New York

[jmp367]

Something I noticed on my way home yesterday is that every VMS that wasn't on the Thruway was advertising for NYSDOT plow drivers.

Every Thruway VMS, meanwhile, was announcing a commercial vehicle ban west of Buffalo beginning at 4pm yesterday.

It wasn't a ban just west of Buffalo, it was a ban from Thruway exit 46 to the Pennsylvania state line (Ripley, NY). That's what all the VMS boards in the Syracuse area display.

[froggie]

I said "west of Buffalo" b/c they were also banning commercial vehicles on 190 and I also couldn't remember offhand where Exit 46 was.

[webny99]

Something I noticed on my way home yesterday is that every VMS that wasn't on the Thruway was advertising for NYSDOT plow drivers.

Yes, that seems to be a yearly campaign as they ran it last year as well. It's been going for several weeks now.

[kalvado]

Something I noticed on my way home yesterday is that every VMS that wasn't on the Thruway was advertising for NYSDOT plow drivers.

Yes, that seems to be a yearly campaign as they ran it last year as well. It's been going for several weeks now.

CDL and $18-20/hour isn't a great combo these days.

[Rothman]

Something I noticed on my way home yesterday is that every VMS that wasn't on the Thruway was advertising for NYSDOT plow drivers.

Yes, that seems to be a yearly campaign as they ran it last year as well. It's been going for several weeks now.

CDL and $18-20/hour isn't a great combo these days.

Salary for plow drivers at DOT is a huge problem and has been for the past couple of years now.

The Department of Civil Service was set up with good intentions and purpose, but it's more of a hindrance nowadays due to the old days of people knocking down the doors to work for the State being over.  Their procedures are now archane and obsolete given the current job market.

(personal opinion emphasized)

[kalvado]

Something I noticed on my way home yesterday is that every VMS that wasn't on the Thruway was advertising for NYSDOT plow drivers.

Yes, that seems to be a yearly campaign as they ran it last year as well. It's been going for several weeks now.

CDL and $18-20/hour isn't a great combo these days.

Salary for plow drivers at DOT is a huge problem and has been for the past couple of years now.

The Department of Civil Service was set up with good intentions and purpose, but it's more of a hindrance nowadays due to the old days of people knocking down the doors to work for the State being over.  Their procedures are now archane and obsolete given the current job market.

(personal opinion emphasized)

I heard that seasonal plow drivers actually get most of their compensation from overtime, with 100+ hours/week after a snowfall not being uncommon.  yet it ends up as a tough job...

[andrepoiy]

Buffalo and snowstorm...

My question is, what's the criteria for needing to shut down that many freeways?

[Rothman]

Something I noticed on my way home yesterday is that every VMS that wasn't on the Thruway was advertising for NYSDOT plow drivers.

Yes, that seems to be a yearly campaign as they ran it last year as well. It's been going for several weeks now.

CDL and $18-20/hour isn't a great combo these days.

Salary for plow drivers at DOT is a huge problem and has been for the past couple of years now.

The Department of Civil Service was set up with good intentions and purpose, but it's more of a hindrance nowadays due to the old days of people knocking down the doors to work for the State being over.  Their procedures are now archane and obsolete given the current job market.

(personal opinion emphasized)

I heard that seasonal plow drivers actually get most of their compensation from overtime, with 100+ hours/week after a snowfall not being uncommon.  yet it ends up as a tough job...

Sure, but NYSDOT is losing drivers to other jurisdictions due to the higher base pay elsewhere.  Everyone gets OT.

[vdeane]

Plus the unpredictable nature of the schedule makes it undesirable too.  It's not like snowplow drivers work regular hours - they get called in as needed.  A given week could have no work, or a lot of overtime, during the day, or overnight, with no way to know more than a few days in advance at best.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Massachusetts has also advertised for snowplow drivers on its VMS signs, and I doubt we're alone.

[webny99]

Wow, updated Street View shows new APL's on the Niagara Scenic Parkway for the junction with I-190. The first one is a bit wordy, but I'm OK with the replacements because they were badly needed here, especially the second one where drivers seemed to often get confused getting to I-190 southbound.

[roadman65]

https://goo.gl/maps/ghvMBZc8VGxccL4P9
Noticed that you can't follow NY 324 completely.  NY 324 turns left off Exit 17, yet a turn prohibition is in place for safety reasons.

[kirbykart]

https://goo.gl/maps/ghvMBZc8VGxccL4P9
Noticed that you can't follow NY 324 completely.  NY 324 turns left off Exit 17, yet a turn prohibition is in place for safety reasons.

Does it actually turn off there? Signage for it is practically nonexistent.

[seicer]

It's only signed for NY 266/Grand Blvd. NY 324 is signed for Exit 15 a few miles south.

[froggie]

324 does not exit there.  While there are still some NY 324 signs and trailblazers as well as reference markers along that section of Grand Island Blvd indicating that is still NY 324, NYS Roadway Inventory GIS shows it as NY 950C.  NY 324 is concurrent with I-190 to Exit 15.

[webny99]

Note also this sign, which has a TO banner indicating this is not part of NY 324 EB. However, 324 WB is signed as continuing to NY 266 and joining I-190 at Exit 17. So, at least according to signage, EB follows I-190, while WB follows Grand Island Blvd.

[Rothman]

324 does not exit there.  While there are still some NY 324 signs and trailblazers as well as reference markers along that section of Grand Island Blvd indicating that is still NY 324, NYS Roadway Inventory GIS shows it as NY 950C.  NY 324 is concurrent with I-190 to Exit 15.

Yeah, I suspected something like this was happening when Roadman brought it up.  It's one of those routes you have to go by the log for.

[Rothman]

Note also this sign, which has a TO banner indicating this is not part of NY 324 EB. However, 324 WB is signed as continuing to NY 266 and joining I-190 at Exit 17. So, at least according to signage, EB follows I-190, while WB follows Grand Island Blvd.

Can't trust the shields.

[D-Dey65]

Sunrise Mall is dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIhrHBOkwew
So now is the time to use the land to convert NY 27 into the Expressway it was intended to be.

[SignBridge]

Sunrise Mall is dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIhrHBOkwew
So now is the time to use the land to convert NY 27 into the Expressway it was intended to be.

What are you talking about?........ Sunrise Hwy. only runs adjacent to the Mall parking lot for about a quarter mile.

[mariethefoxy]

Sunrise Mall is dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIhrHBOkwew
So now is the time to use the land to convert NY 27 into the Expressway it was intended to be.

if anything it would be nice if they had a "jersey freeway" from NY 135 east to where the real freeway begins at NY 109. Or even just from 110 to 109.

What really needs to be a full freeway on Long Island is Nichols Road, the way that highway is set up, is very dangerous with the surprise traffic lights that show up around curves. The intersections already are designed that there is enough room to make overpasses and there are "service roads" in the section around Centerreach.

[mariethefoxy]

Also, I have a Belt Parkway question, was there any sort of exit renumbering when the JFK Expressway was put in. Before the city went in and replaced it all, some of the older button copy signs had newish exit tabs. Was the Nassau Expressway originally exit 18 and they changed it to 19 since exit 19 on the other direction connects to 678. Also why is there an exit 18B and no 18A? The numbering in general seems really wonky like it seems like they were going for a mileage based thing in Queens but then in Brooklyn it's back to sequential.

[SignBridge]

LOL See all the confusion caused by exit numbering? California had it right all those years! LOL

[Roadgeek Adam]

Sunrise Mall is dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIhrHBOkwew
So now is the time to use the land to convert NY 27 into the Expressway it was intended to be.

Excuse me while I laugh hysterically at the thought this would ever happen in any universe ever on Long Island in 2022 or 2052 or 2092 or 2142.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahano.

[mariethefoxy]

Sunrise Mall is dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIhrHBOkwew
So now is the time to use the land to convert NY 27 into the Expressway it was intended to be.

Excuse me while I laugh hysterically at the thought this would ever happen in any universe ever on Long Island in 2022 or 2052 or 2092 or 2142.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahano.

especially considering how much trouble the DOT is having just building two grade seperations on 347, its safe to say the freeway system on Long Island is pretty much stuck the way it is till climate change sinks the island into the Atlantic Ocean.