New York

[Plutonic Panda]

Hopefully 787 is kept but I don't see why removing the circle would make that much of a difference if it is kept.

Edit: I haven't even been to Albany so I'm not familiar with how useful this road is but why keep it an interstate all the way to the circle and then downgrade it to a boulevard north of it?

[SignBridge]

Why was the Hawthorne Circle Interchange built without ramps allowing traffic going NB on one parkway to go SB on another and vice versa? And has anyone proposed adding those missing movements?

My guess would be that the amount of traffic projected to be making those movements was so low that it did not justify the additional expense of building those ramps.

[vdeane]

Honestly, I don't see why getting rid of the circle stack would require removing I-787 entirely, especially since that seems to be the main complaint.  If the interchange were replaced with something smaller, it would solve a lot of issues, both in terms of accessibility through the interchange for bicycles and pedestrians, and in terms of the fiscal costs to keep those ramps maintained.  That interchange is massively overbuilt for the traffic it actually carries, and the South Mall doesn't really need to exist as it does given that it was never completed and never will be.  That could easily be made into a boulevard.  If I had my way, we'd boulevard the South Mall, replace the circle stack with something smaller (as much as the roadgeek in my loves it), and keep I-787 an interstate.

This with rerouting US 9 to follow NY 32 to its current alignment would probably be the best compromise to keep I-787 IMO.

That was actually looked at as part of the Skyway project.  For whatever reason the City of Albany didn't want US 9 to move there, so US 9 NB snakes along Quay Street, Water Street, Orange Street, and Broadway instead.

Hopefully 787 is kept but I don't see why removing the circle would make that much of a difference if it is kept.

Edit: I haven't even been to Albany so I'm not familiar with how useful this road is but why keep it an interstate all the way to the circle and then downgrade it to a boulevard north of it?

The complaints are basically about the circle stack and wanting more connections to the park.  South of there is the Port of Albany.  Not much demand to walk or bike there.  It's worth noting however that the proposal does indeed rip out the freeway south of the circle too; there's a light at Green Street.

[TheDon102]

Question, I pass by this interchange a lot, why not slap a 684 shield on here?


https://www.google.com/maps/@41.1074535,-73.7990098,3a,18.1y,322.38h,92.62t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sREsmA_5BmuYt0ZVurPAFeQ!2e0!5s20191001T000000!7i16384!8i8192

[Mergingtraffic]

Question, I pass by this interchange a lot, why not slap a 684 shield on here?


https://www.google.com/maps/@41.1074535,-73.7990098,3a,18.1y,322.38h,92.62t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sREsmA_5BmuYt0ZVurPAFeQ!2e0!5s20191001T000000!7i16384!8i8192

Similar with the following...
The new sign on the new 2-lane ramp to I-287 at the I-95/I-287 interchange in Port Chester just says "Cross Westchester Expwy" with no I-287 shield.  It's a carbon copy of the original signage. 

[vdeane]

So it looks like the latest effort to remove I-787 is definitely gaining attention.  It was in the main block of stories on the local news tonight.  It definitely feels like a bigger push than prior efforts that I've seen - other than the MPO study a few years back (which basically recommended "stick with the status quo with targeted improvements until it comes due for replacement"), it's basically just been letters to the editor, internet comments, and opinion pieces prior to now.

https://www.news10.com/video/the-albany-waterfront-collaborative/7171992/

What's interested in that the Skyway project only seems to have increased the appetite for removing I-787, when a (now retired) manager in Region 1 assumed that improving bike/ped access to the river would diffuse the whole thing and make the push to remove I-787 go away.

[Rothman]

What a bona fide opinion.

[SignBridge]

I found another example today of Region-10 eliminating overhead sign gantries and replacing with (in this case) really cheezy looking ground mounted signs more suitable for local roads than a six-lane divided state highway with signalized intersections. NY 25, Jericho Tpk in Old Westbury, westbound at the NY 25B split.

Overhead signs there for the last fifty years now gone. The original button-copy signs from the 1968 road widening had been replaced some years ago, but I believe it was a fifty-year old triangular-truss gantry.

I figure it'll take about one winter season for all the new ground-mounted signs to get knocked down. They're only built on thin metal stanchions, not the beams usually used for large BGS's. Just like NYS DOT's traffic-signal back-plates that fall away after a few years.

[vdeane]

I found another example today of Region-10 eliminating overhead sign gantries and replacing with (in this case) really cheezy looking ground mounted signs more suitable for local roads than a six-lane divided state highway with signalized intersections. NY 25, Jericho Tpk in Old Westbury, westbound at the NY 25B split.

Overhead signs there for the last fifty years now gone. The original button-copy signs from the 1968 road widening had been replaced some years ago, but I believe it was a fifty-year old triangular-truss gantry.

I figure it'll take about one winter season for all the new ground-mounted signs to get knocked down. They're only built on thin metal stanchions, not the beams usually used for large BGS's. NYS DOT at their short-sighted best, just like with their traffic-signal back-plates that fall away after a few years.

Sounds like a temporary sign that was put down because the overhead sign structure failed inspection (you really don't want those falling onto traffic).

[SignBridge]

You might be right vdeane. Not just one sign though. A set of four, two on each side, some distance apart. If they are temporary, it'll be interesting to see if a new sign gantry is built or just more permanent looking ground-mounted signs.

And I agree, we wouldn't want fifty-year old gantries falling into the road. Interestingly, another old triangular gantry about a quarter-mile before this one, was replaced some years ago with a new box-truss gantry. Don't now why they didn't do both of them at the same time..

[Dougtone]

Exploring one of the rural roads in Upstate New York with a very interesting history, the Pre-Emption Road in places like Yates and Ontario Counties. It's not often that you come across a random road based on an 18th Century surveying line.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2021/12/finding-pre-emption-road-of-new-york.html

[empirestate]

Exploring one of the rural roads in Upstate New York with a very interesting history, the Pre-Emption Road in places like Yates and Ontario Counties. It's not often that you come across a random road based on an 18th Century surveying line.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2021/12/finding-pre-emption-road-of-new-york.html

Yeah, that's a quirky one. Now do Transit Road!

[DJStephens]

Question, I pass by this interchange a lot, why not slap a 684 shield on here?


https://www.google.com/maps/@41.1074535,-73.7990098,3a,18.1y,322.38h,92.62t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sREsmA_5BmuYt0ZVurPAFeQ!2e0!5s20191001T000000!7i16384!8i8192

Good question.  Amazing to view 50-55 year old concrete pavements, guard rail, and center rail still present, and in use.   

[roadman65]

Question, I pass by this interchange a lot, why not slap a 684 shield on here?


https://www.google.com/maps/@41.1074535,-73.7990098,3a,18.1y,322.38h,92.62t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sREsmA_5BmuYt0ZVurPAFeQ!2e0!5s20191001T000000!7i16384!8i8192

Good question.  Amazing to view 50-55 year old concrete pavements, guard rail, and center rail still present, and in use.   

Too easy😄

[Dougtone]

Exploring one of the rural roads in Upstate New York with a very interesting history, the Pre-Emption Road in places like Yates and Ontario Counties. It's not often that you come across a random road based on an 18th Century surveying line.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2021/12/finding-pre-emption-road-of-new-york.html

Yeah, that's a quirky one. Now do Transit Road!

Googled Transit Road history quickly. There is some history to that road that I was unaware of. I might have to blog about that at some point in the future.

[SignBridge]

Question, I pass by this interchange a lot, why not slap a 684 shield on here?


https://www.google.com/maps/@41.1074535,-73.7990098,3a,18.1y,322.38h,92.62t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sREsmA_5BmuYt0ZVurPAFeQ!2e0!5s20191001T000000!7i16384!8i8192

Good question.  Amazing to view 50-55 year old concrete pavements, guard rail, and center rail still present, and in use.   

Hard to believe that Taconic/Saw Mill Pkwy. interchange is now fifty years old. I remember when it was under construction circa 1970 and even before that driving through the old Hawthorne Traffic Circle that preceded it, with my parents in 1967.

[crispy93]

Thought you guys might get a kick out of this, a few days ago, I noticed NYSDOT installed a FREEWAY ENTRANCE sign getting on I-84 West from US 9 North in Fishkill. Or is it "the" 84 now? Lol. I noticed a similar PARKWAY ENTRANCE sign getting on the Saw Mill north from 9A near Hawthorne

[SignBridge]

LOL!.......Yeah, "the 84". I like that; very Californian, like the sign.

[empirestate]

Weird, I'll have to show my Californian wife. I wonder if there's one going the other direction?

[Alps]

Thought you guys might get a kick out of this, a few days ago, I noticed NYSDOT installed a FREEWAY ENTRANCE sign getting on I-84 West from US 9 North in Fishkill. Or is it "the" 84 now? Lol. I noticed a similar PARKWAY ENTRANCE sign getting on the Saw Mill north from 9A near Hawthorne

either the image has been taken down or i'm hated by google

[WNYroadgeek]

Can tell you now it's not just a region 8 thing. Have seen similar signs at I-990/North French Rd and NY 400/NY 277 within the past month or so.

[ixnay]

Speaking of signs on NYS roads, this 2-yo article may be of interest (I don't have time to read the whole thing now)...

https://thegate.boardingarea.com/why-this-highway-sign-in-new-york-was-controversial/

Have those signs been replaced?

[Rothman]

Can tell you now it's not just a region 8 thing. Have seen similar signs at I-990/North French Rd and NY 400/NY 277 within the past month or so.

Yep.  NYSDOT is installing them around the entire state.

[Flyer78]

Region 3 has them on I-690, at least the western end.

I've also noticed a lot of "wrong way" arrows on off ramps, lately.

[Jim]

Yes, the new Exit 3 onramp for I-87 SB from Albany-Shaker has a "Freeway Entrance".