Throwback Thursday; Elphant Butte Lake and New Mexico State Route 195

Back in 2012 I visited an old alignment of US Route 85 and Elephant Butte Lake on the Rio Grande River.

Elephant Butte Lake is the largest Reservoir in New Mexico with a maximum surface area of over 36,000 acres. Elephant Butte Dam was constructed from 1911 to 1916 and was at the time the largest dam built for the sole purpose of irrigation water impounding.

When US Route 85 was first signed it was routed through what is now the City of Elephant Butte on New Mexico State Route 195. US 85 would have ran briefly along the west bank of Elephant Butte Lake to modern NM 179 where it continued to Hot Springs (Modern Truth or Consequences) on modern NM 51. According to Steve Riner's New Mexico Highway site US 85 was routed on the current alignment of NM 195, NM 179 and NM 51 until the 1940s when it was shifted to the modern alignment of NM 181.

steve.riner.com on NM Highways 176-200

steve-riner.com on NM Highways 51-75

The shift in US 85 can be seen by comparing these New Mexico State Highway Maps from 1927 to 1956.

1927 Arizona and New Mexico State Highway Maps

1956 State Highway Map

Interestingly NM 195 used to carry traffic over a one-way routing Elephant Butte Dam until the early 2000s. More information can be found regarding the topic above on Steve Riner's page for NM Routes 176-200. Given the route over the dam was closed I obviously didn't a chance to cross it in a car. Suffice to say finding information regarding state highways in New Mexico was difficult back in 2011-2012 when I was working in the state. Oddly a large number of New Mexico State Highways don't even have a Wikipedia article to this day.

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Where the hell is Hill Valley? (US Route 8 south/US Route 395 east)

Recently I made a visit to Universal Studios near Los Angeles. While on the back lot tour I came across a piece of infamous movie-borne fictional highway infamy; the location of town square of Hill Valley, California on US Route 8/US Route 395. The above photo is part of the intro scene to the first Back-to-the-Future movie which was set in 1985. To anyone who follows roadways the signage error of US 8 meeting US 395 in California is an immediately notable error. For one; US 8 doesn't even exist anywhere near California with present alignment being signed as an east/west highway between Norway, Michigan and Forest Lake, Minnesota. To make matters worse US 8 is signed as a southbound route and US 395 (a north/south highway) is signed as an eastbound route. At minimum the cut-out US 8 and US 395 shields somewhat resemble what Caltrans used in the 1980s. Assuming Hill Valley is located on what would have been US 395 by 1985 what locales would be a viable real world analog?

Legend of the Ridge Route; a history of crossing the mountains between the Los Angeles Basin and San Joaquin Valley from wagon trails to Interstates

Over the past two decades I've crossed the Interstate 5 corridor from Los Angeles north over the Sierra Pelona Mountains and Tehachapi Range to San Joaquin Valley what seems to be an immeasurable number of times. While Interstate 5 from Castaic Junction to Grapevine via Tejon Pass today is known to most as "The Grapevine" it occupies a corridor which has been traversed by numerous historic highways. The most notable of these highways is known as the "Ridge Route." This article is dedicated to the Ridge Route and the various highways that preceded it. The Ridge Route is a 44 mile section of highway which was completed in 1915. The Ridge Route originally stretched from Castaic Junction north over Liebre Summit and Tejon Pass to the tiny community of Grapevine. In spite of a roadway that once utilized nearly 700 curves the Ridge Route is generally considered far ahead of it's time and one of the first modern highways constructed for automotive use.

Closing the Gap - How Interstate 77 in North Carolina and Virginia Came To Be

Interstate 77 through the Virginias and Carolinas was not an original Interstate Highway proposal. In 1957, Interstate 77 was born as an over 400-mile southwards extension of a previously approved Cleveland to Canton, Ohio Interstate. The new road would extend through four states before terminating at Interstate 85 near Charlotte, North Carolina. This extension would bring an additional north-south highway connecting the industrial Midwest to the South. During the early planning stages of Interstate 77 from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, North Carolina and Virginia had different plans routing the Interstate that took over five years to settle. While the new Ohio to Charlotte Interstate would follow the WV Turnpike to its terminus at US 460 near Princeton, its route through the remainder of West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina was uncertain. The route south from Princeton into Virginia and to Interstate 81 near Wytheville consisted of two options. An eastern option

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