Check the box: Interstate 495 to 87 conversion administratively approved

Future I-87 signs are coming to Wake, Franklin and Nash Counties.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials have recently approved North Carolina's application to remove the short-lived Interstate 495 and future I-495 from Raleigh to Rocky Mount. This administrative move most likely will result in North Carolina signing Interstate 87 and Future I-87 on the entire corridor in the near future.


Interstate 495's Future is no longer bright along the I-87 corridor.

Approved in 2013, Interstate 495 was first signed in 2014 along US 64 from Interstate 440 in Raleigh to Interstate 540 in Knightdale. The remaining segment of highway to Rocky Mount was signed as Future Interstate 495. However, in 2016, North Carolina's congressional legislators were able to get language in the 2015 FAST ACT designating the US 64/US 13/US 17 corridor from Raleigh to Norfolk as an Interstate. In 2016, the FHWA and AASHTO designated this entire corridor (including the existing Interstate and Future 495) as Interstate 87. (NCDOT had applied for Interstate 89 along this route.)

It is currently unknown when the Interstate 495 signs will be taken down and replaced with Interstate 87. When first signed, Interstate 87 will be slightly longer than Interstate 495 was. The designation will run from where Interstate 40 and 440 meet in Southeast Raleigh along Interstate 440 West to Exit 14 where I-495 begins today. Interstate 87 signs will then be on the entire length of the Knightdale Bypass to where Interstate highway standards end at Rolesville Road (Exit 430). There are no currently scheduled plans to upgrade US 64 from Exit 430 to Interstate 95 in Rocky Mount to Interstate standards.

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Old Stage Road; the "real" El Camino Real and predecessor route to US Route 101 on the San Juan Grade

This past month I stopped in San Juan Bautista to hike the Juan Bautista De Anza Trail on the closed Old Stage Road. Old Stage Road as part of the Spanish El Camino Real to cross the Gabilan Range between San Juan Bautista and Salinas Valley.

Part 1; the history of El Camino Real and Old Stage Road

The Gabilan Range between what is now San Juan Bautista and Salinas Valley was first explored during the second Juan Bautista De Anza Expedition of Las Californias. While the De Anza expedition likely crossed very close to the present alignment of Old Stage Route their exact path isn't clear. Juan Bautista De Anza noted the following in his journal while passing near present day San Juan Bautista on March 24, 1776:

"In the valley we saw many antelopes and white grey geese. In the same valley we found an arroyo...and then came to a village in which I counted about twenty tule huts. But the only two people we saw were two Indians who came out to the road and presented us with thr…

Railroad Square Historic District, US Route 101, California State Route 12; Santa Rosa, California

This past November I visited the Railroad Square Historic District in Santa Rosa of Sonoma County, California. Railroad Square is a historic corridor in downtown Santa Rosa which was created due to it being isolated due to the realignment of US Route 101.

Part 1; the history of Railroad Square and the highways of Santa Rosa

Santa Rosa is the County Seat and largest City in Sonoma County. Santa Rosa was settled in 1833 in Alta California and was named after Saint Rose of Lima. When California became an American State, Sonoma County was one of the original counties. The original County Seat of Sonoma County was in Sonoma but it was soon moved to Santa Rosa by 1854. In 1867 Santa Rosa became an incorporated City as it was one of the few major communities north of San Francisco Bay.

Railroad service arrived to Santa Rosa in 1870 by way of the San Francisco & Northern Pacific Railroad ("SF&NP"). The SF&NP began construction from Petaluma northward in 1869. By 1…

Old US Route 101 in Salinas

This past June I visited much of what was the original alignment of US Route 101 within the City of Salinas.

Part 1; the history of US Route 101 in Salinas

Salinas is presently the largest City in Monterey County and is the County Seat. Salinas lies within Salinas Valley and is located east of the namesake river. Originally El Camino Real originally was routed through Salinas Valley on a course towards the Monterey Peninsula. The route of El Camino Real was intended to solidify a path of travel between the Catholic Missions of Las Californias. In 1797 Mission San Juan Bautista was founded which led to a need for a spur of El Camino Real to be built from Salinas Valley over the Gabilan Range. This spur of El Camino Real would become what is now Old Stage Road. The split in the paths of El Camino Real roughly was located where the City of Salinas now sits.

In 1804 Alta California was formed out of the larger Las Californias but the junction of El Camino Real in Salinas Valley …

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