Interstate 87 (NC-VA)

[LM117]

Article from the Rocky Mount Telegram this morning regarding I-87.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2019/11/10/Completion-of-I-87-project-remains-years-away.html

[LM117]

Another article this morning regarding the poor condition of the signs on US-64 in the Rocky Mount area.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2019/11/12/Appearance-woes-plague-U-S-64.html

[MNHighwayMan]

Another article this morning regarding the poor condition of the signs on US-64 in the Rocky Mount area.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2019/11/12/Appearance-woes-plague-U-S-64.html

Honestly, I don't get how that stuff (like in the picture in the article) is acceptable. Is their budget really so underfunded that they can't pay for sign replacements?

[LM117]

Another article this morning regarding the poor condition of the signs on US-64 in the Rocky Mount area.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2019/11/12/Appearance-woes-plague-U-S-64.html

Honestly, I don't get how that stuff (like in the picture in the article) is acceptable. Is their budget really so underfunded that they can't pay for sign replacements?

More likely a combination of laziness and being cheap. The recent funding problem just makes for a nice cop-out, IMO. Hell, when the then-US-117 freeway between Wilson and Goldsboro became I-795 in 2007, signs weren't changed until early 2010...unless you count I-795 trailblazers, which was all there was between 2007 and 2010.

[hbelkins]

Another article this morning regarding the poor condition of the signs on US-64 in the Rocky Mount area.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2019/11/12/Appearance-woes-plague-U-S-64.html

Loved the reference to "big green signs" in the story. So i guess it's not just a roadgeek term anymore?

[vdeane]

Another article this morning regarding the poor condition of the signs on US-64 in the Rocky Mount area.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2019/11/12/Appearance-woes-plague-U-S-64.html

Honestly, I don't get how that stuff (like in the picture in the article) is acceptable. Is their budget really so underfunded that they can't pay for sign replacements?

More likely a combination of laziness and being cheap. The recent funding problem just makes for a nice cop-out, IMO. Hell, when the then-US-117 freeway between Wilson and Goldsboro became I-795 in 2007, signs weren't changed until early 2010...unless you count I-795 trailblazers, which was all there was between 2007 and 2010.

If NC has a funding problem, perhaps they shouldn't be requesting all these additional interstates.  Focus on maintaining your system and what's on your plate before taking on pie in the sky proposals.

[planxtymcgillicuddy]

Another article this morning regarding the poor condition of the signs on US-64 in the Rocky Mount area.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2019/11/12/Appearance-woes-plague-U-S-64.html

Honestly, I don't get how that stuff (like in the picture in the article) is acceptable. Is their budget really so underfunded that they can't pay for sign replacements?

More likely a combination of laziness and being cheap. The recent funding problem just makes for a nice cop-out, IMO. Hell, when the then-US-117 freeway between Wilson and Goldsboro became I-795 in 2007, signs weren't changed until early 2010...unless you count I-795 trailblazers, which was all there was between 2007 and 2010.

If NC has a funding problem, perhaps they shouldn't be requesting all these additional interstates.  Focus on maintaining your system and what's on your plate before taking on pie in the sky proposals.

Lack of money was written on the walls, but alas, NCDOT couldn't read......

[Strider]

Another article this morning regarding the poor condition of the signs on US-64 in the Rocky Mount area.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2019/11/12/Appearance-woes-plague-U-S-64.html

Honestly, I don't get how that stuff (like in the picture in the article) is acceptable. Is their budget really so underfunded that they can't pay for sign replacements?

More likely a combination of laziness and being cheap. The recent funding problem just makes for a nice cop-out, IMO. Hell, when the then-US-117 freeway between Wilson and Goldsboro became I-795 in 2007, signs weren't changed until early 2010...unless you count I-795 trailblazers, which was all there was between 2007 and 2010.

If NC has a funding problem, perhaps they shouldn't be requesting all these additional interstates.  Focus on maintaining your system and what's on your plate before taking on pie in the sky proposals.

That has NOTHING to do with additional interstates. One of the reasons why NC has a funding problem is because the Map Act was stuck down by the courts and the landowners for the properties taken by NCDOT asks for their share of money. They're going through a settlement that costs about billions of dollars. Please do some research first.

[sprjus4]

Another article this morning regarding the poor condition of the signs on US-64 in the Rocky Mount area.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2019/11/12/Appearance-woes-plague-U-S-64.html

The link to the article is broken. Even after searching on Google, it still comes broken...

Site down?

What was in the article?

[Beltway]

More likely a combination of laziness and being cheap. The recent funding problem just makes for a nice cop-out, IMO. Hell, when the then-US-117 freeway between Wilson and Goldsboro became I-795 in 2007, signs weren't changed until early 2010...unless you count I-795 trailblazers, which was all there was between 2007 and 2010.

If NC has a funding problem, perhaps they shouldn't be requesting all these additional interstates.  Focus on maintaining your system and what's on your plate before taking on pie in the sky proposals.

That has NOTHING to do with additional interstates. One of the reasons why NC has a funding problem is because the Map Act was stuck down by the courts and the landowners for the properties taken by NCDOT asks for their share of money. They're going through a settlement that costs about billions of dollars. Please do some research first.

The NCDOT whines about the Map Act and the recent tropical storms being the cause for the massive shortfalls, is well, a whine.  They are way over aggressive in some of their plans, and they are probably floating billions of dollars of general obligation bond issues that they are hiding from scrutiny, and the rising levels of debt service is taking more money out of the budget.

[sprjus4]

More likely a combination of laziness and being cheap. The recent funding problem just makes for a nice cop-out, IMO. Hell, when the then-US-117 freeway between Wilson and Goldsboro became I-795 in 2007, signs weren't changed until early 2010...unless you count I-795 trailblazers, which was all there was between 2007 and 2010.

If NC has a funding problem, perhaps they shouldn't be requesting all these additional interstates.  Focus on maintaining your system and what's on your plate before taking on pie in the sky proposals.

That has NOTHING to do with additional interstates. One of the reasons why NC has a funding problem is because the Map Act was stuck down by the courts and the landowners for the properties taken by NCDOT asks for their share of money. They're going through a settlement that costs about billions of dollars. Please do some research first.

The NCDOT whines about the Map Act and the recent tropical storms being the cause for the massive shortfalls, is well, a whine.  They are way over aggressive in some of their plans, and they are probably floating billions of dollars of general obligation bond issues that they are hiding from scrutiny, and the rising levels of debt service is taking more money out of the budget.

Source?

And in fairness, it's no better up here if that's what you're trying to get at.

[Beltway]

The NCDOT whines about the Map Act and the recent tropical storms being the cause for the massive shortfalls, is well, a whine.  They are way over aggressive in some of their plans, and they are probably floating billions of dollars of general obligation bond issues that they are hiding from scrutiny, and the rising levels of debt service is taking more money out of the budget.

Source?
And in fairness, it's no better up here if that's what you're trying to get at.

I think they are hiding / not publicizing the level of bonding, and trying to build Vanity Interstate Highways.

[planxtymcgillicuddy]

The NCDOT whines about the Map Act and the recent tropical storms being the cause for the massive shortfalls, is well, a whine.  They are way over aggressive in some of their plans, and they are probably floating billions of dollars of general obligation bond issues that they are hiding from scrutiny, and the rising levels of debt service is taking more money out of the budget.

Source?
And in fairness, it's no better up here if that's what you're trying to get at.

I think they are hiding / not publicizing the level of bonding, and trying to build Vanity Interstate Highways.

At least we aren't Pennsylvania......

[sprjus4]

The NCDOT whines about the Map Act and the recent tropical storms being the cause for the massive shortfalls, is well, a whine.  They are way over aggressive in some of their plans, and they are probably floating billions of dollars of general obligation bond issues that they are hiding from scrutiny, and the rising levels of debt service is taking more money out of the budget.

Source?
And in fairness, it's no better up here if that's what you're trying to get at.

I think they are hiding / not publicizing the level of bonding, and trying to build Vanity Interstate Highways.

Except I-87, the highway you call vanity, hasn't been built yet. Are you calling all of the recent projects - 6-8 lane widenings on major freeways, I-140 beltway, I-840 beltway, I-74 / I-274 beltway, I-295 beltway, I-540 beltway, I-485 beltway, and the ~600 miles of freeway non-federal funded that have been built since the 80s vanity? The proposed projects like I-40 widening, Complete 540, I-85 widening, I-95 widening, all vanity?

It's interesting because the Build NC bond has lately been accelerating a decent amount of projects that have fallen short.

You "think" they are hiding stuff, but you have no solid proof. It's merely a bias guess.

[planxtymcgillicuddy]

The NCDOT whines about the Map Act and the recent tropical storms being the cause for the massive shortfalls, is well, a whine.  They are way over aggressive in some of their plans, and they are probably floating billions of dollars of general obligation bond issues that they are hiding from scrutiny, and the rising levels of debt service is taking more money out of the budget.

Source?
And in fairness, it's no better up here if that's what you're trying to get at.

I think they are hiding / not publicizing the level of bonding, and trying to build Vanity Interstate Highways.

Except I-87, the highway you call vanity, hasn't been built yet. Are you calling all of the recent projects - 6-8 lane widenings on major freeways, I-140 beltway, I-840 beltway, I-74 / I-274 beltway, I-295 beltway, I-540 beltway, I-485 beltway, and the ~600 miles of freeway non-federal funded that have been built since the 80s vanity?

Only one you could really put in that category is I-74/274, but even that is more of a lack of foresight than anything.

[goobnav]

More likely a combination of laziness and being cheap. The recent funding problem just makes for a nice cop-out, IMO. Hell, when the then-US-117 freeway between Wilson and Goldsboro became I-795 in 2007, signs weren't changed until early 2010...unless you count I-795 trailblazers, which was all there was between 2007 and 2010.

If NC has a funding problem, perhaps they shouldn't be requesting all these additional interstates.  Focus on maintaining your system and what's on your plate before taking on pie in the sky proposals.

That has NOTHING to do with additional interstates. One of the reasons why NC has a funding problem is because the Map Act was stuck down by the courts and the landowners for the properties taken by NCDOT asks for their share of money. They're going through a settlement that costs about billions of dollars. Please do some research first.

The NCDOT whines about the Map Act and the recent tropical storms being the cause for the massive shortfalls, is well, a whine.  They are way over aggressive in some of their plans, and they are probably floating billions of dollars of general obligation bond issues that they are hiding from scrutiny, and the rising levels of debt service is taking more money out of the budget.

Yeah, at least we can afford it without tolling every other project and fleecing the taxpayers by selling to the biggest contributor, I mean highest bidder, .  Y'all have no idea what's about to happen in the Commonwealth.

VA is about to get crushed with taxes for obligations made out of thin air, or in the New Peoples House of Delegates ideas, for better of the Commonwealth.  When your gas taxes go up, yes, even more than they are now and are more than NC's but, you still have all those tolls tell me who is the better management of the funding.   

[sprjus4]

More likely a combination of laziness and being cheap. The recent funding problem just makes for a nice cop-out, IMO. Hell, when the then-US-117 freeway between Wilson and Goldsboro became I-795 in 2007, signs weren't changed until early 2010...unless you count I-795 trailblazers, which was all there was between 2007 and 2010.

If NC has a funding problem, perhaps they shouldn't be requesting all these additional interstates.  Focus on maintaining your system and what's on your plate before taking on pie in the sky proposals.

That has NOTHING to do with additional interstates. One of the reasons why NC has a funding problem is because the Map Act was stuck down by the courts and the landowners for the properties taken by NCDOT asks for their share of money. They're going through a settlement that costs about billions of dollars. Please do some research first.

The NCDOT whines about the Map Act and the recent tropical storms being the cause for the massive shortfalls, is well, a whine.  They are way over aggressive in some of their plans, and they are probably floating billions of dollars of general obligation bond issues that they are hiding from scrutiny, and the rising levels of debt service is taking more money out of the budget.

Yeah, at least we can afford it without tolling every other project and fleecing the taxpayers by selling to the biggest contributor, I mean highest bidder, .  Y'all have no idea what's about to happen in the Commonwealth.

VA is about to get crushed with taxes for obligations made out of thin air, or in the New Peoples House of Delegates ideas, for better of the Commonwealth.  When your gas taxes go up, yes, even more than they are now and are more than NC's but, you still have all those tolls tell me who is the better management of the funding.   

Hey, HO/T lanes fix everything in this state 

At least NCDOT isn't giving half of its projects off to private companies because VDOT can't actually afford it themselves. The City of Chesapeake had to undertake about $500 million worth of projects, upgrading Dominion Blvd into an urban freeway & building a high rise bridge, and constructing the 10 mile Chesapeake Expressway and take out bonds to fund it, all because VDOT couldn't even do that. A city, a locality, building and managing an entire freeway.

I-95 is still 6-lanes. I-81 and I-64 are still only 4-lanes. I-73 is still a paper highway in Virginia and South Carolina yet North Carolina has built 90% of its portion, and that's looking at statewide issues. I'm not even talking about the urban congestion issues, which is horrendous, notably Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Like I said above, this state is in no better shape.

[goobnav]

The NCDOT whines about the Map Act and the recent tropical storms being the cause for the massive shortfalls, is well, a whine.  They are way over aggressive in some of their plans, and they are probably floating billions of dollars of general obligation bond issues that they are hiding from scrutiny, and the rising levels of debt service is taking more money out of the budget.

Source?
And in fairness, it's no better up here if that's what you're trying to get at.

I think they are hiding / not publicizing the level of bonding, and trying to build Vanity Interstate Highways.

At least we aren't Pennsylvania......

Definitely not, we didn't take the gas tax increase for bridges and roads and give to the State Police, NC is building and repairing infrastructure per the law it was written for and has to be amended to change.

[LM117]

Another article this morning regarding the poor condition of the signs on US-64 in the Rocky Mount area.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2019/11/12/Appearance-woes-plague-U-S-64.html

The link to the article is broken. Even after searching on Google, it still comes broken...

Site down?

What was in the article?

Yeah, I noticed it too just now. Apparently, they changed the website layout after I posted the link and now I can't find it either.

Anyway, the gist of it is that the signs on US-64 in Nash County, particularly in the Nashville/Momeyer area, are in really bad shape (one of which has half missing) and NCDOT is blaming the funding problem for not fixing/replacing them even though some of the signs had been in poor shape for a long time.

[goobnav]

More likely a combination of laziness and being cheap. The recent funding problem just makes for a nice cop-out, IMO. Hell, when the then-US-117 freeway between Wilson and Goldsboro became I-795 in 2007, signs weren't changed until early 2010...unless you count I-795 trailblazers, which was all there was between 2007 and 2010.

If NC has a funding problem, perhaps they shouldn't be requesting all these additional interstates.  Focus on maintaining your system and what's on your plate before taking on pie in the sky proposals.

That has NOTHING to do with additional interstates. One of the reasons why NC has a funding problem is because the Map Act was stuck down by the courts and the landowners for the properties taken by NCDOT asks for their share of money. They're going through a settlement that costs about billions of dollars. Please do some research first.

The NCDOT whines about the Map Act and the recent tropical storms being the cause for the massive shortfalls, is well, a whine.  They are way over aggressive in some of their plans, and they are probably floating billions of dollars of general obligation bond issues that they are hiding from scrutiny, and the rising levels of debt service is taking more money out of the budget.

Yeah, at least we can afford it without tolling every other project and fleecing the taxpayers by selling to the biggest contributor, I mean highest bidder, .  Y'all have no idea what's about to happen in the Commonwealth.

VA is about to get crushed with taxes for obligations made out of thin air, or in the New Peoples House of Delegates ideas, for better of the Commonwealth.  When your gas taxes go up, yes, even more than they are now and are more than NC's but, you still have all those tolls tell me who is the better management of the funding.   

Hey, HO/T lanes fix everything in this state 

At least NCDOT isn't giving half of its projects off to private companies because VDOT can't actually afford it themselves. The City of Chesapeake had to undertake about $500 million worth of projects, upgrading Dominion Blvd into an urban freeway & building a high rise bridge, and constructing the 10 mile Chesapeake Expressway and take out bonds to fund it, all because VDOT couldn't even do that. A city, a locality, building and managing an entire freeway.

Like I said above, this state is in no better shape.

I truly feel sorry for VA, was a pretty state and had some pretty decent roads, now, just try to get through it as fast and legally as possible.

[planxtymcgillicuddy]

The NCDOT whines about the Map Act and the recent tropical storms being the cause for the massive shortfalls, is well, a whine.  They are way over aggressive in some of their plans, and they are probably floating billions of dollars of general obligation bond issues that they are hiding from scrutiny, and the rising levels of debt service is taking more money out of the budget.

Source?
And in fairness, it's no better up here if that's what you're trying to get at.

I think they are hiding / not publicizing the level of bonding, and trying to build Vanity Interstate Highways.

At least we aren't Pennsylvania......

Definitely not, we didn't take the gas tax increase for bridges and roads and give to the State Police, NC is building and repairing infrastructure per the law it was written for and has to be amended to change.

That and we didnt build the Bud Shuster Pork Barrel Freeway to Nowhere (looking at you, I-99)

[sprjus4]

I truly feel sorry for VA, was a pretty state and had some pretty decent roads, now, just try to get through it as fast and legally as possible.

If you're not stuck behind truck after truck on 4-lane I-81 for miles. Or sitting at 5 mph on I-95 and I-64.

[Beltway]

You "think" they are hiding stuff, but you have no solid proof. It's merely a bias guess.

That's the problem when they are hiding stuff, it makes it difficult or impossible to prove, at least in the short-term.

[sprjus4]

Only one you could really put in that category is I-74/274, but even that is more of a lack of foresight than anything.

I wouldn't really call I-74 "vanity". The US-52 freeway corridor is a bottleneck thru Winston-Salem, and I-74 will provide a bypass of the city for southwestern Virginia -> central NC thru traffic.

I-274 is debatable.

[planxtymcgillicuddy]

I truly feel sorry for VA, was a pretty state and had some pretty decent roads, now, just try to get through it as fast and legally as possible.

If you're not stuck behind truck after truck on 4-lane I-81 for miles. Or sitting at 5 mph on I-95 and I-64.

If Virginia isnt going to put 81 to 6+ lanes, then they could at the very least upgrade the U.S. 29 corridor as they should have done a long time ago. If they had a middle freeway/interstate from D.C. to Charlottesville/Lynchburg/Danville, it'd take a lot of congestion off of not only 81 but also 95.