I'm so old that...

[pderocco]

gas stations gave out free maps, compressed air was free, and the attendants offered to check your oil & clean the windshield.

Another way of putting it: I remember when there was no such thing as self-serve gasoline. I hear they're finally giving up on that in Oregon, which eliminates a major annoyance: waiting for the attendant to do something you can damn well do yourself. But it also highlights that in the old days, checking oil was a thing because cars burned and leaked oil like crazy once they had a couple of years on the engine.

[jeffandnicole]

- gas stations gave out free maps, compressed air was free, and the attendants offered to check your oil &
        clean the windshield.

There may still be gas stations where air is free. I know of one that shut down less than 10 years ago. Also, here in New Jersey, where full service is mandatory, an attendant will still clean your windshield once in a blue moon.

Air is free at Wawa.  It's so popular, they install 2 air machines at the newer stores, and occasionally add a 2nd one at existing stores.

[jeffandnicole]

gas stations gave out free maps, compressed air was free, and the attendants offered to check your oil & clean the windshield.

Another way of putting it: I remember when there was no such thing as self-serve gasoline. I hear they're finally giving up on that in Oregon, which eliminates a major annoyance: waiting for the attendant to do something you can damn well do yourself. But it also highlights that in the old days, checking oil was a thing because cars burned and leaked oil like crazy once they had a couple of years on the engine.

The ironic thing about this is that as most gas stations are self service, it irritates people when they have to wait to be served at a full service pump.  Yet as stores move to self-service checkouts, it irritates people that they are supposed to be offered the service of having a clerk ring up and bag your merchandise.

[amroad17]

I rode on the old two-lane James River Bridge and two-lane HRBT before their widening—-and that the exit numbers on I -64/VA 168 from current Exit 268 (Mallory St) to current Exit 255 (Jefferson Ave) were numbered 4-10.

I witnessed the Suffolk Bypass, I-664 (and the MMMBT), I-464 (from US 13 to I-264), and VA 164 be constructed and completed.

I remember that NY 48 was signed on the Baldwinsville Bypass when it first opened in 1971 and was changed to NY 690 around 1974 or 1975.

I witnessed construction and completion of the NY 5 Camillus Bypass and having to use West Genessee St (then NY 5) from Camillus to Fairmount before the freeway was completed.

I remember that I-690's carriageways split at the Fairgrounds area and Fair parking was in the median between the carriageways.  Then the EB carriageway was moved next to WB due to the NY 695 interchange built in the mid 1970's.

I remember when I-81 wasn't open between I-83 and US 11/15 until 1975 or 1976.  I remember having to go on I-83 to US 15 on our return trip from Syracuse, NY to Chesapeake, VA.  Also, I remember when the US 15 Gettysburg Bypass was a two-lane freeway.

I remember that US 58 and US 60, along with their associate business routes, were signed well in Virginia Beach.  I also remember that Bypass US 13 was signed on I-64 from Northampton Blvd to Bowers Hill (and it was signed at 70 mph).

Speaking of Bowers Hill, I remember riding on the overpass that was there and that I-264 ended at a traffic light intersection with Military Highway—-approximately where the Exit 14 off-ramp is currently.

[Rothman]

I think we have a contender for Old Fogey of the Board

[bzakharin]

gas stations gave out free maps, compressed air was free, and the attendants offered to check your oil & clean the windshield.

Another way of putting it: I remember when there was no such thing as self-serve gasoline. I hear they're finally giving up on that in Oregon, which eliminates a major annoyance: waiting for the attendant to do something you can damn well do yourself. But it also highlights that in the old days, checking oil was a thing because cars burned and leaked oil like crazy once they had a couple of years on the engine.

The ironic thing about this is that as most gas stations are self service, it irritates people when they have to wait to be served at a full service pump.  Yet as stores move to self-service checkouts, it irritates people that they are supposed to be offered the service of having a clerk ring up and bag your merchandise.

It's a matter of what you're used to. New Jerseyans love their full service and out-of-staters complain about it

Air is free at Wawa.  It's so popular, they install 2 air machines at the newer stores, and occasionally add a 2nd one at existing stores.

Good to know. I'll check it out the next time I need it.

[bugo]

On Labor Day one year when I was a kid, we were coming back from Kansas and we took US 160 to US 169 to US 60 to US 69 to the Muskogee Turnpike to I-40 to US 59. We often took different routes between Mena and Independence and this time, we came back this way. At the US 60/66 intersection, all of the US 66 shields were gone. They weren't replaced, they were just gone. I don't know if ODOT took the US 66 shields down or if the sign thieves of the day heard that US 66 was being decommissioned drove to Vinita and swiped those signs.

[bugo]

I started reading and posting to misc.transport.road fairly early on when it started getting popular, and I've had road enthusiast friends and rivals since that time.

[CapeCodder]

Another old St. Louis area memory just popped up in my head:

Forest Park Parkway had black guide signs at least near Grand and closer to Clayton.

[ElishaGOtis]

... I saw a road get resurfaced. Twice.

[vdeane]

... I saw a road get resurfaced. Twice.

I'm not even old enough to run for president and I've seen that too; not just 1R work, either, but 2R!

[thenetwork]

...the only FULLY completed interstate freeway in the Cleveland area was I-71, along with the Ohio Turnpike.
I-90, I-77 and I-480 all had missing links  in NEOH, as did SR-176/Jennings Freeway and I-490/E.55th Stub Ramp...

There was no RIGHT TURN ON RED laws nor any NO TURN ON RED signs...

Ohio used white-on-red EMERGENCY SPEED LIMIT 55 signs during the Energy Crisis of the mid 70s....

[LilianaUwU]

... I saw a road get resurfaced. Twice.

I saw a road get resurfaced twice in two years.

[ElishaGOtis]

... I saw a road get resurfaced. Twice.

I'm not even old enough to run for president and I've seen that too; not just 1R work, either, but 2R!

A couple times in FL I've seen a full-up 3R done twice.

[formulanone]

•  On entering turnpikes, you were given a card listing the fares to all of the other exits.  You turned in this card with your fare when exiting.

You will still get one on the NJ Turnpike when going thru the ticket/cash lanes. The only difference is the tickets list the price for all vehicle classifications, rather than the amounts for your specific vehicle class.

Florida's Turnpike tickets had listings for multiple-axle vehicles. I figured that truck drivers had to be wealthy to pay that $50+ for a trip from Wildwood/Okaloosa to the Three Lakes Plaza.

Was just remarking this to my son yesterday, when he asked about a time before electronic tolling.

[jeffandnicole]

•  On entering turnpikes, you were given a card listing the fares to all of the other exits.  You turned in this card with your fare when exiting.

You will still get one on the NJ Turnpike when going thru the ticket/cash lanes. The only difference is the tickets list the price for all vehicle classifications, rather than the amounts for your specific vehicle class.

Florida's Turnpike tickets had listings for multiple-axle vehicles. I figured that truck drivers had to be wealthy to pay that $50+ for a trip from Wildwood/Okaloosa to the Three Lakes Plaza.

Was just remarking this to my son yesterday, when he asked about a time before electronic tolling.

That trip is about 245 miles. Trucks average about 7 mpg, or about 35 gallons of diesel for that trip. At $4 a gallon, they spent $140 in fuel. The $50 is just a part of business that should be factored into their trip charges, and by far isn't the most expensive part of their trip.

[StogieGuy7]

Wow, where do I start?
- I remember states with white, wooden directional and mileage signage.
- Certainly recall when Written advisory signs were replaced with the present pictographs (cereal boxes literally had cut out versions of the new signage as a "prize")
- I remember fluorescent lighting on certain freeways, such as the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway
- When the NJ Turnpike ended before reaching I-80 and you have to drive city streets from there to the GW Bridge
- The NYS Thruway and CT Turnpike (I-95) still had some (faded) blue signage and the latter had barrier tolls
- When it was common to encounter incomplete interstates and see the white "coming soon" signs up.
- When the Balto/Wash Parkway was the only (really crappy) way to get between the 2 cities, then they opened brand new I-95 in MD which seemed gorgeous at the time.
- When the Dulles Access Road was only that: a one way freeway to connect IAD with Washington, though it ended at the Beltway back then as did I-66.
- Wood posts connected with steel cable were commonly used as "guard rails" in some states, which may well have killed you anyhow.
- When no signs were reflective and you had either lights for the signs or reflective button copy

Just a few....

[Rothman]

To be fair, I've heard engineers still tout benefits for cable barrier, including claiming its reliability in stopping semis is higher than other forms of guiderail.

[roadman65]

I remember when the Lincoln Tunnel had candescent lights in the north and center tubes while the south tube had more modern lighting. Now all three have the same LED lighting fixtures.

I remember the Harbor Tunnel Thruway had fluorescent lighting at interchanges with sequential exit numbers starting with 1 north of the tunnel and then 11 south of the tunnel climbing up both ways.

I remember the JFK Highway having sequential numbering starting with 2-9 from I-695 to MD 279. Exit 1 was unsigned Moravia Road SB as that's where JFK Highway became Harbor Tunnel Thruway.

[jb_va23]

In the grand scheme of things, I am not that old    but I remember the Oklahoma City I-40 Crosstown Realignment. Rode on the old I-40 many times and I remember being mesmerized by the construction of the new roadway.

[mgk920]

I remember smudge pots being used by road construction crews at night.

Mike

[webny99]

I'll soon be able to say "I remember the toll booths on the Thruway", though there's no one enough younger than me  yet to be impressed by that.

I recently told my younger sister that a nearby stoplight used to be a two-way stop (the traffic signal was added c. 2010) and she didn't remember it at all, though I remember it quite well. It's almost impossible to imagine a two-way stop there now given the suburban development that's sprung up in the area.

[Henry]

I remember when most, if not all, of the US 66 alignments not paved over by an interstate were still signed as such, and still drivable. And there were still a few businesses open, although they were quickly dying off as the decommissioning would come around.