Bill Symons PA Turnpike Postcard Collection

Bill Symons PA Turnpike Postcard Collection - Part 1

One of the features I never got around to on the old gribblenation website was the collection of postcards that Bill Symons sent along. He had sent over nearly 80 vintage postcards of the grandfather highway. I am finally getting to them now and will add them over in a series over four to five posts. This is the first set of postcards. I will caption where I can.

The famous straight away runs for 13 miles between the Blue Mountain and Carlisle interchanges.

Unique aerial view of the Scranton Interchange. You can see where the toll road was to continue North along what is now Interstate 81 towards Binghamton, NY

Gobbler's Knob is located in Fulton County.

Henry's Knob or Sidneys Knob is also known as Pyramid Point and can be seen when exiting the Tuscarora Tunnel

Pretty sure this is the Bedford Narrows.

Site Navigation:

Comments

Check the box: Interstate 495 to 87 conversion administratively approved

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials have recently approved North Carolina's application to remove the short-lived Interstate 495 and future I-495 from Raleigh to Rocky Mount. This administrative move most likely will result in North Carolina signing Interstate 87 and Future I-87 on the entire corridor in the near future.

Approved in 2013, Interstate 495 was first signed in 2014 along US 64 from Interstate 440 in Raleigh to Interstate 540 in Knightdale. The remaining segment of highway to Rocky Mount was signed as Future Interstate 495. However, in 2016, North Carolina's congressional legislators were able to get language in the 2015 FAST ACT designating the US 64/US 13/US 17 corridor from Raleigh to Norfolk as an Interstate. In 2016, the FHWA and AASHTO designated this entire corridor (including the existing Interstate and Future 495) as Interstate 87. (NCDOT had applied for Interstate 89 along this route.)

It is currently unknown when t…

The story on how the unbuilt US 40 Expressway in Brownsville took 40 years to complete.

For nearly four decades, the four lane US 40 just east of Brownsville came to an abrupt end - shown in the photo above - at Grindstone Road in Redstone Township. In the late 1960s, what was then the Pennsylvania Division of Highways (PennDOH) extended a new four lane alignment of US 40 eastwards from Broadway Street slightly over one mile to Grindstone Road where an incomplete diamond interchange was built. Earlier in the decade, PennDOH had built a four lane US 40 in Washington County into Brownsville complete with a new crossing over the Monongahela River known as the Lane Bane Bridge. This new highway and bridge allowed US 40 to bypass the older Intercounty Bridge and downtown Brownsville.

After this new highway opened, nothing would happen to it for nearly forty years. US 40 traffic would use the ramps for this planned diamond interchange and then jog on Grindstone Road briefly before continuing towards Uniontown on the original National Road.
What is unknown (at least to…

A quick Illinois and Wisconsin Road Trip

Recently, I was in the Chicago area and was able to explore the area north of Chicago and Wisconsin in my downtime. I pretty much did a loop that consisted of Interstate 94, Interstate 43, US 12, Illinois Route 120, and Illinois Route 60. It was my first real time exploring the area. I ended up gaining an additional five counties on the trip bringing my total to just short of 1100, 1099 to be exact.

For the entire flickr set of photos for this trip, please head here.

Just prior to entering Wisconsin on Interstate 94, you will come across this sign. Out of nowhere, Interstate 41 appears. And if you aren't hip to changes on your map, Interstate 41 is a rather recently new interstate that runs from Green Bay to just about a mile inside the Illinois border. Interstate 41 is an upgraded routing of the US 41 freeway that runs from Milwaukee to Green Bay; however, it was added along Interstate's 894 and 94 South of Milwaukee to where US 41 leaves I-94. In fact, throughout the…

Sure, Why Not?

Search This Blog