Complex Highway Interchanges
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Like every good geek, I have used Google Maps. Yet for some reason I never thought of using the satellite capabilities to look at some of the more complex highway interchanges sometimes referred to as spaghetti junctions. The digg thread linked below and the Wikipedia entry have some choice interchanges that I decided to find on Google Maps. Here they are: The Mixing Bowl in Springfield, VA just south of Washington, DC where I-95, I-395, and I-495 merge; Tom Moreland Interchange in Atlanta, GA where I-285 and I-85 merge (pictured to the left); Downtown Connector also in Atlanta, GA where I-75, I-85, and I-20 merge; the I-35W and I-94 interchange in Minneapolis, MN; the I-35E and I-94 interchange in St. Paul, MN; the Circle Interchange where I-55 and I90/I-94 meet in Chicago, IL; and at least the most visually entertaining the I-105 and I-110 interchange in Los Angeles, CA. |
These complicated interchanges aren’t limited to the US: the Highway 400/401 Interchange in Toronto, Canada; Gravely Hill Interchange which is the intersection of of the M6 motorway, A38(M) motorway A38 road and A5127 road in Birmingham, England; the N2/N3 Spaghetti Junction in Durban, South Africa; the Central Motorway Junction which is the intersection of New Zealand State Highways 1 and 16 in Auckland, and the Kreuz Kaiserberg which is the intersection of A 3 and A 40 of the German Autobahnen near Duisburg, Germany.
These are just a few of the many examples of extremely complex highway interchanges. If I weren’t so lazy, I’d setup a gallery or something. I am pretty sure I could easily lose a few days worth of time with Google Maps and finding more.
digg Referer
SkyScraperCity Forums – Worlds largest freeway interchange
Link
I have a couple more. They are not complicated at all, rather nice and symmetric. The noteworthy thing about them is that they defy common sense about junction design, have an unusually high accident rate, and for that reason are being overhauled. If you like them, save a screenshot, because future versions of google maps will not have them anymore.
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=39.351141,-76.496730&z=16
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=50.9998,5.223&z=16
Comment by Jabberwock — January 21, 2009 @ 8:08 pm
The Infrastructurist has two installments of “A Field Guide To Freeway Interchanges” Part 1 and Part 2 (boing-boing Referer)
Comment by roclar — May 19, 2009 @ 9:46 am