Recent posts

#1

Traffic Control / Re: Most Worthless Control Cit...

Last post by Flint1979 - Today at 01:28:24 PM

I never see anyone arguing over Michigan's control cities. MDOT must do a pretty good job.

#2

Northeast / Re: New York State Thruway

Last post by MASTERNC - Today at 01:20:58 PM

Another alternative or at least counterpart to having more restaurants, is having faster restaurants.  Most travelers stopping at a service area want a quick stop to begin with, so faster service would help improve the experience beyond just crowd control. Some restaurants are just notoriously slow and best avoided in service plazas, while others might be short-staffed initially and get better/faster/more experienced over time.

It also might surprise you just how many people stay on the highway until the next service area when one is closed. Many people are just very unadventurous or don't want the hassle of exiting and re-entering, especially on a toll road (though AET does help in that regard, it can still easily add 5+ minutes travel time, and more if your stops aren't well planned). I know from experience that finding a rest/bathroom stop right on the highway is nearly invaluable when traveling with a large group for reasons that go well beyond mere convenience. Once you exit the freeway, wayfinding and locating a facility with multiple clean bathrooms, and in some cases coordinating that with ordering a meal, can compound into a headache-inducing time sap in a hurry.

At least in Pennsylvania, there's a financial penalty for exiting and re-entering the Turnpike (i.e. the toll of the two sections separately is higher than both sections in one single trip).  That will change with gantries between exits in a few years, but not sure if the Thruway has the same penalty for the sections with AET on ramps.

#3

Southeast / Re: NC: The proposed I-685

Last post by roadman65 - Today at 01:19:34 PM

Could have a branch serve Fayetteville. Being it's home to Pope AAF and Fort Bragg Fort Liberty it should have another interstate serve them.

#4

Mid-South / Re: I-69 in TX

Last post by Bobby5280 - Today at 01:18:56 PM

Progress on that portion of I-69 seems to be moving in linear fashion from Houston in the Southwest direction. There's active construction in Kendleton, Hungerford and going into Wharton. As those projects finish they'll move into Pierce, El Campo and Louise before reaching Ganado.

It doesn't look like there is a lot of new ROW that has to be bought and cleared. There is quite a few segments of existing freeway, although many of the ramps aren't up to current geometry standards. I don't know how far Southwest the 3x3 lanes arrangement will go. My guess is they'll be upgrading the freeway bypass around Ganado by maybe 2030.

#5

Off-Topic / Re: Technology Random Access T...

Last post by Dirt Roads - Today at 01:12:10 PM

(when I got to the end of K&R, I was like...wait, that's it? that's the whole language?)

When I was in college, that book was (only half) jokingly referred to as "the Bible".  I still have it after all these years, even though at this point the odds of me doing anything in C are slim to none.  The C language does have a certain elegance that many other languages lack.

I've still got my copy of K&R, which Kernighan and Ritchie were nice enough to sign for me.

C is very much like an assembly language with more modern syntax and control structures added.

I've still got my old copy of K&R also.  I had one project group class where the focus was an EMAIL prototype.  My part of the assignment looked pretty intense, but turned out to be only 91 lines of code when using C.  The professor loved it, and I couldn't get any additional assignments.  So that is the entirety of my experience with what was the defacto programming language used in my world of data communications (railroading and rail transit).  Fortunately, decent skills in FORTRAN [somehow] ended up saving me in this career.

#6

Sports / Re: Hockey

Last post by Flint1979 - Today at 01:11:06 PM

I met former Red Wings player Darren McCarty last night. I was at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw and noticed someone with weird looking hair walking my way. I looked at him and said Darren McCarty, he said hey how are you? What's your name? So I told him and he said nice to meet ya. I told him I've followed the Wings for years and loved his style of play. Then I brought up March 26, 1997 and anyone in Detroit knows what happened that night. I thanked him for beating up Claude Lemieux that night and he said he did what he had to do and I said that's right and then I mentioned Vernon and Roy going at it that night. He is the third former Red Wings player I have met along with Gordie Howe and Kris Draper.

The brawl in Hockeytown even made it to wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Avalanche%E2%80%93Detroit_Red_Wings_brawl

#7

Northeast / Re: Massachusetts

Last post by kramie13 - Today at 01:09:39 PM

Actually, the TV/radio stations would have reported "tractor trailer fire on 24 North just before 128". 
 

MA 24 and MA 128 don't intersect!  Maybe they did once upon a time but not in the present day.

Don't jest, Fox25 still calls that section of I-93 by 128. There are middle-aged people that don't even know it by that by now.

I'm one of those middle-aged people (born in the 80s) that has always identified this segment of highway as "93".  WBZ radio (1030 AM) has also gotten the memo in recent years.  If you hear "128" in their reports now, it's from Canton northward (and eastward to Gloucester).

#8

International Highways / Re: Iceland

Last post by Chris - Today at 01:05:21 PM

A fifth and so far the largest eruption of the sequence near Grindavík started today. They estimated that a volume of 20 million cubic meters of magma was stored in a magma chamber, which is the largest since the volcanic episode began at this location.

The eruption resulted in a 4 kilometer (2.5 mile) long fissure, with a much larger lava output than in previous eruptions, it was estimated at 1,000 m³/s, but I've also seen quotes of 1,500 - 2,000 m³/s. Webcam footage shows very rapid lava flows.

Lava is now closing in on the naval transmitter, which is operated by the US Navy. The transmission tower is 183 meters tall (there are two).

There are four roads into Grindavík, two of them now covered by lava and the two others are also at risk.

Route 43: the main road to Grindavík, has been covered by lava at multiple locations, including a large volume on the north side of town. The temporary high-voltage transmission towers also burned down.
Route 426: a secondary road from Blue Lagoon to Grindavík, near the naval transmitter, is covered by lava
Route 425: the main road west (Nesvegur) will likely be covered by lava soon
Route 427: the main road east (Suðurstrandarvegur) will likely be the last road open to Grindavík, but is also at risk from a lava flow around the defensive barriers.

Information from the Grindavík side of the eruption is limited however. The town is evacuated, it's inaccessible for press, FPV drones can't fly that far apparently, and webcams don't have a good angle of that area.

Here's a webcam view from Mount Þorbjörn, looking south to Grindavík.The lava flow has wrapped around Þorbjörn.



Earlier today. Route 43 is to the right, the Svartsengi geothermal power plant can also be seen. Lava has reportedly reached Route 43 in this area as well.

#9

Southeast / Re: North Carolina

Last post by roadman65 - Today at 01:04:48 PM

How does everyone feel about renaming Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty? I personally don't have an opinion on the matter, although I am aware that Braxton Bragg did fight for the Confederacy (thus why they named the fort for him in the first place). Bragg also fought in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican-American War: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braxton_Bragg.

To be honest with you, unless you research it, you would have never known who Braxton Bragg is. I didn't until the name change.

Then Fort Gordon to Fort Eisenhower and the military installation near Killeen, TX now renamed Fort Cavazoz all at the same time is way too much.  Especially because of what happened in history the past decade with all these solo crackpots doing terror. Of course some in Congress believes historical confederate names influences the mentally ill especially those who are subconsciously bigots, so now this action is needed.

#10

Off-Topic / Re: Most irritating emoji

Last post by vdeane - Today at 01:00:25 PM

To the point that installing the Russian language pack on your computer (assuming you run Windows) actually works as a prophylaxis against ransomware because a lot of such programs will check to see if such is there and then shut down before doing anything nasty if it is, in order to avoid attacking computers belonging to people and companies in Russia.

Sounds like an easy way to improve security by Microsoft would be to make that installed by default.  I wonder what the hackers would do then.