Richmond-Wilmington(DE) Bypass

[Jerseyman4]

This is all for fun and hypothetical discussion. Heres what i came up with:

The Mid-Atlantic Turnpike as I would call it, the exits would be very minimial to minimize sprawl from the metro areas being bypassed, similar to the NJ Turnpike.

Any suggestions, ideas, comments are encouraged:

The interchanges listed would be:

Exit 1 - I-85 in Dinwiddie

Exit 2 - I-95/I-295 in Petersburg

Overlap with I-295

Exit 3 - I-295 departure south of Hopewell

Exit 4 - I-64 southwest of West Point

Exit 5 - US 17 near Urbanna

Exit 6 - US 360 east of Warsaw

Enter Maryland (CROSS BRIDGE)

Exit 7 - MD 235 east of Leonardtown

CROSS BRIDGE

CROSS BRIDGE

Exit 8 - US 50 north of Cambridge

Overlap with US 50

Exit 9 - US 50 departure/MD 404

Exit 10 - US 301 near Centreville

Overlap US 301

Enter Delaware

Exit 11 - US 301 departure west of Middletown

Exit 12 - DE 1 north of Odessa

Overlap DE 1

Exit 13 - Departure DE 1 north of the Delaware-Chesapeake Canal

CROSS BRIDGE, Enter New Jersey

Exit 14 - I-295/US 40/NJ Turnpike at Pennsville

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Lanes: Truck&Car Lanes/Car lanes/Car Lanes/Truck& Car Lanes

Exit 1 to 2 {sodEmoji.{sodEmoji.|}} 2-2 (2 in each direction), enough ROW for a 2-2-2-2 configuration (if needed)

Exits 2 to 8 {sodEmoji.{sodEmoji.|}} 3-3 (3 in each direction), enough ROW for a 2-3-3-2 configuration (if needed)

Exits 8 to 13 {sodEmoji.{sodEmoji.|}} 3-3 (3 in each direction), enough ROW for 3-3-3-3 configuration (if needed)

Exit 13 to 14 {sodEmoji.{sodEmoji.|}} 3-3 (3 in each direction), enough ROW for 3-4-4-3 configuration (if needed)

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Service areas would be located at:

Between Richmond and the MD state line

Between Centreville and Cambridge

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Toll

The toll system would be $20 to travel the entire highway, $1.50 per exit. EZ-Pass and electronic tolling would be applied, no toll personnel and it would be all high speed toll lanes. Motorists with no ez-pass are mailed a bill every month to where the car is registered.

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Speed Limit:

70mph along the entire length. Maximium speed limit is 80mph if the state approves.

Cannot be posted below 60mph*T at normal conditions.

The minimum speed limit cannot be motorized below 50mph in the 70 zone

The minimum speed limit cannot be motorized below 40mph in the 60 zone

The speed limit is electronic so it can be changed at any time if weather permits or construction*

T=Weather speed limit cannot be below 40mph but can be traveled as low as 10mph if necessary

T= Construction speed limit cannot be below 10mph but can be traveled as low as 1mph if necessary

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Laws:

State laws apply 100% on the highway but additional rules apply along the Turnpike, such as:

You cannot drive in the passing lane at all, it must be used for passing only.

Left shoulder cannot be used to pull over during any emergency, use right shoulder only.

Car repairs must be done by a bridge or as close as possible

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Misc:

Full left and right shoulders are always provided throughout the entire highway system, including bridges.

Interchanges are to be trumpet to trumpet only

Service areas are to be along the right side of the highway only

Exits off the highway are to be always from the right. NO LEFT EXITS are allowed.

Signage must be FHWA Series Font at all times. Contractors screwing up signage of any way or misplacement should be fined at the highest extent possible

The Mid Atlantic Turnpike oversees the maintience of the highway; the toll money pays for the highway and repaying the loans of building the highway.

Service area revenues are to help maintain the facilities and the remainder of the revenue goes to highway maintience and repaying the loans of building the highway

Police/Fire/EMT vary by town, county, state and/or authority wherever the highway traverses through. Many official-only entrances are provided at less significant highways that cross over with no interchange.

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And last, the highway map. Please note that i may have done slightly different alignments and missed an interchange or two but its fairly consistent otherwise.

Yellow: New highway

Red: Existening highway

Blue: Interchange

[e2ksj3]

Nice map and a good idea IMO! An eastern bypass would really cut down on congestion along I-95 in Northern Virginia and Maryland, since a lot of that traffic is just passing through the area.

Tolling the road would be a good idea, in helping the states pay for construction and maintance. I would reduce the number of interchanges even more so if the facility would have service centers like the one's found on parts of I-95 in MD and on the NJ Turnpike, and there would be no need to put service stations and other types of fastfood developments at interchanges in rural areas of the Chespeake Bay.

[MadVlad]

Don't you think $20 to drive down a road is extreme?

[Jerseyman4]

Don't you think $20 to drive down a road is extreme?

200+ miles of asphalt (6 travel lanes, left/right full shoulders), Highway right-of-way is 500 feet, 4 bridge crossings, Right of way aquistion to buy up property, full service areas for food/gas/lodging, repaying bonds and the interest rates that carry with it

Then theres the existening I-95 where 7 out of 10 times, you'll be stopping and going at some point between Richmond and Wilmington. A bypass of the mid-atlantic cities is feasible because the recreational traffic volumes are year round to the Carolinas and Florida. Truck traffic also benefits because money is time, time is money. The highway construction can spark new jobs and economic activity along the corridor thus helping to improve the US economy thats not doing very well. Its a toll facility so if someone wants to pay for time savings, they will pay.

$20 is reasonable because in North Carolina, they tried to charge a $18 toll on all of I-95 along its 182 mile trek through the state to widenen the highway to 8 lanes from 4 lanes.

Its 10 cents a mile which equals to $20 to travel the entire length. Going from exit to exit, the toll is charged at $1.50 normally, maybe more or less depending on the distance from Exit A to Exit B.

[Hotlanta]

It's worth it and I would support it, heck you waste almost a whole tank of gas when you're stuck in traffic up in the DC metro.

[Cotuit]

There's a proposal for the so-called Interstate 101 to utilize the DE Turnpike, US 13, and US 64, to Raleigh.

[Hotlanta]

See this.

[ray2]

i think your concept is excellent. however this would be best if implementedon an even grander scale. i feel the east coast reeeeaaaalllyyy needs an interstate corridor parallel to the east of I95 from delaware to florida. that would truly generate jobs and serve to promote development in a vast swath of underdeveloped territory. I just dont see how, fifty years from now, I95 ... one road ... can carry the entirety of the east coast's traffic. your connector is a fantastic means of shunting peidmont carolinas truck traffic to the northeast without having to deal with the inevitable balwash gridlock.