U.S 87

[BigMattFromTexas]

I love U.S 87! About seven years ago I didn't know it left the state of Texas . The only of 87 ive been on is from: San Angelo, Tx to Lubbock, Tx and San Angelo, Tx to Fredericksburg, Tx.
One day I want to drive the entire highway from Texas to Montana.
Any one driven all of it, some of it, any of it?

[njroadhorse]

I've been on it for a little while out of Bourne off I-10, just about until FM 1376.

[AZDude]

I have driven a big chunk of it.  The part where it is merged with I-90 & 25.  As you may know, in Montana it merges with I-90 and stays there until reaching I-25 in Buffalo, WY.  Then continues to be merged with  I-25 through the entire states of Wyoming and Colorado.  Then enters New Mexico where it finally exits the interstate south of Raton.

[usends]

I have driven a big chunk of it.  The part where it is merged with I-90 & 25.  As you may know, in Montana it merges with I-90 and stays there until reaching I-25 in Buffalo, WY.  Then continues to be merged with  I-25 through the entire states of Wyoming and Colorado.  Then enters New Mexico where it finally exits the interstate south of Raton.

Well, that's the implied route, but in the field there are no US 87 signs anywhere between Raton and the Wyoming state line (with one exception):
http://usends.com/Explore/US87inCO/index.html
(I do need to revise that page a bit: apparently someone at CDoT does recognize US 87, because they recently asked AASHTO's permission to reroute it through CO Springs.)
Anyway, if you do end up following US 87 from end to end, I'd encourage you to do a little research and follow the original US 87 wherever possible, rather than following interstates for nearly 800 miles from Raton to Billings.  To me, that would kind of defeat the purpose.

[AZDude]

Nice site, good info on there. 

[sandiaman]

US  87 is multiplexed  with US  64  from Raton NM  to Clayton NM, and then on its  own from  Clayton   to the Texas  state  line.  New Mexico  is  improving  the highway to expressway standards  along some of the route.  There  are some  very long range  plans  to make  it an interstate in the future.  Maybe not in my life time, the way NM    studies  everything to death.  It is slated to be I-32, going  from I-25  at Raton to Amarillo and then southeast  to Fort Worth.

[Bickendan]

Of course, it could be a western extension of I-30 and it would 'legitimize' the number...

[xonhulu]

I've driven some chunks of US 87, notably the northernmost stretch from Great Falls to Havre, MT.  I've also been on the Raton-to-Dumas section.

[corco]

As you may know, in Montana it merges with I-90 and stays there until reaching I-25 in Buffalo, WY.  Then continues to be merged with  I-25 through the entire states of Wyoming and Colorado.

No, no it doesn't. It joins I-90 in Montana, follows it into Wyoming, leaves in Sheridan, rejoins at Exit 44 south of Story. Then it gets on I-25 and heads to Casper, where it leaves again with US-20/26 and rejoins east of Glenrock.

Also, if you've tried to drive US-87 in Wyoming after 1994 or so it's actually impossible to do so since a segment of 87 east of Story was washed out with no plans to replace it. WyDOT has not moved signs around or applied for an AASHTO petition to move the route off the washed out segment, but supposedly has detoured US-87 traffic along WYO 193, taking them into Story

[usends]

Also, if you've tried to drive US-87 in Wyoming after 1994 or so it's actually impossible to do so since a segment of 87 east of Story was washed out with no plans to replace it. WyDOT has not moved signs around or applied for an AASHTO petition to move the route off the washed out segment, but supposedly has detoured US-87 traffic along WYO 193, taking them into Story

Interesting.  I checked Google Maps, and it looks like they've picked up on that:
http://tinyurl.com/ycorlhb
Then if you switch to aerial view, you can see that the US 87-to-WY 193 movement is actually the mainline (on both ends), while traffic wanting to stay on US 87 would have to make a turn (both northbound and southbound).  I guess I can see why Wyoming is none too eager to restore that segment of US 87: you've already got I-90 to the east, and WY 193 to the west... why would you need to maintain three parallel corridors in that area?  Looks like the only reason for that segment of US 87 would be to provide access to Ft. Fetterman, and you can still do that from the south.

[andytom]

Also, if you've tried to drive US-87 in Wyoming after 1994 or so it's actually impossible to do so since a segment of 87 east of Story was washed out with no plans to replace it. WyDOT has not moved signs around or applied for an AASHTO petition to move the route off the washed out segment, but supposedly has detoured US-87 traffic along WYO 193, taking them into Story

Interesting.  I checked Google Maps, and it looks like they've picked up on that:
http://tinyurl.com/ycorlhb
Then if you switch to aerial view, you can see that the US 87-to-WY 193 movement is actually the mainline (on both ends), while traffic wanting to stay on US 87 would have to make a turn (both northbound and southbound).  I guess I can see why Wyoming is none to eager to restore that segment of US 87: you've already got I-90 to the east, and WY 193 to the west... why would you need to maintain three parallel corridors in that area?  Looks like the only reason for that segment of US 87 would be to provide access to Ft. Fetterman, and you can still do that from the south.

Actually, in 2001, WyDOT did make a petition to AASHTO to move US-87 onto WY-193 and it was rejected because of deficiencies on WY-193 that WyDOT has chosen not to address.  AASHTO made a couple of suggestions:  To move US-87 onto I-90 up to the next available crossover point or to move US-87 onto I-90 through the entire area.  AFAICT, WyDOT never answered back.

--Andy

[corco]

That's exactly what happened, in fact- I stand corrected

[andytom]

If you're asking what happened to the original US-87, it was covered in a rock slide that, for some reason, WyDOT chose not to clean up.

If you're asking what happened between WyDOT and AASHTO, the only thing I know is what is in the 2001 change request on the AASHTO/USRN website.  I have to keep up with those because I'm covering the WY route files for the CHM website.

--Andy

[J N Winkler]

If you're asking what happened to the original US-87, it was covered in a rock slide that, for some reason, WyDOT chose not to clean up.

My understanding of what happened (near the Fetterman Monument) is that the slide was under the road, so Wyoming DOT closed it because it could no longer provide a stable running surface.

This page (on Andy Field's Wyoming Roads site) has some pictures of the closure signage I took when I explored the area almost ten years ago.  I took pictures at the south end only, because at the time I was photographing with slide film and thus had to work with available light only.  (It was not until three years later that I finally had a digital camera which allowed me to take flash photographs of signs backlit by the sun.)  I got a reasonably good view of US 87 north from the Fetterman Monument hill and I didn't see any piles of rocks on top of US 87; in fact the alignment is rather straight and flat.  Even at the low resolution in this picture, however, you can see how the road loses its profile just north of the monument.



Edit:  This thread made me curious, so I went into Google Street View to see what US 87 looks like today.  It turns out it looks nothing like it did in 2000.  Street View shows that the striping on US 87, which is not indicated as such on Google Maps and is now just "Piney Creek Rd.," has been amended to guide traffic onto the access road for the Fetterman Monument.  North of where the access road splits off, at a shallow angle on your right as you go north, someone--probably Wyoming DOT--dumped a load of dirt and boulders on US 87, to prevent traffic from going further north.  This obstacle has been placed at approximately the same location as this fallen sign I photographed in 2000:



At the north end, there is a closure gate and a similar soil-and-rock obstacle.