[PRCo] Re: PA Turnpike Videos

[Fred Schneider]

My dad remembered using it a few times during World War II when there  
was so little traffic that the turnpike commission was seriously  
questioning if they would be able to pay off the revenue bonds (for  
those too young to remember ... the average bear had a three and a  
half gallon a gallon a week ration of gasoline during the war).   Dad  
recalled that he you saw another car you might look at your  
speedometer because it was probably a state trooper ... they were  
about the only people on the road during the war.

Boy did that change!   I thrashed through an inch of snow from Blue  
Mountain to Somerset on Thursday for a weekend wedding.   Absolutely  
horrible driving conditions.  PTC didn't start salting or plowing  
until two hours after the storm began and their new multi-million  
dollar speed control system for use in storms and fog displayed 65  
all the way.   It did the same thing when I crossed the state in a  
fog three weeks ago!

But there are some of us old enough to remember when it was a Dream  
Highway.   When the medial strip was a neatly mowed lawn.   I  
remember the experience of driving out toward Donegal just to have a  
family picnic along the Turnpike.

Oh yes, it took the Pennsylvania Railroad five hours from Pittsburgh  
to Harrisburg.   And once the Turnpike and the Parkway East were  
completed, you could drive it in less than four including rest stops.

On Dec 18, 2005, at 2:35 PM, Bob Rathke wrote:

> The PA Turnpike website has two movies documenting the planning and  
> construction of the Turnpike.  They include old railroad photos and  
> maps of the right of way.  The two movies:
>
> America's Dream Highway (18 minutes)
>
> Spanning Generations (20 minutes)
>
>
> Go to the lower right corner of the Turnpike home page -  
> www.paturnpike.com - to get the links to the movies.
>
> I didn't see any scenes showing the West Penn Rys. bridge over the  
> Turnpike, but I could have missed it.
>
>
> Bob 12/18/05
>
>
>