“The Beast,” “The Octopus,” or “East Delay” just east of downtown LA – Source: maps.google.com
Below are the humorous names given to complicated freeway interchanges. The most common terms tend to be “Spaghetti Junction” (20), “Spaghetti Bowl” (6), “Malfunction Junction” (8), or “Mixing Bowl/Mixmaster” (8). Frankly, I’m surprised no one has nicknamed a complicated interchange “Dysfunction Junction,” the “Merge and Purge,” “Fender Blender,” the “Concrete Bungle,” “Motormaze,” or “The Clash.”
Other interchanges have nicknames, such as “The Stack,” but those were felt to be more descriptive than humorous. If you know of other humorous nicknames that were missed, please feel free to pass them on for inclusion on this list. Peace!
AUSTRALIA
New South Wales
Light Horse Interchange (M4 & M7) in Sydney – “Spaghetti Junction”
Queensland
M3 & M7 in Brisbane – “Spaghetti Junction”
Victoria
Springvale Junction in Melbourne – “Spaghetti Junction”
BOTSWANA
Thapama Junction (A1 & A3) in Francistown – “Spaghetti Junction”
CANADA
Alberta
Deerfoot Trail & Bowbottom Trail in Calgary – “Spaghetti Junction”
“Messy Spaghetti Junction” in Toronto – Source: maps.google.com
Ontario
HWY 427, QEW, and the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto – “Messy Spaghetti Junction”
GERMANY
A3 & A440 – “Spaghetti Junction”
INDONESIA
Waru-Juanda Toll Road, Surabaya–Gempol Toll Road, and the Surabaya–Mojokerto Toll Road in Surabaya – “Spaghetti Junction”
MALAYSIA
DASH Expressway, LDP Expressway, and the Spring Expressway – “Spaghetti Junction”
NEW ZEALAND
Central Motorway at NZ-1 and NZ-16 in Auckland – “Spaghetti Junction”
SOUTH AFRICA
N2 & N3 in Durban – “Spaghetti Junction”
UNITED KINGDOM
England
Original “Spaghetti Junction” outside of Birmingham, UK – Source: maps.google.com
M6 & A38(M) in Birmingham – “Spaghetti Junction” – original use of the nickname
M60 at M61, A580, and A666(M) between Manchester and Bolton – “Spaghetti Junction”
UNITED STATES
Alabama
I-565 & Memorial Parkway in Huntsville – “Malfunction Junction”
California
I-5 & I-405 in Los Angeles (Irvine) – “El Toro Y”
I-5 @ I-10, CA-60, and US 101 in downtown Los Angeles – “The Beast,” “East Delay,” “Nickel/Dime,” “The Octopus,” and “Malfunction Junction”
I-5 @ CA-22 and CA-57 in Los Angeles (Orange) – “The Orange Crush”
US 101 & CA-110 in Los Angeles – “The Four Letter Interchange” – added 1/9/23
I-10 @ CA-57 and CA-71 in Los Angeles (Pomona) – “Kellogg Krunch” – added 1/21/23
I-80 @ I-580 and I-880 in Oakland (Emeryville) – “MacArthur Maze”
I-280 & US 101 in San Francisco – “Alemany Maze”
US 101 @ Potrero Avenue and Bayshore Boulevard in San Francisco – “The Hairball”
Colorado
“Turnpike Tangle” just north of Denver – Source: maps.google.com
I-25 & I-70 in Denver – “The Mousetrap”
I-25 & I-225 in Denver (Centennial) – “The Full House” – 222/55 from 25 and 225
I-25 @ I-76, I-270, and US 36 in Denver (Commerce City) – “Turnpike Tangle”
Connecticut
I-95 @ I-91 and CT-34 in New Haven – “New Haven Mixmaster”
I-84 & CT-8 in Waterbury – “Waterbury Mixmaster”
Florida
I-95 & I-595 in Fort Lauderdale – “The Rainbow” or “Lauderloop”
I-95 @ Florida Turnpike, SR 826 and US 441 in Miami (Miami Gardens) – “Spaghetti Junction”
I-4 & I-275 in downtown Tampa – “Malfunction Junction”
Georgia
“The Top Knot” in Atlanta (Sandy Springs) – Source: maps.google.com
I-85 & I-285 in Atlanta (DeKalb County) – “Spaghetti Junction” or “Malfunction Junction”
I-285 @ GA-400/US 19 in Atlanta (Sandy Springs) – “The Top Knot”
Illinois
I-90/94 & I-290 in downtown Chicago – “The Spaghetti Bowl”
I-88 @ I-290 and I-294 in Chicago (Hillside) – “The Hillside Strangler”
I-80 @ I-74 and I-280 in Moline – “The Big X”
Indiana
I-65 & I-70 North Split in downtown Indianapolis – “Spaghetti Junction”
Iowa
I-35 @ I-80 and I-235 in Des Moines (Altoona) – “East Mixmaster”
I-80 @ I-35 and I-235 in Des Moines (West Des Moines) – “West Mixmaster”
Kentucky
I-65 @ I-64 and I-71 in downtown Louisville – “Spaghetti Junction”
Louisiana
I-10 & US 90 in New Orleans – “Megachange”
Massachusetts
I-90 & I-93 in downtown Boston – “Spaghetti Junction”
Michigan
I-696 @ US 10 and US 24 in Detroit (Southfield) – “Mixing Bowl”
Minnesota
I-35 @ I-535 and US 53 in Duluth – “Can of Worms”
I-35W @ I-94, US 52, and US 12 in downtown Minneapolis – “Spaghetti Junction”
Nevada
I-11/I-515 @ US 93/95 and I-215 in Las Vegas (Henderson) – “Hender-Bender” or “Henderson Spaghetti Bowl”
I-15 & I-515/US 93/95 in downtown Las Vegas – “Vegas Spaghetti Bowl”
I-80 & I-590 in Reno – “Reno Spaghetti Bowl”
New Jersey
I-80 @ US 46 and NJ-23 outside of New York City – “Spaghetti Junction”
New Mexico
“The Big I” just northeast of downtown Albuquerque – Source: maps.google.com
I-25 & I-40 northeast of downtown Albuquerque – “The Big I”
New York
I-490 @ I-590 and NY-96 in Rochester – “Can of Worms”
North Carolina
I-26 & I-40 in Asheville – “Malfunction Junction”
Pennsylvania
I-81 @ US 22 – “Spaghetti Junction”
South Carolina
I-20 & I-26 at I-126 in Columbia – “Malfunction Junction”
Tennessee
I-275 & I-40 in Knoxville – “Malfunction Junction”
I-40 & I-255 in Memphis – “Malfunction Junction”
I-65 & I-440 in Nashville – “Spaghetti Junction”
Texas
“The High Five” in Dallas – Source: txdot.gov
I-635 & US 75 in Dallas – “The High Five”
I-10 & I-110/US 54 in downtown El Paso – “Spaghetti Bowl”
I-35W & I-30 in Fort Worth – “The Pretzel” or “The Mixmaster”
I-45 & Allen Parkway in downtown Houston – “Spaghetti Bowl”
Utah
I-15 & I-80/UT-201 in Salt Lake City (South Salt Lake) – “Spaghetti Bowl”
Virginia
I-395 & VA-27 at the Pentagon in Washington, DC (Arlington, VA) – “Mixing Bowl”
I-95 @ I-395 and I-495 in Washington, DC (Springfield, VA) – “Mixing Bowl”
SOURCES:
- Haddad, Paul, Freewaytopia: How Freeways Shaped Los Angeles, Santa Monica Press, 2021
- Rizzo, David, Survive the Drive: How to Beat Freeway Traffic in Southern California, Lorikeet Express, 2006
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_junction
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malfunction_Junction
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixing_Bowl
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_interchange
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_road_interchanges_in_the_United_States
- https://roughdraftatlanta.com/2019/08/30/commentary-nicknaming-the-285-400-interchange/
- https://www.mesalek.com/colo/icnames.html
- https://hooniverse.com/hooniverse-asks-whats-your-favorite-highway-or-road-related-nickname/
- https://sfbike.org/news/untangling-the-hairball/
- https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=6499.25
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Level_Interchange
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg_Interchange
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