Gribblenation

Well Interstate 36 tags won't be climbing up the blog list after all.  The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) reviewed North Carolina's two interstate requests of Interstate 36 for the US 70 Eastern Corridor and Interstate 89 for the US 64/17 Raleigh-Norfolk Corridor and suggested two different numbers that NCDOT agreed to.  They are: Interstate 42: This is the Clayton /Morehead City Super 70 Corridor.  It appears that AASHTO wanted to have continuity with the numbering grid.  I-42 will run completely north of Interstate 40.  NCDOT's concern for duplication with NC 42 was overruled.  Now, the question is will NCDOT rename all or part of the NC 42 which intersects both Interstate 40 and Interstate 42 before/after the new Interstate's western terminus.  The exit after/before what will be I-42 on Interstate 40 is NC 42.  In fact that intersection is known locally as "4042".  In fact, there was a local ...

Well when I made predictions for the designations of the two new North Carolina Interstate corridors a few months ago, I was way off.  NCDOT has formally requested Interstate 36 to be signed along the Super 70 Corridor and Interstate 89 for the Raleigh to Norfolk corridor.  The designations are pending AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) and FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) approval.  AASHTO meets in Des Moines, IA later this month.  The FHWA - to the best of our knowledge - has both requests under review.  Both numbers would be exceptions to the standard Interstate numbering grid set in the 1950s. Interstate 36 will run North of Interstate 40.  Typically, a number higher that 40 would be assigned to this route (more on NCDOT's rationale in a moment). On the other hand, Interstate 89 has a number of exceptions. 1) It is a duplicate of Interstate 89 in Vermont and New Hampshire.  This does occur with othe...

Prologue Before I start with Day 2, thought I should wrap up, and provide explanation why the Day 1 post stopped after getting to New Hampshire. After crossing into Vermont, I decided to get some exercise by checking out the Quechee Gorge State Park off of US 4 (Exit 1 off of I-89). This is when the fun started. First, it decided, when I was halfway to the Gorge, to start raining. I decided to return quickly back to the car, and in doing so, unbeknownst to me, dropped my wallet on the Gorge Trail. I then drove through often deluging rain (and speeds less than 30 mph) the 50 miles north on I-89 to my hotel. When I finally got there around 4PM and was asked for my credit card for reservation confirmation, it was then I found out I had no wallet, so no cash, cards, license, etc. Since my only stop was at Quechee, I headed back down there, fortunately, for the drive, the rain had stopped. However, the Visitors Center was closed and after I searched the trail a couple times, I went over to...

I applied for an open records management position at the Vermont Transportation Agency (VTrans) a couple weeks ago. Last Friday I was asked to interview for the position on Thursday 7/11 (how convenient) and decided to take advantage of the situation by going up the day before and do some road tripping along the way. My trip would take me up I-93 from south of Boston to Barre, VT, just south of Montpelier off of I-89. Along the way I took a 'few' photos that I will share with you. A. I-93 Signage South of Boston I took a quick south detour on my way north to check out any progress on the sign replacement project along I-93 from Randolph to Boston. Nothing new truly to report. All the overhead sign foundations have been up between Randolph and Braintree for a at least a couple weeks. There is now apparently a lull between getting the foundations in and the signs and support structures up. This hopefully will start happening before the start of fall. As for the SE Expressway p...