US 50 in Indiana -- A Road Trip

[mobilene]

On my spare summer Saturdays in 2010 I toured US 50 across Indiana.  If you follow my blog (http://jimgrey.wordpress.com), you may have seen bits and pieces of that trip.

I have spent the past few days expanding on those blog posts pretty significantly at my personal site, jimgrey.net, documenting the entire trip across Indiana from east to west.  One of the great things about US 50 is that its first incarnation was signed over some existing state highways, which themselves were stitched together from country roads across the state.  US 50 has been upgraded several times since then, leaving lots of juicy old alignments behind.

I'm sure many of you here know quite a bit about US 50's history, and I welcome your feedback on my assumptions and sleuthing.  The lengthy report begins here:

http://jimgrey.net/Roads/US50Indiana/index.htm

Peace,
jim

[Mikeroburst]

Jim,

Great trip report! I've enjoyed reading through the US-50 pages and the other trip reports that you have on your site. Hopefully you have time to do many more in 2011. That wooden bridge between North Vernon and Hayden looks like it's better suited for golf carts than farm trucks, but it must have been fairly well built if it's lasted 90 years. The US-50 shield in Vincennes was interesting too- it's always nice to see old road signs on old alignments.

This past September when I was visiting central IN, a friend and I had a chance to drive a US-40->US-41->US-36 loop and explore some of the old alignments along the way. I'll have to post a few photos from that trip to this board once I filter through the interesting ones and write up some descriptions. I really wish that I'd been more into old alignments before I moved out of Indiana since there seems to be no shortage of interesting ones there!

Mike

[mobilene]

Mike, that US 40-41-36 loop is a good trip. US 36 has a surprising number of old alignments in that segment.  One of them is a gravel road!

I'm not sure what my 2011 trips will be yet, but rest assured there will be some.

jim