Phoenix, I feel, has one of the most aesthetic and effective freeway networks in the whole world. You want freeways not [exactly] chopping through downtown? Check. Loop routes? How about intersecting the loops with each other so that you can manage traffic effectively on the west side and east side seperately? Double check. Quality construction? Just look at that pristine pavement from old US 60 to newer Loop 303. Efficient construction? South Mountain Freeway is already more than halfway done, while my good state of Utah up north is still completing frontage roads for Mountain View Corridor. Be like Phoenix people. Be like Phoenix.
Interesting that you mention the Mountain View Corridor. In Texas some freeways and tollways got their start the exact same way, as frontage roads. In the Fort Worth area we have State Highway 170 which is currently still only frontage roads for most of its length, and has been pretty much since the (roughly) the 1990s or so, with hardly any progress being made on building freeway mainlanes (aside from at the eastern end of the corridor), though with the growth in the area they are pretty close to being needed. I believe SH-170, along with a short section of SH-199 in Lake Worth, are now pretty much the only frontage-road-only corridors in the DFW area since the completion of several tollway projects in recent years. EDIT: I forgot about the nearby section of SH-114 from US-377 to FM-156 (near the Texas Motor Speedway) as it is also only frontage roads as well.
@@joshnkoy I believe so. I know for 170 especially, but I think there were plans for 114 as well. I'm not sure what TxDOT is going to do with the 114/35W interchange though.
Phoenix has one of the newest road networks of any large US city, particularly because they were extra-conservative on freeway building until they had overwhelming demand for freeways in the city (I think they didn’t want to become LA 2.0). They still don’t have many freeways considering how large the city is.
From a technology point of view, it seems that the dynamic message signs that are being used to show “Minutes to:” are of the older line or character matrix type. A lot of the ones that are blank, however, seem to be of the newer full matrix type, so maybe ther are in process of upgrading their DMSes. What they should do, if those newer ones can display in more than just amber color, is to color code those “Minutes to:” signs to be green for good flow, yellow/amber for slower flow, and red for congested flow (MUCH slower) In that case, only the number would need to be color coded. If other colors can’t be displayed, then they could just make the number flash at a slow rate, or if it supports it, italicize the number.
I remember visiting some relatives in Mesa back in 1996. At the time, the Superstition Freeway was three lanes wide with no HOV lane, at least not that I recall. They really changed it since then.
US 60/Superstition Freeway forms a freeway access to the east suburbs of Phoenix and the Gold Canyon area and it's not only purely controlled access. The controlled access portion serves between Phoenix and the east suburbs starting with I-10 and the non controlled access portion heads east to more nature to see canyons and hills in Gold Canyon and ends with AZ-79 near Queen Valley.
Excellent video. ADOT has been working hard to obtain this quality of freeways. You should take a video from the I-10 west to I-10 east you would see the new 202 freeway construction ( THE SOUTH MOUNTAIN FREEWAY) nice video by the way.
6 lanes in 1 direction and it stll manages to be clogged by left lane hogs, classic America. Great video though, Phoenix's freeways are some of the greatest there are, mostly because they're all so new. Phoenix held off on a lot of their highways because they didn't want to turn into Los Angeles 2.0, but eventually gave in.
Why in America trucks and heavy vehicles can circulate through the third even the fourth lane. It is not very safe from the European point of view. An excellent video Arizona is very beautiful, it reminds me of Granada. Un abrazo compañero
@@AsphaltPlanet1 in the US... I have no clue whatsoever the EU or elsewhere situation... a lot of truck & commercial drivers are literally paid by the mile instead of a flat hourly rate. To top that off, a great many amount of commercial vehicles & semis are governed off by their employers/companies around 65-68 mph, sometimes even lower. So basically, we have big, slow vehicles literally racing each other when the overwhelming majority of ALL cars... most of which like to drive between 70-85 mph... are impatiently stuck behind several elephant races if driving down one rural stretch of major highway between two long enough points.
Depends on state. In California, trucks aren't allowed in the left lane at all, and if the freeway is 4 or more lanes in one direction, not allowed in the 2nd to left lane either. That's because trucks have a 55mph firm speed limit in this state, while cars can do 65-70 depending on the roadway
great video! I love how it shows how truly accurate the real traffic you see day to day, which is a lot even if its not rush hour. I agree with the other comments here that PHX has the best freeways anywhere. scenic and very well thought out. Good choice in tunes also, what's the name of that second song you used in this video?
Thanks for the comment. I agree, I very much like Phoenix's freeway network. I list the artist and title for both songs at the end of the video. The second song is by Stereopole.
Just a dumb comment here, but every single person that mentions a freeway, they call it a highway. Why does no one get the difference?? A freeway is the thing with no traffic lights, more lanes, and exits. But a highway though pretty much works like any other surface streets with traffic lights and stuff, but much longer. And it just so happens to be a route, or state route.
this is one of the best videos I ever watched, Nice work Asphalt Planet
I love comments like this. Thank you very much.
Phoenix, I feel, has one of the most aesthetic and effective freeway networks in the whole world. You want freeways not [exactly] chopping through downtown? Check. Loop routes? How about intersecting the loops with each other so that you can manage traffic effectively on the west side and east side seperately? Double check. Quality construction? Just look at that pristine pavement from old US 60 to newer Loop 303. Efficient construction? South Mountain Freeway is already more than halfway done, while my good state of Utah up north is still completing frontage roads for Mountain View Corridor. Be like Phoenix people. Be like Phoenix.
Interesting that you mention the Mountain View Corridor. In Texas some freeways and tollways got their start the exact same way, as frontage roads. In the Fort Worth area we have State Highway 170 which is currently still only frontage roads for most of its length, and has been pretty much since the (roughly) the 1990s or so, with hardly any progress being made on building freeway mainlanes (aside from at the eastern end of the corridor), though with the growth in the area they are pretty close to being needed. I believe SH-170, along with a short section of SH-199 in Lake Worth, are now pretty much the only frontage-road-only corridors in the DFW area since the completion of several tollway projects in recent years.
EDIT: I forgot about the nearby section of SH-114 from US-377 to FM-156 (near the Texas Motor Speedway) as it is also only frontage roads as well.
@@BrandonClaridgeI nearly forgot about SH 170 and SH 114...there've been studies on those projects sitting dormant for years, haven't they?
@@joshnkoy I believe so. I know for 170 especially, but I think there were plans for 114 as well. I'm not sure what TxDOT is going to do with the 114/35W interchange though.
Phoenix has one of the newest road networks of any large US city, particularly because they were extra-conservative on freeway building until they had overwhelming demand for freeways in the city (I think they didn’t want to become LA 2.0). They still don’t have many freeways considering how large the city is.
JNkoy Phoenix Az have the best freeways better than L.A.
Fun fact... Mesa Arizona (main city on this freeway) has a greater population than St. Louis MO or Minneapolis MN respectively.🧐😯
The best part of my day....thank you ✊
Reminds me of the song "superstition" by Stevie Wonder
The freeway is massive!
2 Years after this Video was Posted, it’s Still looks like a Masterpiece!
Thanks for the comment.
From a technology point of view, it seems that the dynamic message signs that are being used to show “Minutes to:” are of the older line or character matrix type. A lot of the ones that are blank, however, seem to be of the newer full matrix type, so maybe ther are in process of upgrading their DMSes. What they should do, if those newer ones can display in more than just amber color, is to color code those “Minutes to:” signs to be green for good flow, yellow/amber for slower flow, and red for congested flow (MUCH slower)
In that case, only the number would need to be color coded. If other colors can’t be displayed, then they could just make the number flash at a slow rate, or if it supports it, italicize the number.
I remember visiting some relatives in Mesa back in 1996. At the time, the Superstition Freeway was three lanes wide with no HOV lane, at least not that I recall. They really changed it since then.
HOV lanes weren't added to any part of the Superstition Freeway until 2002.
US 60/Superstition Freeway forms a freeway access to the east suburbs of Phoenix and the Gold Canyon area and it's not only purely controlled access. The controlled access portion serves between Phoenix and the east suburbs starting with I-10 and the non controlled access portion heads east to more nature to see canyons and hills in Gold Canyon and ends with AZ-79 near Queen Valley.
.I wish I was in Phoenix because Arizona has a beach and nice freeways down it Arizona the south of US state
Very very Great video. Will you make Videos in Milwaukee, WI and Chicago, IL Soon, once you will Visit the US Again?
maybe, but I doubt that the border is going to be open again until the fall. So I probably won't film that much in the US this year, if at all.
Excellent video. ADOT has been working hard to obtain this quality of freeways. You should take a video from the I-10 west to I-10 east you would see the new 202 freeway construction ( THE SOUTH MOUNTAIN FREEWAY) nice video by the way.
I haven’t been to Phoenix since 2018, but I am very much looking forward to seeing the completion of the South Mountain Freeway
6 lanes in 1 direction and it stll manages to be clogged by left lane hogs, classic America. Great video though, Phoenix's freeways are some of the greatest there are, mostly because they're all so new. Phoenix held off on a lot of their highways because they didn't want to turn into Los Angeles 2.0, but eventually gave in.
it's funny, for all their effort not to turn into Los Angeles, I'd say Phoenix is more Los Angeles than even Los Angeles today.
Just looking at it from a map, it’s grid spaced surface streets and super highways as far as the metro reaches, I’d say that’s pretty LA like.
It would be so nice if there was a more concerted effort by police departments to go after left lane hogs.
I disagree; LA still has far more freeways than Phoenix
Why in America trucks and heavy vehicles can circulate through the third even the fourth lane. It is not very safe from the European point of view. An excellent video Arizona is very beautiful, it reminds me of Granada. Un abrazo compañero
In some states trucks can use the left most lane of a freeway.
@@AsphaltPlanet1 in the US... I have no clue whatsoever the EU or elsewhere situation... a lot of truck & commercial drivers are literally paid by the mile instead of a flat hourly rate. To top that off, a great many amount of commercial vehicles & semis are governed off by their employers/companies around 65-68 mph, sometimes even lower.
So basically, we have big, slow vehicles literally racing each other when the overwhelming majority of ALL cars... most of which like to drive between 70-85 mph... are impatiently stuck behind several elephant races if driving down one rural stretch of major highway between two long enough points.
OH. And basic lane discipline is rarely enforced throughout much of the same landscape.
Depends on state. In California, trucks aren't allowed in the left lane at all, and if the freeway is 4 or more lanes in one direction, not allowed in the 2nd to left lane either. That's because trucks have a 55mph firm speed limit in this state, while cars can do 65-70 depending on the roadway
great video! I love how it shows how truly accurate the real traffic you see day to day, which is a lot even if its not rush hour. I agree with the other comments here that PHX has the best freeways anywhere. scenic and very well thought out. Good choice in tunes also, what's the name of that second song you used in this video?
Thanks for the comment. I agree, I very much like Phoenix's freeway network. I list the artist and title for both songs at the end of the video. The second song is by Stereopole.
@@AsphaltPlanet1 lol I saw that after I left the comment! thanks, great choice in tunes!
What Camera do you Use?
Just a dumb comment here, but every single person that mentions a freeway, they call it a highway. Why does no one get the difference?? A freeway is the thing with no traffic lights, more lanes, and exits. But a highway though pretty much works like any other surface streets with traffic lights and stuff, but much longer. And it just so happens to be a route, or state route.
Firstn't!