Casey Highway Trip

 

Located between Dunmore and Carbondale, Pennsylvania is the US 6 Freeway. Officially known as Lackawanna Valley Industrial Highway, it is signed as the Governor Robert P. Casey Highway in honor of the former Pennsylvania governor who hailed from the Scranton area and helped make this freeway a reality. It is a fitting tribute to a governor who started the improvements program that has brought highway quality in Pennsylvania streets ahead of where it was 15 or 20 years previously. When the freeway opened, the former alignment of US 6 between Dunmore and Dickson City (where US 6 meets US 11 just south of Clarks Summit) became signed as Business US 6.

Some bonus photos, mainly of the around the Narrowsburg Bridge that crosses the Delaware River in Narrowsburg, NY and some photos out and about in Sullivan and Ulster Counties in New York State are also included in this collection of road trip photos.

Photos and commentary were taken by Otto Yamamoto in September 2003. We have decided to keep the photos and commentary as true to form as possible to the original article. The photos were hosted by Gribblenation on a previous incarnation of our site, and we are proud to be able to bring back this classic article.

US 6 in Wayne County East of Carbondale-heading westbound.

Approaching the US 6 PA 296 JN-westbound in Waymart PA.

The westbound "Exit 7" advance signage. This is a level junction a la "Exit 98".

A nice three-span bridge west of JN 7. This is Salem Mountain Road.

Approaching JN 6 westbound. The merge is for a scenic overlook.

Approaching JN 6 westbound. One of MANY truck info sines :).

JN 6 westbound at the slip road. Truck info sines are prominent yet again.

JN 5 westbound at the slip road. Got the exit sign this time :).

Leaving JN 5 westbound.

Quite a ways further at junction 2-still westbound here.

Closer to junction 2-westbound.

Just before the IH 81-IH 84-IH 380-US 6 Freeway junction.
This sign omits JN 188, which doesn't link directly to Scranton.

Northbound on the IH 81 mainline here.
You can see the old junction plate for JN 190-same style as FL uses.
Also at the right, note the tenth milemarker. PA's jumping on that bandwagon, too :)

Northbound on the IH 81 mainline here.
Coming up to the Scranton Expressway Junction.

Southbound on the US 11 Scranton Expressway- SW of the IH 81 JN 191.
The Lackawanna railway is immediately to the west(right in picture)

Southbound on the US 11 Scranton Expressway.
Just north of the end of the freeway.

Southbound on the Central Scranton Expressway.
The overpass is for Harrison Avenue in Scranton.

The IH 81 northbound.
JN 187 advance diagram sign.

And now to completely disorient you,
here's a snap of me entering IH 84 westbound at junction 2
Note the "Clearview" sign at the center of the snap.
A low rent rip-off of the GB "Transport Medium" font :P

This snap is NOT IH 81-It's IH 84 westbound near it's terminus-which is un-numbered.
It should be "Exit 0"-especially with the US 6 freeway leaving to the right.
There aren't any END sines, either, odd since PA has gotten fairly good at posting
highway termini.

Further up the road, things get a bit more specific.

I guess this is the official "END" of IH 84's eastern incarnation.

Back on the IH 81 north again. Getting dizzy yet?

Now if you look on the official PENDOT Lackawanna County map,
it doesn't show the collector-distributor setup you see on the right-
That's where the US 6 freeway joins in.

The lanes start squishing down here. The inside right drops;
and the CD loses 2 via an exit.

After it's all said and done, this is what you get near MP 189.
Note the constant-slope wall, which is popular in my part of NY.

Now we've reversed direction and are approaching junction 187 from the north.

Now we have the point where you leave SB IH 81 to join IH 84 or US 6.
The merge from the right is from JN 188-the SH 347 junction.

This is on the SB IH 81JN 187 slip road-Which also does C-D duty for JN 188.

This is on the SB IH 81JN 187 slip road-This is the point where US 6 leaves,
and IH 84 and IH 380 begin.

And back on US 6 eastbound beyond the Stack.

Eastbound at US 6 JN 2. Junctions on the US 6 freeway are numbered sequentially.
This freeway also has a milepost system that starts at the Stack

Eastbound on the US 6 freeway.

The junction 4 Truck Info sines.

Eastbound on US 6 near junction 4.

Eastbound on US 6 near junction 5.

Eastbound on US 6 near junction 5-this is where all the trucks have to go.

Eastbound on US 6 between jns 5 and 6.

Eastbound on US 6.

Eastbound on US 6-the Salem Mountain Road overpass again.

Eastbound on US 6-Coming to the end of the freeway near "Exit 7".

Eastbound on US 6-Coming to the end of the freeway near "Exit 7".
That's not a left EXIT, it's a left TURN :P
At least the junction plate's in the right place.

Eastbound on US 6-Coming to the end of the freeway near "Exit 7".

Here's the Narrowsburg Bridge at the end of PA 652 and NY 52.
This is shot from a layby on the PA side

Though the sign says "Bridge no. 4" this is the only sign I've ever seen like this.
It's the size of a large Interstate shield.

Looking west on PA 652 at the same vantage point as the last shot.
This was the eastern end of US 106 when that route was current.

END assembly near the bridge.
All but the NY 97 sheild are PENNDOT, NY 97 is NYSDOT-and new, too
having a miniature NYSDOT "T" logo.
No mention of NY 52 is made, however.

Closeup of the welcome sine. Better than what you get on the NY side-which is nothing :P

And the multiplicity of municipality sines. Darbytown isn't much of a village.

The date plate on the Delaware bridge at Narrowsburg.

Looking east across the Delaware bridge at Narrowsburg.

Mailboxes next to the bridge. Rather handy, these :)

NY 52/Sullivan County 111 looking NE. This is only POSTED as NY 52.
Sullivan County maintains the road. No reference markers are posted

A Sullivan County junction and directional assembly.
Mixed case letters are used on all Sullivan County signs.

Sullivan County 115 between NY 52 and NY 17B.

NY 17B Looking east-just east of the Sullivan CO 115 JN.
I like this highway a lot.

NY 17B Looking east-4 lane section near the Monticello Raceway-close by the terminus at NY 17 JN 104.
A casino may go in here and it'll be interesting to see what will be done to accommodate it (Nothing in particular, as it happened).
In the 20 years since these photos were taken, Resorts World Catskills and the Kartrite Water Park opened up in a different area on the outskirts of Monticello. The land around the Monticello Raceway is still the Monticello Raceway.

In Monticello, at the point where NY 42 turns north from east, you have this fine sine.

In Woodbourne, NY 42 and NY 52 are concurrent for a short distance.
However, this is not the norm. This may be the only incident of two Reference Markers posted together.
Both are fairly old.

NY 52 looking east from Woodbourne. Another fave road. This is a straight fast shot to Ellenville.

NY 52 looking east -a bit futher on.

This is a short stretch of Ulster CO 53-Old NY 52 west of Ellenville.
Here we cross a standard issue old NY DPW bridge.

This is a short stretch of Ulster CO 53-Old NY 52 west of Ellenville.
The same stream in the last picture is crossed by NY 52 on this bridge, now.

NY 213 looking east-about a mile from the US 209 JN.

NY 213 looking east-The "Red Bridge": in High Falls east of the Ulster CH 1 JN-another favorite bridge.

NY 213 looking east-between High Falls and Rosendale.

And a last shot, here NY 32 and NY 213 on a bridge south of Tillson.

Sources and Links:
Pennsylvania Highways - US 6 Grand Army of the Republic Highway