the last Alaska Highway batch, which contains no actual Alaska Highway – and, in fact, very little Canada. We had about 24 hours before we needed to be at the airport, so we spent some time exploring eastern Washington, Idaho, and even a little bit of Montana. What do we have here? An original I-90 trailblazer, complete with green sign back. We found a few of these in Spokane, and [...]
day 7 of the Alaska highway trip, where we finally cross the Rockies, and are promptly greeted with even more snow than before. Dawn. The roads have been plowed. We head east on the Yellowhead Highway into Alberta. This could be a problem. Since 93 through Jasper National Park in Alberta is a park route, it is closed to commercial traffic, and therefore not plowed particularly frequently. [...]
Texas State Highway 161 is part of the outer (outer) loop of Dallas currently being constructed all the way around the city, ignoring that pesky Fort Worth. Other parts of the roadway include the planned Loop 9 to the south, and George Bush Turnpike. The latter road is currently being extended east and south of its current terminus. The newest section of SH 161 to open is about 5 miles [...]
The sixth day of the Alaska Highway trip, where we see the Alaska Highway for the last time, and head down the Cassiar Highway – route 37 in Yukon and British Columbia. We make a brief stop in Hyder, Alaska, just to say that we’ve been there, and then head east on the Yellowhead Highway and attempt to cross into Alberta. However, we’re nearly eaten alive by that snowstorm that’s [...]
Brent drove from Chicago west to QC and met up for a joint trip southeast to Champaign. A quick cold front blew through the morning of, washing out most of the ride west. This view shows that construction along Interstate 88 (East-West Tollway) is finally complete! If you drove through in 2008, you noted jersey barriers everywhere and your eyes bled orange. The Illinois Tollway is slowly [...]
the fourth fifth day of our trip. The fourth day was spend snowed in in sunny East Anchorage, where 16 inches fell overnight. Remember that storm that we escaped in the mountains to get to Anchorage? Well, it found us. However, Anchorage has the best snowplow routine I’ve ever seen, and we could’ve gotten out of there by noon, had we not been zonked. We waited ’til about 6 the [...]
Started out the day being greeted by this VMS with the message "I-80 EB Closed at Mississippi River". Had to turn around and trudge southward along the real I-74 eastbound, which was equally under construction for an ARRA based resurfacing project. A routine inspection revealed damage to a faulty floor beam and currently only one lane of westbound traffic is permitted to use the bridge due to [...]
the third day of our trip, on which we actually cross into Alaska, and complete the Alaska Highway. Dawn in Yukon. Just past Haines Junction, we hit the final stretch of Alaska Highway. Close-up of distant purple mountains over Destruction Bay. Yes, that is what it is called! It was named by the troops who were building the road in 1942, and had the wind blow away their new structures. [...]
Texas has pushed quite a bit of old video to the web, including a few historic road gems. Take a look at this view of construction in Austin in 1965. The Texas Archive of the Moving Image can be found here.
Continuing northward … and, on this day, greatly westward, as that is the way to get from Dawson to Delta Junction, which is the official end of the Alaska Highway. This batch of photos includes plenty of British Columbia and even some Yukon. About 70 photos total! Dawson Creek at dawn. This monument is at the intersection (BC-49 and BC-2, actually) where the Alaska Highway officially begins. 2 ends at [...]
