We begin our day at Mt. Sterling, Kentucky and discover one of a handful of state named shields for Interstate 64. This particular assembly is found along Kentucky 686 (Indian Mound Drive), a circumferential arterial around the city. KY-686 is signed as east-west, even on the north-south routing of the state route.

This Kentucky 11 shield includes the rarely seen Highway Gothic Series A.

Kentucky 2 north at the beginning of Kentucky 59 near Exit 156 of Interstate 64.

Delaware 1 & 7 at Christiana? No, Kentucky 1 & 7 at Grayson. Kentucky 9 begins nearby and follows the John Y. Brown, Jr. AA Highway west to Interstate 275 near Covington. The AA Highway derived its original name for its intended connections between Alexandria and Ashland. Governor John Y. Brown’s name was added to honor his efforts to get the road built.

Kentucky 67 (Industrial Parkway) nears its southbound end at junction Interstate 64 (Exit 179). Kentucky 67 was built as a new corridor between Interstate 64 and U.S. 23 between 2002 and 2003. Right of way accommodations exist to four-lane the highway should capacity needs demand it. Additionally it appears provisions for a possible southern extension were built into the interchange design with Interstate 64.

U.S. 52 merges with Interstate 64 between Exits 1 and 6 from Kenova to West Huntington. Construction along their cosigned section is underway involving the replacement of the Twelve Police Creek Bridge near milepost 2. Traffic currently utilizes the eastbound span while a new westbound span is under construction. Drivers will shift to the new span on December 1 as crews dismantle and build a new eastbound bridge.

U.S. 52 leaves Interstate 64 and travels an expressway north through West Huntington to the Nick Joe Rahall II Bridge over the Ohio River. Known as the West Huntington Expressway, the alignment of U.S. 52 to Ohio was constructed in 1965 initially between I-64 and Jefferson Avenue and signed as West Virginia 94 until 1979. The Ohio River bridge was built in 1968 and reconstructed in 1998. Tolls were collected on the span until the mid 1980s.

Interstate 64 based sign posted along Ohio 7 at the trumpet interchange with U.S. 52 north of the Nick Joe Rahall II Bridge. Ohio 7 was extended to replace the original U.S. 52 alignment from the original 6th Street Bridge west when the highway shifted to the Rahall Bridge in 1979. This section of freeway opened in 1961; old U.S. 52 across the Ohio River was renumbered as Multi-state Route 527.

U.S. 35 shifted to a new expressway alignment emanating from Exit 44 of Interstate 64 northward 12 miles to a point north of Fraziers Bottom. This roadway is part of an overall plan to four-lane U.S. 35 from Putnam County to the Ohio state line at Henderson. Sections of the southern section of U.S. 35 opened from south to north between Fall 2008 and June 2009. Work is ongoing from Beech Hill west to a 1997-completed section of expressway at Henderson. Construction on the new U.S. 35 alignment between Fraziers Bottom and Beech Hill was unfunded, but a recent approval by Putnam County commissioners may see the remaining 14.6-mile stretch completed as a toll road. Mason County commissioners passed a resolution approving tolls as well, so the new road, when completed, will carry a $4 toll for passenger vehicles. Old U.S. 35 from Fraziers Bottom to U.S. 60 at Nitro is now signed as West Virginia 817.

A new eastbound Interstate 64 bridge over the Kanawha River, between Dunbar and South Charleston, opened on September 9, 2010. Construction started on the 2,950 foot span in June 2007. The concrete box girder span is the longest in North America.

The second Kanawha River crossing of Interstate 64 takes the freeway east with U.S. 119 onto a viaduct through to the merge with Interstate 77 (Exit 59).

Scenery along the West Virginia Turnpike southbound after Exit 79. Cabin Creek Road winds from Dawes to Giles nearby. Just east of this scene is the Memorial Tunnel bypass section near Standard.

Heading south toward the massive William C. Brown Bridge over the Piney Creek on the East Beckley Bypass. The East Beckley Bypass joins U.S. 19 (Eisenhower Drive) in southeast Beckley currently, but is slated to end at West Virginia 41 (Stanaford Road) by summer 2011. ARRA money helped pushed the stalled project forward.

Clearview based signs posted at the Interstate 77 southbound merge with Interstate 81 outside Wytheville.

U.S. 121 is slated for the Coalfields Expressway in southwestern Virginia and West Virginia, not at Fort Chiswell!

It almost appears as if this U.S. 11 shield is a Virginia 11 shield because of weathering. What may be the case is that an original Virginia shield was recycled as a U.S. highway shield. Either way the sign is located along Main Street south in Marion.

Crossing the South Fork of the Holston River along Interstate 26 east (south) in Kingsport, Tennessee. We rounded out the day’s drive via I-26 to U.S. 25 southward into South Carolina.

Sources:

• KentuckyRoads.com – AA Highway.
• KentuckyRoads.com – KY 67.
• "I-64 Construction Update." WSAZ, April 24, 2010.
• U.S. Route 52 in West Virginia @ Wikipedia.org.
• Ohio State Route 7 @ Wikipedia.org.
• "Putnam commissioners approval tolls on U.S. 35." theCharlestonGazette, September 28, 2010.
• "Commission approves resolution backing U.S. 35 toll." Point Pleasant Register.
• "Part of new Interstate 64 bridge set to open to traffic." Charleston Daily Mail, July 29, 2010.

Signs of construction along U.S. 25 northbound near East Flat Rock south of Hendersonville (compare this scene with this 2007 view). Widening of the two-lane highway is underway to bring it up to four-lane Interstate standards. At-grade intersections with Kay Road and other residential roads will be handled by a new frontage road built along the northbound (east) side of the new freeway. Completion of the overall project is expected by August 2012.

New signs (see the old ones here) posted at Exit 49 (junction U.S. 64) on Interstate 26 west & U.S. 25 north still ignore the fact that U.S. 74 shares the same stretch of highway. Southbound (eastbound) signs also omit the overlap.

Associated with ARRA projects, Interstate 26 at North Carolina 146 work involves the widening of N.C. 146 between N.C. 191 and U.S. 25 near Skyland. The concrete surface of Interstate 26 from Exit 37 north toward Exit 33 is now asphalt. What appeared to be a new configuration of the Exit 37 diamond interchange was nothing more than the building of Biltmore Park Town Square nearby. See the 2007 photo of the same location for the changes to the area.

This diagrammatical overhead is no more as sign changes at Exit 31A of Interstate 26 are the first to indicate Johnson City, Tennessee for the 2003-extension of I-26 northward into the Volunteer State. Sign lighting is also no more. Work on the I-26 Connector between Interstate 240 and U.S. 19 & 23 north of Asheville is still pending. A new 5.1-mile alignment for Interstate 26 will carry the freeway across a new French Broad River crossing and avoid the substandard interchange between Interstate 240 and the U.S. 19 & 23 freeway at downtown Asheville. While ARRA money was allocated to the half-million dollar project, construction is still a few years away.

Clearview-fonted signs are continuing to become the standard within the state of Virginia. Signs for Interstate 381 north at Interstate 81 now are now in Clearview.

Not all signs in Virginia are new, as this set of U.S. 52 cutouts continues to live. Cutouts were generally dropped as a standard for route markers in 1970, though a handful of states continued into the mid-70s.

Rains and clouds from the outflow of the short-lived Tropical Storm Nicole fed a storm system stretching northward along the entire East Coast. We hit rainfall in Wytheville and intermittent drizzle and sprinkles northward into West Virginia. This set of Clearview-based signs was one of the few installed along Interstate 77 between Interstate 81 and the WV line. It replaced this previously illuminated set of signs.

The West Virginia Turnpike reaches its highest elevation at Flat Top, 3,252 feet above sea level. From this point northward, Interstate 77 descends to the first of three main line toll plazas along the 95.5-mile toll road. Passenger vehicles are charged $2.00 per plaza. EZPass discounts are only applied to those with a WV EZPass.

Interstate 64 west joins Interstate 77 north along the West Virginia Turnpike for 56.2 miles through to the toll road end at Charleston. Interstate 64 bypasses Beckley to the south en route to Lewisburg and Lexington, Virginia. North of Beckley, the turnpike changes landscape, entering a deep valley along side Paint Creek.

Near milepost 75, Interstate 64 west & 77 north pass over Four Mile Road and a glimpse of the original Memorial Tunnel comes into view. This two-lane tube was bypassed in 1987 with the current four-lane alignment to its north. The tunnel is used today for a variety of testing purposes from terrorist response drills to fire prevention systems. It is not open to the general public.

Interstate 64 west & 77 north span the Kanawha River at the West Virginia Turnpike end. Known as the Bender Bridge, the original span, now southbound, opened in 1954 to coincide with the initial Turnpike completion. The northbound span was added in 1975.

Interstate 79 draws to a close at the ramp split to Interstate 77 north and south. Although most brown sign bridges in Charleston saw their background screens removed, a handful along Interstate 79 retain them.

All signage for Interstate 77 north of the Interstate 79 terminus and south from Ripley was replaced with new panels utilizing Clearview font. Additionally, on-ramps to Interstate 77 now include California-style Freeway Entrance assemblies. Pictured in this scene is the U.S. 33 westbound merge with Interstate 77 north at Exit 138. U.S. 33 uses the freeway through to Exit 146.

U.S. 50 travels along a freeway from Interstate 77 west to the Blennerhassett Island Bridge across the Ohio River. The freeway begins west of the modified diamond interchange with Interstate 77 (Exit 176) and quickly splits with the original U.S. 50 alignment of 7th Street (now signed as West Virginia 618).

The Blennerhassett Island Bridge opened on June 13, 2008 at a cost of $120 million. Known as a Network Arch Bridge, the U.S. 50 span across the Ohio River concludes the Parkersburg south bypass to join U.S. 50 with an expressway bypass of Belpre, Ohio.

A signing oddity occurs with the U.S. 250 Business loop at New Philadelphia, Ohio. Traveling along the U.S. 250 freeway bypass to the south, motorists see green U.S. 250 Business Loop shields on guide signs for the ramps to High Avenue at Schoenbrunn.

Once on the business loop, signs see U.S. 250 Business within a small green guide sign.

A new diamond interchange is nearing completion between Interstate 77 and Tuscarawas County Road 80 in north Dover, Ohio. Work began on September 16, 2009 and completion is expected on November 23, 2010.

Sources:

• "U.S. 25 widening to begin." Times-News Online, June 4, 2009.
• West Virginia Turnpike @ Wikipedia.org.
• Blennerhassett Island Bridge @ Wikipedia.org.

Interstate 95 is rather docile in Volusia County south of Interstate 4, but north of it is a different story. The influx of traffic from Orlando and its array of resort areas puts a crush of traffic on the freeway between Daytona Beach and Jacksonville. Surprisingly not all of this corridor is yet to six-lane capacity. St. Johns and Volusia Counties are already six-lanes, but Flagler County is not. Therefore crews are out working on the expansion of Interstate 95 to eliminate the bottleneck between Interstate 4 and Interstate 295. From the FDOT website, expansion of the 18.6-mile stretch in Flagler County began on March 14, 2005. Completion date is unclear.

In a related project pertaining to the Interstate 95 corridor, upgrading of the Florida 9A (Future Interstate 295) diamond interchange with Florida 202 (J. Turner Butler Boulevard – JTB) is also underway. Florida 9A provides an eastern bypass of downtown Jacksonville as well as a commuter route for southeast Jacksonville. The substandard interchange between the two freeways is the only thing preventing the eastern beltway from becoming part of the Interstate 295 corridor. Upon completion of the $80.5-million project, high-speed flyovers will shuttle motorists between Interstate 295 and the JTB. Work began in July 2005 with a 2009 completion date anticipated.

Further northwest near downtown Jacksonville is the project involving redesign of the Interstate 10 and 95 interchange (Exit 351B). At present the junction between the two pivotal Interstate highways is quite substandard with left-hand ramps and tight curves. Replacement of the junction involves creation of high-speed flyovers with the capacity necessary for the downtown area junction. Work commenced on February 15, 2005, with an overall completion of the interchange and associated adjacent projects slated for 2011. See TheBigI.info for project details (note that “Big I” was the same moniker given to the massive overhaul of the Interstate 25 and 40 junction in Albuquerque, New Mexico).

Also of interest to that interchange is the fact that U.S. 17 and Florida 223 now both share alignments with both Interstate 10 east from the Roosevelt Expressway interchange to Interstate 95 and Interstate 95 north to the U.S. 23 (Kings Road/Union Street) interchange to the north. Signs merely mention the overlap in passing, but shields are no longer posted along the U.S. 17 & Florida 223 surface routing as of December 2006.

It is not just the Interstate 95 interchange with Interstate 10 under construction, but essentially the entire corridor of freeway between Interstate 10 and the northern terminus of Interstate 295. That section of roadway includes a narrow four-lane segment of freeway between the Trout River Bridge and Interstate 295/Florida 9A. Widening of that freeway is underway in conjunction with a replacement of the Trout River Bridge. Work on the Trout River Bridge replacement began on March 7, 2005 and very recently resulted in a shift of traffic onto the new future southbound bridge from the original northbound bridge. Completion of the widening and new bridge should be completed by spring 2008. See TroutRiverBridge.com for additional info.

The adjacent project involves expansion of the original four-lane freeway from Zoo Parkway north to Interstate 295/Florida 9A. Work began in October of 2007 and early results see a new concrete roadway partially in place. Completion of that expansion project should occur by summer 2008. NorthFloridaRoads.com has a wide array of information pertaining to this project and many others throughout the Jacksonville metropolitan area.

Perhaps its not really related to Interstate 95 expansion, but one road facet of Interstate 95 is the essentially defunct Business Loop Interstate 95 at Darien. The overall expansion of the Interstate 95 corridor in recent decades sees a wide array of services within easy reach of the entire corridor (except for say between Orono and Houlton, Maine!). The need for Business Loops from the freeway essentially is nonexistent nowadays. Therefore the two remaining loops, one at Fayetteville, North Carolina, and the other at Darien, Georgia, have become less important by definition of Business Loop. The Fayetteville loop remains an important through route into Fayetteville from the north and south. The Georgia loop at Darien is basically unsigned outside of two guide signs per direction. One lone shield still in place however lies at the U.S. 17 intersection with Georgia 99, about a mile east of the south end of the Business Loop.

Georgia began expansion on their section of Interstate 95 in the 1990s and is vastly complete throughout the state. Most recent widening involves McIntosh and Liberty Counties midway between Brunswick and Savannah. In particular, a six laning of Interstate 95 will extend the widened portion of highway south of the U.S. 84 eastern terminus. Pictured here during road work at Exit 67, the project began in April of 2005 and should overall be completed by 2009. Four bridges along the corridor require replacing with wider spans; hence the lengthy construction process. From U.S. 84 northward, Interstate 95 is already six lanes to the South Carolina state line.

Once in South Carolina, Interstate 95 reduces to four lanes for all but a short ten-mile section between Interstate 20 and U.S. 52 at Florence. That six-laning was a recent addition, completed in April 2004, to the overall four-lane roadway. Interstate 95 in South Carolina generally serves through travel interests between Florida and the northeast. Anyone driving along the route, especially south of Interstate 26, will notice that three out of four cars are generally Florida-plated cars or cars emanating from the northeastern states. Because of this, South Carolina wants to institute tolls on its 199-mile section of Interstate 95. Why pay for a road yourselves when it benefits those from another state? At least that is the logic behind the latest push to toll the roadway in order to fund its modernization and expansion. Looking northward here is the Exit 8 off-ramp to U.S. 278 midway between Jasper and Ridgeland. I’ve found the parallel U.S. 17 and further north old-U.S. 17 to be a benefit when it comes to avoiding growing traffic congestion through this stretch.

Much further north, Interstate 95, as mentioned on the Interstate-Guide site, has been under construction for several years now involving the upgrading of the Springfield Interchange with Interstates 395 and 495 and the nearby Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement project. The Capital Beltway, a commuter and through route of both Interstates 95 and 495 around Washington, D.C., has undergone such development and increases in traffic in recent decades that the road has declined into an utter state of failure on some sections. To augment some of these issues, VDOT began upgrading the rather substandard interchange between Interstate 95, 395 (Shirley Highway), and 495 (Capital Beltway) at Springfield in 2002. Work on that interchange is vastly completed, with high-speed flyovers now facilitating the movements between the north-south and east-west freeways. Overall completion of that project is expected by late-2007. SpringfieldInterchange.com provides more detail on this project.

Further east, road work continues in earnest involving the modernization of Interstates 95 & 495 between the Springfield Interchange and the Potomac River. Two aspects of the project involve the reconstruction and redesign of interchanges with both Telegraph Road (Virginia 241) and U.S. 1. Pictured here is gridlock along Interstate 95 south & 495 west near the Virginia 241 (Exit 168) interchange. Work began on this junction in mid-2004 and should be complete by late 2011. The lengthy time table involves overall road work involving not only the Capital Beltway but also the adjacent Virginia 241. East of there at junction U.S. 1, a similar project is underway with completion expected by mid-2009. Improvements here will aid to the overall expansion and improvement of the Capital Beltway in between. See WilsonBridge.com for more information.

Last but not least on our menu is the Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement project itself. Begun in mid-2001, work involves the wholesale replacement of the original draw bridges over the Potomac River on which Interstates 95 and 495 travel. As of late 2006, the future eastbound (outer) bridge was open to travel and carries six-overall lanes of Capital Beltway drivers. Work continues on both removal of the original spans and building of the new westbound (inner) bridge. Upon completion, the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge will remain a draw bridge, but with improved capacity to the order of ten lanes with the allocation of two additional HOV or transit lanes for the future.

Adjacent to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, Interstate 95 in Maryland also is undergoing expansion and modernization. The Interstate 295 & Maryland 210 interchanges remains under construction for redesign and should be completed by mid-2008. The new ramp configurations accommodate widening of the Capital Beltway approaches to the Potomac River crossing.

Additional Sources: