once upon a time, 401 was only 2 lanes, all the way to capital blvd. even more spectacular, capital blvd was only 4 lanes (or less). this was way before 540, triangle town center, even target or fuddruckers. even more, this was WAY before seatbelts were required for anyone, not just the front seat folks (noone needed them), and cars were LARGE (and in charge) back in those days.
when you drove south from rolesville towards capital blvd (south on 401), you had to drive beneath the north bound US1 single lane bridge. (there still is a bridge there, but it is very different...) and then quickly merge onto capital blvd. there was only about 100' of a merge lane onto one of the southbound US1 lanes. this sounds really complicated. so, i'll get to my point.
when we'd get to the bridge (which we were driving UNDER), mom would always say to sit down so she could see to merge. hence why it became known as the "sit down bridge."
this is the current "sit down bridge", which you wouldn't have to sit down for it now a days since it is 2 lanes which do NOT end, but since we ALL have to wear seat belts (even backseat passangers), i suppose every bridge is a sit down bridge.
And I still think of it as the sit down bridge and I still do not like to go under it because I always have to merge across all of the lanes to turn quickly to the right! I don't like to merge to the right unless there are just two lanes. Kind of like how 70 in Durham USED to merge from UNDER the bridge, that's right, to the RIGHT and there were always big big transfer trucks rounding that curve---in my way/lane! Of course in Raleigh, I learned to turn right on Calvary then Left onto Capital. A stop light but easier than crossing 5 lanes in less than a block!
ReplyDeleteGood for people to know.
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