End Of The Earth UPD*TE, Part 2

Follow-up to last post.

Updated:

US 190: Added 27 pictures of eastbound between I-55 in Hammond and LA 25 in Covington. Added two post-construction pics of eastbound at the LA 59/LA 1087 intersection in Mandeville. Added one pic of westbound of a sign recently added at the LA 3228 intersection in Mandeville.

The rest of the To-Do List will have to wait for another day. I'm totally knackered right now.

Miscellaneous St. Tammany UPD*TE

I recently added some pics from a couple of brief trips - one to roadgeek in Lacombe, the other taking me through Folsom and Madisonville.

New:

Old US 190 (Lacombe, LA): Eight pictures from a very old segment of US 190 in Lacombe.
LA 1077: 52 pictures of LA 1077. Coverage includes end to end southbound, and some pictures of northbound from Lake Ponchartrain to the LA 21/LA 1077 split north of Madisonville (some copied from the LA 21 album). Also contains a shot of my car.

Updated:

US 190: Added a picture of the intersection with LA 1089 from westbound
LA 21: Added three pictures of southbound in Madisonville of the LA 21/LA 1077 concurrency (also in the LA 1077 album)
LA 22: Added 11 pictures of eastbound from Madisonville to the eastern terminus in Mandeville
LA 25: Added nine pictures of northbound between the southern terminus in Covington and Folsom
LA 434: Added 23 pictures of northbound and southbound south of US 190, including coverage of Lake Road after the END! of LA 434, as well as one picture of northbound between US 190 and Old US 190
LA 1093-1 Added three pictures of northbound - both termini are now covered northbound
Other: Geotagged LA 1093-1 album - this was an oversight on my part, so my bad. All albums that are supposed to be geotagged should now be geotagged. Also, due to another corrected oversight, all pictures in my Picasa albums are now Creative Commons licensed. Share, but share alike, credit me, and don't try to sell my pictures. Other than that, use them if you want.

Sidebar links will be updated with the new albums later on.

Roadtrip Report: January 14-15

This time, I remembered to pack the camera along with me in the Buick, henceforth referred here to as "Dreamweaver." Two days, one taking me to New Orleans East, another to Abita Springs.

Among the upd*tes:

New:

I-510/LA 47: Covers almost the entire distance of Interstate 510's existence in New Orleans East, both northbound and southbound. The album is also marked for LA 47 due to I-510 multiplexing with it for 510's entire distance. 17 pictures, enjoy.

Updated:

I-10: Added pictures of eastbound from just past Michoud Boulevard in New Orleans East to US 190 in Slidell.
US 190: Added a new shot of the very old BGS in Covington.
LA 36: Album updated, info in LA 59 entry.
LA 59: Added pictures from Interstate 12 north to the end of the LA 36/59 multiplex in Abita Springs, LA 36 album also updated with multiplex shots.

...Finally, junkyard kitties.

Across the Lake UPD*TE

Yours Truly is now the proud owner of a 1995 Buick Regal. Also, since I had to go all the way to New Orleans, I got some pics.

Updated:
US 90 - Added three snaps along Jefferson Highway westbound
US 190 - Added two shots of westbound in Mandeville, where construction is nearly complete

New:
Lake Ponchartrain Causeway - 26 snaps of the 23.8 mile toll bridge across Lake Ponchartrain - pics are NOT geotagged
Causeway Boulevard - 22 snaps of one of Metairie's most important north-south arteries; primarily connects US 61 and I-10 to the Causeway Bridge
New Orleans: Misc - Seven miscellaneous snaps within New Orleans; this may grow if I can salvage any other pics - pics are NOT geotagged
LA 611-1 - Nine snaps of the River Road along Jefferson Parish's east bank of the Mississippi River
LA 3046 - Seven snaps of South Causeway Boulevard between US 61 and US 90, which is also designated LA 3046

Not another upd*te?!

Yes, more pics, about 60 of them from a brief jaunt up to Covington. The day was dreary and wintry, so the lighting wasn't the best. Still.

New:
LA 21: Coverage of northbound from the southern end in Madisonville, up to Covington.
LA 25: Small amount of coverage of the southern terminus in Covington.
US 190-X: Business US 190 in Covington, coverage of eastbound along concurrency with LA 21, and from the end of the concurrency east to mainline US 190.

Updated:
LA 22: Expanded coverage of westbound, from West Causeway Approach out to LA 21/1077 in Madisonville.
US 190: Added coverage of eastbound and westbound along the "Bypass" section in Covington, and added one picture of westbound in Mandeville.

A few more photos

A trip to Slidell today spawned about 40 or so new photos.

New:
LA 434: Coverage of northbound between I-12 and LA 36, as well as some pictures along the concurrency with US 190 in Lacombe.

Updated:
I-10: Added photos from westbound approaching and of the new Exit 265 interchange with US 190 Business in Slidell.
I-12: Added coverage along westbound approaching and of Exit 74 (LA 434).
US 11: Added a couple of photos of the concurrency in Slidell with LA 433.
US 190: Added coverage eastbound through Lacombe and Slidell, as well as at the intersection with hidden LA 1089. Also, I caught a snap of an idiot parked on the train tracks at the intersection with US 11.
LA 433: Added coverage of westbound and northbound from US 11 to US 190, mostly along the Bayou Liberty Road and Thompson Road segments.
LA 1088: Added a couple of photos of westbound, north of I-12.
Former LA 1093-2: Changed directory name to reflect removal of all signage previously found in August.

More pics. Yay!

To be brief, I've got over 50 new pics to get uploaded and posted everyplace sometime soon. There's a few more shots along LA 1088, LA 59, I-12, US 190, LA 22, West Causeway Approach and LA 1087.

I also managed to get a live snap of possibly the only Parish Route sign left in St. Tammany, a lone Parish Route 24 sign at the eastern terminus of Sharp Road near Mandeville. (This would be analogous to a County Route shield anyplace else in the country.)

More updates as I get them posted... and as I sober up. Wheeee, vodka.

...And yet another way to post photos...

Taking a hint from the Rt. Hon. Herr Doktor Comrade Mister Otto Yamamoto, I decided to start posting to Picasa. Seems to be a better fit for me than Flickr, although I'll still use both for road pics in the future.

At the least, I can actually separate the pictures by highway designation instead of just highway types on my Picasa page, due to Flickr's free account limit of three sets. So, specific highways will link from the Picasa instead.

Without further ado, since a global embargo on the stuff's really screwing me over, here's a list of what's done so far (which will also be listed in the Permalink section of this blog):

US 11 - Bayou Sauvage, Irish Bayou, Slidell and Pearl River areas, mostly pics from northbound
US 51 - Nothing special, just the Tickfaw area along southbound
US 90 - Westbound from US 190's eastern terminus to US 11's southern terminus
US 190 - Mostly eastbound, mostly in Mandeville, but includes shot of the eastern terminus in White Kitchen
US 190-Y - Otherwise known as Business US 190 in Slidell

As well, the way I do my site will be redone once my Picasa's fully populated.

(Also, as an aside, I'm going to be needing a ride to make Froggie's meet in Slidell on Labor Day weekend, so comment if you can help a girl out.)

Great, now they've got me Flickring...

Ok, so I feel lame, and yet not. Maybe sleep would help.

In the meantime, I got a LOT of snaps today, as well as the ones from last week. I'm talking like 120 of them, taken, cropped and fix0rd in one day. They'll go up on my Photobucket and Accueil sometime during the week, but they're on my Flickr right this minute if you need instant gratification. They're mostly placed by sets for the time being.

I'll be adding the older snaps to the Flickr page as time permits as well.

(Sorry. Lotsa tags apply here.)

Observations, on and off the roads

Yesterday, I needed to make a run up to one of Louisiana's remaining "charity hospitals" to get a literal pain in my ass (more like my thigh) treated. What passes for healthcare for the poor and working poor in this state is a disgrace. I got in at about 11 AM. I got out close to 6 PM. One reason was that in a fairly busy emergency room, there was only ONE doctor. Just one, to handle about 35-40 people with varying problems.

Part of this is culture. Since many people in this state don't qualify for Medicaid or Medicare, but don't earn enough to afford or aren't offered (as a job benefit or something) a private plan, they just go to the emergency room for the most minor of ailments. It's been this way since the Dawn of Time around here (as in, since my grandparents were little children, at least). This clogs them up when moderate and major emergencies happen, as must have happened during the day during my wait.

Another part of this is less people going into medical professions. LSU runs the hospital I went to, and it seemed badly short-staffed, especially with only having one doctor in the emergency room during the day.

Cost seems to be at fault on all ends, at least from my viewpoint.

I also noticed a few things about the roads, so don't fret.

• Business US 51 in Hammond is getting a facelift. It looks like they're redoing (or at least smoothing) the concrete surface, and they're replacing the suicide center turn lane with a raised median and "classic" turn lanes.
• I don't think they'll ever put up gates at the railroad tracks for all the minor crossing roads in Tangipahoa Parish. Fine. But could they at least put up STOP SIGNS?! A lot of them are regulated only by yield signs, for crying out loud. As such, I predict many more "train vs. car" articles in the blog, and much more senseless death.
  
• Work is proceeding on Interstate 12 near LA 21 for (unofficial and ESTIMATED) Future Exit 61. When complete, this interchange will serve two functions - it will link to a new shopping center, as well as linking in an auxiliary manner to LA 21. (They tore down a rest area and a fairly decent park for this. Assholes. Seriously. What The F*ck?)
  
• Work is complete on LA 22 in Mandeville. The new configuration is two lanes westbound, a center turning lane and one eastbound lane from the shopping center with the Rouses in it westward to the Beau Chene main entrance. West of there to the Marina entrance, it's two westbound lanes and one eastbound lane.
• The surface of Interstate 55 is horrible for taking snaps. Still, I managed to gut out the pain enough to get a few. Filled my digital camera's memory in the process. Looks like I'll need to snag a SD card. (Or get the camera working with altaria so I can offload them on the fly.)
• Many stoplights in Mandeville were either flashing red/yellow or depowered entirely yesterday, although they seemed to be brought back on line quickly.
  
• US 190 through Old Mandeville has shifted to the future eastbound lanes, as they work now on the future center and westbound lanes. I'm waiting for businesses on the north side of the highway to bitch that customers can't get to them now.

I did take a few pictures while I was out, I just need to make them a little more viewable, then I'll post them online. That'll happen either today or sometime this week.

Edit: Noted in no uncertain terms that the possible exit number for the future exit is estimated and not official. -T

You knew this was coming... plus RARE black and white LA highway shield!

The time you, my two readers, have all feared... it has come to pass. I went out today, and while the primary reason was to go buy cigarettes, I had an ulterior motive as well... I took pictures. Pictures of sines, of roadwork and termini of my current locale... a place called Mandeville. Be very afraid. Yuppies and MFFYs will devour your soul here.

The pictures were all taken with a disposable 35mm camera, so I apologize now for a lack of quality. We can't all be rich.

Here's the promised B&W Louisiana highway shield (click to zoom):


Click here for all the pics from today... I've provided descriptions there, but if I screwed up a description, let me know by posting a comment here on the blog.

So I'm not the only one...

Proof, on video, that many of the people on the roads in St. Tammany Parish, LA are complete morons...

What is a MFFY, you ask? Click here to learn!

...And here I thought I was the only one to see some of the prime examples of stupidity around here...