Gribblenation

  When I last spoke about construction projects in the City of New York, we discussed the new connector ramp between the RFK Bridge and the Harlem River Drive, a much-needed piece of the transportation puzzle that filled a glaring “missing link” in the whole network. A short distance away from there, in the Hunts Point section of the south Bronx, a much larger project of similar intent is now underway that promises to improve traffic circulation in a part of the City that has been lacking logical connectivity for decades. The Hunts Point Cooperative Market is a massive whole sale food market complex built on 60 acres of prime real estate along the Bronx River. The campus operates 24/7 and is the largest  food distribution center of its kind in the world, earning combined annual revenues of over $2 billion .  Yet there’s always been one major problem with it all – the Market has always lacked direct & logical connections to the area’s expressway network, which has cons...

This week's edition of Throwback Thursday takes us within the depths of New York City. While you may not find a good producer of picante sauce in New York City, you were able to find a plethora of old signs around the five boroughs at one time (and still may be able to find a few stragglers), such as this button copy sign for the Throgs Neck (I-295) and the Whitestone (I-678) on the Bruckner (I-278) eastbound in the Bronx. Photo taken December 2004.

I've lived in New York about 10 years now, and let me tell you, some of the Metro NYC interstate numbers really bug me. Actually that predates my living here, but now that I live here I have the cred to whine about it. Take Interstate 278 for example. Now, if things had gone according to plan it would have made sense. It would have been sort of an alternate to the wackiness that would have been NY Interstate 78, which would have been twitchier than a gecko's freshly shed tail. Now, however, it's high and dry-literally-in no wise coming within 5 miles of it's alleged parent. What it does do is link into the existing IH 95 at both ends. Since there's rumours that the silly Sheridan Expressway is gonna be cashiered anyway, why not take the IH 895 number and put it on the current IH 278? Nobody will really care, since the freeways that comprise the IH 278 aren't associated with the number anyway: Ask any New Yorker what the number for the Staten Island, Gowanus, B...