BS: Detour to the center of the earth

Subject: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: frogprince
Date: 28 Jul 08 - 12:53 AM

Why is it that being responsible for highway signage causes brain damage?
We set out on what was supposed to be no more than a 2-1/4 hour trip: I looked online for current highway construction on our route, and could find only one photo showing construction, captioned
"location unknown". A half hour from home, I turned up I475. Ten miles north on I475, we came to detour signs. Looked around as we came off the ramp, and the detour signs pointed to the ramp back unto I475 South. The detour led all the way back to where we turned off I69 unto I475. So, we took I69 straight to I75. We proceeded north on I75, intending to turn west on highway 10. About 8 miles before highway 10, a lighted read-out sign was set up saying "traffic switch: No.84 to No.10. Now, we had driven this route previously, and found the ramp off I75 to No.10 closed. So, when we came to 84, I set off up it to go to 10. We wound up crawling stoplight to stoplight for awhile. Fortunately, I pulled over once to check the map; I could see that #10 appeared to be the same as #25, so when we came to #25, I turned. Several slow miles later, we came to the very first sign confirming that we were in fact on #10. We then waited for the backup from a drawbridge to get moving. A few miles further, and we crossed I75; The exit from I75 to #10 was in normal use. Could have been worse; we made it to our destination in just over 3 hours.
         #&*@&**^%#...........

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: gnu
Date: 28 Jul 08 - 03:33 AM

Hopping mad, froggy?

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: gnomad
Date: 28 Jul 08 - 04:26 AM

Sounds like a lot of detours for sure, and pretty frustrating. For us "out of country" types can you give an idea how far this trip was taking you?

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: Leadfingers
Date: 28 Jul 08 - 10:41 AM

If there is an Interstate closure what hope is there for a Foreign Visitor ? I headed down to visit Catter Capri Uni in 2005 - FORTUNATELY heard a travel flash that there was a vehicle fire and the ONLY Route I knew back to Richmond was closed . I sat in a Mall , Sandwich and Coffee util the route North was oped and got back to base four hours later than I wanted to be ! What JOY there is in Motoring !

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Jul 08 - 01:40 PM

With that complicated a detour, your delay (3 hours instead of 2 and a quarter) sounds quite moderate, frogprince

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: frogprince
Date: 28 Jul 08 - 05:43 PM

It was supposed to be 144 miles one way. I didn't look at the odometer when we arrived, but I suspect we drove about 170. What gave me the "hops" wasn't encountering a detour as such. It was: 1, encountering a "detour", with no forewarning, that consisted of driving 10 miles to a dead end and doubling all the way back. Then: 2, seeing a sign clearly indicating a re-routing, following the described route through a very slow area, and then finding out that there was never any reason for the re-routing sign. we could have stayed on freeways with a 70 mph limit the whole time.

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: Sorcha
Date: 28 Jul 08 - 05:57 PM

Well, frog, I could be at the Center of the Earth here...supposed to be HOT there, right? My car therm. said 103 earlier...down to 'just' 99 now, at 4 PM.

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Jul 08 - 07:48 PM

What alwaysa confuses me is coming across signs saying "diversion" or "end of diversion" on roads where I am travelling exactly the same route that I normally travel. Clearly for some people's journeys there is a diversion involved, but there is no indication of the whither or the whence.

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 Jul 08 - 08:09 PM

"What always confuses me is coming across signs saying "diversion""

... yeah, I've never seen the circus there, either...

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Jul 08 - 08:56 PM

"Detour!
There's a muddy road ahead -
Detour!
Paid no mind to what it said -
Detour!
Oh these bitter things I find,
Should have read
That detour sign!"

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: Skivee
Date: 28 Jul 08 - 11:22 PM

I feel your pain
My bandmates and I just got back to the DC area after a weekend gigue at the Sterling Renaissance Fair in upper New York State.
About 5 extra hours were spent in detours.
I should like to suggest to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that their license plate slogan ("The Keystone State"), and their tourism promotional catch phrase ("You Have A Friend In Pennsylvania") do not accurately capture the subtlities of our sojourning experience. I have a few humble alternative proposals:

Pennsylvania- The Stumbling Block State
You Have A Construction Delay In Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania- Barrier To The North
Historic Pennsylvania- Where Time Slows Down
Pennsylvania- "The Construction Never Ends!"
Pennsylvania- The "Our Roads Are Slightly Better Than An Albanian Goat Trail" State
Pennsylvania- "Highway To Hell"

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 03:09 AM

Official Help

All it takes is a little prior planning.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: Skivee
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 11:27 AM

John, I was initially pleased as punch to see your post. Then I followed the links and found that none of the delays we encountered were listed.
This was not what I had expected.

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 11:33 AM

"Journey to the Centre of the Earth" .... good movie, in the 1960's genre.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 11:42 AM

Hey Charley....Back in the day and a way before the interstates, my Old Man used to sing that EVERY TIME he saw a detour sign and back then they were numerous!

Dad hated detours. His solution to a detour was one of his secret short cuts which often led to mystical and magical places......several states and hundreds of miles in the wrong direction via dirt roads only uised by farmers and coal trucks.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 04:22 PM

Skivee -

I'm not surprised you found the site a bit lacking.

The Federal site attempts to track most "significant" detours on Interstate and other major routes, but leaves it up to the state and local agencies to tell you what's going on off the main roads. Once you go to the "local" reports, the quality of reporting varies a lot - mostly downward.

SOMETIMES in the local report sections you can find additional links (to county and local cop-shop resources, or sometimes even to road maintenance) that can improve your information, if you really need to dig for accurate info; but it's still a risky business getting out on the public roads.

For "local" travel (less than a couple of hundred miles in my area, but perhaps 100 in yours) there may be more detailed (and more accurate) reports from county police (Sheriff offices), Highway Patrol (where there is one) or even local sources that aren't in the system I linked. Sometimes you can dig info out of local TV channel websites on "traffic delays."

There is a more accurate system available, at least for main routes, but the program costs about $2,000 and requires annual "renewal subscriptions" of around $1,500 per year. Even the major truck lines don't use it much, since costs of any delays come out of the drivers' pockets rather than the companies' profits.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 08:16 PM

Spaw-

I believe it was Merle Travis who composed "Detour" along with such other great songs as "No Vacancy." He also composed "Sixteen Tons" or at least the version that most people sing.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 08:55 PM

When I was a kid, whenever I saw a sign that said "Road Plant Ahead", I would ask whether we were supposed to water it or feed it...

Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth
From: Don Firth
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 09:21 PM

No Left Turn.

No Right Turn.

No U-Turn.

Dead End.


Don Firth