The AARoads Blog

An inside joke, sort of… The fact of the matter is that Maine @ AARoads is once again up to date with all our existing coverage that includes a short excursion in the Kittery and York areas as part of our July-August New England road trip. That joins Maine with Arkansas as the only two of the lower 48 states without existing coverage in the queue for future AARoads updates!

In the meantime, I am approximately midway through my updates to Delaware Highways that include trips to the Diamond State dating back to December of 2005. Most of the work involves replacing photos or adding new photos to the guides. However projects involving the widening of Interstate 95 are underway and the U.S. 301 toll road proposal is on the horizon too. Also the other week I created a page and added coverage on the Blue Ball construction project north of Wilmington. A partial interchange now joins U.S. 202, a relocated Delaware 141, and Delaware 261 at the former site of a signalized intersection. The new configuration is so confusing, I decided to craft a map to illustrate it. Additional updates will focus on the Dover and Milford area as well as an update to the SR 1 Turnpike guides.

The Burlington, VT focus page I created two weeks ago will be accompanied with recent and 2005 photos soon too. So that leaves this question, what areas should next be updated or new areas added?

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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Spent our final full day in Vermont visiting Burlington and the University of Vermont.

As always with this trip, we took convoluted routes to see more of the area. Departing Interstate 89 south via Exit 16 (U.S. 2 & 7), we traveled through Winooski, an old mill town situated along the north banks of the Winooski River. Redevelopment of the downtown area is phenomenal when compared to previous visits in 2000 and 2005. Old industrial buildings were razed or renovated at the junction of U.S. 2 & 7 and Vermont 15 (Allen Street) and the intersection itself was replaced with a new roundabout. I was happy to see that McKee’s Irish Pub is still around too!

Crossing the 1926-built Winooski River Bridge between Burlington and Winooski on U.S. 2 west & 7 north. The bridge dumps traffic directly into the new roundabout with Vermont 15 (Allen Street). Pedestal signals are positioned within the roundabout for crosswalks, but otherwise the junction is unsignalized.

Following U.S. 2 east through Burlington, we headed along busy Williston Road to a local map store where we picked up a new Chittenden County map. After a discussion with Bob about Interstate 289 and Vermont mapping in general, we doubled back west to next visited the campus of the University of Vermont (UVM). UVM, spreading along the hills north of U.S. 2 (Main Street), is also undergoing renovation this summer. There we made our way to the University library where we discovered a gold mine of highway related information, including copies of the 1965 Greater Burlington Urban Area Highway Plan and the Outline History of Vermont State Highways – National Highway Week, Sept. 19-25, 1965. Because of this research, we discovered the background on the unopened highway west of Interstate 189 [Southern Connector/Champlain Parkway], the history of the Burlington Belt Line, and early proposals for Vermont’s Interstate system. For instance, Vermont preferred an Interstate running along U.S. 4 from New York to White River Junction, perhaps the earliest rendering of Interstate 92. New York State refused to build the connection and the idea died. Secondly, Vermont preferred a north-south freeway running along the U.S. 7 corridor from Burlington south to Massachusetts. Massachusetts refused a connection at U.S. 7 and instead insisted upon a freeway running along U.S. 5, which later became Interstate 91.

Rather than going into detail here on Burlington’s highway history, see the new Burlington, Vermont focus page where we cover the Belt Line, the Southern Connector/Champlain Parkway, and other unconstructed road projects.

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Spent Day 7 driving around the Lake Champlain Islands and then down a combination of U.S. 7 and Interstate 89 among other routes to Burlington and back.

U.S. 2 travels north-south through the Lake Champlain Islands, passing through small towns such as South Hero, Grand Isle, and North Hero. The roadway carries only two lanes with the exception of a brief four-lane section just northwest of the Sandbar at South Hero. A pair of state highways stem from U.S. 2 in the islands. Vermont 314 loops west to the Plattsburgh, New York bound ferry launch. This route was originally designated Vermont F3 but renumbered to Vermont 314 to coincide with New York 314. Further north, Vermont 129 spurs west to Alburg and Isle La Motte.

Passing through the town of South Hero along U.S. 2 west (north). South Hero and other locales within the Lake Champlain islands survive off of a mixture of agricultural and tourist based economies. Many summertime-only eateries and gift shops exist along U.S. 2 through Grand Isle County.

U.S. 2 links the Lake Champlain Islands with Rouses Point and Champlain, New York via U.S. 11 south (west). The highway ends just west of the state line and provides the only fixed bridge across Lake Champlain for 100 miles leading south of the Canadian border. Vermont 225 also provides a connection northward from U.S. 2 to Quebec 225. Eastward, Vermont 78 continues the U.S. 2 east-west trajectory from Rouses Point to Swanton across Missisquoi Bay.

Peering eastward at the new Vermont 78 Missisquoi Bay Bridge from East Alburgh. A project recently completed (May 30, 2007) replaced the original 1938-Missisquoi Bay Bridge of Vermont 78 with this new fixed high-level bridge. The bridge ended prematurely in 2005 as environmental concerns halted construction due to the nearby habitat of an endangered tortoise. Fortunately work was able to resume and complete the needed span. Vermont 78 in conjunction with U.S. 2 provides a primary truck and through route between Interstates 87 and 89. See the VTrans page for more on the bridge.

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Day 5 was spent mainly around Lake Champlain with an afternoon in Burlington to see a movie. A few road notes from the day:

VTrans took a page out of DelDOT’s play book and undertook carbon copy signing along Interstate 89 southbound at the Exit 14 full-cloverleaf interchange with U.S. 2. A new sign bridge was installed to go with new signs. Signs unfortunately continue to omit the exit tabs in addition to displaying simply “Thru Traffic” on the pull-through panel.

New signs along Interstate 89 southbound at the U.S. 2 westbound on-ramp to the University of Vermont and downtown Burlington. In addition to the addition of exit tabs, the left-hand panel should reference “Interstate 89 South – Montpelier”, rather than the ambiguous through traffic reference.

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Began the trip by plotting out a circuitous route to Lake Champlain, Vermont via the New Hampshire seacoast and Hampton Beach. Started out on Interstate 93 southbound to its end and encircling Boston via Interstate 95 north. Traffic on Interstate 95 and the Boston area was relentless, even on a Sunday night at 10:30 am. The number of cars and trucks barrelling down the road on the area freeways makes highway photography a chore…

MassHighway uses large diagrammatical signs regularly along its freeways for interchange elements such as loop ramps and in this instance, a collector/distributor roadway. This particular sign resides along Interstate 95 northbound ahead of the trumpet interchange with U.S. 3 (Exits 32A/B). The c/d roadway serves not only interests to the U.S. 3 freeway north, but also to the nearby folded-diamond interchange with Middlesex Turnpike. Note that U.S. 3 south joins Interstate 95 north to make the jump from its freeway onto its original alignment on Cambridge Street (Exit 33).

Interstate 93 north carried us back to the Loop Connector (Massachusetts 213) east to Interstate 495 north. Interstate 495′s northernmost extent includes just four lanes and the lightest amount of traffic that we saw. Though that is an understatement, it was a welcome concept given the overall Massachusetts’ and Southern New England traffic woes.

I neglected to go to the east end of New Hampshire 101 and Atlantic Coast in 2005, so we decided to make that a stop this year. New Hampshire 101 appears as a freeway with an interchange with U.S. 1 on some maps. This is gravely incorrect, as the highway narrows to two lanes across tidal marshes west of Hampton Beach before partitioning into a one-way one-lane street couplet in the town itself. State maintenance ends near the couplet partition no less.

U.S. 1 (Ocean Boulevard) northbound at the westbound beginning of New Hampshire 101 (Church Street) in Hampton Beach. Church Street carries one lane of N.H. 101 west to the confluence with Highland Avenue (N.H. 101 east). From there New Hampshire 101 crosses marshland to a signalized intersection with Landing Road. After that at-grade intersection, the New Hampshire 101 freeway begins as a super-two expressway.

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