The AARoads Blog

Day 1 – Portland to Vancouver, Vancouver to Eugene and Corvallis

My flight took me to Albuquerque, New Mexico as the stopover point, my first time there, and from there northwest to Portland International Airport. Coming in over the virtual desert of southeastern Oregon, the air thickened with smoke due to area wild fires and stagnent air from very hot weather. The peaks of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams peaked above the purple haze below, and the Columbia River did not reveal itself until we sunk below the pollution deck.

After picking up checked bags, and taking the shuttle to the off-site car rental office, we headed north on Interstate 205, quickly crossing into Washington (my 42nd state at the time) en route to Matt’s house. The numbered street grid of Vancouvers transitions abruptly with the street grid of Battle Ground’s, so it took a while for us to meet up with Matt. Once we did, he showed us Mt. St. Helens from his backyard, and we had pizza at an eatery in town. Matt creates highway guides for Oregon and Washington on westcoastroads.com for those who might not know, and the three of us discussed roads, mountains, weather, etc. etc.

Although it was around 10:30 when we parted ways, Andy and I needed to get down to the Belt Line Road interchange of Interstate 5 in Eugene to clinch the freeway in Oregon. Rather than backtracking that far in the morning, we opted for it in the dark of night. Little did we know that the University of Oregon would be starting class the following week, so every motel and hotel in town was booked. Time to head back north, and check Albany, Corvallis, or Salem. Well by 0dark30, we found a place with a vacany in Corvallis, even with it being the home to the Oregon State University, which was also about to start its semester!

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Just wanted to mention a few updates to the site over the last week.

First off Andy is continuing to add updates to the Interstate-Guide involving Northwest U.S. freeways. Of those updated, there is now a load of new coverage for I-5, I-82, I-84, I-182, and I-705. Continuing onward, I’ve been working on Springfield, Massachusetts area guides for northeastroads.com. The guides for I-91 and I-291 were updated, and a guide for I-391 was created. I may add more New England material soon.

Also of interest, thanks to our friend Jake, I located several new coloured shield assemblies for U.S. highways in Florida. Levy County is the place for preserved assemblies, and some of the ones found are pictured on the Florida U.S. Highways Page.

Random snap: U.S. 231 northbound at U.S. 431’s southern terminus in Dothan, Alabama

Situated in southwest Georgia is the mid-sized city of Albany. The city is the largest west of Interstate 75 and south of Columbus, and is also home to one of two freeways in far southwest Georgia that are not part of an Interstate highway.

The freeway, known as the Liberty Expressway (though not signed as such), carries in part U.S. 19, U.S. 82, Georgia 3, Georgia 300, and Georgia 520 (Georgia GRIP Corridor Z). It bypasses downtown Albany and the commercial strips of U.S. 19 Business (Olgethorpe Boulevard) & 82 Business (Slappey Drive), and also provides a truck route for through traffic between Columbus and Interstate 75.

While the road is similar in scope to the Bainbridge Bypass, with diamond interchanges, older concrete bridges (both span the Flint River too), the Liberty Expressway does include full shoulders and a 65 MPH speed limit for part of its route.

Let’s dodge some rain drops and take a look…

U.S. 82 & Georgia 520 turn onto the Liberty Expressway at the trumpet interchange with Dawson Road. An Interstate 75 shield appears, even though the freeway is 45 miles to the east. Dawson Road meanwhile travels southeast into downtown Albany.

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I was in Denver this weekend for the big IMTA map convention, and took a lot of photos of I-25, I-70, and I-225. I-25 and I-225 were under construction for many years as part of a rebuilding process called T-Rex. The project involved adding lanes, bridges, and two rail lines along the interstate corridors. The end result is impressive.

Through Arapahoe County, I-25 is an unrelenting 10 lanes with a rail line on the west side. The lane count goes down to 8 after I-225 and eventually to 6 on the un-reconstructed portion of the road near downtown. It reminded me of I-5 losing lanes headed northbound into Norwalk and downtown Los Angeles. As always, click the smaller photos to get the larger ones.

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The craze now in various European capitals seems to be the Beltway – Vienna’s S2, Budapest’s M0, Belgrade, Skopje, Warsaw, etc. I came across this image of part of Stockholm’s new Södra Länken (the Southern Link) – the southern part of the beltway there. It’s a huge picture and makes for a great desktop wallpaper (click it), and it also shows something lacking on this side of the pond: any semblance of artistic or aesthetic senses. The decor as the tunnel splits reminds the driver of both an EU flag and Sweden’s national colours. American roads, quantity over quality, maybe?

I-490 is a very short east/west freeway (just 2.43 miles long) south of downtown Cleveland, it connects I-90 with I-77. Each end features a multi-level stack and the eastern end is a stub, making this one of the more interesting tiny three-digit interstates out there. As always, click each image for a bigger one.

The eastern end of I-490 at 55th St. The freeway was to have extended eastward. (more…)

We took a full week to drive around and visit friends and family in the Pacific Northwest between Saturday August 26 and Saturday September 2. Among the goals of our trip was to finish clinching the Oregon and Washington Interstate systems, for me to visit Idaho and Montana for the first time, to meet fellow road enthusiasts Matt Strieby and Chris Kalina, and to explore the Columbia River Gorge and Seattle among other locations.
Since we had next to no internet access during the trip, let alone time for the computer, I’ll be writing posts based upon our travels in retrospect. Additionally I’m writing about the last day first, as I don’t have the photos from the rest of the trip yet (those are on Andy’s laptop).

Day 8 – Olympia to Portland:

Not much to this day, woke up a bit after 0-dark-30, drove around Olympia to document some I-5 Washington shields we found, also photographed the “north” end of U.S. 101 at Interstate 5, and then headed down I-5 to I-205 and Portland International Airport so I could fly out. In the process we finished clinching I-5, the whole shabang from Mexico to Canada.

The “southbound” beginning of U.S. 101, just west of the interchange with Interstate 5. U.S. 101 travels west to Washington 8 along a freeway before turning north to Shelton and Port Angeles. The east-west segment of the highway along the north end of the Olympic Peninsula is signed east-west. U.S. 101 turns southward at Beaver and there finally gets the “South” cardinal direction banner.

The “north” end of U.S. 101 at Interstate 5. An end sign resides along the northbound on-ramp to Interstate 5. Like most Washington reassurance signs, the directional banner and shield are made out of one piece. There are 365 miles of U.S. 101 in Washington according to the mileposts at Olympia!

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