Bad on Purpose, Weird Highways

When Interstate 70 passes through Breezewood, Pennsylvania, it starts to look like a plate of spaghetti. There's a two-mile loop through the town that could be eliminated with a simple interchange, but if it were, that would also eliminate a large source of income for the city. The issue has been a source of a lot of frustration, "Many other drivers vent similar — often profane — anger and confusion about this notorious choke point," Charlie Savage Reports for the New York Times.

Savage suggests that eliminating this frustration could be a target for some of the infrastructure budget that the Trump Administration promised during the campaign. "The trucking industry would save as much as 142,362 hours in driver time and $9 million in operating costs every year. Add to that the time and money savings for car drivers, to say nothing of eliminating the unnecessary carbon dioxide emissions from the fuel that both types of vehicles burn to travel the extra distance," Savage writes. There have been many proposals in the past to put in the interchange but past politicians couldn't overcome resistance from the stakeholders that profit from the highway slowdown in the city of Breezewood, whether or not the Trump Administration will take on the challenge is yet to be seen.