Top 10 GINORMOUS Freeway Interchanges in the US -- and what you could fit into the same space!
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- Опубликовано: 14 май 2024
- This week we go looking for the BIGGEST freeway interchanges in the United States, take the measure of the top ten, and speculate on what we could fit into the same acreage.
From time to time, we see tweets and blog posts that compare the size of U.S. interchanges to the historical centers of great European cities. But is the way these tweeters and bloggers measure the size of interchanges reasonable, and is medieval-era Europe the most appropriate place to go looking for a land use comparison? This video creator says NO!
(Which isn't to say these tweets, articles, and blog posts aren't worth a read -- of course they are!)
- Steve Mouzon's (really enjoyable!) post on his blog, Original Green, which is sort of the grand-daddy of this genre of post: originalgreen.org/blog/2012/c...
- Congress for the New Urbanism's Public Square Blog, "Fitting Florence into an Atlanta Interchange" by Robert Steuteville: www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2020...
- Curbed Atlanta, "Can Florence, Italy Fit Inside One Atlanta Interchange?" by Josh Green: atlanta.curbed.com/2014/6/16/...
- Texas Monthly, "Yes, This Interchange in Houston Is the Same Size as an Entire City Center in Italy" by Dan Solomon: www.texasmonthly.com/news-pol...
Interchanges explored here include the following cities and comparable land uses:
- Atlanta (Florence, Italy)
- Los Angeles / Inland Empire (Disneyland)
- Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex (Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers Stadiums)
- Washington, DC (The National Mall)
- Indianapolis (the Motor Speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500)
- Denver (Denver International Airport)
- Salt Lake City (Temple Square and surroundings)
- Kansas City (Arrowhead Stadium and Kaufman Stadium)
- Fort Lauderdale (Venice, Italy)
- Wilmington / New Castle (Joseph R. Biden Amtrak Station)
- Detroit (The Big House - Michigan Stadium)
And a link to the Top 10 Airport/Transit Connections video: • North America's Best A... 
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Very nice! I was also never quite happy with the Atlanta interchange vs Florence example, and wanted to find a more suitable comparison. You saved me a lot of time researching terrible interchanges. Thanks! 😂
Ha, I saved you time AND mental health! Trust me! Thanks for the comment, love your channel.
It always seemed disingenuous that the comparison was the historic center of Florence to a suburban interstate (not even in the city of Atlanta). Meanwhile there’s a giant toll road interchange just outside Florence.
Not Just Bikes not happy with something. Mind blown.
@@CityNerd Isn't the UAE just like the US, but just fueled solely by fossil fuels, and not just in part?
@@andraspalanki6173 No, UAE is far worse than US, atleast you can live in your city in US, trust me, I have traveled to both US and UAE , US is 10 times better than UAE
Growing up in South Florida, I always was in awe of the engineering marvel of our extensive highway systems that enabled so many residents to live in the region.
Now I realize that a double rail line and a high density mixed use corridor would've served nearly a factor of 5 more residents with even cleaner skies and more amenities.
Thanks guys
My frst job was on a surveying team designing an interchange on the east side of Denver designing the I-25/ I-225 exchange. Laying that out day by day gave me a respect for size, and when it was done driving through it gave me a sense of the pace of our society.
BTW working for the state was a dream job, but it wasn't for me. Coffee break every morning at 09:00. Even one day we had to drive out 90 miles North of Denver to make sure a sign would be updated. We left early, got to the sign, then my dynamic partner looked at his watch, jumped in the vehicle and we drove back those same 90 miles to have coffee with the gang.
Ah, the memories.
Isnt that exchange inside / close to the national wildlife refuge/former weapons manufacturing plant? So most other uses are out of the question?
I don’t see why they don’t just hire contractors who live in different locations so they can just do jobs close to their house.
@@hirshkabaria8329 I25 and 225 are certainly not on any sort of protected land. I suppose it's fairly close to a state park but it's surrounded on every side by office parks, residential neighborhoods, and commercial uses like shopping. It is also imo the most garbage interchange in the Denver area, backed up at any time of day on the 225 side and frequently backs up 25 for a mile or more in either direction.
I love how he just destroys Arsenal for no reason at all😂
Just violence for no reason
"This is the Acela corridor and this is the land management going on..."
Exactly!
Acela is mostly a ground level airline service. The seats are all business class and priced accordingly. Do you know anyone willing to pay hundreds of dollars to save an hour or so on a round trip? The trains are relatively short and infrequent too. Delaware and such places are just flyover country as far as Acela passengers are concerned. We can entertain ourselves with comparisons and plans and observations until the cows come home, this country will never change for the better. But change is coming, and we collectively would rather deny it than plan around it. I do admire your unabashed sense of resignation in your voice. A welcome and honest contrast to some of those peppy urbanist/futurist videos going on about sustaining the unsustainable through inclusive innovation and partnerships. Words I hope to never hear on this channel.
@@trainluvr half of your reply makes no sense since I wasn't commenting about Acela, but land use. The other half ought to be a separate comment to the video creator. Also, let the futurists dream.
@@williambruan7319 You're right, one gets carried away easily when that reply box is open. And I didnt mean to pass judgement on your comment or sentiment.
@@trainluvr People need to stop talking about the Acela in isolation. Acela is just the express service on the NEC (hence the name Acela Express) and only has business/first class service. The local version is the Northeast Regional (previously named Acela Regional) which has much more ridership, has coach, and is only slightly slower than the Acela. The Regional train is the actual backbone of the NEC, the Acela just compliments it. Most people ride the Regional which has at least hourly departures, the Acela is for business travelers who is willing to shell out more money because time is money to them. The fact that it's business class only makes it obvious who the customer base is.
Also, ALL HSR services competes directly with airlines. This is true in both Europe and Japan.
As a University of Michigan student who routinely has to use that I-96/I-275 interchange to get to work, I always felt like that interchange was a total abomination, and am not at all surprised to see it at number 1! I truly despise that collection of roads and am glad to be moving soon as to never have to deal with that again! Love the video, and appreciate you taking the time to create them!
Haha! TBH the outer burbs of Detroit are one sprawling nightmare in general.
Out of curiosity I measured the motorway junctions in Ireland, and found the biggest urban junction was the Blanchardstown junction between the N3 and the M50 at 68.5 acres, and the biggest rural junction was the Athenry Junction between the M6 and the M18 at 85.2 acres
You could fit the entire temple bar area of dublim inside of the Blanchardstown junction twice, and you could fit the entire city centre of Galway into the Athenry Junction
Interesting. I always thought Blanchardstown was very big but it does have a canal and rail line going through it too, and one river I think. Athenry junction is obnoxiously big in my opinion for the relatively little traffic that passes through it imo. Thanks for the Irish comparison.
I measured the Athenry Junction at about 120 acres, counting all the empty land to the sides of the road surface to the hedges by the farms and whatnot.
The Kinnegad Interchange (M4/M6) is massive in area - it's 1.7 miles long (2.7 km) between the furthermost gores (where the pavements split).
As a European who has only spent 8 days total in the States I am shocked to have been on the biggest interchange in America.
It did seem massive in real life tbh.
You had just eight days there, and spent at least part of it in Detroit?
@@VideoDotGoogleDotCom spent ALL of it in Detroit
@@davidstoykov Well, that's rare.
@@davidstoykov Bro that's funnier than Europeans whose first bucket list item coming to the US is to immediate go to Walmart. Lmao
@@richpryor9650 If you want to get a glimpse of the culture, you have to see how people shop.
The reason the I-96/275/696/Michigan 5 interchange is so large is because it was built in piecemeal fashion
I 96 was supposed to follow the general route of US 16 into downtown Detroit, and the southern portion of M5 was the original portion of freeway...A freeway revolt changed the routing of I 96 from that corridor to the concurrency with I 275...I 696 to the east was the 2nd part, then I 275/96 was built in the mid 1970's
The M5 northern portion was built in the early 1990's and was supposed to be the beginning of an I 275 extension back to I 75 in NW Oakland County...Another freeway revolt canceled that plan
Thank you for writing this so I didn’t have to!
Some more facts about the I-95/495 interchange in Maryland-- It's a great example of how freeway revolts helped prevent more of these interchanges destroying cities, as you can clearly see that I-95 was meant to go further south into Washington DC. The revolts resulted in that project being cancelled and replaced with a pretty nice metro system that can take you the rest of the way into the city :)
And I-95 is the only highway going through the Northeast Corridor, so it's bound to be quite large as the only other way between Baltimore and DC is a four lane parkway.
Too bad no tunnel was built..thus interstate traffic could flow through vs being dumped on beltway . . Same issue Baltimore and I 70 and 83.
I-66 I believe was intended similarly, and while it does run into the district, protests from Arlington and others restricted it's size to two lanes.
There are 4 highways that run between Baltimore and Washington DC. Dating back to before the turn of the 20th Century there was US Rt 1. In 1951 the Baltimore Washington Parkway opened, and was the first limited access highway between the two cities. In the early 1970s, I -95 added 8 lanes of additional limited access highway, and took heavy truck traffic off of US 1 (The BW Parkway was closed to heavy trucks below MD 175). US Route 29 has been more or less continually upgraded to the point that it is a 6 to 8 lane limited access highway between I-70 about 10 miles West of Baltimore down to MD Rt 200. South of that it becomes a wide boulevard and eventually turns into Colesville Road when it has an interchange with I-495. There is also a the main North-South rail corridor that carries freight, Amtrak, and MARC trains running between the cities. To get through traffic off of the badly congested highways, there has been talk of building either an eastern or western bypass since at least the 1980s, and probably even before, but it is still a pipe dream.
I have memories of my mother yelling Beltway at that interchange to get my sister and me to be quiet. She hated that interchange. Now I know why. Thank you for clearing up a family mystery.
While I’m not bashing your post, the 100k people that bitched and moaned about it has caused headaches for millions upon millions that have to drive THROUGH the city (or in this case around it) to get either north or south. Most vacationers and truck drivers can’t just jump on a metro and say “I’m here!” Interstates, by design, were meant to keep traffic MOVING. The 95/495 interchanges in both MD and VA have let people who moved into a well known traffic corridor screw those who have no other choice but to drive through it. I avoid it like the plague.
I’m from Kansas City, and we call the interchange “The Triangle”. It’s known for terrible traffic!
I’m late as hell, but I’m a truck driver and I see that interchange very often. That thing may suck relative to you all who live there, but let me tell you if you were to find yourself on a similar interchange elsewhere, you’d become a Christian (if you’re not already) and thank God that you live in Kansas City and have to use this one and not the one you found yourself on. KC has the best flowing traffic of any metro its size in my truck driving opinion, with Saint Louis being a very close second.
The largest interchange by me that I can think of is the junction of I-90, I-190, and I-294 near Chicago just outside of O'Hare Airport. A rudimentary measurement places it at around 318 acres, but it could be even larger depending on where you put the eastern bounds of it, since the actual exit from WB I-90 to I-190 and SB I-294 happens east of Cumberland Road. I used boundaries of East River Rd and Higgins/Devon Rds for I-90, Devon Rd and Balmoral Ave for I-294, and the rail viaduct east of Mannheim Rd for I-190. Interesting list though, and thanks for doing the leg work on this.
yup it is massive. there's room for a couple forests in that interchange!
LA has some of the busiest interchanges on the planet but not the "biggest" which is this list... due to density LA interchanges are rather small which makes them incredibly congested and daunting, you have 12 lanes of traffic sometimes squeezing all over and sometimes you have to make your way from lane #8 to lane #1 in a span of a few hundred feet.
That’s the worst. South california would be so much farther in the future if public transport, bike, and walking were the dominant modes of movement.
So many highly productive people wasting 2-4 hours commuting everyday.
@@DengueBurger But that's not really going to happen. Practically everything about the infrastructure would have to be rebuilt. There isn't enough money. and you'd have to use fossil fuel equipment to build it all.
All that and people are leaving anyway.
Maybe in a century or two. no time soon. And it's a desert, without airconditioned buildings and vehicles with a/c, not so many people are going to want to live there. And until the homeless problem can be solved, public transport is not desirable.
@@peterbelanger4094 have you considered that a massive public works project would reduce poverty and homelessness die to how many people would have to be hired? Also just like densify
@@peterbelanger4094 "public transport is not desirable." You're describing why it would be. Car culture is not just a drain on the economy but its a national security threat. It's a net positive to transition.
Sounds like Houston LOL.. no wonder my roommate (who's from LA) compares the city to Houston (it's traffic system, anway). I'm from Houston and while I love the lone star state, it will never live up to CityNerd's dreams
“Nove-eye”. When I lived in Michigan, I was told that the town was a stage coach stop between Detroit and Lansing - stop No. VI! Great video! Thank you!
Number 6? Love it.
Novi was organized as a township in 1832, on land taken from Farmington Township. The name Novi was offered by resident Dr. J. C. Emery, at the suggestion of his wife. Residents were reportedly looking for a shorter name than Farmington.[6]
A local account has said that it was named after the 6th toll gate (No. VI) on the Grand River Road. But the township was named in 1832 and the toll road was not constructed until the 1850s. Another account said that it was the sixth stagecoach stop outside Detroit. Similarly, the township was said to be stop six (or VI) on the railroad, but the Holly, Wayne & Monroe Railway (now CSX Transportation) was not constructed through the township until 1870-71, almost 40 years after the organization and naming of the township.
@@CityNerd Really cool to see this one represented, it's one I've studied extensively. It was never intended to be so large but it just worked out that way. It was built over a period of 30 years from 1964 to 1994. I always thought a massive roundabout (with like a 1-mile diameter) might actually work there if it was ever reimagined. As it is, it was reconstructed in place using existing bridge structures in 2016 (of which there are 16). Five major paths meet here with 2 of the routes changing cardinal directions and about half a million vehicles travel through it daily.
The first freeway came in 1957 (I-96) and then it got a spur branching off from that location in 1964 (I-696, not sure why it was numbered as a loop). Then I-275 came in 1977 and, due to protests, instead of continuing east down present M-5 into Detroit, I-96 was rerouted down the new I-275. This interchange had to be expanded and modified to accommodate changing the cardinal direction of the mainline (and the higher design speeds and radii for such) and was designed to accommodate I-275 extending north but protests initially ended that in the '80s. It would have met up with I-75 just south of Flint near Davison. Basically everybody in Metro Detroit going to Flint or further north would have used it. Today they mostly use US-23 (grossly inadequate and antiquated) or backtrack to I-75.
There were numerous ghost bridges and ramps between 1977 and 1994, when the first phase of the north I-275 extension was finally built and opened as M-5. People then revolted again and future phases of that were scaled back to a boulevard. The development those people feared the freeway would bring ended up coming anyway and now it's a traffic nightmare and has been for 30 years. A lot of that ROW was sold off to build the very subdivisions that contributed to it. The unfinished I-275 is truly a massive gap in the regional system that completely overwhelms the local roads and nearby other highways that weren't designed or intended to deal with that.
@@craigjensen6853 The protests really screwed up what we have today. The average person is not a city planner, and there’s a negative mindset that construction and more complex infrastructure is bad.
The incompletion of I-275 is absolutely a major problem, and the overflow impacts even high-volume interstates. I-96 wouldn’t be widening between 275 and US-23 if 275 had been completed.
Also, the fact that I-96 was rerouted is also an annoyance. The best route to downtown is fairly direct via I-696 (I also can’t stand that it’s evenly numbered) and M-10, but too many route changes for such a popular connection.
P.s.
On the topic of 96’s spurs, screw the idiot that decided to switch the designations of I-96 and I-196. It’s completely counterintuitive as I-196 gets more traffic and routes through downtown Grand Rapids.
Another big Texas interchange, in a far more crowded area would be the US75 Central Expressway and 635 Fwy. The High Five Interchange as it is called, has ramps that take cars and trucks upward of seven stories before plunging down to the intersecting freeway. This is scary enough to experienced drivers, but can be absolutely terrifying in icy conditions.
I drove on it for the first time the other night and it was very Jarring being that high up
The High Five is reputed to be the tallest freeway interchange in the world when measured from its lowest roadbed to the top.
Interesting video. Indianapolis Motor Speedway wasn't originally built in an urban area. The track was opened in 1909, was farmland prior to Indianapolis rapid growth later in the century.
The track is actually in a town called Speedway, an enclave of Indianapolis. It's a great facility and is on the register of national historic places.
There's a lot of love for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in these comments. Not unexpected! I'm just not sure if you had it all to do over again you'd site something that size so close in to the city. But, I dunno, I guess I wouldn't make the same criticism of Churchill Downs.
@@CityNerd I understand the thought behind having a complex that large in an urban area. When the Speedway was built, it was all farmland. The City of Indianapolis had not even come close to the track at that point.
Thank you for your response, it shows you care about your viewers.
@@CityNerd the city kind of started to build around the speedway, Indianapolis just decided to consume it as part of its metroplex
I'm in a town that just hit 100,000. We have a little baseball stadium that was built in the 40s or 50s and when they chose the site, people wondered why they were building it so far out of town. Now it's closer to the center of town than the edge of town.
@@CityNerd I mean, if it was a warehouse or something, sure, but the speedway is the entire identity of Indy on a global stage. Indy isn't very dense either so it's not like it's interfering with affordable housing or something. Besides, what would you do? Tear it down and rebuild it 20 miles further out every 100 years?
I lived in Farmington Hills near that interchange in 2016 and 2017 and I didn't realize it was that massive, but it was a bit difficult to navigate in the beginning for sure. Used it every day to get to work and other places.
That thing was supposed to be the junction of five major freeways! (I-96 West, I-96 East Grand River Avenue Frwy, I-275 South, I-275 North, and I-696 East) Only three got fully built. I remember reading about it as a preteen in White Lake MI.
I kind of forgot about that interchange. I was thinking about 696/Lodge/Telegraph, but I guess that one is more long than big area-wise.
I do not live in the area, but I have had to go through there a number of times. My first time through, I needed to get onto I-696 eastbound. I didn't realize how difficult it would be to get into the far right two lanes and ended up going west on I-96 instead.
I so very much wish that I-275 north would have been built. That would have saved me so much driving a number of times.
The Kansas Turnpike was opened in 1956. It had no speed limit speed limit at first. Later set to 80mph. Long ago (1967) as a student at Kansas State in Manhattan, I drove the Topeks to KC leg at an average over 100. Luckily they didn't check speeds based on time stamps on the tickets.
Nice video! As a Utahn I had a feeling SLC would make the list. We have an obscene amount of space dedicated to freeways for a relatively small city. The I-15/I-80/Hwy 201 spaghetti bowl, the I-15/I-80/downtown connector, I-215/I-80, and the airport interchange combined take up more space than the entirety of downtown. I drove for lyft in SLC for a while and I feel like the stress took a few years off my life.
It's bad. And SLC has such a great transit system for a city that size, too!
While having hov lines through everything sometimes with their own exits
Locals are already complaining about traffic and are calling for double decker highways to be constructed lol. The fact that we have a decent transit system considering the political makeup of our legislature is nothing short of a miracle
What are you talking about? Utah is literally nothing BUT empty space.
its not just empty space… I live in SLC, and the city itself is encompassed by mountains. There is more than just empty space..
Your videos are stellar and totally feed my planner’s ever churning (trivia filled) mind. Thank you
The I-95/495/395 interchange in Springfield, VA might not be big enough to get on this list, buts its truly awful. I count 27 lanes across at one point. All the express lane ramps and the Franconia Rd interchange combo is just ridiculous.
I drive it all the time. Truly a clusterfuck. People have no idea what to do when entering from any direction. I’d also say the I-95/I-295/MD-210/National harbor/Wilson Bridge is a mess as well
You should have seen it in the early 60s before it was rebuilt before it was rebuilt before it was rebuilt before it was rebuilt before it was rebuilt once again. Looking back, it ALMOST seems like building our way out of highway congestion is simply not possible. Almost... ;-)
I’d say the population around the DC area has grown tenfold in that time as well which doesn’t help the situation
I would argue that this interchange includes a lot more than what you might initially think. Both the 95/495/395 and OKM/Franconia interchanges function as one, plus huge approach lanes that start over a mile back on the beltway and multiple dedicated ramps to local streets like Commerce and Loisdale.
While it's pretty compact for all the ramps it has, it's definitely top 10 territory.
Can confirm, 27 lanes. What have we done. It's over 250 acres.
When I first started watching this the first interchange I thought was interchange in novi michigan. It truly is massive. Then ended up being number one. Lol Nice video!
You should give space to the 1st freeway interchange: The four level which is at the junction of US101 and CA110 (Pasadena Freeway). Not using lots of land was an objective. It was made to look good. As a result it causes traffic jams. In the 1960s they sold post cards with an aerial view as we were proud of it then. There is an evolution in interchange design.
I'm not a fan of freeways in general, but the historical infrastructure in the LA area is super interesting, and nowhere anywhere near the ballpark of modern engineering standards (for better or worse). You could never, ever, ever build the Arroyo Seco Parkway today!
It's a stack interchange with the 101 freeway on the top level. That gives people spectacular views of the city coming in from the northwest. And imagine the impossible traffic if it were a cloverleaf instead! (I-93 and I-95/Rt. 128 "Malfunction Junction" in Woburn/Reading/Stoneham Mass.)
@@CityNerd Getting on or off the Arroyo Seco Pkwy portion of 110 can be downright scary. Haven't been on it in years, but recall the on/ off ramps to be very tight turns that required abrupt acceleration/ deceleration.
Thanks for the video! I always enjoy them.
When I was in GIS and drawing maps all day. The intersections were my favorite part, I used to fight off other coworkers so I could draw that one specific intersection. You have earned yourself a subscriber! I love the heavy analysis too and criticism of other top ten lists what try to fudge in their numbers with that geographer voodoo we know how to exploit. Topped off with a healthy cynicism and a slightly askew picture in the shot. Thank you! Thank you! and grats on the pronunciation of Novi MI. No'V'aye
As a Cincinnatian Arsenal fan, that comment had me ROLLING especially since you were talking about my Alma Maters arch rival, TTUN 😂
One interchange that didn't make the list, but that I just love to talk about is the turbine interchange in Jacksonville between I-295 and J Turner Butler Blvd. It's relatively compact, but it's striking to look at from a birds eye view.
Yes! The palm trees & lakes aesthetic on that interchange is absolutely beautiful. Just make sure you don't rear-end the car in front of you!
I’m a bit surprised by the lack of the I-294/I-90/I-190/River Rd interchange just outside of Chicago. You could also include the I-190/Mannheim Rd interchange because they’re right next to each other and if you’re going from 294 or 90 to Mannheim, you’re only on 190 for about 10 seconds
Another one that isn’t really that huge but sticks out in my mind due to 2 absurdly long ramps is the I-294/I-55 interchange. The 55N to 294N ramp has to be at least a mile long and the 294S to 55S ramp isn’t that much shorter
I love your channel! Please 🙏 please keep going. I love very personal style.
I like the symmetrical cloverleaf designs with multi levels. they should incorporate a ring that allows you to go back and enter any path over and over until you have experienced the whole layout to fully appreciate the scale
That's great.
That is one of silliest ideas I've ever heard.
I like it! 😆😂
Thanks man I love ur vids!
I loved the way you said "...so I did" about measuring a bunch of intersections. Dedication felt.
Whatever it takes
As a Milwaukeean, I’ve got to “shout out” the Marquette interchange. We lost a lot of great urbanism when it was built, and in exchange it now efficiently funnels suburbanites into and out of the city during work hours. Definitely a big lose-lose for us
Regarding Dallas/Fort Worth: Depending on how you count it, the largest interchange in the area is probably the DFW North interchange. The entire complex is a sequence of four different freeway interchanges all involving State Highway 121: from west to east, you have SH 360, SH 114, SH 114 + SH 91 (International Parkway), and I-635. I would certainly count the last two together - the connector ramps are continuous - but linking all four together is more questionable.
If you count I-635, SH 121, SH 114, and SH 91 as a single interchange, I measured around 375.5 acres, which would give us a proper Texas-sized entry. Using the most generous definition I could think of (all of the above interchanges plus SH 114/SH 26), I got around 780 acres.
I should also mention the interchanges on the south side of DFW Airport between SH 360, SH 183, and SH 91 (International Parkway). These also have some direct connectivity, and the total complex measures around 350 acres.
Also the junction of I-30, I-35, US 287, and 183 at downtown FW. Might not hit this list, but its central position in an urban area and the fact there is an island of land in the middle that is now uninhabited is telling.
@@j0nm055 Good point. Although it isn't one chunk of ramps right on top of each other, all three axes (35W, 30, and 287 + downtown connector) are integral - and they're certainly designed to feel like a single continuous interchange when you're driving. If the charter school and project housing weren't in that little triangle, I'd include that area in the interchange's size without hesitation. I wonder what its size would be minus that area... I might have a look at that.
Great to know the biggest interchange in the US is one I used to use all the time to get to work!! A lot of highway concurrences and changed routing caused that mess, but having lived in and around Ann Arbor most of my life, that change caused a lot of confusion when trying to go up towards Northern Detroit. When I was younger, we used to just say the entire city of Ann Arbor could fit in its stadium but we didn't realize just how big it was, especially after the remodel.
Also yes, it's pronounced Nov-"ai" (with a long I).
Came for the content, stayed for the dry humor and sarcasm. Subscribed.
Even when measuring as conservatively as possible, the nj turnpike/parkway/287/440/9/35/industrial highway/Smith Street/driscoll Bridge interchange definitely makes this list.
It doesn't feel "as conservative as possible" to consider those the same interchange, after all CityNerd actually ignored the 215-to-Bangerter ramp because the satellite imagery made it look like it didn't exist.
As a Delawarean I am sad to see Wilmington on the list. As the second smallest state, we still managed to squeeze a massive interchange in :o
I'm betting it's also the oldest on that list. That thing was built in the early 60s. 495 was tacked on in the late 70s but that doesn't add much to it.
The worst part is that, that interchange is always under construction too.
My thought too. I lived in Newark as a kid. As I posted above I also lived close to the monstrosity in Colorado.
Thoroughly enjoyed your presentation of these monstrosities.
Novi is pronounced nov-eye. Used to live 5 minutes from that interchange. It's huge. I also worked at the dealership right off the exit there. Sellers buick GMC
I thought you were going to do the TALLEST interchanges. Dallas Hi-5 would definitely be on that list.
Tbh all of Downtown Dallas is basically one large interchange. Just a ridiculous web of highway exits at this point. If we went by tallest I bet 2 or 3 of the top 5 would be in Dallas
Same I fully expected like three of these to be Dallas area
@@jordand8522 mehh, Just the south part, the rest are Just elevated roadways.
But I'm glad They're building deck parks over most of them downtown.
Many TX interchanges are 5 high due to the service roads.
Fabulous work!
The Indianapolis motor speedway is the best use of urban space
Seriously i was stoked to hear Indy hit the list watching from 2 miles away from the track and my jaw dropped…
And when it was built, it was surrounded by farmland
replace interchanges with race tracks!
New sub. Love your channel and your attitude!
From Detroit and I drive on the 96/275/696/M5 interchange every day. It really is a disgusting use of space.
At least I get to maintain 70+ mph while merging. Totally worth it lol
As a former Kansas City and Chicago suburbanite, I find it hard to believe you left out the monster interchanges at the confluence of I35, 435, and K10 in Overland Park. I grew up in the area, watching what was originally two separate interchanges morph into one hyperspaghetti bowl. What began in the 60s as a simple cloverleaf diamond at the interstate crossover separate from the fairly mundane K10 divergence half a mile west when I was a child became a 3-level bridge stack in the early 80s to eliminate two of the cloverleaves. Then, a rebuild about 10 years ago is what brought K10 into the same interchange, as the latest iteration, as an example, provides southbound traffic on I35 a direct connection to K10 westbound without ever setting tire in the general traffic lanes of 435. And, it still gets traffic jams every rush hour.
In Chicagoland, I think you kind of touched on the East-West, Ike, Tristate monstrosity southeast of O'hare Airport. I think it didn't make the cut because it looks like two separate interchanges divided by the St. Charles Ave sub-interchange. The fact is though, that they all have to be taken together, as the Tristate tollway (294) and Eisenhower expressway (290) parallel each other for more than a mile, and some of the ramps to swap between them are at either end of the turd pile that's further muddied by the presence of I80, the East West Tollway. Yes, toll plazas come into play on two of the three as well, but they're not nearly as noticeable these days thanks to express toll lanes and a consequent reduction in paved real estate to accommodate the smaller toll plazas. I've also lived through the evolution of what once was two separate interchanges when they were built until they were combined in the current Cobble's Knot in the 90s, as my grandparents lived not too far away from this interchange, and the easiest way to get from our home in KC to my grandparents' home in Western Springs was to take the East West Tollway across IL to the Tristate and hop off at Ogden Ave.
great video! I would love to see a video with the 10 largest intersections in Europe :)
Great video. I hit subscribe 60 seconds in and wasn't disappointed.
Just found your channel and I'm obsessed
When I was younger and more naive I sent a policy proposal to Caltrans suggesting that they evaluate all of their urban interchanges based on an efficiency metric of person throughout per acre/hour. Then, they could take the least efficient ones and try to find a more compact redesign that could be paid for by selling off the excess land to more productive uses. I thought for sure they would adopt this policy and get busy on it so quickly that they would forget to send me a thank you note for sharing such a transformative idea. In hindsight I can’t believe I was so foolish.
Great job! I enjoy your sarcasm. It's one of the main reasons I enjoy this channel. The content is amazing, of course! I'd like to see a video on highway interchange signage. I have found that the road signs are often confusing due to too much info or not enough, insufficient time to read the information and safely change lanes, and too many signs to read on freeways that have six or more lanes heading in the same direction, among other issues.
In Norway, there aren't that many interchanges that I know of, but a couple of them are quite interesting. There is an entirely underground highway intersection in Oslo, connecting the E6 and the E18. Close to Oslo Airport is a classic "American-style" big interchange sprawling far more than it needs to, although the land isn't particularly contested out there. I think it is commonly accepted that the worst interchange in Norway is the spaghetti bowl on the southern side of Bergen's city center, since it takes up so much valuable urban space. It's even on the waterfront.
Great video!
Subscribed!
I live just off of I-696. That interchange in Novi (No vaaiii) is GARGANTUAN. Similar is 7 miles east on 696 is where M10, 696, US-24, Franklin, 11 mile, 10 mile, 12 Mile, Northwestern Highway, Lahser Roads meet at one point. It's called Southfield Mixing Bowl. It's over 2 miles long and 3 miles wide.
Marylander here. Yeah we like our cloverleaf interchanges. But ya gotta remember, we move a lot of freight out of the Port of Baltimore, not just drivers.
Finally, a video about urban expressways and interchanges that doesn't diss Cincinnati for completely destroying our riverfront with the absolute Frankenstein I-71/ I-75/ US 50 / 2nd and 3rd street Fort Washington Way interchange 😊😊
Its too stacked together to truly take up a large footprint. It's a joy to drive through there tho... jk its terrible
You left out the Big Mac Bridge
Keep up the good work!
Love the size comparisons to other buildings/bits of infrastructure.
He should compare his own body size to that of an ant, and then complain how much space his body is taking up in this world. It would be just as stupid as this video.
12:04 never expected to see Novi on a list like this, I live right next to it and take that interchange everyday
American designer with a banking and finance background writing from Tokyo, Japan. While I am not an urban/transit designer/engineer, I find myself watching these videos and shaking my head at what engineers and designers in America or churning out as well as comments from anti-car, anti-capitalism folk and then those with the "we can't do attitudes". I'm glad you mentioned the folk who always point to Europe and say why can't we do XYZ? I grew up in France and used to be the same in my younger years. With years of work experience and now in the 5th year of running my own design studio, I've matured. My logic has matured. Though I am still about to come down hard on US engineers. I'm sure there are reasons that I am unaware of but I don't see problem-solving in terms of getting to the root of the problem happening. I feel that there is a crisis of imagination and creativity. I often think of US interchanges as being wasted space, especially now as topics of affordable housing, ripping out highways, and infrastructure projects are making the headlines. Living in Japan means always thinking about available space. Tokyo recently completed a new ring expressway that connects the east-west/north-south highways through the densest parts of the central metropolitan area that required interchanges. In the past, before ideas about environmental protection were widespread, Japan just built expressways over waterways, due to very strict laws nearly forbidding eminent domain. (Japan is trying to find remedies now to this tragic situation.) This new loop expressway has portions that are elevated and portions that are subterranean. By elevated I mean that the structures are taller than 10 stories up. Many of the interchanges are also at such heights. These expressways/highways are positioned above wide surface roads and thoroughfares. Commuter rail tends to also run directly under these surface streets. Between the surface streets and the elevated expressways are bypasses that fly over intersections. In other areas, the space under the elevated highways has been turned into commercial space with restaurants, shopping centers, office space. (The highway is the roof) In other locations, the spaces under the expressways are turned into caged sports facilities such as basketball courts, bicycle parking near stations, vehicle parking, community centers, and more. Highways needn't divide communities if they are designed well. Second to last point, there are also some large elevated cloverleaf interchanges on the edges of Tokyo but in the center of each cloverleaf is a distribution center, warehouse, or some industrial building therefore no waste. My final point, the interchange near my home. The interchange near my home is where a subterranean highway meets an elevated highway. It's best described as circular. The interchange is housed in a building structure. From the outside, you would never suspect it was an interchange. It houses a public library, a sports club, a supermarket, a rooftop public garden, and coming out the center a highrise condominium. The interchange is perfectly hidden within a structure that also serves as a community hub. Seeing solutions like these really makes me question the ideas that the American engineering society is bringing forth. www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.shutoko.jp%2Fss%2Ftokyo-smooth%2Fyamate%2Fohashi%2F&psig=AOvVaw0MjwSC1XaNi2PRfZldNVJ0&ust=1635837077964000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCMi3upTO9vMCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
From Detroit. That Novi interchange is ridiculous. I have to play that golf course next to the interchange for high school, and it's a pain to get to. When you're coming from the east on 696, you have to get onto M5 for like a quarter of a mile just to be able to get off at the course. That just sounds ridiculous to me since the course is right next to an exit off of 696.
I love your videos!
Great video! I enjoy your videos much more than I ever would have expected when I first found them.
Just curious, did you look at the interchange of I-70 & I-75? It them ten or eleven years to rebuild that interchange while maintaining traffic on both interstates. It's a great looking interchange, but on a map it looks huge.
The 401/403/410 interchange in Mississauga is pretty obnoxious, but it’s on the ugly corner of the YYZ airport footprint. The fact that both the 401 and 403 have Express/Collector setups at this junction makes it all the more obnoxious.
Excellent example. I wonder though if the 427/401/27/Eglinton interchange might be slightly larger given it’s linear form. It is even closer to Pearson International as well. It also fits criteria for being more central in an urban/suburban context.
About the Michigan stadium from Wikipedia: "Every home game since November 8, 1975 has drawn a crowd in excess of 100,000, an active streak of more than 200 contests"
Amazing channel! Can I ask what your usual day job is?
Transportation planning and engineering! Shocking, right?
As Denverite who only takes the train to DIA, I didn’t realize how much land was devoted to the interchange, which services the largest (by land area) airport in the country. Not happy about the obese interchange, but that’s what happens with cheap land miles from development, although much closer to exurban development these days.
I’d love to see a video about the smallest interstate interchanges of at least 3 all-purpose lanes in every direction. I’m assuming those would be much more fascinating, given that they have to fit a lot in a small area. Seeing the kind of connections they use could be informative. I wonder if any could be smaller than a typical exurban surface intersection with 3 through-lanes, 2 left-turn lanes & a right turn or slip lane in every direction.
Interesting idea. Would get into a lot of super-nerdy traffic engineering concepts around loop radii, perceived/real safety issues around low advisory speeds at curves, etc. I'll give it some thought!
A comment on the I-95/I-495 interchange in Prince George's County, Maryland: that interchange was designed to have I-95 continue through to the south into downtown Washington, a freeway that was never built. So there are "ghost" roadways included, one of which is now used as a truck weigh station. In a (somewhat weak) defense, much of the land within and around the interchange is heavily forested and includes some undeveloped parkland with hiking trails and a stream valley park. Also nearby are some farm fields that are likely part of the University of Maryland, as well as a right of way for high voltage transmission lines. Oh, and there's even a campground (yes, a campground!) tucked in there--just outside of Washington DC. So: It's Complicated.
I kinda wondered about that, thanks!
Another honorable mention in MI: the I-94, I-196 and US 131 interchange. The original plan would have been laid out kind of like the MI one you mentioned. But it got halted 20 years ago due to some endangered species living on the land that the 131 stretch that would have connected to 94. Now they are finally constructing that section between a college and some farmland.
Me: hears mention of UAE with regards to car infrastructure
Also me: Screaming and crying "oh the humanity"
the 35/365 interchange is 388 Ac. DFW Airport North Entrance 445 Ac. Diamond Interchange in Irving 370Ac. Horshoe in DT dallas 265 Ac
9:08 use to drive on this all the time for work, its huge and an integral interchange in Broward, it's the interchange that brings you to Alligator Alley, the main route to Naples. Also, my friend lives just west of this interchange
I love this channel. I'm sad it subtracts value from your life but the dry humor is rather entertaining and as an engineering trainee this is extremely interesting and educational.
I grew up in Michigan, and I-696 is a nightmare of giant interchanges. From West-to-East we have the I-275 interchange mentioned, then the M-10/Telegraph monstrosity affectionately called the “mixing bowl”, then further up we have the I-75 monster, then Mound Road, and then finally the interchange with I-94.
Also special shout out to the I-96/Southfield Freeway interchange. What a nightmare.
We call the I-95/I-495 interchange south of DC the "mixing bowl" too! It makes it sound like a fun amusement park ride but sadly it is not
I believe that the Southfield Freeway (M39)/Jeffries Freeway (I96) intersection is known locally as Malfunction Junction.
Loved that subtle Arsenal FC dig :D
Wonderful that you mentioned infrastructure outside the U.S.A. and close to airports.
I LOVE THIS CHANNEL!
I’m very familiar with that interchange (just had my son drive through it as part of his learner’s permit 50 hours of supervised driving… if you can navigate that you can navigate anything!) and Michigan Stadium (a UM alum who has worked at the U for over 20 years, including every home game in that span). Didn’t realize it was that huge overall but, yeah, it is very large now that I think about it. That’s the path one takes to get from the east side to the west side without going through Detroit itself (to avoid Detroit traffic.)
You're smart and funny. Two things I like so anyway , here's my sub.
The I-84 I-91 interchange in Hartford, CT is pretty small, but a lot of that is because westbound traffic on 84 is diverted through either 291 or US 5, as well as eastbound traffic from 91.
And if you look, there's a huge mess of ramps and widening at the I-84 I-384 I-291 mixmaster leading directly into the US-5 Charter Oak Bridge exit.
Oh my goodness! I was not expecting that last intersection to be the mixing bowl from Michigan! Wow. I was thinking that you were going to say something from Texas or California, but that crazy intersection got me so turned around as a young driver so many times in the olden days!! Now I know my way though. But just imagine a time before GPS!
this was a great video i was dying the whole time
The Kennedy Interchange in Louisville, KY is pretty large, too. It's where I-64, I-65, and I-71 all converge, so it's an important one, albeit I don't know how many acres it covers. Since they redesigned it, a bunch of the ramps and exit lanes start fairly early and it really allows for traffic to always moving. Looking at a satellite view of it, you can see that it's big and starts a good distance before the three highways actually meet.
I go to Michigan from New York and the first time I drove through that interchange I was flabbergasted!
The I78 I95 route 1&9 interchange outside Newark airport in New Jersey is pretty huge. With the given parameters in the video you might be able to include route 21 in the same interchange
And rt 22. It's a lot of large highways merging but surprising doesn't take up nearly as much land as some of these. You'll find a much bigger interchange just a little south immediately before the driscoll bridge
great video, great service
Wow that Arsenal burn, I loved it 🤣
Damn when you put up a comparison to the stadium on that last one I literally gasped out loud
i like the Paris subway entrance for your countdown pics.
Massachusetts has some fairly massive interchanges: I -93, Route 3, Burgin Parkway, and Washington Street in Braintree; I-93 and Route 24 in Randolph; I-90 Mass. Pike, I-95/Route 128 and Route 30 in Weston, I-95 and Route 128 in Peabody; and I-495, Route 3, and the Lowell Connector in Chelmsford.
But they cannot compare to the absolute madness of the I-93 and I-90 Big Dig interchanges in Boston: one in Charlestown, the second at South Station, and the third at Logan Airport in East Boston.
Burying a freeway is all good and well, but you still need interchanges to handle all the traffic flow coming on and off. Unfortunate!
Yea, the problem IS inefficient space usage, but problem is wider, cross city highways (not interstates outside urban areas) and suburban sprawl, is a generational mistakes, made by people in 50s - 60s. But to fix it we need to understand it, and such examples are good way to grasp the disadvantages of a car dependent society
"To fix it, we need to understand it".
Yet people fight against CRT.
@@timothyball3144 you don't fix racism with more racism.
Loved this video. A very interesting perspective on how big the US actually is!
im subscribing for the sarcasm !..and general disdain about the huge interchanges. I also agree with your sentiments
The other I-85/I-285 interchange in the northeast part of the Perimeter (“Spaghetti Junction”) is also a beast. Also, the interchange with I-20 and I-75/85 (the Downtown Connector) is insane.
9:20 for the I-75 / I-595 interchange. Several of the ramps are a mile and a half long, with the aerial portions approaching a mile.
I measured the largest one in my city just out of curiosity. It measures 44 acres, which is nothing compared to the ones in this video, but it's still quite large for Switzerland
Oh yeah, that's huge for anywhere in the EU.
@@CityNerd except airports lol
Nearly 40 years ago, musician David Byrne in a film he created, called US highway interchanges "the cathedrals of the 20th century."
Hell yeah. KC and Topeka. My home and my old home. The KC interchange is an absolute nightmare. They've rebuilt and rebuilt it because the traffic was total gridlock every day. And the Kansas turnpike is basically a straight shot from KC to Topeka. I had no idea how big it was, but it's really so smooth and stretched out that I guess I never noticed.
Interesting video, thank you.
Love those multi level stack interchanges! They are an interstate highway staple!