Examining traffic corridors in the US that are inadequate to handle the traffic they carry. Many parts of the country that have seen a lot of population growth haven’t seen their roads keep up. Here I take a look at several places in the US that would be much better served by having an interstate replace the existing state highway.
0:00 Intro
1:11 Virginia Beach to Charleston, SC
2:50 Charlottesville, VA to Myrtle Beach, SC
4:14 Interstate 81 in Virginia
6:11 Dallas to Denver
7:41 Houston to Austin
8:28 Dallas to Las Cruces, NM
9:37 US 63 Missouri/Arkansas
11:27 Springfield, MO to Jackson, MS
12:55 Denver to Salt Lake City
13:54 Northwest to Southeast Ohio
15:45 Outro
Album displayed:
L.A. Guns – “Checkered Past” (2020)
41 Comments
What about Phoenix to SLC or Albuquerque to SLC or maybe even Phoenix to Portland via Las Vegas?
They seriously also need to connect Myrtle Beach South Carolina to 95 somehow, or to some other freeway. It takes a day to go through all the small towns to get there.
I just wish we could build a wall around Virginia, fill it with toxic water, and shock it with lightening
NJ – Long Island NY desperately needs a causeway that will go from Sandy Hook NJ to Rockaway NY , this would allow traffic especially trucks to bypass going through Manhattan or the dreaded Cross Bronx Expressway ( i-95) in route to Long Island
1. Can verify Denver to Dallas/Houston could be better, but it's really not that bad. A lot of 287 is divided and Texas speed limit is high.
B. Ironically, just travelled on US 6 today, coming from Cortez CO through Moab UT to Salt Lake City. At least someone was smart enough to finally shutter the incredibly dangerous truck scales in the middle of the windy canyon at Price.
C. Just widening some interstates would be immensely helpful instead of adding new ones. I present to you I-5 from LA to SF. The 99 is incredibly overused already as an alternate. Californians drive like nuts and the shoulders are narrower there than any other state. It's so weird.
How about an interstate major along the spine of the Rockys? Screw 25 and 15, give me I-19 or 21.
"Things don't get any better when you cross over the border into Arkansas" is actually the Missouri State Motto
I’m a regional truck driver based out of Dallas. I travel the US-287 corridor at least once a week. I actually don’t mind the drive. I actually prefer it over some of our other busy lanes out of Dallas. I-30 up to Little Rock and I-45 to Houston are both dreadful, similar to how you described I-81. I-35 isn’t as bad as it used to be but there is still a huge bottleneck in Austin that has yet to be solved. I find the I-69 project very interesting, though. Hopefully it will alleviate some of the traffic on I-35 all together.
Vegas to Reno getting the upgrade and Vegas to Phoenix would be a godsend. There isn’t too much traffic north of Vegas unless you’re right outside Hawthorne into Reno, but the stretch to Phoenix would really make it easier to travel that way
Getting from Austin to any other city that’s east or west of it is an absolute pain. There are no good routes.
I disagree with the premise of this video. Interstates destroy rural charm
America needs a trillion dollar a year infrastructure spend for the next 25 years to return our infrastructure to nice. We're not a poor country; fifteen year old potholed pavement isn't what we should have, like on my nearby heavily used federal highway. Given that the federal budget is so much larger than that, it shouldn't be a problem.
Kyle; Are you aware, have you ever talked about along the Texas border with Mexico the US interstate in the Brownsville Mcallen area is NOT connected to the rest of the interstate? I discovered this a few years ago when exiting interstate 37 and discovering i was on a State Highway until 20 miles outside of Mcallen Texas when it turned into the "interstate" again. Like Texas likes to say, i felt like i was in a whole nother country, it was weird. I have looked but have not found any other examples of disembodied interstates. PLEASE add the Texas border anamoly to a future video.
Extend Interstate 45 to Tulsa on us 75 to connect Kansas City to Dallas and Houston
King, I watch this as I get packed to drive from NYC down to Jacksonville, Fl. I almost always go the 77/81 route so to avoid DC at all costs. The beauty of that route through the Shenandoah Valley, to me, makes it worth it. But trust me, I’ll be thinking about capacity on this particular drive down. Thanks GK!
I'm thinking one is needed from Albany, NY to Portland, ME that would also serve Bennington, Brattleboro, Keene, Manchester and Concord.
The one big problem with the route is that it would have to go through the Green Mountains and I don't want it to.
fk cars, build rail transpo
As a trucker, here are some ones that you missed..
#1: Phoenix-Vegas-Reno-Eugene OR
#2: Norfolk VA directly east to 95, without having to go all the way up to Richmond
#3: Minneapolis to St Louis direct route.
You were spot on about the Dallas to Denver one, though. And it's not just the traffic to Denver – pretty much all the freight from Albuquerque and all the points West on i-40, including all of Northern California, has to take 287 to get down to Dallas-Fort worth.
Heck, I'd be happy if they built the 4.7 mi "missing link" between the I-210 and I-710 in Pasadena and Alhambra.
LA Guns
Something to consider about the route between Dallas and Las Cruces: This is the southern portion of the Rocky Mountains. All the current routes were originally trails/passes. US 82 is at a 6% grade. The Border Patrol is adding more lanes to checkpoints to move traffic. Trucks on I-10 are routed to dedicated truck lanes (Las cruces I-10 West, I-25 N, Sierra Blanca).
US 380 bans truck traffic from Hondo to Carrizozo. Other things that affect the area: White Sands Missile Range, White Sands National Park, Ft Bliss, Holloman AFB, Lincoln National Forest, Mescalero Apache Homelands, Franklin Mountains State Park
Vegas to Reno
This geographer asks, were have freeways been a long term traffic solution? How did racism effect the placement of freeways through cities. How much land in a city is devoted to cars?
I can’t possibly agree with King more about Toledo to Portsmouth. I live in Columbus, and 23 is hell anywhere around or outside of the city. 33 isn’t much better tbh…
Hwy 290 is a freeway from Houston to Hempstead Texas
I have driven parkersburg to Columbus a bunch. The bit just outside Columbus is very dangerous with bad junctions (I got my car totalled by an impatient driver who pulled out on to the four lane and couldn't get all the way across and stopped in front of me) but further south is a decent road for the level of traffic. So fixing the bit by Columbus would be great. But Parkersburg is dying so no point wasting the money. I77 doesn't really connect anything significant and anything further along is better reached by an alternative route so not sure that it is worth the investment compared to other projects.
Would be cool to see a video on route 101 in Washington state..on the penninsula,it runs up both east and west side….so if you say take 101 north you could be very very off course …plus the Pacific coast side is one of the most remote, desolate stretches of road in the lower 48…but extremely scenic
regarding i-81, there are so many warehouse distribution centers along the highway in MD, WV, and VA. So, a lot of trucks on the road. Got to give some props to WV, their small portion is six lanes. The MD portion is bad through Hagerstown. VA is going to make some small improvements. But i-81 in VA should be at least six lanes for the whole route. At least make the portions through Winchester, Harrisonburg, Staunton to Lexington and Roanoke area need to be widened.
I watched this video to see if you covered my hot-spots and problem areas. You hit every one of them.
For a lot of these routes, I know exactly what you are talking about. I drove up I-81 from Charlottesville to Pennsylvania on a Sunday afternoon in 1993. It was like driving in city traffic all the way. I used to live in Houston, TX and traveled up every summer to visit family in Utah and the Northwest. I have tried every alternate backroad I can think of, but there is no good way. We need an Interstate between Dallas and Denver, and that Hiway 6 in Utah. US-6 is dangerous. I am familiar also with US-63 through Missouri. Also a dangerous road.
Now I live in Austin, TX. I have tried both routes from Austin to Houston. You would think that two booming cities like this would have better connections.
So you want to destroy more of our natural landscape to save one hour of driving. Putting more money into railways like in other countries would make more sense. We have destroyed enough of our country.
Stop building highways!! They have destroyed American city’s!!!!!BUILD TRAINS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!
I hope Kyle pans on additional videos on this topic. After emphasis on the growth in the South and West of the nation, he has no ideas for Arizona and the West Coast? I don't think so. He'll be back.
My proposal for an interstate route would be from Greenville SC to Myrtle Beach SC and ending in Wilmington NC, this would go across the northern part of SC and would cut about an hour and a half off the drive. It could also serve as a hurricane evacuation route getting people away from the coast to Charlotte, Spartanburg and Greenville.
Nice ZZ Top reference.
Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina have done little to nothing to improve their stretches of interstate.
I normally take 290 being on the north side of Austin when driving to Houston. The Houston side of 290 is pretty good, but always busy with traffic. Though, as you head towards Austin, it's far from an interstate going through the middle of Giddings, Elgin, and Manor with lots of stoplights. 71 has toll lanes in spots, but still goes back to traffic lights with huge backups. For Thanksgiving, GPS redirected me to tiny country roads to get out of Austin.
the answer is to DOUBLE the number of Interstate lanes in most areas! 😮
I've been subscribed to you for years and I can't believe you only have just under 200k subscribers! Your content is so educational and you have such a warm personality! Keep up the good work Kyle!
Fuck new interstates, especially ones that save less than an hour! Push high speed public transit! We need high speed trains, not interstates.
The Carolinas don't seem all that interested in pushing for an interstate connecting Charleston and Va. Beach, especially considering South Carolina dragging its feet over Interstates 73 and 74. If anything, a direct route from Wilmington to Charlotte (via Fayetteville, perhaps by either using parts of I-295 and US 87 or building parts of NC 24 at I-40 west to interstate standards) makes more sense.
I would love a freeway connection along US 63, especially from the high traffic from Rolla to Jefferson City that is majority 2 lane