Arkansas 88/272 cutout signs in Queen Wilhelmina State Park

Started by bugo, January 02, 2014, 01:49:00 PM

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bugo

I found this picture on the AAroads shield gallery.  It was taken in 1970.  AR 272 once began at US 59/270 like it does now, headed west to the current 88/272 junction, west on current 88 then south and east along the service road to the lodge at Queen Wilhelmina State Park where it dead ended.  The current Talimena Drive south (east) of the 272 junction and the state park and west into Oklahoma was commissioned circa 1969, so these are the original cutout shields.  Before the Talimena Drive was paved and made into a state highway, the road was known as Skyline Drive and was a gravel forest service road that followed AR 88 to near the Oklahoma line, then headed south (crossing into the Sooner State briefly two times) and ended at AR 8 near Mountain Fork (does anybody recall the Forest Service number for this road?)  I never knew that 88 and 272 were duplexed, and I never knew 272 was signed north-south, so this picture was enlightening to me.  I grew up 15 miles away from the state park (my grandparents lived literally at the eastern end of the Talimena Drive, their house was 10 feet inside the Mena city limits, which also serves as the border of the Ouachita National Forest.  We often walked to the information center that is about 1/2 mile north of the city limits, where the Talimena Drive officially begins.  I very well remember the double yellow lines with the dotted white lines in the middle.  Also, note that the signposts and the backs of the signs are painted brown, a practice that continues to this day.  Sometime between 1970, AR 272 was truncated to the AR 88 junction and was signed east-west.  This is one of my favorite pictures.  It was taken just east of the junction of AR 88 and secret (Ooh, a secret!) AR 600, the service road from 88 to the lodge.  Thanks to Jim Lindsay for taking this snapshot into the past, and thanks to agentsteel53 for posting it.  As far back as I can remember, these signs were replaced by squares and 272 had been truncated, but the white dotted line was still there up until the '80s or early '90s.  This is one of my favorite road-related pictures of all time.



US71

Quote from: bugo on January 02, 2014, 01:49:00 PM
I found this picture on the AAroads shield gallery.  It was taken in 1970.  AR 272 once began at US 59/270 like it does now, headed west to the current 88/272 junction, west on current 88 then south and east along the service road to the lodge at Queen Wilhelmina State Park where it dead ended.  The current Talimena Drive south (east) of the 272 junction and the state park and west into Oklahoma was commissioned circa 1969, so these are the original cutout shields.  Before the Talimena Drive was paved and made into a state highway, the road was known as Skyline Drive and was a gravel forest service road that followed AR 88 to near the Oklahoma line, then headed south (crossing into the Sooner State briefly two times) and ended at AR 8 near Mountain Fork (does anybody recall the Forest Service number for this road?)  I never knew that 88 and 272 were duplexed, and I never knew 272 was signed north-south, so this picture was enlightening to me.  I grew up 15 miles away from the state park (my grandparents lived literally at the eastern end of the Talimena Drive, their house was 10 feet inside the Mena city limits, which also serves as the border of the Ouachita National Forest.  We often walked to the information center that is about 1/2 mile north of the city limits, where the Talimena Drive officially begins.  I very well remember the double yellow lines with the dotted white lines in the middle.  Also, note that the signposts and the backs of the signs are painted brown, a practice that continues to this day.  Sometime between 1970, AR 272 was truncated to the AR 88 junction and was signed east-west.  This is one of my favorite pictures.  It was taken just east of the junction of AR 88 and secret (Ooh, a secret!) AR 600, the service road from 88 to the lodge.  Thanks to Jim Lindsay for taking this snapshot into the past, and thanks to agentsteel53 for posting it.  As far back as I can remember, these signs were replaced by squares and 272 had been truncated, but the white dotted line was still there up until the '80s or early '90s.  This is one of my favorite road-related pictures of all time.



I'd love to have one of those to compliment my State 68 Road and State 23 Road shields.
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

bugo

I grew up literally on AR 88 so an 88 sign would mean more to me than the others.



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