Ten worst chokepoints, Ten hottest toll sites

Maybe it's not a very scientific list but the AAA has a lot of roaming road reporters who monitor US roads to provide route advice to members and they get everyone together annually to choose the nation's ten worst choke points. The 1996 10-Worst will be obvious hot candidates for toll projects once Hughes (or someone else) demonstrates multilane freeflow tolling is possible with a combination of transponders and on-the-fly license plate recognition technology. Here are the Post-Hughes Ten from AAA, together with our own summary fixes:

(1) Boston's I-93N&S elevated 6-laner with 190k v/d, 6-8 hrs/d stop&go — watch the progress of the $10b+ Tip O'Neill log-roller extraordinaire Central Artery/Tunnel project, possibly the world's most expensive inner city highway rebuild to 10-lanes underground...USGAO says there aren't the fed or state $s to finish it. Maybe the state would sell the half-finished mess to a tollster to complete and operate?

(2) Chicago's I-88/I-290 (Eisenhower Expwy) south of the O'Hare airport at Hillside where there's a merge and a lane drop — widen the roadway by a lane and install bucket on shoulder to collect a penny/vehicle from grateful Chicagoans

(3) Dallas I-35/I-30 "Mixmaster" interchange west of downtown — needs rebuild to cope with 200k/day+ entering and leaving the CBD plus through traffic

(4) Houston US-59/Loop-610 interchange which has 310k v/d. Uncle Sam is financing upgrade of US-59 in from the airport which is worsening the IC problem of 6 hours/d of stop&go while the Sam Hardy toll road nearby goes underutilized — no need for more investment, just levy tolls on US-59 and on I-45, another parallel exprwy, to put the Sam Hardy Tollway on a level playing field and get balanced traffic flows

(5) Los Angeles I-5/I-10/SR-60/US-101 on the east end of the downtown frwy 'box' handles 570k v/d, terrible weaving blockages — local highway experts have suggested providing relief via toll tunnelways under CBD allowing the existing 'box' interchanges to be simplified, reducing weaving

(6) Milwaukee I-94 the main east-west radial and distributor that heads into the lakeside CBD, 6-lanes, 170k v/d, terrible ramps, classic 1950s "freeway," parking lot conditions — Wisconsin's best toll project, needs $1b+

(7) Minneapolis I-35W south of the downtown is 6-lanes and nearly 200k v/d — needs (1) widening to 10-lanes or (2) 8-lanes with congestion pricing or else (3) another highway from the south, such as a 4-lane 9km long cars-only tunnel underneath Hiawatha Av (SR-55)

(8) New Orleans I-10/I-610 interchange north of the old city center 175k v/d, lane drops, steep ramps, poor visibility — reconstruction for better geometry and lane continuity

(9) Brooklyn New York City I-278 (Gowanis Expwy) a rusting old elevated from Verrazano Narrows Bridge in toward Manhattan 175v/d on 6 narrow lanes, 6 to 8hr stop&go on Brooklyn side of Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel on way to Wall Street district — spectacular postrcard views of NY Harbor, Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan, needs rebuilding in conjunction with property redevelopment, parking decks & park&ride transfers to subways. Developer could buy B-B tunnel from MTA B&T

(10) Woodrow Wilson bridge over Potomac River VA/MD 175k v/d on 6-lane bridge fed by 8-lane I-95 Beltway on either side, physical deterioration of bridge will keep off heavy trucks soon, frequent draw-span raisings, 4 overloaded interchanges nearby — approvals close for replacement with a 12-lane bridge and four new interchanges but cost is $3b to $4b. Accepted already to be part-toll project. Problem is toll diversion to rest of the Beltway and other loaded expwys. Needs imaginative proposal for pricing whole Washington Beltway system, which faces thrombosis at 240k v/d on 8-lanes near Tysons Cnr VA and Silver Spr MD. Slogan: "End DC's free ride" (Contact AAA 407 444 7000)