I made the journey this weekend to what was billed as a "mini meet" to see the new US 301 turnpike construction and some bridges in Delaware, but turned out a decent-sized crowd. (Oscar posted the meet photo in the meet thread).
Since daylight is in such short supply, and I had some exploring I wanted to do, I left work early Thursday drove to Hillsville, Va. Not a lot new to report along the route I usually take (KY 15, US 119, US 23, Alternate US 58, I-81 and I-77). I did notice several of the mileage signs along Alternate 58 had been replaced with mixed-case FHWA (they were previously all-caps FHWA, and some had been replaced with either all-caps or mixed case Clearview previously.) Also noticed a couple of error circle markers for VA 140 and the 3xx-series state route that intersects it between US 11/19 and I-81. That interchange is also being reconfigured to eliminate the loop ramp from VA 140 to northbound I-81, and unisignage for I-81/US 58 has been installed.
I got up early Friday morning in Hillsville and headed east on US 58, noticing the new four-lane alignment west of the Meadows of Dan bypass is complete. Thankfully, I didn't encounter any deer during my pre-daylight travels. The sun was starting to come up between Stuart and Martinsville, but it didn't cause any issues because it was overcast.
I had to take the business route into downtown Danville because my goal was to clinch US 360, and I had never been on that segment between its terminus and the bypass. Signage and pavement conditions in Danville were much better than in many Virginia independent cities. A resurfacing project was taking place in Danville, which surprised me being this late in the year.
US 360's been discussed quite often. Its western terminus makes no sense; it really should be truncated to South Boston. The route itself was a typical rural Virginia four-lane and not heavily traveled until you get almost to VA 288, where it quickly becomes a busy route. Inside the city of Richmond, signage and pavement were both atrocious. There's no signage whatsoever where US 1/US 301 cross 360. The pavement quality improves dramatically beyond I-64 where the state takes over again.
Past I-295, traffic thins out dramatically. Again, I don't understand why this corridor needed to have a US route assigned to it, or why it even has to be four lanes. It seemed to me that two lanes would have been adequate. And even if you grant the premise that the road needs four lanes between Richmond/Mechanicsville and Tappahannock, why it needed to be four lanes most all of the way to Reedville. If I ran things, I'd probably either truncate it to US 17 at Tappahannock or run it along VA 3 and VA 205 to terminate at US 301 at Dahlgren.
After reaching Reedville, I had to backtrack to Callao, then took VA 202 to VA 3 to US 301 to turn north toward Annapolis, which was my base for the weekend. There were several tractor-trailers going through the traffic light there, which made me think they were avoiding I-95. They may have been surprised to find the weigh station near Dahlgren open.
I had filled up Thursday afternoon near St. Paul and Friday mid-day near Mechanicsville, but I topped off at the Sheetz at Dahlgren because I expected gas to be significantly more expensive in Maryland (it wasn't.) It had begun flurrying after I left Reedville. I crossed the OK Bridge (I don't know what's so Nice about it, LOL) and it was snowing a little harder. I got into the La Plata area around 4 p.m. and the roads were starting to get covered. Traffic was also a nightmare; much worse than I anticipated for a Friday afternoon before the work day was over. I saw at least three wrecks and even heard one of them occur; it happened just in front of me.
I had plugged my destination into Google Maps, and it alerted me to a wreck causing delays on US 301 between MD 4 and US 50, so it routed me onto MD 4 east/south to MD 408 to MD 2 to get on to Annapolis. Traffic was flowing OK, although there was a wreck on MD 4 just past the on-ramp from US 301, but the drive wasn't pleasant. The road was snow-covered in spots, traffic was bumper-to-bumper coming back from Annapolis, I couldn't use my bright lights because of the oncoming traffic, and dirt from the road had lessened the effectiveness of my headlights. It was hard to find lane markings once MD 2 widened to four lanes. But I made it to my room without incident and didn't venture out the rest of the night.
Saturday's trip to the meet was straightforward -- US 301 north to DE 896 to I-95 to the service plaza, and the reverse back to Annapolis. No new territory was covered for me here. The meet itself was enjoyable -- thanks to both Alexes to putting it together and to Steve for lunch.
Because I accomplished my goal of clinching US 360 on Friday, I decided to take a more northerly route to go get that final segment of WV 29 I needed to clinch West Virginia's primary system. I opted to cover some new territory so I took US 50 to the BW Parkway, then south onto DC 295, then across I-695 to I-395, then VA 110 to I-66. I saw plenty of "photo enforced" signs, but never saw the actual cameras along my route. There's still a smattering of button copy left on I-395, mostly near Maine Avenue. Traffic was very light, and if I hadn't been intent on getting to West Virginia as quickly as possible, I would have spent some time exploring the area. I had no issues getting out I-66, and saw a couple of state-named markers before I got to the Beltway.
I stopped at the Sheetz at Haymarket and used the DDI there, but was more impressed with what's happened with that Sheetz. It appears to have been completely rebuilt from the last time I was there, which was September 2015. I would guess they demolished the old building and erected an entirely new structure. I also noted with interest that gas was 15 cents a gallon cheaper than the Sheetz locations near Winchester, so after checking the Sheetz app for prices, I filled up.
I took I-66 to US 17, which I used to access US 50. There is absolutely NO reason for the 45 mph speed limit and the truck ban on that stretch of 17. The road is wide and relatively flat and straight. It really should terminate at US 50, though, because there's no logical reason for the concurrency on into downtown Winchester.
Most of the signage in Winchester has been replaced with decent-looking modern signage. There's one cutout assembly on eastbound 50/southbound 17-522 not too far from I-81, and a lone cutout 50 marker eastbound just west of the downtown area.
WV 29 south to Corridor H was uneventful. Nothing really new to report on that segment of Corridor H. There was a decent amount of snow on the ground once you reach the top of the Fore Knobs and on through Bismarck, Davis, Thomas, and down toward Parsons.
Some construction is evident in the Moore community south of Parsons. I didn't see any evidence of construction at the current end of the four-lane at Kerens, although several temporary trailers have been moved onto the unused pavement on the south side of the bridges. Several "Kokosing Construction Entrance" signs have been erected along US 219/48 at intersections with county routes. Perhaps there might be enough to see to do a second Corridor H meet, centered on Elkins, once work gets really rolling.
I opted to take a southern route home, so I exited I-79 at US 19 and took Corridor L to Beckley. I actually got to see the infamous Summersville speed trap in operation. A local police car was parked in the median, ostensibly monitoring northbound traffic, approaching a traffic light beyond the commercial area where Walmart and Sheetz are located. However, that cop pulled out and nabbed someone heading south, down the hill. Thankfully my V-1 alerted me in plenty of time, although I would have been slowing down for the traffic light anyway because of the wet roads. The long-running work zone on the New River Gorge bridge had finally been taken down, and all four lanes were open.
I stopped at the Tamarack travel plaza and made a room reservation online. When I went into the plaza to use the restroom, I walked around and noticed that the chain restaurants there all have signs stating they do not take coupons. That's a crock, but I guess the concessionaires can do pretty much what they want, given that I had paid $4.50 for a not-that-big ice cream cone the day before at the Delaware plaza.
I overnighted in Princeton and headed west Monday morning via I-77 south, US 52 north and US 460 west. I had noticed that gas at the Shell near my motel was $2.459, and was two cents higher at the nearby Sheetz. I'm beginning to notice that Sheetz is no longer the low price leader in many markets. However, I wanted to wait until I got to Virginia to get gas because prices are always significantly lower. I didn't think I had enough gas to get to the Walmart near the US 19/460 split, because prices there are usually very low. I filled up at a Food City Gas-n-Go just inside the state line at Bluefield for $2.159, a full 30 cents cheaper than what I would have paid in West Virginia. Turns out I would have had enough gas to get to that Walmart, which is a shame because it was $2.079 there. I got a picture of a set of very old US 460 markers near that Bluefield stop. It appears that some of the signage at the exit from US 460 to VA Secondary 720/VA 120 has been replaced, but I did see a couple of those white "I-102" signs are still there.
After passing through Grundy, I took VA Secondary 609 across the mountain to see progress on US 460 construction between Harman and Breaks, then checked out some of the construction near Breaks. I also checked out what's been done on KY 1373 off KY 80 near Elkhorn City, as well as Pond Creek of Draffin (as they call it locally) where they are clearing trees for what will be the tallest highway bridge in Kentucky when completed. I stayed on old US 460 instead of taking KY 195 to the future route.
Had lunch at Dairy Cheer in Pikeville. 35 years ago, this was a thriving regional chain. I was especially fond of the location in Morehead and ate there often when I was in college. It closed sometime shortly after I graduated, and many other locations have closed over the years. I had the Smasharue burger, but it wasn't as good as I remember it being. I don't know how many Dairy Cheers are remaining.
Progress is really being made on the Mountain Parkway widening project. Four lanes are open near the KY 30 interchange (Exit 72) and work is coming along near the KY 7 exit. There's also another project that starts at the KY 205 interchange in Wolfe County and extends through the entire Morgan County segment and well into Magoffin County.
All in all, a good trip except for the latter part of Friday due to weather and traffic concerns.