OK trip is done and taken, here's some ramblings in no particular order at all:

Took I-95 all the way down to Baltimore until I-895 and took US-1 to US-40/I-170. Then, onto MD-295 to I-495 in DC. Milled around DC and onto VA Beach via I-95 and US-1 (b/c of construction) to I-295 to I-64 and back again.
One thing that struck me was how run down Baltimore is outside of the port area. We visited the B&O RR Museum and it was rundown all around it. What was with the people selling water on every street corner!?!

In Baltimore, I didn't get as many pics as I wanted b/c the wife was along and wasn't into road-geeking at all.
US-1 from I-895 was like CT, 4-lanes and no turn lanes with badly timed lights with no arrows.
US-40 was a dream.

I was able to walk down it as it was closed b/c of construction. One thing I noticed that if somebody tried to rob me as I walking down it, I was kinda trapped as it was below grade. My only choice was to run down the road....but of course that didn't happen.

It was like a time-warp, original concrete and signage and the classic 1970s depressed grade through a poor neighborhood type of highway.


and for some reason US-40 brought back memories of this in RI:

Onto DC it was and I really didn't care for it, except for the road-geek stuff. I thought the streets were hard to navigate and signage was lacking in spots.

I really wanted to crawl onto the I-66 gantry and peel off the wood to see what the signs under it said. Hard to believe 96% of all button copy is gone.

Actually except for a couple signs on the NJ TPKE around X12 and the Baltimore signage around I-83 and US-40 and the DC I-66 stuff there wasn't any button copy at all.
I wasn't a big fan of the way VA groups their sign salads together on a black background. I prefer seperate signs for each.

On US-60 in VA,

the Yellow Flasing Arrow was in abundance, I thought was neat, but really isn't needed. In fact, I had to remind myself to yield when the YFA was in play.
I didn't see any old signage in VA at all. I was impressed with their strip mall roadage. 6-lanes, double turn lanes and channeled traffic at intersections along US-17 in Newport News was great. Also in MD on US-40 north of Baltimore, it seems the DOTs down south really planned ahead when doing their road construction.
On the way back north on the NJ turnpike, I was suprised b/c I never really thought of it, after the Vince Lombardi Service Plaza, I-95/NJ Tpke narrows down to 2-lanes up towards the GWB on the express-lanes. Backup was awful.
I did get to this and it made the traffic worth it....I have to get a better pic

More to come....