The AARoads Blog

It was that time of the year again, for us to embark on another AARoads trip specifically to document roads. This year’s trip focused on finishing what we started in November 2009, with a return trip to Indiana and Michigan for the purpose of driving the remaining Interstates that we did not cover two years prior. Day 1 took us northward from Alabama to Cincinnati, Ohio. The day started out clear and sunny, but clouds ahead of an approaching cold front quickly set in by Birmingham and increased in density until yielding sprinkles in Chattanooga and heavy rain north of Cleveland, Tennessee. Rain fell profusely all the way to the Cincinnati area.

Work associated with the Progress 65 project in Montgomery is now complete. Despite the presence of construction barrels in this scene taken November 3, 2011, there was no active work. Interstate 65 was widened to six lanes on a 4.613-mile stretch through Montgomery and speed limits increased to 60 mph. All final guide signs are in place.

Shelby County widening of Interstate 65 from Exit 242 (CR 52) north to the Jefferson County line is near completion. The freeway carries six lanes on this stretch with increased ramp capacity at the suburban interchanges of Alabama 119 (Cahaba Valley Road), CR 52 and CR 17 (Valleydale Road). Future expansion will focus on the freeway south from Exit 242 to Exit 238, and eventually the Shelby County Airport interchange (Exit 234).

Work continues on the reconstruction of Interstate 65 from the Jefferson County line northward to U.S. 31 (Exit 252) at Vestavia Hills. When we passed through in June, northbound traffic was partitioned between a single lane and two-lane carriageway split and no signs were left for Interstate 459. Now southbound utilizes that configuration while northbound continues with three overall lanes and new Highway Gothic font based signs are in place. Work on this aspect of the Progress 65 project is slated for completion this upcoming winter.

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Working on another overhaul of our Mobile, Alabama area guides to coincide with an overall update for our Baldwin County ones. Getting to here quite often leads to our noticing of several small changes to signs and roads. Our latest round of updates reflects some of these…

The latest Clearview sign to appear on a Mobile area Interstate, this of a westbound mileage sign posted along Interstate 10 in Baldwin County.

More 2010 (and some from January 2011) photos have been added to both westbound guides of Interstate 10 in Alabama, Interstate 65 north and 165, U.S. 43, U.S. 45 north, U.S. 90 east, U.S. 98 west, Alabama 188 as well.

The first roundabout in Mobile County opened to traffic in October 2010. This traffic circle differs from most in that it handles movements between five roads.

New roads opened in the Mobile area during 2010 include Air Terminal Drive, linking Mobile Regional Airport with Dawes Road, an extension of Grelot Road west to Dawes Road at Air Terminal Drive and the extension of Nevius Road, linking Alabama 193 (Rangeline Road) with Hillcrest Road and the Main Line Street viaduct connecting Virginia Street with Ezra Trice Boulevard.

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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.

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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.

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The third day of the southern trip from July, 2008. And the fourth, since a lot of the third day was unfortunately spent in boring parts of Tennessee.

Somewhere in all that kudzu, there is an old US-11 bridge.

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Some notes from a recent five-day road trip from the Gulf Coast northward to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Widening is currently underway along Interstate 65 in Montgomery, Alabama. This project totals 4.613 miles in length and focuses on replacing the original concrete surface with asphalt while expanding the previous four-lane freeway into six lanes overall. Work exists between U.S. 80 (Exit 167) and the Alabama River bridge. Overhead highway signs along the stretch were replaced during the project. See Progress65 for more details.

New diagrammatical overhead for the split of Interstate 85 north from Interstate 65 north in Montgomery.

Continuing north along Interstate 65, widening is also underway between Exits 262A and 264 in north Birmingham, with additional work slated for next year from Exit 265 to 267. Construction focuses on the building of new collector/distributor roadways that will eventually serve the eastern terminus of Interstate 22 (Corridor X). No work has commenced on the interchange itself, but some land clearing of for the eventual path of the new highway has already occurred.

A look at the ongoing road work along Interstate 65 through northern reaches of Birmingham.

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Some notes from a drive through South Alabama today:

Recent construction on the next leg of Foley Beach Express’ northward extension is already opened. The roadway stems north from Baldwin County 28 to Baldwin County 32.

Signed as Baldwin County 83 and not the Foley Beach Express, the new four-lane highway travels 1.5 miles across Baldwin County 28 west to Baldwin County 32 opposite Lehman Road. No construction is present leading north.

Mast-arm traffic light assemblies are increasing their presense throughout south Alabama. This particular assembly is one of many new signals posted along Alabama 181 between Baldwin County 32 and Interstate 10. Posted at Baldwin County 48, the new signals lie just north of a new signalized intersection for a freshly built Wal-Mart Supercenter…

Long talked about widening of Alabama 181 is now underway. This was one of the plans for former Baldwin County 27 when the county conducted a mileage swap with the state for Alabama 112. Four-laning is underway in various stages between Alabama 104 and U.S. 90.

Interstate 10 westbound’s Exit 22A ramp to Alabama 163 (Dauphin Island Parkway) northbound is closed for a 30-day period. Work began on September 14. Note the Clearview fonted base closure sign.

A now the first Clearview-based highway guide sign posted along Interstate 10. This mileage sign lies west of Exit 10 with Mobile County 39. Clearview is also found on bridge identification signs and Mobile County area street signs.

An extension of the Mobile County 39 (McDonald Road) divided highway constructed in the mid-2000s will take place on May 20, 2009. County Highway 39 was realigned eastward to meet Interstate 10 at a new six-ramp partial-cloverleaf interchange that opened January 12, 2005. Presently the four-lane road ends at U.S. 90 by Irvington.

Work began December 2007 on a $10.2 million extension of County Highway 39 from a folded-diamond interchange with U.S. 90 to Padgett Switch Road at Half Mile Road to the south. This construction is very near completion based upon a recent visit and a Mobile Press Register news story published today.

Upon completion, travelers heading to/from Interstate 10 and Bayou La Batre will have a direct route to Mobile and points north for hurricane evacuation purposes. The placement of a CSX Railroad parallel to U.S. 90 allows for County Highway 39 to have not only an interchange with U.S. 90. but also an interchange with Park Boulevard and Gibson Road near Mobile International Raceway.

View some images from the soon to be opened highway. (more…)

Took a ride to south Baldwin yesterday and checked out the status of road work at the current north end of the Foley Beach Express. According to a WKRG report from August of last year, work on the $26 million project to extend the four-lane roadway will take 5 to 7 years and initial construction involves two miles. Well after a field check, only 1.5 miles of new road is presently under construction, and this involves building a new carriageway along side Baldwin County 28 S north for one half mile to the east-west Baldwin County 28 and a new roadway northward along Eagle Road to Baldwin County 32.

The new carriageway will carry northbound Foley Beach Express, though we would not be surprised if the facility opens with a two-lane configuration temporarily. A 45-mph speed limit is already posted along the unopened stretch north of the present Foley Beach Expressway east-west alignment. Drivers will be required to make a 90 degree turn between the extension and original roadway once the 1.5-mile extension opens.

Photos from yesterday: (more…)

Today I took a little jaunt up and over to US 331 to see if by chance I could find any remaining colored shields along the route. Alas, as previously told to me, none were found. Along my journey today though, I found an oddity.  I stumbled across a reassurance shield assembly located in Florala, Alabama for Alabama 55 and Florida 85, just south of the intersection with US 331.

Reassurance assembly for both Alabama 55 and Florida 85 just south of the intersection with US 331 in Florala, Alabama

I believe that the ‘SOUTH’ banner for Florida 85 should instead be a trailblazer showing ‘TO’ Florida 85, but never the less, it is signed as if it is actually cosigned along with Alabama 55 heading south into Florida. So, for all intents and purposes according to the signage, Florida 85 begins its 57 mile trek toward Fort Walton Beach at the intersection with US 331 in downtown Florala, not at the state line. It is cosigned with Alabama 55 south to the state line where the Alabama state designation ends, though there is no ‘END’ shield assembly, and continues on into Florida. This is, though, another good example of an erroneous sign error made by DOT’s and sign companies across the country. Way to go ALDOT.