Throwback Thursday - January 18, 2018

This week's Throwback Thursday takes us to La belle province, or Quebec to the lay person. Heading east from Montreal through the Eastern Townships to Sherbrooke is Autoroute 10. At one time, Quebec had blue road signs instead of green road signs along their autoroutes. By the time I visited this part of Quebec in May 2008, the blue signs had been phased out, but there were a few signs that could still be found scattered around the province. So it was a real treat to find this blue Autoroute 10 sign with another blast from the past, an Autoroute des Cantons l'Est shield on QC 112 eastbound near Magog, Quebec.

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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 according to CAhighways.org.

CAh…

California State Route 247

Between 2011 and 2016 I drove the entirety of California State Route 247.

CA 247 is 78 mile north/south State Highway contained entirely within the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County. CA 247 has a southern terminus at CA 62 in Yucca Valley and a north terminus at Interstate 15 in Barstow.

According to CAhighways.org the segment of CA 247 between CA 62 in Yucca Valley along Old Woman Springs Road to CA 18 in Lucerne Valley was part of Legislative Route Number 187. LRN 187 was created by the State Legislature in 1959.

CAhighways.org on LRN 187

LRN 187 first appears as an unbuilt State Highway on the 1960 State Highway Map.

1960 State Highway Map

Old Woman Springs Road certainly ranks as one of the stranger names in the California State Highway system. Surprisingly the story behind the "Old Woman Springs Road: name is somewhat well documented and mundane. The name comes from the Old Woman Springs which was located in the 1850s by Colonel Henry Washington and is located just of…

Interstate 375 in Detroit; a doomed freeway?

Recently while visiting the City of Detroit I drove the entirety of Interstate 375.

I-375 is a short 1.147 mile spur of I-75 in downtown Detroit which connects to the unsigned I-375 Business Spur on Jefferson Avenue. I-375 is the southernmost segment of the Walter P. Chrysler Freeway which carried largely by I-75 in the City of Detroit. Construction of I-375 began in 1959 and the freeway was open to traffic by late 1964 according to michiganhighways.org.

michiganhighways.org on I-375

The average traffic count on I-375 ranges between approximately 14,000 vehicles at Jefferson Avenue and approximately 54,000 vehicles at I-75. The low traffic counts on I-375 has recently led to proposals to put the freeway on a "road diet." In 2013 the Michigan Department of Transportation announced that it may at some point in the future remove I-375. In 2014 MDOT announced six proposals for I-375 which were eventually reduced to only two boulevard alternatives by 2017. In late 2018 a six…

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