Recent posts

#1

Traffic Control / Re: Normally covered/dark/blan...

Last post by kphoger - Today at 11:47:10 AM

Nope. If the sign was folded down, that meant that there was a truck already on the ramp and no other trucks could use it until the truck already using the ramp was cleared away.

Sounds to me like the ramps are in use, but the trucks aren't.

#2

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

Last post by hbelkins - Today at 11:45:07 AM

That striping technique hails from the days when the dashed line was required to be white.

... although I'm not old enough to remember it actually being a thing.

I am. First time I ever saw only two yellow lines with no white line was returning from a family vacation to North Carolina in the very late 60s or early 70s. It was on US 23 in Virginia, just north of the Tennessee state line.

Although if there are any three-head center line paint sprayers in use today, they have to be ancient. The dashed white line hasn't been a thing in 50 years.

#3

Pacific Southwest / Re: I-15/Tropicana interchange...

Last post by mrsman - Today at 11:35:35 AM

but they do generally encourage buses on the HOV lanes.

Buses in CA *love* the HOV lanes. Even outside of HOV hours, buses will camp in the left lane holding up traffic (at least here in the Bay Area). It might be that it's safer for them to use the far lane like that rather than a middle lane where they have to contend with traffic on both sides.

Not only in CA.  Same in WA.

In many states buses are permitted to ride the HOV lane even if they are empty of passengers (i.e. the driver is the only person present and he is running empty before or after completing a shift and heading back to the bus yard.)

[trucks]

#4

Traffic Control / Re: Normally covered/dark/blan...

Last post by hbelkins - Today at 11:35:07 AM

WVDOH used to have flip-down parts of signs for runaway truck ramps that could be used to show when the trucks were in use. They even welded stairs onto the support posts to facilitate workers flipping the sign down: https://maps.app.goo.gl/8DT5N67Fb6QdYeVe7

WVDOH stopped using this style of sign at least a decade ago. New signs no longer have the ability to mark the escape ramp as in use and no longer have the ladder.

typo?

Nope. If the sign was folded down, that meant that there was a truck already on the ramp and no other trucks could use it until the truck already using the ramp was cleared away.

#5

Great Lakes and Ohio Valley / Re: Ohio

Last post by GCrites - Today at 11:23:44 AM

The Turnpike was strategically placed to avoid population centers in an effort to whisk vehicles across the state as quickly as possible. That's why it seems so desolate. I don't even feel like I'm in Ohio when I am on it. The only other major road that makes me feel like that is the Portsmouth Bypass which makes me think I'm in Kentucky.

#6

Great Lakes and Ohio Valley / Re: Ohio

Last post by TempoNick - Today at 11:05:34 AM

The Turnpike is probably the most boring way to cross Ohio

I would say the same thing about I-90 if visiting Erie, PA.  If you just clinch I-90 there, of course you would think it is awful, but I think the surface routes in that area are much more interesting and fun to drive than other areas of PA.  Ohio is much more interesting when driving through the towns on surface routes and navigating around public squares.

Ohio is much prettier than people give it credit for.

#7

Road Enthusiasts Meetings / Re: Brattleboro Roadmeet - Aug...

Last post by vdeane - Today at 10:34:08 AM

Val, your tour notes note a potential stop on the Vermont side of the old 119 bridge with "an up-close look at the old bridge, if it's still around."

The old bridge isn't going anywhere.  The plan is to convert the old crossing into bike/ped, much like what happened with the old Route 9 bridge upstream.

Updated.

#8

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

Last post by 1995hoo - Today at 10:29:31 AM

In my mind, a double yellow is just this, with the dashed line removed:



So, if your side opens up to a passing zone, then simply eliminate the solid stripe on your side.

That is almost exactly the type of center striping I was describing earlier on Hatteras Island in the 1970s except that there was more space between the solid lines and the dashed line in between them. I had never seen a picture of that type of striping, so thanks for posting that.

#9

Mountain West / Re: Utah

Last post by Kniwt - Today at 10:28:25 AM

Ribbon cutting was held Thursday (July 10) for the new Toquerville bypass alignment of SR 17, although the designation won't be official for a while longer.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2025/07/11/new-route-zion-national-park-opens/

#10

Mountain West / Re: I-25 Albuquerque Rebuild

Last post by DJStephens - Today at 10:26:29 AM

Does appear the new 25 bridge over Comanche has greater vertical clearance, cannot tell from pictures if horizontal clearance is also increased.   How much additional space is being provided atop structure for at least an improved shoulder?  The demolished pier caps appear eighty-ish in design, am guessing roughly forty years old.