Last spring I was alerted to a pile of discarded road signs in Taconite Harbor, MN, an abandoned mining company town on Lake Superior. I drove the 4 hours one way, but without knowing where on the town's footprint (it was demolished after the company idled in the mid-80s) I searched through the townsite, getting soaked from the day's rain and wet ground. Eventually I found the pile and it held nothing of interest; the signs themselves weren't even that old, some dating just to 2004. A mile marker that caught my eye had mud and dirt congealed onto it and unable to be removed to reveal the number. It was a major fail.
What are yours?
Driving out of my way to a route terminus, hoping to get a photo of an END assembly, and there is none.
Hoping to get a photo of a good sine salad, where multiple routes multiplex and/or intersect, but the signage is such that it doesn't really make for a good photo (multiple signposts not together, some routes not signed, etc.).
There's been at least a dozen times I've driven out of the way, only to find the sign was missing or replaced.
The worst is when I marked it in the wrong place altogether (i.e. entirely my fault for going out there).
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).
Two years ago I was staying in Blanding, UT and had just been at Natural Bridges National Monument. My plan was to get up at sunrise and head out early to the Moki Dugway. I was aware UT 95 was largely open range to UT 261 so I was ready to keep an eye out for deer. Just I was pulling onto UT 95 a herd of deer jumped over the fence line and I had to choose to either ditch into a small ravine or hit one of them. I ended up hitting one of the deer and smashing up the front end of my car which pushed in the radiator. I kept my car running for a good 30 minutes to determine if there was any leaks and continued on my way. I ended up driving the Dugway and a bunch of other scenic highways like US 163, AZ 64, AZ 89A, and CA 2 on the way home with a smashed up car. The trip wasn't a fail but it was pretty shitty that that I hit a deer 2 miles from my hotel on the one mile of UT 95 that actually had animal fencing.
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.
This was 1992 or so, before Google Maps existed, or online plans: just an article in the paper some months back that the interchange at US 7 and the Merritt Parkway was complete.
I had seen the 15/25 and 15/8 interchanges earlier (both pretty cool by CT standards), and was intrigued to see what the ConnDOT treatment would be for a full 4-way freeway/parkway crossing.
Drove about 90 minutes to see... this (https://goo.gl/maps/ASmyGPhN2882).
Just two words: craIG county.
Anyway, for actual driving disappointments, there was that time I wanted to drive a highway which is usually full of trucks, and just as I was about to turn into it one passed in front of me. And since I didn't want to drive behind that truck (the highway is just a regular 2 lane road), I decided to take another route. I finally clinched that highway, and thus the entire route between Madrid and Barcelona, two years later and without getting stuck behind a truck! (I did it on a Sunday, when there are less trucks on the road :sombrero:)
Quote from: plain on August 27, 2018, 11:37:48 PM
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.
When ghost ramps are torn down.
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.
Quote from: wanderer2575 on August 27, 2018, 08:36:32 PM
Driving out of my way to a route terminus, hoping to get a photo of an END assembly, and there is none.
Hoping to get a photo of a good sine salad, where multiple routes multiplex and/or intersect, but the signage is such that it doesn't really make for a good photo (multiple signposts not together, some routes not signed, etc.).
Yup. My wife was not very happy when she drove us up to the north end of NC 12, only to find that the END sign was gone. It had been blown away during a hurricane and was never replaced.
- the replacement of the "Bayshore Freeway" text on the Next-3-exits sign from 280 north in San Francisco with "Junction US 101"
- Route 1 not being signed on Rice Avenue in Oxnard even several years after the highway officially moved to that street
- Route relinquishments in general in California as that usually leads to trailblazers completely disappearing (i.e. Route 82 south of 880 in San Jose, Route 238 along Mission Boulevard). On that same vein: traversing a state route that is very poorly signed (Route 221, Route 128 between Route 121 and Winters, Route 18 east of Palmdale).
- More recently: trying to go on a route I haven't been on in ages (Route 85 between 101 and 280)...only to miss the offramp from 101 north because I misinterpreted the exit signage.
Quote from: jon daly on August 28, 2018, 09:25:01 AM
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.
:rofl:
For some of us, it was the opposite. Seeing the sequential system for the first time in Florida in 1985, I thought we were only a half hour from Tampa when I saw my grandparents in Winter Haven, the east side of Winter Haven.
For me, it's either when I travel looking for button copy that has either been replaced since the streetview camera came along (this happend at the US-101/199 junction in northern California), or, more likely, if I screwed up taking a photo of something years ago, only to go back again years later and find out that what I came back to photograph has now been replaced.
For me it is mostly enormous, slow-to-download ZIP or RAR files that I think are going to contain thousands of pages of construction plans for a large highway project, only to find a few very large GeoTIFF files, followed closely by advertisements for projects whose bids have already been opened and whose plans (following the policy or practice of that particular agency) are no longer available online.
Badly drawn (i.e., not pattern-accurate) signing plans are no longer as common as they used to be.
When you finally bring a camera to get a picture of a vintage "Yield Right-of-Way" sign, and find that it's been replaced with either a STOP sign or a conventional MUTCD-compliant Yield sign.
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.
I was on I-95 one time in SC and thought I saw a text STOP AHEAD sign and turned around at the next exit, returned to Hardeeville and back to the exit in question...it was a two-way traffic sign.
Quote from: jon daly on August 28, 2018, 09:25:01 AM
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.
Well, if it makes you feel better, there are about 175 exits off I-40 in TN (more or less, I didn't count exactly), which, while not exactly hundred
s, is still quite a few.
Quote from: TheStranger on August 28, 2018, 01:58:26 PM
- the replacement of the "Bayshore Freeway" text on the Next-3-exits sign from 280 north in San Francisco with "Junction US 101"
- Route 1 not being signed on Rice Avenue in Oxnard even several years after the highway officially moved to that street
- Route relinquishments in general in California as that usually leads to trailblazers completely disappearing (i.e. Route 82 south of 880 in San Jose, Route 238 along Mission Boulevard). On that same vein: traversing a state route that is very poorly signed (Route 221, Route 128 between Route 121 and Winters, Route 18 east of Palmdale).
- More recently: trying to go on a route I haven't been on in ages (Route 85 between 101 and 280)...only to miss the offramp from 101 north because I misinterpreted the exit signage.
Concur on all counts. And yes, the CA 85 exit from NB US 101 in SE San Jose sort of "sneaks up" on you these days, at least when it comes to the original semi-directional general lanes exit; the HOV lanes are announced loud and clear. This is typical D4 B.S. -- but at least they semi-fixed the suspension-rattling "bump" on the main NB 85 ramp at the end of the 101 flyover -- it's now producing just a slight "shimmy"!
When I was a young child, before I had ever really seen an atlas and was informed on numbered highways, I thought that US Highway 41's northern terminus was here in my own town of Dalton, Georgia (even though it is actually very, very far away in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan). This is because when I asked my mother (perhaps around the age of 5) where Highway 41 went going north, she said it ended at the North Bypass. She was actually talking about Thornton Avenue (the street name and physical road) ending at the bypass. Also, US 41 (along with US 76 and GA 3) is actually designated on the bypass now, and Thornton Avenue is not even US 41 anymore, but it was designated as such at one time. Now that I have much more knowledge on maps, I realize that US 41 is a very long highway, and Dalton (my town) is just one of many, many different towns and cities that have US 41 running through them. At the time, as a young kid with much less knowledge, thinking that US 41 didn't go past the northern bypass of my town, it was a very massive disappointment to me. It saddened me greatly thinking that that was the end for US 41, and it didn't seem right or good, especially as a young child fantasizing about no road ever ending. Since US 41, at one time, was designated on Thornton Avenue and Old Dixie Highway in my town, when other people in my town say "Highway 41," they are usually talking about those roads when concerning the part of the highway within Dalton city limits (if they are talking about the highway farther out in the country, they are usually accurate in calling the right road Highway 41). My mom must have simply meant Thornton Avenue's northern end terminated at the bypass, but she called it "Highway 41," so that is why I thought she was talking about US 41 as a whole. When I finally found some road atlases and became more informed on numbered highways, I was very, very happy and surprised (because I had believed otherwise for so long until 8 or 9) to find out that US 41 actually went on for a long ways after Dalton, and in both directions that is. When looking through those maps, I was very excited to find out everywhere that US 41 did go, and where it actually terminated on both sides (northern and southern).
Thankfully, more recently, in the era where I have been able to film and snap pictures of roads with my own phone (the past 6 years and continuing), I have usually been fortunate in not having too many disappointments. I am having trouble thinking of significant disappointments I felt from seeing a new road or road-related thing on a roadgeek level, but most of my disappointments have been technical and logistical (i.e. failed pictures and videos, the camera not focusing in, accidentally missing roads or sights, mistakenly deleted road videos or photos, and that sort of thing). These happen frequently but are usually small, and they are inevitable, since they are errors and things going wrong which are to be expected at least every once in a while. On a roadgeek level, I have usually not been disappointed too much over the years, but my misinformation with where US 41 ended may have been the most significant roadgeek disappointment in my lifetime that I can recall at this moment, even though it was when I was a young child. Also, I think there have been many times when I wanted to get filmography and photography of a road at a certain point during a construction phase, but I was too late to get the footage of the exact status that I wanted, and that has brought disappointment to me when these things have occured, but I was still glad to get whatever I did end up with, even if it wasn't the phase I had prepared and hoped to film before it was gone. I've also been disappointed in myself for the occasional time that I might fall asleep and miss something because of that, due to severe fatigue or sedation (typically in the morning). :paranoid: :-D
Quote from: OracleUsr on August 28, 2018, 06:47:50 PM
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.
Signs like that are disappearing because people keep stealing them. The one on US-50 in Ocean City that lists the distance to Sacramento is mounted to a bridge.
Yes, I've found that a number of roadgeeks are indeed disappointments. :-D :-D :-D :-D :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
But seriously, what a number of people have already said. Driving to find something that you missed getting a picture of the first time you saw it, and it being gone (the borderless cutout on US 52 between Aberdeen and Portsmouth being one example..)
And having certain circumstances ruin a picture you're trying to take while on the move in a place where you will probably never ever be again.
And doughnut holes in the visited county map that you may not get a chance to fill in.
Quote from: sparker on August 28, 2018, 07:51:29 PM
Quote from: TheStranger on August 28, 2018, 01:58:26 PM
- More recently: trying to go on a route I haven't been on in ages (Route 85 between 101 and 280)...only to miss the offramp from 101 north because I misinterpreted the exit signage.
Concur on all counts. And yes, the CA 85 exit from NB US 101 in SE San Jose sort of "sneaks up" on you these days, at least when it comes to the original semi-directional general lanes exit; the HOV lanes are announced loud and clear. This is typical D4 B.S. -- but at least they semi-fixed the suspension-rattling "bump" on the main NB 85 ramp at the end of the 101 flyover -- it's now producing just a slight "shimmy"!
Funny thing about CA 85. I used to drive on I-280, CA 85, US 101 to commute to Salinas so I never missed the exit on the way back. But last week I was heading home from Mountain View, and I missed the entrance on Evelyn Avenue because it was at night and when I saw the ramp I was going too fast to turn 90 degrees!
Quote from: OracleUsr on August 28, 2018, 06:47:50 PM
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.
I was on I-95 one time in SC and thought I saw a text STOP AHEAD sign and turned around at the next exit, returned to Hardeeville and back to the exit in question...it was a two-way traffic sign.
They just installed a new one around the corner from me a few years ago. I wonder how they could still even be making them!
Since others have mentioned signs that had been replaced, I'll explain this:
Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on August 28, 2018, 05:25:09 AM
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.
Quote from: hbelkins on August 28, 2018, 09:35:39 PM
Yes, I've found that a number of roadgeeks are indeed disappointments. :-D :-D :-D :-D :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Hey, I resemble that remark! :P
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)
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on August 27, 2018, 10:47:38 PMThinking 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. :bigass:
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.
Quote from: jon daly on August 28, 2018, 09:25:01 AM
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.
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.
Quote from: OracleUsr on August 28, 2018, 06:47:50 PM
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.
Quote from: LM117 on August 29, 2018, 08:04:44 PM
Quote from: OracleUsr on August 28, 2018, 06:47:50 PM
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. :bigass:
Quote from: roadman65 on August 29, 2018, 09:16:41 PM
Quote from: OracleUsr on August 28, 2018, 06:47:50 PM
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.
Quote from: abefroman329 on August 28, 2018, 08:14:33 AM
Quote from: plain on August 27, 2018, 11:37:48 PM
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
Quote from: roadman65 on August 29, 2018, 09:16:41 PM
Quote from: LM117 on August 29, 2018, 08:04:44 PM
Quote from: OracleUsr on August 28, 2018, 06:47:50 PM
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. :bigass:
Novelty. Same reason I-420 signs keep getting stolen.
^^^^^
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).
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.
Quote from: sparker on August 30, 2018, 03:17:45 AM
^^^^^
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.
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).
When you see MassDOT resurfacing only part of the roadway
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.
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...
Quote from: roadman65 on August 30, 2018, 07:22:49 PM
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.
Quote from: roadman65 on August 30, 2018, 07:22:49 PM
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! :banghead:
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.
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.)
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 31, 2018, 12:53:31 AM
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.
(https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/HBJQjIn.png)
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
Quote from: ipeters61 on August 30, 2018, 09:16:58 PM
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...
Quote from: roadman65 on August 30, 2018, 07:22:49 PM
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.
Quote from: roadman65 on August 30, 2018, 07:22:49 PM
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! :banghead:
The Google Maps suggested routings are pretty eye-opening. US 6 is not one of the preferred routes between Hartford and Providence.
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.
What disappoints me is restaurants with ridiculously slow service that rob us of time to see roadly things.
Quote from: jon daly on September 01, 2018, 09:56:51 PM
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.
As I recall, Ruby Falls was no better.
Here's one disappointment of mine:
When I was a kid, I would see lots of proposed highways in the road atlas, but then as I became a teen, I found out that most of those proposals no longer appeared in the newer atlases because they were cancelled in one way or another (usually either by lack of funds or vehement opposition). The fact that Rand McNally stopped showing proposed highways around that time didn't help matters either.
Quote from: Henry on September 05, 2018, 09:12:34 AM
Here's one disappointment of mine:
When I was a kid, I would see lots of proposed highways in the road atlas, but then as I became a teen, I found out that most of those proposals no longer appeared in the newer atlases because they were cancelled in one way or another (usually either by lack of funds or vehement opposition). The fact that Rand McNally stopped showing proposed highways around that time didn't help matters either.
Then again, it was laughable how long Rand McNally showed the Nashua, NH bypass as being under construction.
Quote from: Henry on September 05, 2018, 09:12:34 AM
Here's one disappointment of mine:
When I was a kid, I would see lots of proposed highways in the road atlas, but then as I became a teen, I found out that most of those proposals no longer appeared in the newer atlases because they were cancelled in one way or another (usually either by lack of funds or vehement opposition). The fact that Rand McNally stopped showing proposed highways around that time didn't help matters either.
I felt a lot like you, but it wasn't their removal of these roads from newer atlases that got me down, and my disappointment came before I was a teenager. It was simply the removal of them from real life that bummed me out so much.
This is one of many reasons I stopped believing in the future... or at least what we used to think of as "the future."
That The Grand Avenue Expressway US 60 I-10 to AZ Loop 101 & The Paradise Parkway AZ50 AZ51 to AZ Loop 101 Were Cancelled 5 Years after the 1985 MAG/ADOT Freeway Plan/Tax was Passed in 1984.
Generally the replacement/removal of older signage and older signals is a disappointment for me.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 29, 2018, 07:53:05 AM
Quote from: OracleUsr on August 28, 2018, 06:47:50 PM
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.
I was on I-95 one time in SC and thought I saw a text STOP AHEAD sign and turned around at the next exit, returned to Hardeeville and back to the exit in question...it was a two-way traffic sign.
They just installed a new one around the corner from me a few years ago. I wonder how they could still even be making them!
In SC, they had a special kind that boldfaced the word STOP quite prominently. I saw a similar one just outside the Carowinds parking lot some time ago, but it's a symbol sign now.
Quote from: D-Dey65 on September 05, 2018, 09:50:09 AM
Quote from: Henry on September 05, 2018, 09:12:34 AM
Here's one disappointment of mine:
When I was a kid, I would see lots of proposed highways in the road atlas, but then as I became a teen, I found out that most of those proposals no longer appeared in the newer atlases because they were cancelled in one way or another (usually either by lack of funds or vehement opposition). The fact that Rand McNally stopped showing proposed highways around that time didn't help matters either.
I felt a lot like you, but it wasn't their removal of these roads from newer atlases that got me down, and my disappointment came before I was a teenager. It was simply the removal of them from real life that bummed me out so much.
This is one of many reasons I stopped believing in the future... or at least what we used to think of as "the future."
Rand McNally started showing approximations of future Interstate corridors starting with the 1960 road atlas, either by affixing Interstate numbers to existing roads (where either the future corridor actually followed that alignment or, alternately, no specific corridor location had been determined) or showing, with their triple-open dotted line indicator, the basic location of new-terrain facilities. They continued to do so until such time as most of the routes had been built and were in use; the fact that they ceased to show extensive future routing was simply because by the early '80's most of the routes within the system at the time had already been built. With a few exceptions, even the 1968 additions had been constructed by that time.
But McNally was inconsistent regarding removal of routes that had been deleted for various reasons (mostly, at least in select urban areas); while the Boston loops (such as I-695) were also deleted from the MA and Boston maps early on. the NYC routes, particularly I-78 through Brooklyn, were shown on the McNally regional metro atlas pages at least throughout the '80's. But starting with about 1965, anyone who picked up a newspaper could clearly see that the urban Interstate map, as comprehensive and all-encompassing as it was circa 1962, wasn't to come even close to the alignments indicated as "future" on the urban inserts of the day. It wasn't so much disappointment regarding the fact that these routes wouldn't be forthcoming as it was disillusionment with the planners who laid down those corridors for not taking the local citizenry into account. To tell the truth, the early McNally atlas inserts
did clearly delineate most of the urban "loops" and routings that were part of the original Yellow Book; looking at them in retrospect is an exercise in "hubris fulfillment" -- even to a 10-year-old kid it was clear that there was much overreaching taking place. The following couple of decades showed just
how much!
Oooh. I have some old maps. Now I want to get an old road atlas.
I did find a post where Beltway linked a digitized version of the Yellow Book, but I think it only showed the national map and various urban maps.
The fact that there are still sequential-numbered (or unnumbered) interchanges out there
....damn NIMBYs
I still hold out hope that if I ever go back to P-town, I'll see spanking new "Exit 109" tabs on the signs for the Highland Rd. exit. :-D
Though...in MN, after the St. Croix Crossing (MN-36/WI-64) was completed, the signs for the interchange with MN-95 didn't have tabs, despite opening AFTER the decision to start numbering new exit signs. I am disappoint!
Quote from: jon dalyI did find a post where Beltway linked a digitized version of the Yellow Book, but I think it only showed the national map and various urban maps.
There are other sources of such (http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/yellowbook/)...
One of the biggest disappointments of my young life occurred when I was about 4, circa 1977 or 1978. Back then, there was a road called Lourdes Lane on the border between Newport and Woodlawn. My parents used to drive down this road on the way to a certain shopping center and for other destinations. I truly enjoyed this road. I loved everything about it. It was literally my favorite road.
But one day, I was in the car, and my mom was driving to that shopping center, and we discovered the road had been completely torn down. Gone. Demolished. Gone into thin air.
It turns out it was torn down to make way for I-471. But this episode fueled my interest in roads in a big way. Indeed it did.
I wish there were photos of this road, but I've never found any.
Quote from: bandit957 on September 06, 2018, 07:40:00 PM
One of the biggest disappointments of my young life occurred when I was about 4, circa 1977 or 1978. Back then, there was a road called Lourdes Lane on the border between Newport and Woodlawn. My parents used to drive down this road on the way to a certain shopping center and for other destinations. I truly enjoyed this road. I loved everything about it. It was literally my favorite road.
But one day, I was in the car, and my mom was driving to that shopping center, and we discovered the road had been completely torn down. Gone. Demolished. Gone into thin air.
It turns out it was torn down to make way for I-471. But this episode fueled my interest in roads in a big way. Indeed it did.
City-busting freeways. A term coined by Helen Leavitt, author of _Superhighway-Superhoax_, 1971.
Quote from: froggie on September 06, 2018, 04:40:45 PM
Quote from: jon dalyI did find a post where Beltway linked a digitized version of the Yellow Book, but I think it only showed the national map and various urban maps.
There are other sources of such (http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/yellowbook/)...
I like the following. It looks like something from a Civil Defense film:
http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/yellowbook/additions-1957.jpg
Here's another interesting find:
http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/yellowbook/numbering-1957.jpg
Among the differences I noticed:
I-12 is nonexistent
I-24 runs from Nashville to Chattanooga
I-72 is nonexistent
I-78 and I-82 run on what is now I-80 from Cleveland to Hackensack, with a gap running through much of PA
I-80 is routed from Cleveland to Harrisburg, on what is now the eastern I-76, splitting into two branches: I-80N (to New York, along today's I-78) and I-80S (to Philadelphia, continuing along I-76)
I-80N (today's western I-84) is numbered I-82, with an I-82N branch to Pocatello (later I-15W, now the western I-86)
The corridor that would later inherit the I-82 number is nonexistent
Both I-80S (today's western I-76) and I-70 end in Denver
I-84 continues to follow the US 6 corridor from Scranton to west of Erie
I-88 is nonexistent
I-90N branches from I-90, running from Buffalo to Niagara Falls along today's I-190
I-92 runs from Benton Harbor to Detroit, along today's I-94
I-94 runs from Benton Harbor to Detroit via Grand Rapids and Lansing, along today's I-196 and I-96, with an I-94N branch to Muskegon (later I-196, now I-96)
I-27 is nonexistent
I-29 runs from Kansas City to Sioux Falls, and I-31 runs from Fargo to Pembina, with no link between Sioux Falls and Fargo
I-67 runs from South Bend to Kalamazoo
I-69 ends at the IN Toll Road instead of continuing into MI
I-75 ends in Tampa
I-77 runs from Detroit to Port Huron
The corridor that would later inherit the I-77 number is nonexistent
I-79 runs from Akron to Cleveland
The corridor that would later inherit the I-79 number is nonexistent
I-24 is one whose absence I noticed OTTOMH because it went right by Fort Campbell on its way from Nashville to southern Illinois when I was stationed there.
Quote from: hbelkins on August 28, 2018, 09:35:39 PM
Yes, I've found that a number of roadgeeks are indeed disappointments.
I left the meet early, but I was told that you were disappointed when you found out who Tom From Ohio was.
Nexus 5X
Quote from: bugo on September 08, 2018, 05:26:13 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on August 28, 2018, 09:35:39 PM
Yes, I've found that a number of roadgeeks are indeed disappointments.
I left the meet early, but I was told that you were disappointed when you found out who Tom From Ohio was.
I guess we can't all be ten feet tall or contain reflective buttons.