Gribblenation

Earlier this month, the North Carolina Turnpike Authority announced their preferred alternative for the controversial Garden Parkway. The northern route or 'Alternative 9' has been chosen as the recommended route for the future toll road. Next steps for the Garden Parkway is the completion of a Final Environmental Impact Statement in the coming spring. The NCTA received heavy scrutinization from the Environmental Protection Agency and local citizens groups when a Draft EIS was released earlier this year. Rumors of changes in the route - from elimination of interchanges, reduction of lanes, and building the entire route vs. piecemeal construction - were not revealed. Story Links: State locks in on official route for proposed toll road ---Gaston Gazette

Earlier this month, VDOT officially supported the current FHWA approved route for I-73 through Henry County vs. a recently completed study alternate route proposed by the Henry County Board of Supervisors. VDOT has suggested to the Commonwealth Transportation Board ( CTB ) that the alternate route not be studied further. The CTB has not made a decision on whether or not they will consider the alternate route for futher study. VDOT's biggest concerns is that the alternate route costs more. But their biggest concern is that any further study of the route could delay and ultimately jeopardize the project. The current approved route for I-73 was cleared by the FHWA in 2004. However, the Henry County Board of Supervisors wants the route closer to Martinsville . They see I-73 as a key to reviving the local economy and that the current planned route is too far from Martinsville to make a positive impact. VDOT also is concerned that if I-73 gets changed in Henry County, Frankl...

It didn't take long for doubts to start creeping in on Governor Beverly Perdue's design-build-finance plan for completing Interstate 485. Two weeks after the announcement of the plan, NC Treasurer Janet Cowell's office issued a statement expressing concern on how the plan is financed. A spokesperson for Cowell's office said, "In the absence of contracts specifying terms and conditions of the 485 project, we are unable to determine if there are issues or concerns." Perdue's office immediately responded with a statement of their own, "Prior to announcing the plan, we worked with the[Attorney General Roy Cooper's] office as we developed the design-build-finance program for completing I-485. During this process, the Attorney General's office indicated that our plan was legal." Then throw in that the DOT thought that the Treasurer's office was already on board with the plan. Jim Trogdon , the DOT's chief operating officer, sai...

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...

Prior to the DC Road Meet, I spent some time at Manassas National Battlefield Park. This was my second visit to the park, and it was my first since October 2001. On that trip, the photos I took with a $30 camera was ruined by a piece of film lodged inside. Since then, I had been wanting to get back to some of the sights on that trip to retake photos and enjoy everything again. I only had about 90 minutes to two hours before I needed to get to the meet site, so I didn't see everything I wanted to, but I can always come back. The National Park Service recommends that if you do not have a lot of time to spend to take a hike on roughly mile long Henry Hill loop. So that is part of what I did. The Henry Hill loop highlights the First Battle of Manassas and some of the key figures, events, and locations in that battle. For the entire set on flick (even a few signs), head here . A view of the Henry House. Judith Henry, who lived here, was the first civilian casualty of the war. S...

Last weekend, Adam Froehlig hosted the first Washington DC roadmeet. So I decided to head up and attend the meet and visit family at the same time. For the entire meet set - head here . There's a lot going on in the Metro DC area - and the first part of the meet took a look at the recently completed Woodrow Wilson Bridge. We took a brief walk across the newly opened pedestrian and bikeway. The views of the traffic and upstream on the Potomac are impressive. The beginning of the walkway on the Alexandria, VA side. The US Capitol viewed from the bridge. Washington Monument Sailboats were out A look at the inner loop's newly opened local lanes. We did a driving tour of the Springfield (I-95/I-395/I-495) Interchange construction's final phase - HOV lane connections and of the construction of the missing piece of the Fairfax County Parkway. I was driving - and I didn't take any photos of that. Next, was a driving tour of the 495 HOT (High Occupancy Toll) construction wit...

Some of you may have noticed that I have been uploading a large number of road photos onto my Flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougtone/ recently. I've decided to do this because I want to get all my photos online, and I find Flickr to be more manageable for this this project than the photo gallery applications offers with the Gribblenation web hosting package. I do plan greater interoperability between Flickr and my Gribblenation pages in the future, but until then, enjoy these photos that I've recently added... Oregon Ontario Ohio Quebec Tennessee Washington, D.C. Maine