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!

those that click on the large versions of the photos may notice… new camera! Larger pictures for your enjoyment. When my D50 died at 99872 exposures, I upgraded to the D5000. This trip served to field-test it in a variety of conditions.

Pointy rocks and high clouds, by the side of the Kelso-Cima Road, which is a very old US-91 alignment. Before they built the road in the 30s that would be upgraded to I-15 in 1962, a somewhat more indirect highway followed the railroad between Cima and Kelso, and that was US-91.

US-50 in western Utah. 1am on a foggy night. As there was no place to pull over, I stopped the car in the middle of the road and set up the tripod next to it. No cars came in the six or seven minutes I was stopped. Indeed, no other vehicles between Hinckley, Utah and Majors Junction, Nevada – over 100 miles!

Altogether too much traffic on I-15 as we depart heading towards Riverside County.

Taking I-10 instead of I-15 or I-215 gets us off the main road with all the Los Angeles to Las Vegas traffic. While you wouldn’t think of putting Christmas and gambling in the same sentence… apparently, half of LA’s population did!

This sign dates to 1966, when 62 became a state highway.

And now, the Amboy Road, which connects Twentynine Palms to Amboy. We’re taking a somewhat circuitous route, but at least the traffic levels are favorable.

Kelso-Cima Road again, but this time with some more context.

I think San Bernardino County is responsible for this sign.

The sign that this replaced survives: it has “US 91/466″ to the left, and is a 1950s porcelain Auto Club sign: white with black legend.

We’re back on I-15, as that is the only way into Nevada in the area. The town of Primm, formerly known as State Line, is in the distance.

The mountains turn red.

A bit of poor planning gets us sunset at the worst of Vegas traffic. Oops.

Red skies… and traffic lights.

I’ve taken more realistic photos of I-15 through the Virgin River Gorge on more than one occasion, but this one came out so over-the-top misexposed that I just had to keep it. About 80% of this photo’s pixels are railed to one maximum or another. Gotta love it.

There we go – a much better exposure. Or, combination of exposures as the case may be. The very discontinuous star trails should give a good idea as to which photos of a series I selected to combine.

The I-15 routing through the gorge is one of the rare examples of an interstate that replaced an old two-lane road, making the trip more scenic in the process. I-70 vs US-50 between Green River and Salina, Utah is another example, as is I-68/US-40 at Sideling Hill in Maryland.

And we’ve made it to Utah. Don’t tell Enterprise, as they do not allow the car past Nevada and Arizona. Note the “loop 15″ shield – this is a direct replacement of an older button copy sign, which did not have the resolution for a detailed Business Loop 15.

And some actual button copy. This, and a corresponding sign southbound, are – I believe – the only button copy signs left on I-15 in Utah.

The highest posted speed limit in the country. Texas has it on I-10 and I-20 in the sticks out west, and Utah has three segments of it now on I-15. From milepost 65 to 85, then miles 116 to 133 (ending at I-70 at Cove Fort), and one more section from 144 to 164. There may be more north of US-50 as well that I did not notice.

This is where we get off I-15 and head west on US-50 all the way to Carson City, Nevada.

What do we have here? An early 1960s US-50 shield, complete with the custom Utah font! Alas, the I-15 is much newer. The 50 was probably paired with a US-91 to begin its life.

Brand new beehive 100 shield, with extra wide white margin.

Standard-font 1961 spec shields are not difficult to find in Utah.

We leave Hinckley with an eye on the gas gauge. Past here, there is gas only at the state line (83 miles away), and then Ely, Austin, Middlegate Junction, and Fallon as we cross the most uninhabited portions of Nevada.

Yep, that’s a cutout US-93 marker in Nevada. It was put up quite recently (2005 or so) at Majors Junction. There were, at one point, US-6 and US-50 cutouts as well, but those are gone.

I should’ve stopped for this one, as opposed to shooting a hand-held 5 second exposure out the window. The view is from a sweeping curve along Connors Pass, and there was absolutely no place to pull over and visibility for stopping in the road… and surprisingly many vehicles at that time of the night, so I kept going.

At small size, it looks all right, but the full-size version is very blurry. It should actually be fairly easy to get rid of the motion blur: all the stars should be points, so taking a star track and inverting it should give us the appropriate deconvolution filter. Quick, where’s my knowledge of Fourier transforms?

And that does it for the first day of the trip. Next up: US-50 across Nevada.

Nope, this is not the Great Salt Lake – this is the Bonneville Salt Flats in winter, when there is a thin layer of collected rain and melted snow… and people drive in it.

Tiny houses, colossal mountains. Somewhere in Nevada at sunset.

Well past dusk, near Battle Mountain, Nevada.

Donner Lake, the next morning.

Clouds over the east bay. The view from I-680; and yes, that part of California is greenest in … January.

Heading out on old US-40 into the mountains just west of Salt Lake City. Just after dawn.

this alignment of 40 turns into a road that services an industrial concern, and thus gets rather lousy rather fast.

We probably shouldn’t be going this fast… but we are.

Uh oh, road dead-ended. Time to get out of here. This speed is not all that impressive – except for the fact that we are going [i]in reverse[/i].

Unusual warning signs of the world.

Salty old sign on US-40, pointing (as amended), both directions to the east … because, while Wendover is indeed to the west, the on-ramp to I-80, the freeway that replaced US-40, is to the east, just like Salt Lake. The sign goes back to the early 60s, and every year it lists just a little bit more. It was once green and white – now it is white and green. The green background got covered in salt condensation from the Bonneville Salt Flats, while the white letters with reflectors just plain fell off.

Mountains reflecting in the salt wash.

Whatever it is … that’s what it is. Somewhere next to I-80 in western Utah.

More trails in the salt. More fun.

Where cars go to go fast.

And this is how far my rental car went. I can’t remember what it was – some kind of Chevy. Malibu maybe?

We’re in Nevada now. Mountains near Wells.

A distant airplane, over an old, unplowed US-40 alignment.

A river – again near old US-40.

Mountains starting to glow in the last rays of sunset.

Peaks and valleys.

Orange clouds far overhead.

Pretty in pink.

Sun’s gone, but the clouds remain a bit longer.

Heading west on highway 80.

Oddball of a highway sign in Reno, Nevada.

Some ’57 spec I-80 shields float around Reno. Here is one. In fact, I’ll tell you exactly where it is!

US-395 around Reno is interstate 580. Why they sign it only on the paddles, I will never know.

The only embossed sign ever put out by California’s Division of Highways. This example sits on the wall of the snowplow depot in Floriston, serving I-80 and Donner Pass.

Old US-40 approaching Donner Pass.

Climbing up Donner Pass.

The view from Donner Pass. Donner Lake down below.

Clouds, as seen from I-80 coming down from the mountains.

A perfectly located sundog.

And that’s all for now!

Next set – coming up next time… as I plan my Chile and Argentina trip for sometime in 2011!

The very, very first rays of sunrise. An old, abandoned alignment of US-6 and US-50 near Thompson, Utah. A two-minute exposure at earliest dawn, with Venus tracking steadily across the skies on the left.

Sunrise over the red rocks.

I-70 in Utah across the San Rafael Swell. One of the last major sections of road to be built – this segment of highway was untraversable by car until 1986. There still remains a section between Green River and Salina that is 110 miles long without services: the longest stretch on the entire interstate highway system.

Mountains beyond the Great Salt Lake, as seen at sunset.

This is what you get when you rent a car to me with 2900 miles on it, and let me loose an entire week with it.

Moon, just around the earliest beams of sunrise – somewhere in rural Utah, on US-6 a few miles past the Colorado state line.

This alignment hasn’t been US-6/50 since about 1986 – but the railroad electrical box remains.

Old button copy sign on an old US-6 alignment.

Just a little further into dawn. One of the rest stops along I-70 presents this view.

Distant red rocks at dawn.

More old button copy.

A beehive-shaped red rock.

Interstate 70 heading into the red rocks.

Off to the side: red rocks and snow.

The last old-style interstate shield in Utah. I took this picture in December, 2007. When I went back in November, 2008, it was gone.

And this one, too, in Salina… gone. That leaves a whopping grand total of zero state-named shields in Utah that anyone knows about.

Old yellow (now white!) yield sign.

A nifty gash in the sky.

That he was. But the domain name ends up belonging to a realtor. Which, in 2007, was not a bad occupation to be.

The last state-named shields in Utah. Covered up, of course. No visible state-named shields found in Salt Lake City; or, really, anywhere else, as they appear to be all gone.

that’s all for now! Next time – Bonneville Salt Flats, and return to California by way of Nevada.

here is the first day of that trip – the Bay Area to Arco, Idaho.

The Sierras, in southeast Oregon. Just about the northernmost extent of this mountain range.

Not an incredibly old sign, but likely 1980s. Note the state name on the 80 shield – Nevada doesn’t often do that for green guide signs.

Between nothing and nowhere. 95 goes through a very barren and remote section of southeastern Oregon and I was hoping for old signs… alas, no such thing did I find. As far as I know, there are no more OREGON/US cutout shields left. The last one was a 97 in Klamath Falls. There are some of the state route eagle shields left, however.

A hilariously incorrect sign.

Remote post offices of the world: Arock, Oregon. Note the 1950s-style mail dropbox tied to the tree!

Now that is a remote road. It’s a 4×4 trail between eastern Oregon and western Idaho. Interestingly, it is labeled on the Rand McNally map, but good luck with actually taking it!

We’re in Idaho now, and the precipitation keeps getting worse.

Old Idaho historic marker. Note the narrow fonts on the US-95 shield and the number 192 (which identifies this particular marker).

How about a state-named Idaho shield? They are very rare, but here’s one in Boise. There are three altogether in the same area, and they are all brand new. 2005 or so vintage.

Snow clouds at dusk. I-84 eastbound near Twin Falls, Idaho.

1960s cutout “welcome to Idaho” sign! The border between Utah and Idaho on old US-30S, which was bypassed by I-80N (later renamed I-84) by the 1960s.

Identify this matter. It is ice on the top of a steel gas pump, in the appropriately named Snowville, Utah. I do not remember how the place was lit up to provide this effect.

The last state-named shields in Utah. Where? Under these two. Note the original 1960s wooden arrows. The new aluminum signs were simply bolted onto the older wooden ones!

Another section of old US-191. 191 is a strange one: it originally went from Yellowstone to Salt Lake City, and then it got truncated (thus the “old” remnants) around southern Wyoming… and then it got extended, to many times its original length. It now goes from US-2 in northern Montana all the way to the Mexico border in Douglas, Arizona. It ends up not even intersecting the severely truncated US-91, which it once connected to.

How about an old white guide sign pointing to a town that no longer exists? Okay, half an old white guide sign!

Grain elevator by the side of old US-91 somewhere in southeast Idaho.

Christmas decorations in rural Idaho, two days before the holiday itself.

Old US-91 in the middle of the night. Note the snowglow in the air – a full moon is reflected off the ground, and then again the clouds in the sky… it was bright enough at midnight to drive without headlights!

And that’s all for our run from the bay area to Idaho in one night and one day and a bit of another night. Next up, we pick up in Arco, Idaho – and head north into Montana on US-93. Lost Trails Pass, Inflatable Biker Santa, old signs along US-10, and of course snowstorm after snowstorm.

Here’s a 1950s Indian road sign! Complete with peeling numbers on some of the oldest engineer grade (does not fade to green) scotchlite I have ever seen. They invented the stuff in 1950 and this is not much newer than that. 18×12 inches; somewhere in southeast Utah near the Four Corners area.

This might very well be a meteor in daytime! I just noticed this when I was processing these photos – note the smoke trail in the middle. I have the photo from 1 second before, and 4 seconds after, and they show nothing – but this one definitely has that black streak, which I believe to be a smoke trail from a very bright meteor.

Behold the birds. Pagosa Springs, Colorado has this lake, fountain assembly… and swans!

Indian Route 20 is old US-89.

Looking back north towards Page on US-89. Watch for rocks.

And we are approaching highway 160, but still southbound on 89.

The sun begins to set…

There are very few of these 1960s markers around for San Juan County, Utah routes. They all were originally orange and blue, and they have all faded in the sun.

An old Navajo route in southern Utah.

And here is an even older San Juan County marker, with the border barely visible around the entire sign.

From the same general area as the meteor – here are the road and the red rocks.

Much later in the night – here is a 6 by 6 inch (tiny!) county route 2414 marker.

Next morning, in Colorado, where we head east on U. S. highway 160.

Sunrise making the reeds glow… a small lake not far from route 160.

Ominous, but eventually harmless clouds.

A view of a single swan. The males are white with black beak, and the females are grey with light grey beak. So now you know that this one is a …

The Rocky Mountains are a source of wind currents – perfect for some ballooning in the morning as the sun warms the air and the currents rise.

Further east on route 160 – by the side of the road is this long-unused switch engine with a red, white, and blue paint job.

In a small town in Colorado – on the side streets, far away from the main highway (US-160), the entire grid is signed with these instead of modern stop signs. They are embossed, non-reflective, and date back to the 1950s.

Colorado uses these blue shields for their scenic byways.

The mountains in late August – not a single flake of snow to be found. A brief detour off the 160 – we are on highway 12 approaching La Veta from the south.

Old, old, old La Veta Pass – US-160 was bypassed from this route by the 1950s. This is the 1930s two-lane road. Ask us about how we followed the two-lane road across an old bridge and right onto someone’s private property – and how they beheld us for the freaks we were, and promptly refused to let us turn around in the driveway of their colossal mansion.

They insisted that the approach road (which is clearly marked as a county route) is private land! So we had to back out, nearly a quarter of a mile, in a cargo van – did I mention that exploring old roads in such a vehicle is more difficult than usual?

Dale knows all about this relatively unfriendly woman … when we told him the story, he immediately said “oh, county route 403 across the 1915 bridge? Yeah I once had to back out of there too……”

Not quite a glass cateye … here is a 1940s plastic Stimsonite reflector that replaced the old glass reflector in this original silver-and-black-painted fence from the 1930s. Old La Veta Pass, and these posts still remain from when this route was done between 1912 and 1937, and upgraded between 1949 and 1953, before being entirely bypassed in 1960.

And here’s one that’s actually intact! The previous red one is just the backing – the reflective white matter long gone. Here you can see the white.

The end of the old route – you can see where the new and old roads branch.

Another 1910s bridge. There are quite a few on the old La Veta Pass road.

The very last pair of original (1958 specs) interstate shields in Colorado – most had vanished by the late 1970s, but there are two left, as late as December 10th of this year when I checked on them. And no, I will not reveal where they are. Suffice it to say, they are near interstate 25.

A red rainbow – at sunset, the atmosphere filters out most of the light that is not red. This is why sunsets are that color, and why this rainbow looks the way it does! This is when we ended up in Union County and our journey in the moving van was complete.

And that’s it ’til the next time! I think I’ll next upload some New Mexico and Texas route 66 photos from a trip just this November.

Part of the collection of someone who wishes to remain anonymous. Well, the signs are visible to anyone from the public right-of-way, so you can go find them if you want! This style of directional sign, complete with glass reflectors, was used on high speed thoroughfares from 1933 to the early 50s.

Nevada state route 167 branches off of old US-91. The road is lit from the side by a truck stop immediately behind us, that serves Interstate 15.

The truck stop, now with actual truck.

The Virgin River Gorge – Arizona interstate route 15. Whereas old US-91 went around it, I-15 was blasted straight through, saving about 30 miles.

Fires in Los Angeles result in skies like this in Utah.

One from Dan, from the same general vicinity. His pictures can be found here. Go look, as his are generally like mine, except more awesome.

Plenty of old auto club signs in Calexico, where the Greyhound bus makes its first stop. Why a Greyhound bus? Because Yuma, AZ is the cheapest place to pick up a rental van.

Behind this 1960 porcelain sign is the Mexico border fence.

This sign dates back to the early 1950s and features the California Division of Highways logo.

And now we’re in Yuma. Button copy is getting pretty hard to find in Arizona, especially the kind with the non-reflective background.

Heading westbound on I-8 in California, through the mountains that separate San Diego and Imperial counties.

Classic porcelain signage in San Diego. This sign dates to 1968.

Odd transitional sign at the same intersection – this one is from 1973, when they stopped using porcelain, but had not started using pre-made button copy letters. Here, the buttons are glued onto white non-reflective letters on a green background. Shortly thereafter, they decided having the letters pre-made with reflectors was far more economical.

Ominous skies over US-395.

This sign is in a museum in Randsburg. It points down the US-6/395 multiplex, with Los Angeles being accessed by US-6. US-6 was truncated in 1964, so now the stretch of road is only US-395. Don’t mind the black spot at the bottom – the sign is hanging in a closet, and I stood about eight inches away and used the flash.

A near-exact copy of an old white auto club guide sign. The logo is missing, of course, and the sign is green reflective, and not white porcelain, and the original did not have a crossbar… but that font is classic 1938!

Another one – the colors are modern but the font is original. Someone must’ve gone through this area in the last few years and done an exact replacement, just as the contract stated.

This is the style that succeeded the first Barstow picture: starting in 1948, with the plastic reflectors. This one does not have the Division of Highways logo, but is black, dating it 1957-59.

More of the same collection. The 66 shields are replicas, but the guide signs in the back – red, white, and blue; blue diamond; and white rectangle, are all original. Be sure to click for the high-resolution version. The owner was, alas, not home, so I could not get any closer photos.

One more from the same truck stop.

Interstate 15 barely cuts into Arizona between Las Vegas and St. George, Utah.

Approaching the Virgin River Gorge.

The view north through the gorge.

And the view south, from the same overpass.

Highway 59 leads south into Arizona.

Sunrise with lots of smoke.

And now we’re in Arizona, looking back north into Utah.

Heading south (east, really) on US-89A and leaving the smoke behind.

Looking back west on 89A.

Stopping for a bit to get up close and personal with the red rocks. I took this photo with the fisheye and converted it back to rectilinear.

Another one; slightly different direction.

Crossing the Colorado River at Glen Canyon Dam, near Page. Somewhat disconcerting roller-coaster look achieved by running the de-fisheye converter on an image that was rectilinear to begin with.

There’s a hydroelectric plant somewhere around here.

next up, actual Antelope Canyon

The only button copy sign in Nevada. This one is very, very old.

Ominous clouds over old US-91 in southern Utah.

Red rock country. Utah, everybody.

Highway 95 at sunset.

Highway 95 somewhat past sunset. This wide-angle shot (about 140 degrees field of view!) is made possible by a fisheye lens and a rectilinear conversion tool. Large version of image is 7000 pixels wide!

On top of the creatively named Mountain Pass between southern California and Las Vegas, just north of Baker. Don’t mind the foreground – I combined several exposures and kept the stars in place.

Las Vegas under the fog.

How old is the button copy sign? That’s a scraped off US-91 shield on the back of the sign! There’s a 466 on the other side, and you can go here to see some actually clear (daytime!) photos of the shields. US-91 was gone by 1974, US-466 by 1971 … and that style of sign dates back to before 1963!

Sunrise, somewhere in southern Utah on old US-91.

The business loop in St. George.

Unlike Nevada, Utah is filled with button copy signs.

Do not get eaten by cows.

Red rocks on Utah state highway 14, heading east from Cedar City.

What’s this, we’re driving into a snowstorm?

Turning north onto highway 143, and looking back west at the one remaining patch of clear sky.

About to hit the top of the pass (10420 feet). And yes, I did make this photo black-and-white. It wasn’t quite that gray out – but it was close!

Just about at the pass.

And coming down now.

There’s really no place to pull over to take pictures, so I employed the Norwegian technique of just stopping in a lane and figuring people are smart enough to go around.

Definitely a view worth stopping for.

This may very well be the oldest interstate shield in Utah … and alas, it lacks the state name. There are none left with the state name, unless you count two in Salt Lake City that have been covered up.

Some cutout shields intended for green sign use made it onto poles on the 70/89 multiplex.

All the green has fallen off of this sign.

The longest gap between services on the interstate system.

Turning south onto state highway 72.

72 ends at 24, and here we head east into red rock country.

Utah features this sort of land for hundreds of miles.

I don’t know what causes the kind of wavy line present in the clouds at upper right.

Now on highway 95, which heads towards the Four Corners area.

Getting close to sunset.

Past sunset, and just north of the Colorado River crossing on highway 95. This is a combination of two exposures – with a single shot, either one has no detail on the ground, or one blows out the skies.

And here is the river itself. If you look carefully, you can see the bridge.

Even further past sunset.

And here we’re finally getting to the bridge.

An extra-wide-angle shot showing all the clouds.

And an actual sign photo to close things off with. Coming up, Colorado to New Mexico.

Opened September 13, 2008, the Legacy Parkway (Utah 67) represents a new freeway-level roadway from Interstate 215 in North Salt Lake to Interstate 15 & U.S. 89 in Farmington. The road was a 12-year project in the making, and features aesethic aspects to enhance the experience of its drivers.

Interstate 15 enters the interchange with U.S. 89 south and Legacy Parkway south of their respective ramps with Park Lane.

Curves built into the roadway accent Legacy Parkway views of the Wasatch and other natural features. Stone-facades added to the overpasses and other roadway elements compliment the roads’ scenic byway designation. A 2,225-acre preserve was purchased and restored to its natural state along the western frontage of the parkway to go with the pedestrian/bike and horse trail.

Stone monuments line both sides of the Legacy Parkway at its southbound beginning.

Legacy Parkway cost $685-million to build and carries four lanes overall. Tractor trailers are prohibited, but speed limits are set at just 55 mph on the road meant to provide up to 30% traffic relief along parallel Interstate 15. Only two interchanges are available along the 14-mile route, the northern with Parrish Lane in Centerville and southern at 500 South in Bountiful.

Initially Legacy Parkway and Interstate 15 & U.S. 89 travel side by side through to the State Street overpass.

Sources

• “Legacy Parkway opens to public on Saturday.” Deseret News, September 7, 2008.
• “Legacy Parkway opens tomorrow.” KSL News, September 12, 2008.

• Exit 9 is now “Desert Springs” instead of Farm Road.
• An increase in the number of distance signs. There are at least 3 distance signs each way pointing to St. George, Cedar City and Salt Lake northbound – southbound to Cedar Pocket, Mesquite, and Las Vegas.
• The advance signs for Business Loop 15 in Mesquite on southbound I-15 are now all ADOT standard, and not placed by NvDOT.
• Utah’s I-15 signs look just as bad as they ever did around St. George. The new exit, exit 13 (Washington Parkway) is now open.