Flashing Lights

[Takumi]

Finally back online again. Here's the conclusion to my trip from May. VA 312, 306, 152, and more.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2013/10/set-controls-for-heart-of-glare-part-2.html

[formulanone]

Bah, I've seen worse glare. Good to see some photos/commentary again.

[Takumi]

Thanks! Here's another. The first half of my Skyline Drive Prelude meet trip this past weekend.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-va-230-prelude-meet-part-1.html

[1995hoo]

I haven't been down US-29 towards Charlottesville since last Christmas, although we'll probably go that way two weeks from now en route to the UVA—Georgia Tech game. How is the progress on the new ramps at Opal? You probably passed north of them since you were going to Warrenton, but I'm curious whether you could see anything. That overpass and the ramps should help reduce the delays through that traffic light.

[Takumi]

We doubled back down through Opal on the way to the campground, so I did see the new ramps, at least southbound. They're almost done: signs are up (the overheads are covered), pavement is finished, all that. I noticed the ramp advisory speed sign didn't have a number on it yet, so it probably has another week or two before it opens. Another thing I saw, on the way home, was the interchange reconstruction of US 15 at I-64. My dad, who works in the construction industry, said it's being converted into a DDI. That would be the first one in Virginia, right?

[1995hoo]

We doubled back down through Opal on the way to the campground, so I did see the new ramps, at least southbound. They're almost done: signs are up (the overheads are covered), pavement is finished, all that. I noticed the ramp advisory speed sign didn't have a number on it yet, so it probably has another week or two before it opens. Another thing I saw, on the way home, was the interchange reconstruction of US 15 at I-64. My dad, who works in the construction industry, said it's being converted into a DDI. That would be the first one in Virginia, right?

As far as I know it would indeed be the first one. I seem to recall some discussion about it somewhere when it was proposed, though I don't remember whether it was here or on TheSabre.com. I'm thinking it may have been on the Sabre because there was some of the usual hand-wringing and "too confusing" commentary that accompanies anything other than an ordinary traffic light or cloverleaf interchange. I swear, if the worrywarts had their way we'd never get to try out anything new.

That segment of Route 15 from the Gordonsville roundabout down to Dillwyn is the only portion of US-15 in Virginia that I've never travelled. A colleague keeps trying to tell me that when I drive south to Florida I should take 15 down to Zion's Crossroads, then go east to Route 288 to loop around to I-95, and then take I-85 south to I-77. I have no idea why he is so insistent on that route when it makes far more sense just to take US-29 all the way to Greensboro. Obviously once upon a time when the bypasses weren't there and you had to go through Lynchburg and Danville there was a good reason to consider not using 29, but those days are behind us now. So I rather doubt I will be using the portion of Route 15 in question anytime soon! While I recently commented in the Corridor H thread that using the fastest route isn't always the most important thing, if we're going as far away as Florida I'm inclined to stick to the higher-speed US-29 to make some better time.

I suppose on the way to Charlottesville in two weeks we may get to see the new configuration in Gainesville. They've finally eliminated the odious at-grade railroad crossing. Depends on how the traffic is whether we actually go that way, though. Friday evenings are always a conundrum. If I pick up my wife at her office we can go HOV on I-66. But outside the Beltway the HOV lane isn't really all that great. I'm considering whether to go out the Dulles Toll Road and then work my way southwest to pick up Route 29 somewhere west of Gainesville.

[Takumi]

Here's part 2. The aforementioned unopened Opal interchange is shown, as is some US 29 and VA 230.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-va-230-prelude-meet-part-2.html

[Takumi]

Clearing my trip backlog, here's my VA 54 trip from about a month ago.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-va-54-trip-or-why-i-need-to-stop.html

[hotdogPi]

For some reason, I thought this thread was about actual flashing lights until I read the first post.

[Takumi]

The first part of five of my second annual Hampton Roads Bad Signage Trip, which ended up going through Williamsburg at the end. The first part takes me to VA 141 and the end of I-264.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-2013-hampton-roads-bad-signage.html

[hotdogPi]

What's wrong with the signage, other than the "Geo. Washington" abbreviation?

[formulanone]

What's wrong with the signage, other than the "Geo. Washington" abbreviation?

The do's and do-not-do's of Virginia...so it seems many of the state route shields are just lazy ovals cut in half. The middle shield might be using the wrong font, something doesn't look right.

[hotdogPi]

The middle shield might be using the wrong font, something doesn't look right.

Numbers are too far down.

[Takumi]

Indeed, there's an incorrect font on that 141 shield. Here's the second part. More misshapen crap awaits you.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-2013-hampton-roads-bad-signage_21.html

[Takumi]

And here's part 3. Different city, but not much difference in signage quality.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-2013-hampton-roads-bad-signage_2660.html

[agentsteel53]

Numbers are too far down.

could use a state name, given that extra space.

also, font is D stretched to E width.

[amroad17]

Virginia used to have excellent looking signage.  Until 1985.  For some reason, contractors have either gotten lazy or are using wrong specs.  The white reassurance signs and the small cutouts looked much better than what we all see now.

[Takumi]

Williamsburg and Newport News both still use the signage specs from the era of cutouts and white border signs, but on unisigns. Newport News uses a dark grey for the background, while Williamsburg uses a dark green. I think they both look fantastic. The rest of Hampton Roads, not so much. (I know Williamsburg isn't considered part of Hampton Roads, but it's a 10 mile trip on VA 143 from the northwestern tip of Newport News to VA 5, which is within Williamsburg city limits.) Chesapeake, Hampton, and from what I understand Poquoson all have passable signage, but the rest of the cities are terrible at it.

[Takumi]

Here's part 4. I begin my journey on VA 143.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-2013-hampton-roads-bad-signage.html

[Takumi]

And finally, here's part 5. More VA 143 in Newport News and the uneventful section between there and Williamsburg, followed by yet another trip down VA 162 and a bit more Williamsburg. I'm finally caught up on my travels as I haven't taken any yet this year.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-2013-hampton-roads-bad-signage_9.html

[Takumi]

Commencing the Hampton Roads meet posts today, with part 1, focusing on VA 10.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2014/03/2014-hampton-roads-meet-part-1-what-i.html

[Zeffy]

Commencing the Hampton Roads meet posts today, with part 1, focusing on VA 10.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2014/03/2014-hampton-roads-meet-part-1-what-i.html

How did they mention to have 3 different versions of US 258 on the same assembly? 

[Takumi]

And they all use different width fonts, too! My avatar explains it all

Here's part 2, the rest of the way to the meet.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2014/03/2014-hampton-roads-meet-part-2.html

[Takumi]

Part 3: the beginning of the tour. The first two stops were focused on US 17 construction in Chesapeake.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2014/03/2014-hampton-roads-meet-part-3-meet.html

[Takumi]

And here's part 4, showing the rest of the US 17 construction sites.
http://lightsflashingbright.blogspot.com/2014/03/2014-hampton-roads-meet-part-4-more-us.html