I've spent a LOT of time looking at Texas and its frontage roads. First 2½ years of
Texas Cleanup, then three tier-4 state systems.
Here's the philosophy I've developed along the way...
Our starting point is that points are placed at the center, at the crossroads, of an interchange. IE,
ME US1 NewMeaRd should be centered here and not here.
Things get murky in TX, with sprawling elongated interchanges that frequently have a 50% overlap with adjacent interchanges.
(Makes me think of MDCT blocks in audio codecs, mumble mumble...)As I alluded to
in the TX: I-35 thread, I "normally go with where the major crossroad is located," with a grade-separated crossing or numbered highway usually getting the nod. These almost always coincide with the destinations listed on BGSes. Thus 76A for Robinson Rd and 76B for Woodlands Pkwy both map to the same location, and thus collapse into a single point.
I almost considered a point at Vision Park Blvd ("79A"), but decided against that too. The SB offramp & NB onramp, I consider part of "77A", at Tamina & Research Forest. The SB onramp & NB offramp, I consider part of "79", at Needham & College Park. And at that point, it's much like the above case.
I like to see things as
(sometimes glorified) volleyball interchanges in TX when I can; the frontage roads will set things up that way a lot of the time. Direct connectors as we see here, I will downplay as simply redundant connections within that framework.
