Guam/Saipan

[Buffaboy]

I have had the privilege of being able to work in the Northern Mariana Islands for a couple of months. It is interesting to see the differences between roads in the mainland US and those of these islands. Since most of my time was spent in Saipan (the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, or CNMI, a US territory), my post will focus on it. I will have to come back and edit it with more information and pictures.

• There are no freeways on either Guam or Saipan, but Guam has a thoroughfare in Barrigada that is 6 lanes.
• Most signals on Saipan have protected left turns
• It is common courtesy for drivers to flash hazards when pedestrians attempt to cross the street
• Riding in the beds of pickup trucks is a common practice
• There are actually some RHD vehicles on island that come from Japan, particularly commercial vehicles
• Not many streets are named in Google Maps, but recently street signs have been going up on island. Many streets are named on Google Maps, but the Public Works department has been slow to put up signs. Streets are usually named for people, landmarks or places and can start with "Chalan", which is the Chamorro word for street.
• Road quality ranges from newly paved to completely impassable dirt roads, depending on where you go. The latter is typically on the eastern side of the island, which is primarily undeveloped
• Because of typhoon damages, many of the light and power poles are being transitioned from wood to concrete.
• Roads are typically made with coral, which causes them to become slick during rainstorms

There are a lot more interesting things I can share with you, and if you have questions please ask!

[theroadwayone]

Did you see any of the WWII battlefields on either island?

[nexus73]

Did you see any of the WWII battlefields on either island?

Tinian is where the Enola Gay lifted off from.  The pits for loading the A-bomb into that plane and Bock's Car are still there.  Here is a link to a variety of videos showing these two pits:

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=Awr4xJzEuE1eKlsA3SVXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyMDNpc2pnBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDQjk1NTlfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=tinian+a-bomb+pit&fr=yfp-t

Why there were two pits: The Enola Gay carried an uranium-powered bomb called Little Boy.  A larger bomb called Fat Man, which used plutonium, is the one Bock's Car dropped on Nagasaki. 

Rick

[Buffaboy]

Did you see any of the WWII battlefields on either island?

In reality, Saipan itself was the entire battlefield. My hotel was actually on top of where the American forces landed in Chalan Kanoa, in the southern part of the island. The beach has an artificial "wave pool" created by an opening in the outer reefs from ship cannons.

The northern part of the island is where most of the artifacts and memorials are. The Japanese garrison/memorial is just south of Banzai Cliff and has some tanks and cannons preserved, as well as a fortification inside of a mountainside. Next to this is a memorial for Korean soldiers who were forced to fight for the Japanese. It was not uncommon for me to go on a hike and find rusted bullets, cans and intact bottles from that era.

I was not in Guam long enough to know about the memorials there.

[Beltway]

Guam, Saipan and Tinian were all invaded and captured by the US Marine Corps in 1944.

All 3 had large B-29 bomber bases built upon them by the Seabees (United States Naval Construction Battalions).

Guam was re-captured as it was an American territory that was captured by the Japanese in 1942.

[froggie]

There are no freeways on either Guam or Saipan, but Guam has a thoroughfare in Barrigada that is 6 lanes.

Route 1.  Marine Corps Drive.  Built as a direct connector from the Naval Base to Andersen Air Force Base.  The 6-lane segment extends close to 10 miles total, to the west side of HgÃ¥tña.

While there's no freeway, there is an interchange on Guam...east of the airport terminal at Route 16/Route 10A.

[Buffaboy]

There are no freeways on either Guam or Saipan, but Guam has a thoroughfare in Barrigada that is 6 lanes.

While there's no freeway, there is an interchange on Guam...east of the airport terminal at Route 16/Route 10A.

Now that I did not know. It looks pretty compact too.

https://www.google.com/maps/@13.4980726,144.8205518,2a,75y,321h,81.68t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVAm-qDH7rD9PCaQ8bq1X7w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[mrsman]

Never having been there, but just tooling around GSV, I'm surprised that most of the area looks like fairlly normal American town.  Aside from some special trees that don't grow here, I would've assumed that I was looking at a small city here in the Mid-Atlantic.