You are too old if you remember.......

[Pete from Boston]

The NJ Turnpike had mileage signs NB to New York every 10 miles on the tenth mile, and to Trenton, Camden, and the Delaware Memorial Bridge SB every 10 miles on the tenth as well.  Some still exist today, but many have been removed.

I think there's still a "Trenton 30 Miles" sign still standing. 

However, I remember two different sets of "New York XX Miles" signs.  The older set was just like the Trenton one, namely, low to the ground and with button copy.  But I also remember a more recent set that only vanished maybe twelve years ago.  These signs were higher up with larger text, and they used an unfamiliar font.  I think they began at 100 miles.  Also, though my evidence for this is faint, I suspect that the older set of signs set New York at a point further north, like the GWB, while the newer set had a benchmark further south, like the Holland Tunnel perhaps.
(I remember reading on another board or m.t.r. that the mileage to NYC on I-95 south of the NJTP refers to the GWB)

Having done this trip many times over the years, I a) now realize to my surprise that I haven't done it in over 12 years if that's when the signs came down, and b) remember a certain disappointment upon seeing these that my trip north (which ended not far past the northern end of the Turnpike) was beginning to end.  True road enthusiast that I am, I didn't look forward to finally getting there as much as still being on the way.


OTHER INDICATORS OF TOO OLD:

* The construction of all the "current" rest areas on the Connecticut Turnpike, "current" being in quotes because they are being torn down and replaced since 2010.

* "ROAD LEGALLY CLOSED" on CT construction signs, leaving the motorist to guess what the proper course of action or legality of proceeding was.

* The aforementioned-above expansion of old I-86 into current I-84 in the late 70s and early 80s, which involved the grading of a jaw-dropping amount of land to the side of what was then a fairly narrow highway.  The East Hartford to Vernon stretch still feels a little agoraphobic to me, having known the earlier incarnation.

* While we're on that area, the sight of new skyscrapers going up in Hartford.  Haven't seen that in many, many years.  The long-gone landmark G. Fox & Co. sign, too.

* To add to JP's list below, the HARD right ramp from I-91 North to the Founders Bridge toward 84 East in Hartford.

* The Mass Pike eastbound toll at 128 featuring the legend atop, "WELCOME TO NEWTON."

* New York's TBTA bridges and adjacent highways having the harsh yellow flat-blade type lights, with a similar version on the Mass Pike Extension.

* Movies regularly featuring unfinished Interstate construction as a key plot point in a chase scene (the only ones off the top of my head are The Blues Brothers and Corvette Summer, but it was a recurring theme).

* Something I guess were called "flare pots" (but I remember calling "smoke pots") as a regular warning device at construction sites, particularly unattended ones at night.  It looked like a little cannonball, as I recall, with a very small flame flickering atop it -- not bright, but lit and able to stay on all night.  There may have been another name for these.

I also feel like there were many more flashing yellow lights on construction barricades before recent years, and I can only guess this is because of advances/proliferation of reflective materials.  I remember far more often driving past rows of scores of the, something I don't notice as much these days.

[mgk920]

* Movies regularly featuring unfinished Interstate construction as a key plot point in a chase scene (the only ones off the top of my head are The Blues Brothers and Corvette Summer, but it was a recurring theme).

The unfinished I-105 in the movie Speed.

* Something I guess were called "flare pots" (but I remember calling "smoke pots") as a regular warning device at construction sites, particularly unattended ones at night.  It looked like a little cannonball, as I recall, with a very small flame flickering atop it -- not bright, but lit and able to stay on all night.  There may have been another name for these.

I also feel like there were many more flashing yellow lights on construction barricades before recent years, and I can only guess this is because of advances/proliferation of reflective materials.  I remember far more often driving past rows of scores of the, something I don't notice as much these days.

I recall those, what I call 'smudgepots', too.  You can frequently find them on eBay and someone may still make them.

Yea on the flashing barricade lights, too.

I'll add a couple more:
-Mercury-vapor and incandescent streetlights being S.O.P.

-Those little multi-sided light-balls that were placed on traffic islands in streets.

Mike

[jeffandnicole]

This one may fall in the not too old to remember category, but it is worth mentioning.

In NJ, pre-Exit 60; one heading south along I-295 making a sharp-left bend onto I-195 East... there were no exit ramps/decision points, the road just bended.

Had NJDOT knew that the Feds were going to redesignate I-95/295 around Trenton as an extension of I-195 once the I-95/PA Turnpike interchange is completed (vs. just redesignating the I-95 portion as I-295 or redesignating I-95/295 north & west of Exit 60 as I-x95 (495 or 695 perhaps); maybe the I-195/295/NJ 29 Exit 60 interchange would've been designed differently (a fly-over ramp to I-195 East from I-295 South rather than the current cloverleaf ramp).

NJDOT didn't appear to go thru the effort of redesigning the interchange before they finally got around to building it. The original design was created in the 1960's, when the original I-95 routing was proposed to go thru North Jersey.  Even knowing things like I-95 was not going to be built, the 295/195/29 interchange was still built as it was designed in the 60's.

[agentsteel53]

* Something I guess were called "flare pots" (but I remember calling "smoke pots") as a regular warning device at construction sites, particularly unattended ones at night.  It looked like a little cannonball, as I recall, with a very small flame flickering atop it -- not bright, but lit and able to stay on all night.  There may have been another name for these.

I've always thought of this item as a Toledo Torch, but I'll bet that's just the product offered by one company.

[akotchi]

This one may fall in the not too old to remember category, but it is worth mentioning.

In NJ, pre-Exit 60; one heading south along I-295 making a sharp-left bend onto I-195 East... there were no exit ramps/decision points, the road just bended.

Had NJDOT knew that the Feds were going to redesignate I-95/295 around Trenton as an extension of I-195 once the I-95/PA Turnpike interchange is completed (vs. just redesignating the I-95 portion as I-295 or redesignating I-95/295 north & west of Exit 60 as I-x95 (495 or 695 perhaps); maybe the I-195/295/NJ 29 Exit 60 interchange would've been designed differently (a fly-over ramp to I-195 East from I-295 South rather than the current cloverleaf ramp).

Even before that, I-295 ended at Kuser Road and I-195 ended at Arena Drive.  The I-295 detour around, via C.R. 533, the White Horse Circle, U.S. 206 and U.S. 130, was pretty awful then.  I-295 did not carry much traffic between the gap and U.S. 1 back then.

While in the same area . . . the portion of the Trenton loop between NJ 31 and U.S. 1 was originally officially I-295, but signing said "to I-95 North" or "to I-95 South."  There were still ramp stubs and graded areas for the cancelled I-95 segment, and the "mainline" was two lanes between the stubs.  The unofficial routing of I-95 (NB, anyway) in the gap was U.S. 1.

[Alps]

* Something I guess were called "flare pots" (but I remember calling "smoke pots") as a regular warning device at construction sites, particularly unattended ones at night.  It looked like a little cannonball, as I recall, with a very small flame flickering atop it -- not bright, but lit and able to stay on all night.  There may have been another name for these.

I also feel like there were many more flashing yellow lights on construction barricades before recent years, and I can only guess this is because of advances/proliferation of reflective materials.  I remember far more often driving past rows of scores of the, something I don't notice as much these days.

I recall those, what I call 'smudgepots', too.  You can frequently find them on eBay and someone may still make them.

Smudge pots are indeed their name, and I would be very surprised if anyone made them now.

[kkt]

* Something I guess were called "flare pots" (but I remember calling "smoke pots") as a regular warning device at construction sites, particularly unattended ones at night.  It looked like a little cannonball, as I recall, with a very small flame flickering atop it -- not bright, but lit and able to stay on all night.  There may have been another name for these.

I also feel like there were many more flashing yellow lights on construction barricades before recent years, and I can only guess this is because of advances/proliferation of reflective materials.  I remember far more often driving past rows of scores of the, something I don't notice as much these days.

I recall those, what I call 'smudgepots', too.  You can frequently find them on eBay and someone may still make them.

Smudge pots are indeed their name, and I would be very surprised if anyone made them now.

Really?  I thought they were used mainly by farmers.  The heat and smoke generated keeps the crops above freezing, if the night might be cold and damage them.  The smoke prevents IR heat loss on clear nights.

[Brian556]

I also feel like there were many more flashing yellow lights on construction barricades before recent years, and I can only guess this is because of advances/proliferation of reflective materials.  I remember far more often driving past rows of scores of the, something I don't notice as much these days.

Better reflective sheeting...along with that NHCRP crash testing crap did away with most of these.

The one notable exception is Florida. They still use them extensively. Type B on Road Work Ahead Signs, Type A on Barricades, Type C on every barrel. Their work zones do look cool at night.

[Alps]

* Something I guess were called "flare pots" (but I remember calling "smoke pots") as a regular warning device at construction sites, particularly unattended ones at night.  It looked like a little cannonball, as I recall, with a very small flame flickering atop it -- not bright, but lit and able to stay on all night.  There may have been another name for these.

I also feel like there were many more flashing yellow lights on construction barricades before recent years, and I can only guess this is because of advances/proliferation of reflective materials.  I remember far more often driving past rows of scores of the, something I don't notice as much these days.

I recall those, what I call 'smudgepots', too.  You can frequently find them on eBay and someone may still make them.

Smudge pots are indeed their name, and I would be very surprised if anyone made them now.

Really?  I thought they were used mainly by farmers.  The heat and smoke generated keeps the crops above freezing, if the night might be cold and damage them.  The smoke prevents IR heat loss on clear nights.

Is it the same device that was used in construction zones? I was unaware of this other application.

[D-Dey65]

Was this covered yet?:

You're too old if you remember that construction signs were yellow instead of orange.

[lepidopteran]

Another example of incomplete highways, not necessarily Interstate, can be seen in the closing credits of the kids' show The Krofft Supershow.  Produced in Atlanta, at 1:05 in the closing credits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndnTIcbE_mI the kids are running along a ghost ramp with the downtown Atlanta skyline in the background.  I heard that one of the roads was Presidential Parkway.  Note how they put the name of the show on the BGS (LGS?) at the side of the road.

I think there's a fluorescent sign light visible in the clearer opening credits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvNQjrVqDFI at about 0:35.

[roadman65]

You are too old to remember when in Paxtonia, PA (near Harrisburg) when the traffic signal at US 22 & Mountain Road was US 22's easternmost traffic signal in the state of Pennsylvania.  In addition the speed limit east of PA 39 was 55 mph all the way into I-78 including Fredericksburg which now has a 40 mph speed zone and back in 1990, when I lodged at the Quality Inn on that intersection's NW corner, reminents of the fact no signals existed once from Phillipsburg, NJ to this intersection were still left behind with two signal warning signs accomplied by two yellow flashers just to east of Mountain Road directly across from the supermarket on the SE corner that was a Food Festival back then.

[Pete from Boston]

* Something I guess were called "flare pots" (but I remember calling "smoke pots") as a regular warning device at construction sites, particularly unattended ones at night.  It looked like a little cannonball, as I recall, with a very small flame flickering atop it -- not bright, but lit and able to stay on all night.  There may have been another name for these.

I also feel like there were many more flashing yellow lights on construction barricades before recent years, and I can only guess this is because of advances/proliferation of reflective materials.  I remember far more often driving past rows of scores of the, something I don't notice as much these days.

I recall those, what I call 'smudgepots', too.  You can frequently find them on eBay and someone may still make them.

Smudge pots are indeed their name, and I would be very surprised if anyone made them now.

Really?  I thought they were used mainly by farmers.  The heat and smoke generated keeps the crops above freezing, if the night might be cold and damage them.  The smoke prevents IR heat loss on clear nights.

Is it the same device that was used in construction zones? I was unaware of this other application.

I don't think so.  I've seen those flue-type oil burners they use in orchards before, but only just recently looking at them online did I know they share a name with the things I remember used in construction zones (which research indicates were also called "Toledo torches"). 

[PHLBOS]

While in the same area . . . the portion of the Trenton loop between NJ 31 and U.S. 1 was originally officially I-295, but signing said "to I-95 North" or "to I-95 South."  There were still ramp stubs and graded areas for the cancelled I-95 segment, and the "mainline" was two lanes between the stubs.  The unofficial routing of I-95 (NB, anyway) in the gap was U.S. 1.

At the time, the BGS for US 1 North off I-295 originally read:
EXIT 67A
NORTH 1 TO 95
New York

[roadman65]

While in the same area . . . the portion of the Trenton loop between NJ 31 and U.S. 1 was originally officially I-295, but signing said "to I-95 North" or "to I-95 South."  There were still ramp stubs and graded areas for the cancelled I-95 segment, and the "mainline" was two lanes between the stubs.  The unofficial routing of I-95 (NB, anyway) in the gap was U.S. 1.

At the time, the BGS for US 1 North off I-295 originally read:
EXIT 67A
NORTH 1 TO 95
New York

Also, I remember when US 1 south had "Camden" as a control city for SB I-295 instead of "Bordentown" and this was when I-295 was incomplete south of Mercerville to Bordentown at US 130.  Sometime later Bordentown was added, I guess do to the gap in freeway, but now its done completely, it should return back to Camden.

[ARMOURERERIC]

I remember when East Street valley in Pittsburgh had yet to have a building demolished.  And Deutchtown completely intact.

I remember McKnight road as 4 lanes, with no development south of North Hills Village or North of Northway Mall.

I remember 79 south ending at PA 228, and north at a traffic signal at 26th Street in Erie

I remember no Allegheny Valley Expressway past Freeport Road in Blawnox

I Remember crossing the Manchester Bridge and the very start of the Chateau Street PA 65/US 19 freeway in Manchester.

[hbelkins]

I remember smudge pots.

[Henry]

The white dashed lines in the Rand McNally road atlas showing a proposed highway. Seems to me that they refuse to acknowledge the new proposals these days...

[Pete from Boston]

The white dashed lines in the Rand McNally road atlas showing a proposed highway. Seems to me that they refuse to acknowledge the new proposals these days...

Can you imagine them brazenly putting estimated completion times on them today like they did then?  These days there is CNN to run stories on things like "Person suffers inconvenience from failed reasonable attempt to provide helpful information" at best, lawsuits over said inconvenience at worst. 

[Mark68]

I am too old because I remember:

Yellow "Yield" signs.
I-15 still under construction in Utah (mostly around the Beaver and Millard areas).
Interstate 15E (and no real Interstate 15 south of Devore).
Kramer Junction as a 4-way stop.
No Interstate 5 in the Central Valley.
No CA-57.
When Orange County (CA) still had the orange groves for which it was named (used to play in some near my house in Irvine as a kid).
Drive-in movie theaters where the only sound you could get was on the tinny speakers they had on poles that you then had to mount on your window.
The City of Anaheim used to put these glass (I think it was glass) fixtures over the green lights on the side-mounted signals, I guess to improve visibility for traffic that was straight on, but reduce it for side traffic.
When all of the traffic signals in SoCal (and the Vegas area) were painted yellow on the bottom of the light poles.

[Mark68]

* Something I guess were called "flare pots" (but I remember calling "smoke pots") as a regular warning device at construction sites, particularly unattended ones at night.  It looked like a little cannonball, as I recall, with a very small flame flickering atop it -- not bright, but lit and able to stay on all night.  There may have been another name for these.

I also feel like there were many more flashing yellow lights on construction barricades before recent years, and I can only guess this is because of advances/proliferation of reflective materials.  I remember far more often driving past rows of scores of the, something I don't notice as much these days.

I recall those, what I call 'smudgepots', too.  You can frequently find them on eBay and someone may still make them.

Smudge pots are indeed their name, and I would be very surprised if anyone made them now.

Really?  I thought they were used mainly by farmers.  The heat and smoke generated keeps the crops above freezing, if the night might be cold and damage them.  The smoke prevents IR heat loss on clear nights.

My grandparents used them on their avocado farm until they sold it in the early 90s. That's indeed what they were used for.

[agentsteel53]

Kramer Junction as a 4-way stop.

that was the case until 2006 or so.  thus, even I - age 32, moved to California in 2004 - remember that!

[oldparoadgeek]

You are too old to remember when in Paxtonia, PA (near Harrisburg) when the traffic signal at US 22 & Mountain Road was US 22's easternmost traffic signal in the state of Pennsylvania.  In addition the speed limit east of PA 39 was 55 mph all the way into I-78 including Fredericksburg which now has a 40 mph speed zone and back in 1990, when I lodged at the Quality Inn on that intersection's NW corner, reminents of the fact no signals existed once from Phillipsburg, NJ to this intersection were still left behind with two signal warning signs accomplied by two yellow flashers just to east of Mountain Road directly across from the supermarket on the SE corner that was a Food Festival back then.

I can remember when there were NO signals at mountain road  before I-81 was finished. The supermarket was a Drive-In movie theatre. It used to take 3-3 1/2 hours to go 90 miles from Harrisburg PA to Martinsburg WV; and most of I-495 was mostly just a 4 lane freeway!!

Please use the "Quote" button to quote someone else's post! Thank you!

[roadman65]

I can remember when the State of Maryland had all of its traffic signals using green poles and 98 percent of them were span wire assemblies.

I can also remember, when Virginia used all cutout visors on its signals with absolutely no 8 inch red lenses.  Either they were all 12-12-12 signals or the 12-8-8.

I even remember when NJ used the same color green as NY and LA for their signal head color scheme  before adopting yellow in the early 80's for statewide use.  Some communities in NJ still  previously used yellow, but pretty much most of the Garden State was green with 8 inch lenses as 12 inch signal lenses were only used for green arrow lenses and at a few intersections in Newark. 

[lepidopteran]

* Something I guess were called "flare pots" (but I remember calling "smoke pots") as a regular warning device at construction sites, particularly unattended ones at night.  It looked like a little cannonball, as I recall, with a very small flame flickering atop it -- not bright, but lit and able to stay on all night.  There may have been another name for these.

Two of these are found in the Merrie Melodies Road Runner cartoon short "Hip Hip-Hurry"