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Possible trip to St. Louis this October

Started by 1995hoo, March 19, 2017, 03:41:00 PM

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Brandon

Quote from: kphoger on October 10, 2017, 01:23:36 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on September 23, 2017, 04:33:58 PM
(1) What should we expect from St. Louis traffic?

Sucks, sucks, sucks during rush hour.  Not bad at other times of the day.

It's St. Louis rush hour.  How bad can it be after traversing Chicago at rush hour?
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg


kphoger

Quote from: Brandon on October 13, 2017, 02:05:43 PM
Quote from: kphoger on October 10, 2017, 01:23:36 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on September 23, 2017, 04:33:58 PM
(1) What should we expect from St. Louis traffic?

Sucks, sucks, sucks during rush hour.  Not bad at other times of the day.

It's St. Louis rush hour.  How bad can it be after traversing Chicago at rush hour?

I've done that many more times than Saint Louis.  But most of my years in Chicagoland were by public transportation.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

1995hoo

I find Missouri's Interstate shields with multiple numbers to be an interesting and effective idea.

Four in one shield seems a bit excessive, though!

"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

1995hoo

Heh, so this afternoon I discover the Indianapolis version (never been here before either):

"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

1995hoo

#29
Thanks again for the advice in this thread. We got home last night. Haven't sorted through pictures yet, but from glancing through them after downloading I have a feeling I won't have too many interesting road-related photos because most of them were taken by my wife while I was driving and most of them didn't come out too well (she used her iPhone and zoomed in too much, resulting in serious graininess).

St. Louis traffic was, on the whole, probably similar to DC traffic. It didn't help that we wound up on the roads during rush hour multiple times. It seemed to me that I-64 suffered from too many pinch points where a longstanding thru lane would become exit-only, resulting in a slowdown, only to be replaced as a thru lane by the onramp on the far side. It made me wonder if the road had been widened in a way that cheaped out on replacing overpasses. Might be a misperception on my part, though. I was struck by the very nice state-numbered highways west of St. Louis, especially MO-364. Very good road.

I was surprised to see so much button copy in Ohio and even more surprised by some of the really old signs on I-71 around Columbus. They reminded me a lot of the old signs that have been disappearing in Baltimore. Very similar-looking stuff.

For the trip home on Friday, we took the route hbelkins suggested: I-77 south to Parkersburg, Corridor D across to Clarksburg, quick hop down I-79 to WV-20, then WV-20 to WV-57 to US-119 to Philippi. Over the covered bridge, then US-250 to WV-38 to WV-72 down to Parsons and east to Corridor H. I always enjoy driving on Corridor H. Very scenic road, very little traffic. I did find myself wishing one of the scenic overlooks or mandatory truck brake stops would have restrooms installed (for some reason, when I said I was going to stop at one of the truck brake stops to take a leak, my wife was adamant that I not do so....wound up holding it all the way to the rest area just east of Manassas!). WV-38 was a little nerve-wracking because the vehicle ahead of us, an SUV from Illinois, was being driven by an idiot who didn't make much effort to stay on the right side of the center line. I was constantly afraid someone would come the other way and I wound up hanging well back (didn't want to pass lest she swerve left as I did so). Thankfully, she took the first left after we turned onto WV-72 and we never saw her again.

Corridor D had some bridge construction that didn't affect us too much but that could be a problem if you're going through there in the next few weeks–westbound there was at least one segment that was closed and subject to detour. We encountered a sign saying the eastbound road was closed and that we would have to follow a detour, but then there was no closure–I guess they forgot to turn off the sign. There were at least three places where it choked down to a single lane. More traffic on there than I remembered from our previous trip five years ago. I also recalled there being no traffic lights anywhere from the I-77 interchange to near I-79. I might be mistaken on that, but anyway, there's now a traffic light at West Union.

Not many clinches:

VA-55 (on the way out–stopped for breakfast at the Apple House and decided to go through Strasburg to knock this out rather than doing it on the way home)
I-64
I-170 (Missouri)
I-270 (Missouri/Illinois)
I-277 (Ohio)
MO-370
MO-364
WV-38
WV-57
Re-clinch of the existing part of Corridor H from Davis to Wardensville (previous clinch had been lost when the road was extended west beyond WV-93)

I might upload some pictures via Tapatalk later, but it won't be today since we're going over to my parents' place for dinner.

Next trip will be for Christmas, but we're taking the Auto Train. I have to try to find some new route between Sanford and Fort Myers. Only other driving in the cards right now is a possible weekday expedition into Maryland to finish the last couple of Interstate segments I'm missing (I-795, a piece of one of the I-895 spurs, and I-70 inside I-695; the latter counts to me regardless of whether Maryland wanted it decommissioned).
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

hbelkins

Some who attended the Columbus meet mentioned the total closure of one of the westbound US 50 Corridor D bridges and that they were shunted onto the old alignment of US 50 as a detour.

I'm not sure why they didn't establish two-way traffic in the eastbound lane, such as is done for most bridge work on four-lane routes when they need to close both lanes of the bridge. I was on part of Corridor D earlier this year and there were some lane closures on bridges.

As to a restroom break, not sure where the urge hit you, but there are facilities just off the route at Moorefield, along the route in Wardensville, and at the US 11 exit (next exit north of US 48) on I-81.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

1995hoo

It appeared that on at least one of the bridges (I don't recall where it was) they had completely removed the left lane on each side and were rebuilding, such that moving all the traffic to the other side was impossible unless they used a flagman. I have no idea why they were doing it that way–as you suggest, it seems like it'd make a lot more sense to shut down the eastbound side and do all the work there, then repeat on the other side, but maybe there were special circumstances.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

1995hoo

#32
Here are a few shots of the covered bridge from this past Friday afternoon.








Felt like a bit of a milestone reaching this last Saturday. I didn't see a sign at the actual endpoint.




One of the more unique "roads" we visited. The back straight on the road course had runway markings added for the Red Bull Air Race held the previous day.

"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

hbelkins

Quote from: 1995hoo on October 22, 2017, 03:33:06 PM
It appeared that on at least one of the bridges (I don't recall where it was) they had completely removed the left lane on each side and were rebuilding, such that moving all the traffic to the other side was impossible unless they used a flagman. I have no idea why they were doing it that way–as you suggest, it seems like it'd make a lot more sense to shut down the eastbound side and do all the work there, then repeat on the other side, but maybe there were special circumstances.

Most places I've seen this done is handled in either one of two ways. If they work on both bridges at the same time, they leave one lane open in each direction and block the closed lane, where the bridge deck may have been removed, with a concrete barrier wall. Or if they are going to work on one span at a time, they close one side entirely and use a median crossover upstream and downstream of the closure and put two-way traffic on the open side.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.



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