An oldie but goodie

[CapeCodder]

This is from my road trip files.

I had the opportunity to drive from St. Louis to Wakefield, MA back in 2007. It was by far the best trip I have done.

Routing: I-70 to MO 370. 370 to I-270. I-270 to I-55. I-55 to I-80. I-80 through Indiana to the point in Ohio where 90 splits off. I-90 to I-95. I took the "southern" route home. The southern route was I-90 to 84 to 380 to 80 to 57. 57 to 72. 72 to 55. 55-270.

I left the house at 2 AM and headed out on the road. I stopped at QT and got a BFC of Monster Energy. The moon was setting and I was heading away from it. 70 was active with truckers but other than that traffic was light. 370 was a ghost town. I had some trouble on 270 as they were doing some work and the St. Louis County Police were everywhere. I crossed the Chain of Rocks and headed into Madison Co. Illinois. 270 seems to be pretty dangerous in Illinois as it was only two lanes each way. I do not know if it's still like that. The truck fencing in the middle helps.

At about 2:45 am I made it to 55 and headed north. The moon was to my left and it was bright orange. By 3:50 I made it to Springfield and pondered if I should take 72 to 57 to 80. I stayed on 55 and made good time. I passed a Greyhound bus. By 6 AM I was at the 80 interchange. I headed eastward yet again.

Nobody told me how boring the Indiana Tollway is. The scenery was all pretty much the same. Except for the towns and large cities, farms are all you get. Ohio was a little better.

Then I got to Cleveland.

Cleveland was brutal. Traffic everywhere. Gridlock seemed to extend into Lake County, but once past 271 it dropped off. Pennsylvania was quick.

Then came the Thruway. How deceiving it is. Initially I thought Utica and Albany were at most 50-55 miles apart. Nope. It's 100 miles. I didn't hit Albany until early in the morning. The terrain on the way to Albany is gorgeous (as I found out in 2012.) The area by Herkimer slowed me down somewhat.

Crossing the Hudson and ultimately into MA was awesome. I was back in my neck of the woods. made excellent time on the Mass Pike. 128 had some slowdowns, but I exited off at MA 129 and headed to my grandfather's house.

On the way back, I left at 2 AM and headed down 128 to the Pike and got on. Seemed to take no time in getting to 84. The stretch of 84 in Hartford and the surrounding areas scares me, as the road twists and turns. Going across NYS was fun. The Shawangunks were glowing in the rising sun. I ate breakfast at Port Jervis. I then crossed into PA and headed to 380. I took that south and headed onto 80. I stayed on 80 until I-57 in Illinois. I got to see Kankakee. Question: why is the interchange between 72 and 57 a damned cloverleaf? I would think it should be a rural stack.

72 seemed to fly by. I closed the loop at Springfield and headed onto 55 south. They need to do something about the cloverleaf at 55 and 72. Someone could get killed there. There was a bad accident on 270 in Glen Carbon, so I exited and went down 157 to 55-70. Crossed the PSB and headed on 70 west.

While I was in MA I clinched quite a few routes.

[epzik8]

Love your writing style. You seem to remember this one in great detail for it being a decade ago.

[paulthemapguy]

What is so significant about Kankakee?  Seems to be a lot of focus on it on this forum.

I-72 is pretty underused so I wouldn't expect an upgrade to the I-57/72 interchange anytime soon.  They are looking at upgrading the junction of I-57/74 just to the north, though.

I believe I-270 in Illinois is still only 2 lanes each way.

Loved this post, I would like to see more road trip anecdotes/stories shared on here.

[Brandon]

This is from my road trip files.

I had the opportunity to drive from St. Louis to Wakefield, MA back in 2007. It was by far the best trip I have done.

Routing: I-70 to MO 370. 370 to I-270. I-270 to I-55. I-55 to I-80. I-80 through Indiana to the point in Ohio where 90 splits off. I-90 to I-95. I took the "southern" route home. The southern route was I-90 to 84 to 380 to 80 to 57. 57 to 72. 72 to 55. 55-270.

Nobody told me how boring the Indiana Tollway is. The scenery was all pretty much the same. Except for the towns and large cities, farms are all you get. Ohio was a little better.

Yeah, the Indiana Toll Road can be a bit dull.  It doesn't help that there are two stretches with more than 20 miles between exits on it.

Then came the Thruway. How deceiving it is. Initially I thought Utica and Albany were at most 50-55 miles apart. Nope. It's 100 miles. I didn't hit Albany until early in the morning. The terrain on the way to Albany is gorgeous (as I found out in 2012.) The area by Herkimer slowed me down somewhat.

Those damn sequential exit numbers are deceiving in and of themselves.  I don't have any clue how northeasterners can calculate distances and thus travel times.

Crossing the Hudson and ultimately into MA was awesome. I was back in my neck of the woods. made excellent time on the Mass Pike. 128 had some slowdowns, but I exited off at MA 129 and headed to my grandfather's house.

Question: why is the interchange between 72 and 57 a damned cloverleaf? I would think it should be a rural stack.

Because IDOT.  IDOT, for some reason, seems to have avoided stacks of any kind for the most part.  Most of the stack-type interchanges in Illinois either fully belong to or involve ISTHA.

[roadman65]

Its the way up there with the sequential numbering.  Especially I-90 being reversed (E to W) instead of the usual W to E.  Then I-87, has three schemes due to three different jurisdictions as you have the NYC Deegan (though maybe NYSDOT, but influenced by the city), the Thruway, and the Northway all with their own exit numbering each.  New Yorkers refer to all three named roads as a different one and not as the whole I-87.

VT is another one that loves its sequential numbering and probably don't want to give it up as they are so used to it all.  NH is another, as MA is planning to convert, and CT will change the numbers when the signs need replacing.  RI, I have no clue what their opinion is on it, but being its such a small state having milebased numbers won't change things much.  DE started with kilometer based on DE 1, but still both I-95 and I-495 have not been changed, and the Turnpike in NJ you can ask JeffandNicole the answer to that one.

[roadman]

Its the way up there with the sequential numbering.  Especially I-90 being reversed (E to W) instead of the usual W to E.  Then I-87, has three schemes due to three different jurisdictions as you have the NYC Deegan (though maybe NYSDOT, but influenced by the city), the Thruway, and the Northway all with their own exit numbering each.  New Yorkers refer to all three named roads as a different one and not as the whole I-87.

VT is another one that loves its sequential numbering and probably don't want to give it up as they are so used to it all.  NH is another, as MA is planning to convert, and CT will change the numbers when the signs need replacing.  RI, I have no clue what their opinion is on it, but being its such a small state having milebased numbers won't change things much.  DE started with kilometer based on DE 1, but still both I-95 and I-495 have not been changed, and the Turnpike in NJ you can ask JeffandNicole the answer to that one.

NHDOT wants to convert, and had even secured Federal funding for it and prepared contract documents.  But the Governor's Executive Council, which has to personally approve ALL expenditures proposed by state agencies, decided it was an unnecessary use of funds and rejected the proposal.

[froggie]

^ Presuming said Governor's Executive Council either doesn't know or doesn't care that there's an eventual FHWA mandate for mile-based exit numbers...