Some good news - I-140 construction to start sooner than expected in Brunswick County

After posts about delays to one project, squabbles over another, I have some good transportation news to report.

Thanks to nearly $26 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, along with $100 million from other sources, a previously unfunded Interstate 140/US 17 Bypass construction project will get underway in 2010.

The 'A' Section of the Brunswick County segment of I-140/US 17 is the benefactor of the new funding. This segment will run from US 17 (near where NC 87 meets it in Bishop) to US 74/76 east of Malmo. This will be a design/build project.

The 'B' Section from US 74/76 to where the current freeway ends at US 421 is scheduled to see construction begin in 2012. Land acquisition for this segment is ongoing.

So it now appears that for a few years there will be a gap in I-140 and the US 17 Bypass from US 74/76 to US 421.

Story Link:
US 17 bypass's Brunswick leg to be started earlier than planned ---Wilmington Star-News

HT: Joe Babyak

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Horseshoe Meadows Road; former California State Route 190 and the legacy of the Lone Pine-Porterville HIgh Sierra Road

This summer I had an opportunity to drive one of the lesser known great roads of California; Horseshoe Meadows Road from Whitney Portal Road westward into Horseshoe Meadows of the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Aside from being massive climb into the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains the path of Horseshoe Meadows Road was once part of California State Route 190 and was intended to be part of a Trans-Sierra Highway known as the Lone Pine-Porterville High Sierra Road.

Horseshoe Meadows Road is located west of Lone Pine of Inyo County and is 19.7 miles in length. Horseshoe Meadows Road begins at an approximate elevation of 4,500 feet above sea level at Whitney Portal Road in the Alabama Hills and ends at an elevation of 10,072 feet above sea level in Horseshoe Meadows. Horseshoe Meadows Road is the second highest paved road in California only behind Rock Creek Road near Tom's Place. Pjammcycling rates Horseshoe Meadows Road with an average gradient of 6.2% and lists it as th…

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U.S. Department of the Interior on the Old Big Oak Flat Road

The Big Oak Flat Road began construction east from the mining community of Big Oak Flat in towards Yosemite Valley in 1869. The Big Oak Flat Road was constructed by the Chinese Camp and Yosemite Turnpike Company which had secured the franchise rights for a toll road to the Yosemite Grant (the designation prior to Yosemite National Park). By the summer of 1871 the Big Oak Flat Road reached the northern cliffs above Yosemite Valley which is when the Chinese Camp and Yosemite Turnpike Company ran out of funding. After the…

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The Tioga Pass Road runs from the Big Oak Flat Road at Crane Flat east to US Route 395 ("US 395"). The Tioga Pass Road is largely within the boundary of Yosemite National Park but is maintained by Caltrans as California State Route 120 ("CA 120") east of the Tioga Pass entry station to US 395. The National Park Service maintained portion of the Tioga Pass Road serve as a implied connection between the two segments of CA 120. The Tioga Pass Road is the highway mountain pass in California reaching Tioga Pass at 9,945 feet above sea level.

Part 1; the history of the Tioga Pass Road

Tioga Pass first obtained notewort…

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