AARoads Forum

Regional Boards => Northeast => Topic started by: Mergingtraffic on February 05, 2015, 06:09:43 PM

Title: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Mergingtraffic on February 05, 2015, 06:09:43 PM
Going to visit a friend on Staten Island and given the fact I never go there b/c of the tolls, since I'm there I want to take pics of as much as old signage as possible.  Anything left?
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: dgolub on February 05, 2015, 07:12:08 PM
I was through there last month on the way to the Cape May meet.  Most of the old signs have been replaced, but I think there was still a little bit of button copy on the West Shore Expressway (NY 440).
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Alps on February 18, 2015, 09:50:09 PM
I know of at least one old Verrazano bridge shield on Forest Ave. EB, though I couldn't tell you quite where.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Mergingtraffic on February 18, 2015, 10:31:46 PM
Quote from: Alps on February 18, 2015, 09:50:09 PM
I know of at least one old Verrazano bridge shield on Forest Ave. EB, though I couldn't tell you quite where.
I saw one on NY-440 by exit 8.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Zeffy on February 18, 2015, 10:32:52 PM
I'm assuming the button copy sign with a 2di width shield for I-278 is on the Verrazano Bridge still heading towards Staten Island from Brooklyn.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Mergingtraffic on February 18, 2015, 10:58:42 PM
This is still there

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7373/16334987909_6b803ef9c8_c.jpg)
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Pete from Boston on February 19, 2015, 09:16:04 AM
Not in Staten Island, but is this famous sign still in Bay Ridge?

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnorthshore.noizart.com%2Frich_files%2Fbilder%2FSI_278.jpg&hash=7f1cc2986a24d0bfe33664abfc98babf50f442a0)
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: PHLBOS on February 19, 2015, 09:36:47 AM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 19, 2015, 09:16:04 AM
Not in Staten Island, but is this famous sign still in Bay Ridge?

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnorthshore.noizart.com%2Frich_files%2Fbilder%2FSI_278.jpg&hash=7f1cc2986a24d0bfe33664abfc98babf50f442a0)
Is that from Saturday Night Fever by any chance?
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: roadman65 on February 19, 2015, 09:43:56 AM
Quote from: doofy103 on February 18, 2015, 10:58:42 PM
This is still there

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7373/16334987909_6b803ef9c8_c.jpg)
I was noticing that the mast arm on the right does not have its double guys attached to the end of the arm like the one on the left.  I find that one unusual as the reason for the double guy to make it to the end is to help support the weight of the signal head.  However it is much better looking than the ones that NYC attaches to the utility poles as they just use a small diameter mono tube and two skinny double guys as you will find many of those in Staten Island, as that, I think, is the only borough that has above ground utilities as the other four are all underground, so you will see these installations common in Staten Island.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Pete from Boston on February 19, 2015, 09:53:03 AM

Quote from: PHLBOS on February 19, 2015, 09:36:47 AM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 19, 2015, 09:16:04 AM
Not in Staten Island, but is this famous sign still in Bay Ridge?

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnorthshore.noizart.com%2Frich_files%2Fbilder%2FSI_278.jpg&hash=7f1cc2986a24d0bfe33664abfc98babf50f442a0)
Is that from Saturday Night Fever by any chance?

It sure is, which is why I called it "famous."
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: roadman65 on February 19, 2015, 09:56:46 AM
The sign needs to be changed to read be prepared to surrender an hour's worth of your hard earned wages (and for some maybe 2 hours worth of your income) to cross this facility. 
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Zeffy on February 19, 2015, 10:02:36 AM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 19, 2015, 09:16:04 AM
Not in Staten Island, but is this famous sign still in Bay Ridge?

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnorthshore.noizart.com%2Frich_files%2Fbilder%2FSI_278.jpg&hash=7f1cc2986a24d0bfe33664abfc98babf50f442a0)

What street is that on? Bay Ridge is one of the areas I visit when I'm in Brooklyn, but I can't tell where that sign is.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Pete from Boston on February 19, 2015, 10:11:14 AM

Quote from: Zeffy on February 19, 2015, 10:02:36 AM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 19, 2015, 09:16:04 AM
Not in Staten Island, but is this famous sign still in Bay Ridge?

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnorthshore.noizart.com%2Frich_files%2Fbilder%2FSI_278.jpg&hash=7f1cc2986a24d0bfe33664abfc98babf50f442a0)

What street is that on? Bay Ridge is one of the areas I visit when I'm in Brooklyn, but I can't tell where that sign is.

I have no idea.  It gets a brief flash a couple of times in the movie Saturday Night Fever.  This screenshot is just something I found on a non-roads website
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: PHLBOS on February 19, 2015, 10:13:12 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on February 19, 2015, 09:56:46 AM
The sign needs to be changed to read be prepared to surrender an hour's worth of your hard earned wages (and for some maybe 2 hours worth of your income) to cross this facility. 
I would just use the words, "STICK 'EM UP!"  :sombrero:

(Note: there needs to be a Bandit smiley)
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Pete from Boston on February 19, 2015, 10:22:40 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on February 19, 2015, 09:56:46 AM
The sign needs to be changed to read be prepared to surrender an hour's worth of your hard earned wages (and for some maybe 2 hours worth of your income) to cross this facility.

Honestly, I have much more trouble getting across Staten Island from the west than I do coming across the bridge from the east.  Surprising, considering that the westbound bridge has a tollbooth at the end, and the Staten Island Expressway simply has a mystical cloud of hate and slowness hanging over it.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: NE2 on February 19, 2015, 10:27:17 AM
It's long gone. (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.616656,-74.02693&spn=0.011679,0.024784&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=40.616607,-74.026825&panoid=F7IRsoCYGXiRQMvmi_k01A&cbp=12,168.25,,1,-3.61)
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: 1995hoo on February 19, 2015, 10:41:28 AM
Quote from: Zeffy on February 19, 2015, 10:02:36 AM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 19, 2015, 09:16:04 AM
Not in Staten Island, but is this famous sign still in Bay Ridge?

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnorthshore.noizart.com%2Frich_files%2Fbilder%2FSI_278.jpg&hash=7f1cc2986a24d0bfe33664abfc98babf50f442a0)

What street is that on? Bay Ridge is one of the areas I visit when I'm in Brooklyn, but I can't tell where that sign is.

My maternal grandparents lived on 91 Street between Ridge Boulevard and 3 Avenue, so that area used to be quite familiar to me. (My last grandparent died in 1998 and I no longer visit Bay Ridge, no longer any reason to go.) As NE2 posted, the sign was on 92 Street at the corner where the ramp to the bridge is.

If you go one block backwards from that sign, you're at Fort Hamilton Parkway; the basketball courts seen in the movie are three blocks to the south. The Grand Union supermarket you see at one point was on 4 Avenue between 93 and 94 Streets; I believe it's now been demolished and a BMW dealer is located there. The White Castle was at 92 Street and 4 Avenue. The coffee shop the characters visit at one point was on 94 Street between 4 and 5 Avenues. When I was growing up there was a Carvel store there. Apparently it's now a Fiat dealer. If you do a Google Street View panned the right way (see link below), the view roughly matches what you saw in the movie. St. Patrick's Church is a block away on the left (my grandparents' funeral Masses were there and my cousin James was married there; years earlier, my mother and her siblings attended grade school there).

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.616595,-74.03065,3a,75y,200.69h,87.76t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sXYqsffiJViZ8TO0j49UuZg!2e0
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Zeffy on February 19, 2015, 11:00:00 AM
Quote from: NE2 on February 19, 2015, 10:27:17 AM
It's long gone. (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.616656,-74.02693&spn=0.011679,0.024784&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=40.616607,-74.026825&panoid=F7IRsoCYGXiRQMvmi_k01A&cbp=12,168.25,,1,-3.61)

Wow, it's on 92nd Street? That's the exit I come off 278 in the first place! I wish I had the chance to see the old sign.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Alps on February 20, 2015, 12:50:31 AM
Quote from: Zeffy on February 18, 2015, 10:32:52 PM
I'm assuming the button copy sign with a 2di width shield for I-278 is on the Verrazano Bridge still heading towards Staten Island from Brooklyn.
Upper and Lower Levels both. Pretty expensive sign to visit, though. (You can see both from Upper more easily than from Lower.)
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Zeffy on February 20, 2015, 10:50:02 AM
Quote from: Alps on February 20, 2015, 12:50:31 AM
Quote from: Zeffy on February 18, 2015, 10:32:52 PM
I'm assuming the button copy sign with a 2di width shield for I-278 is on the Verrazano Bridge still heading towards Staten Island from Brooklyn.
Upper and Lower Levels both. Pretty expensive sign to visit, though. (You can see both from Upper more easily than from Lower.)

Exactly why we don't visit Brooklyn too much anymore. That stupid toll is beyond preposterous. At most we like to cross into Staten Island or just stay in New Jersey. Though when we do pay the toll we almost always use the upper level which gives you a cool glimpse of Manhattan anyway.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: hubcity on February 20, 2015, 02:13:43 PM
It's easy enough to visit Brooklyn from NJ as follows:

- Enter through any crossing (PANYNJ toll applies)
- All crossings to Brooklyn are free.
- Exit via Williamsburg Bridge (free) to Manhattan
- Williamsburg Bridge puts you on Delancey, get down to Houston, and eventually to Holland Tunnel (also free.)

That's my go-to method, at least until they start tolling the city bridge crossings.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: dgolub on February 20, 2015, 06:57:00 PM
Quote from: hubcity on February 20, 2015, 02:13:43 PM
- All crossings to Brooklyn are free.

Except for the Battery Tunnel (I-478).
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: roadman65 on February 21, 2015, 07:45:04 PM
In case of the Battery Tunnel, I always stayed on I-278 to the Brooklyn Bridge.  It may be a few miles longer, but no tolls and you get to ride on the cantilever section of the BQE.

Every time I crossed the Verazzano, I used it EB to return via Manhattan to avoid the tolls even back in the late 80's and the time I went to Coney Island back in 2000. 

I always headed south on the FDR (that was when I first noticed the Breezewood going from the Brooklyn Bridge to the southbound FDR), through the underpass and then up West Street to the Holland Tunnel.

When I was younger and my dad would return from Shea Stadium, we crossed the Williamsburg Bridge followed Delancey all the way into Kenmare Street, then at the end we turned left onto Broome and that takes you directly into the Holland Tunnel.  No need for Houston Street at all.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Pete from Boston on February 21, 2015, 11:09:27 PM
Breezewood?  Breezewood implies a gap between freeways.  None of the lower East River bridges was ever a part of any kind of freeway.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: roadman65 on February 22, 2015, 12:37:26 PM
Actually you could here because it connects the FDR with the BQE which both are freeways.
Title: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Pete from Boston on February 22, 2015, 01:58:22 PM
It's a stretch.  The Brooklyn Bridge was built to connect the streets of the downtowns of Brooklyn and New York.  The highways under it are johnnies-come-lately and incidental to its primary role.  A much better example for you in the area is FDR to BQE via the Battery Tunnel.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: roadman65 on February 22, 2015, 02:14:25 PM
It is deafacto connection, I will say, as the Brooklyn Bridge because of its nature has to be a freeway. 

Yes the signals on West Street between the FDR and Battery Tunnel entrance do also make a Breezewood as you point out.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: storm2k on February 23, 2015, 04:49:33 PM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 19, 2015, 10:11:14 AM

Quote from: Zeffy on February 19, 2015, 10:02:36 AM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 19, 2015, 09:16:04 AM
Not in Staten Island, but is this famous sign still in Bay Ridge?

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnorthshore.noizart.com%2Frich_files%2Fbilder%2FSI_278.jpg&hash=7f1cc2986a24d0bfe33664abfc98babf50f442a0)

What street is that on? Bay Ridge is one of the areas I visit when I'm in Brooklyn, but I can't tell where that sign is.

I have no idea.  It gets a brief flash a couple of times in the movie Saturday Night Fever.  This screenshot is just something I found on a non-roads website

Long gone, unfortunately. Here's what is in its place. (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.616512,-74.026632,3a,75y,260.46h,89.87t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sBGJ7dYRgQ2H1GlLVsDGqJA!2e0)
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: roadman65 on March 06, 2015, 12:57:55 AM
I was noticing that Hylan Boulevard is actually not the main road immediately south of I-278.  It actually defaults onto Stuben Street for a short distance as Hyland Boulevard proper heads to the east if you head SB. 

Going the other way you have to turn left onto Stubing, but Hylan proper will end at the I-278 service road where you have to use Olga Place to continue on it as it is a RIRO on the EB Service Road.

I am surprised that Stuben Place is not Hylan Boulevard and the other section of Hylan not the principal arterial is not called Old Hylan Boulevard.  I am guessing that before the Staten Island Expressway was built Hylan Boulevard was one continuous roadway from end to end is why you have to deviate from it at present time.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: Duke87 on March 06, 2015, 01:50:53 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on March 06, 2015, 12:57:55 AM
I am surprised that Stuben Place is not Hylan Boulevard and the other section of Hylan not the principal arterial is not called Old Hylan Boulevard.  I am guessing that before the Staten Island Expressway was built Hylan Boulevard was one continuous roadway from end to end is why you have to deviate from it at present time.

Why is this surprising? Both streets existed before there was such a thing as cars. Changing the names would mean changing the addresses around, creating headaches for the post office and all the people in the buildings whose addresses changed, for what gain? Okay, so the fact that you want to make a left on Steuben to get to the bridge or the SIE ought to be signed (it isn't, currently), but that doesn't require changing any street names.
Title: Re: Staten Island, NY
Post by: roadman65 on March 06, 2015, 09:54:48 AM
Actually we do it in Florida all the time. Part of International Drive became World Center Drive where the Caribe Royal Hotel did have to get a new address number.  In fact we change names of streets when alignments change all the time except the northern end of Goldenrod Road where FL 551 becomes Palmetto Avenue.  Anyway in that case the road is still there in whole.

I just thought that that set up is real strange that in one arterial you go from Hylan to Stueben and back to Hylan.  I am sure ignorant non road geeks think of Steuben as Hylan anyway just like in New Jersey many people think of Rahway Avenue in Elizabeth as being part of St. George Avenue because the both are NJ 27.

When I mean surprising I do not mean total campaign of trying to get a name change.  You won't see me leading a charge into NYC City Hall to get a name change nor do I intend too.  I just thought that they should have done that years ago and the fact that it is that even Hylan gets severed at Narrows Road.