Route 15
During the early and middle ‘60s I attended nearby Houghton College (“HO-tin;”as in “oh” — not “WHO” or “HOW”).
In fact, I graduated from there with a B.A. in 1966. I’ve never regretted it. It was one of the neatest lifetime experiences I’ve ever had.
During that time I was still living with my family in a suburb north of Wilmington, DE.
It meant trekking back-and-forth.
Quite a few other Houghton students lived in the Delaware Valley (which includes Philadelphia and south Jersey), so we’d share rides.
At first it was up the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to where it ended at Scranton, then up to Binghamton on I-81, then across lower NY on Route 17.
Onto Route 19 at Wellsville, and up to Houghton.
About eight hours.
Many times it was Fred Zane from south Jersey.
I’d meet him where the Northeast Extension started, north of Philadelphia, although once he drove right through without getting me.
We had to chase him all the way up to a rest-area, where he happened to get off — halfway to Scranton.
Zane was driving with his father; he’d forgot.
Good old Zane; always in the ozone.
Another time was in the ‘56 Dodge of a fellow Delawarean’s father.
That was late 1964.
The Dodge overheated, and we had to have a mechanic replace the thermostat in his shop near Harrisburg.
An eight-hour trip took 10 hours.
But then I rode up with Bill Baynard, a Houghton student from southern Delaware.
He picked me up in his gray ‘52 Chevy fastback, and we drove majestically up Route 15 via Harrisburg and Williamsport.
Route 15 crossed 17 near Addison.
It was perhaps an hour longer, but what a road.
From then on any trips I made were via Route 15.
Over forty-some years I have driven that route hundreds of times.
Improvements and modifications have been made.
By now almost the entire route is four-lane expressway.
The only part that isn’t is the two-lane in NY from the NY/PA border up to Presho.
Just about all of the old two-lane Route 15 in PA has been retired.
Including many way markers.
Like the infamous Blossburg Hill with its “Get Right With God” sign.
We still pass Reptiland on Route 15 south of Williamsport.
And the small golf-ball water-tower in a valley below the highway.
Part of old Route 15 is under water thanks to Hurricane Agnes.
A giant flood-control dam was built near Tioga, requiring relocating the highway up on the hillside.
It formed Lake Hammond and a reservoir in two separate valleys.
Many expressway segments were just two-lane at first.
I remember riding my motorcycle on one near Mansfield about 1991. 60 mph in a downpour!
I was being pushed by a glowering intimidator; “No Passing,” of course.
I doubt I could do it again.
And north of Harrisburg you fall in next to the Susquehanna (“suss-KWEE-hanna”) river on the old “three-lane.”
It’s all four-lane now.
When it was three-lane, there were no-passing zones, and passing zones.
Drivers would stack up behind a slowpoke, and then all caravan by in the passing lane.
The best part is always the scenery.
Entire mountainsides on fire with fall foliage, and the Susquehanna.
I got so I crossed the river at Duncannon (“Done-CAN-non”) north of Harrisburg, and switched inland to an expressway that bypassed Harrisburg — Interstate-83.
Segment by segment, the old 15 has become history. Even the two-lane expressway west of Mansfield, and the two-lane through Lawrenceville. —15 used to go through Mansfield.
Even the gas-stations and restaurant by Steam Valley are being bypassed. For years the eastbound lanes were the old road.
But I like that route.
I tried to find something more direct, but it was desolate and unfriendly; lotsa smoking coal slag-heaps.
And I don’t need no map; or GPS.
Probably the last time I used a map on that route was to figure that Harrisburg bypass — that was at least 40 years ago.
• “Houghton College” is about 70 miles south of Rochester. It’s in western NY. Houghton is an evangelical liberal-arts college.
• Route 17 has since been replaced by a more-or-less parallel expressway: Interstate-86; the “Southern Tier Expressway.” It crosses southern NY, west to east.
• A “golf-ball water-tower” is spherical water-vessel standing on a single central leg. It looks like a golf-ball on a tee.
• A “Glowering Intimidator” is a tailgater, named after Dale Earnhardt, deceased, the so-called “intimidator” of NASCAR fame, who used to tailgate race-leaders and bump them at speed until they let him pass.
• The “Susquehanna” river is a wide, but shallow, river that crosses PA and empties into Chesapeake Bay. Two forks meet near Williamsport, PA; one that starts in NY, and one that starts in PA to the west.
• “GPS” is Global-Positioning-System. Satellites are used to locate the exact position of a receiver on earth, and then software can be used to provide directions. Techies have converted to using GPS software in place of maps.
In fact, I graduated from there with a B.A. in 1966. I’ve never regretted it. It was one of the neatest lifetime experiences I’ve ever had.
During that time I was still living with my family in a suburb north of Wilmington, DE.
It meant trekking back-and-forth.
Quite a few other Houghton students lived in the Delaware Valley (which includes Philadelphia and south Jersey), so we’d share rides.
At first it was up the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to where it ended at Scranton, then up to Binghamton on I-81, then across lower NY on Route 17.
Onto Route 19 at Wellsville, and up to Houghton.
About eight hours.
Many times it was Fred Zane from south Jersey.
I’d meet him where the Northeast Extension started, north of Philadelphia, although once he drove right through without getting me.
We had to chase him all the way up to a rest-area, where he happened to get off — halfway to Scranton.
Zane was driving with his father; he’d forgot.
Good old Zane; always in the ozone.
Another time was in the ‘56 Dodge of a fellow Delawarean’s father.
That was late 1964.
The Dodge overheated, and we had to have a mechanic replace the thermostat in his shop near Harrisburg.
An eight-hour trip took 10 hours.
But then I rode up with Bill Baynard, a Houghton student from southern Delaware.
He picked me up in his gray ‘52 Chevy fastback, and we drove majestically up Route 15 via Harrisburg and Williamsport.
Route 15 crossed 17 near Addison.
It was perhaps an hour longer, but what a road.
From then on any trips I made were via Route 15.
Over forty-some years I have driven that route hundreds of times.
Improvements and modifications have been made.
By now almost the entire route is four-lane expressway.
The only part that isn’t is the two-lane in NY from the NY/PA border up to Presho.
Just about all of the old two-lane Route 15 in PA has been retired.
Including many way markers.
Like the infamous Blossburg Hill with its “Get Right With God” sign.
We still pass Reptiland on Route 15 south of Williamsport.
And the small golf-ball water-tower in a valley below the highway.
Part of old Route 15 is under water thanks to Hurricane Agnes.
A giant flood-control dam was built near Tioga, requiring relocating the highway up on the hillside.
It formed Lake Hammond and a reservoir in two separate valleys.
Many expressway segments were just two-lane at first.
I remember riding my motorcycle on one near Mansfield about 1991. 60 mph in a downpour!
I was being pushed by a glowering intimidator; “No Passing,” of course.
I doubt I could do it again.
And north of Harrisburg you fall in next to the Susquehanna (“suss-KWEE-hanna”) river on the old “three-lane.”
It’s all four-lane now.
When it was three-lane, there were no-passing zones, and passing zones.
Drivers would stack up behind a slowpoke, and then all caravan by in the passing lane.
The best part is always the scenery.
Entire mountainsides on fire with fall foliage, and the Susquehanna.
I got so I crossed the river at Duncannon (“Done-CAN-non”) north of Harrisburg, and switched inland to an expressway that bypassed Harrisburg — Interstate-83.
Segment by segment, the old 15 has become history. Even the two-lane expressway west of Mansfield, and the two-lane through Lawrenceville. —15 used to go through Mansfield.
Even the gas-stations and restaurant by Steam Valley are being bypassed. For years the eastbound lanes were the old road.
But I like that route.
I tried to find something more direct, but it was desolate and unfriendly; lotsa smoking coal slag-heaps.
And I don’t need no map; or GPS.
Probably the last time I used a map on that route was to figure that Harrisburg bypass — that was at least 40 years ago.
• “Houghton College” is about 70 miles south of Rochester. It’s in western NY. Houghton is an evangelical liberal-arts college.
• Route 17 has since been replaced by a more-or-less parallel expressway: Interstate-86; the “Southern Tier Expressway.” It crosses southern NY, west to east.
• A “golf-ball water-tower” is spherical water-vessel standing on a single central leg. It looks like a golf-ball on a tee.
• A “Glowering Intimidator” is a tailgater, named after Dale Earnhardt, deceased, the so-called “intimidator” of NASCAR fame, who used to tailgate race-leaders and bump them at speed until they let him pass.
• The “Susquehanna” river is a wide, but shallow, river that crosses PA and empties into Chesapeake Bay. Two forks meet near Williamsport, PA; one that starts in NY, and one that starts in PA to the west.
• “GPS” is Global-Positioning-System. Satellites are used to locate the exact position of a receiver on earth, and then software can be used to provide directions. Techies have converted to using GPS software in place of maps.
posted by BobbaLew at 4:58 PM
2 Comments:
I will be making the Route 15 trip from Harrisburg to Williamsport in a few days. I lived in York, Pa. from age 5-9. My parents are both from Williamsport, so we made the trip from Williamsport to York many times. So often that it's one of my most vivid memories. Thanks for blogging about this seemingly unremarkable stretch of road.
I remember lying down in the back of our station wagon, in a "bed" with coloring books, a pillow and a flashlight; before the age of seatbelts. I knew the road mainly by it's sounds, and what I could see upside down through the back windows of the car. The best part was the bouncy "click,clack...click, clack" of the concrete segments. And me sliding toward the tailgate when we'd finally get to one of the passing zones, and gun it past a slowpoke. The smokestacks at the powerplant in Selinsgrove were always visible from the back of the station wagon; as were the radio towers (I think there are five) on the hill above Shamokin Dam. That's a traffic light now, but I think it used to be a flashing yellow caution before you turned left to start up the hill. Eventually, after what seemed like hours, the need to yawn as we climbed Montgomery Pike and the air pressure changed. I knew then it was time to get up and wait for the grand finale... the Bald Eagle overlook. At night, the lights of Williamsport and Montoursville can make you think you're decending into a metropolis. Then, down the hill full speed, round the corner in South Williamsport, and cross the metal-grated Market Street bridge. I miss that sound since the bridge was replaced. Anyway, the road doesn't have as much character as it did back then, but it sure is a lot quicker. And it still impresses my kids, even though they're buckled up.
What I remember where 15 turned left toward Bucknell, was a traffic circle.
I’m told that’s the junction of Routes 11 and 15.
It may have been a flashing yellow in the past, but what I remember is that traffic circle. And what a challenge it always was. 15 to Bucknell was four-lane, as I remember it.
It IS a traffic-light now. (MUCH BETTER — so much for “traffic-calming.”)
There also was a grate bridge north of Williamsport; old road over an old railroad — since abandoned.
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