Here’s how Chase Utley’s message slipped by license plate censors
I got a lot of feedback from last week’s banned license plate column, and it looks like readers had just as much fun with it as I did writing it. Several had stories of their own, and I wanted to pass along a pair.
Some edits were required for space and to protect people’s private information.
I kind of have a thing for license plates.
Since our family car trip to Miami Beach in 1968, I’ve been watching plates. I’ve seen some cool personalized plates, too. Someone that must live nearby has OBWAN, and I’ve also seen VADER in the Lehigh Valley. But the reason I’m writing is to tell you how someone in the Lehigh Valley got away with one. I’ve twice seen the plate “WFC 2008.” Can you figure it out? If you’re a Phillies fan, and especially a Chase Utley fan, it should come to you right away. After winning the World Series in October 2008, the victory celebration parade ended at a packed-full Citizens Bank Park. Players and management addressed the crowd. Chase’s famous line went out on live TV. So someone at the DMV wasn’t a Phillies fan and didn’t know the meaning or maybe they were and let it go. Nah, I don’t think so. — Tom Murgitroyde, Lower Macungie Township
Ha! Great observations, Tom. As a die-hard Mets fan, that one didn’t immediately click with me. It’s possible that one slipped past the PennDOT censors. Alternatively, it wasn’t obvious enough that a Phillies fan PennDOT employee could reasonably claim ignorance.
The OBWAN and VADER plates are great. People can check the availability of license plates on a PennDOT web tool.
Sadly, I’m not raking in enough cash to justify a vanity plate. Even if I were, someone has already taken my top two options — “ROADWAR” and “ECTO-1.”
Sadly, the “OUTTATIME” license plate used in the “Back To The Future” series is too long to fit.
I enjoyed this article very much,
but I was having a hard time deciphering some of them. I know several years ago, I tried getting “24HOOKN,” a hockey penalty — 2 minutes for hooking — but I guess they thought I may have been a male prostitute operating 24 hours a day? — Brian Miller, Breinigsville
As someone who is completely clueless about hockey, I would be too dumb to piece together your intentions. I’d have done a spit take if I saw “24HOOKN” on the back of someone’s vehicle.
4 projects in limbo
About seven weeks after pausing nearly all PennDOT construction in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, PennDOT crept toward normalcy May 1 when it gave the green light for most construction projects to restart.
Some are already underway, including reconstructing Route 100. New projects will begin, too, including a $6.6 million improvement to Route 22 in Bethlehem and Palmer townships.
To get to this point, contractors have had to craft social distancing plans that apply to each individual construction zone and address whatever situations exist at that location.
But Christopher Kufro, an assistant district executive at PennDOT, said Wednesday that four projects in the Lehigh Valley are still on hold because they’re in the center of large areas battling outbreaks. The projects have also created some concerns because social distancing in these locations would be difficult, he said. There is no timetable at this point for when they will begin.
I was a little surprised more projects aren’t on this list, such as the overdue Hamilton Street Bridge project by the Hamilton Family Diner. But those have the all-clear to begin if they haven’t already.
Tilghman Street Bridge,
Allentown
The Tilghman Street Bridge project has been saddled with problems from the start, first from subfreezing temperatures when work was supposed to begin and again when crews discovered the concrete substructure was in worse shape than expected. So, of course, it’s being delayed by the pandemic.
The $22.7 million construction project will rehabilitate the 91year-old bridge, which crosses Lehigh River, a Norfolk Southern rail line, several city streets and some private residences. Crews will improve drainage, install better lights, redesign the road approach to the bridge and add curbs and sidewalks.
PennDOT still hasn’t backed off the original estimated completion date of June 2021, but I can’t imagine that’s realistic given all the problems so far. The biblical plague the bridge hasn’t seen at this point is three days of darkness.
Gordon Street Bridge, Allentown
Unlike the Tilghman Street
Bridge, which feels like it’s dragged on forever, the Gordon Street bridge construction never began. Work on the 131-year-old bridge was supposed to start March 16. You know, right around the time everything hit the fan.
The bridge carries 8,800 vehicles a day over the Jordan Creek and connects the city to American Parkway, one of the spans across the Lehigh River still open in the city. The $3.3 million plan called for demolishing the bridge and building a new one in its place. It remains open in the meantime.
The bridge’s girders have thinned in the past 13 decades, which is a problem given its 19th-century design. Modern bridges have more than two girders, so that if one breaks, the others will keep the span from collapsing. The Gordon Street Bridge doesn’t have that redundancy, which is a problem given its advanced age.
15th Street, Allentown PennDOT had hoped to wrap up two years of safety improvements on 15th Street between
Tilghman Street and Hamilton Street right about now. The $3.8 million project called for installing new traffic lights, crossing signals and upgraded pedestrian crossings.
13th Street interchange, Easton
Regional planners have tossed around some major redesign ideas for the 13th Street interchange with Route 22. Lately, they had been making more modest improvements, replacing the overpass and changing how the cluster of ramps directs traffic between the street and highway.
The $2.6 million of improvements will remain on pause, however, as PennDOT waits for conditions to improve with the pandemic. While the other three projects are in the center of the hard-hit Allentown, I suspect the dominant cause for the delay here is the cramped quarters that come with the lane closures involved in this project.
Cash tolls return on Delaware River crossings
Speaking of getting back in the swing of things, drivers may want start carrying change or small bills with them when they drive between New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission announced Friday toll collectors will return to work at 11 p.m. Wednesday. The commission switched to a cashless toll system March 24 as coronavirus cases skyrocketed in New Jersey. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission adopted a similar strategy March 16, but its precautions remain in effect.
The toll bridge commission oversees several crossings, including the Interstate 78 bridge, Route 22 bridge between Phillipsburg and Easton and the Portland-Columbia Toll Bridge. Toll collectors are being equipped with plastic face shields, masks and nitrile gloves. Drivers are advised to use masks when making cash payments at the tolls.