US 1 through the Florida Keys, from Key West to Homestead, FL is one of America's great drives - and now its covered extensively on AAroads. Alex and I went down there in March and May of this year and took a ton of photos. Check them out, on the Florida Keys pages.
Presenting: The Aqua Line! Little known outside of Japan and civil engineering circles, it is one of the coolest things in Japan to see. Not just because of the road, but because of the amazing view. The Aqua-Line is a bridge-tunnel complex that spans Tokyo Bay. It's a very important part of the regional road network because it connects the country's major international airport at Narita in Chiba Prefecture (east) [...]
For those of you who follow the happenings with AASHTO, they are meeting on October 26, 2006 to review a handful of U.S. highway numbering changes, which is a regular occurrence for members on their committee. Of the items on the agenda are two pertaining to the state of Florida. The first is the elimination of U.S. 98 Alternate at Panama City Beach in Bay County on the panhandle. The [...]
Day 5 was probably the shortest with regards to roadding in the Northwest, but nonetheless full with the things that we did see. The main goal of the day was to drive Interstate 5 northward to the International Border and be back in time for dinner. From Burien we pretty much took Interstate 5 up and back, with a couple of side detours thrown in for good measure. As mentioned previously, [...]
While most of Japan is served by "National Routes" with the upside-teardrop shape (see the previous Japan post) Tokyo's Expressways are called "Shuto Expressways" and are managed by a different company, and have different route markers and different construction styles, different signs, all that. The routes even have their own numbering system. You can get a good map here (click) - it's in Japanese but as maps go, it's fairly [...]
After two marathon days of driving, we got together with Chris and tooled around the Seattle and Tacoma area during day 4, and then rendezvous with Andy's cousins in Burien. The day started off with some typical Seattle weather, even with it being late August. A rainy mist converted into light rain and then a solid sheet of rain as we ate breakfast at a local diner in Shoreline, Washington. [...]
I got to spend the last week and some in Japan, mostly Tokyo but with some time in rural Chiba and Kanagawa Prefectures. The freeway system in Tokyo is subpar for being the largest city in the world (or one of them) - but what's there is astounding. Lots of double decker elevated jobs winding through skyscrapers. There will be 6 Japan posts, this one is just a primer on [...]
Started the morning in the quaint town of Cascade Locks, just a stone's throw away from the Bridge of the Gods. The bridge is tolled and privately run, joining U.S. 30 in Oregon with Washington 14 just west of Stevenson. Stevenson is an equally quaint town along the north banks of the Columbia River. Washington 14 (former U.S. 830) and U.S. 30/Interstate 84 are both also paralleled by busy Union [...]
After just five or six hours of sleep, we began our day in Corvallis traveling through downtown looking to photograph a sign we saw the night before. The sign in question still showed Oregon 99W as U.S. 99W, a designation long since retired. From there we opted for Oregon 99W west northward to Salem in lieu of Interstate 5 as an alternate. The routing also allowed us to visit two [...]
Day 1 - Portland to Vancouver, Vancouver to Eugene and Corvallis My flight took me to Albuquerque, New Mexico as the stopover point, my first time there, and from there northwest to Portland International Airport. Coming in over the virtual desert of southeastern Oregon, the air thickened with smoke due to area wild fires and stagnant air from very hot weather. The peaks of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams peaked [...]
