A Columbus Day Construction Progress Trip

I took a trip on Monday to see what progress, if any, had been made in some of the highway projects I am following starting in Durham then heading west on US 64 to Asheboro, northon US 220 to Greensboro then back east to Durham on I-40/85.
1. The Triangle Parkway
Construction it appears has finally begun with the start of clearing of the toll road's right-of-way. The evidence is at the northern end and does not extend south to the Davis Drive (still under construction to make it a 4-lane highway) interchange on NC 540:

View heading south on NC 147 just before it turns to end at Alexander Drive.

Closer view of the area cleared and the construction equipment.

Meanwhile, all was quiet at the other end of the construction corridor where the Parkway will meet NC 540 (mostly hidden y the grass under the ramp bridges).

2. The Future I-73 (US 220)/I-74 (US 311) Interchange:
I drove northbound from Asheboro and took a few shots of progress in clearing the construction zone for the interchange over the past month:

The first clearance area, this will be for the off-ramp taking I-74 West toward High Point.

The second clearance area where the route signage is located is for construction of the flyover ramp that will take I-74 West over I-73. Here's a better look:

The cleared area may be piled with more dirt if the ramp has to be higher. Lastly, the 3rd construction area...

This will be where the flyover and onramp from I-74 East to I-73 (US 220) north will be built.

3. Some new signage in Greensboro:
I drove through Death Valley on the way back to Durham to take some photos of the new signs and or exit numbers heading east on I-40:

Here's the first new I-40 exit for Randleman Road, this number was for US 220 when I-40 was on the Loop, now it's less interesting.

The once unique six-shield sign assembly, is now down to 5. There are even fewer shields on the overhead signs-

US 421 North used to be on what is now Exit 223 and 421 South on what is now Exit 222.

The shield signs were finally corrected in August, I still don't see the need for Business 85 here.
And finally, a dichotomy of exit numbers--

The I-40 one is on the right, but the next exit is with I-85 mileposts. It would be nice if you could travel 95 miles in the equivalent of a 1/2 mile according to the sign, but then I'd miss exiting to Durham.

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The newest of the bridges that span the lower Mississippi River at Memphis, the Hernando de Soto Bridge was completed in 1973 and carries Interstate 40 between downtown Memphis and West Memphis, AR. The bridge’s signature M-shaped superstructure makes it an instantly recognizable landmark in the city and one of the most visually unique bridges on the Mississippi River. As early as 1953, Memphis city planners recommended the construction of a second highway bridge across the Mississippi River to connect the city with West Memphis, AR. The Memphis & Arkansas Bridge had been completed only four years earlier a couple miles downriver from downtown, however it was expected that long-term growth in the metro area would warrant the construction of an additional bridge, the fourth crossing of the Mississippi River to be built at Memphis, in the not-too-distant future. Unlike the previous three Mississippi River bridges to be built the city, the location chosen for this bridge was about two

Memphis & Arkansas Bridge (Memphis, TN)

Like the expansion of the railroads the previous century, the modernization of the country’s highway infrastructure in the early and mid 20th Century required the construction of new landmark bridges along the lower Mississippi River (and nation-wide for that matter) that would facilitate the expected growth in overall traffic demand in ensuing decades. While this new movement had been anticipated to some extent in the Memphis area with the design of the Harahan Bridge, neither it nor its neighbor the older Frisco Bridge were capable of accommodating the sharp rise in the popularity and demand of the automobile as a mode of cross-river transportation during the Great Depression. As was the case 30 years prior, the solution in the 1940s was to construct a new bridge in the same general location as its predecessors, only this time the bridge would be the first built exclusively for vehicle traffic. This bridge, the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge, was completed in 1949 and was the third

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