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28 Jul 08 - 12:53 AM (#2399173) Subject: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: frogprince 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. #&*@&**^%#........... |
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28 Jul 08 - 03:33 AM (#2399216) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: gnu Hopping mad, froggy? |
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28 Jul 08 - 04:26 AM (#2399227) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: gnomad 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? |
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28 Jul 08 - 10:41 AM (#2399431) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: Leadfingers 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 ! |
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28 Jul 08 - 01:40 PM (#2399593) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: McGrath of Harlow With that complicated a detour, your delay (3 hours instead of 2 and a quarter) sounds quite moderate, frogprince |
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28 Jul 08 - 05:43 PM (#2399820) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: frogprince 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. |
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28 Jul 08 - 05:57 PM (#2399835) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: Sorcha 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. |
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28 Jul 08 - 07:48 PM (#2399917) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: McGrath of Harlow 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. |
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28 Jul 08 - 08:09 PM (#2399931) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: The Fooles Troupe "What always confuses me is coming across signs saying "diversion"" ... yeah, I've never seen the circus there, either... |
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28 Jul 08 - 08:56 PM (#2399963) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: Charley Noble "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 |
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28 Jul 08 - 11:22 PM (#2400035) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: Skivee 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" |
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29 Jul 08 - 03:09 AM (#2400090) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: JohnInKansas Official Help All it takes is a little prior planning. John |
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29 Jul 08 - 11:27 AM (#2400362) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: Skivee 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. |
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29 Jul 08 - 11:33 AM (#2400366) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: GUEST,number 6 "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" .... good movie, in the 1960's genre. biLL |
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29 Jul 08 - 11:42 AM (#2400377) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: catspaw49 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 |
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29 Jul 08 - 04:22 PM (#2400607) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: JohnInKansas 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 |
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29 Jul 08 - 08:16 PM (#2400847) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: Charley Noble 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 |
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29 Jul 08 - 08:55 PM (#2400875) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: The Fooles Troupe 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... |
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29 Jul 08 - 09:21 PM (#2400887) Subject: RE: BS: Detour to the center of the earth From: Don Firth No Left Turn. No Right Turn. No U-Turn. Dead End. Don Firth |