My old commute took me through an interchange. I hated it. The speed limit was 55, and there was no sidewalk.

It was a divided highway, so I even rode on the inside shoulder (next to the median), illegally for a while. It still didn't seem safe. Getting across two lanes of high-speed traffic was just as bad as clearing the ramps, and the inner shoulder was narrower.

In light traffic I would take the lane, but that was rarely the case on my commute (except the odd days I had to go in a 4:00am or stay until 9:00pm).

I eventually just rode the outside shoulder, and stopped and waited for a break in traffic at each ramp. It was kind of a pain, but I've since moved closer to work and don't have to worry about it.