Pennsylvania

[briantroutman]

PA's work zone cameras are going live next week...

https://www.readingeagle.com/news/transportation/interstate-drivers-beware-automated-ticketing-for-speeding-in-work-zones/article_f7ff170e-5d76-11ea-8f79-136c599f86d0.html

A 60-day pilot project to monitor speeding in work zones without issuing tickets on some federal highways in Pennsylvania...

What...did a viatologist write this article?

[roadman65]

How long will it take for PennDOT to upgrade their signs?
https://goo.gl/maps/2M5g31HAMNn33dPD6
PA 115 has not been commissioned in Easton and northward to Wind Gap in almost five decades, yet they keep Wind Gap (and Stroudsburg) on this guide along PA 248 in Easton.  Considering PennDOT used black on white guides when PA 115 got truncated back in the early 70's it had to be redone on typical green first before going mixed case. So in essence this sign is been copied at least three times.

One could argue that even though PA 115 is not a designation here anymore, the pavement it ran on still is there and goes to Wind Gap, but with PA 33 nearby as a freeway (the reason why PA 115 got cut in the first place) getting there faster, the signs would point toward US 22 west to get there.

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

How long will it take for PennDOT to upgrade their signs?
https://goo.gl/maps/2M5g31HAMNn33dPD6
PA 115 has not been commissioned in Easton and northward to Wind Gap in almost five decades, yet they keep Wind Gap (and Stroudsburg) on this guide along PA 248 in Easton.  Considering PennDOT used black on white guides when PA 115 got truncated back in the early 70's it had to be redone on typical green first before going mixed case. So in essence this sign is been copied at least three times.

One could argue that even though PA 115 is not a designation here anymore, the pavement it ran on still is there and goes to Wind Gap, but with PA 33 nearby as a freeway (the reason why PA 115 got cut in the first place) getting there faster, the signs would point toward US 22 west to get there.

I still think PA 115 should exist in Easton, at least as the main N-S throughfare down to 78. It's a shame to see it gone.

[roadman65]

I agree PA 115 should still be the highway for locals, but PennDOT does not like to have redundant state routes next to freeway bypasses.  US 30 around Bedford for one, and then US 422 east of Pottstown got the Ridge and Germantown Pikes to be number less when the freeway got extended to Valley Forge.   PA 309 when the Sellersville Bypass got built and US 1 in Chester County when the Oxford- Kennet Square Bypass was built are among many that took away state routes from the system.  However, in PA 115's case its far enough away from PA 33 to be its own corridor, but we can only imagine.

[74/171FAN]

I agree PA 115 should still be the highway for locals, but PennDOT does not like to have redundant state routes next to freeway bypasses.  US 30 around Bedford for one, and then US 422 east of Pottstown got the Ridge and Germantown Pikes to be number less when the freeway got extended to Valley Forge.   PA 309 when the Sellersville Bypass got built and US 1 in Chester County when the Oxford- Kennet Square Bypass was built are among many that took away state routes from the system.  However, in PA 115's case its far enough away from PA 33 to be its own corridor, but we can only imagine.

US 30 actually (minus Greensburg even though 4 routes still go through downtown) tends to have numbered routes along its freeway portions (US 30 BUS in Bedford, Everett, Coatesville-Downingtown, and PA 462 for York and Lancaster).  I do agree that the old routes of PA 115 and US 422 should still be traffic routes.

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

I agree PA 115 should still be the highway for locals, but PennDOT does not like to have redundant state routes next to freeway bypasses.  US 30 around Bedford for one, and then US 422 east of Pottstown got the Ridge and Germantown Pikes to be number less when the freeway got extended to Valley Forge.   PA 309 when the Sellersville Bypass got built and US 1 in Chester County when the Oxford- Kennet Square Bypass was built are among many that took away state routes from the system.  However, in PA 115's case its far enough away from PA 33 to be its own corridor, but we can only imagine.

US 30 actually (minus Greensburg even though 4 routes still go through downtown) tends to have numbered routes along its freeway portions (US 30 BUS in Bedford, Everett, Coatesville-Downingtown, and PA 462 for York and Lancaster).  I do agree that the old routes of PA 115 and US 422 should still be traffic routes.

Old 309 in Sellersville should become 309 Bus. and Old 611 in Doylestown 611 Bus. It just makes sense.

[roadman65]

Was the Easton Phillipsburg Toll Bridge built before the Lehigh Valley Thruway?  The reason why I ask is that jog on the PA side of the bridge that US 22 makes, and the fact Bushkill Street is in direct line with the bridge instead of the freeway.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Was the Easton Phillipsburg Toll Bridge built before the Lehigh Valley Thruway?  The reason why I ask is that jog on the PA side of the bridge that US 22 makes, and the fact Bushkill Street is in direct line with the bridge instead of the freeway.

1937 for when the bridge was constructed.
http://bridgehunter.com/pa/northampton/487302999200100/

[Roadgeek Adam]

Built during 1937, opened to public on January 14, 1938.

Note it is commonly referred to as the Bushkill Street Bridge, so yes, Bushkill Street was the original intent.

[Roadgeek Adam]

How long will it take for PennDOT to upgrade their signs?
https://goo.gl/maps/2M5g31HAMNn33dPD6
PA 115 has not been commissioned in Easton and northward to Wind Gap in almost five decades, yet they keep Wind Gap (and Stroudsburg) on this guide along PA 248 in Easton.  Considering PennDOT used black on white guides when PA 115 got truncated back in the early 70's it had to be redone on typical green first before going mixed case. So in essence this sign is been copied at least three times.

It's mostly the same argument as the Singac discussion. Signs commonly are replaced in kind. There's no rhyme or reason. People aren't going to fix what isn't broken obviously. If it still said ROUTE 115 I'd understand. It'll still say it for a long time to come.

The basic driver doesn't understand that these destinations were relevant to SR 0115. To us it looks normal. The contractors don't know either. These signs just get replaced in kind.

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

Was the Easton Phillipsburg Toll Bridge built before the Lehigh Valley Thruway?  The reason why I ask is that jog on the PA side of the bridge that US 22 makes, and the fact Bushkill Street is in direct line with the bridge instead of the freeway.

I was planning on removing the freeway, so that connection could possibly be reinvigorated if it happens.

[Alps]

Was the Easton Phillipsburg Toll Bridge built before the Lehigh Valley Thruway?  The reason why I ask is that jog on the PA side of the bridge that US 22 makes, and the fact Bushkill Street is in direct line with the bridge instead of the freeway.

I was planning on removing the freeway, so that connection could possibly be reinvigorated if it happens.

Keep it in fictional.

[roadman65]

Was the Easton Phillipsburg Toll Bridge built before the Lehigh Valley Thruway?  The reason why I ask is that jog on the PA side of the bridge that US 22 makes, and the fact Bushkill Street is in direct line with the bridge instead of the freeway.

1937 for when the bridge was constructed.
http://bridgehunter.com/pa/northampton/487302999200100/

I would think that it was built for the Lehigh Valley Thruway as the bridge and Thruway both replaces US 22 on the streets of both Phillipsburg and Easton.  The Thruway replaced the William Penn Highway but considering US 22 was upgraded from Paxtionia to Easton years before the interstate system was considered it could be that both were made at the same time.  However, that jog at the west end and the fact that the bridge was not built 200 feet to the north as on the NJ side it comes in from the NE (as after you pay the toll the bridge proper is at 2 o clock.  It would have been more feasible to cut the angle between the two points.

However considering Memorial Parkway on the NJ side is an arterial (probably a simple street originally) the concept of the bridge being built could have been for two streets to connect rather than an arterial to a freeway.

[Roadsguy]

Per PA Highways, the Lehigh Valley Thruway wasn't built to the bridge until 1955, 17 years after the bridge opened in 1938. (Wikipedia cites a news article from that year for the bridge opening.) Early planning for the Thruway may have been underway at the time, but it would have had to have fed into Bushkill Street. Unfortunately Historic Aerials has no imagery from this time period, going straight from no bridge in 1931 to bridge and Thruway in 1955, though some of the topographic maps show the bridge feeding into Bushkill Street with no Thruway.

Memorial Parkway seems to have been upgraded from the preexisting streets when the bridge was built, or at least soon after. It was already built in the 1955 imagery. (The short freeway connector that dumps into Memorial Parkway further east was built sometime between 1956 and 1962, presumably planned for I-78, though there were never any stubs.)

[Roadgeek Adam]

Per PA Highways, the Lehigh Valley Thruway wasn't built to the bridge until 1955, 17 years after the bridge opened in 1938. (Wikipedia cites a news article from that year for the bridge opening.) Early planning for the Thruway may have been underway at the time, but it would have had to have fed into Bushkill Street. Unfortunately Historic Aerials has no imagery from this time period, going straight from no bridge in 1931 to bridge and Thruway in 1955, though some of the topographic maps show the bridge feeding into Bushkill Street with no Thruway.

For one thing, cause I added the source news article after I clipped the article.

[Crown Victoria]

PennDOT is temporarily shutting down construction, rest areas, and offices, and also extending expiration dates for licenses, registrations, and inspections:


https://www.penndot.gov/regionaloffices/district-11/pages/details.aspx?newsid=4210&fbclid=IwAR0h3WTs2SiJhbPyRj2RsGOx-su0qF5TsuabcXJ9sogLyTM1pxGH6k-F4Gw

[Bitmapped]

Question regarding signage, specifically the white/blue signage that PennDOT uses at municipal and county borders, as well as stream and river crossings. Why hasn't PennDOT gone back to using Clearview and mixed case lettering for the names? Doesn't the MUTCD say that signage should be mixed case instead of all caps?

Here is a version that uses mixed case and Clearview: https://goo.gl/maps/RJye2RQptqXBrFgs9
And a newer sign (since PennDOT has returned to Clearview) that still uses Hwy Gothic and all caps: https://goo.gl/maps/qPxRSzBRMPnNUgE9A

Just curious about the discrepancies since PennDOT makes all these signs in one central sign shop...thanks for the info.

I don't think PennDOT ever changed the signs on surface routes to mixed-case Clearview.

[Roadsguy]

PennDOT finally updated PA 295 to PA 297 on the BGSes on I-83, but rather than a shield overlay, they sloppily overlaid just the last digit, creating this unholy abomination on each of the signs. Almost looks like some kind of hybrid between the PA and Wisconsin route shields.

[odditude]

PennDOT finally updated PA 295 to PA 297 on the BGSes on I-83, but rather than a shield overlay, they sloppily overlaid just the last digit, creating this unholy abomination on each of the signs. Almost looks like some kind of hybrid between the PA and Wisconsin route shields.

i think that's worthy of the "good/bad/ugly" thread.

[cpzilliacus]

PennDOT finally updated PA 295 to PA 297 on the BGSes on I-83, but rather than a shield overlay, they sloppily overlaid just the last digit, creating this unholy abomination on each of the signs. Almost looks like some kind of hybrid between the PA and Wisconsin route shields.

Because PennDOT! 

Or to be fair, because the Pennsylvania legislature, and its years and years of keeping fuel taxes as low as possible.

[ekt8750]

PennDOT finally updated PA 295 to PA 297 on the BGSes on I-83, but rather than a shield overlay, they sloppily overlaid just the last digit, creating this unholy abomination on each of the signs. Almost looks like some kind of hybrid between the PA and Wisconsin route shields.

Damn. A good exacto knife could fix that in 5 mins lol

[odditude]

PennDOT finally updated PA 295 to PA 297 on the BGSes on I-83, but rather than a shield overlay, they sloppily overlaid just the last digit, creating this unholy abomination on each of the signs. Almost looks like some kind of hybrid between the PA and Wisconsin route shields.

Damn. A good exacto knife could fix that in 5 mins lol

nope - that 7 is in D, the other digits are in C.

[jeffandnicole]

Doesn't matter what agency in PA it is, they are all horrible with sign mods.

See also, the 276 shield over the NJ Tpk Shield (or vice versa) on the PA Tpk near Valley Forge.

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

Would it be safe to say that PennDOT and the Turnpike Commission are fronts for... The Mob?

[Alps]

Would it be safe to say that PennDOT and the Turnpike Commission are fronts for... The Mob?

I don't get the joke, but it's never safe to talk about the mob. Which doesn't exist.