Mini Stack
Encyclopedia
The Mini Stack is the freeway interchange
Stack interchange
A stack interchange is a free-flowing grade separated junction between two roads.In countries where one drives on the right, left turns are handled by semi-directional flyover/under ramps...

 among Interstate 10
Interstate 10 in Arizona
In the U.S. state of Arizona, Interstate 10, the major east–west Interstate Highway in the southern United States, runs east from California, enters Arizona and continues through Phoenix and Tucson and exits at the border with New Mexico.-Route description:...

, State Route 51, and Loop 202
Arizona State Route 202
State Route 202, or Loop 202, is the beltway encompassing the eastern Phoenix, Arizona, United States Metropolitan area. It navigates and surrounds the cities of Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, and Gilbert, making it very vital to the area freeway system...

 in Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, located northeast of downtown
Downtown Phoenix
Downtown Phoenix is the central business district of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is located near the geographic center of the Phoenix metropolitan area or Valley of the Sun. Phoenix, being the county seat of Maricopa County and the capital of Arizona, serves as the center of politics,...

. Reconstructed in 2004 to its current setup, the interchange
Stack interchange
A stack interchange is a free-flowing grade separated junction between two roads.In countries where one drives on the right, left turns are handled by semi-directional flyover/under ramps...

, which is the busiest in the state of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

 with over 300,000 vehicles per day, provides full directional access between the three freeways as well as HOV lane connections for southbound SR 51 to eastbound I-10, westbound Loop 202 to westbound I-10, and eastbound I-10 to eastbound Loop 202.

Description

The interchange constitutes exits 147A, 147B, and 147C on Interstate 10
Interstate 10 in Arizona
In the U.S. state of Arizona, Interstate 10, the major east–west Interstate Highway in the southern United States, runs east from California, enters Arizona and continues through Phoenix and Tucson and exits at the border with New Mexico.-Route description:...

; exits 1 and 1A on Route 51; and exit 1A on Loop 202
Arizona State Route 202
State Route 202, or Loop 202, is the beltway encompassing the eastern Phoenix, Arizona, United States Metropolitan area. It navigates and surrounds the cities of Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, and Gilbert, making it very vital to the area freeway system...

. The Mini Stack serves as the western terminus of Loop 202's Red Mountain Freeway segment and the southern terminus of the Piestewa
Lori Piestewa
SPC Lori Ann Piestewa was a U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps soldier killed during the same Iraqi Army attack in which fellow soldiers Shoshana Johnson and Jessica Lynch sustained injuries. A member of the Hopi tribe, Piestewa was the first Native American woman in history to die in combat while...

 Freeway, or Route 51.

Interstate 10
Interstate 10 in Arizona
In the U.S. state of Arizona, Interstate 10, the major east–west Interstate Highway in the southern United States, runs east from California, enters Arizona and continues through Phoenix and Tucson and exits at the border with New Mexico.-Route description:...

, the only through-route in this interchange
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...

, changes cardinal direction
Cardinal direction
The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the directions of north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials: N, E, S, W. East and west are at right angles to north and south, with east being in the direction of rotation and west being directly opposite. Intermediate...

 as it passes through the Mini Stack, heading from north to west for westbound travelers (where it is locally referred to as the Papago Freeway) and east to south for eastbound travelers (known locally as the Maricopa Freeway).

Delays

In a 2007 study performed by Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...

, the Mini Stack ranked number four in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in terms of delays with 22 million hours of delays each year. It was behind only Los Angeles' US 101 and I-405
Interstate 405 (California)
Interstate 405 is a major north–south Interstate Highway in Southern California. It is a bypass of Interstate 5, running along the western areas of the Greater Los Angeles Area from Irvine in the south to near San Fernando in the north...

 interchange in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Houston's I-610
Interstate 610 (Texas)
Interstate 610 is a freeway that forms a forty-two-mile loop around the downtown sector of city of Houston, Texas. Interstate 610, colloquially known as "The Loop", "Loop 610", "The 610 Loop", or just "610", traditionally marks the border between the inner city of Houston and its surrounding areas...

 and I-10
Interstate 10 in Texas
Interstate 10 is the major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. In the U.S. state of Texas, it runs east from El Paso, near the border with New Mexico, through San Antonio and Houston to the border with Louisiana in Orange, Texas....

 interchange in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, and Chicago's I-90
Interstate 90 in Illinois
In the U.S. state of Illinois, Interstate 90 runs roughly northwest through the northern end of the state, from the Indiana border to Wisconsin. I-90 traverses a variety of settings, from farmland west of the Fox River Valley to medium-density suburban west of O'Hare International Airport, to the...

/I-94
Interstate 94 in Illinois
In the U.S. state of Illinois, Interstate 94 generally runs north–south through the northeastern portion of the state, in Lake and Cook Counties. It is marked east–west in Illinois in accordance with its general alignment across the country, although some entrances on the Tri-State...

 and I-290
Interstate 290 (Illinois)
Interstate 290 is a main Interstate freeway that runs westwards from the Chicago Loop. A portion of I-290 is officially called the Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway. In short form, it is known as "the Ike" or the Eisenhower...

 interchange in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

.

See also

  • Loop 202
    Arizona State Route 202
    State Route 202, or Loop 202, is the beltway encompassing the eastern Phoenix, Arizona, United States Metropolitan area. It navigates and surrounds the cities of Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, and Gilbert, making it very vital to the area freeway system...

  • State Route 51
  • The Stack
    The Stack
    The Stack is a colloquialism used to describe the symmetrical, four-level stack interchange in Downtown Phoenix in the U.S. state of Arizona that facilitates movements between Interstate 17/U.S...

  • SuperRedTan Interchange
    SuperRedTan Interchange
    The SuperRedTan Interchange is a symmetrical four-level freeway interchange in eastern Mesa, Arizona. Completed in 2007, the interchange provides access between U.S. Route 60 and Loop 202. It is fully directional, meaning that a motorist traveling towards the interchange in any direction can exit...


External links

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