Never in the history of humanity has a nation built such a great project as the American highway system.
Let's start with a Dallas night tour (and yes this thread is not for greens)
Let's move to Hueston
One of very many LA approach highways
Much more to come.
Couple of shots from my recent drive to my reserve military training (800km or so).
This is what American infrastructure does that Europe cannot (And, in fairness, has no need to). That train's well over a mile long. You want to move lots of things long distances with very little in between (If you check the map, you'll find pretty much nothing of note between San Antonio and El Paso), the US rail network can't be touched.
I took the scenic route home (Ft Stockton to Del Rio). Over this 100km stretch to Sanderson, I saw probably two dozen vehicles in total. When you're dealing with that sort of traffic density, it's understandable that the road repair budget isn't to European standards per mile.
You also get weirdness like this.
All of this infrastructure work is being done as part of Biden's support of the renewed push towards a green agenda. Trump and the Republicans on the other hand have absolutely no interest, and are downright hostile, to that agenda.
Ah right, I see.
Lend us your crystal ball when you get a minute, would ya?
Because he did absolutely nothing in the 4 years he was in power, despite promising to do so during the election. He wouldn't have done any different during a second term.
The Corpus Christi bridge hasn’t gone smoothly:
How do you know Trump wouldn't have done the same if not more?
The US has ignored transport infrastructure maintenance for decades. It's now crumbling. Bridge collapses on major road and rail routes are a semi regular occurrence.
They're spending now because they have to. And if Trump had won reelection then none of that would be happening. Biden got it through congress.
The quality of German and UK motorways is poor in comparion to Ireland too, but to be expected given the traffic volumes really.
End of an empire I don't think so, the US are investing in their highway and bridge network, over $350bn over the next few years. But yes they likely need much more. It's the cleanliness and general maintenance that gets me though - even in the richest states, they can't keep up with the litter.
Drove to Corpus Christi last weekend, the new bridge being built is seriously impressive. 62m over the water, with the longest span being 500m.
https://www.google.com/maps/@27.8111479,-97.396252,3a,60y,311.78h,92.35t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suMlnAX1vecRREpBLIr15Ng!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Got back Monday evening from the 2 week road trip in CA and Nevada. We covered about 1,500 km which is not huge by US standards but enough to give a feeling for things.
A recurring observation as we drove along was that a huge percentage of the freeway mileage in CA is in appalling condition.
It doesn't come close to the quality of the motorways I've driven on in Spain, Germany, France, and Italy. Our own M50 is superior in quality to 95% of the freeways I drove on in CA.
End of empire stuff I'm afraid.
Sure the M2 foreshore in Belfast is wider and more impressive than that.
"Dream"? You're kidding, right? There are more impressive roads in continental Europe (and the US) than this stretch of pretty bland suburban freeway.
Europe can only dream of roads like this (I-10 Pheonix)
God love those videos.
A dream of mine to drive or be driven in the states. More than likely will never happen but it just sounds a fantastic experience. The skies, space the roads (and I don't care if they're not great at times😊).
Nice😁😁
I-5 outbound Los Angeles/Orange county
That video is typical of the cross-section of most of the Interstate system. Pretty much the same as our Type 1 DC.
Also in Arizona is I-19, the only highway in the USA to use Metric units on its signage.
2K22 (EP 11) Interstate 19 in Tucson, Arizona: The Metric Interstate - YouTube
It was built in the late 1970s and the signage was intended as a pilot for re-signing the rest of the system. This was back when the USA was still planning to adopt to the metric system by 1980. Unfortunately, Ronald Reagan got elected and he had no time for things that were new, and the plan was stalled and stalled and eventually abandoned. But the road had been opened by then, and the cost of re-signing was big enough that it was left as-was. The signs, when needed, are still replaced with metric ones, and exit numbers are numbered as km from the start of the route.
There are some small signs of the metrication push still around: I once came across a small roadside distance sign that was in both km and miles in the wilds of San Benito County, CA.
In Arizona the I-17 between Flagstaff and Phoenix which runs north/south drops over 1,600m in elevation in the space of 140 miles distance. Hence it starts out with conifers and greenery with snow in the Winter, Spring, Autumn down to hot desert and cacti in Phoenix.
I think we need to think bigger in everything not only roads.
Our metro will be a glorified tram. Why? Why not go all out? Why not be ambitious? We have the money to do it. Other places do it - some poorer than us.
Infrastructure and future proofed scale is important and in Ireland we have always thought too small to our cost.
Look at the M50, had they built it wide enough in the first place it would have saved us €2bn and the job is still not done. More flyovers and lanes required in places soon.
Just do it properly the first time. That should apply to everything.
Unless a mod tells me otherwise, I can comment on any thread I want to. If you don't like that, put me on ignore.
Kermit has a long history of demanding massive US highways in Ireland and Europe and calling us a backwards because we don't build roads we don't need. I was directly responding to a post along those lines, which I'm fully entitled to do.
BTW, if my mod powers extended to the infrastructure forum you'd have been sanctioned for questioning somebodies IQ. Maybe you should take your own advise and say nothing, if you've nothing nice to say.
There’s one thread on this forum talking about US roads. As you say, let Kermit have his thread. I don’t understand some of the replies in here.
If you've nothing nice to say, why not try saying nothing?
No-one asked you to comment on this thread.
The reason you don't see roads in Europe on the scale you see them in the US is because they're not needed in Europe. Unlike the US, most of Europe has excellent public transport.
And no the M20 should not be 4 lanes each way. Parts of it barely required a dual carriageway. A 2 lane motorway will be more than enough for decades to come.
You seriously need to get over you fetish for US roads.
Not dropping as low as your I.Q, fella..
Awh that's nice. The roads guys are getting nostalgic for roads. Penny dropping is it?
😂😂
Driving in Dallas.
The scale is so impressive and nothing remotely like it in Europe or anywhere else which is why the US is by far the only superpower. They think big and do things right. The interstate system is so big, so vast, it just does not compare with anywhere else in the world.
How the M20 between Cork and Limerick should be 🙂
No one can deny the engineering splendor on display.
It's a massive rich country with a large population of course they would have good roads. But saying that I was in New York and New York state and the roads aren't that great over there. You cannot compare the highways there to roads here with our tiny population.
I don't know. I remember the first time I was there, I stood watching a black and white police cruiser go down the street. I was actually expecting it to do a sudden u-turn or roll over or crash into something with the officers coming out shooting, until I realised this is reality, not the movies.
(See my previous post)
The difference between Irish and US roads is the US have worse drivers, higher speeds, more HGVs during the day, crazy police pursuits, more dangerous vehicles.
Sounds like the M50 at rush hour..
An awful hell-hole of a place to find yourself is an American Highway. When you get sandwiched in between multiple big rigs, take comfort in the fact there is an excitable commentator whirling overheard in a helicopter broadcasting your final moments as you burn to death in a fiery wreck, watched on by families tucking into dinner in front of the TV.
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