Retiring Interstate-Guide.com

[Alex]

Interstate-guide.com was started back in 2002, when Doug Kerr, Andy and myself were growing a site covering Interstate Highway ends, similar to what Dale Sanderson did with usends.com. Back when server space was limited and bandwidth issues with hosts were a regular problem, interstate-guide was one of seven separate URL's spun off from AARoads. The separate sites allowed us to disperse the bandwidth enough so that we wouldn't lose our hosting, as all of the photo requests for the site on the shared servers back then were a routine issue with the hosts.

Over the last two decades, improvements to hosting packages reduced the need to disperse content onto separate sites. This became readily apparent when we moved AARoads onto a dedicated server. So as it became an increasing pain to change the design for so many sites, let alone paying Godaddy for eight different domain names, we began merging the content back over to AARoads. Until recent years, all that remained was a handful of pages on southeastroads.com and then the entire site of Interstate-Guide.com.

Since Fall 2022, traffic on Interstate-Guide has dropped significantly. The recent numbers were so low, that I think I can finally move the site content back over to AARoads. I kept it as a stand alone site for years because the traffic numbers and ad revenue generated from the site supported it.

But with the site falling so flat, I don't see much of a penalty with getting rid of it now. So the plan is to move it back over to AARoads in a subdirectory. Since the site is wholly within Wordpress, moving it should not be a huge hassle. I just need to figure out what to name the subdirectory for it:

aaroads.com/interstates/
aaroads.com/interstate-guide/
aaroads.com/i-guide/
aaroads.com/???

[kphoger]

I would keep the name as similar as possible, if I were you.  So I'd go with . . .

aaroads.com/interstate-guide/

[Rothman]

Although it did provide great photos for termini once upon a time, the site has indeed fallen into obsolescence.  Perhaps it still retains value for what they looked like once in a random previous spot in history, but GSV and whatever is in Wikipedia has superceded it otherwise.

[kphoger]

I still use the site occasionally, to learn some of the history of the highway.

[Scott5114]

Although it did provide great photos for termini once upon a time, the site has indeed fallen into obsolescence.  Perhaps it still retains value for what they looked like once in a random previous spot in history, but GSV and whatever is in Wikipedia has superceded it otherwise.

Wikipedia has fallen into obsolescence—AARoads Wiki has superseded it.

[Alex]

I still make an effort to update the end photo coverage throughout the Interstate Highway system similar to how Dale does for usends.com. I update the history sections as I discover new information from newspaper articles and the like. With the large road map collection I have, I also occasionally fire up the scanner and add more historical maps.

And I try to keep up with current news on major projects, proposed alignment changes, renumberings, etc. But it is just me working on it, and I can only do so much in a day...

I may go with www.aaroads.com/interstate-guide/ as the new URL, thanks for the feedback kphoger

[kphoger]

thanks for the feedback kphoger

If you're going to name drop Dale, then you might as well call me Kyle. 

[cahwyguy]

I still make an effort to update the end photo coverage throughout the Interstate Highway system similar to how Dale does for usends.com. I update the history sections as I discover new information from newspaper articles and the like. With the large road map collection I have, I also occasionally fire up the scanner and add more historical maps.

And I try to keep up with current news on major projects, proposed alignment changes, renumberings, etc. But it is just me working on it, and I can only do so much in a day...

I may go with www.aaroads.com/interstate-guide/ as the new URL, thanks for the feedback kphoger

Change noted, and it will be in the next round of updates over at California Highways. Yes, I still maintain links pages at https://www.cahighways.org/othlinks.html. No, I'm not part of any Highway Rings currently (who remembers when we promoted sites via "Rings" of links).

As before, if folks here have a page that I need to include, or a link I need to fix, please let me know. You know the email.