I've been working a new job that takes me all over Western Colorado, Eastern Utah and Northern New Mexico.
One thing in traveling (and clinching) highways is that some states/areas do a heck of a job maintaining roads that took a lot of money to build or rebuild, while other states/areas seem to take the money for the project, build the road into something new and nice, then ignores it for the next decade or so, letting a road that was once beautiful and initially well landscaped into an eyesore.
My Case In Point: MUCH of the US highways in NW NM (64/491/550) were built/rebuilt into multi lane highways. US 64 East of Farmington and US 491 South of Shiprock are some of the newest widenings/rebuilds in that region. Pavement is smooth as silk, signs are uniform and modern, and the medians/shoulders/ditches are well kept.
Then you look at older rebuilds/widenings like US 550 either side of Aztec, or US 64 between Farmington and Shiprock. You could tell they ONCE looked nice and consistent, but now look like NMDOT throws up hastily-made signs and never attempted to clean off or clear weeds from concrete medians and curbs now crumbling . I shudder to think what these newest sections of US 64 & US 491 will look like or drive like in 10 or 15 years.
Are there other specific stretches of I/US/State Highways that were big rebuild projects that seemed to have been ignored the day after the construction crews packed up their equipment?
At least you know when you cross into Colorado -- CDOT gives a damn about keeping their roads smooth and their roadsides looking relatively well-manicured and trash-free.
Off my soapbox -- It's just amazing how crappy-looking one state's roads look like compared to their neighbors.
That's pretty much the story of every California State Highway after the early 1970s. Hell, we still have signage from the 1950s around and in some cases original concrete in usage. I used to think MDOT kept the worst roads but California by far takes the cake for neglect.
That's an awesome area of the country to get to drive around all the time. I love the Colorado Plateau high desert terrain.
Quote from: thenetwork on November 19, 2019, 12:41:19 AM
My Case In Point: MUCH of the US highways in NW NM (64/491/550) were built/rebuilt into multi lane highways. US 64 East of Farmington and US 491 South of Shiprock are some of the newest widenings/rebuilds in that region. Pavement is smooth as silk, signs are uniform and modern, and the medians/shoulders/ditches are well kept.
What US 491 did you drive on? When I drove south from Shiprock to Gallup in 2017, it was easily one of the bumpiest 70 mph roads I'd ever seen. Maybe they've redone it since then? I'm pretty sure when I was down there they used the original two-lane road as the new southbound lanes and didn't do anything beyond repainting it. But I'll still take it over the pathetic 4-lane job they did with most of US 550.
Quote from: thenetwork on November 19, 2019, 12:41:19 AM
At least you know when you cross into Colorado -- CDOT gives a damn about keeping their roads smooth and their roadsides looking relatively well-manicured and trash-free.
Crossing the CO/NM line on US 491 is truly an exercise in contrasts. Going south, there's not even a sign at the state line: your only clue you're in another state is a big BUMP and then a much rougher road all the way down to Shiprock. I think the NM welcome sign was over a mile or two south of the line.
I will have to disagree in terms of trash: I once took US 160 between US 491 and the Four Corners (protip: don't waste your time there), and the only thing I remember about that segment was all the bottles and cans littered along the roadsides.
Quote from: US 89 on November 19, 2019, 01:06:49 AM
That's an awesome area of the country to get to drive around all the time. I love the Colorado Plateau high desert terrain.
Quote from: thenetwork on November 19, 2019, 12:41:19 AM
My Case In Point: MUCH of the US highways in NW NM (64/491/550) were built/rebuilt into multi lane highways. US 64 East of Farmington and US 491 South of Shiprock are some of the newest widenings/rebuilds in that region. Pavement is smooth as silk, signs are uniform and modern, and the medians/shoulders/ditches are well kept.
What US 491 did you drive on? When I drove south from Shiprock to Gallup in 2017, it was easily one of the bumpiest 70 mph roads I'd ever seen. Maybe they've redone it since then? I'm pretty surely when I was down there they used the original two-lane road as the new southbound lanes and didn't do anything beyond repainting it. But I'll still take it over the pathetic 4-lane job they did with most of US 550.
Quote from: thenetwork on November 19, 2019, 12:41:19 AM
At least you know when you cross into Colorado -- CDOT gives a damn about keeping their roads smooth and their roadsides looking relatively well-manicured and trash-free.
Crossing the CO/NM line on US 491 is truly an exercise in contrasts. Going south, there's not even a sign at the state line: your only clue you're in another state is a big BUMP and then a much rougher road all the way down to Shiprock. I think the NM welcome sign was over a mile or two south of the line.
I will have to disagree in terms of trash: I once took US 160 between US 491 and the Four Corners (protip: don't waste your time there), and the only thing I remember about that segment was all the bottles and cans littered along the roadsides.
I give that extreme SW area of US 160 the exception as that is on Tribal land. That area does glitter a lot from the broken bottles on the side of the road.
I last traveled the expanded US 491 in April of 2018. ISTR it newly paved, or at least in better condition than most other NM roads. One other thing that I remember was a waste of time and money was all of the repetitive signage all along that stretch. A lot of those cautionary signs was overkill. Just another thing to get neglected or mismatched as the years go by.
BTW, Farmington is a roadgeekers nightmare as they do Clearview on practically EVERYTHING. Including Stop Signs!
The Wisconsin SR 11 four lane bypass of Monroe, WI has seen better days.
At least they posted this sign on an on-ramp to let you know what's in store: https://goo.gl/maps/U5hjiRdjQ3BY9AAS6