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PA Turnpike News

Started by mightyace, February 16, 2009, 05:29:14 PM

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cl94

Quote from: ARMOURERERIC on September 24, 2014, 07:48:30 PM
Have not read the line item yet to see if it includes any 376 exit improvements.

If it doesn't, it should. That thing is a Charlie Foxtrot. It looks kind of like that thing that was formerly at the I-94/US 24 interchange in Michigan, except worse.
Please note: All posts represent my personal opinions and do not represent those of my employer or any of its partner agencies.

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ARMOURERERIC

In case you did not know, this interchange was originally built in IIRC 1952 to serve ontly US 22 with a trumpet connection.  I-376 was an add on, spliced to the existing interchange, probably the first occurrance where an interstate was hooked to the turnpike.  About 1964?

Gnutella

Quote from: ARMOURERERIC on September 24, 2014, 07:48:30 PM
Just stopped by the PC Major Projects Design and Construction page and note a few new SW PA projects listed as now in design:  This is what I am seeing there:

MP 28-31 Reconstruction, which IIRC includes the 19/79 interchange
MP 49-53 Reconstruction
MP 53-57 Reconstruction
   This is consistent with what I have read in the past that 376 to the new Allegheny River Bridge would be 2 contracts.  Have not read the line item yet to see if it includes any 376 exit improvements.

They must have just added those projects to the page, because I went there earlier this week and didn't see them. The MM 28-MM 31 Project does not involve a reconfiguration of the I-79/U.S. 19 interchange; that was done early last decade (the "Cranberry Connector" project).

I have a hunch that the I-376/U.S. 22 interchange will be reconfigured because of the I-79/U.S 19 and I-95 reconfigurations, though it might end up being its own separate project too.

Gnutella



Look at all that activity! And everything except 'G' and 'H' involves at least one of the following:


1. Long-span bridge replacements
2. Interchange reconfigurations
3. Total reconstruction and widening to six lanes


In another 10 years, the Pennsylvania Turnpike will be a thoroughly modern highway once again.

ARMOURERERIC

A new project has been added:

The design phase of the Freedom Road bridge in Cranberry.  I've been waiting for this one to be dealt with since the late 1970's.

Gnutella

Quote from: ARMOURERERIC on October 08, 2014, 11:32:47 PM
A new project has been added:

The design phase of the Freedom Road bridge in Cranberry.  I've been waiting for this one to be dealt with since the late 1970's.

And it's likely a precursor to six-laning the Turnpike between I-79 and the Beaver River. Sometime early next decade, the Turnpike will be six lanes all the way from Ohio to New Stanton.

rickmastfan67

Quote from: Gnutella on October 09, 2014, 05:11:27 AM
Quote from: ARMOURERERIC on October 08, 2014, 11:32:47 PM
A new project has been added:

The design phase of the Freedom Road bridge in Cranberry.  I've been waiting for this one to be dealt with since the late 1970's.

And it's likely a precursor to six-laning the Turnpike between I-79 and the Beaver River. Sometime early next decade, the Turnpike will be six lanes all the way from Ohio to New Stanton.

Hopefully Freedom Road will be at least 4 lanes (2 each way) over the Turnpike with the new bridge.  It's needed badly.  I've seen traffic get backed up pretty bad coming into Cranberry over the Turnpike because it gets jammed up by traffic trying to turn left onto Executive Drive.

02 Park Ave

There is no other project listed between mms 14 and 28 yet.
C-o-H

Gnutella

Quote from: rickmastfan67 on October 09, 2014, 07:59:26 PM
Quote from: Gnutella on October 09, 2014, 05:11:27 AM
Quote from: ARMOURERERIC on October 08, 2014, 11:32:47 PM
A new project has been added:

The design phase of the Freedom Road bridge in Cranberry.  I've been waiting for this one to be dealt with since the late 1970's.

And it's likely a precursor to six-laning the Turnpike between I-79 and the Beaver River. Sometime early next decade, the Turnpike will be six lanes all the way from Ohio to New Stanton.

Hopefully Freedom Road will be at least 4 lanes (2 each way) over the Turnpike with the new bridge.  It's needed badly.  I've seen traffic get backed up pretty bad coming into Cranberry over the Turnpike because it gets jammed up by traffic trying to turn left onto Executive Drive.

Directly from the project's home page:

"The goal of this project is to completely replace and widen the bridge to add travel lanes to accommodate the high traffic volumes on Freedom Road."

Quote from: 02 Park Ave on October 09, 2014, 09:35:18 PM
There is no other project listed between mms 14 and 28 yet.

Directly from the project's home page:

"The new structure will also be lengthened to accommodate the Turnpike's template for the future reconstruction of the Turnpike which includes an additional travel lane in each direction."

jeffandnicole

Quote from: Gnutella on October 10, 2014, 02:31:03 AM
Quote from: 02 Park Ave on October 09, 2014, 09:35:18 PM
There is no other project listed between mms 14 and 28 yet.

Directly from the project's home page:

"The new structure will also be lengthened to accommodate the Turnpike’s template for the future reconstruction of the Turnpike which includes an additional travel lane in each direction."

But note the 'template' part of that statement. I doubt it's something that'll be done in the short term.  There are numerous bridge reconstructions for widenings that ultimately never take place.

Gnutella

Quote from: jeffandnicole on October 10, 2014, 06:12:13 AM
Quote from: Gnutella on October 10, 2014, 02:31:03 AM
Quote from: 02 Park Ave on October 09, 2014, 09:35:18 PM
There is no other project listed between mms 14 and 28 yet.

Directly from the project's home page:

"The new structure will also be lengthened to accommodate the Turnpike’s template for the future reconstruction of the Turnpike which includes an additional travel lane in each direction."

But note the 'template' part of that statement. I doubt it's something that'll be done in the short term.  There are numerous bridge reconstructions for widenings that ultimately never take place.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike has already been widened to six lanes from the Ohio state line to MM 10, and will very soon be widened between MM 10 and MM 14. It's also been widened from MM 31 to MM 38, MM 48 to MM 49, and MM 67 to MM 75, with ongoing widening from MM 40 to MM 48, and future widening in design from MM 28 to MM 31, and MM 49 to MM 67. Given all this, it's pointless to keep MM 14 to MM 28 four lanes.

ARMOURERERIC

It looks to me like the PTC is missing the boat.  Freedom road needs a 7 lane bridge now.

02 Park Ave

#837
The new lanes of the widened section of the Northeast Extension are scheduled to be opened today.
C-o-H

PHLBOS

Quote from: 02 Park Ave on October 17, 2014, 07:23:29 AM
The new lanes of the widen section of the Northeast Extension are scheduled to be opened today.
That's good news.  I'll be using that stretch tomorrow evening.
GPS does NOT equal GOD

Mergingtraffic

#839
There's a sign on I-276 WB just past the Delaware River Bridge that says "I-276 WEST Harrisburg" with 2 down arrows.  Is the space here for a future I-95 shield or just a wide spot?  Doesn't look big enough to fit a shield in there though.



here it is with the other sign:

I only take pics of good looking signs. Long live non-reflective button copy!
MergingTraffic https://www.flickr.com/photos/98731835@N05/

Gnutella

Quote from: doofy103 on October 18, 2014, 06:26:17 PM
There's a sign on I-276 WB just past the Delaware River Bridge that says "I-276 WEST Harrisburg" with 2 down arrows.  Is the space here for a future I-95 shield or just a wide spot?  Doesn't look big enough to fit a shield in there though.



here it is with the other sign:



I think those signs are old (with a new exit tab on one), so I'm not sure it even matters because I bet that they'll replace the sign on the left at the very least. The condensed "276" font inside the Interstate shield looks like the condensed "376," "279" and "579" font I saw on signs in Pittsburgh that were fabricated in the mid-1980s. Since the 1990s, the font inside three-digit Interstate shields in Pennsylvania has either been the normal font, or an even more condensed font. The two signs in your picture (save the exit tab) could be examples of some of the first fully reflectorized, non-button-copy signs in Pennsylvania.

jeffandnicole

No: 95 would go on the top line, not below it. The extra space would be reserved for a destination name "Philadelphia", "Pittsburgh", etc. or, most likely, it's just a fuck up.

Mergingtraffic

Quote from: jeffandnicole on October 19, 2014, 10:09:42 AM
No: 95 would go on the top line, not below it. The extra space would be reserved for a destination name "Philadelphia", "Pittsburgh", etc. or, most likely, it's just a fuck up.
A f-up....yep that's what I figured. Kinda surprised not much I-276 signage in that area anyway.
I only take pics of good looking signs. Long live non-reflective button copy!
MergingTraffic https://www.flickr.com/photos/98731835@N05/

Zeffy

Quote from: jeffandnicole on October 19, 2014, 10:09:42 AM
No: 95 would go on the top line, not below it.

Not necessarily - while I'm not sure that this would be the case in this situation you could put it like the following:


Picture from AARoads.com

However, I would assume that there won't be such installed on that sign, rather an entirely new sign created when the needs arise.
Life would be boring if we didn't take an offramp every once in a while

A weird combination of a weather geek, roadgeek, car enthusiast and furry mixed with many anxiety related disorders

02 Park Ave

When the I-95/Turnpike connexion has been completed, these signs will then be above the I-95.  So the I-276 sign would have to be replaced by an I-95 sign; also, the exit number on the other sign would have to be replaced accordingly.

These signs look a lot newer than the structure on which they are mounted.
C-o-H

Mergingtraffic

Quote from: 02 Park Ave on October 19, 2014, 01:25:55 PM
When the I-95/Turnpike connexion has been completed, these signs will then be above the I-95.  So the I-276 sign would have to be replaced by an I-95 sign; also, the exit number on the other sign would have to be replaced accordingly.

These signs look a lot newer than the structure on which they are mounted.

I was also thinking possibly that PENNDOT thought ahead like NJ did (see pic below). but there isn't enough space and weren't sure how old those signs were.

I only take pics of good looking signs. Long live non-reflective button copy!
MergingTraffic https://www.flickr.com/photos/98731835@N05/

KEVIN_224

I was on that part of the New Jersey Turnpike yesterday (between Exit 4 in Mount Laurel and East Spur Exit 16E in Secaucus). No doubt in my mind that said sign will soon read

PENN TURNPIKE
PHILADELPHIA

Also, I noticed this while in Philadelphia from mid-day Friday until early Saturday afternoon:

At of-noon on a Saturday. Is I-76/Schuylkill Expressway always backed up onto I-676/US Route 30 West like this?

02 Park Ave

The back-up is caused by the two lanes on the left having to merge into one lane to get onto the westbound Schuylkil Expressway.  Even though there is no further merge onto the Schuykill Expressway itself, this back-up occurs at most times.
C-o-H

jeffandnicole

Quote from: KEVIN_224 on October 19, 2014, 08:44:09 PM
I was on that part of the New Jersey Turnpike yesterday (between Exit 4 in Mount Laurel and East Spur Exit 16E in Secaucus). No doubt in my mind that said sign will soon read

PENN TURNPIKE
PHILADELPHIA

It will.

Quote

Also, I noticed this while in Philadelphia from mid-day Friday until early Saturday afternoon:

At of-noon on a Saturday. Is I-76/Schuylkill Expressway always backed up onto I-676/US Route 30 West like this?

It's almost always going to be like that on the weekends. The Schuykill Expressway is simply busy in the weekends in both directions.

odditude

Quote from: jeffandnicole on October 19, 2014, 09:46:42 PM
Quote from: KEVIN_224 on October 19, 2014, 08:44:09 PM
Also, I noticed this while in Philadelphia from mid-day Friday until early Saturday afternoon:
[...]
At of-noon on a Saturday. Is I-76/Schuylkill Expressway always backed up onto I-676/US Route 30 West like this?

It's almost always going to be like that on the weekends. The Schuykill Expressway is simply busy in the weekends in both directions.
the Schuylkill is usually backed-up approaching the Vine from the west, and the Vine is usually backed-up approaching the Schuylkill. it's only during particularly light traffic times that everything moves freely. during rush hour, the Vine will be backed up end-to-end and then some - with the Schuylkill backed up starting at Girard or Spring Garden, and I-95 starting at Allegheny or NJ 90.



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