New Travels and Stats Discussion

[Jim]

A little on my 2023 in TM.

Like I have for a few years, I created a year-specific jt2023.list file.  That account tracked my 6200+ miles traveled on TM-clinchable routes in North America during the year.  I did not put my 700+ miles in Portugal, Spain, and the UK in that list (which were all new for my standard terescoj.list file) into the jt2023.list file.

For new travels, my overall active+preview totals went from 98,939 miles to 101,275 miles.  A little of that came from the promotion of usams to preview, but it's mostly new travels in the US and Canada, plus the 700+ Europe miles mentioned above.

[Markkos1992]

I was able to get one last 2023 trip in on December 30th that focused on western PA and continued my progress in "Doing 6".

It was the normal US 22 nighttime route (bypassing Hollidaysburg and Duncansville via Frankstown Rd and I-99/US 2200) to Ebensburg before taking US 219 NB to US 422 WB to PA 56 WB west of Indiana to Apollo.  I then took PA 66 SB to PA 819 SB, which I followed all the way to PA 31 in Mount Pleasant where I officially clinched the route. (I did the section south of PA 31 to PA 201 in the blowing snow in March, and that was a curvy mess that IMO should not be a PA Route.)  Note that there is a US 981 shield standing at the new PA 819/PA 981 roundabout that is now open just north of Mount Pleasant.

Then I took PA 31 WB to US 119 NB to I-70 WB exiting at PA 51.  I took PA 51 NB all the way to the West End Bridge (making William Roll happy in the process by traveling through two of the 20 strangest intersections in Pittsburgh) closing all of my gaps in the route south of Pittsburgh meaning that I now have PA 51 fully clinched south of the PA 68 split in Beaver.  I then accessed the Fort Pitt Bridge by taking the ramp from PA 837 SB to quickly exit onto I-279 NB to access PA 28 NB so I could loop and tour the recently completed construction at the Highland Park Bridge Interchange that keeps two continuous through lanes on both directions of PA 28.

I would follow PA 28 NB ultimately to PA 356 SB finally completing PA 356 east of PA 228.  I then took PA 66 NB to PA 66 ALT NB (to finally clinch this odd route) to PA 66 NB following it past the PA 28 Concurrency all the way to US 6 in Kane to clinch it (with a detour to clinch PA 899 since I had no other easy way to clinch that route since I already clinched PA 36).  I then took US 6 WB to PA 666 in Sheffield to turn around and take US 6 EB all the way to US 220 near Towanda (minus another detour to clinch PA 146, which is a fun 55 mph drive for four miles and then becoming a curvy mess the rest of the way to PA 46).  Along the way, I clarified the completion of the realignment of PA 660 at the eastern end of the US 6 concurrency between Wellsboro and Mansfield.  Anyway, I now have US 6 clinched in full between the west end of the Warren Bypass at US 6 BUS (Warren)/US 62 and US 220.  Hopefully, I will get the rest of US 6 in PA in 2024.  My next trip to northern PA will most likely pick up US 6 in Towanda after clinching PA 414.  Sadly, I doubt it will be this upcoming weekend due to snow in the forecast.

Anyway, the rest of the trip was just US 220 SB to PA 405 SB in Hughesville to I-180 EB to PA 147 SB to US 11/US 15 SB to US 22 EB/US 322 EB.  Nothing abnormal to see here though I did see that one of the new CSVT overpasses on the southern section currently under construction is open as I viewed a vehicle on it from US 15 SB/PA 147 SB.  I also ate dinner at the Hoss's in Shamokin Dam again because I was craving the salad bar.

Clinched: PA 819, PA 66 ALT (Vandergrift), PA 66, PA 899, PA 146

New Mileage:  PA 51, PA 356, US 6 (PA), PA 321, PA 46, PA 155, PA 660

[ntallyn]

A business trip to Myrtle Beach over the New Year holiday gave me the opportunity to get a few new miles (but not a whole lot, unfortunately). Due to time constraints, I had to travel reasonably directly both ways, but as I had only been to Myrtle Beach once before, it did allow for some new roads.

The northbound route was I-95 to Walterboro (all old), then SC 64, US 17 Alt (Summerville; clinched), a tiny bit of US 521 in Georgetown, US 17, and SC 707 (clinched).

While in Myrtle Beach, I was able to get a little more of US 17 (up to North Myrtle Beach).

The return trip was SC 22, SC 31, SC 707, US 17, I-526 (probably previously clinched, but got it for sure this time), US 17, and due to an accident on I-95 in Savannah, GA 21, GA 307, I-16, and then I-95.

[Bickendan]

Waiting to board my flight back from Bengaluru, India.
Picked up portions of KA NH 44 and '48E'. No route signage, of course.
There had been a trip planned down to Mysuru, which would have netted a good portion of KA NH 275, but that was cancelled sadly.
Also did pick up segments of the Green and Purple Lines.

[mpg]

Did a day trip down to Hugo, OK yesterday to hit 7 new counties (14 left for me in Oklahoma) and picked up a couple hundred new miles of clinchable highway along the way. I followed OK 3 from Ada southeast to Pushmataha County (a little under 100 miles), then cut south to Hugo via OK 93, which became my first clinched highway of 2024. I stopped in Hugo for Braum's and picked up US271BusHug in the process. From there I drove west on US 70 to OK 70E, the latter becoming my first "trailblazing" clinch in Oklahoma. Afterwards I connected back with US 70 and followed it from Durant to Madill, then took US 177 the rest of the way back to the Ada area (with no new mileage thereafter).

Clinched: OK 93, US 271 Bus Hugo, OK 70E

New mileage (ignoring brief concurrencies): OK 19, OK3Ada, US 70, US 177

[mapcat]

A 3-day trip to the Mid-South happened this weekend. It was supposed to be a 4-day trip (the 12th was my last Friday off for a while) but nature interfered.

I planned it back in mid-December, with the idea that the Union City TN bypass (TN 690, future I-69) would certainly be open by the second week of January. It isn't (see the TN 690 topic), but the trip also afforded the opportunity to reclinch US 641 south of Murray KY, and pre-reclinch US 78 (signs in Arkansas are not yet up, and the new routing in Memphis isn't signed) (the old routing isn't particularly well signed, either), plus nab 3 of the 4 usausb routes I haven't yet clinched in Arkansas. However, the predicted bad weather for the region (several inches of snow and single-digit °F temps) caused me to cut a day out and hurry home on Sunday, so everything west of West Memphis got eliminated. Video from Memphis TV news assured me I'd made the right choice; while snow amounts were mostly limited to about 3" this morning, snow removal appeared to be going very slowly, and salt/brine isn't particularly effective that far below freezing.

Nevertheless, I got what I'd hoped to get in Kentucky, picked up a few random clinches and more miles in NW Tennessee and NE Arkansas, did a grand tour of Memphis that added most of the clinchable miles inside the 269/future 269 beltway, and took a new route home (TN 100 end to end plus a short up-and-back to Lexington TN via 200 and 459), finishing with a few routes north of Nashville along the Kentucky border. A few of the routes I clinched had never been driven by a TM user before, so it was fun to remove a few of those from the list.

[formulanone]

However, the predicted bad weather for the region (several inches of snow and single-digit °F temps) caused me to cut a day out and hurry home on Sunday, so everything west of West Memphis got eliminated. Video from Memphis TV news assured me I'd made the right choice; while snow amounts were mostly limited to about 3" this morning, snow removal appeared to be going very slowly, and salt/brine isn't particularly effective that far below freezing.

Ironically, I was supposed to go to Memphis this week, but my driveway and neighborhood were also snowed and completely iced over. Never made it out of the driveway; I was only able to dig it out this morning when the temps finally went above freezing. We only have snow removal on our major roads, and people in the neighborhood reported that they couldn't get over the icy hills just a short distance away from the of our development.

[osu-lsu]

However, the predicted bad weather for the region (several inches of snow and single-digit °F temps) caused me to cut a day out and hurry home on Sunday, so everything west of West Memphis got eliminated. Video from Memphis TV news assured me I'd made the right choice; while snow amounts were mostly limited to about 3" this morning, snow removal appeared to be going very slowly, and salt/brine isn't particularly effective that far below freezing.

Ironically, I was supposed to go to Memphis this week, but my driveway and neighborhood were also snowed and completely iced over. Never made it out of the driveway; I was only able to dig it out this morning when the temps finally went above freezing. We only have snow removal on our major roads, and people in the neighborhood reported that they couldn't get over the icy hills just a short distance away from the of our development.

You were going to the International Blues Challenge (aka the IBC)?

[Markkos1992]

I braved the cold weather and blowing snow Saturday to do another northern PA run.

I left around 5 AM and went to Jersey Shore via the standard US 22 WB/US 322 WB to US 11 NB/US 15 NB to PA 147 NB to I-180 WB to US 220 SB.  I missed the exit for PA 44 NB because I was too excited talking to myself, but I turned around at the northern terminus of PA 150 to backtrack to PA 44 NB.  I took PA 44 NB to PA 414 EB in Waterville.  I stayed on PA 414 all the way to US 15, and all I will say about the narrow section between the Iron Bridge and the other one-lane bridge in Blackwell is that I am glad there were no vehicles near me in this section with snow and ice still being on much of the road.  That would have been messy especially at the Blackwell bridge. 

Once at US 15, I went south to do a large loop to clinch PA 184 and PA 284 via PA 287.  I then took US 15 NB to pick up PA 660 WB in Mansfield.  I stayed on PA 660 WB all the way to Leonard Harrison State Park to briefly view the East Rim of the PA Grand Canyon.  I say briefly because the parking lot was covered in snow and all but one spot seemed to be marked as handicapped.  Thankfully I only saw one other vehicle while there.  I then backtracked on PA 660 EB to PA 362 taking that west to US 6 before heading east to the Sheetz in Mansfield.  I then went south on US 15 back to PA 414 EB.  I stayed on PA 414 EB all the way to US 220 in Monroeton completing my clinch of PA 414.  Then I looped around Towanda a bit before taking US 6 EB all the way through amazingly beautiful snowy mountain scenery to PA 438 southeast of Factoryville (with a brief excursion to Camptown to clinch PA 409).  I do want to know how Keystone College in Factoryville got a Steak-N-Shake of all things.

Anyway, I did a loop using PA 438 EB to PA 247 SB to PA 642 WB back to US 6/US 11 in Dalton to take care of 438 for the lowest route number game.  I then backtracked northwest along US 6/US 11 to Factoryville to take PA 107 EB to the US 6 Carbondale Bypass to clinch PA 107.  From there, I took US 6 EB to US 6 BUS WB at the east end of the Carbondale Bypass and clinched a new Sheetz at the intersection of US 6 BUS and Meredith St (which I took to US 6 just because it would be a state route in VA....right...).  After stopping at that Sheetz for a bit, I took US 6 BUS WB to US 11 SB to PA 307 NB to finish PA 307 north of US 11.  Then I took PA 92 SB to PA 292 WB clinching that route that I am unsure should even exist when I got to PA 29.  From there, I took PA 29 SB to PA 309 SB to I-81 SB back to Harrisburg.  I did take the offramp to PA 424 on the southside of Hazelton, but I got right back on I-81 SB because I did not see any shields for PA 424 WB there yet.  I ended up driving through a snow squall in Schuylkill County, but visibility was thankfully not too bad, and the other drivers out there did a great job for once being careful.  I did get actually to see the variable speed limit trailers PennDOT has on this section on I-81 reduce the speed limit to 55 because of these conditions.

Clinched: PA 414, PA 184, PA 284, PA 660, PA 362, PA 409, PA 438, PA 632, PA 107, US 6 BUS (Carbondale, PA), PA 292

New Mileage: US 6 (PA), PA 247, PA 407, PA 307

[formulanone]

However, the predicted bad weather for the region (several inches of snow and single-digit °F temps) caused me to cut a day out and hurry home on Sunday, so everything west of West Memphis got eliminated. Video from Memphis TV news assured me I'd made the right choice; while snow amounts were mostly limited to about 3" this morning, snow removal appeared to be going very slowly, and salt/brine isn't particularly effective that far below freezing.

Ironically, I was supposed to go to Memphis this week, but my driveway and neighborhood were also snowed and completely iced over. Never made it out of the driveway; I was only able to dig it out this morning when the temps finally went above freezing. We only have snow removal on our major roads, and people in the neighborhood reported that they couldn't get over the icy hills just a short distance away from the of our development.

You were going to the International Blues Challenge (aka the IBC)?

No, nothing that exciting...the usual software training.

[mapmikey]

Took a 15 hr u-turn today…

New clinches in order: PA 272, PA 324, PA 741, PA 772, PA 282, PA 340, PA 722, PA 230, PA 441, PA 441 Trk, Airport Expwy, PA 24, PA 624.

New mileage on PA 462, PA 297, PA 921

This was the first extended ride with my newly acquired Prius. 610 miles and got 62 mpg for the entire trip, per the onboard computer.

Also saw a functioning strobe red light for the first time in a while on PA 23 EB coming into downtown Lancaster.

[ntallyn]

A business trip to Washington (state) gave me the opportunity to get a few new roads (unfortunately, mostly only to/from the airport, as most of the roads near the destination all had been previously collected).

Departing SEA, I was able to fill in quite a bit of my missing routes between the airport and downtown and a little more: WA99, WA516, WA509, West Seattle Bridge, WA519, WA99 (tunnel portion), WA513, WA522. I added WA20Spr (Anacortes) over the weekend, and then a little bit of WA20, WA9, and WA522 returning to the airport.

[cl94]

Last weekend, I took an impromptu trip to the Mendocino Coast. In addition to stunning scenery, I got a decent amount of new mileage, including some of CA 36 and CA 45, most of CA 32, all of CA 128, and the portions of CA 20 I was missing. Also filled in a gap along old US 40 east of Sacramento.

California is now up to 47% complete. Very good chance I hit 50% before Memorial Day, possibly before April. A very large percentage of my missing mileage is south of Bakersfield.

[Markkos1992]

No trip planned this weekend as I had to back out of New Orleans, but I did do some more work in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast the previous three weekends. (so including the January 20th trip, it was four roadgeeking Saturdays in a row)

I drove to my parents' house on January 25th to hang out with them on January 26th, but they decided that they needed to go fishing so I ended up getting updated photos along I-95 and I-295 in the Petersburg, VA, area.

Mostly VA Trip 1-27-2024:

I started by taking I-85 SB to US 1 SB to NC/VA 96 NB all the way to US 501 west of Virgilina.  As a result, I clinched VA 96 and have NC 96 finished north of NC 231. I then took US 501 NB (stopping at the Sheetz in South Boston, VA) to VA 360 WB to VA 57 WB to Martinsville.  In Martinsville, I basically looped around the area for a bit clinching a number of routes in the process.  Clinching the city of Martinsville means that I only have two counties in VA left (Wise County and the city of Norton, which I can clinch both via US 23).  Once I was done, I continued on VA 57 WB to VA 8 (with a brief excursion to clinch VA 346 at Fairy Stone State Park).  I took VA 8 NB to Christiansburg (no stop at the Floyd Country Store because it was Saturday not Friday), and then took I-81 SB to I-77 NB to US 52 NB in the Bluefield, WV, area.

Unsurprisingly, I visited the Bluefield area in order to clinch the new King Coal Highway Segment of WV 108.  I then took US 19 NB to Princeton, and took WV 20 NB to Hinton (briefly stopping at the Lilly Bridge on WV 20 over the Bluestone River). I continued east on WV 3 (because I did not realize how short WV 107 was so I missed that clinch) to WV 12 SB to WV 122 EB (clinching this route) to US 219 NB (briefly stopping to photograph the Indian Creek Covered Bridge) back to WV 3 EB.  I took WV 3 EB all the way to WV 311 SB taking WV/VA 311 SB to SR 779 in Catawba.  I honestly expected SR 779 to be a decent two-lane road considering that it is a continuation of SR 785 from Blacksburg, but it was a narrow country road well into Botetourt County before becoming a standard two-lane road.  I took SR 779 to US 220 SB in Daleville.  I then went to a BCM Alumni Event for a bit that I was 100 minutes late too thanks to my roadgeeking shenanigans.

Afterwards, I basically took I-81 NB back to Harrisburg (with a detour due to a crash in Staunton via US 250 WB to unsigned VA 261 NB to US 11 NB to VA 262 NB to VA 254 EB to SR 792 NB to SR 612 WB in Verona) in the rain.

Clinched: VA 96, VA 57, US 58 BUS (Martinsville, VA), US 220 BUS (Martinsville, VA), VA 457, VA 174, VA 108, VA 371, VA 57 ALT (Stanleytown), VA 346, WV 108, WV 122

New Mileage: NC 96, US 220 (VA), VA 8, WV 20, WV 3

2-3-2023 NJ Trip

This trip was basically the "complete the rest of central NJ once the rest of the I-78 construction in PA was done" trip.  I took I-78 EB to US 9 SB in Newark staying on US 9 all the way south to NJ 70 before turning around.  I then took US 9 NB to NJ 88 EB (looping around NJ 70 due to the intersection oddness there clinching CR 64 in the process) to NJ 35 NB to NJ 34 NB to NJ 33 WB.  I backtracked to Freehold via NJ 33 WB taking Hall Mills Rd south to US 9 to take NJ 79 NB (clinching that route).  I took local roads (and CR 6A) to the Garden State Pkwy SB to NJ 36 SB (with a CR 516/NJ 35 loop around Keyport).  By the way, taking NJ 36 SB on the bridge into Sandy Hook may be the best beach entrance ever.  I continued on NJ 36 SB past its southern terminus at CR 51 back onto the Garden State Pkwy SB passing the south end of the local-express split as I took NJ 66 WB to NJ 33 WB to NJ 34 NB (completing that clinch) to US 9 NB ultimately back to I-78 WB by Newark Airport taking that back to the Harrisburg area (and paying Jason Ilyes' salary as I traveled west).

Clinched: US 9 (NJ), NJ 88, NJ 34, NJ 79, NJ 36

There was no new mileage on any other route.

Beyond some usanp routes in the Delaware Water Gap, all I have left for New Jersey in Travel Mapping at this point is NJ 284.

2-10-2023 Mostly NY Trip:

I started the morning by taking I-81 NB to I-80 EB to I-287 NB into NY where I crossed the I-87/I-287 Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge (AKA Tappan Zee Bridge) for the first time heading east instead of west.  I immediately exited onto US 9 NB in Tarrytown and clinched NY 448 before clinching NY 117 (with a loop to clinch NY 141, an unposted turn in Hawthorne led me to briefly end up by the southern at-grade section of the Taconic State Pkwy to view the Stevens Piazza).  I then took NY 117 NB northeast to its end at the Saw Mill River Pkwy briefly sneaking onto I-684 NB before quickly exiting onto NY 35 EB.  I followed NY/CT 35 (clinching both NY 35 and CT 35) to US 7 in Ridgefield, CT, and then took US 7 NB to Danbury before turning around heading south back to I-95 in Stamford (clinching CT 102 along the way).  I decided not to take US 1 SB into NY, but I instead took I-95 SB into NY to I-287 WB looping to clinch NY 984J, NY 120A, and ultimately I-684 (NY/CT).  Once finishing I-684, I took I-84 WB to NY 312 WB to US 6 WB to NY 52 WB.  I followed NY 52 WB to Fishkill and clinched NY 52 BUS in Beacon before getting back on NY 52 (and I-84) to cross the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge (first crossing WB ever and first crossing on the new deck).  I ultimately continued west on NY 52 all the way to its western end at the PA Line (stopping for lunch at a pizza place in Newburgh, looping in Ellenville due to confusion of the route, and clinching NY 52A) to finish clinching it.  I then clinched PA 652 traveling west past Beach Lake to US 6.  Then I followed US 6 WB to I-81 SB in Scranton (with no still no updated signage at the ramp to PA 424 in Hazelton).

Clinched: NY 448, NY 117, NY 141, NY/CT 35, CT 102, I-684 (NY/CT), NY 120A, NY 52, NY 52 BUS (Beacon), NY 52A, PA 652

New Mileage:  US 9 (NY), NY 100A, NY 9A, NY 120, NY 121, US 7 (CT), CT 39, CT 33, CT 106, NY 208, NY 17B, NY 97   

[mapmikey]

SR 785 is also a narrow and twisty road for the most part.

779-785 was removed from the primary system in the 1945 and 1950.