The new National Park Service Visitor Center at 1195 Baltimore Pike. This view from Hunt Avenue was taken from the northeast facing southwest at approximately 4:30 PM on Monday March 17, 2008.
The new National Park Service Visitor Center at Gettysburg National Military Park is scheduled to open on Monday, April 14, 2008. The new visitor center and its new location will bring new traffic patterns to the Gettysburg area. The Gettysburg Daily chose Monday to show the new intersections with the visitor center entrances and exits on the Baltimore Pike and the Taneytown Road.
For other posts on traffic lights and traffic patterns, see our posts for June 5, 2008, June 9, 2008, and August 14, 2008.
Even when traffic isn’t supposed to be officially coming to the visitor center, this section can appear busy. Here is how visitors will leave the visitor center by the Baltimore Pike exit. View from the west facing east at approximately 4:30 PM on Monday March 17, 2008.
View as one leaves Gettysburg and approaches the new visitor center intersection on the Baltimore Pike. Notice there are now three lanes at the light for traffic going south. A turn lane on the right for the visitor center. A lane for through traffic. A lane on the left for a private residence which is currently for sale. View from the north looking south at approximately 4:30 PM on Monday March 17, 2008.
Again a view of how traffic will leave the visitor center and exit on the Baltimore Pike. The house that has its own turning lane is for sale, and is shown in the right side of this picture. View is from the west facing east at approximately 4:30 PM on Monday March 17, 2008.
The visitor center entrance from the house that is for sale on the east side of the Baltimore Pike. This view was taken from the east facing west at approximately 4:30 PM on Monday March 17, 2008.
View on the Baltimore Pike facing north. There are two northbound lanes here. The left lane to turn to the new visitor center, and the right lane for through traffic. This view was taken from the south facing north at approximately 4:30 PM on Monday March 17, 2008.
The Baltimore Pike isn’t the only road that will experience changes with the new visitor center traffic patterns. Here is the new entrance and exit from the Taneytown Road. Ideally, the National Park Service would have traffic enter the Visitor Center on the Baltimore Pike, and exit here to tour the battlefield. This will have traffic avoiding Gettysburg’s town square (circle, diamond). View is from the west facing east at approximately 4:30 PM on Monday March 17, 2008.
The new visitor center exit on the Taneytown Road from the southwest. View from the southwest looking northeast at approximately 4:30 PM on Monday March 17, 2008.
Some perspective on the Taneytown Road exit from the new visitor center. The Cyclorama Center is shown to the left. Meade’s headquarters (Leister Farm) is shown in the center. The new visitor center sign will be placed on the stone foundation on the right. View from the southeast looking northwest at approximately 4:30 PM on Monday March 17, 2008.