All Interstate 69 shields posted on guide signs within Branch County, Michigan utilize Clearview-based font for the numbers. This is not supposed to be the case, but in Michigan, one can find shields for Interstates 69, 75, 96 and 696 in violation. This view looks at the southbound on-ramp to Interstate 69 from U.S. 12 west & Business Loop Interstate 69 south at Coldwater.

Business Loop Interstate 69 through Coldwater doubles as Emergency Interstate 69. There are a number of Emergency detour routes posted for Interstate highways throughout southern Michigan. Some of these even extend into Indiana, such as Interstate 69 south from Branch County to Steuben County, Indiana. The Emergency Routes provide an alternate or detour route for the parent route in case of road closure due to weather or other incidents. The Coldwater element of Emergency Interstate 69 includes an east-west portion along U.S. 12 between Division Street south / Marshall Street north (collectively former U.S. 27) and Interstate 69, and a north-south portion following old U.S. 27 out from town.

All of U.S. 27 between Fort Wayne, Indiana and Lansing, Michigan was replaced by Interstate 69. The old alignment remains in use as “Angola Road, “Lansing Road”, “Old 27″, etc. A portion of the old US Route remains in the state system as M-223 (17 Mile Road) from F Drive South to Michigan Avenue in Marshall. Michigan 227 begins at Exit 32 of Interstate 69 and travels 6.71 miles to Business Loop Interstate 94.

U.S. 27 was truncated from the state of Michigan and from Fort Wayne northward in Indiana by 2002. Efforts to turn back the U.S. 27 designation commenced in 1991 by both states, but those were met with resistance from AASHTO as the segment north from Lansing was not included in the request to truncate the US Highway. In 1999, MDOT applied for the renumbering of U.S. 27 north of Lansing as an extension of U.S. 127. This was subsequently approved and sign changes commenced in 2001 with the removal of U.S. 27 shields to the south and in 2002 with the replacement of U.S. 27 as U.S. 127. Read much more on the history of U.S. 27, including the truncation from Michigan, at Chris Bessert’s Michigan Highways.

Business Loop Interstate 94 joins Interstate 69 north for its return trip to Interstate 94 at Exit 38. The loop follows old U.S. 12 along Michigan Avenue between Exit 36 of I-69 to Partello Road and Exit 112 of Interstate 94. The Marshall business loop of I-94 was designated in 1960.

Interstate 69 north joins Interstate 96 west to bypass Lansing on the west side of town. Their overlap is unusual in that the two routes mirror each other number wise, a distinction not replicated anywhere else in the system.

The Capitol Loop acts as a business loop for Interstate 496 (Olds Freeway) through downtown Lansing, serving the state Capitol complex and various attractions. Capitol Loop follows old M-99 northward from Exit 5 of Interstate 496 along the divided Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to the one-way street couplet of Allegan (east) and Ottawa (west) Streets. Grand Avenue connects the one-way pair and joins them with Michigan Avenue across the Grand River to their turn onto Business Loop I-96 (Cedar Street south / Larch Street north) for the return to Interstate 496 (Exit 7). The loop was first signed in 1986.

The one-way frontage street couplet of St. Joseph (west) and Main Street (east) forms a collector/distributor roadway system for Interstate 496 from the Grand River into the folded-diamond interchange with Business Loop I-96 & Capitol Loop at Cedar Street. Interstate 496 opened in stages between 1963 and 1970 as an 11.8-mile urban loop through Lansing. Pleasingly, the freeway is signed with a 70 mile per hour speed limit throughout.

Full cloverleaf interchanges are still viable as freeway to freeway connections when they are coupled with collector/distributor roadways. Such is the case where the U.S. 127 freeway meets Interstate 69 on the northeast side of Lansing.

Business Loop Interstate 96 (Grand River Avenue) bisects the split of Interstate 69 east from Interstate 96 west. A diamond interchange joins the Interstate 96 mainline between the I-69 mainline and the I-69 to I-96 “Wye” connector to the north. Grand River Avenue represents the historic routing of U.S. 16 through northwest Lansing. The US Route was wholly replaced by Interstate 96 from Muskegan eastward to Detroit and thus removed from the state in 1962.

Michigan 6 begins at the Exit 46 directional interchange adjacent to the Thornapple River. M-6 consists of a 19.71-mile freeway bypass of Grand Rapids between Interstates 96 and 196. The route was completed in 2004. Emergency Interstate 96 follows the freeway west to Exit 15 (M-37). An Emergency M-6 is also posted along 36th Street from Exit 44 of Interstate 96 as well.

Another full-cloverleaf interchange with c/d roadways joins the M-6 freeway with U.S. 131 at Cutlerville. A diamond interchange ties into the c/d roadways from the south at 68th Street. U.S. 131 is a modern freeway leading north to Exit 81 and not so much from there to downtown Grand Rapids. Overall the U.S. 131 freeway stretches 169 miles from Portage to Manton.

Spanning the Grand River, U.S. 131 prepares to meet Interstate 196 and become a part of the hidden Interstate 296 at Exit 86. Variable curve speed signs are posted in both directions of the elevated freeway as U.S. 131 kinks westward to span the waterway.

At least one official Michigan Highway Map showing Interstate 296 points to the “Wye” connector from U.S. 131 to Interstate 96 near Walker. U.S. 131 remains adjacent to the Grand River northward from the city to Comstock Park (Exit 91) as the Wye ties into Interstate 96 at M-37 (Exit 30).

A partial “Y” interchange facilitates movements from Interstate 96 west onto Interstate 196 west via a left-hand ramp at Exit 37. Originally, Interstate 196 followed the current I-96 mainline from Grand Rapids to Muskegan, with Interstate 96 planned to angle southwesterly to Interstate 94 at St. Joseph. In 1961, all of the freeway from Lansing to Muskegan was completed, and this “Y” was not open, so Interstate 96 transitioned onto Interstate 196. A swap in designations occurred in 1963, but the current alignment of Interstate 196 was not completed through Grand Rapids until 1964.¹

Looking northward at the Interstate 196 (Gerald R. Ford Freeway) crossing of the Grand River from Bridge Street. Ramps to U.S. 131 tie into the bridge from the west. That interchange is unusual in that the carriageways of U.S. 131 switch sides so that northbound is west of southbound and vice versa to accommodate left-hand ramps to the Ford Freeway.

Continued southwest along Interstate 196 to its conclusion at Interstate 94 near St. Joseph. Then Interstate 94 took us the remainder of the way for day 3 to Port Huron. Traveling through Kalamazoo, Interstate 94 underwent widening from a point west of the U.S. 131 interchange to Oakland Drive between 2006 and 2008. This work included the replacement of the southbound U.S. 131 loop ramp onto I-94 east with a directional ramp.

$52-million widening of the freeway east from Oakland Drive (Exit 75) to Portage Road (Exit 78) commenced in April 2009 and expands the freeway to six lanes and redesigns the Westnedge Avenue interchange from a six-ramp partial-cloverleaf interchange into a single point urban interchange (SPUI).² Work should be completed on this project by the end of this month.

Interstate 194 draws to a southbound close at the full-cloverleaf interchange with Interstate 94 opposite a sprawling retail area bounding the intersection of M-66 and Beckley Road. I-194, one of those designations that eluded the Rand McNally Road Atlas for decades, was completed in 1966 as a 3.4-mile spur into downtown Battle Creek from Interstate 94. The highway doubles as a leg of M-66.

We come full circle at the Interstate 94 junction with Interstate 69 outside Marshall. Business Loop I-94 begins and follows Interstate 69 south to Michigan Avenue (old U.S. 12) and is signed with Coldwater on this auxiliary guide sign. Secondary control cities for freeway to freeway connections are often signed on ground level signs such as this in Michigan. Such as Chicago and Detroit are the primary cities for Interstate 94; secondary cities include Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Jackson and Ann Arbor among others.

Completed through Jackson by 1960, Interstate 94 combines with U.S. 127 between Exits 138 and 142 along a narrow stretch of freeway on the north side of town. A partial-cloverleaf interchange follows the crossing of the Grand River and eastbound drivers see this Interstate 94 trailblazer at the Exit 139 gore point sign. There are not many instances of a shield and diagonal arrow posted on an Interstate mainline…

Interstate 94 expands to six overall lanes at Exit 167 (Baker Road), near Dexter, through to the split with the M-14 freeway at Ann Arbor. M-14 constitutes a 22.54-mile freeway linking Ann Arbor and the western suburbs of Detroit with Interstates 96 & 275 at Livonia. Michigan 14 replaced the routing of U.S. 12 when that route shifted to the south in 1956, replacing the original U.S. 112 alignment. M-14 joined the freeway from Ann Arbor to Livonia as it opened between 1964 and 1979.

Interstate 94 carries just four lanes from Exits 171 to 180, expanding to six lanes from the U.S. 23 freeway to the city of Detroit. Once at U.S. 24 (Telegraph Road), the freeway passes through a SPUI accented with two blue arches, formally named the Gateway Arch Bridges. Constructed as part of a $55-million upgrade of Interstate 94 between the airport and downtown, the Gateway Arch Bridges support the Interstate 94 mainline above Telegraph Road with a clear span of 246 feet between the abutments.

The Exit 202 single point urban interchange replaced an unusual interchange that resembled back to back trumpet interchanges with U.S. 24 within a wide carriageway split of Interstate 94. Construction relocated the eastbound mainline to closely line the westbound carriageway through the new SPUI. A portion of the original eastbound was abandoned, leaving behind a grassy footprint along side Beverly Road.

45 minutes to travel three miles so that six or seven asphalt patches could be made, we reach the Interstate 94 junction with Interstate 96. Interstate 96 continues a short distance southeast to Interstate 75, where major work on the Gateway Project was completed in 2009 that extended the I-96 carriageways alongside I-75 to a proposed connection with the Ambassador Bridge to Windsor, Ontario. The MDOT and City of Detroit elements of the project are complete, The Detroit International Bridge Company portion, including the addition of high speed ramps between the suspension bridge and Interstate 96. The organization has neglected to complete its connection, instead focusing on building a duty-free shop in the path of one of the planned ramps. This has resulted in truck traffic remaining along city streets to make the connection.³

Interstates 69 east & 94 north merge at Port Huron for their final approach to the Bluewater Bridge to Sarnia, Ontario. MDOT began a major rework of the freeway in March 2011 as part of a project to reconstruct the last two miles of I-69 & 94 at Port Huron. Elements of the $90-million construction include a new nine-lane span for the freeway (mainline and c/d roadways) over the Black River, an improved Water Street interchange (Exit 274), a revamp of the partial “Y” interchange with the Lapeer Connector to provide access in both directions, and the replacement of the left-hand ramp to Pine Grove Avenue (Business Loop I-69 & 94) with one that departs from the right. See the MDOT project map for more details on the work expected to last until November 2012.

Sources:

1. Michigan Highways: Highways 180 through 199, Chris Bessert.
2. “I-94 widening and South Westnedge Avenue interchange project to break ground in June” MDOT, April 16, 2009.
3. “Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun may face jail time, penalties.” Detroit Free Press, November 4, 2011.

Approaching the Combs-Hehl Bridge, a pair of cantilever bridges spanning the Ohio River between Kellogg Avenue in Cincinnati and Fort Thomas, Kentucky, along Interstate 275 west (inner loop). These bridges opened in 1979 and carry six lanes of travel. More info on the span can be found at Cincinnati-Transit.net.

A short distance west of the Combs-Hehl Bridge is directional interchange with Interstate 471 and the U.S. 27 connector. U.S. 27 travels high above the beltway via Alexandria Pike in this scene. Construction underway along Interstate 275 involves concrete pavement replacement for both directions of the freeway within Campbell County and the addition of cable barriers along the highway median. Eastbound work will be completed by December 1, 2011; westbound construction commences on April 1, 2012 and lasts through September 1, 2012.

Spanning the Ohio River again via the Taylor-Southgate Bridge of U.S. 27. This cantilever bridge opened in 1995, replacing the original Central Bridge that was demolished by late 1992. Bridge placards from the 1890-built cantilever truss bridge were restored and mounted at both ends of the Taylor-Southgate Bridge.

Heading into downtown Cincinnati, we documented the west end of U.S. 22 and the north end of U.S. 22. U.S. 22 & Ohio 3 follow a one-way street couplet of 7th (eastbound) and 9th (westbound) Streets between Main and the U.S. 27-42-52-127 couplet of Central Avenue and Plum Street. U.S. 22 & Ohio 3 end at the intersection of Central Avenue and 6th Street (Ohio 264), sharing an overlap with U.S. 27-52-127. U.S. 25 has a simpler end, concluding at the Ohio state line along the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge with U.S. 42 & 127.

U.S. 27 north & U.S. 52 west (and U.S. 50 Truck west) follow Central Avenue northward from Mehring Way to 3rd Street (U.S. 42 & 127). The U.S. 50 mainline parts ways with Interstate 71 above after sharing a brief overlap from Fort Washington Way to the east. U.S. 42 & 127 combine with U.S. 27 & 52 along Central Avenue beyond 3rd Street.

Reassurance shields for U.S. 27-42-52-127 follow the Central Avenue intersection with 4th Street and the northbound on-ramp to Interstate 75.

U.S. 22 & Ohio 3 begin at the Central Avenue intersection with Ohio 264 (5th Street) east. A six-way overlap with U.S. 27-42-52-127 continues for two blocks. Pictured here is the first shields for U.S. 22 & Ohio 3. North for U.S. 22 should display East.

U.S. 22 & Ohio 3 part ways with U.S. 27-42-52-127 (Central Avenue) for 7th Street eastbound and follow that street through to Gilbert Avenue. U.S. 42 also splits here but is not acknowledged along the two-block overlap with 7th to Elm Street northbound.

U.S. 22 & Ohio 3 west follow Main Street one block north to make the connection between 8th and 9th Streets in downtown Cincinnati. 9th Street carry the tandem west to Central Avenue.

U.S. 27-52-127-42 eastbound / southbound utilize Plum Street southbound from Ezzard Charles Drive through the turn onto 6th Street west to Central Avenue and Ohio 264. This photo looks at the southbound block of Plum between 8th and 7th (U.S. 22 & Ohio 3 east) Streets.

U.S. 27 & 42 follow 3rd Street west under the Interstate 71 and U.S. 50 ramps to Interstate 75 and turn again onto the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge to Covington, Kentucky. U.S. 25 used to follow this bridge fully, but now ends at the state line. “JCT” was added to this button copy overhead to indicate the truncation of U.S. 25 from Ohio.

U.S. 25 begins formally at the Kentucky state line, midway across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge over the Ohio River. The US Route travels 750 miles south to Brunswick, Georgia, but originally continued all the way north to Port Austin, Michigan. The route north from Cincinnati was vastly replaced by Interstate 75 and so Michigan and Ohio truncated the route wholly from their jurisdictions by 1974.

Westbound end shield assembly for Ohio 562. Following the Norwood Lateral, Ohio 562 provides a freeway connection between Interstate 71 at Norwood with Interstate 75 at St. Benard. Completed in the 1970s to coincide with Interstate 71 construction, the freeway utilizes a portion of right of way originally allocated for a 1920s subway system.

Interstate 74 carried us westward to Indianapolis from Cincinnati. A new six-ramp partial-cloverleaf interchange opened July 9, 2008 at Greensburg.¹ The exit brings U.S. 421 westbound onto the freeway for its overlap through to the Indianapolis Beltway and also serves a new Honda auto assembly plant constructed to the west.

Once I-74 reaches Interstate 465, the designation shifts to the south side of the Indianapolis Beltway between Exits 94 and 73. A freeway spur continues the I-74 mainline otherwise to Southeastern Avenue (former U.S. 421). ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) mileposts continue for Interstate 74 until the the stub overtakes old U.S. 421. This is not a unique scenario to just this location, as Interstate 670′s ITS markers continue along the U.S. 62 freeway spur from its end at Interstate 270 at Columbus, Ohio.

We opted for a revisit of Interstate 70 through the Circle City. Pictured here is the merge with Interstate 65 southbound along the east side of the central business district. The two freeways share 2.13-miles of pavement and a lengthy collector/distributor roadway system (Exit 83A) acts as local lanes to the express lanes of the freeway mainline.

Part of the work involved with the Accelerate 465 project to reconstruct the Indianapolis Beltway includes a redesign of the former directional-cloverleaf interchange with the Sam Jones Expressway. When the expressway first opened in 1969, it served as the main route to Indianapolis International Airport from downtown and points eastward. A new terminal for the airport opened in 2008 west of the beltway by Exit 68 of Interstate 70, reducing the traffic along the Airport Expressway. Renamed in 2007 after local civic leader Sam Jones, the west end of the expressway is now being redesigned to utilize a standard diamond interchange with Interstate 465. Traffic lights will govern all movements between the north-south freeway and now downgraded arterial.

Work of Accelerate 465 entails all of the beltway from Mann Road northward to 56th Street. Construction is completed north of the 38th Street (Exit 17) interchange and in portions between Interstates 70 and 74. A major component of the work otherwise is the upgrade of the former cloverleaf interchange with Interstate 74 west and Crawfordsville Road (former U.S. 136) east at Exit 16. Work focuses on eliminating the I-74 freeway stub to Crawfordsville Road, adding ramps to U.S. 136 (Crawfordsville Road) west of the beltway, and replacing the antiquated loop ramps with high-speed ramps. This will truncate U.S. 136 to its new interchange with the beltway and provide two continuous lanes for Interstate 74 west and east from and to the beltway.

Another new interchange to open along Interstate 74 in 2008 is the Exit 68 diamond interchange with Ronald Reagan Parkway at Brownsburg. Funded by the Major Moves initiative, the exit is part of an overall plan for a new 15-mile north-south roadway linking Interstates 70, 74 and 65 to the west of Indianapolis.

Approaching the junction with Interstate 57 along Interstate 74 west in Champaign. Interstate 57 meets Interstate 72 at the next interchange southbound from Interstate 74.

Traveling through a substandard section of Interstate 57 through the city of Kankakee. Road work is presently underway just north of Exit 312 at the interchange with Illinois 50. A $39.5-million project is underway to reconstruct SR 50 from Armour Road to Larry Power Road, rebuild the ramps between the state route and freeway, and replace the Interstate 57 overpass. That work will be underway until December 2013.²

An Interstate 294 trailblazer directs motorists from Interstate 57 north onto Interstate 80 east at Exit 345A. There is no direct connection between Interstate 57 and the Tri-State Tollway presently and U.S. 6 provides the shortest route between the two roads via 159th Street. A proposal is underway to build a new interchange between the two highways at a cost of $580 million.

Interstates 80 & 294 combine along the southeastern most portion of the Tri-State Tollway through to the merge with Interstate 94 (Bishop Ford Freeway / Calumet Expressway) at SR 394. Major reconstruction occurred here between January 2005 and July 2007, resulting in an improved Kingery Expressway (Interstates 80 & 94 east to the Indiana state line).

Sources:

1. "INDOT officially opens revamped I-74." Greensburg Daily News, July 9, 2008.
2. “Kankakee County: I-57 construction clogs traffic” The Daily Journal, November 5, 2011.

Very close to the park entrance, we get this view.

An elk calf! Young elk are surprisingly hard to spot, because their mothers tend to keep them very well hidden away. Certainly the first time I’ve ever seen one!

A pair of bighorn sheep. That might be literally correct, as it is a ram and a ewe. This photo is from up the Loveland Pass road – US-6, going to 11990 feet.

Loveland Pass. Infrared camera. Fisheye lens.

A ground squirrel. More of this little character later.

Early morning. I think this is Colorado state highway 72 just to the northwest of Denver.

An old alignment of state highway 7 reveals this silver post. At one point it had a glass reflector, but now it instead features a strip of Scotchlite … and plenty of layers of silver and black paint.

Flowers about ten feet away.

New layout, old color scheme.

Yellow flower is … very blown out in this picture.

Entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.

A view in infrared.

Given the relative frequencies of creatures we observed, this place should probably be called Elk Ridge. US-36 ends here. Its other end is in Ohio.

Three-fourths of an elk. I took this photo blindly shooting out the passenger side window.

Mother elk crosses to the other side of the road.

One last shot of elkling.

Distant mountains, looking directly into the sun.

Same idea, different frequencies. The sharpness of the images at these frequencies is incredible – the atmosphere does not, at all, dissipate infrared light and turn it to a blue haze.

We prepare. We are, after all, going up only the highest point on the US highway system. Over 12100 feet!

Pointy mountains, pointy clouds.

Same picture in a different light.

Marmot is ready for his closeup. Only after I shot a few photos did I realize that I was, amazingly enough, too close.

The marmot finds himself a bit too photogenic for his tastes.

Encore performance? No, different marmot.

A piece of a halo.

Note the cutout arrowhead trail marker.

If you want Wyoming … go get it.

In case you were wondering what road signs looked like in infrared.

A roadside crevasse. Hooray for texture.

I have no idea who this clown is, juggling the cameras and trying his best not to fall into a crevasse. Apart from the fact that there were only two people on this trip … and Dan took this photo!

A peninsula of ice.

And one in infrared.

Always good to see a 1961-style US route marker. We have officially left the park.

Nearby dandelions, distant mountains.

Mountains and ranchlands. Infrared photo, explaining the somewhat unexpected color scheme.

Even more mountains.

Loveland Pass in visible light.

The top of the pass.

One from Dan from the same basic area.

Going through Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70.

We find ourselves some rain. The first rest area just west of the tunnel.

Dan uses the IR camera to get a much better photo.

A very European-looking sign for the town boundary.

This river is very near the end of US-24.

on interstate 70, approaching Glenwood Canyon.

The canyon itself. I-70 was built through here in 1992: one deck had to be diagonal above the other in order to be able to successfully fit it in.

Oh, does it now?

The road winds through the canyon. I did not get any particular photos, so here is a terrible one, in the hope that it is sufficient to inspire the audience to see it for themselves! It is well worth seeing.

Several tunnels are needed to put four lanes through the canyon.

What’s this, a two-lane road? We take Colorado state highway 139 north from Grand Junction.

Dan’s leg … and a squirrel.

Officially the most adorable little creature ever? I think so.

One last one of the squirrel from highway 139.

A dirt road which we will take into Utah, just to see if there is anything interesting at the state line.

The first marker on the Utah side. And no, I do not know who Snake John is either.

This very first Colorado marker sure has seen some better days.

This is the road which we just took to Utah … time to take it back.

And now we are officially in Utah, racing west on US-40.

Welcome to Vernal – home of the Pink Dinosaur. With those glorious eyelashes. Home of the Marilyn Monroe of the Mesozoic Era, indeed.

One final treat for the night… a cutout Scenic Byway sign! After this, we head back to the Salt Lake City airport under cover of darkness, and no interesting photos are taken.

and that’s all for this trip. next up – I think I might very well have to post the results of the northern lights run to Alberta and Northwest Territories!

Minimum maintenance road.

Flooding causes standing water. Standing water causes mosquitoes and other insects. A fresh source of food means the dragonflies grow fat and happy. This one was about three inches long, with a five inch wingspan.

We’ve got ourselves a good old fashioned lightning storm. Western Kansas.

We start with another train – no airplane fuselages this time, though.

The gantry tells the tale. At one point, this road was US-75, and the rightmost (missing) set of signs indicated that. Then, US-75 was moved onto the I-29 freeway, so they changed the gantry to indicate that – and added the new county route designation.

when they moved US-75 well into Nebraska, they took off the trailblazer, but oddly did not move the county signs to the main gantry. too much effort, apparently.

Green grass and high tides.

This old yellow stop sign might actually still be in service… it all depends on whether the dirt path it serves is a public road, or just someone’s driveway.

Old 75 intersects current 30. The sign dates to 1994, as evidenced by the sticker on the back, which implies that 75 was moved across the river after that time.

Iowa is the only state I know which uses outline shields for interstates so regularly.

One in infrared, for variety’s sake. Old US-30/75; the Lincoln Highway approaching Omaha.

Nebraska City is about the last place in the state where you will find these “BUSINESS”-tagged state route shields. The US routes are in a lot of places. The earliest ones date back to 1984, when the bypass was built.

The newer sign assemblies are divided into multiple pieces, like this one.

The view from the highway 2 bridge across the Missouri river between Iowa and Nebraska. Why is the water brown? A sewage treatment plant upstream was flooded. Ick.

The levee is holding … for now.

There’s an on-ramp in here somewhere.

You can see the first Iowa state highway 2 marker in the distance … not long before the road sinks.

The water isn’t usually this high. Or, this brown.

Instant business route marker… just add stencil.

Somewhere in Nebraska, this flower blooms.

We’re not just looking for pretty flowers. We are driving this road because it is an old alignment of Nebraska state highway 4. It got renumbered to US-136 sometime in 1951. The green post may very well have once held a NE-4 shield.

This might be the oldest sign we see in Nebraska. The black going all the way to the outside border, the yellow faded to white – this identifies the sign as mid-1950s. It’s on the same old alignment of NE-4/US-136.

Indeed, this sign was once yellow.

We are now in Kansas, where we find this white guide sign on an old US-24 alignment.

Cloud County indeed.

This storm cloud is centered over Salina, Kansas, over 75 miles away.

A railroad runs parallel to US-24. We catch this train just around sunset.

Blue skies and storm clouds.

The storm approaches. This is about a one-minute exposure, with the clouds being illuminated by successive lightning strikes.

We interrupt this meteorological quest to bring you a picture of an old brown 16″ county route marker. They’re getting quite hard to find in Kansas.

It’s electric.

Strike after strike after strike. I combined about seven consecutive exposures here.

The ranch fence gets one in the teeth.

One last lightning strike.

And now for something completely different. This might be the last cutout US route marker in Kansas. Apparently, the US-36 shields in St. Francis are gone, so this is it.

Next morning. As dawn breaks, we are in Colorado. Along the side of US-160 is this abandoned house.

Our first photo from New Mexico. It appears to be a large beast of some kind, possibly carnivorous.

Can a Prius go 100mph? Well, down a road I’ve driven far too many times… yes!

Oh dear, US-64 got demoted.

and that’s where we leave off for now!

Endless fields of yellow flowers are the most prominent feature of the eastern Montana landscape. All the way across the state on US-212, from I-90 eastward, featured miles upon miles of bright colors.

The Milky Way. A 90 second exposure.

Very early dawn in Nebraska. Above this house: a noctilucent cloud – one of the rarest kinds to see!

Slightly later dawn.

Nothing to see here, just a train carrying airplane fuselages.

A state-named I-90 sign which I managed to miss during my previous trip through here, in December, 2007. It’s in Laurel, about two blocks off the main drag.

Not particularly old signs, but definitely an old gantry. At one point, this mentioned US-10 for sure.

I do not know why this Montana 3 sign has an extra thick border. Also, why it does not point to 3 in any reasonably direct manner. It instead points to US-87. Since US-87 and MT-3 both connect Billings to Great Falls, it may very well be the cast that what is currently 87 was once 3.

Typical eastern Montana grasslands scene.

Close-up of the typical eastern Montana grasslands scene.

A different style of flower.

A strangely compelling era of Montana history comes to an end. I remember seeing, in 2005, an older-style US-47 shield here, and then was quite shocked when, in December 2007, I noted that they had replaced it with a shiny new … US-47 marker.

now, finally, state route 47 is correctly marked heading out of Hardin. a small part of us has died.

Infinite regression of purple flowers.

absurdly large dandelion. Seriously, it was about 4 inches in diameter.

This is the only example we found of a signed Indian Route. It uses the same route marker as the Montana state secondary highways – but a completely different range of numbers. The secondaries start around 270 or so.

US-212 in eastern Montana is the Warrior Trail.

This sign is neither embossed steel, nor cast iron. It is wood – and the parts not protected by black paint have weathered away over the last, oh let’s say 40 years.

in any case, the state of Montana wants you to know that if you want some heaps of dirt, you’ll just have to get your own.

We are now in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. And no – despite being 16×16 inches – these are not direct replacements for 16″ cutout US route markers. They’re just … oddly lame.

An original 1958-specification Business Loop 90 marker. It may very well be the only one in South Dakota.

An abysmally bad photo of the sunset. I took this one while discovering that a particular set of ramps on I-90 didn’t have anything to the north but the on- and off-ramps – so I was hastily beating a U-turn (probably quite illegally) before the cavalry came.

Lots of old signs to be found in the Black Hills. I need to return here sometime during the day. Perhaps in early October, to take photos of the leaves changing, and various other general-interest topics.

An oddly shaped 385.

A classic one, unfortunately hidden behind a pair of street blades. I’ll bet that, if I told you that it was in the town of Lead, that you could find exactly where.

Whoops, that’s supposed to be state route 87.

Nebraska. We drove through the night and we’re in about the middle of the state by dawn.

Foggy morning.

Another sunrise photo, through the fog and the trees.

Alas, not the original white town boundary sign.

An older Junction assembly. One can tell its age by the smaller numbers in the route markers – and, oh yeah, the general decrepitude.

What strange installations lurk in the fog?

Agricultural vehicle is agricultural.

An older faded sign.

There isn’t much button copy left in Nebraska. Most of it is here on the 129 freeway.

US-75 was moved from Iowa into Nebraska in the mid-1990s. Therefore, some signs needed to get patched.

One last set of flowers. This is in Iowa – where we will leave off for now. Next up: Missouri River flooding in Iowa, lightning storms in Kansas!

Squeezing in the last of morning light.

This sign might very well date back to when US-12 in Wyoming was renumbered to US-212 in 1963! There are very few US-212 shields in Wyoming.

About 9500 feet up the pass. This view is in infrared, which causes ice to show up bright blue.

A marmot appears.

A very ordinary view from a very famous location. The trees have grown some, obscuring the river, but the old routing of US-191 from where the photo was taken is still accessible – it is, in fact, a parking lot for a specifically designed viewpoint. Alas, we did not get the sort of spectacular clouds of that one day in 1942.

Did not actually happen.

Heading north towards Yellowstone.

Some geese on Lake Yellowstone.

We’re now heading out of Yellowstone on US-212.

Supercow is looking directly at us.

A yellow flower.

It is July, and this waterfall is still half-frozen.

The first 212 shield. It’s officially not signed in the park … but this one is a couple hundred feet shy of the exit. And yes, it’s a cutout.

This stop sign has seen less-decrepit days.

Looking back west towards Yellowstone on 212.

Same basic view, different set of frequencies.

Close-up of Mount Pointy. That’s probably not its real name.

Deceptive photo. The implication is that those mountains are on US-212 heading east. They’re not – the sign is at the north end of the Chief Joseph Highway in Wyoming, and it just so happens to line up with the mountains to the west. (Not to fear, the mountains to the east are equally impressive.)

The Chief Joseph Highway heads off into the distance.

I do not know which waterfall this is.

We’ve reached the snow line, and Yellowstone is now just a distant point on the horizon.

Iridescent clouds.

Not a lot of snow or anything.

Half-frozen lake.

Yep, typical July weather in Beartooth Pass.

Raise periscope!

The view from about 10,300 feet. We are almost at eye level with those distant peaks.

The road winds its way past the glaciers.

The Bear’s Tooth is precisely the peak you would expect it to be in this picture. This is the top of the pass: 10,947 feet.

There is a good reason why the pass didn’t open until June 7th.

A multicolored frozen lake.

Wind-blown snow on the peaks.

We’ve made it to Montana. The state line is at about 10,700 feet – just below the summit.

This sign is positively ancient. It’s at the Montana state line – the first sign heading into Wyoming.

The Montana side of the pass has significantly less snow.

These blue flowers manage to grow at this altitude.

The Yellowstone River canyon.

non-people creature eats people food.

A good place to finish. The only sign of this style we saw in Montana.

Next up, we head east on 212, across most of the width of Montana and into South Dakota.

Our destination is sunny Union County, New Mexico – by way of Beartooth Pass, Sioux City, and various other places that call into question our ability to drive in a straight line.

We fly into Salt Lake City airport, and then make a beeline to Grand Teton National Park for sunrise.

The Grand Tetons at sunrise.

Similar view, different road.

Late dawn, with foreground lighting.

Very early red light on the peaks. About a half-hour before sunrise.

We stay at this spot for the entirety of sunrise.

The bright red on the peaks is slow to arrive, due to some clouds in the opposite direction, between the sun and the peaks.

A vehicle/elk encounter that resolved itself uneventfully. The zoom lens makes the two appear much closer together than they really are.

The clouds in front of the sun.

Sudden orange activity!

Close-up of one of the peaks.

The miracle of a polarizer.

Somewhat wider view.

And one in between.

A bright spot of orange appears.

And another, on a different peak.

All together now.

Wide angle again.

The bike path parallels the main road.

Pointy mountain majesties.

One without the polarizer.

Close-up with high cloud.

And a view that’s extra wide-angle.

A pair of bicyclists.

and we leave off there… next up, Beartooth Pass!

Campfire from the night before. I don’t remember why we decided that Frosty the Candle Snowman had to go, but we certainly sent him off to Valhalla in style.

An old alignment of New Mexico state route 32 yields this tilted, decrepit junction assembly. It dates to the late 1960s or so.

This grassland – just east of Springerville, AZ – burned in the Wallow Fire just a few weeks after I took these photos. But, it will grow back, as that is how these things tend to go.

Sunset through Telegraph Pass, just east of Yuma on I-8.

This is not a ball of tinfoil – it is just paper, but somehow it ended up looking reflective.

Dale always brings the most interesting things to toss into a fire!

Skeleton of a cardboard box.

One last bit of pyromania. The fire is almost out for the night.

Elk at sunrise. US-180 on the way to Arizona.

Sun glint on a cow warning sign.

One of two bridges in the US that I know of that are painted this particular shade of orange.

Different view of the orange bridge. The road is an old alignment of US-260, which was renumbered to US-180 in 1961.

On the bridge itself. It is closed to vehicular traffic, but is easily walkable.

US-180 switches back and we are suddenly heading into the morning sun, despite generally making our way westbound.

New Mexico state highway 159 goes to – and past! – Mogollon. On this historic marker, the 159 patch has worn off, revealing the old route number of 78.

On the road to Mogollon. The first few miles – between US-180 and the town – are relatively civilized.

These old-style mailboxes are getting harder and harder to find. I think their original design goes back to the 30s.

Past the town, the road turns into a very narrow dirt track. Yep, that is an officially sanctioned state highway! We do not follow it this time, instead turning around to return to 180.

Heading back to 180. I do not know what those buildings are in the foreground.

One last photo from 159.

An old US-260 bridge.

The bridge is so old that even the sign which marks it as historic has been overgrown.

The road is new enough to have received yellow stripes, which were made a federal standard in 1978.

This wooden fencepost once held a glass cateye reflector. Alas, it was gouged out by scavengers years ago. At least a bit of the old silver paint remains.

I do not know whether the 1165/40 sign is a bridge inventory marker or a mile post. The new US-180 is seen in the background.

The view off the bridge to the east.

And one last view of the bridge itself, from the current road. The bridge contains of two separate segments.

We turn off 180 here, at this classic shield on a spindly, somewhat shaky-looking gantry.

Apparently, I have gone into the food-and-chainsaw business. Neato.

State highway 12.

And state highway 32, which have just turned onto.

And now, old 32. A high-quality dirt road – but with all signs having turned black from age. The road was bypassed sometime in the 1970s.

Okay, maybe not all. Some have simply had the background fall off, revealing bare wood.

An automotive bargain.

A fishy look at old 32.

Just after the old JCT US-60 assembly is this formerly white guide sign. The topmost destination is Red Hill – 18 miles away, just before the Arizona state line.

We are now in Arizona, where we come across this old US-60 alignment.

Old enough to have received a double white stripe.

The road is sometimes barely passable.

The red asphalt is starting to go.

Road suddenly impassable. The sort of obstacle that the map does not show.

One more view of the high plains of east Arizona.

Not often you see the Arizona state outline completely accurate on a route marker. Usually the western (Colorado River) boundary is turned into a straight line. Until about 1973, though, the correct outline was used – and it seems this construction company pulled an old manual off the shelf when it came time to put this sign together.

We’re in the Phoenix area now. Button copy is getting rare. The blue 101 shields are getting even rarer.

Approaching sunset.

Getting close to Yuma. And this is our last photo on the night, as it turns dark, the wind picks up, and there is a dust storm on I-8… but we’re too busy flirting with death before our time to bother taking photos. Next time, perhaps!

Adventures in terrible light-post placement. There are only two known 1957-spec interstate shields in Arizona. (The other one is on this exact gantry, facing the other direction.)

Extremely pointy flower in morning light. Highway 90 between Lordsburg and Silver City, New Mexico.

Heading north from Silver City on state highway 15.

San Diego. Highway 52 is now open from 125 to 67.

Caltrans manages to sneak in a 1950s (!) sign layout, with Junction spelled out in mixed case to accompany a route shield.

Early experiment in non-porcelain signage. This sign, on I-8, dates to 1962, and the 67 shield covers up a white one. Individually riveted non-reflective letters onto a green background. The reflectors were added sometime in the 1970s, when older non-reflective signs got the “bag of buttons and a bucket of glue” treatment.

Interstate 8 heads east towards Imperial County.

If I recall correctly, the “your papers, please” checkpoint was closed.

The other 1957-spec I-8 shield. Same intersection, but heading southbound.

They may very well have closed this station permanently. If so, this is one button copy sign which I won’t miss when it vanishes.

Telegraph Pass, just east of Yuma. The two carriageways of I-8 separate, and in fact the westbound lanes cross over the eastbound ones for a short while.

Rarely seen narrow Clearview. A new sign since the last time I came through here, around November 2010.

The very last I-8 reassurance marker, paired with a rarely seen (but perfectly sensible) 36″ trailblazer for I-10.

Park Link Drive – a connector between I-10 and AZ-79 which lets us avoid Tucson. It is shown on few maps, but is a perfectly serviceable paved road.

Spot the old alignment. We’re near the Gila River now; AZ-77 follows it.

Time to turn around.

Back down the hill we go.

The town of Winkelman has seen better days. Yes, that is a noose hanging down.

Lordsburg, next morning. The signs are relatively new, but the gantry itself dates to the 1950s.

Another view of the same extremely pointy flower.

Every county in New Mexico seems to have a different route numbering scheme. Grant has hyphenated numbers.

A typical New Mexico historic marker.

US-80 hasn’t run through New Mexico since 1991, but historic markers are always the last to be updated.

A 1960s (or maybe even 1950s!) cheap New Mexico sign. To save money, only the bottom half of the sign was covered in reflective Scotchlite!

The missing sign is an 18×18 New Mexico route 15 marker. Pinos Altos.

This time, a 24″ shield and an arrow are both missing.

The end of the alternate route. It isn’t signed from 15.

Further up highway 15.

Our first picture of the Gila River itself. (Finally!)

What is the nature of this ominous haze? We’ll leave off with this photo. Next up, Gila Cliff Dwellings!

This poor guide sign has been cut into three pieces – and one is missing. But still, this is the only ACSC diamond I have ever seen which mentions “Arizona State Highway” and, even more spectacularly, the Grand Canyon! Certainly unique.

After Roy’s, we explore many roads – not all of which go to any particular place.

Well, what do we have here? Oh, just the only known surviving cateyed sign in California! This stop sign dates to between 1934 and 1942, and is the first cateyed sign anyone’s seen since the mid-1990s. A miracle that it would survive… and it does!

A nice early 1980s wood interstate shield from Arizona.

A porcelain interstate marker. California, 1970, intended to be affixed to a green guide sign.

A 1920s or 1930s Oklahoma state route marker.

Route 66 before it was route 66. Foothill Boulevard in Pasadena became US-66 in 1926. This sign dates to 1916 or so, and traces the route between San Bernardino and Los Angeles.

Rectangular guide signs with an inverse-text line at the top, like this 1937-1940 example, are quite a difficult find. I know of just this one, and one other.

This guide sign from the Death Valley Area dates to 1929-1934.

This Northern California guide sign dates to 1913-14, and is from the first run of the yellow diamonds. No distances, just destinations, marks it as a very early sign. It was posted on what would become US Route 101 in 1926.

Leaving Roy’s. Don’t ask why this gantry has green banners and arrow. I blame the city of Fontana.

If you catch it at the right angle, the new style of reflective sheeting shows why it is called Prismatic High Intensity.

Not at Roy’s, but a remarkable California route marker from 1934.

Day two of our travels – sunrise over the hills just east of Bakersfield. Old route 155 gives us this view.

Hills and high clouds off highway 155.

This isn’t an old white guide sign … but the post it is on dates back to the time when it did hold an example of the previous standard.

We find this 1930s bridge on an old 198 alignment south of Hanford.

The way to San Jose, under the high cirrus clouds.

This road connects Coalinga to state highway 25. It was built in the late 1940s.

Did I mention the high clouds? Also, we catch California in the last of its green season. In a month, this will all be dry.

We also get the last of wildflower season.

Uh oh, the road is flooded. It’s about 6 inches deep – will my low-clearance rental car make it? (Hint: it does.)

I do not know what kind of flowers these are, but they are across the river we just successfully forded.

We have made it to highway 25.

Why did the super fancy spotted chickens cross the road? Well, they didn’t; at least not while I was photographing them.

This 1957 guide sign is still in the wild.

As is this historic marker, also 1957. You can probably figure out approximately where it is.

An abandoned two-lane concrete alignment of US-101.

This experiment in retroreflective signage dates to about 1966. As you can see, it wasn’t a very successful experiment.

This 1960 sign on By-Pass 101 (“By-Pass” designation having been covered up since 1964) is the last known porcelain outline US shield green sign in California. I remember when I first moved to the Bay Area there were about 6 signs like this in this general vicinity – this is the only one which has survived some major construction projects. Apparently, California has the money to replace old signs. Go figure.

An oddity: green signs are not supposed to have the state name on the route markers.

The rarely seen 21×18 style of interstate shield.

And how about this brilliant emerald green porcelain guide sign? it is a City of San Jose installation, and dates to 1960, when the intersection of The Alameda (old US-101, now highway 82) with nearby highway 17 (now interstate 880) was built.

Just a shot straight into the sun with weird angles that I thought came out well.

This sign dates to 1960. Note the pattern of rivets around the 82 shield: yep, at one point the sign had a US-101 shield instead! Until 1964, this downtown route was US-101, and the freeway was By-Pass US-101.

And now, some photos from the third day of my trip. Why yes, that is a white porcelain CSAA guide sign half-buried in the shrubbery! The sign is from approximately 1948, when this road was built.

What other treasures does this particular intersection reveal? Here’s a CSAA nine-spot end-of-road reflector!

The intersection that keeps on giving! Three 1948-vintage signs to be found here.

A few miles up the road, we come across one more CSAA porcelain white sign.

This sign is notable for inexplicably featuring the wide US route shield for a route number that clearly does not demand it.

Would anyone like to tell me what this sign says? The pair dates to between 1964 and 1973, and therefore it would likely have, under the US-50 shield … another US-50 shield? And under the I-80 … another I-80? Highly confusing; why would they replace signs with themselves. But those are the logical routes that passed through this junction – US-50 heading south, and I-80 (which is now Business I-80, or “to I-80″ as the case may be) heading west. The question remains: why the late-90s patches? (And also, what was under Fresno? Oakland?)

Nothing to see here, just someone’s private collection of some rare and unusual California signs.

Some more signs out of a private collection. This pair, dating to 1961, once stood in Janesville, Wisconsin.

and that’s all, folks!