How many lanes does your widest highway have? (1 Viewer)

[Greg Haynes]

Living in Delaware our widest highway would be 4 lanes in each direction. So while I was sitting in traffic wishing we had more lanes I wondered how many lanes other states have?

So my silly question is how many lanes does your largest highway have?

Curious to see the results and to figure out why there is so much traffic.

 

[Jay H]

I think there is a section of the GSPin NJ down by Clark/Westfield that is 5 lanes but I hardly ever travel down there that way... And I'm not sure if it's both directions. Of course, it doens't last long and is due to just exits and on ramps...

Jay

 

[Nathan*W]

The James River bridge through Richmond, VA is 5 lanes in each direction.

And it's a parking lot during rush hour.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I-96 heading into/out of downtown Detroit has five lanes -- 3 express lanes (with only one exit for several miles) and two local lanes, which have lots of entrances/exits. I think I-75 around Pontiac/Auburn Hills is now five lanes, too.

 

[John Alvarez]

That's the one with tolls isn't it? on parts of I-95 we have 6 each way in Fl.

 

[Michael Varacin]

No matter how many lanes, it will never be enough.

As soon as they add more lanes, it makes it easier for people to commute...so more move further away. Then the extra lanes get crowded...they build more....it's easier to commute again, so people move even further away, and the cycle starts over.

Birth control is the only solution.

 

[Nathan*W]

I'm sorry, I had it wrong. The JRB IS on I-95 and is (now) free of tolls. It's a 6 lane (3 each way) bridge. Here's a pic of the JRB. No, the one I was talking about is the Powhite Bridge, which is 10-lane (5 each way) and is part of I-195 (Powhite Parkway), a spur out on the city to Southside that does feed into the cities main toll plaza.

 

[Jason GT]

Have any of you guys been to Southern California?

I've visited - and IIRC you'd have, in some areas, 6-7 (maybe even up to 10, if memory serves) lanes each way.

You also have gridlock at 11pm at night.

@#$%!

 

[Khoa Tran]

yup only in southern california you cut across 6-7 lanes just to get to an exit

 

[Todd Hochard]

I cannot stand Orange County traffic! Nice weather, absolutely RUINED by all the frickin' people.

IIRC, isn't the 285/75 intersection north of Atlanta about 8 lanes in each direction? I remember being stuck there a few years ago, at 3pm, while trying to get to a friend's place in Marietta.

Here in Orlando, 4 lanes in each direction is as big as it gets.

 

[Danny Tse]

I believe this is considered the world record for most lanes....

Interstate 80 as it approach the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge toll plaza. At least 23 lanes, if counting both directions. At least 6 lanes on the eastbound direction as it splits into 3 different freeways (Interstate 80, 580, and 880 - each having at least 4 lanes each direction).

Go here for live webcam.

 

[Adam.Heckman]

I have lived in So Cal... Orange county. To be exact, the 'southland'. Worked in Irvine, lived south of it.

At the widest (on the 5) I counted eight lanes in each direction. And during rush hour, it was SLOW. Here south of boston if we hit 5 in each it'd be a rarity. Mostly 3 or 4. And the traffic is far worse than So Cal.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

I don't recall seeing that many lanes in Atlanta. I'd guess 6 at the most, and that maximum isn't sustained for more than an exit or two. Often a new lane will appear from an entrance ramp, then become an exit only lane that disappears at the next exit. Sometimes two new lanes appear from an entrance ramp, then one goes away at the next exit, then another at the exit after that.

 

[Matt Stryker]

The widest point is just after the Windy Hill Rd exit peels off. At that point, I-75 has 7 lanes NB and 6 SB.

Check out the satellite picture here: (the over pass is Windy Hill Rd)

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/ima...37540&z=16&w=1

 

[Chris Lockwood]

We have one highway with 87 lanes in each direction, but 23 of those are reserved for single mothers driving hybrid cars.

 

[Philip_G]

I dunno, they keep changing them around

 

[Seth Paxton]

The thing is that some places can bump up to a max number of lanes for a little bit but the real figure is the average number of lanes in the metro area total.

So while Indy has some 5-7 lane areas, generally its a 3 lane per side kind of city. Compare that to Houston and LA where things like 5-6 lanes per side are the norm away from interchanges and such. Not to mention that in Houston even if you have a 3-4 lane area you ALWAYS have the feeder road too with another 3 lanes per side.

Unlike any city I've been too, basically all of Houston's interstate system has parallel/adjoining feeder roads that are basically still the highway but sitting 20 feet lower and catching all the stoplights. For that reason it seems like most places in town actually have interstate addresses rather than street addresses - ie 14555 I-290 ir 2343 E. I-610. To get there you take the interstate till you are at the closest feeder ramp exit and then drive on the feeder road the rest of the way. This also makes exclusive U-Turn lanes very common (basically every interstate "street intersection"), though I've seen them occassionally in places like LA or FLA.

 

[MikeSerrano]

My widest highway only has one lane.

But it's REALLY wide.

-Mike