The AARoads Blog

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.

Day 9,Since our friends decided to leave early, we followed suit and made a day out of it on the way back south.

Decided on Interstate 89 south to check out the Barre Connectors first, both of which appear as freeways on maps sometimes, but really are expressway-like roads with no private driveways. Vermont 62 spurs east from Exit 7 into northern Barre, complete with a connector leading to U.S. 302. The connector splits with Vermont 62 via a partial interchange north of the signalized intersection with Fisher and Airport Roads. The road otherwise ends at a traffic light with the U.S. 302 junction at Vermont 14.

Vermont 14 follows Maple Avenue through Barre to junction U.S. 302 (Main Street) and the Barre Connector (Vermont 62). Sign bridges are posted in all four directions leading into the intersection. Vermont 14 south joins U.S. 302 east briefly before turning southwest to South Barre. Vermont 62 begins and ascends westward toward Edward J. Knapp State Airport and junction Interstate 89.

Further south, Vermont 63 spurs east from the Exit 6 trumpet interchange to Vermont 14 at South Barre. This connector carries less traffic and has only two at-grade intersections. Both connectors see end shields on the southbound Interstate 89 on-ramps.

Vermont 63 travels a less busy route between Vermont 14 (South Barre Road) and Interstate 89 (Exit 6). Unlike Vermont 62 to the north, Vermont 63 sees no traffic signals (just a set of flashers at Miller Road). This shield assembly and Interstate 89 trailblazer lies west of that intersection.

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The beginning of a week plus trip that took us northward from Delaware/Philadelphia to Boston for several days and from there to Lake Champlain in Vermont for a 5-day vacation…

We started our journey just south of the Pennsylvania state line, beginning first with a visit to the Pennsylvania Welcome Center to obtain the latest copy of the Pennsylvania State Highway Map. Construction is present along all of Interstate 95 in Delaware County between the state line and junction Interstate 476. PennDOT is in the process of again resurfacing the highway with asphalt. At the time, the previous coat of asphalt was milled down to the original concrete roadway. This project would hamper us a over a week later with a 30-minute back-up at 11 pm on a Saturday night…

Continuing east into New Jersey, we entered the New Jersey Turnpike by way of New Jersey 168, the only connection between the toll road and parallel Interstate 295 close enough to act as the junction between the Turnpike and Interstate 76/New Jersey 42 (North South Freeway). New Jersey 168 offers two lanes laden with traffic lights on the short drive between the respective interchanges. There are no plans to provide a direct connection between the two pivotal roads in South Jersey…

Northward, Turnpike travelers heading southbound this day (Friday July 27) were greeted with what seemed to be a 15-20 mile back-up between the Pennsylvania Turnpike Extension and New Brunswick. It was unclear as to what caused the congestion, but the Turnpike does reduce from a four-carriageway configuration into a six-lane freeway on this stretch.

Garden State Parkway northbound at the Metrowest trumpet interchange (Exit 131B) near Iselin. The Parkway is untolled between the New Jersey Turnpike and a point just south of junction Interstate 78. Several button copy signs remain in use along this stretch of freeway.

Eastward, we opted for the Holland Tunnel into Lower Manhattan and Canal Street southeast to the Manhattan Bridge. The Manhattan Bridge is historical in nature as far as Interstates are concerned as it was one time planned to be a part of Interstate 478 between the unconstructed Lower Manhattan Expressway (Interstate 78) and Interstate 278 (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway). As it exists, the Manhattan Bridge carries seven lanes of traffic and four Metro tracks; vehicles partition between separate two lane upper carriageways on the outside of the suspension bridge span and a three-lane lower carriageway on the inside of the bridge. Since Interstate 78 was never built east of the Holland Tunnel, Interstate 478 was removed from the Manhattan Bridge and reapplied on the nearby Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in an unsigned fashion. The Manhattan Bridge along with the Brooklyn and Queensboro Bridges are the only three untolled spans across the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn/Queens.

Southbound on the upper carriageway or the Manhattan Bridge. Like other Manhattan area bridges, no shoulders or break-down lanes are provided. The span ends at Tillary Street in Brooklyn on the south side with connections provided to Interstate 278 (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) via surface streets (Jay Street north / Sand Street east).

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I scored a batch of 1950s-70s highway maps from the New Castle Flea Market in Delaware on Saturday, including a 1959 AAA Northeast Map that displays an Interstate designation I have never seen before. When finding proposed designations, one has to use some skepticism, especially when not discovering such a route on any other maps. Maps are not always that accurate, and some changes such as proposed lines, designations, etc. are up to the discretion of the cartographer. However this particular find appears not only on the regional map, but also the Philadelphia city inset, and AAA out of Philadelphia appears to be the organization responsible for the inset, which adds to its potential validity. The scans below come from the 1959 AAA Map (click for larger):

Interstate 395 appears over what is the North-South Freeway (Interstate 76) on the Northeast Regional Map. We are aware that Interstate 76 was originally designated Interstate 80S through Philadelphia and Camden, but have never seen Interstate 395 on any stretch of the New Jersey freeway.

The reverse side of the map indicates the North-South Freeway as both Interstate 395 and New Jersey 42. New Jersey 42 is the North-South Freeway south of Interstate 295 and 76 still to this day. Interstate 395 was never signed as far as we know.

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My mind wanders a lot, especially about roads, and tonight ever so randomly I was thinking of bridges, and bridges in New York City and its metro in particular. So with that stated I thought I would share some images of bridges not covered on AARoads or new coverage not yet added. These images will eventually be added to North East Roads @ AARoads, but for now here’s a few to comtemplate.

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