I'm currently on the road. Alps told me to provide a trip report, and I'm a man of the people, so here we go. If I stop doing this in two days or something, I either didn't care, burnt out, or died.
Day 0 - Deer Lodge MT to Glendive MT
Route - I-90 to I-94
This was the shittiest day of the roadtrip. I am only a day in, and I am already reasonably sure that this was the case. The main point of today was to get myself into position for the rest of this trip. The entire trip looks to be about 5,423 miles with only 909 miles of interstate. I busted out a full 480 of those interstate miles today.
Worked all day and hit the road right at 5:00. The roads were good, which was my big fear. As I pulled onto the main drag to head out of town, I snapped this shot of the town mural and a raincloud over Mt Powell. At 10,168 feet, it will be the highest summit I see on the entire trip.
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That's the good thing, I suppose, about living in western Montana and heading east. I hit the worst mountain pass I'd hit within the first hour of the drive, as I cleared Homestake Pass over Butte. Headed down Homestake, the truck speed limit drops to 25 for trucks over 12,000 GVW. The car speed limit remains 75. So, that's fun on a four lane, curvy pass that's divided only by a jersey barrier.
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Whatever road construction has been going on since I moved here in Bozeman is finally gone- it was nice to get to go 75 all the way by Bozeman.
Got to Billings at around nine and of course stopped at the furthest northwest Steak 'n Shake in America, which opened last December. I've been there twice now, and both times have sat in the drive through line for more than half an hour. Even at 9 PM, I was the 11th car in line.
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I-94 east of Billings is incredibly desolate, especially in the dark. I kept myself awake by shouting aloud with the A/C going and listening to radio sermons (I may not fully agree with what they say, but at least it's something to think about and gets the mind exercised). I feel like I'm getting old. The choice was to either sleep in Billings and wake up at 4 AM, or sleep in Glendive and get up at 7 AM. I opted for the latter, but I was pretty tired by the time I got to Glendive.
Anyway, got there and went to sleep.
Day 1 - Glendive MT to Bemidji MN
Route - MT 16 to MT 23 to ND 68 to US 85 to US 2
The plus side of driving to Glendive is that I immediately was on new road when I woke up. I've clinched I-94 in Montana, but hadn't driven any of MT-16 to date.
I was immediately surprised by the use of Regina (haha, Regina) as a control city on 16 headed out of town.
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Drove up towards the Bakken region- Montana 23 and North Dakota 68 are in pretty rough shape. Alexander, ND is starting to boom too, and that's making things a bit icky.
I hadn't been to the Bakken before. It's really an interesting region. A few things stood out:
1) Everything is really, really dusty. All the reassurance shields were tinged like this.
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2) I felt like nothing in my '01 Accord. Everybody, and I mean everybody up there has a full-sized pickup or SUV.
3) Extended stay housing is expensive up there.
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Then I more or less hustled across North Dakota. US 2 isn't my favorite road for roadgeeking- the speed limit is 70 all the way across and it's four lanes divided, which is nice, but it more or less bypasses all city centers. Today was another sort of positioning day, as I can fairly easily access North Dakota from my house in Montana, so I wanted to get across the state fairly quickly. For that, US 2 served its purpose, but it's really not all that interesting.
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Stopped for lunch in Minot at Burger Time, a North Dakota chain of fast food restaurants. It was...okay, I guess. The cheese curds were good but I've had better burgers. Certainly not worth the seven car deep drive thru line.
Stopped again in Rugby at the Geographical Center of North America. Not much to say about it, other than it's somewhere around there (they moved it when US 2 was widened). Definitely not as interesting as the center of the lower 48 in Lebanon, Kansas.
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I have a friend who used to live in Devil's Lake. She hated it there. I never understood why. Now I understand why. That place...man, it's just cold and windy and the lake is deceptively unawesome.
More Canadian control cities in Grand Forks.
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I'd never been to Minnesota before. As soon as I entered the state and passed out of East Grand Forks, my perception of Minnesota yea-hoos was reinforced when I came upon this snowmobiler going about 69 MPH on what I estimate to be about 4 inches of snow. Crazy bastard. Also saw people snowmobile across streets with no snow on them to get from one trail to another. That's something that just doesn't happen in Idaho. These guys take it to another level.
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I like 2 in Minnesota moreso than North Dakota. 2 in Minnesota is divided highway at least to Bemidji, with a 65 MPH speed limit, but it forces its way into towns, so you get to see towns too. That's kind of my preferred type of road, as it balances fast travel with getting to see stuff.
A couple hours later, I made it to Bemidji.
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I'm here now. Tomorrow, it's US 2->WIS 13->US 2->M-64->M-38->M-26->US 41->Copper Harbor->US 41->Houghton. Pretty excited to check out the U.P. and the Keenesaw Peninsula, even if it's in that state up north. Should be a more relaxed day of driving.
Quote from: corco on March 08, 2014, 11:00:43 PM
I was immediately surprised by the use of Regina (haha, Regina) as a control city on 16 headed out of town.
Very sensical control city, though I'd add a middle line with Williston.
Be sure to post pics of your failed tindering.
What a great read to go with the pix! I have never been in those areas. Thanks for taking the time to post up and I hope you continue to do so Corco.
Rick
QuoteI like 2 in Minnesota moreso than North Dakota. 2 in Minnesota is divided highway at least to Bemidji, with a 65 MPH speed limit, but it forces its way into towns, so you get to see towns too. That's kind of my preferred type of road, as it balances fast travel with getting to see stuff.
MnDOT did have plans at one point for bypasses of Crookston and Bagley, but they fell by the wayside. At one point, they also proposed 4-laning US 2 across the entire state, but traffic volumes just don't justify it. Which is why you'll see occasional passing lanes here and there today. They did make it 4 lanes from Deer River into Grand Rapids though, but it's been that way for decades.
Quote from: corco on March 08, 2014, 11:00:43 PM
I'm here now. Tomorrow, it's US 2->WIS 13->US 2->M-64->M-38->M-26->US 41->Copper Harbor->US 41->Houghton. Pretty excited to check out the U.P. and the Keweenaw Peninsula, even if it's in that state up north. Should be a more relaxed day of driving.
Maybe. Houghton does get more than it's fair share of snow, and watch out for the snowmobilists. If you thought the one in Minnesota was nuts, wait for the drunk ones in da UP. Also, they do not plow down to pavement in the Keweenaw Peninsula.
Day 2 - Bemidji, MN to Houghton, MI
Route - US 2 to WIS 13 to US 2 to M-28 to M-64 to M-38 to M-26 to US 41 to Copper Harbor to US 41
That was fun.
US 2 is a pleasant drive east of Bemidji, narrowing down to a two lane road shortly east of town and winding its way across northern Minnesota. It's an interesting landscape, but a monotonous one, with a nice mix of deciduous and evergreen trees. There's a little bit of terrain, but not too terribly much.
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The best view probably occurs during the descent to Duluth. As 2 get on I-35 and then gets ready to leave, we get some control state action.
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After we cross the bridge into Wisconsin, we're greeted by the town of Superior, which...uh, okay. I guess that's why Superior is named Superior, because it's a superior city, not because it's on Lake Superior.
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Took 2 out of Superior and then bid farewell to it as I headed up WIS 13 towards Bayfield. I have to admire Wisconsin's commitment to directionality. Even though 13 heads north and east for a good 75 miles before turning south in Bayfield, the route is consistently signed as "13 South"
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The town of Cornucopia provides probably the first best views of Lake Superior, which is still frozen as far out as the eye can see.
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Bayfield is neat. In the summer months, these ferries connect Bayfield to Madeline Island.
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In the winter months, though, holy baloney! That is what you think it is.
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Downtown Bayfield has charm, I get why rich people have "cabins" (by cabin I'm referring to a 3000 square foot old Victorian) here.
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After that, I got back on US 2 to head into the Upper Peninsula. The UP is a neat area. I have to say, I am fascinated by the snowmobile culture in this part of the country. Where I'm from in the snow country of Idaho (which gets about as much snow as this area), lots of people have snowmobiles. In Idaho, though, you trailer them up to a national forest and then go motor around up there. In this area, people use their sleds like cars.
The Keweenaw Peninsula is a peninsula's peninsula, and Ontonagon is a nice town.
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And then there's these beauties further up the U.P. Looks like an arrow has disappeared.
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The roads were good until M-26 north of Eagle Rock. As Brandon noted, they don't plow to pavement, but I'm used to that as that's SOP in both Idaho and Montana. One thing the UP does that Idaho also does that's really annoying is that they put centerline rumblestrips on roads with frequent precipitation. If I can't see the road surface, my preference is to drive closer to the center of the road (because plows sometimes miss spots on the edges or snow falls down from the bank onto the road) and move over when I see oncoming traffic. It's annoying when there's a rumble strip there for that reason.
I hadn't driven in a salt-heavy state like this before, really. It's amazing how much rust is on cars. My family is from Ohio, but my folks have lived in Idaho for 17 years now, and my Dad often remarks how cars just don't rust like they used to. Turns out they do, you just have to be in the right part of the country. Snow acts weird when there's salt, too. I didn't identify any real black ice, and then there's random patches of clear road that don't even make up the entire road width. You just don't see that out west to the degree you do out here. This is easier to drive in, I think, but I'll probably get my car washed as soon as I get out of here.
The northern terminus of US 41 has a fancy sign at the cul-de-sac, but they appear to remove it in the winter and use the area for snow storage. Here is a picture of my car at the top of US 41 instead.
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Tomorrow it's over to the other peninsula- US 41->US 2->I-75->US 31->M-66->Battle Creek.
I was just in Calumet last summer and actually photographed the Copper Harbor Lighthouse across the lake. Was an unpleasant surprise when I realized how far from Detroit (despite being in the same state) I was.
Did you stop to hike out to the Ice Caves while you were near Bayfield? If not, you missed out on a rare opportunity. This winter's the first time in 5 years that folks have been able to walk out to the caves.
Quote from: froggie on March 10, 2014, 05:20:45 AM
Did you stop to hike out to the Ice Caves while you were near Bayfield? If not, you missed out on a rare opportunity. This winter's the first time in 5 years that folks have been able to walk out to the caves.
Hahahahaha. Moland was just telling him in chat that it's overrated and not worth waiting an hour or whatever for.
Quote from: froggie on March 10, 2014, 05:20:45 AM
Did you stop to hike out to the Ice Caves while you were near Bayfield? If not, you missed out on a rare opportunity. This winter's the first time in 5 years that folks have been able to walk out to the caves.
Yeah, I would have thought about doing it if I passed by on a Tuesday or something. As it was, there were cars parked for over a mile down the road in both directions and somebody was even operating a shuttle from the two nearby towns, so
A) It would have taken too long
and
B) My enjoyment of natural sights tends to be inversely proportional to the number of people at said natural sights, so I may not have enjoyed it that much, though they do look quite cool.
QuoteHahahahaha. Moland was just telling him in chat that it's overrated and not worth waiting an hour or whatever for
I would vehemently disagree that it's "overrated". The time thing I can understand since he apparently was "on a schedule". Still something that he missed, though.
Odd seeing the word "Miami" in Clearview.
Great report, enjoying the read for places I've not driven yet.
Quote from: formulanone on March 10, 2014, 09:48:52 AM
Odd seeing the word "Miami" in Clearview.
We may be seeing it soon when the ramp from SR 417 to the southbound Turnpike opens.
Quote from: NE2 on March 10, 2014, 07:44:36 PM
Quote from: formulanone on March 10, 2014, 09:48:52 AM
Odd seeing the word "Miami" in Clearview.
We may be seeing it soon when the ramp from SR 417 to the southbound Turnpike opens.
FDOT is going to adopt Clearview? :banghead:
Quote from: Zeffy on March 10, 2014, 07:59:02 PM
FDOT is going to adopt Clearview? :banghead:
I did see a Clearview services sign on I-10 westbound in Tallahassee today...
Quote from: Zeffy on March 10, 2014, 07:59:02 PM
Quote from: NE2 on March 10, 2014, 07:44:36 PM
Quote from: formulanone on March 10, 2014, 09:48:52 AM
Odd seeing the word "Miami" in Clearview.
We may be seeing it soon when the ramp from SR 417 to the southbound Turnpike opens.
FDOT is going to adopt Clearview? :banghead:
Um. SR 417 is OOCEA, which has adopted Clearview.
Day 2 - Houghton, MI to Battle Creek, MI
Route - US 41 to US 2 to I-75 to US 31 to M-66
It's a long way from Houghton to Battle Creek, despite all being in one state.
Anyway, woke up this morning, went to look at the Houghton bridge.
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Took US 41 south, through Marquette. Marquette's a really neat town.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corcohighways.org%2Froadtrips2014%2F39.jpg&hash=2ed155927c614e9aea9f8f08177b9e233a898cf5)
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Travelling further east, the UP becomes kind of touristy. There definitely seem to be two upper peninsulas, the "real" one and the "tourist" one. The Keweenaw part of the peninsula feels genuine. There's lots of tourists there, but it seems like people actually live there. It doesn't seem like anybody lives in Manistique or Epoulette to do anything other than cater to tourists.
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Anyway, got to see the Mackinac Bridge and that was quite cool. I'm told it's the single most valuable physical asset in Michigan.
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The Lower Peninsula is interesting. North of about US 10, it's very forested and feels almost like an extension of the U.P. South of US 10, it looks like Indiana with a few more evergreens.
A couple cities call M-66 "Michigan's Route 66"
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Using US 2 more or less is really a weird way to get from Montana to the midwest. I've done the same general (Idaho to Ohioish) drive a few times, but always via interstate and always south of the Great Lakes. That path features a more gradual change, at least to my eyes, where you slowly transition into the "east." A lot of cultural geographers argue that culture difference in the US is just as prominent north-south as it is east-west, and that's definitely the case here. The U.P. just feels like a weird northern Idaho, but then you get down to Ionia and you're definitely somewhere else. I guess because I've never done the drive from this direction before, I noticed the change more, but it was weird to be in what felt like a familiar environment (wide open spaces, evergreen trees, snow) and then boom, you're dropped into midwestern farmland dotted by Sunocos and Fifth Third Banks.
I do feel a bit of an urge to rant a bit about driving in Michigan.
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Rant #1:
People really tailgate here. Three times today, I had somebody just riding my ass, and then we'd get to a passing lane. I kept waiting for them to get over and just pass me, but they kept just tailgating me (before some wiseacre chimes in, I was in the right lane). Am I supposed to slow down or something to let them get around with exceeding the speed limit by too much or something and I'm missing the clue? Out west, we use passing lanes to get the hell away from each other, even if we're driving about the same speed. People here don't seem to have that desire.
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Rant #2:
Good heavens, Michigan needs to look at their speed limits. The speed limit is 55 on a road like the road above, when a folks can easily drive 65-70 safely on a road of that standard in that rural of an area. On the flipside, the road can have barely any shoulder and houses on both sides, and the speed limit is still 55. It might be time to re-evaluate that- there's just no way to argue that these semi-urban roads with stuff along them can be travelled safely at the same speed as roads like the one pictured above.
Looking forward to tomorrow, should be a fairly nostalgic day for me as I visit some elderly relatives I haven't seen in many years and see some sights that were hugely important in earlier parts of my life, making tomorrow kind of a tricky day. It'll also be my first time roadgeeking in Ohio, and there's some stuff I want to check out more carefully (namely a covered bridge by my late Grandfather's farmhouse that I've been over countless times but never really stopped to appreciate).
The route right now looks like M-66->IN 9->US 30->IN 930->US 30->OH 309->OH 95->OH 13->OH 586->US 62->OH 41->OH 73->OH 772->OH 220->OH 124->Jackson, with stops at the de facto family cemetery in Knox County, Columbus to briefly visit with a relative who I haven't seen in seven years, my late other Grandfather's farmhouse in Ross County where I spent a good chunk of my childhood, and then onto Jackson to stay with relatives. So I may have to cut chunks out and take more direct routes between those stops, we'll see. I also may not update tomorrow night, but I'll do so on Wednesday night.
If you noticed, the limit on the 2-lanes may be 55, but people generally ignore it and go 65-70 anyway.
Loving these photos Corco, thanks for sharing!
Quote from: froggie on March 10, 2014, 08:06:10 AM
Quote from: NE2Hahahahaha. Moland was just telling him in chat that it's overrated and not worth waiting an hour or whatever for
I would vehemently disagree that it's "overrated". The time thing I can understand since he apparently was "on a schedule". Still something that he missed, though.
Meh... I would like to have gone there before the hype. Every single icicle was broken off by someone, and people were inconsiderate enough to walk straight in front of my shots. It was pretty cool, but far too touristy for my taste.
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Day 3 - Battle Creek, MI to Jackson, OH
Route - M-66 to IN 9 to US 33 to IN 930 to US 30 to OH 309 to OH 95 to OH 13 to OH 586 to US 62 to OH 41 to OH 124 to Jackson
Crazy day today.
Left Battle Creek at sunup and finally left Michigan. Came across this Indiana Toll Road trailblazer in Michigan.
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Northeast Indiana isn't terribly exciting...I was surprised at how well Indiana 930 is signed though. I thought those 9xx routes were turnback candidates, and didn't expect them to be much use for navigating. Evidently I was wrong.
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Not too much later, I entered Ohio on US 30. Northwest Ohio is quite boring...I hadn't really been there before in my life (spent a lot of time in Ohio, but mostly east of I-71 or south of I-70). I now see why people think Ohio is boring. They haven't been to the right parts, though.
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My first stop in Ohio was at Bladensburg, but not before I stopped in Lima to stop at Kewpee. Kewpee is one of the older fast food chains, and used to be quite large before the franchising fell apart. Supposedly, Wendy's was inspired by Kewpee, and I can see that (square burgers, very frosty-like malts).
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Spotted my first error shield on the trip in Marion, for US 23
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North-central Ohio is definitely Amish country
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Made it to Bladensburg and paid my respects to family. My grandparents, my grandmother's parents, her parents, both sets of their parents, and three of the four sets of their parents are all buried there, dating back to my great-great-great grandparents.
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Then I headed down 62 to Columbus, briefly stopping in Gahanna to visit a relative in a nursing home. Following 62 through Columbus is quite tricky, it turns out. I got confused as to the exact routing on a couple occasions. Also didn't realize what a bad neighborhood 5th Ave is near the 670 interchange (I accidentally followed 5th from 670 before realizing that wasn't US 62). The drive into Columbus on Broad St is pretty cool though.
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The Lincoln-Leveque from Broad heading east into downtown Columbus, Columbus's first real skyscraper.
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More error shields on 62 just outside the outerbelt.
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The top of the Fayette County Courthouse in Washington CH
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From there I cruised on down to South Salem and I think learned a lesson about leaving the past in the past. I went to my Grandfather's farmhouse. He passed away in '06, and the land was sold to a neighbor for the land, not so much for the house. The house is a beautiful 1826 home, the first in its township (this wasn't a family homestead though, my grandparents bought it in 1970 as a fixer-upper/retirement project/place to entice grandkids to come visit, and lived there until they died). I'm not going to lie and say it was in great shape 8 years ago, but you build an image in your head of the good times, and then you get there and pull up and have to jump a locked gate, walk up the hill, and see that it's even way more run down than it was before. The house still looks structurally okay, so hopefully somebody can fix it up. That was just a shocking moment for me, and one I kind of wish I could take back.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corcohighways.org%2Froadtrips2014%2F51.jpg&hash=43fb8df287adf66ee15c8188b57b9c5d9481122e)
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Every once in a while, it would come up in conversation at the dinner table with family "I wonder what the farm looks like now" and people with more life experience than me would say "best just to remember it in the past." I didn't tell anybody in my family that I went down there (in case the worst was there and it was torn down or something, so that they might preserve their own good memory), and I'm not sure that I'm going to, just because it really was a sad sight.
In happier news, they painted and fixed up the old covered bridge up the road.
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People who hate Ohio...I don't know, they're just not seeing the right parts. I truly miss this state being a significant part of my life, and would like to find a way to change that. Today really reinforced that for me. Maybe I move back here, I don't know.
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Tomorrow it's back into unfamiliar territory, as I push forth to Boone, NC. Planning OH 124->OH 833->WV 62->US 33->WV 16->US 19->VA 91->SR 745->SR 700->US 19->US 421->Boone
I've been enjoying these shots from your trip across the country. It's something I've long wanted to do, but probably will never be able to.
Are these the only photos you have, or will there be a more full collection posted online once you get back home?
These are nice pics, I have taken 3 trips in the last 5 years to the southwestern part of the country, primarly New Mexico but stayed mostly on the interstates, about 75% interstates 25% 2 lane highways. BTW, are coming to the St. Louis road meet this weekend?
Quote from: hbelkins on March 12, 2014, 01:45:32 PM
I've been enjoying these shots from your trip across the country. It's something I've long wanted to do, but probably will never be able to.
Are these the only photos you have, or will there be a more full collection posted online once you get back home?
Yes. This is a good chunk of my non-road photos, but I've already got almost 2,000 road photos that I will post online at some point.
Quote from: jpi on March 12, 2014, 09:39:09 PM
These are nice pics, I have taken 3 trips in the last 5 years to the southwestern part of the country, primarly New Mexico but stayed mostly on the interstates, about 75% interstates 25% 2 lane highways. BTW, are coming to the St. Louis road meet this weekend?
Yes! That was the impetus for the trip...started as "I'll take Thursday/Friday/Monday off to drive out" and then I decided to add Wednesday so I could drive around the upper peninsula, and then I began thinking about adding Tuesday too for some reason, and at that point it made sense to also take Monday off as that would add three extra days. So much like the St. Louis meet itself, my trip to the meet kind of spiraled out of control.
Wow! You will probably set the record for the longest a person has driven to get to a road meet :-) Me I am only about 350 miles\ 5 and a half hours and thats over 2 days because of work and a rock concert Friday night.
Day 4 - Jackson, OH to Boone, NC
Route - OH 124 to OH 833 to WV 62 to US 33 to WV 16 to US 19 to US 19 Bus to US 19 to US 19 Bus to US 19 to US 421 to Boone
Man, today was a day. I vastly overestimated how fast I could travel through Appalachia on two lane roads (I knew it would be slower, but was way off on how much slower), and combined with a lot of rain and even some snow, ended up a good hour behind schedule. Didn't get to the NC line until well after sundown, which was a bummer because it looked like the scenery was quite good. I can't wait to see what Boone looks like in the morning.
Oh well, for next trip I think I know how I need to budget time.
Anyway, took Ohio 124 to Ohio 833 (old US 33) to start the day. Here is the cable-stayed bridge over the Ohio River, taken from Pomeroy, OH.
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Ohio 833 technically turns into WV 62 Spur, but it's signed as Ohio 833 from the West Virginia side.
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I'd never seen a nuclear power plant in person before, so that was neat, in New Haven WV.
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West Virginia signage is awfully sparse. It's not that it's not there in the important parts- it is, but reassurance shields and mileage signs between state highway junctions are very infrequent.
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Can somebody give me a quick primer on West Virginia shield types?
Squares are obviously state highways.
Fractional routes...are they state or county maintained? What are routes in a circle that aren't fractional- are they more or less significant than the circle routes? And then what are the routes that are signed with a trapezoid sort of shield- are those tertiary routes of some kind? Who maintains those?
Fortunately, it stopped raining briefly as I arrived at the New River Gorge. I had planned to take some time to explore it, and I took some time to explore it.
I was intrigued by the CAR banner over the [circle] highway that heads down and provides the best bridge view vantages.
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Here's some shots of the bridge from under the bridge
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Went ahead and walked the Endless Wall trail too- a nice 3 mile walk roundtrip. I twas good to get out of the car and do something physical.
Here is a smaller bridge
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I was amazed by how clear the water is. Out west, at this time of year, the water is all snowmelt and because of that it's usually quite brown. March water is icky, but not here.
Here's some gorge shots:
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As I have gotten older I have gotten more afraid of heights. Taking this picture scared the crap out of me, and that's with me standing another couple feet back and extending my arm out with the camera.
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I'm intrigued by how WV signs routes as lettered emergency detours for the turnpike
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A bit later, I entered the Old Dominion...these cutouts in Bluefield are not standard-spec anything right?
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These are the sorts of cutouts I was expecting, and they're both smaller and more impressive in person.
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19 is a nice road through Virginia. It moves well as a divided highway, but it's a lot more intimate than a freeway. You still feel like you're traversing the landscape and seeing stuff, without being burdened by slowness.
421 from Bristol to Boone is a neat drive. Unfortunately, it was getting dark so no photos, and then up by the North Carolina line it was snowing pretty good. I'd like to come back and try it again some time, so maybe I will.
WV routes:
* Square = primary
* Circle = secondary
* Fractional = tertiary. Top # is the route you're branching off of, bottom is the branch #
* Triangle = quaternary. Rare now, once more common, these are mail routes or similar that aren't state highways but receive state maintenance because of strategic local importance.
* Pentagon = quinary, and not just because it has 5 sides. Driveway routes. Not sure if these have any state money going to them at all besides the sign.
Quote from: Alps on March 12, 2014, 11:54:47 PM
WV routes:
* Square = primary
* Circle = secondary
* Fractional = tertiary. Top # is the route you're branching off of, bottom is the branch #
* Triangle = quaternary. Rare now, once more common, these are mail routes or similar that aren't state highways but receive state maintenance because of strategic local importance.
* Pentagon = quinary, and not just because it has 5 sides. Driveway routes. Not sure if these have any state money going to them at all besides the sign.
Circles are known as 'county routes', but are state maintained. They were taken over during the Depression, like similar systems in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Delaware (?).
I'm going to the St. Louis meet too, from the Washington D.C. area but via south Texas and southern New Mexico. (Trip report, with almost no photos, to follow once I'm back home.)
My return home after the meet will be much more direct, if only because I'm signed up for the Norfolk and Delmarva meets the following weekend.
Enjoyable trip report. Thanks for posting.
Quote from: Alps on March 12, 2014, 11:54:47 PM
WV routes:
* Square = primary
* Circle = secondary
* Fractional = tertiary. Top # is the route you're branching off of, bottom is the branch #
* Triangle = quaternary. Rare now, once more common, these are mail routes or similar that aren't state highways but receive state maintenance because of strategic local importance.
* Pentagon = quinary, and not just because it has 5 sides. Driveway routes. Not sure if these have any state money going to them at all besides the sign.
Pretty much. All the routes are state-maintained. The square signed routes are considered state routes. The circle routes are state-maintained but are considered county routes, and are abbreviated as "CR" even in official WVDOT documents. The example pictured, of course, is the old route of US 21, which is why it's CR 21. Standalone county route markers are generally pretty rare, but they obviously do exist. They're generally posted on green signs that also show the name of the route, and from what I understand, most locals refer to the route name instead of the number. Most route numbers recycle from county to county, although there are exceptions, mostly routes that have been demoted such as the aforementioned US 21 or the former WV 73 in the northern part of the state, which is signed as CR 73 in multiple counties. For the most part, CR 43 in X County may continue as CR 22 in Y County.
The triangle routes were called "delta routes" and I have only seen two or three delta route markers in the wild. There used to be one off WV 49 between Matewan and the Kentucky state line, and one on CR 857 between I-68 and the Pennsylvania state line. I don't know if they even show up on the official WVDOT county maps or not anymore. I know about 15 years ago, I tried to track down a delta route that was shown on the map for one of the counties along the US 119 corridor, but it was signed as circle fractional route when I got there.
The pentagonal route markers are actually meant to represent houses, and those routes are called HARP routes, although I can't recall offhand what HARP stands for. "Home Access Road Program" or something, and these are pretty much driveways that serve more than one residence on which WVDOT does minimal maintenance. They have only come into use in the last 12-14 years.
The WV Turnpike detours came about after a snowstorm closed the Beckley-to-Charleston portion a couple of years ago. The longest detours are I-79 to US 19 between Charleston and Beckley, and I-64 to US 219 to US 460 between Beckley and Princeton. (I presume this goes through that small corner of Virginia but don't know if it's signed there or not.) Other detours involve US 60 and WV 61 between Charleston and Cabin Creek and US 19 along that stretch you photographed. I think there are five in total but can't remember for certain.
Those non-standard VA 102 cutouts have been in Bluefield for years. If you'd had time to explore more of the route, you may have seen some odd-looking VA 102 cutouts shaped like Interstate shields, if they're still up.
Glad to see the cutouts in Tazewell still standing. If I get to go to the Hampton Roads/Delmarva meet weekend, I hope to have enough time to explore Bluefield and Tazewell to see just how many cutouts are still up, and re-photograph them, since I plan to use US 460 on the return trip.
The cutouts in Bristol and Abingdon are gone; Norton and Tazewell appear to be the last stand for them in southwestern Virginia.
In the interest of getting to bed early in order to be well rested for tomorrow night in St Louis, I won't update today. I'll try to catch up Sunday night from Nebraska, if not definitely Tuesday night from Montana.
Great stuff, I love road trip "travelogues" like this. Ever since reading Blue Highways it's been pretty close to the top of my bucket list to do something similar, but in the mean time I'm enjoying living vicariously through this thread!
If you're ever around the New River Gorge again, definitely hike the trail to Kay Moor, an abandoned coal mining town. It's not a super long hike, maybe a couple of miles round trip - though there's a pretty significant staircase down to the actual old townsite, which is an arduous climb back up. Well worth it, though.