Interesting Map Find

[roadman65]

I just was cleaning my room and found an old 1973 Exxon Map of Alabama and Georgia.  It was interesting to see the partially completed interstate system at the time. 

In Alabama, there were 5 incomplete segments of I-65 with one of them being the bridge across the Bayous north of Mobile leaving a gap from US 45 to AL 225.  Thus having those going to Mobile to use US 31 from the Bankhead Tunnel to Bay Minnette as there is no other bridge for miles.  Then north of Birmingham it showed the current I-65 and US 31 concurrency as an arterial.  Plus unopened freeways around Mongomery, Decator and Birmingham.  Also the I-459 was only proposed with US 11 being an arterial too west of the largest city where now it is freeway with the two interstates.

In Georgia,  I-95 at this time was only completed from Darien to South Newport and from Richmond Hill to I-16.  More uncompleted than completed during this year.  I-16 was incomplete from Pembroke to Rockledge with GA 46 being the temporary detour due to US 80 being miles away from its planned alignment and GA 46 is pretty near.  I-75 was mostly built except from Marrieta to Cartersville using US 41 as the temporary connection.  I-85 was not completed around La Grange and there was not even an I-185 except in Columbus, but was GA 1 at the time.

It even showed the northern part of Florida with I-10 being not built from just west of DeFuniak Springs to Live Oak using US 90 for hundreds of miles and through Tallahassee.  In Alabama there was no Mobile Bay Bridge  and motorists had to use the overlaps of US 90, 98, and the defunct US 31 (now truncated to Spanish Fort known as Battleship Parkway) to get from Baldwin to Mobile Counties.

If my scanner was hooked up, I would (and should) scan it and post it here.

[jwolfer]

Its always cool to find an old map like that.  I have some memories of driving from NJ to Jacksonville as a kid a couple times a year.     ( My mom is from Jax and Dad from NJ I have made the trip over 60 times in my life... probably why I am a roadgeek. So much time in s station wagon driving.)  I remember getting off the interstate and driving through Savannah on US 17 and US 301 at Fayetteville and in Virginia.  It made a road trip much more interesting and finding short-cuts was much more of a valuable skill.  I remember sitting in traffic in a 2 lane portion of US 17.  My parents always drove overnight to avoid the traffic.  I still think of the those portions of I-95 as "new" but they are almost 40 years old 

[akotchi]

I have similar experiences from my childhood along the east coast.  We lived in central Pennsylvania; my grandparents, south Florida.

I-95 was still designated on the Shirley Highway into D.C., and the sections not complete included Emporia; Rocky Mount; Fayetteville; S.C. at I-26; Savannah (Hardeeville, S.C.), Brunswick, Vero Beach, West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale.  My grandparents always got TripTik maps from AAA before coming north.  Alas, they are long gone . . .

[Takumi]

I have a 1953 RMN that my dad found in the garage a few years ago. I think my grandpa got it from a local insurance company.

[DeaconG]

I have similar experiences from my childhood along the east coast.  We lived in central Pennsylvania; my grandparents, south Florida.

I-95 was still designated on the Shirley Highway into D.C., and the sections not complete included Emporia; Rocky Mount; Fayetteville; S.C. at I-26; Savannah (Hardeeville, S.C.), Brunswick, Vero Beach, West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale.  My grandparents always got TripTik maps from AAA before coming north.  Alas, they are long gone . . .

I hear you...I literally grew up watching I-95 get built (parents in Philly, extended family in NW Florida)...I got so aggravated at the breaks in I-95 from Emporia to Roanoke Rapids and from Wilson to Kenly; I got so used to driving through east Fayetteville that when they finally closed the gap it took me by surprise.

Watching them build I-95 across Lake Santee while we were on 15-301 was agonizing as a kid, especially when we would get off at Orangeburg and do what I called the "Georgia Death March" (US 301>US 82>US 84>SR 91)...

As for I-10 in Florida, it was a real kick in the behind to have them complete it and THEN have them have to dig up all that road they paved with that concrete/seashell mix that started CRUMBLING within 5 years...

I remember when I-65 wasn't complete through Mobile (went TDY to Keesler in the late 70s and remember riding through Bay Minette on US 29 to get to the Mobile Bay Bridge)...and no I-10 past Pascagoula...UGH.

[jwolfer]

I have similar experiences from my childhood along the east coast.  We lived in central Pennsylvania; my grandparents, south Florida.

I-95 was still designated on the Shirley Highway into D.C., and the sections not complete included Emporia; Rocky Mount; Fayetteville; S.C. at I-26; Savannah (Hardeeville, S.C.), Brunswick, Vero Beach, West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale.  My grandparents always got TripTik maps from AAA before coming north.  Alas, they are long gone . . .

As for I-10 in Florida, it was a real kick in the behind to have them complete it and THEN have them have to dig up all that road they paved with that concrete/seashell mix that started CRUMBLING within 5 years...

In 1969 or 70 when Florida first built the Buckman Bridge (I-295 west beltway over St Johnhs river) the concrete pilings were exploding.  The story was it was from pollution in the river but probably the same concrete that was used on I-10

[codyg1985]

I have similar experiences from my childhood along the east coast.  We lived in central Pennsylvania; my grandparents, south Florida.

I-95 was still designated on the Shirley Highway into D.C., and the sections not complete included Emporia; Rocky Mount; Fayetteville; S.C. at I-26; Savannah (Hardeeville, S.C.), Brunswick, Vero Beach, West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale.  My grandparents always got TripTik maps from AAA before coming north.  Alas, they are long gone . . .

As for I-10 in Florida, it was a real kick in the behind to have them complete it and THEN have them have to dig up all that road they paved with that concrete/seashell mix that started CRUMBLING within 5 years...

In 1969 or 70 when Florida first built the Buckman Bridge (I-295 west beltway over St Johnhs river) the concrete pilings were exploding.  The story was it was from pollution in the river but probably the same concrete that was used on I-10

Maybe it was salt water somehow getting into the rebar of the concrete, causing the rebar to expand, which caused the concrete to crack and eventually "explode"?