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#21

General Highway Talk / Re: Reaching the End (or Begin...

Last post by Rothman - Today at 09:27:58 AM

In short, yes.

#22

General Highway Talk / Re: Reaching the End (or Begin...

Last post by roadman65 - Today at 09:05:35 AM

To reach the end of I-95 at Miami or Houlton is a feat.

I know reaching Saulte Ste. Marie on I-75 felt like the end of the line as I-75 transits many cities along its trek.

Then I-55 in Chicago at Lake Shore Drive is a milestone to reach after starting in New Orleans in the south and visiting Jackson, Memphis, and St. Louis along its way to the Great Lakes.

#23

Northeast / Re: Connecticut News

Last post by dgolub - Today at 09:03:00 AM

Sign replacement plans for the Wilbur Cross Parkway and portions of the Merritt Parkway are out.  Outside of exit renumbering on the Merritt, the only new signs I could see are a couple for the Greenwich Service Plaza.  The project plans call for the replacement of all extruded signs from former Exit 54/Milford Parkway to the ConnDOT maintenance facility exit, which now gets a number.  Pretty typical sign replacement per recent projects... town line signs, park & ride, exit services get sheets.  Onramp signage is a mixture of extruded and sheets.  The combo signs are gone, in favor of overheads with each exit shown on its own panel (Wheelers Farm/Wolf Harbor NB, Rt 34, Whitney Ave, Wallingford exits, etc.  CT route markers appear to be the plain white variety... no thick or Mass-style borders.  The inconsistency continues.

You really have to go digging in the "contract special provisions" to find the sheets, including the Merritt's renumbering.  There seems to be no consistency regarding how these plans are laid out these days.  The Route 8 project showed each sign with an overlayed new exit number.  Now they make you hunt for it. 


Also out, the replacement of sheets on I-95 from Lake Saltonstall/Branford out to Hammonasett connector (where they stopped last time).  Here its primarily exit signage, route confirmation shields, enhanced mile markers, etc.  No extrudeds... no idea when we'll see the replacement of the last large section of button copy on I-95, Branford to Guilford.  This section is on its 2nd generation of signage since the turnpike opened in 1958, with the original blue/all text signs being replaced in 1993 with what we have today. 

Can you provide a link to the document?

#24

Off-Topic / Re: Random Thoughts

Last post by Scott5114 - Today at 09:01:14 AM

Yeah.  Permanence is sort of the point though.  Buy a house in this subdivision and you can be sure no one will ever build a 10-story tower south of you putting your house and garden in permanent shade...

The flip side of that is that, because they're entrenched, you can get saddled with ones that don't make any sense because they were written for a time long past. The obvious example are covenants disallowing you from selling the house to people of certain races (though those are obviously illegal to enforce, they're still technically on the title to the house). The house I'm selling has a covenant on it that, if read literally when they talk about "business activity", would preclude work-from-home arrangements (which obviously weren't something the people who built the house in 1976 could contemplate).

#25

Off-Topic / Re: Random Thoughts

Last post by formulanone - Today at 08:53:05 AM

The concept of "Dental Police" seems like a missed marketing opportunity.

The Crest Team shall avail the cavity creeps.

#26

General Highway Talk / Reaching the End (or Beginning...

Last post by PColumbus73 - Today at 08:45:57 AM

Does reaching the beginning or end of a highway feel any different than getting on the highway mid-way through? Is there a sense of accomplishment for reaching the last mile, or the 'BEGIN'/'END' signage for an Interstate, or other highway?

I travel between the Carolinas and Ohio often, and reaching the 'WELCOME TO...' and 'THANK YOU FOR...' signage on the West Virginia Turnpike is a bit of a personal landmark.

Local to me, I've passed, and sometimes gotten on, I-20 & 26 at their endpoints in Florence and Charleston. When I was younger, I thought it was cool to pass the I-20 interchange on I-95. More recently, going to Charleston, SC, I pass the beginning of I-26 to get to the Ravenel Bridge regularly enough that I don't think too much of it, but it is pretty neat still.

#27

General Highway Talk / Re: Beltways That Work, and Be...

Last post by PColumbus73 - Today at 08:18:36 AM

I-610 in Houston definitely worked in the past, but similarly to I-285 in Atlanta and I-405 in LA, massive development has sprung up around it and traffic and construction are perennial problems, so it's not super effective (especially the West Loop). Luckily, Houston has two other beltways that you can use if 610 is having issues. I personally think Beltway 8 is the most effective of the three (for me at least), but it is tolled and can have traffic problems depending on the time. The Grand Parkway is out of the way and is not a complete loop but has (relatively) little traffic for Houston.

The moral of the story is any of the 3 beltways can work effectively depending on the situation, but check the construction status and traffic before picking which one to use.

I was thinking that Houston has sprawled out so much that the beltways don't seem to make a difference anymore. Grand Parkway doesn't look like it would save much time for traffic trying to go straight through the city. Much like Atlanta or LA, it seems like there aren't any good choices.

#28

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

Last post by SectorZ - Today at 08:12:24 AM

Geofencing. There is a subchannel of PBS I enjoy but that the Twin Cities doesn't have, and a number of web streams of that channel I could find were blocked because I wasn't a resident of those TV markets. It's fucking PBS. Get over yourselves.

That is the one case where geofencing shouldn't exist at all given federal tax dollars pay in part for any content they make.

#29

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

Last post by Ted$8roadFan - Today at 08:12:15 AM

Sunny and 48

#30

Off-Topic / Re: San Antonio now home to so...

Last post by SectorZ - Today at 08:10:45 AM

I'm curious how many fast-food chains (the major, national ones at least) have any locations that are the opposite, no drive-thru.

Québec City has a McDonald's in the old town that has no drive thru.

That makes sense. I can think of multiple of the big ones in downtown Boston that don't and in some cases couldn't since they literally have a store front and that's it.