Christmas Eve trip through the Laurel Highlands

On Christmas Eve, I traditionally take a brief four or five hour loop trip to an area of Southwestern PA I haven't been to before.  This Christmas Eve was no different as I headed east into the Laurel Highlands.

Route: PA 48, PA 51, I-70, PA 31, US 119, PA 982, US 22, PA 217, US 30, PA 711, PA 31, PA Tpk, I-70, PA 51, and PA 48.

The entire photo set on flickr is here.

When I got on PA 982 North, I immediately came upon this sign.



Obviously, I was curious about the Iron Furnace (more on that later); however, the sign style intrigued me.  The sign's font, besides being the same font from Law & Order, is what is used for the destination signs throughout the Laurel Highlands.  These signs come from the Laurel Highlands Visitor Bureau.  The style is slightly similar to the Keystone Town Markers we all know and love, but aren't exact.

So I did travel the four or so miles up PA 982 and then took a quick right turn onto Oremine Hill Road and came to the Mount Vernon Iron Furnace.



Amazingly, this stone furnace has been standing here since the early 1800s!  It was first built my Isaac Mason in 1798 and operated until 1830.  It is amazing that something over 200 years old and exposed to the elements like this furnace is pretty good condition.

Further north on PA 982 is the town of Youngstown.  The town recently had a replica Keystone Town Marker made - but it's nowhere near as nice as the originals.



The brief amount of time I was on US 22 between PA 982 and PA 217 in Blairsville.  I noticed that there were a lot of jughandle turnaroundd on this recently rebuilt section.  Many of the jughandles also had guide signs for advance warning.  Like the one shown below.



At Blairsville, I exited US 22 to head south on PA 217.  However, I did briefly stop in Blairsville, and I am glad I did.  First, US 22 had ran through downtown Blairsville until the 1950s when US 22 was moved to the north on a new bypass.  US 22 ran through downtown Blairsville on Market Street.  But to get to Blairsville from Westmoreland County you had to cross the Conemaugh River over this bridge.



I stopped and did a quick photowalk through Blairsville, and it didn't disappoint.








From there, it was a rather uneventful drive down PA 217 to US 30 and then PA 711.  However, I did find one decent road item in Donegal.  A Pennsylvania Turnpike cutout that has seen better days.



From there it was onto the Turnpike and back to my parent's home to watch the football game and begin the Christmas celebrations.  Overall, this was a nice little trip, I do think that the scenery would be enhanced if there was some snowfall, but I did pick up some new mileage on PA 982, 217 and 711, so I can't complain.  Happy New Year Everyone!

Butler, PA Walkabout

 

Over the Christmas holiday, I was able to explore parts of Southwestern Pennsylvania.  On December 23rd, we took a drive up to and walked around the town of Butler.

To visit the entire photo set on flickr, head here.

Butler is a unique town of 15,000 located about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh.  It is the county seat of Butler County.  The County Courthouse (shown below) was built in 1885 and is still in use today.



One of more unique buildings in Bulter is the Butler County Motor Company Ford Dealership.



This is the first time I had seen an automotive dealer be housed in a multi-story building like this.  The Butler County Motor Company (aka Butler County Ford) has been around since 1918 and was one of the first Ford automotive dealerships authorized by Henry Ford.

Walking down Main Street in Butler - there are a number of great older building, storefronts, and ghost signs.









One of the buildings that caught my eye at the end was the home of the Penn Theatre.  Even though looking up the theatre online says that it is being renovated, it looks in pretty bad shape, and most of those articles date to 2005 and the theatre looks a lot better then.







The theatre was built in 1938 and was sold in 2001.  Currently, the Butler Penn Theatre Community Trust hopes to renovate the Penn Theatre but the last information I found was a presentation from 2009.  I certainly hope that this theatre can be renovated and that various events small, large, local, and otherwise can occur there.

Finally, it was a cold day and even some snow flurries briefly fell through the air.  Maggie and I stopped at a Downtown Butler tradition, Cummings Candy and Coffee Shop to warm up and get something to eat.



The Cummings family have owned and operated the shop since 1905 - making it the oldest family owned business in Butler!  Inside definitely has an old fashioned soda shop feel, and it's a great place to have some coffee or tea or a quick snack.

There's a lot more to Butler than the quick 30 or so minute walk that Friday before Christmas.  It was certainly worth the drive to check out for the first time.

Triangle Expressway Construction, October 2011

While in the Raleigh/Durham area in October, I had a few hours to check out progress on building the Western Wake Freeway (NC 540) portion of the Triangle Expressway (TriEx). Work had largely been completed along the Triangle Parkway (NC 147) portion, but I was about 6 weeks too early to be able to drive on it. I did get to drive over and around it though on my way to NC 540. Here's the approach to the Hopson Road interchange area:
They were still working closer to the intersection at Davis Drive on a Saturday:
Turning right on Davis I proceeded to the Davis Drive interchange, a C/D ramp and signalized intersections connect the two interchanges together:
Note the fancy brick face on the bridge approaches. Here's the approach on Davis from the other direction:
Since I could not use the Parkway, I had to approach NC 540 using I-40. Approaching the former Davis Drive exit on West 540 I got to see the future Triangle Expressway/Parkway interchange signs covered up:
The content of these signs can be seen on Adam's post regarding the opening of the Triangle Parkway. Note the fancier sign support posts. I was glad they kept the revised exit numbers I helped NCDOT 'discover' when they opened NC 540. This was confirmed on my trip by seeing this new, but uncovered, sign for the NC 55 exit:

You can see one of the toll gantries for eastbound NC 540 traffic on the left.

Proceeding now to the unopened section on what will be South and North NC 540. From McCrimmon Parkway one can see the NC 55 interchange in the distance from the bridge opened in the Spring of 2011:
Panther Creek HS is to the right, along with their football stadium whose high bleachers would probably allow someone to make traffic reports on the TriEx next fall. With the exception of signage and line markings this section appears near completion. As does the section south of McCrimmon towards Carpenter Fire Station Road:
Some shoulder maintenance work was going on while I took these photos. The next image shows the view back towards McCrimmon Parkway from the bridge in the distance above:
The view south from the Carpenter Fire Station bridge shows a similar stage of Tri-Ex completion down to Green Level School Road:
The next stop was the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, in particular the parking lot which borders the Tri-Ex southbound. Here's a view north toward the Green Level School Bridge:
The construction contractors have kept the shoulder and median grasses mowed, wish I could say the same for the baseball folks. Had to do a little jungle fighting to get the photo below which looks further south. Same stage of completion here as farther north:
The Green Level West bridge and future interchange are in the distance and the next stop. They were still working on the road in this location:
Looking south it appeared some more concrete work needed to be done on the northbound lanes. They also were working on the on and off ramps north of the bridge:
The bridge had only recently been opened and was wide enough to carry four lanes of through traffic and at least one lane for left-hand turns onto the TriEx ramps:
This is a closeup view of the future northbound NC 540 onramp:
The concrete stopped along the roadbed between this future interchange and the Jenks Road bridge just north of US 64. This bridge had just been opened the week before. Unfortunately, this is the best view of the roadway construction I could get. This road connects Jenks to the Mall near the corner of NC 55 and US 64:
The lanes here just have a preliminary asphalt covering heading south toward the US 64 bridge. This the view approaching the bridge on US 64 West:
Approach lanes to the off ramps have been created, but the ramps are still awaiting pavement. Here's the view from south of the US 64 bridge:
A closer look at the future NB NC 540 on ramp to US 64:
I had a wedding to prepare for, so I could not check out the rest of the TriEx corridor down to the NC 55 Bypass in Apex. The rest of the highway corridor has been cleared and work is proceeding on grading, if not paving, some of the sections of the future roadway. There have been occasional lane closings on US 1 and a detour on Old US 1 implying work on bridges to cross these roadways is proceeding. Grading has been completed at the NC 55 Bypass.

From what I saw, it appears that the NCTA will be able to open NC 540 as far as US 64 by next summer as planned, the rest is due to be opened by the end of 2012. I hope to get down again to the area hopefully as early as after the first section is open.

Meanwhile, maps, updates and photos of construction progress can be found, if not at Gribblenation, then at the NCTA Western Wake Freeway site.

Latest on MassDOT Sign Replacement Projects

Having been back in Mass. for more than a year now, I've gotten a chance to check the progress of the various MassDOT freeway sign replacement projects (more photos below). Over the last 4-5 years there has been a binge in new sign replacement projects. Whether this is due to deferred maintenance catching up, stimulus funds, new department priorities, or a combination of any of these, signs have been updated on most of the interstates, such as I-195, I-495, the Mass Pike and along with many state limited access highways-MA 2, MA 3, MA 25, and others. The most recent contracts have been along I-95 (MA 128) and I-93. Under 3 current contracts almost all signage along I-93 (with the exception of the Big Dig portion) should be replaced in the next 1 1/2 years. The last major contract for I-95, from MA 9 in Wellesley to MA 4/225 in Lexington was advertised last week. Work has been completed north of there, including the MA 128 only section from Peabody to Gloucester (with new mileposts that recognize MA 128 ends in Canton, ending efforts at truncation, for now?).

Being Massachusetts, the efforts at sign replacement have been complicated by the state's refusal to accept the current 2009 MUTCD, most likely due to the now required use of milepost based exit numbers. When the revised version came out, MassHighway (MassDOT's predecessor) withdrew advertisements for several sign replacement contracts and terminated a contract already in process for I-93 from Randolph to Boston. The major problem, it appeared, was the contract language in these proposals that called for using 'the latest revision of the MUTCD.' MassHighway withdrew these projects and re-advertised them in the last couple years with contracts specifying contractors use the 2003 MUTCD and 2007 Massachusetts amendments. This means consecutive exit numbers and no Clearview font. A MassDOT spokesman indicated in a 2010 e-mail that they were, with several other states, fighting the milepost number requirement and were proceeding with consecutive numbering on new signage with a system in place to allow for rapid conversion to mile-based numbers, if they were forced to change. This was a response to an e-mail I sent which had suggested with all the recent sign replacement contracts, why not use this as an opportunity to switch to mileage based numbers? The response was the continuing debate over the MUTCD with the FHWA and that signs on all the highways would have to be switched almost all at the same time, making it very costly. What about the cost of having to convert the numbers later on? From the FHWA website, it seems Massachusetts is the only state not to have signed on to the 2009 MUTCD. Does this mean they are now the only state fighting exit number conversion?

As for recent sign replacement projects, I was able to travel both MA Route 2 west of I-95 and I-93 and I-95 north of Boston in the last couple months. The latest I-95 and MA 2 projects are basically complete, the I-93 contracts are proceeding but are only at the stage of placing posts for new exit signage along the roadway north of Boston. In a preview of signs to come, MassDOT has replaced some of the signage in Waltham as part of the Winter Street Bridge replacement project. The photo below compares the new signage, identical in style to that replaced further north, with the currently existing signage south of MA 4/225:
Here's a view of the new bridge that was formally dedicated yesterday (12/27):
(these have previously been posted on my Facebook page, if they look familiar to some). Taking a look at the new signage along MA 2. The new signs use the previously existing consecutive numbering system which is based on the route being limited access along its total route from I-91 east. No freeway exists for parts of this route so there are gaps in the exit numbers, this route more than others would benefit from a mileage based system. Instead of numbers running from 14 to 43 and 52 to 61, they would run from upward from 67 to 135 (numbers based on MassDOT GIS files listing exit numbers and milepost location). I've previously posted new signage east of I-95 (which would be exit 128, ironically, under a mile-based system) and east. Heading west the first real exit signs are for the re-start of the freeway at the split with MA 111 in Acton:
The new signs have the yellow tab above left exits and yellow exit only tabs on right hand exits, not typically seen on previous signs. Here's more from approaching the interchange:
The arrows below the MA 2 west sign reflect a curve 1/4 mile beyond the exit, not at the exit itself. Here's signage approaching I-495:
No more button copy for the numbers on interstate signs. Signage approaching I-190:
Notice the new 2010 mile marker on the right. Following this system MA 70 would be Exit 103 and I-190 Exit 101. I took a photo of this sign because I remember getting off here on a bus in high school with the rest of the band to participate in the state music competition...
We finished in first place my senior year. The new exit signs continue almost out to US 202 where the highway becomes a Super-2 expressway. The last signs beforehand...
These were taken on the way out to the Road Meet in Bennington VT. The following Sunday I surveyed the new signage on I-95 (128) between Exit 31 in Lexington and I-93 (Exit 37).
This is new for MassDOT, what I call a 2-tiered sign, both A and B ramps in one sign instead of the traditional 2. This photo shows the new overhead and ground based sign assembly:
The I-95 and MA 128 shields are both on one pole. This is a return to earlier designs, starting in the 1980s you tended to each route on two different assemblies. Is this to comply with standards or a cost cutting action? This apparently doesn't apply when three routes are involved as when US 3 joins in Burlington:
The North US 3 sign is on a separate sign. It will be interesting to see what is done with ground mounted route signs along the I-93/US 1/MA 3 Southeast Expressway.
The new diagrammatic signs are not too different from what was there previously:
There's room for a control city on the left side, but MUTCD prefers one city which is a problem when the two routes soon go in different directions. Another diagrammatic display for the same exit, headed southbound this time:
The former 2-tiered signs are split up at the exits for US 3 and MA 3A itself:
The overhead signage traveling further northbound:
The placement of a sign for the next exit, even if it is more than a mile away, is also somewhat new for MassDOT. Now we are approaching the end of the new signage at I-93:
It appears all major interchanges now will have a full exit sign 2 miles before the exit. Previously if one appeared at all, it was very small.

Here we see a sign for I-93 South, but nothing for I-93 north, more or less confusing?
Then this sign for the next exit for MA 28 shows up before I-93:
Before you finally get to the I-93 interchange itself. Hopefully, all the stakeholders will eventually agree on how to rebuild this interchange. Meanwhile, now exiting to I-93 South:
Notice the exit only tab at the bottom, it's quite small, guess they figure you should know your going onto I-93 by now. Like I indicated previously, with the exception of some new signage at some on some of the intersecting roadways, the contractors have not gotten to placing new signs along the I-93 mainline as of yet. This may not happen until the spring.

Lastly, what would be a Mass. signage (or lack of) post be without a personal rant:
Where are we? If you recognize the Cigo sign and the Prudential building you know that this is Kenmore Square in Boston. It is also the end of transcontinental US 20 where it intersects (for the second time in the past mile or so) MA 2 at the light up ahead. You would never know this if you were depending on route signs. The last US 20 East shield is 1/2 mile back, the first US 20 West assembly is maybe a couple blocks closer to the Square. Any Begin or End signs, references to any numbered routes, or indicators of which route goes where as you proceed either way? Nope. There used to be an End US 20 sign but that came down with the last Square reconstruction with no sign (sorry) of return. Unless you know that Comm. Ave is MA 2 east of the Square and US 20 to the west, you wouldn't know where to turn at this multi-street intersection. But you should know where you are going before coming to Massachusetts anyway, correct?

My next post will bring me back, briefly, to North Carolina.