Crossroads at the bottom of the Atlantic

More recently, the list of unusual road junctions has been replenished with an underwater intersection at a depth of 180 meters. It arose during the construction of a tunnel with the unpronounceable name Esturoyartunnlinn, which connects part of the Faroe Islands. The opening of the tunnel for civilian vehicles is scheduled for the end of this year.

Spiral bridge in Shanghai

And this is the Nanpu Bridge, opened in December 1991. It quickly became one of the attractions of Shanghai. But it’s not about the eight-kilometer length. After all, there is a bridge in Shanghai that is even more longer.

The highlight of the bridge is its ramp, which, according to the idea of the architect Holger S. Svensson, resembles the coiled tail of a dragon. Additional roads adjoin this “tail” at different levels, which provide the bridge with an impressive capacity: more than 120 thousand cars pass through it every day.

The maximum roadway height of the bridge is 46 meters above the ground, so people with height phobia and weak vestibular apparatus are better off looking for a detour.

Gibraltar airport

Located at the foot of the Rock of Gibraltar, the airport of the same name cannot boast of a large passenger traffic, but it stands out with a striking feature: its runway literally crosses the highway, thereby providing the most unusual transport interchange in the world.

A similar intersection functioned normally until the end of 2018, until the long-promised bypass routes were completed. Now only special equipment (police cars, ambulances, firefighters and airport services), as well as pedestrians, are allowed straight through the two-kilometer runway. But they still need to wait for the permission signal of the traffic light, so as not to catch an obstacle on the right in the form of some Boeing or Sesna.

“Magic crossroads”

This engineering masterpiece emerged in the early 1970s in Swindon, a major British city near Bristol. Technically, it consists of five islets for a circular movement that surround a large central island.

The interchange got its name in honor of the children’s TV show of the same name, which aired on British television in the late 1960s. The “magic” of the intersection lies not only in its complex structure, but also in the fact that traffic in relation to the “great circle” moves both clockwise and counterclockwise, which is not typical for roundabouts.

The opinions of local residents about such a denouement were divided. Someone considers it very convenient, where there are never traffic jams, and someone thinks that the intersection is unnecessarily complicated and confusing. By the way, copycats have already appeared at the “magic intersection” in other cities of Great Britain.

Spaghetti Interchange in Birmingham

Multilevel interchanges have become the norm for most metropolitan areas. It all started with her – Gravelly Hill Interchange, also known as “Spaghetti”. After all, it once became the first SKD car interchange in the world.

The idea to build this young driver’s hell came about in the late 1950s. When the project was brought up for public hearing, Birmingham Mail journalist Roy Smith called the denouement “Spaghetti”, and this unofficial name stuck.

Construction of the junction connecting Aston Expressway to Gravely Hill began in 1968. Four years later, and almost £ 10 million, the road was opened. 6 levels, 18 directions and 560 columns that support this giant … Skip one exit, and exciting adventures for half a day are guaranteed.

Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange

If you’ve watched the films Speed ​​and La la Land, and played Grand Theft Auto San Andreas and V, then you will surely recognize this multi-level junction located in South Los Angeles. It still terrifies inattentive drivers not only with its five-level design and decent height (up to 40 meters), but also with an abundance of forks and signs in which it is easy to get confused.

The junction was formed at the intersection of I-105 and I-110, and the rest were branches leading to different areas of the city. However, the junction, which was completed in 1993, was so massive that there was room for a metro line, bus stops, dedicated lanes for trucks and other infrastructure like connecting elevator levels.

The junction got its name in honor of the federal judge, by whose decision the construction of the road junction began.

Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson
You won't believe it, I'm native Scotsman. Enthusiast. Car lovers. Almost finished rebuilding my Reliant Saber
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