Recent posts

#1

General Highway Talk / Re: Daily conversation: What ...

Last post by kphoger - Today at 11:16:51 AM

2025-08-31: What are some lesser-known types of interchanges?

SPRI - single point rural interchange

I'm working on a worse answer for this...

We all know about the Single Point Urban Interchange (SPUI).  And I already mentioned the Single Point Rural Interchange (SPRI), which is rare enough.  But there's one related interchange type that's even less frequently used.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the Single Booth Toll Interchange!  Allowing for a full service interchange between two toll roads with just a single bridge a single toll booth, this innovating design affords those toll agencies suffering from a severe funding deficit a more affordable option than traditional interchange designs, as it saves a significant amount of upfront construction cost.  Furthermore, with a single booth toll point, agencies can have the flexibility to retain human toll collection by only needing to staff two or even one employee at any given time.

#2

Mid-South / Re: US 82 Gainesville bypass

Last post by bwana39 - Today at 11:13:35 AM

From the county line just outside of Whitesboro to I-35 can be built, but it will be messier than I-69 in Trinity and southern Polk counties.

I think the US-82 segment from the West side of Whitesboro to I-35 is a lost cause. The ROW abruptly drops from 300' wide down to 200' where the frontage roads end. It might be possible to acquire more ROW and extend the frontage roads as far West as the FM-678 intersection with US-82. Just past that in Oak Ridge and the rest of the way to Gainesville the properties next to the existing road just really stack up.

It wouldn't be the easiest thing to build a freeway on a new terrain segment. It would have to dodge the Camp Sweeny children's resort. Any path would bound to impact at least a few residential properties on the way to I-35. But it probably wouldn't be as disruptive as trying to upgrade along existing US-82 to the East end of the proposed Gainesville bypass.

The clarksville loop, while currently 2-lane, has the r.o.w. The lone bridge over it has portals for 2x2.

The upgrade situation in Clarksville is at least a little more doable than the existing 286 Loop in Paris. That thing is a mess, but it can be fixed with new frontage road if a lot of property owners are willing to let their front parking lots "get a haircut."

US-82 Interstate quality connections to the East and West ends of the Clarksville bypass would still need to be made in new terrain locations.

The Paris section from US-82 (Lamar Avenue) to US-271 (N. Main St) is in the planning states and not just preliminary. Yes, it is going to be painful the plan is to expand it in place. Evidently there is already some ROW acquisition going on because the Imminent Domain Lawyers are actively looking for clients in Paris.  Initially it is just a couple of overpasses, but the plan is to acquire properties for the final (2X2 with frontage roads) design.  Where the thing goes after it leaves the loop is a far bigger question.

As to Clarksville, East of Clarksville, widening the current routing is generally viable. Will not be many houses or businesses impacted. Avery would need to be bypassed.  West of Clarksville, the portion to Detroit was rerouted 20-25 years ago. Until you get to Detroit, it should be easy to expand in place.

 In Lamar County, it probably is best built completely new; probably from Loop 286 in Paris, follow with US-271 to out around the airport then cross country on a greenfield route to east of Blossom.  US-82 originally went that direction; that is why Bus271  is "Clarksville Street" from downtown to the east loop.  It went to just west of the Airport then up to Reno.

#3

Mid-Atlantic / Re: Delaware

Last post by 74/171FAN - Today at 10:52:30 AM

(For DE 141)  TRAFFIC ALERT - New Castle County - SR 141 Northbound Nighttime Closure

#4

Mid-Atlantic / Re: West Virginia

Last post by seicer - Today at 10:51:24 AM

https://wvmetronews.com/2025/08/30/doh-jefferson-road-project-done/

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Division of Highways says all of the cones are up and the Jefferson Road 5-lane widening project in South Charleston is done.

All lanes are open from Corridor G (U.S. Route 119) to MacCorkle Avenue (U.S. Route 60) –including on the overpass.

DOH-hired contractor Kokosing Construction completed the final paving and striping Friday.

Kokosing was awarded the $46.8 million contract in April 2019. The featured section is a new bridge that goes over Kanawha Turnpike and a pair of CSX railroad tracks.

"Additional work to tie in the new road with driveways and access the West Virginia State Police facility and other businesses remains to be completed, but should be finished by the end of September," the DOH said in a Friday news release. "A formal celebration and dedication of the project will be scheduled for the near future."

Courtesy of WVDOH:

#5

Weather / Re: The Wildfires thread

Last post by Max Rockatansky - Today at 10:30:20 AM

Apparently the lightning storm yesterday morning caused a fire which burned numerous structures in Chinese Camp:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/chinese-camp-evacuations-21027637.php?fbclid=IwU1NDUAMlL_VleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHlNlNyZa22gD6RNal6ZP0CIqW2AmlOIkd1t602bN5dk4XXFfpErIAUmzzym__aem_mngYzC97N4DrcN67R2CtLQ

That whole area south of town had a lot of plants that were dry and would burn fast. 

https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents.html?isembed=true&lat=37.819667&lon=-120.437333&z=50000&tilt=0&uniqueid=85af7553-a237-4ce6-921b-e9d46a86bbce&heading=0

Another lightning bases fire is threatening Vallecito, Douglas Flat and Murphys near CA 4:

https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents.html?isembed=true&lat=37.998587&lon=-120.475152&z=50000&tilt=0&uniqueid=4eabc8a7-b2a0-4492-8b19-f2329d4bbc01&heading=0

#6

Sports / Re: NFL (2025 Season)

Last post by Max Rockatansky - Today at 10:20:21 AM

The college puff ball game model is still superior to something like the NFL preseason.  Every now and then a major upset happens during a tune up game.

#7

Sports / Re: NFL (2025 Season)

Last post by SEWIGuy - Today at 10:15:51 AM

You could count on one hand the number of FBS college teams with winning percentages that good over their last 50-60 games.

Dont get me started on college football "dynastys".  The usual AP Top 20 teams are  the "usual colleges" because 3 or 4 games a year are usually against way-weaker non-league colleges that they will blow out by at least 40 points.

I would love to see the NCAA use the NFL scheduling formula:  The teams with the better records in their conference get the tougher schedules the following year. And with the growing number of teams in the major conferences, all games should be inter-conference only -- especially if they can't play them all in the same season. If long-time rival colleges are in separate conferences, then maybe the NCAA should allow one or two out-of-conferences against those colleges per season because those games shouldn't be cream puff blowout games.

Then we can see who the REAL dynasties are!

The NCAA does not, and never will have any say over scheduling. They don't even manage the post-season.

Regardless, every college football team schedules puff-ball opponents.

#8

Sports / Re: 2025 College Football Seas...

Last post by SEWIGuy - Today at 10:14:11 AM

I think I've mentioned it before: Swiss tournament. Each week, you're matched up against an opponent with the same record, or as close to it as possible, without ever playing the same opponent twice.

That would be extremely hard on student athletes with all the nationwide travel, especially if they don't know where they are going to play until that week. It would also cause more greenhouse emissions due to longer travel distances.

Moving to this thread because it's not the NFL.

• The first week is like the first week currently — everyone is 0-0, so there are no restrictions.
• Before the first week, teams can provide a list of who they want to play the second and third week (both teams have to agree). The first one on the list that has a matching record will be the one they play.
• After the third week, ties are broken by minimizing travel distance. For example, after week 8, about 38 of the teams will be 4-4, and assigning them geographically would result in less travel distance than completely random.
• If it's impossible for your team to make the playoffs (strictly by win/loss record), the automatic opponent selection no longer applies. You can choose to play anyone else who can't make the playoffs either.

I'm sorry but this is just a dumb way to do scheduling. Fans want to know who is playing at home and on the road, and who their opponents are, weeks in advance for travelling. Playoffs being the obvious exception.

#9

Northwest / Re: US 99 prior to the Aurora ...

Last post by Max Rockatansky - Today at 10:07:46 AM

Put all this business on our US 99 page:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2025/09/former-us-route-99-over-aurora-bridge.html?m=1

#10

Off-Topic / Re: Do you use the local publi...

Last post by 1995hoo - Today at 09:48:54 AM

When I was growing up, I used the public libraries in our area (including the many Fairfax County libraries as well as the ones in the City of Falls Church and Arlington County) all the time. Not just to check out books to read, either. In high school I was at the main branch in Fairfax City all the time to work on school assignments. When I was a little kid, we often went to children's events at some of the branches. My mother was really good at finding either free or inexpensive things for kids that often had an educational component (not necessarily apparent to us as kids), and a lot of the time there were library programs of that sort. I guess she's still good at that now because she regularly attends things like lectures at the National Gallery of Art or other museums, and some of the ones she attends are at one of the Fairfax public libraries. ("Libraries"—the county system has 22 branches.)

Nowadays, the only thing for which I've visited the library in recent memory is to use the drop box for our car tax payments each October in lieu of mailing the envelope. I view the drop box as more reliable. I tend to read fairly long books, 600+ pages, and I don't want to limit myself to the checkout period to try to finish something. More importantly, I also prefer reading on my Kindle and a lot of the books I read these days are not available through the system the library uses for Kindle patrons.

I have the ringer silencer on the side of my phone (it's an iPhone) but I'm not sure if that would stop an incoming call from interrupting audio or not.

....

One important caveat about the "silent switch" on an iPhone: If you use the "VIP" feature to designate certain priority contacts, and if you have it set to allow VIPs to ring through if your phone is in "Do Not Disturb," the ringer will still sound if one of those people calls you, even if you have the silent switch enabled. I found this out the hard way once when my wife called me at work and my phone started blasting the Guns N Roses song I have set as her ringtone. Recently I wondered if that would still happen, so I tested it the other day by enabling the silent switch and calling myself from our home phone—sure enough, the ringtone sounded. So if you use the "VIP" feature in the way I mention above, you have to turn the ringer all the way down using the volume buttons if you want to make sure it will not sound.

(Partly because of that issue, I enable airplane mode in certain circumstances—if I'm at Mass or at the movies or in a courtroom, where I don't want my phone making noise, or if I'm at the dentist or the barbershop, where I don't want my phone startling me in a way that might cause me to move my head at the wrong time.)