate segments in Pennsylvania: I-70 south of Pittsburgh, I-76 in Philadelphia, I-83 in Harrisburg, and I-376 in Pittsburgh.

Here's an image of I-70 in Washington County:




Along this segment south of Pittsburgh, there are no 4' interior shoulders between the inner lanes and the median barrier, and the lengths of the on- and off-ramps at most interchanges are substandard as well. This segment of Interstate is currently being rebuilt. The first order of business is rebuilding all over- and underpasses. The next is rebuilding all interchanges, including thorough redesigns of most of them. The last is rebuilding the mainline from the ground up, and widening it to include proper interior shoulders on both sides.

Otherwise, most of Pennsylvania's highways aren't all that narrow. Here's the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76) in Lawrence County:




Here's the Turnpike in Westmoreland County:




Here's I-79 in Allegheny County:




Here's I-79 in Butler County:




It should also be noted that non-Interstate highways do not have to be built to Interstate standards, even if they're upgraded to limited-access highways. Examples of limited-access highways that are not built entirely to Interstate standards are U.S. 22 in Allentown/Bethlehem, PA 28 in Pittsburgh, and PA 581 in Harrisburg.

The Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike is an unusual case. It was initially signed as PA 9, so it did not have to be built entirely to Interstate standards initially. The on- and off-ramp lengths were more than adequate, but like I-70 near Pittsburgh, there were no proper interior shoulders built. Over the next 10 years, the Northeast Extension will be rebuilt and widened between Philadelphia and Allentown.

[Metro Matt]

The busiest in my state?

Hmm...that's an easy one.

I-35 South from Denton to San Antonio.

[MB8abovetherim]

The San Diego Frwy aka The Four-Oh-Five. During rush hour it tops out at 490k AADT and is usually around 390-400k AADT normally. Not to mention the 8, that's right EIGHT other freeways in Los Angeles that exceed 300k AADT. Let's throw in the 14,000,000 registerd vehicles in Greater Los Angeles as well, can't leave all of them out. And people in Houston complain about traffic PUH-LEEEEEEEEEEZ.

[Neworleansisprettygood]

Originally Posted by MrSykes

Here in Houston, it would have to be US 59. I think it averages like upwards of 350K cars a day. I dare say it's the busiest in the entire state. Accidents abound. And rush hour? Forget about it.

I did a study on Houston Freeways in 2001 or early 2002- at the time, 59 at 610 (SW) carried 370k per day. Probably quite a bit more now. The busiest freeway I could find at the time was in Toronto, with 390k per day- 59 was 2nd.

Here in New Orleans, I-10 coming from the west carried 180k in the mid-90s. They designed an upgrade to its interchange with 610 that would boost the official capacity to 200k- although they were projecting that it would be carrying 220k by the time the upgrade was complete. They started working on it when I was 16 or so and are STILL working off the original plans for upgrading the Jefferson Parish portion of I-10, 13 years later.

[fusion2]

I think the 401 in Toronto still has the busiest stretch in North America


Google Earth- The Busiest Highway In North America - YouTube

[KayneMo]

The busiest in Oklahoma City is I-44, between 1-40 and Lake Hefner Pkwy, with about 150,000 cars per day. It's also the busiest in Oklahoma.

[Neworleansisprettygood]

Originally Posted by fusion2

I think the 401 in Toronto still has the busiest stretch in North America


Google Earth- The Busiest Highway In North America - YouTube

That video shows a maximum width of 24 lanes- I think the Katy redesign in Houston originally called for 24 lanes. Not sure how many they ended up with.

At this point:http://goo.gl/maps/aoYdt

there are 29 lanes of traffic. Yeah, it's at a toll plaza, but still, that's a lot of real estate taken up by highway.