Pennsylvania Highways Blog

Turnpike 43 FINALLY Opens to the Mason-Dixon Line

Tom Petty said the waiting is the hardest part, and the Turnpike Commission can attest to that musical proclamation. The Mason-Dixon Link, the portion from said line of demarcation to Exit 8 of the Mon-Fayette Expressway, was built in the late 1990s and opened for the most part on March 1, 2000. The exception was the piece from West Virginia to Exit 2 which would remain unopened for a little over a decade due to construction of WV 43 taking longer than projected due to finance issues. Ironically that problem would be solved during the economic downturn of the latter part of the last decade when ARRA, or economic stimulus, dollars were provided to the states for "shovel-ready" projects.

At last, the time finally came to let that "new road smell" loose and allow vehicles other than construction company ones to drive across the state line. For it was on July 11, 2011 that not one, but two ribbon-cutting ceremonies were held: one south of the Mason-Dixon Line and one north.

West Virginia Department of Transportation was up first at 10:30 AM and they brought their starting line-up of dignitaries including Senator Joe Manchin III and Governor Earl Ray Tomblin. Below is some footage from the West Virginia ceremony.

After the ribbon was cut, it was time to jump into the shuttle buses that were provided or your personal vehicle and head back north into Pennsylvania. Our ribbon-cutting event was not as long nor as well attended by dignitaries as West Virginia's, and it seems the size of the water bottles each had for attendees was reflective of these traits of the respective ceremonies.

The people most responsible for the highway coming into existence are behind the sign, from left to right: PTC Commissioner J. William Lincoln, new PTC CEO William K. Lieberman, Senator Richard Kasunic, and former Senator J. Barry Stout.

The ribbon was cut and thus marked the end of the 11 year wait for the Mon-Fayette Expressway's "Mason-Dixon Link" to finally cross the Mason-Dixon Line.

Officials Open Yet Another Part of Mon-Fayette Expressway - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

2011 Pennsylvania Turnpike Travel Guide and Map

Today at the ribbon-cutting event for the Mon-Fayette Expressway, not only did I pick up several free bottles of water compliments of the Turnpike Commission, I picked up something I haven't seen in years: a system map.

The PTC's belt-tightening in the recent years led to them not printing a map, but it is evident by looking at this one. The 2011 is much smaller than its 2004 ancestor and this change is summed up by a note below the legend:

To conserve natural and fiscal resources, our Travel Guide and Map is half the size of earlier editions. The new size also responds to a shift in how travelers -- in an age of online maps and GPS devices -- use printed maps today.

In addition, the map is not a PennDOT official with the Turnpike System highlighted in green with a white-on-green Keystone shield denoting the route number which has been the standard since the 1980s. It seems, with these two changes, that the Turnpike map is returning to its roots as ones from the 60s and 70s were printed by Rand McNally and General Drafting.

The main map of Pennsylvania has images of postcards of the Turnpike at the top of the map and in the corner a mention of the 70 years of the Turnpike, which was celebrated the previous year. One change I like is that the background of the border states are not pink or purple as they were on the 2004 map.

The back side of the map still includes information on the Turnpike such as E-ZPass, toll information (just like the first run of tickets this year, there is no fare schedule), and commercial trucking information. There strip maps for the system, but the insets of cities that the Turnpike passes through are gone. These are the map updates since the 2004 edition:

Allegheny County/Washington County
PA Turnpike 576 completed between I-376 and US 22

Beaver County/Lawrence County
I-376 replaced PA Turnpike 60

Fayette County
PA Turnpike 43 completed from Exit 15 to Exit 22

Fayette County/Washington County
PA Turnpike 43 under construction from US 40 to PA 88

The cover features three postcards of various sections from the original Turnpike with the logo of the 70th anniversary in the middle. You can view the strip maps at the Turnpike's page.

2011 Williamsport Meet Notes

After the 65th Little League World Series champion was crowned last month, the first Williamsport Road Enthusiast Meet was held this month, specifically today. I'd like to thank all who attended and for making the trip for the first meet in north central Pennsylvania.

The meet began as usual at 12 PM at the Bullfrog Brewery in downtown Williamsport. The food was good as well as the conversations. Mike Pruett brought some Maryland official highway maps and I brought copies of the new Turnpike System map as well as some old copies of the Pennsylvania official highway map for everyone.

After lunch, we hopped in our cars and followed US 15 to see the improvements made to the corridor over the past decade in order for it to be designated I-99. There are numerous signs along the way denoting it as the "Future I-99 Corridor."

The first stop was at the Cogan House interchange just north of the PA 14 interchange. What is interesting about this particular interchange is that the road that connects the two directions of US 15 are the original southbound lanes. They needed to be replaced due to sharp curves at the bottom of the Steam Valley hill, but the section here was retained and turned into an interchange for Cogan House.

We continued north to the next stop, at the next interchange, at PA 184 in Steam Valley. Prior to 2010, this was an at-grade intersection but of course had to be upgraded to an interchange for the I-99 designation to be applied. In order to create the junction, the right-of-ways of both US 15 and PA 184 were changed. As I mentioned above, the existing southbound lanes could not be used so the new ones were shifted eastward and the alignment of PA 184 was shifted southward. An interesting anomaly was created in that PA 184 technically doesn't end at US 15, but rather just to the east of the diamond interchange at Steam Mill Road.

I asked the group if they wanted to clinch US 15 from Williamsport to the New York state line, and everyone agreed we might as well since we were that far north. Crossing into New York, the roadway narrows down to two lanes through an interesting temporary interchange with very modern-looking light poles to illuminate the path. We made the first right to head back into Pennsylvania onto a road that connects to the old route of US 15 now known as Steuben County Route 115. Once in Lawrenceville, a few continued onto PA 287, which was extended northward after the expressway was completed to the west, and the rest onto PA 49 to head south on US 15.

The final stop of the tour was the beautiful Tioga Welcome Center, just south of the PA 287 interchange, which overlooks the Tioga Reservoir. Many have compared the recent flooding in the northern part of the state to that seen in the wake of Hurricane Agnes in 1972. That event was the impetus for construction of the reservoir, as the Allegheny Reservoir demonstrated the need by saving Western Pennsylvania the destruction seen in the east.

I showed the group the original path below of US 15 through Tioga and how it's alignment is now under water. Everyone was able to pick up brochures and maps, not only the 2010 official state one but also the 2008 Trucker's Guide to Pennsylvania. It is a black-and-white version of the regular map and the only colors on it denote the various truck routes as well as specific information for "gear jockeys" such as low clearance points and locations of steep grades. After taking the group picture there with the spectacular backdrop, we said our farewells, and headed to our respective destinations.

Rendell to Media: I Can't Drive 55

I will admit that I am not the best driver in the world, but no one is perfect. I have also fractured an occasional traffic law in my 14 years behind the wheel.

In light of New Jersey Governor Corzine's accident, our own Governor Rendell was asked about the behavior of the state trooper behind the wheel of his car. He acknowledged that his personal vehicle sometimes exceeds the speed limit. He went on to say, "Sometimes we adhere to the speed limit, sometimes we don't. On many of Pennsylvania's highways, if you adhered to the speed limit, you'd be a safety hazard."

In that case I want all of my fines repaid because I was trying to not be a safety hazard! Especially the time on April 6, 2001 at 1:43 AM where two from the Belle Vernon barracks almost ran me off PA Turnpike 43 to extort $180 (originally $190, but they were so "generous" at the trial...sheesh). I should also note that they tailgated me for two miles in a construction zone with no lights or siren on, and only caught me because I had to exit. Nice work, Starsky and Hutch!

Not to mention that they laughed the whole time they filled out the ticket, and screwed up two items they had to correct. My license picture wasn't the greatest, but I didn't think it was that funny. However, what I think is hilarious is that I didn't have my seat belt on, and only put it on when they went back to their car to whoop it up over my license, registration, and insurance. Now THAT is funny...screwed yourselves out of an additional $50 because you were so enraged I stated the observation of "You came up on me pretty fast," but I digress.

Back to the subject at hand: Sometimes? That's rich! Back in 2004, the Philadelphia Daily News reported that troopers had clocked Rendell's Cadillac at speeds of more than 100 MPH nine times along the Pennsylvania Turnpike. A State Trooper behind the wheel doing 35 over the limit! That is five points and a departmental hearing and sanctions under Section 1538(d). Tisk tisk. You better fill a ticket out on yourself since I always thought that was against the law, but I guess it is do as I say, don't do as I do, right? Oh well, in that case as George Costanza once said, "There's no laws in this place. Anything goes! It's Thunderdome!"

The police are supposed to set an example on the highways by keeping and maintaining discipline just like my teachers did in school. Speeding and driving aggressively are like teachers shooting spitballs at kids and passing notes. Well, that last one is a bad example with all the teacher/student affairs going on recently.

After the story broke, Governor Rendell instituted a policy ordering his drivers to abide by the speed limit except in emergencies. Note to self: use that excuse next time. He even told the Harrisburg Patriot-News, "I've told my troopers that I don't want them exceeding 80 unless they need to pass, or unless there's some real exigent circumstance." There's my excuse: there is some real exigent circumstance. There also seems to be a standing "exigent circumstance" at a sports bar near my parent's house as I get passed on US 30 when driving to it and sure enough those who blew past me are turning into the parking lot.

There are various manners of speed detection such as VASCAR (big name for a stopwatch and math) gives an 11 MPH cushion, radar (which only State Police can use) allows a 6 MPH cushion, and if a trooper is behind you, they can give you a ticket for just one mile over. What they don't tell you is it has to be for 9/10ths of a mile at the same speed, so keep adjusting your speed if you find a Smokey in your rear-view mirror.

Rendell Admits Frequent Flying on the Freeway - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

2010 SEPA Meet Notes

After a six year hiatus, the second SEPA Road Enthusiast Meet was held today. I'd like to thank all who attended and for making the trip for the second meet in the Greater Philadelphia area, which has taken the record for attendance at a Pennsylvania meet from the 2003 SWPA.

The meet began as usual at 12 PM at the Sly Fox Brewhouse & Eatery, home of the Route 113 India Pale Ale, on what else, PA 113 in Phoenixville. Some of the attendees did partake of the Route 113 IPA, or as PennDOT would call it the SR 0113 India Pale Ale, which just might be the official beverage for road enthusiasts over the age of 21. The food was good as well as the conversations. Many of the attendees brought road-related materials to peruse as well as to keep: Adam Froehlig - various state official maps from Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania; Doug Kerr - I-87 Northway maps; H. B. Elkins - goodie bags full of Kentucky maps and other Kentucky Transportation Cabinet paraphernalia and I brought a planning map for the Keystone State's Interstate System from the early 1960s which I had acquired from eBay in the mid-2000s.

After lunch, we hopped in our cars and followed PA 23 to the first stop which was at the Philadelphia Traffic Management Center in the PennDOT District 6-0 headquarters in King of Prussia. Thanks go to Len Pundt, who worked for PennDOT, who helped arrange the tour. The TMC, which was called the Traffic Control Center when I toured it in 2004, has been upgraded and now includes two video walls with feeds from traffic cameras around the Philadelphia area as well as content from the Internet and TV. In what seems to have become a constant in Pennsylvania meets that involve visiting a traffic management center, we were witness to an accident on the Platt Bridge tying up traffic.

Continuing east on PA 23, we stopped at the Schuylkill Parkway overpass just north of Bridgeport. Len described what was to have happened with that project, which would have been the eastern end of the "Goat Path" Expressway. Len gave us some background on this abandoned project, which is now used as a driver training course for the State Police. He also explained how PennDOT got into the funding predicament which led to it cancelling this and numerous other expressway projects around the Commonwealth in 1977. One of the points he made was that cancelling these projects did initially save money, but now there is no way to build these to solve the traffic issues of the 21st Century because right-of-way acquisition alone would be astronomically high to carve these highways through dense urbanized areas.

We bid Len adieu and took I-276/PA Turnpike eastbound to PA 309 northbound to observe some of the rehabilitation project that has been taking place since 2003. As soon as joining the Fort Washington Expressway, the attendees could see a vastly improved expressway from the one that had been serving commuters since it was built as a new route for US 309. We encountered the last remaining section to be undergoing rehabilitation heading north and exited in the construction zone at Norristown Road to go west to Bethlehem Pike which was the pre-expressway route of US 309. Traveling north to Cedar Hill Road, which crosses over PA 309, allowed us to view the progress on reconstruction of the northern-most segment.

After stopping at the overpass to see the work, we continued northeast to PA 63 then turned northwest to go to the intersection with US 202 to see the progress on the US 202 Parkway project. A new alignment is underway at PA 63 and work is taking place south along the current alignment. We passed some of the work along US 202 as we headed back to the Sly Fox Brewhouse & Eatery where we said our farewells, and headed to our respective destinations.

Welcome to Pennsylvania...NOW PAY UP!

Since the Federal Highway Administration vetoed the Commonwealth's plan to put tolls on Interstate 80 to help fill the potholes in PennDOT's budget, ideas on how to accomplish that feat in a different manner have been flying fast and furious. The daunting task of finding $472 million was taken up by three state representatives: Bill Kortz of Allegheny County, Michael O'Brien of Philadelphia, and Scott Conklin of Centre County. Their idea? Tolls!

Their idea, officially called Special Session House Bill 2 or "Gateway Tolling for Transportation Independence Today" would have toll plazas constructed at the state lines on I-78, I-79, I-80, I-81, I-84, I-90, and I-95 which would charge traffic entering and exiting anywhere between $1 for passenger vehicles to $5 for trucks. Residents near the borders could buy a book of tickets at a reduced price which would offer them a lower toll, but trucking companies based within Pennsylvania would be entirely exempt from paying. The toll booths would be manned by PennDOT, not PTC, employees and would offer coin-drop baskets as well as E-ZPass gantries equipped with video cameras to capture violator's license plates who would receive a bill in the mail.

These tolls would basically amount to a "user fee" paid by those who drive said Interstates, for maintenance of said Interstate. Tolling currently free Interstates whose construction was funded 90% by the federal government is allowed to provide for maintenance, and only maintenance. The plan to toll Interstate 80 would have siphoned money off for other transportation-related projects, which is not allowed. Representative Coklin estimates that between $235 million and $300 million a year could be raised for the Department of Transportation.

The proposal faces two roadblocks: passage by the special session of the Legislature and a stamp of approval from the Federal Highway Administration. Since the proposal would need their approval, the process for implementation could take several years, so the idea might not provide immediate results.

So "Pennsylvania Welcomes You"...for free...for now.

New Plan to Toll Roads Proposed - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For Whom the Road Will Not Toll

Interstate 80 turns the big 4-0 this year, and for most of those 40 years, people have been trying to undo what was done. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal Highway Act of 1956 that kicked off the building of the Interstates, a system of free, limited-access highways crisscrossing the United States at a time when building toll roads were all the rage. Pennsylvania was the first to build a long-distance toll road and other states followed our lead, thus creating a small-scale Interstate system from the Northeast to the Mid-Atlantic and through the Midwest by the time the Act passed.

Once the mainline Turnpike was finished and the Northeast Extension nearing completion, the Turnpike Commission looked to building other extensions. However, Ike stole the PTC's thunder by putting pen to paper, so all of those proposed extensions became the blueprint for the Department of Highways to lay out the Commonwealth's Interstate System. Without Eisenhower witnessing the German Autobahns first-hand as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in World War II, what we now now know as Interstate 80 would have been constructed as the Turnpike Commission's "Keystone Shortway" and would have basically been a Xerox copy of the Turnpike. So the idea of a toll road slicing right through the middle of Penn's Woods is not a new idea...it's just made to seem that way.

The exact day of Interstate 80's completion is marked as September 21, 1970. Once completed, it was obvious that it offered a shortcut between New York City and Chicago versus going north on the New York State Thruway or south on the Turnpike. Of course it wouldn't be fair for Pennsylvanians to pay the entire cost of maintenance on the Interstate when most of the users were from out of state and just passing through. The first idea to change the Keystone Shortway into the Keystone Tollway came during the Milton Shapp administration in the early 1970s, but nothing happened.

The plan was resurrected in the 1980s when the Turnpike Expansion bill known as Act 61 was signed, again nothing happened. In the late 1990s, Representative Bud Shuster (yes, Mr. Interstate 99) resurrected the idea because he felt repairs were due. The proposal was originally rejected by Governor Tom Ridge but in April 1999 he went back; however, again nothing happened as he was tapped to be the first Secretary of Homeland Security.

The idea resurfaced in 2004 when Department of Transportation Secretary Allen Biehler told the state House Appropriations Committee that a series of toll plazas could be built approximately every 30 miles along the Interstate. He also said that the feasibility study had been going on for several months and would take another two to complete. PennDOT would need permission from the Federal Highway Administration to charge tolls since federal money was used to build the Interstate. There is also the question of whether the PTC or PennDOT would be in charge of operations and maintenance. Tolls are one option for raising needed funds to pay for maintenance and possibly widening it to six lanes in sections, especially from Interstate 81 to the Delaware River. A year later on March 8, 2005, Secretary Biehler told the Senate Appropriations Committee that costs of building toll booths, maintenance facilities, and police stations would exceed $650 million and take years to complete. A PennDOT study stated it would be feasible to charge tolls over the long run but it would take decades to break even and pay off the debt. Biehler said that "it wasn't a wise move to institute tolls at this time." State Senator J. Barry Stout of Washington County said he was "a little shocked to see the final conclusion." As the minority chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, he endorsed the idea of putting ten toll booths, with a $2.50 fare at each, on the Interstate from Ohio to New Jersey. Again, nothing would happen.

The idea seemed to really start gaining traction in 2007 when Act 44 was passed. Under the terms, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission would take over operation of the Interstate and construct ten toll plazas at 30 mile intervals from Ohio to New Jersey. The estimated $946 million/year collected from them as well as increased fare rates on the mainline Turnpike would go to fund highway and bridge repairs across the state. Officials continued to push ahead by announcing that the PTC would spend more than $1 billion on improvements to the Interstate over the next few years which would include repairing bridges, adding truck climbing lanes, upgrading pavement, and extending on-ramps.

On October 16, 2007, the Department of Transportation and Turnpike Commission entered into a 50-year lease agreement for Interstate 80. As part of Act 44, the two agencies filed a formal application with the Federal Highway Administration on October 13 seeking approval to implement tolls. However, in a letter dated October 17 to Transportation Secretary Allen Biehler and PTC CEO Joseph Brimmeier, chief counsel and acting deputy administrator of the FHWA, James D. Ray stated, "As should be clear, FHWA has not granted Pennsylvania the authority to toll I-80. In fact, now that we have received a formal application, we will conduct a thorough analysis of the application's merits based on the statutory criteria and determine if the selection of I-80 in Pennsylvania for one of three nationwide tolling pilot authorities is appropriate. The approval of any application under this program is a discretionary decision. We will take into account a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, actual or expected competition from other interstate facilities." On the night of Thursday, November 9, Congress eliminated the amendment to a transportation appropriations bill that would have forbidden putting tolls on free Interstates at the request of Governor Rendell, Democrats, and Senator Arlen Specter. The two Representatives from along the corridor who added the rider cried foul.

On July 14, 2008, the Turnpike Commission announced its planned $2.5 billion upgrades to the Interstate in the first decade of ownership. The upgrades include building two new interchanges to connect the Interstate with Interstate 99, replacing or resurfacing about 80 percent of the 311 miles, and replacing 60 original bridges. On August 6, the PTC announced their toll collecting would be much different than that on their other expressways. Instead of traditional toll plazas, Interstate 80 would be the first all electronic toll road in Pennsylvania utilizing E-ZPass at nine gantries across the state each costing $60 million to build. Those without a transponder would get their license plate photographed and be mailed a bill for their toll plus a $1 processing fee, in both cases much like the 407 ETR outside of Toronto, Ontario. Those with transponders would also get a free pass at the first gantry, roughly equating to a 60 mile free ride, then be charged $2.70 at the second and each gantry after wards. This offer would not be extended to most commercial vehicles, including 18-wheelers that account for up to 30% of traffic on the Interstate, although regular users would be eligible for volume discounts.

Feeling confident and having all their cars in a row, the state resubmitted the plan on July 22, 2008 and they expected the decision would take two or three months to decided on phase one approval for tolling Interstate 80. Two months later, the decision handed down was against tolling 80, so yet again nothing would happen. The story might have ended there, but it didn't as the Commonwealth submitted the exact plan a second time in late October 2009. It came as no surprise to this blogger that on April 6, 2010, yet again the application was rejected. However, this time it seems the Federal Highway Administration finally drove a stake through the plan's heart as Governor Rendell announced that day that it will not be resubmitted. Therefore, it can finally be said that after 40 years, nothing will happen.

Federal Officials Again Reject Tolling I-80 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pennsylvania Highways v0.1

Let me tell you kids about the good ol' days as some folks like to call them. Back in the day, human knowledge was published into "books" which were like Websites. These "books" were similar to a Kindle, iPad, or Tab, but were comprised of "paper" rather than microchips and didn't require being recharged every other day nor a Wi-Fi or cellular connection.

In this simpler time, a simpler "superhighway" comprised of asphalt and concrete, rather than fiber optics and routers, was being built to accommodate the automobile and to connect the farthest reaches of the country with the other farthest reaches. In the early days of the highway system, there were no signs nor maps and of course GPS devices wouldn't be available at the local Sears, Roebuck and Company for about another eight decades.

Associations formed around the United States to solve the problems that early travelers faced on unmarked and unnumbered trails by marking continuous routes by names such as the Lincoln Highway and the Yellowstone Trail. States saw what these groups were doing and decided to take matters into their own hands and begin marking those routes by numbers rather than names. Pennsylvania was one of the first to number main highways in 1925 and to assign a single designation to cross-state routes. To spread the word amongst the traveling public about these routes and help tourism across the Commonwealth, PennDOT's predecessor the Department of Highways published a booklet in 1927 entitled Pennsylvania Highways: Facts Motorists Should Know.

I didn't know about this publication when I named the Website, which was originally entitled Pennsylvania Highways and Byways. My uncle, who lives in what would have been the path of the North-South Parkway or what was commonly referred to as the "New 48," found this gem on eBay about 80 years after it was printed and gave it to me as a birthday present.

The booklet begins with a message about being the keystone of highway system from Governor John S. Fisher and one about the highway program from Secretary of Highways, James Lyall Stuart. Further articles talked about the Pennsylvania Highway Patrol (State Police), how motorists benefit from maintenance from the Department of Highways Chief Engineer, and even one on the highways of Pennsylvania from the perspective of a woman. One article that stood out was from the President of the Pennsylvania Motor [AAA] Federation Richard C. Haldeman, who proclaimed in the title, "Pennsylvania Has Best Highway System in America."

Much like the modern electronic version, the booklet contains descriptions of the routes under the State's jurisdiction as well as pictures from various points along those routes. The routes that were covered were:

PA 1 - Lincoln Highway
PA 2 - Lackawanna Trail
PA 3 - William Penn Highway
PA 4 - Susquehanna Trail
PA 5 - Lakes to Sea Highway
PA 6 - Old Monument Trail
PA 7 - Roosevelt Highway
PA 8 - William Flinn Highway
PA 9 - Yellowstone Trail
PA 10 - Buffalo-Pittsburgh Highway
PA 11 - National Pike
PA 12 - Baltimore Pike
PA 13 - Harrisburg to Maryland State Line via Carlisle
PA 17 - Benjamin Franklin Highway
PA 19 - Lewistown to Narrowsburg, via Wilkes-Barre and Scranton
PA 24 - Harrisburg to the Maryland Line, through Gettysburg and Emmittsburg
PA 41 - Harrisburg to Lancaster
PA 44 - Buchanan Trail
PA 64 - From State Line, North of Cumberland, Maryland to Susquehanna Trail, South of Lawrenceville
PA 88 - Perry Highway

A map section in the middle shows these primary routes as well as others that were signed. It was noted on the map section for the central part of the state that the gold on blue route shields could be found painted on telephone or telegraph poles.

Since the highway system was still a work in progress, an explanation of "DETOUR" and "TEMPORARY" routes is included. Depictions of various signs that one would find along the roadways of the Commonwealth peppered the booklet to let motorists what they'd find to help them navigate the still burgeoning highway system. It is interesting that signs for things such as speed limits and passing zones were the same shape as the keystone markers that were installed at the entrances to towns.

Of course there were no Interstates or toll roads, or even US routes for that matter. The reason can be found in the map section:

The numbers assigned transcontinental highways by the Joint Board named by the Secretary of Agriculture will not be used on Pennsylvania Highways in 1927. Until a final decision has been made on all routes and the decision is accepted by the Pennsylvania Department of Highways, the markings will not be found on Pennsylvania highways or officially recognized by the Pennsylvania Department of Highways.

I guess that decision came quickly because US routes would appear on the 1928 Department of Highways map.

The tourism component was provided by pieces on the historic sights listed by county with specific historical points such as Lake Erie and President James Buchanan's Birth Place written about in greater depth. Listings of state parks and tourist camp sites were provided for those who wanted to enjoy the great outdoors. Directions between cities were provided by either means of a direct route and one or several alternate routes as well as noting if the routes were improved or not. Even directions to out-of-state destinations such as New England and Florida were also included. The last part of the booklet was written by Benjamin G. Eynon, Registrar of Motor Vehicles who explained its function as well as providing information on titles, plates, required equipment for cars, and rules of the road. The final page has a list, with pictures, of flowers that may be found along Pennsylvania's highways detailing which should not be picked and which may be picked in case anyone wanted to remember their journey via horticulture.

It's always interesting to find gems like this that detail transportation in a long-ago era and to see the more things change, the more they stay the same. Next kids, I'll tell you a fantastic story of when MTV played music videos and The Weather Channel broadcast weather reports!

Route Changes End Three Decades of Futility

It seems the route change that was expected, I-376 being extended, did not take place as expected. However, it did not mean that the Pennsylvania road map was left unchanged after the opening of Interstate 99.

In December, PennDOT decided to truncate PA 82 at PA 23 in Elverson and renumber the remainder of the route in Chester County SR 4082. In Berks County, the route became SR 2082 north to Birdsboro and the PA 345 designation was extended to replace PA 82 to its northern terminus at US 422.

When Hurricane Agnes decimated Pennsylvania in 1972, it destroyed several bridges that carried PA 82 across Hay Creek south of Birdsboro. The Department of Transportation wanted to rebuild them but local opposition was strong as the residents who lived nearby became accustomed to the lack of traffic and wanted to keep it that way. PA 345 was signed that year as a detour route to bypass the missing section.

Route 82 Change - Exeter Township

It's a Bouncing Baby Business Route

Congratulations Brownsville, you're the proud parents of the newest auxiliary route in Pennsylvania!

With the completion of the new alignment of US 40 east of the borough, PennDOT decided to sign the former route with the business moniker. The new designation keeps the US 40 shields on the former route from Redstone Way to PA 166 and returns them to the former alignment into Brownsville for the first time since 1970!

Make sure to send all gifts and cards to PennDOT District 12-0.

Business US 40 (Brownsville)
Application to Establish Business US 40 - AASHTO

Route 30: The Movie

The sections I drive could be classified as horror, but comedy is the genre of John Putch's independent movie Route 30. The Chambersburg native filmed the movie along the highway last October with such stars as Dana Delany of Desperate Housewives and Curtis Armstrong best known to audiences as Herbert Viola on Moonlighting. Fellow Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor board member Ed Gotwalt, owner of Mister Ed's Elephant Museum, also has a part.

The premier of the movie will be at the Majestic Theatre in Gettysburg on September 27, 2008 at 8 PM with a cast and crew Q&A to follow. Tickets to the screening are $16 per person and a portion of the proceeds benefit the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor and Totem Pole Playhouse non-profit organizations. You can purchase tickets at the Totem Pole Playhouse, Mister Ed's Elephant Museum, Majestic Theatre, or online.

ROADS! and TV!

I've always had an interest in broadcasting from building a small AM radio station with a Radio Shack 130-in-one Project Kit to when I entered college and got a degree in Communication.

With the advent of digital television and the world of multicasting opening to broadcasters, many are utilizing their new bandwidth for other programming in addition to the main channel. PBS affiliates are broadcasting other PBS-branded channels such as Create and other affiliates have created local channels such as WQED's Neighborhood Channel which airs a lot of Rick Sebak's Pittsburgh documentaries. NBC affiliates are co-branding the NBC Weather Plus for their local markets.

WTAE-4 launched their Weather & Traffic Watch 4 channel in the Spring utilizing AccuWeather content. Since I have an interest in roads as well as weather, it piqued my interest. It isn't really anything too groundbreaking as the Traffic.com information is in a crawl at the bottom of the video portion of the screen and sometimes they will show video from PennDOT's traffic cameras.

However, this made WPXI-11 kick it up a notch to where they are now providing traffic information during the local inserts on their Weather Plus channel. The difference is that they use Traffic.com's flow maps to illustrate traffic conditions instead of a continual crawl.

Even The Weather Channel provides traffic information during the "Local on the 8's" segment, but only available to cable subscribers. The new IntelliStar systems installed at the headends will feed the information during the local segments on the main Weather Channel and around the clock on their Weatherscan channel.

The idea isn't new as San Antonio, Texas has had a low-power TV station owned by TxDOT broadcasting traffic cameras since 1996.

The Big Review on The Big Roads

I decided to set off on my literary journey with an open mind and my Pennsylvania Turnpike bookmark. I felt that was fitting considering I was reading a book about the Interstate System, and the Turnpike was one of the earliest segments of it that was completed.

I say “an open mind” because I was skeptical as I approached reading this book since there are many in the Pennsylvania Highways Library on the history of the Interstates. However, in the Introduction, author Earl Swift hooked me with his description of the trip across the country which he took to research The Big Roads. As part of that trip, he came through the southern portion of the Commonwealth on the historic Lincoln Highway. Earl, his daughter, and a friend of hers stayed on the Lincoln through Buckstown to Ligonier and eventually onto Pittsburgh "…crawling from one stoplight to the next..." Unfortunately, that is a realistic description of travel down US 30 through Westmoreland and Allegheny counties!

The book takes readers on a journey, with a focus on persons who made the transition happen, beginning with Carl Fisher, a businessman in Indianapolis, who began his career selling bicycles then moved onto the "horseless carriage." To demonstrate the power of the car, he built a racetrack outside Indianapolis; and, after repaving the track with brick, the power of the automobile could be exhibited in the way he intended. He also got into the road-building business by backing the creation of the Lincoln Highway and its north-south counterpart the Dixie Highway.

Along the way, author Swift introduces us to Thomas Harris MacDonald who started his career in roads in Iowa by laying out their system before being tapped by the Feds to do the same on a national scale. We also meet Dwight D. Eisenhower, who in 1919 as a young Army officer, got a yearning for good roads after a cross-country trip on the Lincoln Highway and who, just under three decades later, would experience really good roads -- just not on this continent.

The one good road, whose idea and planning came from those Ike saw in Germany which were the forerunner of the Interstate System, was our very own Pennsylvania Turnpike. Just as safety was an impetus for the construction of the Interstates, the Turnpike was constructed to provide a safer alternative than the windy, mountainous, and narrow US 30 which was the primary route between Pittsburgh and the Mid-State area.

Once Eisenhower got into the White House, he pushed for the need for high-speed, limited-access highways such as the Autobahn his military used to speed across Germany en route to Berlin. He didn’t need to look far for ideas since the Bureau of Public Roads had drawn up plans for such expressways, albeit tolled, while Ike was Supreme Commander in World War II.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same” is a saying that often rings true. When talking about the debate Congress had over the Federal Aid Highway Act, it rings like Big Ben at high noon. Some legislators came out in favor of the plan while others like Senator Albert Gore, the inventor of the Internet’s father, argued that it “…could lead the country to inflationary ruin.” Senator Harry Byrd said that “…nothing has been proposed during my twenty-two years in the United States Senate that would do more to wreck our fiscal budget system.” I’d hate to see what the talking heads on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News would have been saying had those channels existed at the time.

The Big Roads is not just a reflection on how the highway system of the country changed, but how the country itself changed. The Interstates allowed the movement of goods and people in a short amount of time and did so safely without the worry of cross-streets, traffic signals, stop signs, or rail crossings; and they all but eliminated head-on accidents in a uniform, monotonous drive devoid of local flavor. They also allowed for the growth of cities by pushing the suburbs farther out and creating satellite cities along beltways and bypasses. However, their paths into and through the cities would be a double-edged sword.

As I said in the beginning, I have other books on the Interstates and wondered how this book would differ. My answer would come in the final chapters of the book. The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signed just before the tumultuous 1960s when the struggle for civil rights would reach its pinnacle. The urban Interstates were looked at as a way to rejuvenate the nation’s cities while clearing out undesirable sections. The problem was that those undesirable sections contained people, and those people did not want to lose their homes just so suburbanites could get downtown quicker. One such person was a man named Joe Wiles, who lived in the Rosemont section of Baltimore which was under attack by Interstate 70. Mr. Wiles led a revolt against construction of I-70, which was both successful and unsuccessful. His revolt succeeded when the planned route of I-70 through the City of Baltimore was cancelled, but it was also unsuccessful because discussions of the impending expressway doomed Rosemont to neglect and to becoming the type of area that would have been favored as an Interstate corridor. Black neighborhoods seemed to be under attack across the country from Nashville where I-40 was planned to isolate about 100 blocks from the City to even here in Pennsylvania where in Philadelphia the I-695/Crosstown Expressway was to sequester black neighborhoods from Center City. These seemed like classic examples of white men’s roads going through black men’s homes.

Those other books in the Library only talk about the positive aspects of the Interstates but hardly discuss the turmoil they caused as they carved their way across the country. I admire that Mr. Swift mentioned the issues of the urban routes through Baltimore, for example. When I write about the history of a route, I, too, mention the negatives in addition to the positives; and I am glad to see a publication which does the same.

I would recommend The Big Roads as a well-rounded look at how we have progressed from roads that were narrow, dirt paths to today's wide, concrete expressways. It would make for a good read, especially when you are stuck in traffic on one of the Interstates.

Purchase it in either hardcover or Kindle

If You Cater it, They Will Come

I attended the ground breaking ceremony for the Uniontown to Brownsville section of the Mon-Fayette Expressway today. I have already updated the PA Turnpike 43 Exit Guide and MFE/SB Progress Map. Pictures of the ceremony are on the PA Turnpike 43 page.

This was the first ground breaking I have attended. It was pretty much what I expected with local and state officials there to give speeches on how each helped to create the Mon-Fayette Expressway. Then there was the ceremonial first spade toss of dirt to signal the start of construction followed by a catered lunch for all who attended which included Stromboli, hot wings, barbecue wings, vegetables, cake, and cookies. I gave it four out of five stars.

One of the speakers was Senator J. Barry Stout, who is one of many state officials who spearheaded the project. He also happens to be the Chairman of the State Transportation Committee. After the ceremony I introduced myself and asked if I could interview him. He gave me his business card and told me to call his office sometime.

Officials Launch Expressway's Uniontown-to-Brownsville Link - Uniontown Herald Standard

A Flyover Interchange Opens in Fayette County

The brisk morning of December 13 marked the beginning of the end for the long-awaited Uniontown-to-Brownsville section of the long-awaited Mon-Fayette Expressway. It was then that the Turnpike Commission finally opened the large PA Turnpike 43 interchange with US 119 and PA 51/Pittsburgh Street in Uniontown.

With the SWPA XMAS Meet a week away, I decided to make a trip today to scout the locations for the tour. Unfortunately, I didn’t get there until dusk, so none of the pictures came out clearly enough to post but with the few ones that I did take, I was able to update the US 119 and PA Turnpike 43 Exit Guides. The interchange itself is quite an impressive Semi-Directional T, with the diamond interchange with PA 51 underneath. What is strange is that the ramp from US 119 northbound is only one lane, which should be two since it is carrying the PA Turnpike 43 designation.

While both directions of US 119 have a diagramatical sign for this complex junction, the guide sign for Turnpike 43 heading southbound on US 119 has the control cities of Brownsville and Pittsburgh while northbound it is just Pittsburgh.

As of now, there are no exit numbers for any of the interchanges between the Chadville Demonstration Project in South Uniontown and the new interchange at Pittsburgh Street. Not surprising considering that there is only one PA Turnpike 43 trailblazer on US 40 westbound/US 119 northbound just before the Main Street interchange. While the US 40 and US 119 shields are posted together, the poor PA Turnpike 43 is by itself about 30 feet before the other two. Poor PA Turnpike 43, ostracized by the black and white shields! Heading southbound there is only one mention of PA Turnpike 43 on a pull-through sign at the Main Street interchange, then nothing until the 40/119 split and only then is it denoted as PA 43 which it has since that section was completed almost two decades ago.

The segment from the interchange to Exit 15 at Northgate Highway also opened to traffic Monday. Northbound traffic exiting and southbound traffic entering at that interchange will have to pay a toll.

Winter 2010 SWPA Meet Notes

It has been three years since there was a holiday edition of the longest running road enthusiast meets in southwestern Pennsylvania, but that and the streak of Saturday-only meets came to an end today. I'd like to thank all who traveled both near and far to attend, even with the snow that was falling in the area and the winter storm churning up the Eastern Seaboard.

The meet began at 12 PM at the Route 40 Classic Diner on what is now Business US 40 in Brownsville. Food was good as well as the conversations. My Maryland counterpart, Mike Pruett, brought a copy of an old trails guide book, a precursor to the modern road atlas, from the late 1920s for everyone to peruse and I brought some recent Pennsylvania officials from 2006 to 2010 for anyone who needed to fill gaps in their collections.

Since these holiday meets are on a smaller scale than the ones during warmer months, the tour was not too extensive. After lunch, we headed down Business US 40 into Brownsville for a taste of the old National Road and to check out the work on connecting PA Turnpike 43 to the PA 88 expressway in West Brownsville. The new alignment, which leaves PA 88, is quite evident as swings east to cross the Monongahela River. The former intersection of old and new PA 88 has been reconfigured to be a continual route through the future interchange, which leaves up for debate whether or not PA 88 will be moved back to its former route into West Brownsville or become multiplexed with PA Turnpike 43 to US 40.

The cloverleaf at PA Turnpike 43 and US 40 is temporarily a partial one due to ongoing construction to upgrade the segment of PA 88 that will be incorporated into the Mon-Fayette Expressway. The northbound lanes are being rebuilt and what is interesting is that the overhead gantry that was before the cloverleaf has been replaced with a blue, mono-tube gantry that is seemingly becoming standard on the Mon-Fayette.

Back across the Lane Bane Bridge, we picked up the old road and stopped at the Searights Toll House. Unlike the last Winter SWPA Meet, there were no broken windows nor damaged screen doors to report. It was good to see that a security system was installed as indicated by a sign by the entrance. Here we said goodbye to half of the attendees and the rest of us continued east on US 40 to drive through the new PA Turnpike 43/US 119 stack interchange. As we took the old route east, we took the new route back to Brownsville where we said our farewells, and headed to our respective destinations.

Eastbound and Down, and Around, and Around, and Around

The 1980s were a great time to be a kid. Sure we didn't have iPhones or XBoxes or Legos you can control by computer, but we had other electronic devices to keep us amused. I know, I know, we had the Atari 2600, but I'm not referring to anything that required a connection to a TV.

Slot cars were a popular past time in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Much like a model railroad, the vehicles were powered by electricity from the tracks they rode upon. Just as a model railroad looks like the real-world version in the type of track it uses, slot cars use a plastic track that looks like a highway with small wires embedded into it to power the cars. As slot cars became increasingly popular, TYCO (the Mattel division and not the international conglomerate whose CEO ran it into the ground in the early part of the 21st Century) introduced the HO-scale US 1 Electric Trucking.

It was a twist on the typical slot car racetrack in that instead of racing two cars side-by-side, you could "drive" vehicles in opposing directions on a track that looked like a road. Now I know what you are going to say, "I already experience the nightmarish trafficscape that is Roosevelt Boulevard, why would I want to when I am at home?" The only similarity the little plastic roadway shared with its concrete and asphalt cousin was the designation.

Much like HO-scale train sets have different themes, so did US 1. Of course there were Big City Trucking, Big Hauler Trucking, City Hauler Trucking, Cross Country Trucking, Long Haul Trucking, Coast-to-Coast Trucking, Motor City, Interstate Delivery, and Interstate Trucking sets of various sizes with various "exits" for dump yards, terminals, and material loaders. In a nod to the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, of which the toy was modeled after, there was an Army Transport set that had dark green colored trucks which hauled crates of ammunition and drums of, no doubt, some classified substances. At least a decade before the word "intermodal" came into existence, US 1 was already there with an airport and a combination rail and road set. The latter was a little dangerous for US 1 drivers as the rail crossings were at grade without warning signals.

Rather than buying all of the sets, you could buy individual accessories like the auto loader from the Motor City set or the fire station from the Fire Alert! set. Besides other trucks and various trailers, additional vehicles could be purchased to customize your layout such as an Airport Taxi to travel to the airport or a fire engine to sit at the ready in your fire station.

One of the presents my parents got me for Christmas 1984 was the Highway Construction set. I remember walking into the Family Room that early morning, rubbing my eyes, and making out what looked like a little roadway set up near the fireplace in the early morning light. As a young road enthusiast, I was entertained by this toy that was based in an interest of mine. It was a great and fun toy, and a shame that TYCO stopped manufacturing the US 1 Electric Trucking line in 1986. One of these days, I need to make an "archeological dig" in my parent's basement and find all of the pieces so I can take a trip down memory lane, via a small slot truck.

TYCO US-1 Trucking Resource

Follow Us (But Remember the Two Second Rule) on Foursquare

Global Positioning Satellites, or GPS, has revolutionized the world. Now with the help of GPS-enabled devices, being lost is quickly becoming obsolete. Not only can people be found who were lost and possibly injured in the deepest wooded area, but drivers can find that hidden shortcut, and walkers and joggers can record their latest achievement.

One of the uses of GPS chips has been inclusion in cell phones over the past decade. Aside from being able to locate you in the event of an emergency when calling 911, it can help navigate unfamiliar territory. The advent of the smartphone has brought apps utilizing the GPS chip such as Google Maps and Foursquare.

"What is Foursquare?" you may ask. It is a social networking platform like Twitter and Facebook, but unlike those websites, Foursquare gets you away from your computer and out exploring. Users can "check in" to various locations from their cell phones, which earn them points and badges. Check in more times at one place, and you will become "Mayor" of that location which might earn you a perk.

Foursquare is about where Twitter was two years ago. It is on the cusp of being the "next big thing" in the world of Web 2.0. Just as organizations jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, they are jumping, or I should say checking in, on the Foursquare bandwagon. VisitPA (the Department of Tourism) has three badges, PA Retail Polka, PA 4 Score & 7, and PA Shooflyer, that users can earn by checking in at certain places around the Commonwealth.

Now Pennsylvania Highways has joined them, and Washington State Department of Transportation and Missouri Department of Transportation, with a Foursquare page. Right now it will be used to give tips on highway-related check in points such as the Squirrel Hill Tunnel or one of the Turnpike interchanges, but only read them on the website or let a passenger read them to you. Perhaps a badge or two will be offered if Foursquare permits it in the future, but before you ask, there will not be a "Pothole Badge."

http://foursquare.com/pahighways

2010 Official Pennsylvania Map

Today I stopped at the welcome center on I-70 at the Maryland state line in Warfordsburg and picked up a copy of the latest official state highway map. I am surprised PennDOT even bothered to print one this late in the year that isn't a "B" version, especially since there will be a new governor come Tuesday. These are the changes since the 2009 edition, all of which involve the extension of I-376:

Allegheny County/Pittsburgh Inset
I-376 extended west beyond I-279 to multiplex with US 22/US 30 and replace PA 60 and Interstate Business Loop 376 replaced Business PA 60

Beaver County/Lawrence County/New Castle Inset
I-376 replaced PA 60 and PA Turnpike 60

Mercer County
I-376 replaced PA 60 and PA 760 replaced PA 60 from I-80 to Sharon

There are two mentions of the new 511 system: one on the back cover under the list of welcome centers and another at the top next to the legend.

Rarely do I find an error on the official maps, but this year there is a blatant one near the junction of the Penn-Lincoln Parkway and PA 60 west of Pittsburgh. A US 22/US 322 shield is located where there should be, and last year was, a US 22/US 30 shield.

It has the same dimensions as the previous year's and this year's cover features a view of Johnstown from the Inclined Plane station above the city in Westmont. You can view the map at PennDOT's GIS page.

Winter 2007 SWPA Meet Notes

Saturday was the latest edition of the longest running road enthusiast meets and I'd like to thank all who traveled both near and far to attend.

The meet began at 12 PM at Garfield's in the Uniontown Mall on US 40 near the US 119 interchange. The food and conversation was excellent as always. I provided each attendee with a copy of the 2007 PennDOT map.

After the lunch portion, we headed down US 40 to see the new Brownsville Connector. We decided to make the Searights Toll House the first stop, and it's best that we did. I noticed that one of the windows appeared to be open. Upon further examination, it wasn't open but rather someone had taken one of the bricks from the steps and smashed the window. Also the screen door at the entrance had been ripped and pulled at in several places. The police were called and they said they'd notify the proprietors.

The next stop was to see the new US 40 connector that just opened east of Brownsville. What struck those of us who attended the 2006 gathering was that the former partially constructed interchange just north of PA 166 where US 40 traffic had to turn to continue has been replaced by an at-grade intersection. Even though last year, we noticed grading for what appeared to be the other entrance/exit ramps had taken place which is noted on the US 40 page. Also, PA 166's northern terminus has not moved to intersect the new US 40 alignment, but still ends at the former intersection a block to the south. There is grading for the future PA Turnpike 43 interchange which will be a temporary end until the loop around Brownsville is completed.

Heading back to Uniontown, we took a small detour over a new connector road that has been built between PA 51 and US 40 and will also serve an interchange of PA Turnpike 43. It is five lanes wide (four travel lanes and a center turn lane), and it was built through the location where I attended the groundbreaking for the Uniontown/Brownsville section seen on the PA Turnpike 43 page.

We took PA 43/PA Turnpike 43 south and stopped at the current end at Gans Road before continuing south into West Virginia to see how they are progressing on their section. From PA 857/WV Secondary 857, you can see the bridge on the state line has been finished complete with a "Welcome to West Virginia" sign gantry at the southern end. Turning off onto Morgan's Run Road we got an up-close look at another pair of spans taking shape and saw a completed section of WV 43 with signage already installed. Back at 857 we kept heading south to the Cheat Lake interchange to see the construction taking place in preparation of the directional T interchange between I-68 and WV 43.

After turning around we headed back to Garfield's where we said our goodbyes, Merry Christmases, Happy New Years, and headed to our respective destinations.

National Road Enthusiast Meet (Day 2)

Today was the second day of the first National Road Enthusiast Meet. We began the day at Primanti Brothers on PA 60/Steubenville Pike in Robinson Township. Everyone seemed to enjoy this slice of Pittsburgh, and I highly recommend stopping to have a Primanti's sandwich...or a Roethlis-burger at Peppi's, unless you're a Browns fan.

After that we jumped in our vehicles and traveled down PA 60 to Crafton to see the Industrial Highway. It is the remnant of one of the many cancelled highways in the Pittsburgh area, and now relegated to an access road.

Following that small excursion we headed back north on PA 60 to I-79 south for a visit to the Pittsburgh Regional Traffic Management Center at the PennDOT District 11-0 office in Bridgeville. South of the Parkway West interchange we saw some of the I-79 reconstruction taking place.

Dominic Munizza of PennDOT gave us an extensive tour of the center and demonstrated some of features of the ITS network. He showed how the VMS boards can be changed as well as the HAR (Highway Advisory Radio) stations can broadcast messages. We also got a demonstration of the cameras that line the expressways. In fact, we got to the TMC just after legendary Pittsburgh Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope had just been involved in an accident at the Banksville Road interchange.

The group met in the evening for dinner at another local chain with a road motif: Quaker Steak & Lube at The Pointe at North Fayette. Afterwards we took to our vehicles and headed into the city to check out the view from Mount Washington which overlooks the "Golden Triangle."

All-Star City

We don't have much to celebrate in terms of the American pastime in the Steel City; however, we did tonight. The eyes of the baseball world turned to Pittsburgh for the 77th annual "Mid-summer Classic" and fifth to be played in the city.

The American League has won every All-Star Game since 1996, and the last that was played in Pittsburgh in 1994 was won by the National League. Don't fret NL fans; at least your team-by-association has only been in a win-less slump for a decade and not your favorite and/or hometown team. The Pirates have not produced a winning team in 14 years and counting. At least this edition of the All-Star Game featured two of the hometown team's players: Jason Bay and Freddy Sanchez. Jason Bay managed to get a starting gig with a campaign blitz spearheaded by the club to get him in the line-up.

The National League was winning going into the last inning, and it looked like the streak of them winning All-Star Games in Pittsburgh would continue. That was until the final inning when Pirate fans know all to well what happens: the lead was erased. The NL would fall to the AL, for the 11th consecutive year by a score of three to two. A one run loss, which is all too familiar for the regular home team.

Aside from baseball, it was a time for the "City of Champions" to shine in the spotlight. The All-Star Game was the most watched program that week with 14.5 million tuning into view the yearly AL/NL battle. People from all over the country and world came to not only see the game but partake in the activities before.

What I do not understand is people still have the idea that Pittsburgh is the "Smoky City" as seen in film reels from the 1940s. Even Jason Bay, who was the first Pirate to start an All-Star Game since Andy Van Slyke (who once bashed Pittsburgh for not having a beltway; wonder what he thinks of PA Turnpike 576?), mentioned people coming up to him saying they were expecting a smoky, gloomy city.

I'm sorry, but I can not understand in this day and age why people would still think that! All it takes going to Google Image Search, and typing in "Pittsburgh," or even going to the picture pages of I-279, I-376, I-579, etc. to see what it looks like nowadays. I guess they aren't football fans or don't own a TV, since the most successful team in Pittsburgh is usually featured at home at least once a season on Monday Night Football.

Pittsburgh Gives Red-Carpet Welcome - WPXI-TV Pittsburgh

State College 2009 Meet Notes

Today was the second State College meet but unlike the first edition, Mother Nature gave us a rain-free day. I'd like to thank all who attended and for making the trip for the second meet in Happy Valley.

The meet began at 12 PM at Hoss's Steak & Sea on Business US 322 (North Atherton Street). Food was good as well as the conversations. Many of the attendees brought road-related materials to peruse as well as to keep: Steve Alpert - Florida Turnpike maps; H.B. Elkins - new Kentucky and West Virginia maps; Doug Kerr - I-87 Northway maps; and I brought some recent officials from Kentucky, Maryland, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania for anyone who needed to fill gaps in their collections.

After lunch, we hopped in our cars and drove down via former US 220/US 322 to PA 550 to the first stop of the 2005 Meet to see the completed I-99. Where the two roads cross is where some of the acid rock problems had occurred, and even today the large retaining pond that was constructed on the south side of the Interstate to catch run-off was partially filled.

Continuing down former US 220/US 322, which is now known as SR 3042, we stopped at the top of Skytop Mountain which overlooks the Interstate everyone loves to hate. This area is where construction crews discovered the pyritic rock which stalled work on I-99 until a solution was devised which included removing the disturbed rock and keeping the remainder at the location. It is easy to see where the undisturbed acid rock is located as it was covered with mesh then rocks to prevent erosion.

We continued on SR 3042 to SR 3040 to Port Matilda, passing through the trumpet interchange where "END" signage still exist for Alternate US 220. With no mention of that route on new signage on I-80 or before the trumpet, I'd expect it to be decommissioned before the next PennDOT official map is released.

It was in the now traffic-thinned Port Matilda where we took I-99 north back to State College. The view from the alignment as it climbs Skytop is fantastic and will be spectacular in Fall. We got to see in greater clarity the acid rock remediation as we headed back to the restaurant.

A few of the attendees had to leave, and the rest of us continued into State College on Business US 322 and then north on PA 26 to the southern stub of the Bellefonte Bypass. It is now a ramp onto I-99/US 220, but there were plans to continue it south to the end of the US 322 expressway north of Lewistown.

Following northbound I-99/US 220/PA 26, we turned off onto the former route of 26 right before the current interchange with I-80. There is earth moving taking place for the relocation of Jacksonville Road which is part of the plan for the future I-80/I-99 directional Y. After which we head back to Hoss's where we said our farewells, and headed to our respective destinations.

Interstate 99 FINALLY Opens on Skytop

Those who live along and those who have had to travel the narrow and dangerous US 220 in the Bald Eagle Valley have another reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving. As of 3 PM today, the Bud Shuster Highway is finally open to both northbound and southbound traffic across Bald Eagle Mountain.

PennDOT had previously opened both directions from Bald Eagle to Port Matilda in December 2007, but from there north it was only open northbound due to continuing clean-up of the pyritic rock that was unearthed during construction. Southbound traffic was still using the old alignment. So it is now official: PennDOT has slain the acid rock dragon.

The new highway is signed as Interstate 99. However, since it is only one of two Interstates to have its designation signed into law, legislation has to be passed to amend the definition of the route. It has not as of yet, so it is illegally designated as such but then again some people would already say it is due to being west of Interstate 81.

I-99 Open to All Traffic - Centre Daily Times

Community Day on the Expressway

Today was the latest installment of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's "Community Day on the Expressway" event, taking place just outside of Uniontown on the newest section of the Mon-Fayette Expressway. It is a nice event that the PTC holds prior to opening a new section of expressway as a public preview of the new highway and make it a real community gathering.

The day started off with a "Modes of Transportation" parade down the alignment at 10 AM. There were food vendors and a children's area with balloon art courtesy of Airheads and the Rainbow Expressway trackless train. For the road enthusiasts, there were informational booths from the Turnpike Commission and the National Road Heritage Corridor.

Steps to a Healthier Fayette County sponsored a Family Fun Walk which began an hour earlier. The public was welcome to walk or bike the four miles of roadway, but you could also take a shuttle bus and get a quicker view of Turnpike 43.

This is the first section for which I attended the groundbreaking and Community Day.

Residents Get Close-Up View of Expressway - Uniontown Herald Standard

National Road Enthusiast Meet (Day 3)

The final day of the meet featured differing modes of transportation. We started out by taking PA 60 into the city for a cruise on the Gateway Clipper to see some of the numerous bridges as well as some of the sights along the Allegheny River. We had lunch at the Red Star Tavern in Station Square, where I had announced a mere 364 days earlier of my intention to hold a National meet.

Back on land we turned back to the west to take in PA Turnpike 576 at the US 30 interchange. Once on the expressway ROW itself, I heard what sounded like a car traveling at a quick pace. Turning around as we headed northbound, I didn't see anything until I looked over the median mound that is common place on PTC extensions only to see the "Christmas Tree" lightbar of a State Police cruiser. He caught up to us and only said to turn around; however, I was only yards away from getting Adam Prince the first PA Turnpike 576 northern end picture. Considering the alternative, we were very fortunate. Even on foot, I get pulled over by the Pennsylvania State Police!

The final event of the three day meet was to take in a ball game at the site of the 77th All Star Game at PNC Park. Surprisingly the Pirates managed to win 3-2 over the Saint Louis Cardinals, while the Steelers playing the NFL's version of the Cardinals on the same day lost.

After the game, we returned to the Comfort Inn on Steubenville Pike where I thanked all for attending and being part of the first National meet. Then we called it a night and went on our respective ways.

States represented/number attended:
California - 1
Georgia - 1
Kentucky - 1
Maryland - 1
Michigan - 2
New York - 2
Pennsylvania - 2
Tennessee - 2
Virginia - 1
West Virginia - 1

Pittsburgh is Number One! Again!

It has been 22 years since the last time Pittsburgh was named the "Most Livable City" by the Places Rated Almanac.

Let me put that in some perspective. The last time it was given this designation, a Republican was in the White House, people were talking about competing video formats and wondering which to buy, and MTV played music videos. Well, as Meatloaf said, "two out of three ain't bad." Let's put it another way, the last time Pittsburgh was number one, the mayor was five!

The ranking was devised through several categories: housing affordability (cost of living), transportation, jobs, education, climate, crime, health care, recreation, and ambiance (museums, performing arts, restaurants and historical districts).

I can see housing costs, after all it was only in the past few years that housing crested the $100K mark. Education since there are about 20-30 colleges and universities within a 50 mile radius of the city, crime is relatively low for the size of the city, health care with UPMC and other hospitals in Oakland, recreation with it sitting right next to the Laurel Highlands and the rivers, and ambiance which will increase once Mellon Arena 2 or whatever it's called, opens will add to that ranking. However, the others I can't understand. Transportation is limping along especially with the Port Authority hemorrhaging money and job creation is lackluster with the exception of Google that opened at Carnegie Mellon University. Then there is the climate of which we were in the deep freeze for most of April, but basking in 60-degree temperatures in December.

For all the pros and cons it has, Pittsburgh is a decent city. It's not too big and it's not too small, like Baby Bear's bed in Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Pittsburgh Rated "Most Livable" Once Again - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It's Their Party, and They'll Toll if They Want To

Today was Community Day on the Findlay Connector (PA Turnpike 576/Southern Beltway), but my second visit to the completed roadway. However, unlike during the National meet, the State Police did not chase me off the expressway.

The event was much like the first one I attended, and the first the PTC did, prior to PA Turnpike 66 opening. There were food booths and entertainment in the form of at Exit 2/US 30. The PTC had a booth with information on the entire Southern Beltway project, Turnpike maps, and E-ZPass applications. Port Authority buses made continual loops of the six-mile-long section between PA 60 and US 22, that will open this Wednesday, for people to see the expressway, while others hiked and biked the alignment. Pictures of the event will be posted on the updated PA Turnpike 576 page that will debut on Wednesday.

Getting Around: Did You Too Miss the Turnpike's Party on Route 576? - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Chairman of the Board

I have had an interest in roads for as long as I can remember. Having grown up near US 30 and traveling on it to visit family, it and the Lincoln Highway hold a special place.

When the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor began, I was one of the first members. Originally a "Friend" then became a "Friend for Life." I adopted my first a Lincoln Highway sign in 2001, and three years later became to first to have adopted one in each of the LHHC counties.

In recent years, the LHHC has expanded into fund raising ventures such as offering ballroom dancing classes. The one I offered to drive my parents to, in order to get a free meal afterward and and take pictures during, had an LHHC representative that I have known since I was little. He and my father worked together years ago, and known each other since. When I came to pick up my parents, I ran into him and we began talking. I mentioned the website and my involvement with the LHHC.

In April he contacted me about joining the Board of Directors. I jumped at the chance and said I would be honored. It wasn't made official until July 13 when I met with him and Olga Herbert, Director of the LHHC, and the offer officially made. This evening was the first board meeting I attended, which took place in Everett.

Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor

Happy Birthday Interstate System!

Today I had the honor to be a part of Pennsylvania's celebration of the signage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 which took place at the Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg.

Dignitaries, media, and those who were a part of the re-enactment of the 1919 Army convoy that showed a young kid by the name of Eisenhower the necessity of good transportation, gathered at the Gettysburg Middle School for a shuttle bus to the event at the farm, which ironically can not be accessed via any Interstate. The bus ride was a nice jaunt through the historic borough. I sat next to a gentleman from Omaha, Nebraska who was representing Werner Enterprising trucking. He gave me a foam stress reliever in the shape of a Werner 18-wheeler. He mentioned he had never visited anything in Pennsylvania, but had driven through it many times. Not surprising, considering only two routes from New England to the rest of the country bypass the Commonwealth.

At the farm, we got a tour of the house where dignitaries such as Winston Churchill and Nikita Khrushchev visited the Eisenhowers. After everyone had taken the tour, it was time for the press conference.

Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, Allen Biehler was appropriately the first speaker. Others included Joe Brimmeir, CEO of the PTC, J. Richard Capka from the Federal Highway Administration, and Ted Leonard from the Pennsylvania AAA Federation.

After the press conference, I introduced myself to Rich Kirkpatrick who is PennDOT's Press Secretary and invited me to the event. He praised the work I have done on the site and said it is a great resource, especially the history of the highways. While talking with him, Secretary Biehler came over to speak with Rich. At that point, I introduced myself and Mr. Kirkpatrick remarked, "This is the guy who does that website." He gave me a Interstate 50th pin, similar to the graphic on the AASHTO site.

While waiting for the bus back to the school, I overheard a man talking about the weather. I introduced myself and he did as well, mentioning he was a representative from the Associated Pennsylvania Constructors which owns pahighways.org. I mentioned that I own the .com and that I had discovered they owned the .org one day.

Back at the middle school we had a lovely catered meal. I had the honor to sit at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation's table. While standing in line, I got to talk with Director of ODOT Gary Ridley. I mentioned that I liked the new Oklahoma shield, and we began discussing the states that used their outlines for their shields. I also mentioned that I have been to Oklahoma storm chasing, and that I had talked with Gary England of KWTV-TV for a paper in college. Mr. Ridley mentioned that Gary helps them with winter forecasts to determine where ODOT crews will be needed. The others at the table asked me what organization I was from, I said, "I do a website called Pennsylvania Highways." Mr. Kirkpatrick happened to be walking behind me and said, "It is a great website and resource."

All in all, I had a great time and was honored that PennDOT even considered inviting me. Many thanks to Rich Kirkpatrick and the PennDOT Press Office.

Pennsylvania Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Interstate System - PennDOT

2009 Official Pennsylvania Map

This past weekend I stopped at the welcome center on I-70 at the Maryland state line in Warfordsburg and picked up a copy of the latest official state highway map. These are the changes since the 2007 edition:

Berks County/Chester County
PA 82 removed between Elverson and Birdsboro

Blair County/Centre County/State College Inset
I-99 completed from Bald Eagle to State College and indicated from there to I-80

Fayette County
PA Turnpike 43 completed between Exit 15 and Exit 22 and shown under construction between Exit 22 and PA 88

Jefferson County
Exit 90 on I-80 completed and PA 830 rerouted to end there rather than at US 322

Lehigh County/Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Inset
US 222/Trexlertown Bypass completed from PA 100 to I-78

Tioga County
US 15 finished from PA 287 to New York and PA 287 extended along old US 15 to Lawrenceville

New Castle Inset
US 224 extended eastward on State Street and Falls Street

It has the same dimensions as the the previous year's and this year's cover is of an Amish buggy driving on one of the newly designated Civil War Trails.
You can view the map at PennDOT's GIS page.

If the Departments of Transportation and Tourism would have waited, they could have given a shout out to our three professional sports teams that won championships in the past year much like NCDOT did on their 2007 cover for the Carolina Hurricanes.

2007 Official Pennsylvania Map

Last month I received a copy of the latest official state highway map from the Map Sales office just before the state shut down over not being able to pass a budget. These are the changes since the 2006 edition:

Allegheny County/Washington County/Pittsburgh Inset
PA Turnpike 576 completed between US 22 and PA 60

Berks County
US 222 indicated as complete now with the red expressway stripe between PA 272 and Shillington

Fayette County
PA Turnpike 43 under construction north of US 40 from US 119 to Brier Hill

Tioga County
US 15 under construction from PA 287 to the New York state line

Altoona Inset
Osgood Drive completed on the eastern side of I-99/US 220 between Exit 32 and Exit 33

New Castle Inset
PA 65 removed between PA 108/PA 168 and Business US 422

It has the same dimensions as the the previous year's and this year's cover features a view of America's Most Livable City, with a man creating a mural in chalk on the West End overlook. You can view the map at PennDOT's GIS page.

2006 Official Pennsylvania Map

I received in the mail a copy of the newest official state highway map. These are the changes since the 2005 edition:

Erie County/Erie Inset
PA 290 now shown on the Bayfront Connector and East 12th Street

Jefferson County
PA 949 extended south from Corsica to Summerville

Lehigh County/Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Inset
PA 100 now signed on the Trexlertown Bypass

Mifflin County
Northern Lewistown Bypass completed and Business US 22 replaces US 22 through the borough

Tioga County
US 15 under construction from PA 287 to the New York state line

Seems that practically every state agency has some advertisement on the back of the map now. I am surprised our new Gaming Commission doesn't have an ad to get you ready to drop some money at our casinos...whenever we get them. I guess it will come in a future edition.

We're Number 1! Yet Again!

It is that time of the year that is commonly referred to as the holiday let down. That period in the calendar when we go from ushering in a new year to hiding eggs. People start looking forward to the Summer and vacation time it will bring.

It is also that time of the year when the trucking industry magazine, Overdrive, releases the results of their latest "Worst Roads" survey. For most of the 1990s, Pennsylvania held the dubious distinction of "Worst Roads" in the United States. The state's fortunes began to change in the late 1990s when Pennsylvania slid down to second place. For the past decade, the number one slot has been relinquished to newcomers such as Arkansas and Louisiana but Pennsylvania has taken the top, or bottom, billing 13 out of 19 years the survey has been conducted and takes it again in 2009. I find this distinction particularly amusing this year, considering all of the structurally deficient bridges that are being replaced or rehabilitated thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In fact, a Congressional committee named Pennsylvania as the top-ranked large state, third overall, for starting and completing projects funded by the ARRA.

The states are not just judged by the conditions of their highway systems, but other things related to truck traffic. Interstate 80 still retains the title of "Most Improved Road" from last year, but in 2008 it was second under "Best Highway Segment" and forth under "Worst Highway Segment." Pennsylvania still retains third place, but shares it with Maryland this year, for "Toughest on Truck Inspections and Law Enforcement." The strangest change is our truck stops have gone from third best to being tied with California and New York for third worst. Now that's some swing!

You're probably wondering how something like that, or the aforementioned I-80 ranking, or the one year Pennsylvania was second under "Worst Roads" and fifth under "Best Roads" can happen. As I learned from an editor with Overdrive, when the votes are tallied, instead of averaging the good and bad, the good and bad are separated then averaged.

Unfortunately no shout out this year for me or the website, which is just as well since Pennsylvania highways (the ones made of concrete and asphalt) are back on top, or bottom.

The Good, The Bad, The Better - Overdrive

The World Comes to the Commonwealth

When White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced in May that the next G-20 Summit would be held in Pittsburgh, there was more than a few snickers from the White House Press Corp. And why not, what does anyone there know about finance and banking or surviving an economic downturn? After all, it is an area where people pay a fair market value for a house. How quaint!

The reason "City of Champions" was chosen by President Obama was due to the trips he made through the area during his 2008 presidential campaign. He saw how it had morphed from center of steel production to one with a more diversified economic base focused on bio-medical (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Western Pennsylvania Health System), financial (PNC Financial, Bank of New York/Mellon), and high-tech (Carnegie Mellon University) industries. Fortunately, the industrial fore-fathers of the city were not misers and gave back to their community in the form of institutions such as libraries and universities from which Pittsburgh could pull it self up by its bootstraps and start over.

Dignitaries began to arrive on Wednesday which prompted rolling roadblocks on the Parkway West between Pittsburgh International Airport and Downtown. The motorcades passed through the US 22/US 30-PA 60 interchange project, which is partially funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which was passed to dig (no pun intended) the country out of the global recession which would be discussed the following two days.

While the leaders of the 20 largest economies and the European Union were arriving, so were the protesters.
Members of Greenpeace repelled off the West End Bridge with a banner protesting the lack of attention paid to the environment by these leaders. Five others tried to do the same on the Fort Pitt Bridge, but were quickly apprehended. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl deputized 1,000 men and women from police departments as far away as Miami and as close as Johnstown, which in addition to National Guardsmen and state police troopers, made up a force of more than 3,000 officers.

The world's leaders had an easier time getting around the city than the denizens. Only residents, with a driver's license with proof of a Downtown address, delivery trucks (with deliveries made between 5 AM and 7 AM), taxis, hotel shuttles, armored cars, ACCESS vehicles, and medical suppliers were allowed into the Golden Triangle. Three police checkpoints were established on the Smithfield Street Bridge at PA 837/West Carson Street, Fifth Avenue at Ross Street, and the Roberto Clemente Bridge and Isabella Street but motorists could exit anywhere. Ramps from I-279, I-376, and I-579 and other bridges and street were barricaded.

The two-day summit went off without a hitch, and Pittsburgh was able to do something no other city could: host a bloodless G-20. Police arrested only 193 people, a few minor fires were reported, and some minor damage to stores occurred. Only about 5,000 protesters came which were outnumbered by the nearly 6,000 law enforcement personnel. Needless to say crime dropped steeply, as did the need for paramedics which for times every ambulance in the city was idle. Perhaps the most surprising was the thousands of police vehicles, being driven by mostly out-of-towners, managed to navigate the labyrinthine of city streets without a single accident.

VisitPittsburgh hopes that the G-20 Summit helps tourism and attracting conventions. The city was awarded another international gathering not long after the conclusion of the summit. Pittsburgh will be the North American host city for the 2010 United Nations World Environment Day. Perhaps the highest praise came from the Italian-born songwriter, singer, former model, and current French First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy who said, "I think I wish I could stay a little longer because we only stay one-and-a-half days," and added "But I think it's beautiful." I don't think VisitPittsburgh could have asked for a better spokeswoman.

G-20 Summit - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Three Mile Island: 30 Years Later

Time flies when you're splitting atoms. It's hard to imagine that it has been three decades to the day since the worst nuclear power accident in the United States took place. For ten days the residents of the Mid-State were teetering on the brink of disaster. Luckily the outcome was only a partial meltdown of the TMI-2 reactor core, and far less disastrous as it could have been. By April 9 the worst was over and the residents of the surrounding area could stop walking on egg shells.

Three Mile Island
Three Mile Island Accident Remembered After 30 Years - WFMZ-TV Allentown

LET'S GO...PENNSYLVANIA!

It was just a couple weeks ago that the Commonwealth was thrust into the political spotlight when we held our primary. Well it's another month, and another spotlight as both the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers will meet in an old fashioned Turnpike battle in the NHL's Eastern Conference Final.

Both teams won their respective series four games to one; Penguins finishing off the New York Rangers today, and the Flyers beat the Montréal Canadiens last night.

So while our roads may be the Second Worst in the country, no matter how you slice it, the Commonwealth will be represented in the Stanley Cup Finals. Personally, I'm hoping the "march of the Penguins" continues.

Looking to the Past, Planning For the Future

One of the things that we're not that good about in Pennsylvania is planning for the future. Tonight myself and others in my area decided to do something about that. During this week, Smart Growth Partnership of Westmoreland County has been holding a public Charrette at the University of Pitt at Greensburg campus.

We were put into groups and asked to evaluate different plans for the area of US 30 in Latrobe near the shopping centers. The first plan would create almost another town along 30 from PA 981 to PA 982 which no one liked because the minimum building height would be six stories. Obviously this would destroy the views of the Laurel Ridge and trying to keep the area rural. The second plan would be to keep more of the area in a rural setting but enhance the existing developments along the corridor. The third plan would be a "Greenway" solution where most of the businesses would be removed and more of the area returned to a natural state.

While most seemed to prefer the latter, I was in favor of the second plan. The first plan and last plan would eliminate the shopping areas of Latrobe 30 Plaza, Mountain Laurel Plaza, Wildcat Commons, and Unity Plaza. Stores such as Giant Eagle and Wal*Mart would be gone. I highly doubt Wal*Mart will have gone the way of Montgomery Wards by the year 2020. Although people probably said the same about Wards in 1980 so who knows.

I also threw out the idea of completely bypassing current US 30 with an expressway to remove the through traffic from the highway and sign the current alignment as Business US 30. Actually not my idea, but the "Route 30 Relocation" proposal from the Pittsburgh Area Transportation Plan devised in the 1960s. An existing demonstration of this can be seen between Sadsburyville and Exton where the current 30 is an expressway and the original is a business route. Then you could redesign any area along the corridor without having as much traffic as before to contend with. However, my idea was shot down...again. Oh well, so much for trying to undo past mistakes.

Route 30 Masterplan - Smart Growth

National Road Enthusiast Meet (Day 1)

Pennsylvania has been the site of many firsts: first computer (Philadelphia), first commercial radio station (Pittsburgh), and first road enthusiast meet (Greensburg). What a better site to hold the first National Road Enthusiast Meet than where it all began.

The first day was a journey back in time with some aspects of the present. Myself and four attendees traveled the Lincoln Highway from Robinson to Somerset County. We were joined for a while by Brian Butko, who has authored several books on the Lincoln Highway and other road-related products.

We began our trip by taking PA 60 from the US 22/US 30 cloverleaf into Pittsburgh then south on PA 837 to the Fort Pitt Bridge and the Boulevard of the Allies to the Parkway East. Taking the US 30 exit, we followed it to Greensburg where we then traveled on Toll Gate Road to enter the city as those who traveled then PA 1 did many times. On the eastern side of the city, we followed old segments near Westmoreland Mall, Hyundai of Greensburg, and a long section known locally as Frye Farm Road.

In Latrobe, we turned south on PA 981 to access the old alignment where we spotted a rare Lincoln Highway marker that is located in the front lawn of a home. We passed the Latrobe Country Club which is owned by professional golfer Arnold Palmer in Youngstown and continued through to where the alignment joins the current eastbound lanes.

We stopped at the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor office in Ligonier where a few picked up some Lincoln Highway merchandise. Continuing eastward on US 30 we stopped at the Flight 93 Memorial and the site of the Quecreek Mine Accident.

I offered to show everyone the Sipesville Fire Hall, where the families waited for word of their trapped family members. While we were waiting, a member of the Sipesville VFD stopped and asked us if we wanted to see inside. It was quite a change from when I remember it in 2002 when I was in The Pennsylvania Miners Movie and filming took place there. Then we got to see the new hall that was built to replace the old, which was to be moved to the Quecreek site. However, the building could not make the journey in one piece, but would have to be cut into four sections. More than likely, it will just be demolished.

No Gas Taxation, Thanks to Represenation

A state senator from Monroeville has proposed dropping the 31.2¢/gallon gasoline tax to give drivers a break at the pump. On the surface that looks like a good idea. The theory is that loosing that 31Â¢ would drop the average price to $2.65. However, what always looks good on paper, doesn't translate in reality.

The gasoline tax is what keeps our highways and byways from falling apart. You can make your own jokes here, I'll wait.

Done? OK. PennDOT already has their back against a wall with loosing Federal highway money to mass transit in the two largest cities. Many projects have had to be deferred or canned outright due to this funding situation, loosing the gas tax would be yet another blow.

Prices wouldn't necessarily go down as a result. More than likely, the oil companies would pocket that extra money for themselves.

The problems are speculation and the oil companies. We are a a point where a butterfly sneezes on a pipeline, and the price skyrockets. Why? It's not as if God handed Moses a third tablet with oil prices. Seems to me that gasoline is the only thing in this world that appreciates with value, which makes me want to siphon my tank and sell it back to the station at the higher rate.

The oil companies are pocketing way too much. I'm an ExxonMobil stockholder, and before you call me "money bags," I'll let you in on something. The dividend per stock share is only 27¢! With the way they've been raking in money hand over fist, I and all other stockholders should be retired and living the good life.

PennDOT: Suspending Gas Tax Would Delay Road Projects Without Helping Drivers - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

New Year, New URL

The new year has brought a new URL for the Pennsylvania Highways Blog: http://www.pahighways.com/blog.

I never liked the "cblog" directory because it did not make any sense, and it did not look right in an address bar. However, that is what my provider had set it to default to during installation. So I decided to tinker with the settings a little and see if I could change them to what I would like to see. Viola! No more cblog folder!

Route 2.0 Meets Web 2.0

There is a lot of talk the days about the newest revolution on the Internet: Social Networking. It started with this blog which I use to write not just about the roads across the Commonwealth, but musings about Pennsylvania. However, other means of social networking have come along since blogs were all the rage. I began to think how these new tools could benefit Pennsylvania Highways. So today, the ninth anniversary of when I purchased the pahighways.com domain, I created a couple new avenues of communication.

Twitter
The new cultural buzz-word. Everyone seems to be Twittering, from Oprah to Senator John McCain. I've seen other Twitter pages such as CNN's and the Washington State Department of Transportation's and thought how it could work for my site. PennDOT and the PTC do have a system where people can receive text messages; however, it doesn't have the immediacy of a Twitter post. So using the WSDOT "template" I created an account that will be used for news items pertaining to the highway system from the respective agencies that oversee them.

http://twitter.com/pahighways

Facebook
Another phenomenon that seems to have come out of nowhere and taken the Internet by storm is Facebook. It seems that everyone from 9 to 90 has a Facebook page, even people's pets! So I figured why not create a Pennsylvania Highways presence on this platform as well. The page will be used to share news articles as well announcements of upcoming road enthusiast meets and other events.

http://www.facebook.com/pahighways

YouTube
No doubt you have spent time on this site, probably at work trying not to get caught by the boss while watching a clip of a skateboarding bulldog. YouTube is nothing new to the road enthusiast community as others have been taping their journeys and uploading them to this popular website. So now Pennsylvania Highways has entered the fray, but trying to find its niche will take a little longer than it took to get the page set up. One issue is that PennDOT has saved me the work by going ahead and videotaping all state routes. Another issue is that I need a newer videocamera than my family's circa 1991 Panasonic camcorder that is as big as a half loaf of bread, or just buy the A/V dongle from Hauppauge so I can record the video from it onto my computer's hard drive. Basically this idea is still on the burner.

http://www.youtube.com/pahighways

Route 2.0 Meets Web 2.0 Again

Last April, I created new avenues of communication with three of the most used social networking sites on the Internet today. So far the Twitter account has 678 followers, the Facebook page has 282 fans, and the YouTube channel has 14 subscribers. Today I created a Pennsylvania Highways presence on three more social networking platforms that will hopefully have the same success as the first three.

Vimeo
Everyone knows YouTube, but not everyone has heard of this service. The difference between the two services is that this one provides high bit rates, resolutions, and full HD support. It has gained a reputation for catering to an artistic crowd because of these attributes, so I will use this to showcase special videos. However, I still have the problem as with the YouTube Channel in that I need a new, modern camcorder. Basically this idea is still on the burner as well.

http://www.vimeo.com/pahighways

Delicious
Social networking has been around much longer with such sites as this which has been around since 2003 when it was known as Del.icio.us. Social bookmarking is one facet where people can share items just like on any other platform. Up to now, I had been putting any road-related news articles on the Facebook fan page so this will take over that job and make the Facebook page a lot cleaner.

http://delicious.com/pahighways

Tumblr
A buzzword that has been flying around the Web 2.0 world is microblogging. It is just a short-form version of blogging with content that is shorter. Twitter is an example of microblogging, but it has one drawback: 140 character limit on entries. Twitter is a good service for spreading the word about traffic or construction, but this service allows for entries that are not limited to a specific number of characters. The one drawback of this blog is that it isn't accessible from mobile devices. Tumblr is, which is good for a website whose subject is roads and travel so this will be the mobile blogging platform for Pennsylvania Highways to provide a channel for field reporting.

http://pahighways.tumblr.com/