Gribblenation

Interstate 68 through Western Maryland is a highly scenic drive, and the freeway's construction has its own collection of stories as well.  It is fitting then that both the scenery and history of this Interstate come together at Sideling Hill, a handful of miles west of Hancock and Interstate 70.  This impressive piece of highway engineering eliminated a narrow, twisty an treacherous climb up and down Sideling Hill along US 40 was a key piece in improving and opening up access to Western Maryland to the rest of the state. When opened in August 1985, the impressive road cut was the culmination of  over a decade of studies, planning and construction.  The question of how to get around, over or through Sideling Hill involved five different alternatives.  Two of them via a tunnel and the other three a cut through the mountain. (1)  Overall costs, maintenance concerns, and hazardous materials concerns ruled out the lengthy tunnel projects.  Construc...

Maggie and I headed up to Pennsylvania for the Fourth of July.  We headed up on a Thursday and spent about three hours at Sky Meadows State Park in Paris, Virginia for lunch and some hiking. Route: NC 50, US 15, I-85, I-95, US 17, I-81, VA 37, US 522, I-68, US 40, PA 51, PA 48. For years, I have wanted to stop and check out Sky Meadows State Park .  Sky Meadows is located on the two lane stretch of US 17 that runs between US 50 and Interstate 66.  Though only ten miles in length, this is a highly scenic and enjoyable drive.  (Do watch your speed and keep your eye out for equestrians along the shoulder of the road.) For the entire flickr set from Sky Meadows - head here . After a lunch, we decided to take some time hiking some of the trails at the park.  Sky Meadows has over 12 miles of hiking trails , and the park includes nearly two and a half miles of the Appalachian Trail.  We weren't able to reach the AT; however, we did hike the Piedmont Over...

A recent story in the Uniontown Herald-Standard reports that the completion of WV 43 to Bower's Lane is scheduled for August 20th.  Wow, that's fast! A reminder that this will not tie the freeway directly to Interstate 68 as motorists will need to make about a 1/2 mile detour on local roads to get to I-68.  However, when this phase is completed and open sometime after August, it will eliminate nearly seven miles of travel on a narrow and sometimes twisty Highway 857. WVDOH will build a direct high-speed connection between WV 43 and I-68 when traffic volumes warrant it. That could be years if not decades away.

With West Virginia nearing completion of their portion of the Mon-Fayette Expressway, PennDot is looking to moving US 119 onto it, once the Mon-Fayette is completed, to Interstate 68.  According to the minutes of the August 20, 2009 meeting of the Morgantown Metropolitan Planning Organization, PennDot "...wishes to [ask] AASHTO to resign that section of the Mon-Fayette Expressway as U.S. 119. Pennsylvania wishes to immediately place U.S. 119 signage on the interstate and overlap from Exit 1 on I-68, across Cheat Lake." Under the Pennsylvania proposal, US 119 would no longer leave the freeway at Morgantown Road (un-numbered exit; mile 12), but it would now continue on the toll road south into West Virginia and then west on Interstate 68 until Exit 1.  However, West Virginia prefers that US 119 leave I-68 at Exit 7 and continue to run through downtown Morgantown. Above: A scan from a 2009 PennDot State Map showing the under construction Mon-Fayette Expwy (in Green) US 1...