The Keystone Building

Returned to Pennsylvania for the weekend to pick up some stuff (my other computer, clothes, etc.) The interesting thing is that not one, but two roadside projects there have websites of their own. I suppose this is that tentative first step towards a responsive, information-rich government. Or something like that.

The first project that caught my eye was the Dauphin Bypass, which is near Interstate 81 at Harrisburg. The reason this one was striking was because the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has actually put up temporary road signs (the kind that have lights spelling out the messages) which publicize the www.dauphinbypass.com address. The local paper (the Harrisburg Patriot News) had a pretty good article on people visiting the site after reading the sign, but they are not online (sigh), so I can't link to it.

The most interesting feature of the Dauphin Bypass site is email updates which you can get by joining their mailing list. Seems like someone involved in that project really gets the web.

Project number two is another interesting one, this one in the heart of "downtown" Harrisburg, where, due to asbestos problems, a fire, and some other hazards, and old building for the Department of Transportation was torn down. (Blown up, actually.)

On that site, they are building a new general-purpose state office called the Keystone Building. This project has its own website, too, with the signs around the site listing the address.

Unfortunately, I don't know how the unsuspecting motorist driving down the street in Harrisburg is supposed to jot down the oh-so-friendly URL, which is http://www.dgs.state.pa.us/keystone/kbhome.htm.

(Note to Contractors: Spend the extra 70 bucks and register keystonebuilding.com! Sheesh.)