Interstate 35

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A while back, some of us here were considering starting a transportation forum. This would be a good entry there, if it existed.

I have always wondered something about Interstate 35 (in the U.S.)

In the Dallas-Ft. Worth area and the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, I-35 splits into I-35W and I-35E.

Why is this done in these two places, yet in other places, similar situations would constitute a spur (and giving a I-135, I-335, etc designation)?

Tim

Problably because they are large cities and none of them totally trumps the other city in influence.

Dallas can easily trump Fort Worth. Minneapolis and St. Paul, on the other hand, are of equal size.

Incidentally, in the Twin Cities, the economy and sociocultural life is centered around the Mall of America (in Bloomington), which is neither on 35W nor 35E, but rather on Interstate 494.

Tim

AASHTO eliminated all of the other 'NSEW' I-routes many years ago, but the two I-35Es and I-35Ws survive because of the two 'twin cities' metro areas that I-35 passes through.

The I-494 'Bloomington Strip' area in Minnesota is a major business corridor, but IMHO, DT Minneapolis is still the #2 commerce center for the upper midwest (behind DT Chicago). DT Saint Paul is the area's main cultural center. Interestingly, though, Saint Paul is the more politically conservative side of the metro.

One more note, I-35E is closed to big-rig trucks ('lorries' for the Brits in the crowd) between I-94 and MN 5 right by the Minnesota River bridge on Saint Paul's southwest side. It had something to do with placating the NIMBY crowd in the area in order to get the road built. It also has a reduced speed limit (about 70 km/h). It is a NEAT drive, though, and I love cruising the freeways in that metro area.

Mike

Yes, I would like a Transportation forum also.

The nomenclature has changed over the years, as Wisguy points out.