Interstate 5

[Monty]

Finished in 1979, Interstate 5 was designed to be the worlds largest parking lot, and [from the get-go] was an immediate success, offering spaces for millions of vehicles for cities and services stretching along the West Coast from Canada to Mexico.
One of the lots biggest criticisms is the fact that it offers spaces that go through national forest land, the remote west side of the [Central Valley], and over mountain passes despite lack of services and weather hazards, and as such these parts are very rarely used throughout the year. Wasted space is [such a problem], in fact, that many people use it as a highway at speeds up to 70 MPH in these places in spite of its intended purpose. Uniquely for a parking lot, it also has problems with people trying to smuggle drugs and people in from both Canada and Mexico. Despite this, in urban areas it continues to be highly successful, and puts ordinary parking lots the world over to shame.