Feeder Roads/the Beltway

[hartwell]

The Denver area has no reference to these terms

I was born in Houston but left when I was young

and moved to New Orleans

Please explain?!

[sevfiv]

feeders are access roads or frontage roads...they lead to the freeway and are parallel to them, and generally have retail/businesses along them.

the beltway is a road that encircles houston (and the smaller loop 610) - part of it is tolled...

[smartalek]

feeders are access roads or frontage roads...they lead to the freeway and are parallel to them, and generally have retail/businesses along them.

the beltway is a road that encircles houston (and the smaller loop 610) - part of it is tolled...

I will never understand why we build frontage roads along the freeways and then front them with commercial development. All of the traffic generated by the development gettting on and off the freeways cause all of the congestions. Freeways should be just that, rapid movement with a few select departure points off of the main lane.

[MiDTOWNeR]

The Denver area has no reference to these terms

I was born in Houston but left when I was young

and moved to New Orleans

Please explain?!

So instead of just exiting off the freeway and being at the road you want to be at, you have to exit the freeway, THEN exit the feeder road to get to the road you want to be on.

[MidtownCoog]

So you move the traffic from the feeder to somewhere else.

And that help how?

Drive me crazy when in Chantilly, VA.

30 miles of 30 mph roads in front of stips malls.

Nothing more than a traffic relocation program.

[hartwell]

feeders are access roads or frontage roads...they lead to the freeway and are parallel to them, and generally have retail/businesses along them.

the beltway is a road that encircles houston (and the smaller loop 610) - part of it is tolled...

Thank You Sevfiv for that info,So feeder roads are frontage roads next to the inter-states

We have those,never heard the term feeder roads.

I stand corrected on the term "beltway",our toll highway E-470 that semi-circles

the Denver area,uses the term"beltway",but I have never heard the term on our traffic

reports.

http://www.e-470.com/Default.aspx?tabid=67

[hartwell]

So instead of just exiting off the freeway and being at the road you want to be at, you have to exit the freeway, THEN exit the feeder road to get to the road you want to be on.

I understand now,we have similar situations here,get off of the inter-state onto the frontage

road,sometimes go a half mile before you reach the road you want to turn on!

I've only heard the terms "feeder and beltway" used on the Houston area

[Saddleman]

'Feeder' is almost an exclusively Houston term, but 'beltway' is very common in other areas. The biggest example of the use of the term beltway is in DC. Everything is 'inside the beltway' or 'outside the beltway' either geographically or politically.

[gto250us]

I will never understand why we build frontage roads along the freeways and then front them with commercial development. All of the traffic generated by the development gettting on and off the freeways cause all of the congestions. Freeways should be just that, rapid movement with a few select departure points off of the main lane.

You are exactly correct. the other problem is that Freeways are supposed to be limited access but in Houston they put in access at every major cross street. If they eliminated 2 out of every 3 ramps to the Katy Freeway between BW8 and 610 it would alot of problem, instead they invoke the ole Texas attitude "We will just make it bigger". That makes both the freeway and access road jammed. It is nothing more than poor planning by engineers who are idiots.

[kjb434]

Are you a traffic engineer?

If you reviewed the schematics you see that the new Katy Freeway layout will "spider" the ramps. The methodoloty will allow exit traffic to back up on the feeder roads long before the mainlanes feel the effects.

The cocept is already completed on westbound portions outside the beltway. When you exit Fry, you are far enough away that the cross street will not affect the mainlane traffic.

Please don't throw around insults when you don't know what you are talking about. The old exit ramp layouts were designed for the heavy volume of traffic. The new configuration begin used on the Katy has been used on other areas of Houston with great success.

[MiDTOWNeR]

Are you a traffic engineer?

If you reviewed the schematics you see that the new Katy Freeway layout will "spider" the ramps. The methodoloty will allow exit traffic to back up on the feeder roads long before the mainlanes feel the effects.

The cocept is already completed on westbound portions outside the beltway. When you exit Fry, you are far enough away that the cross street will not affect the mainlane traffic.

Please don't throw around insults when you don't know what you are talking about. The old exit ramp layouts were designed for the heavy volume of traffic. The new configuration begin used on the Katy has been used on other areas of Houston with great success.

Hey, No road rage!

[HoustonianInColorado]

Hartwell, there are not any real feeder streets that I know of in the Denver area. I think there are some similar configurations on the 6th Avenue freeway on the west side, but they are not of the Texas style, with one way feeders parallel to the main lanes.

If you drive 400-500 miles to the South, they have them in Lubbock, or perhaps even as close as Amarillo. But then, why would anyone really want to go to Lubbock or Amarillo? haha

[citykid09]

Feeders are those side roads that run along the freeway.

A beltway is basically a freeway loop around the city like the 610 loop & Beltway 8.

[supkof]

Feeder roads rock. I live in Shreveport, and most of the freeways here are feeder-less. You can drive over to just about any Texas city and see feeders, because Texas knows how to do things. We also have a loop around the city (Loop 3132) but we just call it a loop, not a Beltway. I'm not sure about other cities, but the only cities I can think of who have a loop called a "Beltway" are Houston and Washington D.C. It's a pretty catchy name, though. Our Loop 3132 was renamed the "Terry Bradshaw Passway" the other day. I know they were trying to play on the fact that Terry Bradshaw was a great QB, but come on... passway? Louisiana's a little different, folks!

But back on the subject, I love Texas' feeder roads. In the Houston area, they can get quite confusing to an out-of-towner, but I wish Shreveport (or Louisiana in general) would use them more often. If the politicians would stop lining their pockets with our tax dollars, this state would have a lot more money for our roads.

Go Texas!

[westguy]

I hate to break it to you, but Texas is not going to build any new feeder roads for any of its freeways. TXDOT is broke, and is trying to pinch pennies. Westpark Tollway is an example of the mess that is the wave of the future.

[RedScare]

I hate to break it to you, but Texas is not going to build any new feeder roads for any of its freeways. TXDOT is broke, and is trying to pinch pennies. Westpark Tollway is an example of the mess that is the wave of the future.

One can only hope.

[sevfiv]

I hate to break it to you, but Texas is not going to build any new feeder roads for any of its freeways. TXDOT is broke, and is trying to pinch pennies. Westpark Tollway is an example of the mess that is the wave of the future.

i have been reading slotboom's 'houston freeways.' so far, it seems he has put a positive spin on the progress of freeways and their expansion...blah!

[Jeebus]

i have been reading slotboom's 'houston freeways.' so far, it seems he has put a positive spin on the progress of freeways and their expansion...blah!

A positive spin in which kind of way?

Westpark Tollway is an example of the mess that is the wave of the future.

How is it "the mess that is the wave of the future"?

[sevfiv]

A positive spin in which kind of way?

more like looking at the progress, planning, improvements and such from the forties and fifties - which, of course, is true - the freeways have expanded and sort of ended up meeting some needs of an ever growing traffic population.

if memory serves, the overall report card grade for houston freeways, including planning, design, etc was about a B.

granted, improvements were greatly needed (not just a curb between oncoming lanes of traffic, lighting, more lanes, longer onramps), but i look at the potential houston freeways could have had (and in some cases may still have) to look nicer and serve needs better...

and then there's the whole rapid-transit issues (and avoidance?) from the onset of freeways in houston to today.

ah well, i am waaay out of my league here...

[westguy]

A positive spin in which kind of way?

How is it "the mess that is the wave of the future"?

Westpark is the product of pinching pennies and cutting corners at every turn. The corridor is quite wide, so they once had to opportunity to do it well. Instead they squeezed into a tight space with ramps that are substandard. Look at the ones at Post Oak, West Sam Houston Tollway, Old Westheimer, and Chimney Rock and see how they cause traffic jams for miles on the tollways and US59. To top it off, they got greedy and extended it to Ft Bend County where it is clearly unprepared for the herd of Cinco Ranch drivers.

[Jeebus]

Westpark is the product of pinching pennies and cutting corners at every turn. The corridor is quite wide, so they once had to opportunity to do it well. Instead they squeezed into a tight space with ramps that are substandard. Look at the ones at Post Oak, West Sam Houston Tollway, Old Westheimer, and Chimney Rock and see how they cause traffic jams for miles on the tollways and US59. To top it off, they got greedy and extended it to Ft Bend County where it is clearly unprepared for the herd of Cinco Ranch drivers.

You do realize that the HCTRA wasn't able to buy the tract of land next to the current freeway? METRO owns it, and is hoarding it for future commuter rail expansion - whenever that might be.

The Westpark Toll wasn't designed to be a full-fledged freeway. Once the Katy freeway opens back up (after all the construction is over) you'll see the rush hour jams go back down.

[Houstonian in Iraq]

Feeder roads rock. I live in Shreveport, and most of the freeways here are feeder-less. You can drive over to just about any Texas city and see feeders, because Texas knows how to do things. Go Texas!

Yep, I know what you mean. I never thought much of feeders whenever I went to another city until when I went to New Jersey for 5 months. Feeders are just so convient

[editor]

The first place I saw feeder roads was Wisconsin. Minnesota has them, too.

I wonder if California does. You'd think so.

[MaxConcrete]

I wonder if California does. You'd think so.

Feeders are extremely rare in California. On a recent trip I drove on at least 50% of the freeways in the Los Angeles region and the only place I found feeders was for a couple miles of the Costa Mesa Freeway (CA 55) just as it approaches its southern terminus. For that section, the main lanes were constructed in a trench relatively recently. There is also a short section of I-15 (or CA 15, I can't remember) in San Diego with frontage roads. That also is a section where depressed main lanes were recently added.

In general, frontage roads are rare outside of Texas but you can find instances of them in many or perhaps most states. California uses frontage roads even less than most other states.

[supkof]

Illinois uses them as well in many of their cities. I just think they're so convenient.

[GoAtomic]

Seems to me that frontage roads encourage ugly, ungainly retail development, at least here in unzoned Houston.

When I have visited Los Angeles in the past, I've noted that the freeways are visually much nicer and easier to drive (except when an interchange presents a traffic jam). You can go 75 for miles on end without having to deal with merging traffic.

Maybe their freeways are just a better design ...

[skwatra]

LA's freeways are visually nicer no question, but they have more interchanges/merges on their many freeways then we do.

maybe its the fact that all their freeways are 5-6 lanes, and you they never go down to two lanes like ours do, so you don't notice it there in low traffic when you're all the way on one side.

a few weeks ago, on sunday afternoon, i stood in traffic trying to merge from I-10 to 110 north, then slowed down to a stop at 101 interchange, then again a few miles later at I-5. this happened many times to us over the few days we were there.

[CE_ugh]

LA's freeways are visually nicer no question, but they have more interchanges/merges on their many freeways then we do.

maybe its the fact that all their freeways are 5-6 lanes, and you they never go down to two lanes like ours do, so you don't notice it there in low traffic when you're all the way on one side.

a few weeks ago, on sunday afternoon, i stood in traffic trying to merge from I-10 to 110 north, then slowed down to a stop at 101 interchange, then again a few miles later at I-5. this happened many times to us over the few days we were there.

It's because you drove on probably the oldest freeway in the United States.

[plumber2]

Feeder roads rock. I live in Shreveport, and most of the freeways here are feeder-less. You can drive over to just about any Texas city and see feeders, because Texas knows how to do things. We also have a loop around the city (Loop 3132) but we just call it a loop, not a Beltway. I'm not sure about other cities, but the only cities I can think of who have a loop called a "Beltway" are Houston and Washington D.C. It's a pretty catchy name, though. Our Loop 3132 was renamed the "Terry Bradshaw Passway" the other day. I know they were trying to play on the fact that Terry Bradshaw was a great QB, but come on... passway? Louisiana's a little different, folks!

But back on the subject, I love Texas' feeder roads. In the Houston area, they can get quite confusing to an out-of-towner, but I wish Shreveport (or Louisiana in general) would use them more often. If the politicians would stop lining their pockets with our tax dollars, this state would have a lot more money for our roads.

Go Texas!

Feeder roads (frontage roads) in Texas were mandated by the state on all interstate and most major highways back in the LBJ days. It was a way for all land owners to get a piece of the real estate action that these roads would bring. This mandate has been eliminated just recently by the legislature. Just one of them thangs that we are not going to miss.

[Justin]

Feeder roads (frontage roads) in Texas were mandated by the state on all interstate and most major highways back in the LBJ days. It was a way for all land owners to get a piece of the real estate action that these roads would bring. This mandate has been eliminated just recently by the legislature. Just one of them thangs that we are not going to miss.

I remembered seeing somewhere that there was discussion of doing that, but that the plan was scrapped, so I did some googling and found this from Wiki:

In 2002, the Texas Department of Transportation proposed to discontinue building frontage roads on new freeways, citing studies that suggest frontage roads increase congestion. However, this proposal was widely ridiculed and criticized and was dropped later the same year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontage_road#Texas