Sprol

This freeway coming up from the southeast ends in mid-air, like the freeway from The Blues Brothers. Not even Evil Knievil would attempt this leap. Coming across the Betsy Ross Bridge from New Jersey, this strange and unusual interchange was constructed to be part of the “Five-Mile-Loop,” which would have connected US 1 with 90 and 95. This would have created an “inner loop” around the downtown core of Philadelphia. It remains unbuilt.

The freeway was originally accepted and slated for completion by 1975, but rising costs and political opposition caused the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to halt funding for all new highway projects in July of 1977. It remains as some kind of weird monument, a prefigured bridge to nowhere.

As planned, the freeway would have bisected several neighborhoods, cemeteries and parks with a tremendous concrete freeway. As it is, the roads and bridges in Pennsylvania are in a state of serious disrepair, with a total repair bill of $6.5 billion. Too much. Not going to happen.

It’s a fairly accurate estimate though. They’ve got bumper mounted lasers and downward-pointing video cameras at PennDOT, and they survey every road and bridge in Pennsylvania every two years. That’s a lot of driving– over 40,000 miles of roadway. Completely surveyed and rated. In a huge database somewhere, presumably.

Enough driving to circumnavigate the globe one and a half times over. Every two years. Full road defect information.

Not enough money to make the repairs.

All of these roads constitute areas of impervious surface, with microclimates like little deserts. The total impervious surface area (ISA) in the United States, including rooftops, parking lots, streets and roads, within the lower 48 adds up to about the size of Ohio. That’s an area greater than the amount of wetlands found in the contiguous United States.

"ISA alters the shape of stream channels, raises the water temperature, and sweeps urban debris and pollutants into aquatic environments. It also increases the frequency and magnitude of surface runoff events. These effects lead to reduced biodiversity and degradation of wetlands and riparian zones. According to the article, these effects are measurable once impervious surfaces cover 10 percent of a watershed’s surface area." Colorado NPS Connection

With 10,000 miles of new roads being constructed every year, we continue to gradually pave over the United States. More impervious surface. More roads to maintain.

Crawling along the surface of the earth in lines, like ants.

Paving the lines over, then re-paving them after each winter’s freeze-and-thaw cycle seeps through the cracks in the concrete.

This image shows the city of Philadelphia. South of the river is New Jersey. You can see how the freeway that was never built would have cut right through the city’s core, largely for the benefit of commuters in outlying regions.