The AARoads Blog

Iowa trip day 2

Continuing the drive north from Sikeston to the Quad Cities, clouds dominated the day, and from Springfield northward, snow flakes joined the fray. Generally traveled northward along Interstate 55, with a loop onto the new I-64, I-270, and I-255 around St. Louis. Took Interstate 155 to Interstates 74/474 to the Quad Cities in light snow. Saw a pair of cars dislodged from the road, one of which was wrapped in barbed wire, the other perpendicular to the westbound carriageway within the median…

Southbound Interstate 55 at the loop ramp onto Interstate 57’s northbound beginning. It appears that the I-57 shield may be covering up a square shield?

No Interstate 57 shields were posted between the beginning and Exit 4. We settled for this shot on County Road B.

An older spec Interstate 55 Missouri shield in place on U.S. 60 eastbound at the northbound loop ramp to Interstate 55 at Interstate 57’s northbound beginning.

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Some notes and photos from a holiday drive northward from the Gulf Coast area to Iowa. Day 1 focused on the Interstate 55 corridor northward to Sikeston, Missouri. The day started out foggy, with lots of standing water from recent floodwaters over southern Mississippi. The the sun shined northward to Grenada, where murky skies set in and remained in place throughout the week

U.S. 84 shifted from its Main Street alignment through Collins onto a new four-lane bypass north of town. The old alignment was redesignated Mississippi 184. A new partial-cloverleaf interchange joins U.S. 49 with the relocated U.S. 84.

U.S. 49’s approach to Interstates 20 and 55 at Richland was upgraded to an expressway recently. The controlled-access route bypasses some of the businesses, now served by frontage roads, from the split with Old Highway 49 north to U.S. 49’s merge onto Interstate 20 west & 55 south.

Interstates 20 & 55 westbound near their split in south Jackson. Road work is underway presently to replace the westbound bridge over U.S. 51 / State Street.

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Three new Interstate sections are in the works, planned, or coming to fruition. Discussion on the AARoads Forum highlighted three recent additions:

Interstate 781 is the number proposed for a new freeway spur from Interstate 81 to Fort Drum in Upstate New York. This route would enhance access to growing Fort Drum and bypass a current at-grade connection. A page for I-781 resides on the Interstate Guide as well.

Interstate 264 was mentioned as the planned number for the old section of Interstate 70 leading south to the Poplar Street Bridge from the new alignment on its envisioned Mississippi River Bridge at St. Louis.

Lastly, a short section of new Interstate 69 freeway opened between Interstates 64/164 and Indiana 68 as both Indiana 57 and I-69. This is the third section of Interstate 69, tallying just 1.77 miles, now in existance. Construction is underway to extend the road northward to Indiana 64.

Interstate 635 is an approximately 12 mile long bypass running to the west of downtown Kansas City. It is mostly in Kansas, but runs into Missouri as well. The entire route was recently reconstructed by KDOT in a $98 million project that also saw the rebuilding of its interchange with Interstate 70. Lets take a quick look at Interstate 635 in Kansas. Click any of the image for larger versions.
(Note: The author is just kidding when he says it is boring, he lives next to IH 635 in Dallas and avoids it like the plague)

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Missouri State Route 249 (two-fortynine, I-49, get it?) is a new freeway being constructed around the east side of Joplin. Currently, Joplin is served by Interstate 44 and a US 71 freeway that runs north from Arkansas and I-540. Such notable names as Langston Hughes and Jackass’ Preston Lacy can claim Joplin as a hometown.

Let’s take a look at the as-yet-incomplete SR 249 – aka the Range Line bypass – after the jump

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