Some notes and photos from a holiday drive northward from the Gulf Coast area to Iowa. Day 1 focused on the Interstate 55 corridor northward to Sikeston, Missouri. The day started out foggy, with lots of standing water from recent floodwaters over southern Mississippi. The the sun shined northward to Grenada, where murky skies set in and remained in place throughout the week U.S. 84 shifted from its [...]
Three new Interstate sections are in the works, planned, or coming to fruition. Discussion on the AARoads Forum highlighted three recent additions: Interstate 781 is the number proposed for a new freeway spur from Interstate 81 to Fort Drum in Upstate New York. This route would enhance access to growing Fort Drum and bypass a current at-grade connection. A page for I-781 resides on the Interstate Guide as well. Interstate [...]
Interstate 635 is an approximately 12 mile long bypass running to the west of downtown Kansas City. It is mostly in Kansas, but runs into Missouri as well. The entire route was recently reconstructed by KDOT in a $98 million project that also saw the rebuilding of its interchange with Interstate 70. Lets take a quick look at Interstate 635 in Kansas. Click any of the image for larger versions. [...]
Missouri State Route 249 (two-fortynine, I-49, get it?) is a new freeway being constructed around the east side of Joplin. Currently, Joplin is served by Interstate 44 and a US 71 freeway that runs north from Arkansas and I-540. Such notable names as Langston Hughes and Jackass' Preston Lacy can claim Joplin as a hometown. Let's take a look at the as-yet-incomplete SR 249 - aka the Range Line bypass [...]
