How roadgeeky is your town?

[Roadgeekteen]

Not very.

[jwolfer]

What do you mean?

If its lots of stuff to check out its not bad... I live near Jacksonville FL and there are lots of construcion projects on local interstates....
1. Replacing viaduct and reworking main exit to dowtown on i95.
2. Express lanes on 295
3 795 mostly complete but not signed.
4 rebild northern 95/295 merger
5 rebuild i10/ us 301 exit and bypasses of Baldwin and Starke being built
6 first local being built ddi at i95 sr 200/a1a exit
7. New high speed ramps and rebuild of i95/sr202 exit
8. SR TOLL 23 being built

And those are the ones started. More in the pipeline

LGMS428

[Roadgeekteen]

What do you mean?

If its lots of stuff to check out its not bad... I live near Jacksonville FL and there are lots of construcion projects on local interstates....
1. Replacing viaduct and reworking main exit to dowtown on i95.
2. Express lanes on 295
3 795 mostly complete but not signed.
4 rebild northern 95/295 merger
5 rebuild i10/ us 301 exit and bypasses of Baldwin and Starke being built
6 first local being built ddi at i95 sr 200/a1a exit
7. New high speed ramps and rebuild of i95/sr202 exit
8. SR TOLL 23 being built

And those are the ones started. More in the pipeline

LGMS428

What I mean is actual town you live in. Like I used Needham instead of Boston.

[1995hoo]

You didn't answer the question. What do you mean when you say "roadgeeky"?

[Tonytone]

Does the DOT count? 

[Roadgeekteen]

You didn't answer the question. What do you mean when you say "roadgeeky"?

how interesting it would be for roadgeeks.

[Max Rockatansky]

California pretty much has something for everyone:

-  A huge historic back story of Renumberings, huge alignment shifts, legislative descriptions, unbuilt routes across the board, crumbling infrastructure to talk over, a historically significant difference in signage or/road design than the national level, between national a huge variance in signage standards between Caltrans districts,and various transportation issues. 
-  Some of the most scenic roads in the country.
-  Some of the weirdest and/or dangerous paved roads in the country that are completely obscure to most.

[Roadgeekteen]

California pretty much has something for everyone:

-  A huge historic back story of Renumberings, huge alignment shifts, legislative descriptions, unbuilt routes across the board, crumbling infrastructure to talk over, a historically significant difference in signage or/road design than the national level, between national a huge variance in signage standards between Caltrans districts,and various transportation issues. 
-  Some of the most scenic roads in the country.
-  Some of the weirdest and/or dangerous paved roads in the country that are completely obscure to most.

TIL California is a town.

[Max Rockatansky]

California pretty much has something for everyone:

-  A huge historic back story of Renumberings, huge alignment shifts, legislative descriptions, unbuilt routes across the board, crumbling infrastructure to talk over, a historically significant difference in signage or/road design than the national level, between national a huge variance in signage standards between Caltrans districts,and various transportation issues. 
-  Some of the most scenic roads in the country.
-  Some of the weirdest and/or dangerous paved roads in the country that are completely obscure to most.

TIL California is a town.

The whole thing essentially applies to the entire state no matter where you live.  In fact I'll break it down for you based off the major cities I've lived in:

Detroit:  The auto industry obviously brought a lot of interest in transportation in general.  The city itself had a really cool and well thought out road network along with some pretty decent freeways of all types.  People in Detroit have a huge reverence for Woodward Avenue (mostly because of the dream cruise) but you have lots of historic roads like Michigan and Grand River just to name a few.

Lansing:  Similar to above but on a much smaller scale.  A lot of people were really disappointed US 27 was decommissioned in Michigan since it went through the heart of the city.

Danbury:  Nobody in Connecticut really cared all that much about road transportation from what I remember.  There was some really neat old historic bridges in the nearby area that had designs in the early 20th or late 19th century.

Phoenix:  People mostly cared about what freeways were being built because the city was expanding so much when I first moved there.  I actually remember when you took Scottsdale Road to Tempe and Northern Avenue to get past Squaw Peak (now under a different name as well).  Now people want I-11 and really don't seem to care if it goes west of a mountain range to an unpopulated section of desert to get it.

Las Vegas:  Kind of like Phoenix, anyone in the road community tends to be obsessed with I-15 though.

Los Angeles:  Freeways, traffic, smog, incomplete projects, ect...in addition to what I said above.

San Diego:  Same as above just to a lesser extent.

Fresno/Bakersfield:  Some people are really into road history along the US 99 corridor.  Most transportation interest seems to be based on the idea that CA 99 and 58 need to be Interstates.

Orlando:  Lots of newer projects with Tollways and I-4 tend to generate interest.  Surprisingly there are a lot of forum members from the city.

Tampa:  Same as above but with less projects but probably just as much traffic congestion issues to chew on in conversation.

Jacksonville:  Much like the above but the road focus seems to be on FL 9B.

Chicago:  There are a lot of people interested in transportation from there....some worse than others.

Asheville:  Some decent road culture to be had with all the local racing history in addition to roads like US 129, NC 28, US 441, and The Blue Ridge Parkway.

[intelati49]

Springfield, mo is pretty stock MO town. Some projects I'm watching, but boring otherwise

[hotdogPi]

Methuen, MA has an ongoing construction project (I-93, exit 46). Yes, I live in Methuen.

[kphoger]

Springfield, mo is pretty stock MO town. Some projects I'm watching, but boring otherwise

A few small roundabouts, several DDIs, the beautiful stack interchange at 60/65, old Route 66...  Springfield has more of interest than you give it credit for.

[Brandon]

Shall we start with Old US-66, then go on to the Lincoln Highway, and did I mention US-6 yet?

[roadman]

Apart from the various non-standard applications of traffic control devices (like the unwarranted 4 way stops and stand-alone advisory speed plates), Wakefield MA has exactly one thing that might be of interest to the roadgeek.  It's one of the few remaining examples of a flashing green signal left in all of Massachusetts.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

My town has a couple things:

1. Jefferson Highway routing
2. Old US 10 and US 52 alignments

[roadman65]

Where I live in Orange County, FL (as I live in an unincorporated area of it) we have I-4 with its ultimate project slowly but surely progressing.

We also have:

FL 528 being widened for HOT lanes.
Sand Lake Road being widened from I-4 to the FL Turnpike bridge including the flyover at John Young Parkway to eliminate a problem intersection.
FL 429 being extended past US 441 in Mt. Plymouth.
The Orlando Airport adding new roads and flyovers to access the new terminal being constructed.

[plain]

I see the Richmond metro as almost roadgeek paradise. NOVA and especially Hampton Roads are definitely better roadgeek paradise though

[intelati49]

Springfield, mo is pretty stock MO town. Some projects I'm watching, but boring otherwise

A few small roundabouts, several DDIs, the beautiful stack interchange at 60/65, old Route 66...  Springfield has more of interest than you give it credit for.

Something something "Don't know what you have until..."

Man, I swung and missed at that one.

I guess it's more of an than

[paulthemapguy]

From a perspective including all of transportation, Chicago is the premier railroad hub for the middle of the country, and perhaps the most important in the nation.  Chicago grew because of its importance as a hub for waterways, the primary mode of long-range transportation until the mid-19th century.  University of Illinois is one of the top few civil engineering schools in the nation, pioneering transportation research.  Illinois has more 2-digit Interstates within its borders than any other states.  Chicagoland provides examples for all types of roadway systems ranging from urban to suburban to rural--just that there's no interesting topography that needs to be traversed.  Our traffic signals are robust, though our infrastructure is crumbling--but that just means I can get a good look at new and old roadway infrastructure at the same time.  I am fortunate to live here as a roadgeek.

[jp the roadgeek]

My town has a 2di, a 3di, a former US suffixed route, and 6 signed state routes (including 1 fully contained within the town limits).

Only real items of note: A rest area that is scheduled for closure, and a left hand exit that was saved by public outcry.

[Roadgeekteen]

My town has a 2di, a 3di, a former US suffixed route, and 6 signed state routes (including 1 fully contained within the town limits).

Only real items of note: A rest area that is scheduled for closure, and a left hand exit that was saved by public outcry.

How could public outcry save an exit?

[jp the roadgeek]

My town has a 2di, a 3di, a former US suffixed route, and 6 signed state routes (including 1 fully contained within the town limits).

Only real items of note: A rest area that is scheduled for closure, and a left hand exit that was saved by public outcry.

How could public outcry save an exit?

http://articles.courant.com/1997-10-16/news/9710160459_1_i-84-ramp-lanes

Eventually, the highway was widened and the endpoint of the offramp was moved to the same intersection of the beginning of the onramp.  The exit ramp is actually an aborted connector (SR 597) that would have connected I-84 and I-691

[kphoger]

How could public outcry save an exit?

We live in a representative democracy.  Government is more or less answerable to the public.  You don't think the powers that be just slap roads wherever they darned well please, do you? or spend taxpayers' money however they darned well please? or acquire property to reconfigure highways without consulting the public?

[sparker]

San Jose -- or at least the planning "community" therein, seems to be doing everything it can to make driving within the city limits as onerous as possible -- besides lack of general maintenance, traffic signals on arterials seem to be timed to prevent throughput movement (timed to stop traffic at about every other signal).  Unfortunately, as I've iterated in previous posts, the alternative to driving isn't terribly good, as the LR system was developed to attempt to encourage downtown residence, while underserving the areas where folks actually live (and want to live!).  Bus service, while reasonably extensive, is unreliable as to schedule & timing, largely because of the traffic situations caused by the previously mentioned practice of arterial slowdown.  On top of that, Caltrans D4's signage habits need a lot of improvement!!! (They, or the city, just got around to taking down the CA 82 signage on the segment south of I-880 that was decommissioned years ago).

So the answer is:  San Jose's not a very inviting place to actively engage in "roadgeeking".  I've been attempting for the last year or so to get some activity going regarding declaring -- and signing -- that portion of original US 101 south of I-880 (i.e. The Alameda, Santa Clara Street, Market St., South First, and Monterey Road) as "Historic US 101".  So far the city Chamber of Commerce has expressed interest, but doesn't have the funds to effect signage (the city itself won't raise a finger), so at present there's an impasse on that concept.  Personally, I'd like to expand it to Historic Highway 17 as well -- which zig-zags through downtown, partially in a reverse multiplex to Historic 101 -- as was the case until the (now) I-880 freeway was finished through town circa '61.  May have to assemble a crew to actually put the signs up (I actually suggested that, but was cross-checked by possible liability issues).  Oh well, the concept may happen after I'm long gone!

[jeffandnicole]

How could public outcry save an exit?

We live in a representative democracy.  Government is more or less answerable to the public.  You don't think the powers that be just slap roads wherever they darned well please, do you? or spend taxpayers' money however they darned well please? or acquire property to reconfigure highways without consulting the public?

Sometimes, it's just easier to give in, even though the resulting condition isn't a proper MUTCD.

As for my specific town; not much going on.  A repaving project here or there and that's it.