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#1

General Highway Talk / Re: How are 3 digit interstate...

Last post by dvferyance - Today at 08:06:40 PM

I always figured they just started at the lowest number (1xx or 2xx) then went up as more were added.  Occasionally a number may be skipped - a planned route never occurred, or an adjoining state already had the low route number so they used the next one to avoid confusion.

Tell that to I-820

Wasn't that State Route 820, then they gave it an upgrade to I-820?  I believe that's the backstory there as to how it was given an unusually high number.

There sure is because radio station WBAP is on AM 820.

#2

Northeast / Re: New Jersey Turnpike

Last post by bluecountry - Today at 08:00:30 PM

What's going on with all the lane shifts and work in multiple areas NB past the 70s MP?

#3

Northeast / Re: New York

Last post by SignBridge - Today at 07:59:59 PM

Yeah, that's just what we need. Another flatfooted attempt by politicians to show a neighborhood that they're doing something about a problem. Like this will make any difference at all.

#4

Off-Topic / Re: Atlantic Coast Fall Line

Last post by bluecountry - Today at 07:57:34 PM

??????

#5

Mid-Atlantic / Re: Francis Scott Key Bridge (...

Last post by bluecountry - Today at 07:56:50 PM

I can pretty much guarantee the Key Bridge won't be rebuilt to the original design.

*  When this happens with waterway crossings that have lost spans due to vessel collisions, typically a large fraction of the bridge has survived--this happened with the Tasman Bridge in Australia, I-40 at Webbers Falls in Oklahoma, and the Queen Isabella Causeway in Texas.  The part of the Key Bridge that collapsed represents about half of the over-the-water length but probably at least 80% of the construction cost and nearly all of the complexity.

*  Once the Port of Baltimore reopens, a lot of the pressure to "do something" about the bridge will vanish.  The Key Bridge was one of three major crossings but represented just one-quarter of the capacity.  It contributed a smaller share of the total MdTA revenue pie than the Harbor Tunnel (7% versus 12%) despite their having the same lane count.  The absence of the bridge does not even inconvenience local commuters that much, since the Harbor Tunnel is a relatively close detour.  (The Tasman Bridge is a useful counterexample--its collapse in 1975 turned a five-minute journey from one end of the bridge to the other into a 45-minute trip involving the Bridgewater Bridge much further upstream.  This situation led not only to provision of a temporary ferry, but also construction of the Bowen Bridge midway between the repaired bridge and the erstwhile detour to improve network redundancy.)  It is the ruins of the bridge blocking the shipping channel, and not its unavailability to road traffic, that really drives costs.

*  To rebuild the Key Bridge as-is would be to recreate its safety deficiencies (no shoulders) and its vulnerabilities (piers that cannot be protected without impinging on the shipping channel).  I believe this would be politically completely unacceptable, especially with the precedent set by the Sunshine Skyway.  No politician is going to want to go before the voters and say, "Well, in Florida they can rebuild with better defenses, but here in Maryland we're just going to have to go with the cheap solution that is not actually all that cheap and eat the risks associated with it."

So you would expect the replacement bridge, at the very least, would be 10-12-12-10_10-12-12-10 per side (2 12 foot travel lanes, 2 ten foot shoulder lanes per side) if not more?
If so would this also become the real I-695 vs MD 695?

for 4-lane divided, the inside shoulders can be 6' preferred, 4' minimum.

So at the very least it will be 2 12 foot lanes per side, 4-6 foot inside and 10 foot outside shoulders?
Think they will just go ahead and give it a 3rd trade lane per side?

#6

General Highway Talk / Re: How are 3 digit interstate...

Last post by bluecountry - Today at 07:53:53 PM

1.  So basically when choosing which even or odd 1st digit, there is no rule, things vary by state?
2.  Why is the DC beltway 495 and the Baltimore 695?
3.  If a 3 digit interstate ends at another interstate it must be even, correct, EVEN if that interstate is not an offshoot of 2 digit (Fictionally 387 starts at 87 and ends at 684)?

#7

Mid-Atlantic / Re: Francis Scott Key Bridge (...

Last post by bluecountry - Today at 07:49:52 PM

Heading south on I-95 right now, crossing I-695.  Very strange knowing we're so close to the site of  international news story...  The VMS messages are all clear about the closure but the regular signage hasn't been patched or anything yet.  We're late enough today that it looks like both tunnels are free and clear.

Don't think they would have been able to fab patches this fast to be honest.  Probably by the weekend more 'permanent' signage fixes might be ready, if not sometime next week.

Another way would be to simply cover up the signs with a black tarp, which can be removed once the replacement bridge opens. For now, I-695 will just become another "Highway to Nowhere", as there's no way across the river on it (although the two tunnels are more than capable of taking on the extra traffic).

A possibility I thought that could be implemented, since this likely going to be several years before a replacement bridge is completed, is to temporarily renumber the Baltimore Beltway south of I-95. This would be similar to what Delaware did with I-95/495 during the Wilmington Viaduct reconstruction from 1979 to 1982, when Interstate 895 was temporarily designated.

Since the beltway is actually MD 695 east of I-97 to Hawkins Point and south of the eastern junction with I-95 to Sparrows Point, those remaining segments could be renumbered as state route spurs. Then to provide continuity to I-97 without having to place orange signs along the portion of I-695 to the southwest, just extend I-97 to I-95 at the west junction with I-695 near Halethorpe.

Since I've been taking GIS classes, I thought for added practice to create a map showing what I imagined could work:



MD 995 for the western spur, as the existing MD 995 is not marked, and that could just be reassigned as MD-995A. MD 595 for the eastern section, as MD 595 is not assigned and there would be no conflict with I-595, since it is not signed.

MD 995 could also just as well be MD 397, as that number is also unused.

How long did it take you to make sure the road labels were the right size and orientation   

#8

Traffic Control / Re: HAWK Thread

Last post by ErmineNotyours - Today at 07:47:45 PM

For HAWKs on intersections, turning traffic can be warned with a sign like this, but please point it in the right direction.

#9

Great Lakes and Ohio Valley / Re: Michigan Notes

Last post by michiganguy123 - Today at 07:46:31 PM

Driving sure seems simpler staying within 10 mph of the speed limit.  Now if only the northeast would raise its speed limits so I could go exactly the speed limit (without substantially affecting my travel time) and make it simpler still; while most places won't pull you over for 5-7 over, some do, and that's even more common with cameras.

I would extend that to 15 over on freeways. The risk of getting pulled over for 10-14 over in a 55 or 65 mph zone in NY is pretty low, especially because you usually won't be the fastest one on the road, you can slow down to 10 over almost instantly, and might not even be going as fast to begin with depending on your speedometer error. 15-19 over is what I think of as the calculated risk zone, meaning I wouldn't typically drive this fast on a road trip nor set the cruise in this range, but am comfortable with it intermittently on local highways. And 20+ over is the true danger zone due to standing out from other traffic, 6 points on your license if ticketed, and mandatory $300 fine.

Surface streets are trickier. There are some where I speed 10-14 over quite regularly, and others where that feels too fast (or where traffic rarely/never allows for it anyways).

Freeway speed limits shouldn't even be that low in the first place

#10

Great Lakes and Ohio Valley / Re: Michigan Notes

Last post by michiganguy123 - Today at 07:45:20 PM

What's the highest speed someone has blown past a state trooper without getting pulled over?

I *have* done 85 in a 70 and had MSP *try* to pull me over. It was just before an exit where the road went downhill out of sight of the officer. I took the exit. The trooper didn't. My driving record didn't get more points on it that day.

Lucky! I was in a similar situation on NY 104 once, definitely speeding but don't remember my speed. I saw the cop pull out behind me, but far enough back that I wasn't sure if he was after me or not. I sure didn't bother to find out, and bailed at the next exit as soon as I got around the bend and out of his view. I turned right ASAP and wound my way back to the highway on backroads just to be sure. A hair raising experience to be sure.

Driving sure seems simpler staying within 10 mph of the speed limit.  Now if only the northeast would raise its speed limits so I could go exactly the speed limit (without substantially affecting my travel time) and make it simpler still; while most places won't pull you over for 5-7 over, some do, and that's even more common with cameras.

They raise the speed limit, people will go 10+ over that...hence the biggest reason why the speed limits are kept low up here.

When Michigan increased speed limits to 75mph in the rural areas, most people still only do 80mph. The speed limits were supposed to be set to 80mph because everyone is driving that speed already but was changed in order for the bill to be passed.
80mph is like the perfect speed for a freeway, any higher and fuel efficiency greatly decreases. Speeds are pretty much the same on the 70 and 75mph sections, both speed limits, the normal flow is 80mph