Recent posts

#1

Mid-South / Re: Arkansas

Last post by CoreySamson - Today at 12:12:25 AM

Some random questions from an Arkansas resident who has traveled many of these highways & bi-ways:

1. So when will the I-30 widening project in the Benton be officially done??  Or is it?

2. As tourism is so vital to Hot Springs, why didn't the highway department build an interstate/interstate type highway to connect Hot Springs with I-30?

3. Are the 4 lane type highways that surround El Dorado divided interstate type highways or regular undivided 4 lane highways?  If these are divided interstate type highways, what was the purpose, as far as the length of them?  On the highway maps, they look short in length.

4. In anyone's opinion, will North Belt connecting I-57 with I-40 ever be built or even discussed, or is it permanently dead?

Also not from Arkansas, but I drove through somewhat recently...

1. I drove I-30 through there last month and it appeared to be mostly finished. There were a couple things (some signs, landscaping) that didn't seem 100% finished yet.

2. I thought US 70 from Hot Springs to Benton seemed adequate when I drove it, also on that same trip. Maybe in a perfect world it's a freeway (and I suppose it could use some upgrades), but as it is it seemed fine. It looked like AR 7 just south of town is under construction getting a few upgrades, but nothing drastic though (but I suppose it would help with any traffic coming from the south).

4. From what I understand it's completely dead.

#2

General Highway Talk / Re: XY Challenge

Last post by xonhulu - Today at 12:06:43 AM

July 18: Post the junction of a US highway with a 1 in the tens place and a US highway with an 8 in the tens place (a number with teens and a number with eighties).

I'm pretty sure I used all these photos in Round 1, but again, I only have so many US Route shots.

US 18 and US 385 near Oelrichs, SD:



US 212 and US 87 near Hardin, MT:



US 412 and US 87 and friends in Clayton, NM:

#3

General Highway Talk / Re: Daily conversation: What ...

Last post by bassoon1986 - July 17, 2025, 11:54:04 PM

The Mobile Tunnel and bay bridge on I-10 in Alabama are outdated and too unsafe. They have to go.

#4

Mid-South / Re: Arkansas

Last post by bassoon1986 - July 17, 2025, 11:50:25 PM

Some random questions from an Arkansas resident who has traveled many of these highways & bi-ways:

1. So when will the I-30 widening project in the Benton be officially done??  Or is it?

2. As tourism is so vital to Hot Springs, why didn't the highway department build an interstate/interstate type highway to connect Hot Springs with I-30?

3. Are the 4 lane type highways that surround El Dorado divided interstate type highways or regular undivided 4 lane highways?  If these are divided interstate type highways, what was the purpose, as far as the length of them?  On the highway maps, they look short in length.

4. In anyone's opinion, will North Belt connecting I-57 with I-40 ever be built or even discussed, or is it permanently dead?

I'm from Louisiana, but having traveled a good bit in Arkansas these are my guesses.

2. Not that it couldn't be done but I'm guessing an interstate type freeway wasn't constructed from I-30 to Hot Springs because of the scenic nature of those routes. Coming from the East, both US 70 and US 270 are 4 lanes, although undivided. Growing up in Shreveport, we always came into Hot Springs coming north on I-30 then on AR 7. I just can't imagine Arkansas doing anything to disrupt highways like Scenic 7.

3. Mainline US 82 along the south side of El Dorado and US 167/AR 7 along the east side of the city are both 4 lane divided freeways. US 167 and AR 7 used to be a Super 2 freeway with exits. I assume it was like many other cities that for through traffic it was built to bypass the routes through El Dorado. I'm sure it was part of a larger effort to 4 lane major US highways in Arkansas. Because now US 167 is 4 lanes from the LA/AR state line all the way to Little Rock.

#5

Off-Topic / Re: Random Thoughts

Last post by formulanone - July 17, 2025, 11:49:21 PM

In all the years I've been staying in hotels I don't recall ever encountering bed bugs once.

Yep.  Same here.  Although, when I was working in a Minnesota law firm, we did have a case against Best Western for a bat bug (not bed bug) infestation...Nasty tens of bites on the plaintiff (maybe 100?).

That's like...ten tens.

Weird that we use dozens of ____, but you don't hear grosses of ____, we just use "hundreds".

I've stayed at over 500 different hotels and have never encountered/felt bed bugs, though almost all of my stays have been chain hotels. All my time in this job, I've heard of exactly one co-worker who supposedly had a bed bug encounter...but also seemed to be on the lazy side, prevaricated a bit, and eventually got in some trouble for annoying other co-workers.

* quack quack *

Gulf of Silly Goose is dry.

(that's some major league 90's image dithering)

#6

General Highway Talk / Re: Daily conversation: What ...

Last post by NE2 - July 17, 2025, 11:38:35 PM

The piece of I-70 between where it turns south to Hancock MD and the ramps to the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

#7

General Highway Talk / Re: Daily conversation: What ...

Last post by formulanone - July 17, 2025, 11:29:06 PM

Interstate 99, because then everything written into highway law becomes null-and-void and then we reach absolute legislative chaos and we descend into anarchy, the route logs are burned ritually as sacrifices to the horrors of state representation, and the nation suffers from a constitutional crisis and is then swiftly taken over by the Decepticons in their quest for more Energon cubes...uh...or, maybe just more pork-and-beans and the number accidently winds up in California.

#8

General Highway Talk / Re: Daily conversation: What ...

Last post by Scott5114 - July 17, 2025, 11:13:45 PM

Interstate 95 was only finished a few years ago, so that means that clearly nobody would miss it if it were gone.

#9

Off-Topic / Re: Random Thoughts

Last post by Rothman - July 17, 2025, 11:08:22 PM

In all the years I've been staying in hotels I don't recall ever encountering bed bugs once.

Yep.  Same here.  Although, when I was working in a Minnesota law firm, we did have a case against Best Western for a bat bug (not bed bug) infestation...Nasty tens of bites on the plaintiff (maybe 100?).

#10

General Highway Talk / Re: Highways / Signs in Movies...

Last post by kurumi - July 17, 2025, 11:07:58 PM

The Apple TV 8-episode series "Lessons in Chemistry", based on the book by Bonnie Garmus, is set in the 1950s. Residents of a mainly black neighborhood are protesting the proposed Santa Monica Freeway (also called the 10 freeway once or twice) that would displace them. City and state officials say the area is "blighted", and in episode 6, a protest meets with police brutality.

The scene is near a partially-completed elevated freeway stub, where it looks nearly ready-to-drive as soon as they hook up the next segment. The design of the bridge and supports does seem newer than 1950s vintage.

A cropped pic is here (scroll down): https://screenrant.com/lessons-in-chemistry-episode-6-recap-biggest-reveals/

More about filming the scene:
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/lessons-in-chemistry-episode-6-freeway-protest-scene-how-they-did-it-1235786712/

More: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/lessons-in-chemistry-brie-larson-1950s-style-1235622036/

One of the more challenging scenes was a sit-in staged on an underpass to protest the creation of a new highway through the predominately Black neighborhood of Sugar Hill. The plot was inspired by the true story of the building of Interstate 10 in Los Angeles which wiped out the West Adams community in the early 1960s.

"They wanted to shut down a freeway and film on the freeway, but the problem, of course, is this would have been a brand new freeway, and most of the ones you can shut down, they're just not new," Smith explains. "Back then, when they were building a freeway, especially through a neighborhood, they were bulldozing. The trees and stuff would have been brand new. Most freeways now have giant hedges on the side, so that was a problem."

The solution came in the form of a maintenance yard for freeways that was discovered by a location scout. "Above you are two freeways going into each other so there's just so many bridges, and I've always wanted to shoot under a freeway because it reminds me in a weird way of Roman ruins," says Smith. "When LA eventually becomes a ruin, the only columns that will be left are going to be these freeway structures."