April 2008


Continuing with our I-49 corridor theme, it’s time to look at Shreveport’s non interstate-interstates. The Clyde Fant memorial parkway runs southeast from downtown along the Red River. It goes through miles of parkland and passes by the city’s major hospital and it’s major tourist attractions (the casinos). The view below looks north at downtown Shreveport from the Parkway. Click any images for a larger view.

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Most of our Tennessee coverage is now online, including more photos of Interstate 40 east of Knoxville and Interstate 75 north of Knoxville, all courtesy of Carter Buchanan in 2005. Also for those unaware, Interstate 40 is set to close for 14 months near downtown Knoxville as part of the SmartFix project. Smartfix is a complete reconstruction of an almost two-mile stretch of freeway and viaduct. Some information regarding that project and an associated redesign of three full-cloverleaf interchanges on Interstate 275 in the city was added.

…And for those unaware, the closing of an entire freeway to rebuild it is a concept gaining steam. The concept was proven to be efficient and cost-effective when one direction of Interstate 95 in northern Delaware was closed for three months at a time in 2000. This resulted in the removal of 1961-concrete, replacement of it with new asphalt, and a lowering of the roadway under several key bridges. Presently a portion of Interstate 64 in St. Louis is closed, and so is a 1.5-mile section of Interstate 75 at junction Interstate 96 in Detroit…

A recent request made of us was to create guides for the Garden State Parkway. It is one phenominal road that deserves attention, and we’ve been sitting on photos of the road for almost three years now. Thanks to the urging of one of our viewers, I have created three of four pages covering the road northbound between I-195 and I-78 and southbound between I-87/287 and I-280, with further coverage continuing the tour southbound to I-95.

Finally, a project Matt Strieby has been working off and on for many months, has finally come together enough to debut on WestCoastRoads – a Portland, Oregon focus page. Matt plans on adding more detailed histories of the many cancelled freeways in the Rose City, and new and expanded guides of the existing roads over the coming months.

Behold – Texas’ new style of signing FM road junctions along major routes. I like!

Interstate 540 is a two-parter. The southern section runs from the Oklahoma state line and bypasses Fort Smith and runs over the wide Arkansas River to end at I-40 northeast of the city. The newer, northern section, runs north from I-40 to the state’s northwest metro area. Continuing on our future-Interstate-49 trend, lets take a look at I-540 in Arkansas.

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