Gribblenation

Here's another end-of-the-year summary of the progress made in completing I-73 and I-74 in North Carolina. While 2014 did not see the amount of projects completed as was the case in 2013, there was a significant milestone for I-74 and the start of additional projects for both routes which shall add to their total mileage in the years ahead. A. I-73 It was hard to top the increase in mileage the completion of signage projects in 2013 did for I-73. The route went from being signed as an interstate for 46 miles at the end of 2012 to 77 miles at the end of 2013, an increase of 40%. The route was now officially signed from I-40 in Greensboro to south of Ellerbe. Here's the Begin signage in the background of a photo of the new signage for the US 220 interchange, Exit 25, courtesy of Mark Clifton: And here's a closer view of the Begin signage itself: On the other side there is the End signage, photo courtesy of Chris Curley: There were no projects completed for I-...

On June 17, NCDOT plans to let the next construction project for its Greensboro Loop project, the northeast segment from US 70 to US 29. When work starts sometime later in the summer, this will be the third interstate construction project to get the go-ahead in the Greensboro/Guilford County, NC area in the past six months. Over the next few years this will make the Triad Area on North Carolina one of the busiest places for road construction in the country. A Breakdown of the Interstate Construction Projects: 1. Greensboro Loop, NW Segment, from Bryan Blvd. to Battleground Ave. (US 220). Contract Number: C203197 Length: 3.8 Miles Cost: $122,804,388.50 Construction started: October 30, 2013 Estimated completion: March 14, 2018  This project to build the next segment of I-840 from Bryan Blvd. to Battleground Avenue has been underway since last year. So far, the project has been noticeable due to all the land cleared for the future roadway. Whe...

The NY State Pavilion 22nd April 2014 was the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the 1964-65 World's Fair in what's now known as Flushing Meadows Corona Park. There has been an active effort to restore the New York State Pavilion . It's an iconic structure, and has the potential to be a great attraction. I'm not just talking out of my hat here: Today's viewing event drew thousands. One of the organisers said they expected like 800 people to show up. My DP and I went-and we got there early- the event started at 11.00am, and we got there at 10, and the line was incredible even then:  we waited on line to get a number for two hours and another hour and a half to get our number called. We left the park at 3.00 pm, and one of my friends from a band said he had gotten his number, and was waiting to get in and wondered if we were still about. This was at 4 pm. One of the features of the Pavilion is that the floor is a giant NY State roadmap by Rand McNally, and ...

I had a conference to attend on Friday and Saturday in Portsmouth, NH. Since I decided to save some money and not book a room, but commute instead, I had a couple opportunities to check out new signage along I-95 (and parts of I-93 too) both Friday and Saturday. 1. Friday Drive For the Friday trip up I used I-93 and US 1 to take me to I-95 in Peabody. The only new sign worth taking a photo of along I-93 was the newly placed Exit 15 attractions sign which had been put up blank in February but recently received its logos: MassDOT has gone recently to brown backgrounds for the site logo, originally these were a darker blue. The placement of the sign makes it hard to see around the light pole. There was nothing else new to report. The contractor still has additional foundations to pour before they can start installing sign supports along this stretch of I-93 from Braintree to Boston. There is a new sign replacement project to complete the sign updating along I-95 from Peabody to th...