Roadgeek disappointments

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Since others have mentioned signs that had been replaced, I'll explain this:

Just two words: craIG county.

Back in May, Big Rig Steve was travelling North on US 69 across Oklahoma. At one point I noticed he was in Mayes County, so I quickly turned onto the livestream. Once he crossed into Craig County, I went back to the county border to see the "Golden Standard of the Worst Road Signs", only to find it was gone.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Yes, I've found that a number of roadgeeks are indeed disappointments.   

Hey, I resemble that remark!

[MCRoads]

When you go out of your way to see a construction site, only to find the view is terrible because of several things. (Predominantly those stupid green slats)

[renegade]

Thinking you clinched a route, then looking at a map later on, and realizing that you took a wrong turn and diverted from said route for a few blocks, which means you didn't clinch it and you have that little mini-gap to finish it (especially if that route is far from where you live).

Been there.  Drove to the Upper Peninsula last week to visit the western tip, just northwest of Ironwood. The intention after that was to clinch US-2 from the Wisconsin border to I-75 in St. Ignace over the course of the week.  After I got home, I discovered that somehow, I bypassed a 13.3-mile stretch. 

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/45.7205032,-87.2610355/Powers/@45.705815,-87.5337962,11z/am=t/data=!3m1!4b1!4m8!4m7!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x4d527907881deb81:0xde9e27b0e81692dc!2m2!1d-87.5259595!2d45.6899654
It's something that will nag me till I find the time to go back.   

[paulthemapguy]

Doing your best to avoid snags, even checking google traffic before you leave, and identifying a specific sign to photograph on GSV so you KNOW nothing can go wrong!....just to find that the spot with the sign you wanted to photograph is closed due to an accident, construction, or wildlife concerns.

[SectorZ]

Reading an atlas as a kid and seeing huge exit numbers. Then, learning as an adult that a lot of states use mile based systems and that there aren't hundreds of exits off of I-40 in Tennessee.

Things roadgeeks growing up in New England know all too well.

[roadman65]

That I-84 in PA/NY/CT (and now MA) was unique until they renumbered I-80N.  To me that western I-84 is an imposter.

I think it sucks now that both I-70 and I-83 never got connected to I-95 in Baltimore.

[LM117]

When Dana and I were returning from Wilmington via I-40 back in April, I had my camera prepped for the "Barstow, Calif. 2654 mi" sign just past the beginning of I-40...no such luck.

People kept stealing it, so NCDOT basically threw their hands in the air and said "fuck it"  and stopped replacing it because it was costing more money than it was worth. To their credit, NCDOT did replace it the first few times, but they finally had enough.

[roadman65]

When Dana and I were returning from Wilmington via I-40 back in April, I had my camera prepped for the "Barstow, Calif. 2654 mi" sign just past the beginning of I-40...no such luck.

People kept stealing it, so NCDOT basically threw their hands in the air and said "fuck it"  and stopped replacing it because it was costing more money than it was worth. To their credit, NCDOT did replace it the first few times, but they finally had enough.

What would a sign like that have value to a non road geek?

Also, I know its fact, but considering that I-40 does not make it to the Pacific, it is longer than I-10 which does go coast to coast.  I guess that is a thread for that things that defy conventional logic on another board.

[J N Winkler]

When Dana and I were returning from Wilmington via I-40 back in April, I had my camera prepped for the "Barstow, Calif. 2554 mi" sign just past the beginning of I-40...no such luck.

Why would a sign like that have value to a non road geek?

It was one of very few signs in the US with a distance longer than 1000 miles.  Moreover, it was very easy to steal because it was ground-mounted and had just one line.  A three-line sign, giving the distance to the next two control cities and Barstow, would likely still be there since it would be much harder to take down and carry off with hand tools.

All of the signs Caltrans has erected at the western end of US 50 to reference its eastern end have been ground-mounted, but fairly large.  The current sign is a simple three-line distance sign:  Placerville 46, South Lake Tahoe 107, Ocean City, MD 3073.  The original sign had a three-line message in essentially the same format as a freeway advance guide sign:  [US 50 shield] East/Ocean City, MD/3073 MILES.

[plain]

In 2001 my pop's house burned to the ground. I had numerous pictures and maps there (over half of my collection at the time), all destroyed.

Sorry to hear that. I lost a number of irreplaceable items in an apartment fire in 2003, including all of the photos I took in college.

Thanks and sorry to hear about your losses as well

[abefroman329]

When Dana and I were returning from Wilmington via I-40 back in April, I had my camera prepped for the "Barstow, Calif. 2654 mi" sign just past the beginning of I-40...no such luck.

People kept stealing it, so NCDOT basically threw their hands in the air and said "fuck it"  and stopped replacing it because it was costing more money than it was worth. To their credit, NCDOT did replace it the first few times, but they finally had enough.

What would a sign like that have value to a non road geek?

Also, I know its fact, but considering that I-40 does not make it to the Pacific, it is longer than I-10 which does go coast to coast.  I guess that is a thread for that things that defy conventional logic on another board.

Novelty. Same reason I-420 signs keep getting stolen.

[sparker]

^^^^^
Basic reason Caltrans deleted CA 69 and replaced it with CA 245 back in 1970.  Did several posts in SW a year or two back about that situation (I met at least one of the culprits responsible for the thefts through college buddies). 

[Beltway]

Disappointments? 

That I-95 wasn't completed thru Washington. D.C.

That no Long Island Sound bridge has been built.

That the Schuylkill Expressway hasn't been widened and modernized.

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^^^
Basic reason Caltrans deleted CA 69 and replaced it with CA 245 back in 1970.  Did several posts in SW a year or two back about that situation (I met at least one of the culprits responsible for the thefts through college buddies).

Good thing though that 245 is probably one of the more fun drives in the state.  Hard to imagine anyone leaving that road after completing it not feeling like they accomplished something.

[doorknob60]

Missing the turn off to NV-318 from US-93 due to a combination of poor signage (I think, it looks better on GSV than what I remember seeing, but GSV images are from 2011 so may have changed; either way Ely should be a control city on 318 IMO), being night time, and me being tired. Biggest unintentional route deviation I've ever made on a road trip (adds 40 miles). And I wasn't able to properly experience the scenery of this route I'll probably never take again, because it was night (and I was speeding to try to make up time lol). Also had to go over a slightly higher mountain pass in the snow (7700' vs 7200' on US-6 via NV-318).

[WR of USA]

When you see MassDOT resurfacing only part of the roadway

[roadman65]

I am pissed (well not really that bad, lol) that PennDOT opted for the 202 Parkway and never built the entire freeway from the Delaware River to King of Prussia.

Also that US 30 or the Goat Path never got done in Lancaster County.

I-95 in Central Jersey never got built.

NJ 74 and 75 never got built.

I-69 and all its tributaries will get built!

Also that AASHTO allowed I-2 to be used. It really should be a 3 digit x69.  Or better yet keep it as it is as US 83 is not that bad a number.  To me that gives me as much indigestion as I-99 does.

The fact that both CT and RI do not want I-84 to go to Providence from Hartford.

[ipeters61]

Before I moved to Dover for work, I was living in Newark DE and commuting for about two months.  One morning, I was driving through thick fog on DE-72 and eventually reached DE-1.  Then, I saw probably the most beautiful sight I will ever see on a Delaware highway.  I was crossing the Roth Bridge and the fog literally was sitting just below the level of the road, like you were floating above the canal.  To the east you could see the old US-13 bridge and the DE-9 bridge with the same glory, with the sun rising beautifully, starting the day.  In the distance were what remain of the undeveloped farmland of southern New Castle County.

My disappointment there is that I was not filming/photographing it.  As much as I love taking road photos, I don't advocate taking them at 75 MPH in moving but heavy traffic, so I had to just keep it in the back of my memory.  I hope there's another day just like it some time so I can photograph that experience...

I am pissed (well not really that bad, lol) that PennDOT opted for the 202 Parkway and never built the entire freeway from the Delaware River to King of Prussia.

I was commuting from my uncle's place outside of Norristown to a temp job in Doylestown the summer before I started grad school in Delaware, two summers ago.  The first time I drove that stretch of 202 (moving from CT down to PA/DE), I liked it because I was not aware that the bypass was built and was expecting it to be much worse.  However, commuting that thing every day for a month was a nightmare...and I was, ostensibly, reverse commuting.

The fact that both CT and RI do not want I-84 to go to Providence from Hartford.

I grew up in the Manchester CT area and went to Eastern Connecticut State University.  Taking trips home on US-6 were never fun.  Then I discovered that I could take CT-31 to I-84, in my senior year, so I did that to avoid Buckland Mall traffic off my exit (traffic is always worse eastbound than westbound at that exit).  I liked CT-31 a lot more, but the speed limit never cracked 45, if I remember correctly.  I remember the day I was driving home from there for good, I was stuck behind someone going 35 the whole way! 

[Scott5114]

When a project is ready to conclude and it's time for the new signs to go up...and they're finally posted and belong in Worst of Road Signs, or at least the Design Errors thread.

This is something you experience constantly if you have a road agency like OkDOT. Most recently it happened with a large signing job that has very nicely designed signs on paper, but that were fabricated with Series EM Interstate shields and Type D arrows.

[J N Winkler]

Other disappointments connected with signing plans:

*  Enormous project, looking like a turnkey job in scope, without any signing.

*  Signing plan shows only "remove" or "reset" and so has no sign panel detail sheets.

*  Plan set is enormous, with literally hundreds of sign panel detail and sign elevation sheets, none of which is pattern-accurate.

*  Construction documents for signing contract don't include any actual plans and instead say something like "We'll give you the sign details in a series of work orders" (this is actually the favored approach for Louisiana DOTD, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and the German state of Hesse).

*  Sign panel detail sheets look like they were put together by a three-year-old working on a parent's tablet computer without permission.

*  Sign panel detail sheets include sign drawings with areas of legend replaced by blank squares where the actual legend is to be substituted by the fabricator (pretty common with signing plans for Chinese expressways).

*  Signing plans are exquisite, but each sign drawing covers a very small area on the plan sheet, which has been scanned at ridiculously low resolution (say 100 or 150 DPI).

*  Signing plans are available in CAD format only and you don't have the font resource file required for the legend to display correctly.

*  Sign details are available only in the native format for the sign design application (e.g., *.sgn for SignCAD) and just a viewer, never mind the full application, costs over $1000.

*  Signing plans look exquisite but were plotted directly from CAD to PDF using settings that result in each PDF page taking many seconds to draw on the screen.  (This is one of the easier disappointments to live with since the screen rendering problem can usually be fixed by using GhostScript to dial PDF version compatibility back to 1.4.)

[ipeters61]

When a project is ready to conclude and it's time for the new signs to go up...and they're finally posted and belong in Worst of Road Signs, or at least the Design Errors thread.

This is something you experience constantly if you have a road agency like OkDOT. Most recently it happened with a large signing job that has very nicely designed signs on paper, but that were fabricated with Series EM Interstate shields and Type D arrows.

Part of the reason I can't stand being in southeastern PA is all those damn street signs using Arial or Helvetica.

[sbeaver44]

When you're trying to clinch a road but forget to check road closures and one bridge over a small creek is out for months...

Nexus 6P

[Rothman]

Before I moved to Dover for work, I was living in Newark DE and commuting for about two months.  One morning, I was driving through thick fog on DE-72 and eventually reached DE-1.  Then, I saw probably the most beautiful sight I will ever see on a Delaware highway.  I was crossing the Roth Bridge and the fog literally was sitting just below the level of the road, like you were floating above the canal.  To the east you could see the old US-13 bridge and the DE-9 bridge with the same glory, with the sun rising beautifully, starting the day.  In the distance were what remain of the undeveloped farmland of southern New Castle County.

My disappointment there is that I was not filming/photographing it.  As much as I love taking road photos, I don't advocate taking them at 75 MPH in moving but heavy traffic, so I had to just keep it in the back of my memory.  I hope there's another day just like it some time so I can photograph that experience...

I am pissed (well not really that bad, lol) that PennDOT opted for the 202 Parkway and never built the entire freeway from the Delaware River to King of Prussia.

I was commuting from my uncle's place outside of Norristown to a temp job in Doylestown the summer before I started grad school in Delaware, two summers ago.  The first time I drove that stretch of 202 (moving from CT down to PA/DE), I liked it because I was not aware that the bypass was built and was expecting it to be much worse.  However, commuting that thing every day for a month was a nightmare...and I was, ostensibly, reverse commuting.

The fact that both CT and RI do not want I-84 to go to Providence from Hartford.

I grew up in the Manchester CT area and went to Eastern Connecticut State University.  Taking trips home on US-6 were never fun.  Then I discovered that I could take CT-31 to I-84, in my senior year, so I did that to avoid Buckland Mall traffic off my exit (traffic is always worse eastbound than westbound at that exit).  I liked CT-31 a lot more, but the speed limit never cracked 45, if I remember correctly.  I remember the day I was driving home from there for good, I was stuck behind someone going 35 the whole way! 

The Google Maps suggested routings are pretty eye-opening.  US 6 is not one of the preferred routes between Hartford and Providence.

[jon daly]

Here's a years old one that I just remembered today. I was stationed at Fort Campbell right before the Gulf War and would see ads on the roofs of barns asking motorists to see Rock City. Four years later, I finally did happen to be going through Chatanooga with some friends and we stopped there. I was underwhelmed.

I probably would've liked it better if I was a kid, but Rock City didn't do it for me.