Increased traffic on country road.

[oosik]

Every once in a while - a really large, long semi is seen tippy-toeing down our county road. They will never get stuck but I'll bet they never come that way again.

 

[NorTracNY]

I certainly have had Google mess up. One time it wanted me to go up a farmer's driveway and continue on their farm path between their fields. There was no way anyone would think this was a public road except for an areal image.

 

[MossRoad]

I certainly have had Google mess up. One time it wanted me to go up a farmer's driveway and continue on their farm path between their fields. There was no way anyone would think this was a public road except for an areal image.

WAAAayyyyy back in the early 80’s my wife and I were camping in southern Indiana. We wanted to drive between two points, but the local state roads were all under construction. We stopped in a dry goods store south of Gnaw Bone and asked for directions.

The woman behind the counter said, “Well, you can either turn left on the road and follow the runaround (detour) about 20 miles over to X, then come back on Y road. Or, you can turn right, go down to the big tree, turn left, drive down the lane, ford the creek, cut across the pasture and you’ll be right there in 5 minutes.”

We took the runaround.

 

[ponytug]

It seems that part of the problem is the map programs do not have a setting for vehicle type...at least not one for trucks. That would be a good upgrade. Some roads recommended are not passable by trucks, even in the city.

You can buy them, e.g. the Garman OTR700, but that means that it is an extra expense that many large vehicle operators forego. The Tread SXS can run $1500.

All the best,

Peter

 

[MossRoad]

I changed the icon on my Garmin to a big red pickup truck with mud tires. Does that count?

 

[MossRoad]

I changed the icon on my Garmin to a big red pickup truck with mud tires. Does that count?

It was kind of funny, because they’d just built a new highway south of us, and it wasn’t in the Garmin yet. So I’d be driving along, and the big red monster truck with mud tires was showing on the GPS as going through farm fields, woods, etc., at 65-70mph and the little voice kept telling me politely to return to the route.

 

[Jstpssng]

The first time that I used GPS was in a coworker's truck, we were on a project working our way down a power line R/W. He had it set to our end point for the day and his truck was backed in off the road so when I jumped in it said "Turn right." I drove to a nearby intersection where it told me to turn right again... then on the next left hand turn; anther left; another, and a fourth, ending up on the road that I had started from.

Apparently I should have turned left from where the truck had been parked.

 

[5030]

Interesting OP comment. I'm seeing fewer vehicles on the roads around here as fuel prices are directly impacting travel for non essential stuff. IOW a lot of people cannot afford the bust.

 

[MossRoad]

Interesting OP comment. I'm seeing fewer vehicles on the roads around here as fuel prices are directly impacting travel for non essential stuff. IOW a lot of people cannot afford the bust.

Wife and I drove down to Indy and back twice in the past 2 weeks, both on Sundays. We were just talking about how much MORE traffic there was than what we’d normally encounter, especially in the northern half of the trip. We’ve been making that drive about 8-9 times per year for the past 11 years, so we have a pretty good handle on the traffic load.

Normally I’d expect it to be attributed to a large event, like the Brickyard, Indy 500, Colts, game, etc., but the traffic was in both directions.

 

[5030]

Not seeing that up here interestingly. I would imagine it all depends on disposable income and how much you can afford to 'dispose' of to fill your tank with expensive fuel.

 

[MossRoad]

Not seeing that up here interestingly. I would imagine it all depends on disposable income and how much you can afford to 'dispose' of to fill your tank with expensive fuel.

We’ve been under $4 a gallon for a few weeks now. $3.79 was cheapest I’ve seen it this week. Kid in Oklahoma is paying $3.27. Kid in Pittsburgh is paying right around $4.

I know the prices effect everyone differently and realize we are fortunate to not have to curtail our lifestyle at the present. We worry for our kids, but what parents don’t?

 

[coldsteelva]

Wife and I drove down to Indy and back twice in the past 2 weeks, both on Sundays. We were just talking about how much MORE traffic there was than what we’d normally encounter, especially in the northern half of the trip. We’ve been making that drive about 8-9 times per year for the past 11 years, so we have a pretty good handle on the traffic load.

Normally I’d expect it to be attributed to a large event, like the Brickyard, Indy 500, Colts, game, etc., but the traffic was in both directions.

FYI - IndyCar and Nascar were all at Indianapolis on the road course this past weekend.

 

[MossRoad]

Yes, but traffic was moving both north and south at 9-10pm in the stretch from Indy to South Bend. We always expect traffic leaving Indy. But once you get north of Kokomo, and for sure Peru/Grissom/Bunker Hill area, it almost always is dead. Especially on the south-bound lanes. I couldn’t even use my bright lights as there was so much Oncoming traffic.

 

[Diggin It]

I did a post on that a while back in the FP. On a recent trip on an Interstate, more vehicles, bigger personal vehicles, larger cars, big P/Us, RVs, many pulling boats, nobody running slow, all pushing 70-80MPH. This was during the peak of the high prices a month or two back. Nobody seemed to care about fuel prices.

My little county roads that loops around and goes nowhere gets a lot more traffic than can be explained. It literally goes no where. Comes off a state highway at one end and goes back out to the same state highway a few miles down. There is NO reason for anyone to be on this road that doesn't live here, visit some one who lives here, farm here or make deliveries here, yet I see cars all the time that don't do any of that.

 

[oosik]

So......Diggin It ........ it's simple. You and your neighbors aren't the only ones who like your little county road.

Some folks around these parts do something that is basically - really stupid. They "name" their driveway and then, from somewhere, they get a sign with the name on it. Looks EXACTLY like a county road sign. They get upset when folks end up in their yard - after coming down "Loganberry Lane".

Most of these custom signs will only be up for less than a year. Live and learn ..........

 

[hube2]

This sounds like my road. The road I live on is on 1 mile long. There are 6 houses on the road and 2 of those cannot even be seen from the road. There is a road that runs parallel to this road which would be considered the "main road". The 2 roads that my road connect, also roughly parallel but they get further apart between here and the main road. Going down my road saves less than a tenth of a mile off the trip, but is actually slower because you have to make 2 turns and 2 stops instead of one stop and one turn. The road is stupid busy with people that don't actually live here.

 

[mapper]

Found a route on Google a few years back that was a real doozy. I was helping my son set his phone up to navigate to his summer job at my sisters farm in Laconner. We found that the mapping app showed a road from the end of the road where she lives, (road ends at her drive way and a neighbor on the other side of the road) across the fields to another farm yard about a mile away. This route took you through the neighbors yard, then cross country to the other farmyard.
Maybe there were some tractor tire tracks across the fields that someone followed. I could not pick anything out on the imagery that I would of classified as a road or trail, and I spent 35 years as a professional photogrammetrist interpreting and mapping from aerial photography.

 

[oosik]

Years ago - a trip our family made. Anchorage, AK to Omaha, NE. Somewhere in Nebraska we missed a road sign. Ended up - out in the middle of a corn field. I don't know if a GPS unit would have helped but, at least, we found our way back to the main road and our final destination.

 

[Eagle1]

Google shows a "road" around my little lake and through the neighbors front yard. Thing is, half of that is acrross a hill side about 4' wide with a 20' vertical drop into the water, works for my ATV (not sxs) and little tractor. The other side "ends" at the dam and spill way. You have drive through water up a STEEP little rise and make 90 degree turn onto the top of the dam. Again not car or truck friendly, and it is ALL private property. Had to chain it off after some drunk following GPS drove up and over the dam down 40' into creek bottom, nothing but big rock and big oak trees. Took over an hour to back a tow truck down a 6' lane next to deep water close enough to pull him up. No access from the bottom, just wetlands, big rocks and big trees.

 

[Jstpssng]

Years ago - a trip our family made. Anchorage, AK to Omaha, NE. Somewhere in Nebraska we missed a road sign. Ended up - out in the middle of a corn field. I don't know if a GPS unit would have helped but, at least, we found our way back to the main road and our final destination.

I was in New York years ago driving a road between snow covered fields at night when the wind came up and caused a complete whiteout. For a minute I wondered if I was going to end up in the middle of a corn field.

Oh wait, I guess that wasn't quite the same.