Driving in the NE

No thank you!! When I started drving I did a couple trips through Montana, and snowquamie(sP?) In Washington.
That was enough to let me know I hate mountains. I make the same rate driving on flat land, and don't have to change my underwear every couple hours!!!

 

95 in RI is clear now driver. That bridge repair is complete. The smokeys aren't even sitting out there anymore. However 295 is much faster than going through providence. When i would go to the BX from Hyde Park, I would use 295 as I could go 65 without all those curves through providence.

 

If in Massachusetts, WBZ traffic on the 3's. Am 1030 affiliate of 1010 wins in NY

 

The 81 in Scranton had been torn up for years now, it's 45 or 55 with merges and no acceleration lanes all through there.

Plus, running the the 84 puts you through the hills of he Catskills and the 81 runs the Appalachian.

We save about 45 mins taking 78 to 287 to 95 to 91. Run it every week.

 

That's been all done and gone for about 3 years now...???

so it's "safe''

(and by the way, RI collected nearly $15 MILLION dollars for driver's lack of effort for taking the detours..!!)

 

I stopped delivering in Mansfield, MA back in 2010 and I haven't stepped foot in RI since (nor do I plan to with their truck-only tolls on the way)

$15m big ones... They should randomly put out No Truck signs all over the place to finance these infrastructure rebuilds!! Remove tolls and let the inattentive drivers pay for it!

 

At the time those signs were huge. Any driver THAT inattentive that they missed it deserved the fine. I doubt it was so much not paying attention as thinking it won't happen to me.

The truck only toll idea was scrapped due to industry pushback. At least that is the status as of this time. Heard that on one of the local stations coming out of the area this week.

 

That didn't go over so well, I'm not surprised! I get TTR news every Friday in my email and I think it was 2 weeks ago they were pushing ahead with it, blaming trucks for most of the damage (as though we don't pay huge fuel taxes into the states to help pay for roads)

I know 2 drivers who missed it, doesn't say much! I was at the split in heavy fog one night and almost ended up in the wrong lane. One got caught, one got away and was talking about it in front of some other drivers who pointed out he wasn't allowed on the bridge. Said he never saw any signs, LOL

 

I remember the one on the south side was lit up like a carnival ride and really hard to miss lol the one north wasn't quite as conspicuous but still not hard to miss but I could see running up in it in fog and missing it.

I don't put it past them to try again at some point to put a toll in place after everyone forgets about it for awhile. The state has been horribly mismanaged. Just running through there and listening to the local talk radio about the endless financial scandals and corruption at the state level leaves little wonder how a state so small could be so far in debt and looking for any money grab they can come up with.

 

Never underestimate the ability of government to make a mess finding problems for their solutions!

I'm not up to speed on politics at the state level, but judging by the difficulty securing long term access to money for infrastructure at the national level, it's going to be long, pot-hole filled, uphill battle.