https://archive.org/stream/B-001-002-604#page/n0/mode/2up
Was this the first year of this style of cartography that was used in the '80s and '90s?
I believe it was. I know for certain the 1977 atlas was the previous style...
I'm pretty sure that was it. I believe I still have the 1979 edition in a box somewhere (with the alternate Allstate Motor Club cover) and I think it was the older style with the yellow/black interstate shields for example.
I guess my next off day project will be going through those boxes in the attic.
Cool stuff. There goes my holiday.
Just looking at New England stuff, it's amazing how many times they inaccurately labeled things as freeways that aren't that I think are correct now (NH 114 west of 101 in Bedford/Goffstown for example).
I love the dual I-80N and I-84 labels in Oregon.
Looking at the I-40 / US 66 stuff in the southwestern states... :)
Thanks to whoever uploaded the atlas!!!
Apropos of nothing other than a memory that this atlas triggered, I've always read a lot of non-fiction. To his day, I have an atlas handy when I'm reading a book so I can look up an unfamiliar town if it is mentioned.
Quote from: bugo on July 03, 2018, 08:51:15 PM
https://archive.org/stream/B-001-002-604#page/n0/mode/2up
Was this the first year of this style of cartography that was used in the '80s and '90s?
Yes.
Below is the independent Rand McNally's cover for that 1980 atlas.
(https://www.randmcnally.com/images/atlas-covers/1440w/1980-RandMcNally.jpg)
The map of San Francisco is worth your while. Check out Interstate 280 !!!!
The one thing I didn't like about the RmcN atlases post-1980 was the narrowing of the Interstate shields; prior to that time they at least maintained the basic shape of the actual shields. Now I can understand why the narrow map shield was selected -- it's easier to place on the map without masking detail adjacent to that placement. But to my eyes (disclaimer: I'm legally blind in my right eye without a corrective lens) the shield change was a legibility issue (I pretty much had to squint or use a magnifier to ascertain a number). That actually became worse when they discarded the yellow/black shields for the red-white-blue shield facsimiles; the black stood out more distinctly from the yellow background than white against blue -- and they had used yellow/black since the late '50's! But I guess that's progress (!?). :paranoid:
It'a surprising how much of our present highway system was already in place by 1980. I just saw where a just few stretches of western interstates had not yet been upgraded, like how I-90 still ended before I-5 in Seattle, the Wallace (Idaho) stoplight was still intact, and 90 still ran along the old US 10 route on the north shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene. Also I-84 was just transitioning from I-80N as an earlier poster pointed out.
The changes between my 1956 edition and this one are much more significant than thise between this one and the 2019 edition, which goes to show that road building in the 60s and 70s was of epic proportions compared to more recent decades.
I found Phoenix to be an interesting place to notice differences in highway building between 1980 and 2018.
A point of interest to me is how this atlas shows the time zone split in Texas. Like other old maps I've seen, it shows only El Paso and Hudspeth Counties in the Mountain Time Zone. I don't know when that changed, but for years now new maps have shown the northwest corner of Culberson County, including Guadalupe Mountains National Park, also in the Mountain Time Zone, as shown in this segment of the state travel map.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.patternsandprinciples.com%2Frs%2Fwttz.png&hash=ac7581f994056f80346905d42b1c0d9ed3109291)
There's also a sign at the park headquarters, in Culberson County, specifying that the times shown are Mountain, verifying the time zone there. I'm interested in when that changed (and who makes such a change), and why a change was made on such a desolate piece of land. There are two apparent explanations. One is that the change puts the entire park into the same time zone. This is a newer park that opened in the late 70s, which could explain why the change happened so recently, but the only thing the change affects is when the park offices are open. It also doesn't explain why the time zone was moved so far to the east. The east edge makes it look like the purpose is to keep US 62/180 in Mountain Time until it gets back into Texas to the east. That doesn't seem important, but it might make sense as a technicality if the highway didn't go back to Central for 5 miles between SH 54 and Hudspeth County (the green line). It puts the park in the time zone it seems to belong in, which is the same zone as the adjacent areas in each direction along the main highway. Drivers headed somewhere other than the park along RM 652 or SH 54 are headed to New Mexico or Hudspeth County, so the time zone change isn't an added problem for them since it would happen anyway. It does accomplish a purpose, regardless of how small the purpose is and how clumsily it does so.
Guadalupe Mountain National park was established in 1972, to the best of my knowledge. Have been there two or three times and climbed to the top of the peak in 1996. It's claim to fame is one of the best exposed sections/faces of Permian era sedimentary rock in the world. Roughly 300 to 252 million years ago, before the third great extinction, or "Great Dying". It is not far from Carlsbad Caverns, which is about fifty miles or so to the northeast.
Given the tons of freeway projects that were cancelled nationwide, I think this was also the first atlas that did not show any proposed highways like the older editions did. It gave me another reason to mark them up with my highway creations as the years went by. And I was never a fan of the new-style Interstate or US shields either. Sure, they may have been easier to place on the map without interfering with the surrounding areas, but man, they were butt-ugly! At least they went back to the traditional styles in 2000.
I enjoy seeing what's changed and what hasn't changed with the layout of each state. Some have been the same for nearly 40 years now. For others, it's night and day.
A one-page layout for Arizona seems quaint.
But Chicago and Los Angeles; same coverages.
Ah, I remember that MO 'boot heel' inset. :-D
All those multi-state layouts; some more reasonable than others. Sure, include DE with MD. But the two Virginias just wrecks the scale.
Oh and those full-page maps for cities like Boston, Pittsburgh and Philly. But Houston and DFW fit on the same page!
Ha! Mexico had an inset of Central America. Now that's useful...
Focusing in on the home turf.
I see a few miles literally got lost in the fold of the scan. RIP to Port Edwards, Weyauwega and Greenleaf. :-D
Man that erroneous four-lane chunk of WI 17 south of Rhinelander dates back that far? They didn't fix that until the late 00's.
Same deal with the never-built interchange between the Lake Freeway and Michigan Street in the downtown Milwaukee inset.
Ha, US 45 has a rectangular route marker just north of Oshkosh.
The days of Fox Valley US 41 business routes.
Interesting they show the interchange at WI 113 (Packers Ave) and Aberg Ave in the Madison inset. I don't see any other interchanges on non-freeways indicated.
Cool to see a snapshot of the development of various corridors. The freeway that will become I-39 peters out a few miles north of Portage and doesn't pick up again until Point. I think about watching US 41 develop into a full access controlled freeway throughout the 90's and this shows how little progress was made in the decade prior.
I have to check, but I think my oldest RandMac is from 1982 or 83. So the layouts and cartography are all familiar.
Here are a couple of my favorites. The first one shows the quadplex of I-44, US 66, US 169 and OK 33. It also shows US 64 on Memorial, I-444 and western stretch of the BA under construction, US 64/OK 51 hop off of the freeway and follow 15th Street for a mile and a half. The actual Broken Arrow Expressway was actually complete all the way to Lewis Avenue but the northernmost section was not signed as US 64/OK 51. US 169 ended at US 75 after overlapping I-44. The Mingo Valley Expressway from I-44 to 51st Street is shown as under construction. OK 33 once ended at the Arkansas line in West Siloam Springs but was truncated back to downtown Sapulpa at Alt US 75 and OK 97. What was once OK 33 from Chouteau to Flint is now Alt US 412 and mainline US 412 follows the Cherokee Turnpike through this stretch. Alt US 412 is a dangerous highway. There are also several sections of old OK 33 between Tulsa and Chouteau, including a 13 mile stretch of uninterrupted highway.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/835/43339336382_942aa4bd96.jpg)
Until 1982, I-44 ended at the end of the Turner Turnpike at I-35. What is now I-44 between I-35 and modern I-240 was part of pre-1982 I-240. The section of I-44/US 66 between OK 74 and I-35 is shown as an expressway! Were there really at-grades on what is now I-44 as late as 1980? I-44 was extended south for the 75th Anniversary of statehood. I don't get it either. A section of I-235 is shown south of I-240/44. Was it signed as I-235 upon completion?
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/914/41579097050_3e5891c4d4_m.jpg)
Quote from: capt.ron on July 05, 2018, 12:28:17 AM
Looking at the I-40 / US 66 stuff in the southwestern states... :)
Thanks to whoever uploaded the atlas!!!
Back then you could be standing on a corner in Winslow AZ and not be bypassed.
Quote from: triplemultiplex on July 13, 2018, 09:55:08 AM
Focusing in on the home turf.
I see a few miles literally got lost in the fold of the scan. RIP to Port Edwards, Weyauwega and Greenleaf. :-D
Hortonville is also missing.
Quote
Man that erroneous four-lane chunk of WI 17 south of Rhinelander dates back that far? They didn't fix that until the late 00's.
My youngest brother was married in Rhinelander around 1990. I was driving up from St Louis and majorly irritated about that error. At least what is now I-39 (mentioned below) was complete from I-90/94 by then. It also doesn't clearly show that the freeway from I-90/94 to just north of Portage was actually WI 78 and then was US 51 going north from there.
Quote
Same deal with the never-built interchange between the Lake Freeway and Michigan Street in the downtown Milwaukee inset.
Ha, US 45 has a rectangular route marker just north of Oshkosh.
The days of Fox Valley US 41 business routes.
Interesting they show the interchange at WI 113 (Packers Ave) and Aberg Ave in the Madison inset. I don't see any other interchanges on non-freeways indicated.
Cool to see a snapshot of the development of various corridors. The freeway that will become I-39 peters out a few miles north of Portage and doesn't pick up again until Point. I think about watching US 41 develop into a full access controlled freeway throughout the 90's and this shows how little progress was made in the decade prior.
I have to check, but I think my oldest RandMac is from 1982 or 83. So the layouts and cartography are all familiar.
That weird bit of freeway around Sheboygan is pretty messed up too. It looks like I-43 goes up to WI 23 and then curves over to Sheboygan Falls, with the under construction part of I-43 going north being a new highway about halfway between the two cities.
That WI 11 bypass of Monroe is old. I have no idea why Monroe rated such a nice bypass on such a nowhere route.
I don't recall when Willow St in Green Bay was renamed University Ave (sometime around 1970), but I don't ever remember it being called University Drive. The Green Bay inset shows that it was still Willow out by UWGB, but I don't believe that was true and is another error.
Illinois, a lot of changes (and I am just tackling the big routes)...
- I-39 didn't exist yet at all (except for the parts where it would eventually be multiplexed over routes that previously existed in the Northern portion of the state, if that counts).
- I-355 didn't exist yet, and only the stub of what was then IL 53 between I-290 and Army Trail Road was completed.
- I-88 was IL Route 5, though completed.
- US 41 (Lake Shore Drive) still had the original very sharp S curve downtown and the split through what is now the museum campus and around Soldier Field.
- Roosevelt Road did not extend to Lake Shore Drive.
- Elgin O'Hare (present day IL 390) had no portion built at all.
- I-72 W of Springfield, only completed half the distance to MO State Line and signed only as US 36, remainder of route not yet completed.
- I-255 no portion built at all
- I-155 seemed to be mostly unbuilt
- This is a recent change, but only one interstate bridge connecting downtown St. Louis, MO and IL.
*I also miss seeing Chicago's tallest building labeled as the "Sears Tower".
I still am amazed how anyone got around DuPage County going N/S. Of course, I get I can look at Lake and McHenry Counties to get an idea now. Also, getting to Rockford from anywhere but Chicago must have been a real joy, and I won't even try to imagine what bypassing St. Louis must have been like if going South or SW.
And some unchanged things...
- Lake County and McHenry County are still very Interstate and Highway deficient
- IL 53, while extended a couple of miles, still basically comes to a dead end at its North Highway End (gotta give Long Grove credit for its resolve, though annoying for motorists).
- I-180, why??? :-D
- No direct freeway connection between Peoria and Chicago
- Amstutz Expressway in Waukegan still goes nowhere!
- US 20 Bypass of Elgin still connects only to Lake Street, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon!
- I-290's left hand exits in Oak Park... :banghead:
Quote from: skluth on July 13, 2018, 10:48:53 PM
That WI 11 bypass of Monroe is old. I have no idea why Monroe rated such a nice bypass on such a nowhere route.
1977 if I'm remembering my history correctly. Somewhere around there. WisDOT may have had larger visions for WI 11. After all, they do have r/w for a four lane expressway between Monroe and Brodhead.
I suspect they were compelled to build that bypass because the old route of WI 11 went through a number of 90 degree turns on city streets. A full freeway may have been overkill, but there was a time when things were built for the future instead of desperately trying to catch up to the present.
Quote from: triplemultiplex on July 17, 2018, 09:20:27 AM
Quote from: skluth on July 13, 2018, 10:48:53 PM
That WI 11 bypass of Monroe is old. I have no idea why Monroe rated such a nice bypass on such a nowhere route.
1977 if I'm remembering my history correctly. Somewhere around there. WisDOT may have had larger visions for WI 11. After all, they do have r/w for a four lane expressway between Monroe and Brodhead.
I suspect they were compelled to build that bypass because the old route of WI 11 went through a number of 90 degree turns on city streets. A full freeway may have been overkill, but there was a time when things were built for the future instead of desperately trying to catch up to the present.
From what I know, WisDOT's original plans for what became I-43 were for it to pass east-west between Beloit and Janesville and feed into WI 11/81 on the south side of Brodhead. Note the 'ghost' ROW for an interchange at Brodhead and the two lanes on four lanes ROW nature of the highway from there to Monroe.
Mike
Quote from: skluth on July 13, 2018, 10:00:53 PM
Quote from: capt.ron on July 05, 2018, 12:28:17 AM
Looking at the I-40 / US 66 stuff in the southwestern states... :)
Thanks to whoever uploaded the atlas!!!
Back then you could be standing on a corner in Winslow AZ and not be bypassed.
That's right! And numerous towns in AZ have not been bypassed by I-40 yet. I'm nut sure of the publication of the 1980 atlas but I reckon it was just before the Kingman bypass opened up. Ash fork, Williams, Winslow, Joseph City, and Holbrook haven't been bypassed yet (as per this atlas). In New Mexico, Gallup, Carnuel, Tucumcari, and San Jon haven't been bypassed yet. I-40 / US 66 is marked with the yellow/orange "4 lane divided highway" from E Albuquerque to just northeast of Tijeras; and east of Tucumcari to just west of San Jon. I guess there were numerous at-grades on the stretch [several miles E of Tucumcari to west of San Jon] before frontage roads were made, I'm guessing the 1981 to 1982 time frame. Then San Jon FINALLY got bypassed [1982]
When I was little, I remember numerous at-grades along I-40 / US 66 in New Mexico and Texas. Speaking of Texas...McLean hasn't been bypassed, but will be by 1984.
How did the open stretches of freeway between towns usually transition to streets going through the towns? Did you have to exit off the freeway and follow a connector to the old highway or did the freeway seamlessly feed into the street?
I have to go through my maps, but Idaho used Rand McNally maps for the official state map for a while, and I think the one I have is 1978 in a sort of "proto" style of the atlas.
Quote from: bugo on December 19, 2018, 06:53:05 AM
How did the open stretches of freeway between towns usually transition to streets going through the towns? Did you have to exit off the freeway and follow a connector to the old highway or did the freeway seamlessly feed into the street?
Remembering what I do of I-69 in Michigan (Charlotte to Lansing) pre-1992, it was a seamless transition. The freeway just ended and became Lansing Road (albeit, four-lane divided). Others were not as seamless and required one to exit the freeway, such as I-696 across Oakland and Macomb Counties. Another example of exiting the freeway was I-39 between LaSalle and Bloomington, Illinois. That freeway ended south of the Illinois River, at the interchange with IL-251, requiring an exit from the freeway to follow what was then US-51 south towards Bloomington.
Quote from: Brandon on December 19, 2018, 05:35:21 PM
Quote from: bugo on December 19, 2018, 06:53:05 AM
How did the open stretches of freeway between towns usually transition to streets going through the towns? Did you have to exit off the freeway and follow a connector to the old highway or did the freeway seamlessly feed into the street?
Remembering what I do of I-69 in Michigan (Charlotte to Lansing) pre-1992, it was a seamless transition. The freeway just ended and became Lansing Road (albeit, four-lane divided). Others were not as seamless and required one to exit the freeway, such as I-696 across Oakland and Macomb Counties. Another example of exiting the freeway was I-39 between LaSalle and Bloomington, Illinois. That freeway ended south of the Illinois River, at the interchange with IL-251, requiring an exit from the freeway to follow what was then US-51 south towards Bloomington.
That's not how I remember it. When I was a kid in Minnesota, we would go to my grandparents in Seneca, IL. We used to always cut across a jumble of roads to get from I-90 to Seneca, but when we took I-39 south from Rockford the first time, it ended at I-80.
Quote from: capt.ron on December 18, 2018, 11:20:26 PM
Quote from: skluth on July 13, 2018, 10:00:53 PM
Quote from: capt.ron on July 05, 2018, 12:28:17 AM
Looking at the I-40 / US 66 stuff in the southwestern states... :)
Thanks to whoever uploaded the atlas!!!
Back then you could be standing on a corner in Winslow AZ and not be bypassed.
That's right! And numerous towns in AZ have not been bypassed by I-40 yet. I'm nut sure of the publication of the 1980 atlas but I reckon it was just before the Kingman bypass opened up. Ash fork, Williams, Winslow, Joseph City, and Holbrook haven't been bypassed yet (as per this atlas).
Believe Williams was the last town in Arizona to be finally bypassed by I-40. 1984 or 85. Unfortunate that they were in such a hurry to decommission US 66 though, instead of duplexing it on the Interstate, in the rural sections, and running it through the towns on the original alignment, along with the Business Loops.
Some highlights of the CT/RI map (other than the obvious I-84/I-86 situation):
1. CT 52 erroneously printed on I-95 near Exit 72. CT 52 was the old number for I-395, and ended where I-395 does.
2. The little proposed extension of CT 11 to bypass the four corners (now a traffic circle) in Salem connecting directly to CT 85.
3. The proposed SW quadrant of I-291 still displayed, despite being cancelled in 1979 (with a portion becoming a part of the CT 9 extension).
4. CT 3 shown as connecting directly to CT 2, although it didn't actually happen until 1987.
5. The proposed CT 34 expressway west to the New Haven/West Haven town line.
6. The Mohegan-Pequot Bridge being shown as a toll bridge. Tolls were removed in 1980
7. CT 15 not shown on I-86. Officially cancelled in October of 1980, so they sort of jumped the gun.
8. CT 25 expressway shown as unbuilt (finished in 1982), but CT 25 extends all the way to downtown Bridgeport (why wasn't CT 111, its replacement, extended beyond the city line?)
9. CT 8 not complete between Naugatuck and Seymour (opened in 1982). Old CT 72 routing/end of expressway in Berlin.
10. CT 229 shown as a 4 lane divided highway just north of I-84. 38 years later, it's still undivided and only 3 lanes.
11. The US 6 expressway in Providence is RI 195
12. RI 146 downgrades to 4 lanes divided south of I-295. It does now just north of RI 99 (which didn't exist in 1980)
13. I-495 not completed yet south of I-95 in MA. MA 57 expressway ends at MA 147.
Quote from: DandyDan on December 20, 2018, 08:02:30 AM
Quote from: Brandon on December 19, 2018, 05:35:21 PM
Quote from: bugo on December 19, 2018, 06:53:05 AM
How did the open stretches of freeway between towns usually transition to streets going through the towns? Did you have to exit off the freeway and follow a connector to the old highway or did the freeway seamlessly feed into the street?
Remembering what I do of I-69 in Michigan (Charlotte to Lansing) pre-1992, it was a seamless transition. The freeway just ended and became Lansing Road (albeit, four-lane divided). Others were not as seamless and required one to exit the freeway, such as I-696 across Oakland and Macomb Counties. Another example of exiting the freeway was I-39 between LaSalle and Bloomington, Illinois. That freeway ended south of the Illinois River, at the interchange with IL-251, requiring an exit from the freeway to follow what was then US-51 south towards Bloomington.
That's not how I remember it. When I was a kid in Minnesota, we would go to my grandparents in Seneca, IL. We used to always cut across a jumble of roads to get from I-90 to Seneca, but when we took I-39 south from Rockford the first time, it ended at I-80.
I-39 was built in pieces. First from IL-5 (now I-88) to US-20. Then from I-80 to I-88. Then the bridge across the Illinois River south to IL-251. North from I-55 to about Kappa. Then the last bit between Kappa and IL-251 near LaSalle.