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Grand entries into metro areas view freeways.


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driving into providence on any of the highways is pretty cool. coming on 95 south, there's nothing but trees until you cross the line into RI and you hit central falls and pawtucket with instant density. and then you enter providence. from several miles away, on a hill just after exit 3 on 95 south in MA, you can see the providence skyline barely poking up above the trees, and at night, you can see the buildings lit up from this far.

146 south has my favorite view of the skyline just as you're entering the city.

also, route 2 east in the boston area has a great view of the boston skyline as you enter cambridge, but 93has the skyline view and then it disappears as you go into the big dig tunnels and you come out with it behind you.

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The view going down I-75 south into Detroit is nice, you get a great view of the skyline.

One that i really like is the view coming into Mackinaw City, MI. Its a super small town, but as your going north on 75 you get some awesome views of the 5 mile long Mackinaw Bridge from miles away.

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driving into providence on any of the highways is pretty cool. coming on 95 south, there's nothing but trees until you cross the line into RI and you hit central falls and pawtucket with instant density. and then you enter providence. from several miles away, on a hill just after exit 3 on 95 south in MA, you can see the providence skyline barely poking up above the trees, and at night, you can see the buildings lit up from this far.

146 south has my favorite view of the skyline just as you're entering the city.

also, route 2 east in the boston area has a great view of the boston skyline as you enter cambridge, but 93has the skyline view and then it disappears as you go into the big dig tunnels and you come out with it behind you.

The most dramatic approach to Providence has to be the Thurbers Avenue curve, on 95 north. Before the curve, the highway is closed in by being sunk below street level to the left, and by the wooded land of Roger Williams Park on the right. Suddenly, you come to a rise and round the curve, then all at once the skyline is only a mile or so right in front of you, with the midrise hospitals to the left and the port of Providence to the right. All of this had been completely hidden, except for distant glimpses of the skyline, until this moment.

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I like the vista you see when coming into Washington DC coming from the South on I-95 (it's called I-395 when you get to DC).

Yes I love that too... and I usually have to have Prince's "Free" playing when i enter the city... call me sappy.

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Entering Grand Rapids, MI via east bound I-196 will provide a signature view of the core's skyline. Coming into GR via north bound US 131 reveils density and a bit of industrial and Chicago-esque urban grit until passing through the "S-curve" where 131 crosses the Grand River. There one gets a very panaramic view of the downtown area and very nice shots of the city's tallest buildings. DT is currently undergoing a massive construction boom so 5 years from now things will be even more impressive.

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Chicago, IL has a pretty impressive one. No matter what way you take into the city, the skyline looms there. Pretty good.

I've also always liked the approach to Peoria, IL headed West out of Bloomington-Normal. You come around the bend in the mountain pass, and BOOM! You look down to a handsome downtown on the river. It's a little bit unexpected, which is why I like it.

San Francisco going over the Bay or Golden Gate Bridges are also pretty impressive.

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Would have to say Baton Rouge has 1 grand entry and 2 1/2 grand entries. The first is crossing over the

I-10 bridge(Horace Wilkinson Bridge) from the Port Allen and going nearlly 200 feet up into the air and then seeing downtown. The other entries are where I-12 merges with I-10, the lanes widen from 3 lanes to 5 and turn the corner and see the 22-story Marriott hotel, large shopping center, and other 6-8 story hotels. The third is on I-12 between Bluebonnet Boulevard and Siegen coming from Gonzales were they have recently made a rather impressive expansion for Baton Rouge.When getting to the Siegen Lane there is a big shopping center and farther down the interstate on Bluebonnet Boulevard you the see the Mall of Louisiana.

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hmm well the were i live winnipeg does not realy have any freeways just streets with 4 lanes on both sides of the meadium..

this cuts right threw my nirborhood consists of 2 bridges one going over the red river and the other going over the train tracks

was built in the late 50's early 60's. it was phase one of a freewaysystem that never got built Thank god to cause it would of made a mess

route 42 the disreali

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from the narin over pass route 37

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from highway 59 aka route 20 closest thing we have to a real freeway

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I think the best grand entry into the Atlanta metro area are:

I-85 southbound near the US 316 interchange in Gwinnett County. The freeway here suddenly gets really wide and the traffic congestion begins and the pace speeds up. There are these light poles that stand around this interchange that almost seems to define the beginning of the freeway zone with lighting.

I-75 southbound after the I-575 interchange in Cobb County.

I-20 on the east and west sides of Atlanta one can

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When you enter Wilmington, Delaware from the South on I-95 you get a great view of the city just as you come around the bend from the split with I-495. For a brief moment, the highway is slightly elevated and you can view the entire skyline from across the marshes surrounding the Christina River. You can really get a sense of the redeveloping Riverfront, the old industrial brownlands, the AMTRAK Northeast Corridor tracks, the working class neighborhoods of Browntown and Hedgeville, and the more affluent Hills beyond.

Entering the City from the North on I-95 is another story. You get a glimpse of the city from I-95 as you approach US 202 but because the City Limits follow I-95, you aren't technically in the city. There is agreat view of P.S. DuPont Elementary School though. Then you are thrust into Brandywine Park and the Piedmont surrounding the Brandywine River, you don't even know you are in a city until you cross the Brandywine River Bridge and are thrust into the middle of Downtown. Soon thereafter, the highway cuts through a hill and you can't see anything, you're soon out again and soaring above Fourth Street and the Riverfront before diving again once more into the Christina Marshes. This is because the highway stays flat even though it runs over severy valleys and through a few hills.

I miss upstate Delaware :cry:

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There's a pretty impressive entrance into Asheville, NC (Yeah, I know, it's not exactly Pittsburgh) as you head west on I-240 through the Beaucatcher Cut. You're driving by strip malls, wal-marts, and 1960s motor lodges, then through the cut, and bam, you're in the middle of downtown.

The effect would have been even better if they had stuck with the idea to build the cut as a tunnel in the late 1970s. The cut plan won out not because it was cheaper (it was more expensive than the tunnel) but because it made future widening less expensive, and maintenence would be less costly.

I secretly harbor a hope that decades from now, people will realize how hideously ugly this cut is, and somehow rebuild the mountain (all 279 feet of it that were blasted away to make the highway.) Maybe they could build a structure of some sort in the cut and cover it with dirt to match the original contour. Talk about a "green" building! ha ha. I'm just waiting on the two billion dollars needed to make it happen.

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