# Widest highways in the world which pass through or next to the CBD



## Jasonhouse (Jul 27, 2002)

mopc said:


> In *Sao Paulo* there are some pretty ultra dense CBDs near some serious freeways, which are not that wide because it's on both sides of the river.


Egad... I wonder why they did that massive bridge tower like that. More of an eyesore really, and it had to raise costs way up.


----------



## Ryme Intrinseca (Aug 3, 2016)

Jasonhouse said:


> Egad... I wonder why they did that massive bridge tower like that. More of an eyesore really, and it had to raise costs way up.


It may look cosmetic but the tower is the main load-bearing structure in a cable-stayed bridge like this. It looks like quite a long span so a CSB may have been the most economic option. And I personally think it looks quite nice


----------



## mopc (Jan 31, 2005)

^^ Yes, that's what I was about to say. Many people offered the same criticism as our fellow forumer above, which seems quite appropriate, but many experts confirmed that the stay cable bridge is not overdimensioned for this case, and was actually the smartest choice.


They say it is the only double stay cable bridge in the world - in the sense that there are two bridges held by the cables and tower. It is called Octavio Frias bridge and opened in 2008.


----------



## mopc (Jan 31, 2005)

The multi-level-ness of the bridge gives the site an Über-urban density feel that I happen to like sometimes:











There is another cable-stayed bridge along Sao Paulo's riverside freeways, called Orestes Quercia, but there is no CBD near it.


----------



## KIWIKAAS (May 13, 2003)

Melbourne



mic said:


>


----------



## Jasonhouse (Jul 27, 2002)

Ryme Intrinseca said:


> It may look cosmetic but the tower is the main load-bearing structure in a cable-stayed bridge like this. It looks like quite a long span so a CSB may have been the most economic option. And I personally think it looks quite nice


I've done both civil and structural engineering professionally, most recently working as an estimator/project manager. I would seriously have to see evidence that this design was cheapest to believe it.


----------



## ssiguy2 (Feb 19, 2005)

Canadian cities seem to have escaped the mania of downtown freeways that plague some US & Australian cities. 

We certainly have urban freeways but most were never built. Montreal's Ville Marie AutoRoute was built downtown as a tunnel, Toronto's Gardiner Expressway was built elevated on new reclaimed land built beside the lake for industry so didn't divide anything but now they are unsure of what to do with it as the industry is gone and condos are everywhere with the Gardiner as a real barrier. Calgary/Edm/Ott/Van/Winn have no downtown freeways. Vancouverites managed to stop a the Chinatown freeway in the 60s as did Torontonians with the Spadina Expressway. 

American cities had massive downtown freeways that were built half for transportation and half to destroy black neighbourhoods. Why Australia built them I'm not sure although Australian cities, outside the downtown, tend to be very sprawled with km after km of low density single family homes.


----------



## Kanadzie (Jan 3, 2014)

^^ and consequently Toronto centrum traffic is insane so they built a new downtown in Mississauga surrounded by freeways


----------



## RV (Oct 23, 2007)

In Finland, the widest ones are found near downtown Espoo (12 lanes, with a frontage street it makes 15, on road 51) and Ring I through a dense area called Leppävaara (also Espoo), 10 to 12 lanes. Both are located just 2-3 Km from downtown Helsinki and both are designed with multiple carriageways.

Moscow's MKAD should surely be fully four-carriageway. As I understand the plans are only partial, merging lanes on main junctions and some short sections with four carriageways in some places where the road is specially crappy. As the busiest expressway in Europe, it should be fully rebuilt just as all other roads in Moscow are now being upgraded; why don't they do anything about it?


----------



## OulaL (May 2, 2012)

RV said:


> In Finland, the widest ones are found near downtown Espoo (12 lanes, with a frontage street it makes 15, on road 51) and Ring I through a dense area called Leppävaara (also Espoo), 10 to 12 lanes. Both are located just 2-3 Km from downtown Helsinki and both are designed with multiple carriageways.


I wouldn't call either a CBD. In fact, I wouldn't even use the words "Downtown Espoo" for any location at all. Espoo centre, meaning the place where city administrative institutions are located, is quite plain-looking suburb for Helsinki anyway. Not much different from, say, Malmi, despite Espoo being the second-largest city in its own right. If someone in Espoo speaking the English language uses the word "downtown", it means Helsinki centre.

As for answering the question of this topic, the widest in Finland is 3 through Hämeenlinna centre. 2+2 or partially 2+3 with a speed limit of 80/100 km/h (varying). :lol:


----------



## weava (Sep 8, 2007)

Jasonhouse said:


> I've done both civil and structural engineering professionally, most recently working as an estimator/project manager. I would seriously have to see evidence that this design was cheapest to believe it.


As another engineer, cable stay bridges can have cost savings over other bridges as they are lighter, have less piers to construct, etc. 

http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(1998)124:11(1359)


----------

