This report is from another weekend trip from Virginia Beach, VA to Syracuse, NY, in mid-February, 2004.
Drove up to Liverpool, NY to spend the weekend up here with my "other half".
While on the way up, I noticed that VDOT has recently (i.e. within the last 2
weeks) added milemarkers to US 13 along the Virginia Eastern Shore, between the
CBBT and Oak Hall. The milemarkers conform to US 13's mileage in Virginia, down
to the NC line (though it's unclear if they include the rerouting onto the SW
Suffolk Bypass), with the first ones being in the low 70s (first picture I
snagged was MM 72). Milemarkers on the CBBT itself remain unchanged, and reflect
CBBT mileage rather than US 13 mileage.
Adding milemarkers was one of the recommendations from the US 13/Wallops Island
Access Management Study, which is on the VDOT website here: http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/constHRO-rt13-wallops.asp
In other news, construction of the high-speed EZPass lanes at Dover on DE 1
continues....concrete has been poured, but there's still a ways to go. Signs on
each end of the construction point to a May, 2004 completion.
Found out the hard way that PTC does not accept EZPass in all lanes....found
this out while exiting I-476 at Exit 105 (and picking the wrong lane in the
process)...
For Alex Nitzman: there are still a fair number of I-81 NY shields in the
Syracuse area here. I've also seen quite a few I-81 shields that look like they
used to have the state name, but no longer do...particularly on Erie Blvd in
downtown Syracuse.
This weekend marks the first weekend I've perused the libraries of the
area....since Meaghan (my other half) works the weekends, I've had a bit of
free-time during the day. Yesterday, I checked out the Baldwinsville Public
Library, which had copies of 3 environmental documents for area projects, I-690
at the Thruway, the NY 31 "Belgium Bridge", and a Baldwinsville Bypass.
The I-690 EIS from 1981 was for what eventually became today's I-690
interchanges at John Glenn Blvd, NY 48, and I-90/Thruway. Amongst the 4
alternatives listed, 3 of them would have kept the Thruway's Exit 39 at its
original location.
The NY 31 "Belgium Bridge" documentation, from 2000, is for the current project
to replace the NY 31 "Belgium Bridge" over the Seneca River/Erie Canal, between
Lysander and Clay, in northern Onondaga County. The current 2-lane through truss
bridge (built in 1950) is being replaced by a 5-lane concrete girder bridge,
more or less in the same location, with the extra width going to the south. In
addition to the bridge replacement, the proposal calls for extending the 5-lane
section on NY 31 from CR 57 (old NY 57) west, across the bridge, and to NY 631
South. Right turn lanes will be included at some intersections, and a left-turn
lane from both directions will be added to River Rd at NY 31 (west side of the
river). The chosen alternative is the "Green Alternative" from the environmental
documention. The "Blue Alternative" differed in that it would build an
additional span to the north of the existing span for westbound traffic, keep
the existing span for eastbound traffic, and would've required roughly 30% more
ROW acquisitions.
Also, according to the environmental docs, the old bridge will be dismantled and
reassembled at the CR 32/Plainville Road canal crossing west of Baldwinsville.
The Baldwinsville Bypass document, from 1998, is for a proposed and
partially-built bypass of Baldwinsville, from NY 31 east of the village to NY 48
south of the village, including a new Seneca River crossing. Of four
alternatives ultimately studied, the "Red Alternative" is the preferred
alternative. The construction of NY 631 between NY 31 and NY 370 is the result
of this bypass proposal, though I'm not sure what the status is of finishing the
bypass.
As a bonus, the Baldwinsville Bypass document included a map from a 1979 EIS
showing alternatives for improving NY 31 to a freeway between NY 690 and NY 481.
The Baldwinsville library wasn't the only one I got to this weekend. I also went
to the Onondaga County central library in downtown Syracuse, where I found two
items: the EIS for a relocated NY 290, between the I-481/I-690 "Butternut
Interchange" and NY 257; and a mid 1970s planning map showing "Major Highway
Development in the Central New York Region", including extending the NY 5
expressway in some form from NY 695 to S. Geddes St west of downtown Syracuse,
improvements to NY 298 from the Carrier Circle to Bridgeport, and constructing a
part of John Glenn Blvd from NY 481 to Morgan Rd. The map also referred to NY
481 as NY 57, and referred to I-481 as I-281.
At the Syracuse University libary, I found a map of the proposed Vieux Carre
Expressway in New Orleans (my photo didn't turn out too well, though), a 1968
map for "Proposed Circulation for the Boston Regional Core" (including parts of
the cancelled Inner Belt and Southwest Expressway), the "1990 Expressway System
in the Boston Region", the 1972 Long Range Expressway Plan for Connecticut, and
a real gem: a map of the 1961 General Land Use Plan for Arlington County, VA,
including proposed location and interchanges for the cancelled Four Mile Run
Parkway, Fairfax Dr/Bluemont Dr (precursor to today's I-66), and what looks like
a limited-access parkway upgrade to US 50/Arlington Blvd, amongst other
proposals.
Meanwhile, in northeastern Syracuse is an interesting traffic circle, called the
"Carrier Circle", where NY 298, NY 635, Thompson Rd, and Exit 35 off the Thruway
intermingle. The circle has 2 lanes, with traffic in the circle having
right-of-way, but interestingly all five "exits" from the circle have exit
numbers, with Thompson Rd North being "Exit 1", and going counter-clockwise to
the I-90/NY Thruway exit being "Exit 5".
Further west along NY 298 (which is a 55 MPH 4-lane divided highway for about a
mile, serving industrial development) is another traffic circle serving the NY
298/TRUCK NY 298 intersection. After this, NY 298 drops to a 40 MPH arterial,
then a 30 MPH city street while entering the Syracuse city limits.
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