18×18 I-90 shield. 1957 specs. And, more interestingly, an embossed arrow to point the way. Since the 1957 specification called for white, not blue, arrows, they took a 1948-spec arrow that they had lying around and used it to point to the new freeway.

This is the sign find of the day. There are only two shields with the original specifications left in South Dakota, and this is the only 18×18 example.

The Badlands – a sudden mountain range in the western half of South Dakota. These days, a tourist attraction – back then, in 1866, an impermeable obstacle that prevents one from reaching the west.

Black Hills, South Dakota. An eleven minute exposure, 6100 feet, -11 degrees. Yep, I was cold.

Look at the old I-90 sign. Just opposite this one, on the other side of the intersection, is the 18×18 ’57 spec one. In the early morning, as we head west on old US-16.

Train in the snow.

Old yellow stop sign! At a dirt-road side street to US-16.

Behold the llama. Yeap, there is a llama farm somewhere along old US-16 in South Dakota.

Bleak.

US-16 heading into the grimness westbound.

What’s this, the clouds are about to clear?

Perfectly camouflaged deer.

Cold. And fast.

The Badlands. Here we are!

More of the Badlands.

Mountain sheep far away from civilization.

The other old-style interstate highway marker found in South Dakota.

Getting dark, as we come across this 1961-spec US-14A shield.

Not often that you see “US” on the shield!

Nice and warm.

Stars. Car headlights. US-85 heading into the Black Hills – South Dakota in the dead of night.

One more in the night. Gotta love the star trails.

The Milky Way, under South Dakota skies.

Wyoming. Almost Colorado, in fact – interstate 25, the last rest area before the border.

At the Colorado border – in the background you can see the “Welcome to Colorful Colorado” sign.

next up… back to Colorado – and this time we successfully cross the Rockies, in a whiteout blizzard across Red Mountain Pass on the Million Dollar Highway, US-550.

First thing in the morning. US highway 30 eastbound in western Nebraska. We follow 30 for a while because it’s a mile or two away from I-80 and more likely to have old signs. It may or may not be rather cold.

Catch of the day! Over and over again, I scoured downtown Omaha for old interstate highway markers, and by the third time, I finally found one. This one was installed in 1963 or so, whenever I-480 was built through here along old US-75.

The shield was in an industrial area just south of US-275, and it was replaced in April, 2009. There is one 1957-spec interstate shield left in Nebraska that anyone knows about. It is an I-80.

The blue US-77 bridge in Sioux City. South Dakota is the far side, and Nebraska is where I’m taking the picture from.

Several of these survive in Gothenburg. Also: ice does very interesting things under flash!

Nice pair of embossed signs, showing the difference between old and new fonts.

Rain or shine, the trains will run on time. (This principle apparently extends to snow and ice, too.)

A switch engine.

Red barns and white frosted trees.

This can’t possibly be a standard sign – but it’s definitely old. Somewhere in Omaha.

What’s missing here? Yep, just a block down from that I-480 shield. The odd thing is, that one is at eye level and this one was about 20 feet in the air – and this one is the one that got yanked first?

The I-129 freeway. It’s about a two mile long spur of I-29 coming from Iowa… and it contains about half of the button copy left in the entire state of Nebraska.

The one state-named I-129 shield. Yep, it’s in Iowa. Because Iowa is good about that sort of thing. The ones in Nebraska are all gone … there’s one sitting on my floor at this very moment, in fact!

The Sioux City airport beacon in the fog.

Delivery van of the damned. The strange, strange skies are the result of fog and smoke from an industrial area, all under municipal lightning.

Not a particularly old sign, but gotta love the bizarro lighting.

The best part of this scene is that the little banner on the more distant light post says “right at home”.

A tall light fixture in swirling fog.

And a yellow stop sign! The “seat belt fastened?” variety is popular in the parking lots of a certain midwest and mountain state telecommunications company. I know of some still extant in Wyoming, Colorado, and this one in Iowa.

Another view of the blue bridge.

And one with some trees.

South Dakota likes its metric speed limit signs.

Residential neighborhood of the damned? I was just going for the embossed speed limit sign and upon review, the houses behind it look perfect for Halloween.

Somewhere on South Dakota state highway 46. I don’t remember which town’s main drag we are approaching.

Entering Sioux Falls, South Dakota on I-29.

Specialization is for insects.

South Dakota interstate shields get more and more common as one heads westward in the state. This is about as far east as you can get – there’s some 229s in Sioux City at one intersection.

The end of interstate 229. No, really – it turns into a dirt road north of I-90.

Haunted house at the end of I-229.

Where I-229 starts being paved and splits into four lanes, intersecting I-90. Also: spot the sign that has been installed upside-down.

Next up … more old signs in South Dakota, and some more traditional scenery, courtesy of the Badlands and the Black Hills before we head back into Wyoming and Colorado and attempt to cross the Rockies again.

The new guides join the original Rapid City and Deadwood area coverage on AARoads itself. See South Dakota @ AARoads for the new pages.

Next up: Fargo, North Dakota!

While Minnesota 100 is a full freeway now, elements of its past as a lesser route remain in the form of old overpasses with no shoulders. One such span remains in place at the Minnesota 7 & Hennepin County 25 full-cloverleaf interchange. After a series of accidents, some fatal, Mn/DOT restriped the freeway mainline to provide limited acceleration lanes in place of a narrow shoulder at the overpasses, thus improving the situation from a safety standpoint. Before this improvement, drivers would come to a complete stop from the adjacent on-ramp, thus necessitating fast acceleration to freeway speeds while also dodging exiting traffic onto Minnesota 7 & Hennepin County 25.

Interstate 394, similar to a handful of other urban freeways, includes tunnels underneath buildings and other structures at downtown Minneapolis. Pictured here is the east end/beginning and one such building tunnel. Other freeways, such as the Cross-Bronx Expressway, Interstate 395 in Washington, D.C., Interstate 5 in Seattle, and the Georgia 400 Toll highway travel under such infrastructure.

Interstate 394 includes managed or HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lanes through its median. Tolled by MnPass, the lanes are reversible and feature variable toll rates based upon time of day and distance traveled. HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) cars and trucks are not levied tolls to use the lanes between Interstate 94 and Interstate 494. The I-394 MnPASS Express Lanes travel along the center of the freeway, similar to those found on Interstate 95 in northern Virginia.

Westbound on Interstate 94 at the Minnesota Road Research Project, a 3.5-mile stretch of multi-carriageway freeway devoted to the study and experimentation of pavement types. The site is the largest of its kind, providing an accurate portrayal of pavement types due to the ability to reroute Interstate 94 mainline traffic onto a carriageway with test pavement. Sensors embedded within the road measure the pavement performance and a 2004 average annual daily traffic count of 57,000 (according to Mn/Dot counts) provides plenty of opportunities for test results. The site is located between Exits 202 and 194.

Interstate 94 travels through majority farm land and open space between the Twin Cities and Fargo-Moorhead. Outside a few towns along the way, the freeway is devoid of services and substantial traffic. Moorhead provides a break in the monotony, and with it the only Business Loop for Interstate 94 in Minnesota. Business Loop I-94 ventures northwest of Exit 2 via Main Avenue (old U.S. 52) to junction U.S. 10 & 75 (8th Street). From there U.S. 10 joins Main Avenue and the Business Loop through downtown Moorhead into downtown Fargo, North Dakota. U.S. 10 & Business Loop I-94 end at the Interstate 94 Exit 343 partial “Y” interchange at West Fargo. With that stated, the only signs for Business Loop I-94 in Minnesota are posted at the intersection of Main Avenue and 8th Street.

Interstate 94 meanwhile widens to six lanes for the first time since Minneapolis at the North Dakota State line (Red River). The six-lane section extends westward to just beyond the interchange with Interstate 29 (Exit 349), a distance of approximately three miles. Interstate 29 meanwhile also expands to six lanes between Exit 62 and 65, with construction to widen the freeway northward to Exit 69 ongoing. U.S. 52, silent since its merge with Interstate 94 in St. Paul, emerges from its cover once Interstate 94 crosses the North Dakota state line. U.S. 81, Interstate 29′s counterpart for most of South Dakota, is fully signed throughout the Fargo area. Business U.S. 81 provides access to downtown Fargo from Interstate 29 in lieu of Business Loop Interstate 29.

A high-flyover ramp carries traffic from Interstate 29 & U.S. 81 south onto Interstate 94 & U.S. 52 east. The interchange otherwise is that of a full cloverleaf interchange. Minneapolis represents the eastbound control city for Interstate 94 from Interstate 29 south; northbound travelers see Moorhead as the eastbound destination.

Back in Moorhead, U.S. 10 joins U.S. 75 for a short overlap along 8th Street and Center Avenue east of downtown Moorhead. Pictured here are the first set of signs posted for their overlap along Center Avenue, east of the intersection with 14th Avenue.

Interstate 29 & U.S. 81 quickly depart the Fargo area for wide open prairies and farm fields. The major town of significance in southeast North Dakota is Wahpeton, a community of 8,586. North Dakota 13 constitutes a four-lane divided highway between Interstate 29 (Exit 23) and the North Dakota 210 & Minnesota 210 bypass of town. A trumpet interchange joins the two state highways there and a six-ramp partial-cloverleaf interchange facilitates the movements between the state highway and freeway.

Continuing southward into South Dakota, U.S. 81 remains hinged with Interstate 29 through to Exit 180. The drive is otherwise the same as North Dakota: lots of open prairie and farm land. One change occurs on the approach to Sisseton (junction South Dakota 10), as hills arise on the southeastern horizon. A paltry 4,680 vehicles per day traveled Interstate 29 between Exits 242 and 232 as of 2006 SDDOT traffic counts. The water depicted here is a misnomer as 2.5 inches of rain fell on the Dakotas the day before.

As written about in a previous post, the West Dodge Road freeway is now wholly complete between U.S. 275 and Interstate 680. The final portion of this project are the twin viaducts carrying U.S. 6 high above the original West Dodge Road between 132nd Street and Interstate 680. The elevated roadways are dubbed the U.S. 6 Express Lanes while the original West Dodge Road continues below as an at-grade facility, serving movements to 120th Street, 114th Street, and the Old Mill area.

U.S. 6 splits with West Dodge Road for a pair of six-lane viaducts west of the 120th Street intersection. Before construction of the elevated roadways, West Dodge Road met 120th Street at a diamond interchange. That interchange was removed and replaced with an at-grade intersection.

Soaring above West Dodge Road within the vicinity of Old Mill. A folded-diamond interchange remains in use between the original West Dodge Road below and 108th Street. U.S. 6 travels uninterrupted above into the directional-cloverleaf interchange with Interstate 680. U.S. 6 transitions back into a surface arterial east of the Westroads Mall interchange.

Interstate 29 and 680 join for ten miles between Crescent and Loveland in western Iowa. Interstate 680 provides a more direct route to north Omaha from Iowa and points east. The route was originally planned as Interstate 280 and 80N. Since there was already an Interstate 280 at Quad Cities, Interstate 280 later became Interstate 680. Exit 72 serves a decommissioned Iowa state highway. The state of Iowa decommissioned a series of state highways in 2003. For the list, see Jason Hancock’s Iowa Highways Page.

All signs along Interstate 29 northbound still display “I-129″ in text at the Exit 144 interchange with Interstate 129, U.S. 20, and U.S. 75. Interstate 129 forms a short Interstate highway leading west from I-29 to the U.S. 75 merge with U.S. 77 in South Sioux City, Nebraska. Signs along I-29 southbound properly display Interstate 129 shields. The only other instance that we can recollect where and Interstate is written out in text was at the Interstate 26 eastbound split with Interstate 126 in Columbia, South Carolina.

U.S. 75 southbound leaves its original alignment at Sioux City for a freeway bypass to the east and south. Pictured here is the southbound beginning of the freeway and split with U.S. 75 Business at Exit 99. Despite what may just be rumors of a Sioux City beltway (also referred to in the roadgeek circles as Interstate 429), no provisions could be found at the north end of the U.S. 75 freeway for a westward extension to Interstate 29 in South Dakota. Instead U.S. 75, and later U.S. 20, travel a rural to suburban freeway over rolling hills east of the city, meeting Interstate 29 at Interstate 129 opposite the Missouri River. U.S. 20 follows the freeway and overtakes the exit numbering convention from Gordon Drive (Exit 4) southwest to Nebraska.

Further north at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Interstates 29 and 90 converge with Interstate 229 providing an urban loop east of downtown. All three freeways have Business routes into the urban core, but what is different about these than others, is that they are mostly are signed as “Downtown Loop” and “Downtown Spur”. Pictured here is the southbound beginning of Downtown Spur I-90 and its cosigning with South Dakota 115. The Business route follows Cliff Avenue southward from Interstate 90 Exit 399 to 10th Street (Downtown Loop I-229 & South Dakota 42).

Interstate 229 drops below grade on the approach to Exit 6 with Business Spur I-229 & South Dakota 42. The loop serves interests to downtown from its business loop and commuting interests to Interstate 29 and 90. South Dakota DOT is studying the concept of constructing a second loop for the Sioux Falls area further east and south than Interstate 229. Dubbed South Dakota 100 or the Sioux Falls Eastside Corridor, the expressway would travel east from Interstate 29 near Tea (Exit 73), curve northeast to South Dakota 11 at 57th Street, and than northward to Interstate 90 at Exit 402. The project web site touts the road as a limited access highway, but in fact only two of the intersections are planned as full interchanges along the highway. A SPUI is planned at the Benson Road extension south of Interstate 90, and SPUI’s may or may not be used at both Interstate 90 and 57th Street. If a SPUI is not built at 57th Street, than a folded-diamond interchange will be used instead.

Hitting a few towns along the way such as Worthington, Jackson, and Fairmont , Interstate 90 travels through farm country throughout southwest Minnesota. The first of three Minnesota Business Loops departs Interstate 90 at Worthington. Following Nobles County 25 (Diagonal Road), Business Loop I-90 travels south into town between Exits 42 and 45, roughly following the original routing of U.S. 16. Minnesota sometimes signs their county highways with white boxes and black text and other times with purple pentagons with white text. A few exceptions occur in the Minneapolis area where standard pentagons with yellow text are used. North Dakota borrows the white box concept along exit signs on Interstate 29 as well.

Older signs still grace the sign bridges along Interstate 90 at Interstate 35 near Albert Lea. The two interstates join one another at a full-cloverleaf northeast of town. A short distance to the south are the ends of U.S. 65 and U.S. 69 at Albert Lea. The otherwise rural junction of the freeways lies 80 miles south of the Twin Cities metro area, an area I’ll cover extensively in the next series of posts.

‘The worst state highway ever,’ South Dakota 10 between Interstate 29 and Minnesota 28. Not only does the road become a gravel stripeless road, but at one point South Dakota 10 transitions into a pot-hole ridden dirt road… Minnesota does a much nicer job with its side of highway, providing two-lanes of striped asphalt. Pictured here is the state highway eastbound after its intersection with Roberts County 7, on a showery day.