Although I've never been able to be there when a handful of fanatics have gathered to talk about and then tour highways, they're a fascinating bunch.

Nine members of the group with no name other than "road enthusiasts" linked via the Internet traveled from as far as Minnesota and Virginia for a meeting Aug. 13, a lunch/gabfest at the Red Star Tavern in Station Square.

After chatting about roads for two hours, they got in their cars, went through the recently opened Wabash Tunnel and out the Parkway West to where the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is building a Route 60 interchange at the entrance to Pittsburgh International Airport.

On the way back, they drove around mostly rural roads to glimpse other construction on the six-mile toll road project known as the Findlay Connector, the first segment of a 30-mile Southern Beltway along the Allegheny-Washington county line.

I know what you're thinking: Whatever turns you on!

Loosely knit but dedicated groups of the highway fanatics now exist in a number of states. Jeff Kitsko, 28, a computer guru who lives near Latrobe, is the founder-impetus of the Pennsylvania group.

"My interest in roads began at an early age and stemmed from my mom," he said. "As we would be driving, we talked about 'New 48' supposed to be a north-south parkway from McKeesport and President Eisenhower's vision to build the interstate system based on witnessing how quickly Hitler could move his military via the German autobahns."

Kitsko started burying himself in old maps at age 11, curious about where roads would lead him.

He started traveling the information superhighway in 1997, while still a college student, creating the Web site www.pahighways.com, which has racked up more than a half-million "hits," counting the early days before he switched computer servers.

"A road enthusiast from Connecticut was challenging people to start sites for their states. I was looking for a niche and Pennsylvania was available, so I figured 'Why not?' It happened after Overdrive (an Alabama-based trucking industry magazine) ranked us as having the worst roads in the U.S. for the eighth straight year."

That grim reminder is the first item that pops up in your face when you call up Kitsko's Web site.

It gets better. And more interesting.

On the home page, you can scroll down to the latest Pennsylvania gas prices; receive Amber Alert notifications; learn highway history; obtain regional information; read histories of "broken dreams, broken promises" about pie-in-the-sky projects such as "The New 48"; and buy road maps from the "Pennsylvania Highways Store" that Kitsko says is a small source of the only income he receives to maintain the Web site.

He has a degree in communications but is self-employed, working out of his house, designing Web pages for clients.

"I spend a couple of hours, a couple days a week," he said, working on www.pahighways.com, depending on what must be updated.

By clicking on the interstate directional signs, users can exit to 18 main areas of interest, including a site where you can view highway route markers, past and present, from around the world or read the 102-year history of PennDOT.

I realize many of you don't have a computer and won't be able to take the impressive electronic journey. You'll have to take my word for it.

You also can get local and state construction information. An Exit Guide to interstates. And a Dec. 30, 2001, account by a Russian television network about an accident on Interstate 80. If you can't read Russian, click to access the Altavista system that will translate the text to English.

In fact, you can spend weeks exploring the Web site and all the links it provides. Whew! Even the PG's grumpy, impatient transportation writer is overwhelmed. Highway engineers could learn a thing or two.

The road enthusiasts started their meetings in 1999.

"A bunch of local guys on an Internet message board decided to get together to discuss Pittsburgh roads and whatnot," Kitsko said, crediting Bruce Cridlebaugh, the man behind www.pghbridges.com, another great Web site, with organizing the first gathering. It has spread all over the country, with road enthusiasts meeting in places from Denver to Boston.

Last year, the Pennsylvania road enthusiasts gathered in Breezewood and toured three abandoned Turnpike tunnels.

Eighteen people are the most that ever showed up, so the no-name group has plenty of room for new members. The price is right. "It doesn't cost anything to belong," Kitsko said, "except as much as you want to pay for lunch and gas to do a tour afterward."

Kitsko, Cridlebaugh and Ed and Shari Szuba, of Emsworth, attended the Aug. 13 gathering. The other five were from out of town.

Adam Prince, originally from Elizabeth Township, now from Albany, N.Y., missed the session. I mention Prince because he and Kitsko are planning the first national meeting of road enthusiasts. It's to be held in Pittsburgh next summer.

The David L. Lawrence Convention Center is empty and available.

Postscript. Road maps that Kitsko began gathering as a youngster now constitute a prize collection.

The oldest is from 1916, an old Gulf Oil Co. map that predates the road numbering system. The major routes such as what became Route 30 are marked in red, "But that's it," Kitsko said. "Another map from 1924 adds the name 'Lincoln Highway' but there were still no numbers. The system of numbers didn't come out until 1925."

"For a while, until about 1930, Pennsylvania routes and U.S. routes were multiplexed, so you would see both designations," he explained. "For example, U.S. Route 30 was also Pennsylvania Route 1."

I can't imagine writing a "Getting Around" column then.

Elsewhere. The Triangle Transit Authority plans to begin construction next year on a 28-mile, double-track passenger rail system connecting Durham and Raleigh, N.C., and 10 points in between the two cities.

Believe it! Companies that manufacture more than three-fourths of the cement in the United States are foreign owned.

Plate du jour. John Troan, longtime editor of the former Pittsburgh Press, wonders what's up with the Pennsylvania personalized license plate NAPKIN that he has spotted several times in his Mt. Lebanon neighborhood. Are there a KNIFE, a FORK and a SPOON?