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Because the interstate system (I-70) was designed using central planning. Routing north through Manhattan would have made the highway longer, and thus less eff

by bduerst 11y ago

Because the interstate system (I-70) was designed using central planning. Routing north through Manhattan would have made the highway longer, and thus less effective for interstate travel.

jessaustin 11y ago
Are you really claiming the current route is a good thing? There is literally nothing in the 60 miles between Topeka and Fort Riley. The geography is a gently rolling plain, that favors no particular route over any other. Manhattan is the site of one of the two universities in Kansas of which anyone outside the state has ever heard. Passing through Manhattan would have added about five miles to the road, would have been an added convenience for tens of thousands of drivers every year, and would have saved the later cost of improvements to the various high-traffic roads linking Manhattan to the rest of the highway system. If this is the great work of "central planners", they can keep it.
- lotharbot 11y ago
  I-80 does the same thing most of the way across Nebraska -- it goes through Omaha and Lincoln, and then it misses everything else by 3-5 miles. It creates this weird dichotomy in places like Lexington, where most of the town is far away, but there's a huge cluster of businesses being built next to the interstate. It's often not even a shorter route; compare I-80 to US-30 in that area. There are a lot of things to love about the Interstate highway system, but it's not always the superior choice.
  - jessaustin 11y ago
    I haven't spent much time in Nebraska, but is it possible that Omaha and Lincoln were originally the same as the other places, and now they've just grown enough to fill in the gaps? If all this hadn't happened so long ago, it would be interesting to see who owned land adjacent to the interstate exits when the interstates routes were decided.
    - lotharbot 11y ago
      that might be true of Lincoln. The interstate still barely touches the outskirts. But it runs right through Omaha (I-29 misses it to the east.)

by bduerst 11y ago

Because the interstate system (I-70) was designed using central planning. Routing north through Manhattan would have made the highway longer, and thus less effective for interstate travel.

jessaustin 11y ago

Are you really claiming the current route is a good thing? There is literally nothing in the 60 miles between Topeka and Fort Riley. The geography is a gently rolling plain, that favors no particular route over any other. Manhattan is the site of one of the two universities in Kansas of which anyone outside the state has ever heard. Passing through Manhattan would have added about five miles to the road, would have been an added convenience for tens of thousands of drivers every year, and would have saved the later cost of improvements to the various high-traffic roads linking Manhattan to the rest of the highway system. If this is the great work of "central planners", they can keep it.

lotharbot 11y ago
I-80 does the same thing most of the way across Nebraska -- it goes through Omaha and Lincoln, and then it misses everything else by 3-5 miles. It creates this weird dichotomy in places like Lexington, where most of the town is far away, but there's a huge cluster of businesses being built next to the interstate. It's often not even a shorter route; compare I-80 to US-30 in that area. There are a lot of things to love about the Interstate highway system, but it's not always the superior choice.
- jessaustin 11y ago
  I haven't spent much time in Nebraska, but is it possible that Omaha and Lincoln were originally the same as the other places, and now they've just grown enough to fill in the gaps? If all this hadn't happened so long ago, it would be interesting to see who owned land adjacent to the interstate exits when the interstates routes were decided.
  - lotharbot 11y ago
    that might be true of Lincoln. The interstate still barely touches the outskirts. But it runs right through Omaha (I-29 misses it to the east.)