Gradum proximum
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As often stated, I’m fascinated by the parabolas and massing shapes of high speed roads, and the shaping of the overpasses and bridges which carry them. That’s a toll road pictured above, a relatively recent addition to the local milieu in Greater Pittsburgh referred to as the ‘Southern Beltway.’
AKA Pa. Route 576, this is a brand spanking new bit of infrastructure that opened for business in October of 2021.
The totality of this beltway project is staggering in terms of scale and just how long the Pennsylvania State Government has been both planning and slowly building it. The goal of the project is to eliminate a regional choke point in the current setup of high speed/volume roads which interchange in or close to downtown Pittsburgh where traffic density is highest.
To say that it’s a controversial project would vastly understate the ennui which modern day city planners and self described ‘urbanists’ feel towards the process of ‘jamming another highway through already densely populated areas.’
They will then mention Robert Moses disparagingly.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This Southern Beltway is meant to join up with other segments, eventually, and form a ring around Pittsburgh, creating high speed conduits to its satellite cities like PA.’s Uniontown, and connect to interstates leading to several nearby areas in Ohio and West Virginia. I’m told they use electronic tolling up there, but personally I avoid toll roads like the plague, unless there’s absolutely no other choice.
Don’t feel smug or provincial, New Yorkers. Every shred of traffic entering the five boroughs, or Long Island’s two counties, is dependent on the Verrazzano, George Washington, and Triboro bridges. Upper Manhattan, South Brooklyn, and Western Queens are your personal ‘choke points.’ Keep fighting about ‘affordable housing’ and bike lanes though, and ignore this basic delimiter as traffic gets worse and worse in NYC. Blame Uber and Lyft, as it’s politically simpler than building a tunnel connection to I-95 under Long Island Sound, and far cheaper than creating a barge to rail port at JFK airport in Jamaica Bay. There will never be a natural or manmade disaster you will need to get away from.
Keep saying it’s all Robert Moses’ fault.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last shot of the McDonald Trestle from my way back to the car.
It was time to start preparing for a medical procedure which I’d need to endure that was just 48 hours away. Luckily, I got to eat some of the apples and corn I bought at a newly discovered farm stand before this kafkaesque nightmare began, and I had to start a ‘water fast.’
Sucked.
Back tomorrow with something different.
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If the ‘procedure’ is what George described, no big deal. Prep for it may be a bit aggravating, but you’ll be out during the procedure and won’t feel anything. No pain afterwards. My father didn’t like doctors. When he finally went for the scope, it was too late.
Liman
September 17, 2024 at 1:14 pm
What about the Triboro (RFK) and Throgs Neck Bridges?
Valerie D
September 17, 2024 at 4:59 pm
Triboro symptomatic of GW, where does Throgs neck lead to? Bronx choke point and GW
Mitch Waxman
September 17, 2024 at 5:19 pm
I should have said the Throgs Neck and the Whitestone, and mentioned them because they also carry traffic into the five boroughs and the two Long Island counties. The others are not the only ones carrying every shred of traffic into those places.
Valerie D
September 17, 2024 at 8:02 pm
“Kafkaesque nightmare” I surely hope not!! Can you contact your doctors without sleeping with the innkeepers daughter? Does your phone only emit distant singing voices when you call the hospital? Does Orson Welles want to make an obscure movie of your procedure? Has your insurance approved the use of a mechanical tattoo machine? Have you been asked to authorize a two-day supply of bug spray at the hospital? Are a singing mouse, a lecturing ape, a starvation artist and an unhappy mole assisting in the operating room? Hopefully not. Seriously, best wishes to you. Looking forward to hearing from you again after your successful procedure.
dbarms8878
September 18, 2024 at 8:53 pm
‘Does Orson Welles want to make an obscure movie of your procedure?’ is the funniest thing I heard today. Yesterday too.
Mitch Waxman
September 18, 2024 at 10:55 pm