Recent posts

#1

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

Last post by 74/171FAN - Today at 08:02:16 AM

CE Expert System:

District 12: PA 18 over Laughman Run

#2

General Highway Talk / Re: XY Challenge

Last post by Jim - Today at 07:54:25 AM

US 90 and US 301 in Baldwin, Florida, on a segment I travel much less frequently since the opening of the bypass.  January 1, 2005.

#3

Off-Topic / Re: AARoads Wordle

Last post by Big John - Today at 07:51:16 AM

COAST

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#4

General Highway Talk / Re: Two places on sign that ar...

Last post by GaryV - Today at 07:41:35 AM

These two towns are located in a state that uses a diamond state highway shield, but they're not in the one you'd expect

And my first thought was, "Yeah, what about it?"

I guess I should have thought of that major city, spelled the same but pronounced differently.

But when I thought Lowell, the one that immediately came to mind was in MA. I didn't know there was one in NC.

#5

Northeast / Re: Why are Cape Cod residents...

Last post by kalvado - Today at 06:59:11 AM

I also find it interesting that exits 1A-B westbound just after the Sagamore Bridge survived the conversion - are they considered to be based off MA 3's mileage as it begins? It leaves a 55-to-1 jump similar to the Capital Beltway jump mentioned upthread.

Yes, the exits just north of the Sagamore Bridge are now based off MA 3's mile markers.  But leaving the Cape, you're still on US 6 when you pass Exit 1A.  Exit 1B is MA 3 exiting itself!  The "loop ramp" to stay on US 6 west is unnumbered!

Even more weird, if you "continue straight" in both directions, you are "taking" exit 1B, which makes no sense whatsoever! 

Both sequential and mileage-based exits in theory work great. Real road layouts - with concurrences,  TOTSOs, later changes to roads layout... Well, looks like someone at FHWA got a great solution in search of at least a small problem.

I don't think this situation is FHWA's fault.  From US 6, 1A should be 54B and 1B should be 54A.  From MA 3, 1A should be 1 and 1B-55 should not be numbered.  MassDOT is just being dumb because they couldn't decide whether it should be numbered based off MA 3 or US 6 so they just said "both", resulting on MA 3 numbers being used on US 6.

What's really weird is that this might not stay with MA: NCDOT wants to do the same thing with I-74 and I-77!

I am not talking about the way renumbering works locally. I am more talking about desire to break long established patterns for no good reason.
Some people believe newer is better - ask Microsoft about all the changes they make, for example; but a lot of people less than enjoy changes for the sake of change. That may be compared to area code for phone network, where early additions via splits shifted to  mostly overlays. While technology advancement could be an enabling one, there are certainly less intrusive to general population.

#6

Central States / Re: I-44/US-75 Interchange Rec...

Last post by Stephane Dumas - Today at 06:23:16 AM

Their website really sucks. It was really good in the early 2010s. They had a lot of information they kept it up. I don't know why they let it go to shit.

Maybe the Wayback Machine have archived copies of OKDOT website back to the 2010s.

[The FHWA is now taking the position that removing lanes and road diets are bad projects.]

#7

Great Lakes and Ohio Valley / Re: Wisconsin notes

Last post by SEWIGuy - Today at 06:15:50 AM

It's pretty safe to say that I-794 is going to be rebuilt. The FHWA is now taking the position that removing lanes and road diets are bad projects. I doubt they'd approve removing I-794.

The 6th Street project was just scrapped by the feds which I don't mind because the project would have made that road worse by squeezing traffic into a single lane.

All evidence to the contrary I guess.

It should be removed.

Removal makes no sense. It would waste the Hoan Bridge and clog traffic Downtown. It would also be safer for pedestrians/bikes because they wouldn't have to cross a busy street at grade. I-794 makes it easy to connect with the east side of Downtown and The Lakefront. Ease of access is part of why that area is thriving. Getting rid of I-794 would ruin that.

Hold on. You think the east side of downtown and the lakefront is thriving BECAUSE of a freeway that's just over a mile long? And that somehow a boulevard of some sort would stunt that? That's silly. No one is would avoid downtown because of the freeway removal.

This is the same nonsense that was said when they removed the Lake Park Freeway 20 years ago. "No one is going to go downtown anymore from the north side if you remove that freeway." That turned out to be a terrible prediction. People use McKinley to get downtown all the time now. And you know why? People like cities that are easily walkable and accessible. They will put up with slower speeds and few lights if it ends up like that. And guess what? They built the new arena right there and the area is booming. This is a great example of how a "road diet" worked.

Removal of the freeway would more easily connect the thriving Third Ward neighborhood WITH downtown and the Lakefront. It would further open more space for continued development. And it would not prevent people from going downtown and accessing the lake.

The Park East was a spur that was a dead end. I-794 is a thru route that's a big difference. 794 has been a huge benefit to The Lakefront, Bayview, and the South Shore communities. It makes no sense to ruin a convenient and easy highway between Downtown and those communities.

Uh you wouldn't be. They wouldn't be tearing the bridge down. Access will still be quick and easy from downtown.

#8

Great Lakes and Ohio Valley / Re: Wisconsin notes

Last post by SEWIGuy - Today at 06:14:24 AM

We are talking about a mile or so of freeway. I personally like being able to use 794 as an alternate to 43/94. But the need for 794 as an interstate freeway really is not very pressing. If 794 was to be done as a parkway with 45 zone, it would still function just fine and still allow better access for pedestrians and cyclists to the 3rd Ward.

Correct.

#9

Traffic Control / Re: Unique, Odd, or Interestin...

Last post by tdindy88 - Today at 05:13:58 AM

On US 36 WB in Rockville, IN.

US 36 WEST AT MARKET ST (2) by Mark Moore, on Flickr

what do these colored routes even mean?

Those are driving routes for viewing the many covered bridges that are common in that county. Each route covers a different section of Parke County with Rockville serving as the center point, so all the routes meet there.

#10

Off-Topic / Re: Minor things that bother y...

Last post by CNGL-Leudimin - Today at 04:20:36 AM

Don't come to Spain then. Dashed lines not aligning is the norm here.