Recent posts

#1

Weather / Re: What's your weather curren...

Last post by jlam - Today at 09:56:20 AM

32 and snowing.

#2

Mid-Atlantic / Re: West Virginia Turnpike

Last post by seicer - Today at 09:31:06 AM

Putnam County has under 60,000 people.  There are Interstates that pass communities with more people than that with only two lanes in each direction that do just fine...

Connecting to two of the state's most significant employment centers, Interstate 64 has only one real alternate route: two-lane US 60. One accident that closes the highway will cause complete gridlock on US 60. The only other alternate route is to drive up to WV 2, which is a good two-hour detour. Regardless, population figures don't matter when planning routes if the highway has a poor level of service, carries too much traffic for its design, or has steep grades that congest traffic and contribute to safety issues. The latter is a significant issue for Interstate 79 north of Clarksburg, where a lack of truck climbing lanes contributes to significant speed differentials. A cheaper alternative could be to add truck climbing lanes, but with the number of lanes that would be needed, an overall corridor upgrade could be more beneficial.

Interstate 64 between Charleston and Huntington varies between 72,000 and 31,000 AADT and generally consists of 13% and 20% trucks.

Interstate 77 around Parkersburg will be six lanes from Mineral Wells to US 50, with the underpowered US 50 interchange in the planning phases for reconstruction. Traffic counts are around 25,000 AADT, but there is heavy rush-hour traffic.

Interstate 79 between Anmoore and Morgantown will be six lanes, with significant portions widened between Clarksburg and Bridgeport and around Fairmont. The corridor is seeing significant commercial growth in Bridgeport near the FBI CJIS facility and at White Hall.

The West Virginia Turnpike around Beckley was also widened in recent years because the level of service was not great. Factor in US 19 and Interstate 64 dumping traffic onto the highway, multiple local interchanges, a service area, and numerous grades - it made for a lot of slow driving. It also has a high truck percentage rate. A case could be made to widen most of the Turnpike at this point to six lanes - it can be a slow drive (<55 MPH) for much of the route in the summer because of tourism. (And a point can be easily made for widening southward to Interstate 81. The route experiences very long backups at the tunnels and on the grades because of the high percentage of trucks that use the highway.)

You can't just look at Google Maps, see farm and forest land, and conclude that rural interstates don't deserve widening or improvement projects.

#3

Weather / Re: Largest One Week Temperatu...

Last post by JayhawkCO - Today at 09:18:43 AM

I know this thread is for one week variations, but I don't think it's worth a new thread for variants. One of the biggest 12 hour variations for Denver overnight. 73° at 3:30 PM yesterday. 32° at 3:30 AM today. Drop of 41° in 12 hours.

#4

Northeast / Re: General PA Design/Construc...

Last post by 74/171FAN - Today at 09:16:37 AM

(For PA 72)  PennDOT - District 8 News: Bridge Replacement Project to Begin Next Week on Route 72 (Ebenezer Road) in Union and Swatara Townships, Lebanon County

#5

Mid-Atlantic / Re: West Virginia Turnpike

Last post by SP Cook - Today at 08:57:53 AM

Putnam County has under 60,000 people.  There are Interstates that pass communities with more people than that with only two lanes in each direction that do just fine...

That's nice for them.  Not the case here, where the three lane upgrade will end DAILY rush hour traffic halts. 

#6

Off-Topic / Re: Changing one letter of a t...

Last post by WillWeaverRVA - Today at 08:39:31 AM

CASCAR - discussion of the defunct Canadian equivalent to NASCAR (now the NASCAR Pinty's Series)
ASCAR - discussion of the defunct European equivalent to NASCAR (now nothing)

#7

Off-Topic / Re: 911 outage reported across...

Last post by ZLoth - Today at 08:32:36 AM

And someone at the FCC is very annoyed.

#8

Central States / Re: Oklahoma

Last post by Plutonic Panda - Today at 08:08:41 AM

Such a shame. Oklahoma just acts like the SW part of the state doesn't exist.

#9

Mountain West / Re: New Mexico

Last post by Plutonic Panda - Today at 08:01:36 AM

Oh, man, oh man.... did I mention that NMDOT needs to get their shit together? They had a lane of I 40 closed With no construction workers and nothing going on at five p m. That was heading westbound on I 40 near tucumcari. It caused about a five mile back up. Fortunately, I was heading eastbound. But that is ridiculous. New mexico really just doesn't give a fuck.

There are various legit reasons for a work zone to be empty...

Yeah, alright. I just don't buy that in the middle of a rural desert they couldn't find a way to prevent a 5+ mile backup for a simple repave.

Well, give them a call, then.

Oh yessir I have already written them a very strongly worded message.

#10

Off-Topic / Re: My idea for US currency re...

Last post by NWI_Irish96 - Today at 07:07:00 AM

Simply put, changing something that's been normal practice for centuries wouldn't garner much American popular support, nor even substantial Congressional support.

Few things people basically agree with:
- penny isn't worth enough
- $1 bills don't last too long as their value is down and they go back and forth a lot.

Those could be acted upon, actually Canada survives with $1 and $2 coins but without a penny just fine.
Everything else is "if it's not broken..."

And realistically, if we just get rid of the penny and dollar bill, we've eliminated the biggest waste in the currency system.