My fellow Codexian, Floris Kleijne, recently blogged about armpits of the world. Those are the wasted empty spaces around freeway interchanges. Floris is European, and I have seen some European freeways. They resemble the Skyway in south Chicago. Here is his discussion.
Now, I’ve seen some pretty crummy freeway interchanges, but we do things a little bit different here in the valley of the sun. Our freeway interchanges are not armpits of the world.
Behold these pictures from Google Earth. Click on the pictures to enlarge them. You won’t get the true details from the small photos. Key word is details.
Loop 101 and Cactus Road
Loop 101 and Indian School Road
Loop 101 and Thomas Road
Loop 101 and McKellips Road
This is how we do a freeway interchange (including a river bridge).
Loop 101 and Loop 202 near the Salt River.
Loop 202 and the Hohokam Expressway.
That’s how freeways should be done. The ground-level details are really done nicely, too. I’ll try to carry my camera around for a few days and snap some ground-level photos.
Rick, it’s a great idea to take some pics. I’ve been to Phoenix, and it is strange to say, but my very first impression while driving around the place was, wow, this is what highways should look like.
People have no idea. In Phoenix, the highways are like works of art. They are beautiful.
Then I came back to the Chicago area and just got depressed. I think Chicago has THE ugliest, most dismal, most screwed-up roadways in the country.
Alas, if only cacti grew in Chicago.
I’m green with envy. But this does inspire an idea: how about tattooing and hair styles for armpits?