NORTHEASTERN U.S. trip
June 13-18 2014
PART 1
The Purple People Cam's career beginned with this automotive tour of the Northeast. This trip wasn't my idea, but the people demanded it. This gargantuan photo shoot includes 10 states, and the first part takes us all the way into upstate New York...
We start with this old standby: construction on the Jeremiah Morrow Bridge, the I-71 span over the Little Miami River near Lebanon, Ohio. The 1965 bridge that soars 239 feet above the river was being completely rebuilt, and work was expected to be finito in 2016.
It's not often we go through Columbus anymore, but this time we took I-71 into town.
East on I-70/71 in Columbus.
Continuing on I-70/71 in Columbus. The tall building up ahead is the 27-story Franklin County Courthouse (ohhh!), built in 1991 as one of relatively few skyscraper courthouses.
It's much rarer that we go through Akron. Here we're on I-76/US 224. Akron is the hometown of basketball legend and Bubblicious spokesman LeBron James. I-76 west of the Pittsburgh area was I-80S until 1972.
I-76 at I-277 in Akron. For the life of me, I can't figure out why I-277 was built. It was completed in 1970.
I-76 in Akron. A very bright, reddish moon is peeping up above the roadway at right.
The roadway drops I-76 and picks up I-80 near Youngstown, while I-76 is passed off onto the Ohio Turnpike. What's interesting is that one of the control cities on I-80 here is New York City - one of few road signs to mention New York City in Ohio. Conversely, the main control city on I-80 going west from New York is Delaware Water Gap, and nobody knows what that is.
The Purple Cam de People makes its video debut! In this clip, we take I-80 from Ohio into Pennsylvania!
I-80 has kind of a wide split in Brookville, Pa. Here we're looking over at the westbound bridge over North Fork Creek.
Some highway department "humor" on I-80 near Reynoldsville, Pa.
"Do boist! Do boist! It'll be funny! Do boist!" DuBois, Pa., is the birthplace of baseball's Sparky Lyle. The town's population peaked at almost 14,000 in the 1920 census.
Fine scenery on I-80 near Clearfield, Pa.
A minor road crossing PA 879 near Clearfield.
More I-80 scenery, probably near Loganton, Pa. We've got a ways to go, folks!
A view of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., from I-81. This city of 40,000 once had almost 90,000. One of the mountains behind the city is called Bunker Hill (as in bunker blasts).
Doctor, doctor, give me the news. That I-81 sign has a bad case of sine rot. This is on I-81/PA 309. What's odd is that there's a left-hand ramp here. Even without that, it's an oddly shaped interchange.
The long ramp from I-81 to Highland Park Boulevard near Wilkes-Barre. Here it loops under I-81.
I-81 in Scranton. Just before Scranton, I-81 grazes the town of Duryea, former site of a bubble gum factory.
I-84 near Moscow, Pa. The Neville Road overpass is slanted, but that's hard to see from this angle.
The PA 196 overpass is slanted too, and it's maybe a little easier to see.
On I-84 near Matamoras, Pa., another state line surprise awaits...
In this video, I-84 enters the state of New York. Construction had temporarily reduced this side of the freeway to only one lane. As we cross the Delaware River, we're only about 300 feet from New Jersey. Contrary to what I'd been told earlier, the interchange just barely misses New Jersey and doesn't quite enter it.
I-84 approaches I-87 near Newburgh, N.Y. This is about as close as the Appalachian Mountains get to the Atlantic Ocean.
US 9W in Balmville, N.Y.
US 9W in Marlboro, N.Y. Small Northeastern towns tend to be rather charming compared to the exurban wastage that has engulfed other regions, so I'm glad to give it some coverage on this website.
US 44/NY 55 uses the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge. This toll span is a suspension bridge over the Hudson River from Highland to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. It opened in 1930 and was named for Roosevelt in 1994.
The approach to the Mid-Hudson Bridge. Only a Roads Scholar could love the bizarrely shaped numerals on that aging speed limit sign.
The Mid-Hudson Bridge is a big bridge that actually looks like it belongs in a big state like New York. It's like a gentle giant that welcomes people to a prosperous Northeast.
Looking up the Hudson towards a bridge called simply the Poughkeepsie Bridge. It opened for rail in 1889, was abandoned in 1974, and finally reopened as a pedestrian and bicycling bridge in 2009. The all-knowing Wikipedia says it's the longest footbridge in...the...world! It was such an important rail link during World War II that soldiers guarded it 24/7. During its decades of abandonment, parts of the bridge kept falling onto US 9 in Poughkeepsie, endangering motorists. The city won a lawsuit to force Conrail to fix it.