Re: Some bold predictions?

One factor which has greatly transformed the hobby in the last ten years is the increased availability of documentation from official sources. In a recent post, I said that Kansas had become the 19th state in which the DOT started putting its letting plans online. It turns out there was a 20th I did not even know about--North Dakota.

Also, there are many other states which don't necessarily publish plans online at the time of letting or choose to make them available only through paid sources (e.g. BidX), but do have plans available in electronic format. Moreover, an increasing number of states are making their as-built plan libraries available on the Web, MN and GA being the leaders in this.

Letting plans are just one way in which the information available has expanded. At the turn of the millennium, it was rare to see environmental documentation (EIS and EA documents) put online, but now it is routinely expected and done for all but the smallest projects.

In 2000 we did not even have Google Maps (whose interface is far more convenient than that offered by any of the mapping services available in 2000), and nobody was offering Street View or bird's-eye functionality. I am increasingly finding Street View useful for looking at sign gantries, while bird's-eye is excellent for helicopter flyovers of major interchanges.

My big roads-related interest is guide signing and how design standards for it have evolved over time. I expect that by 2015, and possibly even much earlier, I will be able to go on the Web and download the original signing plans for the Pennsylvania Turnpike and the NYS Thruway.

Overall, the future looks really rosy in terms of document availability, although we still live in the long shadow of 9/11 and the 1970's movement to abolish sovereign immunity.
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