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Posted By: Faldage Speaking of a can of worms - 10/29/03 06:15 PM
Last weekend on Weekend Radio, the bard of Plano, TX, Richard Howland Bolton ranted about various highway peculiarities, naming the Can of Worms, Spaghetti Junction and the Octopus. The lovely AnnaS and I could think of an example of each of these from our joint experience and it occurred to us that these names must be very common. Can any of y'all think of examples? I know of the Can of Worms in Rochester, NY and the Octopus in Ithaca, NY; AnnaS contributed Spaghetti Junction in Atlanta, GA, and I'm sure I've heard of one elsewhere.

Posted By: shanks Re: Speaking of a can of worms - 10/29/03 06:41 PM
The mass (mess?) of motorways outside Birmingham, UK, is usually referred to as spaghetti junction. Can't help you with the others.

Of course, this may not be authoritative, since I've heard from different sources, all speaking 'authoritatively' that Chris Rea's 'Road to Hell' is

1) the M25 (London Orbital)
2) the M4 (London to Bristol and further)
3) the M6 (London to the North)

and I'm sure Rea did not speak to Roads to Hell, unless London was Hell for him (which is also possible, I suppose, given that the most affectionate nick-names for it are the Smoke, and the Wen)...

cheer

the sunshine "not quite Cockney" warrior

Posted By: Father Steve Re: Speaking of a can of worms - 10/29/03 08:58 PM

The Schuykill Expressway between the Pennsylvania Turnpike and the Walt Whitman Bridge is known to locals as the Sure Kill Crawl-Way, in honour of the number of fatalities which occur there.




Posted By: of troy Re: Speaking of a can of worms - 10/30/03 12:28 AM
well i know the 'can of worms' in Rochester, but TripleA (american automobile ass.) rates the intersection of I-91 and I-95 in Hartford Ct. as one of the worst bits of roadway in america-- but i don't know if it has a name.

the 'bruckner interchange'* (were bruckner expressway, cross bronx expressway/(I-95)/New England thruway and the two access roads to the queens bridges(ThroggsNeck and Whitestone) all come together doesn't have a name, but its triple A's 'hot spot #2'.

none of NYC interchanges/trouble spots have a name (like can of worm) that i can think of...but there are some doozies.
(another that come to mind in NYS is the 'the hawthorn traffic circle' in putnam county--a well know trouble spot!)

*the bruckner interchange is notorious enough to have been the subject of a best selling book back in the 1980's--Will They Ever Complete Bruckner Blvd?

Most interesting in NYC is the problems caused by out of state truckers who mistakenly get on a parkway (no truck permitted on Parkways) many parkways have low bridges.. this morning there was a major tie-up when a truck going along at a clip (speed limit/55PMH or so) hit a 9ft overpass, and turned over, and managed to block all 3 lanes of traffic!(it made the news, needless to say!)

Posted By: consuelo Re: Speaking of a can of worms - 10/30/03 03:43 AM
There is an area about three miles from downtown El Paso, Texas [visible from my hospital room while I was in isolation for 3 weeks with nothing else to do but watch the cars go by] informally called the Spaghetti Bowl. Several highways come together there and go all cattiwampus. Not much fun for those going through for the first time. See map
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/refreshmap.adp?z=6&rand=7707

Posted By: Capfka Re: Speaking of a can of worms - 10/30/03 10:44 AM
Spaghetti Junction outside Birmingham, West Midlands, has gotta be one of the worst. Here're some piccies:

http://images.google.com/images?q=Birmingham+"Spaghetti+Junction"&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search

Look at 'em and weep. I did when I had to use it ...

Posted By: dodyskin Re: Speaking of a can of worms - 10/31/03 02:47 PM
must be my browser or sumfink, I got 65,000 pictures of Birmingham, in case anyone else has the same problems here's another link to the same thing (probably)http://snurl.com/2skc

Posted By: Capfka Re: 65,000 pictures of Birmingham - 11/04/03 09:01 PM
Boy, how lucky can you get?

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