The AARoads Blog

some photos from favorite old haunts … northeastern New Mexico, including a trip to Sierra Grande, the tallest mountain in Union County.

Two days of photos – one of just hanging out, the second of actually going somewhere.

Flowers still in bloom in late October at 6800 feet. Someone does one hell of a job with the gardening!

Why has Dale ascended to such magnificent heights atop this flimsy half-a-utility-pole? Because he can.

Iridescent clouds, and a radio assembly on top of Sierra Grande. (Or: a flying saucer comes in for a landing.)

(more…)

Some photos, from a visit to the Laws Railroad Museum, in Bishop, California in October, 2010.

Enthusiasts of railroads, old highways, and the general western frontier experience are strictly obligated to check it out.

the Laws Railroad Museum

this is a photo gallery of their highway sign collection. They mainly focus on the Auto Club of Southern California, as they are the ones who signed the Bishop area between 1913 and 1947 exclusively. Their sign collection concentrates mainly on the 1910s and 1920s, with a couple of 1930s and later items as well.

This is just the left wall of one tiny corner of the museum! An incredible display of highway signs from the 1910s and 1920s. The one on the left says “Indian Picture Rock” – (thanks Jason and Shemp!).

Many guide signs referring to the Bishop area, including Beatty Station from Death Valley (leftmost diamond-shaped sign).

Topping it all off, a Grand Army of the Republic Highway marker, representing US-6 between Provincetown, MA and Long Beach, CA, as was designated in 1952.

(more…)

The last of the trip from December ’07. Utah, Nevada, and California.

Nope, this is not the Great Salt Lake – this is the Bonneville Salt Flats in winter, when there is a thin layer of collected rain and melted snow… and people drive in it.

Tiny houses, colossal mountains. Somewhere in Nevada at sunset.

Well past dusk, near Battle Mountain, Nevada.

Donner Lake, the next morning.

Clouds over the east bay. The view from I-680; and yes, that part of California is greenest in … January.

(more…)

Started the final day of the trip in Cayce, South Carolina. Began by poking around downtown Columbia briefly before heading west to Saluda, SC and Athens, GA. Ended up back in Atlanta and took Interstate 20 west to Birmingham and then south on I-65.

Counter-intuitive shield assembly posted for South Carolina 12 along U.S. 21-176-321 (Huger Street) northbound in Columbia. South Carolina 12 follows a one-way street couplet of Hampton Street (east) and Taylor Street (west) from Jarvis Klapman Boulevard to Park Street in downtown.

U.S. 21-176-321 turn southward onto Huger Street from Elmwood Avenue. While the only Business Spur I-126 sign disappeared a few years ago, the remainder of the junction with Interstate 126 remains virtually unchanged from 2004.

Interstate 126 west defaults onto Interstate 26 west ahead of the junction with Interstate 20 (Exit 107). The freeway mainline merges onto I-26 from the left. Motorists taking the I-20 ramp simply merge onto I-26 from the right ahead of the Exit 107 full-cloverleaf interchange. U.S. 76 is the only US Route in the Columbia area to follow a freeway. It joins Interstate 126 from Elmwood Avenue and continues on I-26 west to Exit 101A.

(more…)

Rounding out the northern component of our trip, covering Interstate 64 east through eastern Kentucky to Charleston and a rehash of the West Virginia Turnpike south among other revisits of roads previously driven. Several more projects worth mentioning on this drive and we cover some in detail below

We begin our day at Mt. Sterling, Kentucky and discover one of a handful of state named shields for Interstate 64. This particular assembly is found along Kentucky 686 (Indian Mound Drive), a circumferential arterial around the city. KY-686 is signed as east-west, even on the north-south routing of the state route.

This Kentucky 11 shield includes the rarely seen Highway Gothic Series A.

Kentucky 2 north at the beginning of Kentucky 59 near Exit 156 of Interstate 64.

(more…)

Day 4 focuses on Interstate 76 west, the Columbus Beltway, and completing Interstate 71 in Kentucky among other roads.

Ohio 711 was completed on October 24, 2005 after three years of construction. The 3.35-mile state route links Interstate 80 and Ohio 11 with Interstate 680. For years ramp stubs sat unused at Interstate 80 and Ohio 711 existed as a short spur from Interstate 680 (Exit 3A) to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.

Ohio 711 travels a viaduct from U.S. 422 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard) westward over the Mahoning River to junction Interstate 680.

An original button copy diagrammatical sign for Exits 4B/A, west of downtown Youngstown, was replaced with a new overhead assembly. The number of Interstate 680 originated from the Ohio Turnpike as Interstate 80N. A partial "Y" interchange provides only westbound access to the urban loop from Interstate 76 at the south end.

(more…)

Day 3 of the trip focused on documenting the Cleveland area Interstates, walking around Public Square in downtown, heading east to Pennsylvania to redrive the extended Interstate 376, and revisiting the city of Pittsburgh. Orange cones, barriers and signs were omnipresent throughout northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania related to numerous resurfacing and bridge rehabilitation projects. Some of the more major road projects we encountered are highlighted below.

Clearview based signage replaces button copy signs throughout the Akron and Cleveland area Interstate system. This particular sign bridge resides along Interstate 77 north ahead of Interstate 277 west and U.S. 224. U.S. 224 follows all of Interstate 277 and much of Interstate 76 to the west. The highway continues the freeway east to Kelly Avenue near Akron Fulton International Airport.

Traveling virtually alone on the Innerbelt freeway of Ohio 59 north into downtown Akron. This 2.24-mile freeway spur connects Interstates 76 & 77 with the central business district of Akron at Main and Howard Streets. Connections at the south end only provide access to Interstates 76-77 west and from I-76-77 east to OH-59 north. Like other partially completed and underutilized freeways, the Innerbelt has been considered for partial or total removal to reclaim land lost by its construction.

Interstate 77 travels west and merges with Ohio 21 (former U.S. 21) southwest of Montrose. U.S. 21 joined Interstate 77 when the freeway opened between Ghent and a point one mile south of the Ohio Turnpike in 1964. U.S. 21 was downgraded to Ohio 21 in 1971.

(more…)

Road news and notes from the drive between Travelers Rest, South Carolina and Canton, Ohio.

Signs of construction along U.S. 25 northbound near East Flat Rock south of Hendersonville (compare this scene with this 2007 view). Widening of the two-lane highway is underway to bring it up to four-lane Interstate standards. At-grade intersections with Kay Road and other residential roads will be handled by a new frontage road built along the northbound (east) side of the new freeway. Completion of the overall project is expected by August 2012.

New signs (see the old ones here) posted at Exit 49 (junction U.S. 64) on Interstate 26 west & U.S. 25 north still ignore the fact that U.S. 74 shares the same stretch of highway. Southbound (eastbound) signs also omit the overlap.

Associated with ARRA projects, Interstate 26 at North Carolina 146 work involves the widening of N.C. 146 between N.C. 191 and U.S. 25 near Skyland. The concrete surface of Interstate 26 from Exit 37 north toward Exit 33 is now asphalt. What appeared to be a new configuration of the Exit 37 diamond interchange was nothing more than the building of Biltmore Park Town Square nearby. See the 2007 photo of the same location for the changes to the area.

(more…)

Road news and notes from the first day of a six-day drive from the Gulf Coast to Cleveland and back.

Traveling the Ross Clark Circle around Dothan, pictured here is the approach of the U.S. 84 west and U.S. 431 northbound split. The city of Dothan has sought a freeway for years, but none remains planned. The circle is typical of an older bypass around an Alabaman city. Access is not controlled and commercial development and signalized intersections are too numerous.

Looking south at progress on the Glenwood bypass of U.S. 431 in southern Russell County, Alabama. The new four-lane alignment should be completed later this fall, bring U.S. 431 to four overall lanes between Phenix City and Dothan, Alabama.

A 2008-09 project added a new folded diamond interchange to the U.S. 80 freeway between Phenix City, Alabama and Columbus, Georgia with Riverchase Drive. This exit opens up land along the Chattahoochee River for development and provides an additional north-south corridor into Phenix City via 5th Avenue.

(more…)