Great Lakes Road Trip Day 1 Part 2; San Francisco to Detroit

Eventually after sitting at the airport in San Francisco for a good solid three and half hours I did get underway towards Detroit.

At first I thought the flight path was going to head directly over CA 108 via Sonora Pass given that I could see the city of Sonora below in the Sierra Foothills. Sonora is the location of CA 108 and CA 49:

Instead the flight path basically took a direct shot east via Yosemite National Park and the Tioga Pass Road:

Before exiting California Nevada the flight took a pass over Mono Lake which is traversed on three sides by; US 395, CA 167, and CA 120:

My flight path followed US 6 through the state of Nevada which meant passing some notable features like the White Mountain Range just over the state line and the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project near Tonopah:

Entering Utah the flight path followed mostly I-70 which allowed decent views of three National Parks starting with Capitol Reef and the Water Pocket Ford:

The Canyonlands via the Green River:

Along with Arches with US 191 seen traversing the Moab Fault:

Unfortunately there was heavy cloud cover over the Rockies and in particular the Front Range which prevented much from being seen that was noteworthy. Really there wasn't much worth looking at out the window until downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan:

My destination was at Metro Airport in the old terminal building which has had a surprisingly nice remodel since I've visited last. I saw the traffic was bad on I-96 and I-275 so I decided to try US 23 to Brighton instead. US 23 was actually undergoing heavy construction due to a lane expansion project from Ann Arbor to I-96. The US 23 freeway was way busier than I remember it but it has probably been at least 2001 since I've used it to go through Ann Arbor.

Comments

Nick said…

To clarify, you didn't fly into a remodeled terminal in Detroit; it was the new North Terminal that was built in 2008 (assuming you flew on a non-Delta flight). The old terminals (Smith, Berry, and Davey) are no longer used for passengers. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Metropolitan_Airport#North_Terminal

9:03 AM

Old US Route 60/70 through Hell (Chuckwall Valley Road and Ragsdale Road)

Back in 2016 I explored some of the derelict roadways of the Sonoran Desert of Riverside County which were part of US Route 60/70; Chuckwalla Valley Road and Ragsdale Road. US 60 and US 70 were not part of the original run of US Routes in California. According to USends.com US 60 was extended into California by 1932. US 60 doesn't appear on the California State Highway Map until the 1934 edition. USends.com on US 60 endpoints 1934 State Highway Map Conversely US 70 was extended into California by 1934, it first appears on the 1936 State Highway Map. USends.com on US 70 endpoints 1936 State Highway Map When US 60 and US 70 were extended into California they both utilized what was Legislative Route Number 64 from the Arizona State Line west to Coachella Valley. LRN 64 was part of the 1919 Third State Highway Bond Act routes. The original definition of LRN 64 routed between Mecca in Blythe and wasn't extended to the Arizona State Line until 1931 acc...

The last 1956-63 era California Sign State Route Spade?

Along southbound California State Route 170 (the Hollywood Freeway Extension) approaching the Hollywood Freeway/Ventura Freeway interchange a white California State Route 134 Sign State Route Spade can be observed on guide sign. These white spades were specifically used during the 1956-63 era and have become increasingly rare. This blog is intended to serve as a brief history of the Sign State Route Spade. We also ask you as the reader, is this last 1956-63 era Sign State Route Spade or do you know of others? Part 1; the history of the California Sign State Route Spade Prior to the Sign State Route System, the US Route System and the Auto Trails were the only highways in California signed with reassurance markers. The creation of the US Route System by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926 brought a system of standardized reassurance shields to major highways in California. Early efforts to create a Sign State Route ...

Paper Highways; Interstate H-4 through downtown Honolulu

The Hawaiian Island of O'ahu is home to four Interstate Highways; H-1, H-2, H-3 and H-201. Had history gone slightly differently during the 1960s a fifth Interstate corridor on O'ahu could have been constructed through downtown Honolulu and the neighborhood of Waikiki. The proposed corridor of Interstate H-4 can be seen above as it was presented by the Hawaii Department of Transportation during October 1968 . This page is part of the Gribblenation O'ahu Highways page. All Gribblenation and Roadwaywiz media related to the highway system of O'ahu can be found at the link below: https://www.gribblenation.org/p/gribblenation-oahu-highways-page.html The history of proposed Interstate H-4 The corridor of Interstate H-4 was conceived as largely following what is now Hawaii Route 92 on Nimitz Highway and Ala Moana Boulevard. Prior to the Statehood the first signed highways within Hawaii Territory came into existence during World War II. Dur...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog