Throwback Thursday - January 4, 2018

This week's edition of Throwback Thursday brings us to the Canadian Maritimes. In September 2008, I first stepped foot on the shores of Nova Scotia (a place I wanted to visit ever since I was a young lad) after taking a ferry from Portland, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. On this photo taken while walking around Yarmouth, I encountered some of the different types of road signs that you'll find within the province. The route shields that look similar to U.S. route shields are for Nova Scotia Trunk Routes 1 and 3, which are provincial highways. the NS 101 and NS 103 shields are for highways that are more similar to the Eisenhower Interstate System in the U.S., although Nova Scotia includes a mix of freeways and other limited access highways.

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Long closed California State Route 39 at Islip Saddle

Back in 2016 I visited the long closed segment of California State Route 39 in the Islip Saddle of the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County.

Islip Saddle is a mountain pass in the San Gabriel Mountains located at 6,680 feet above sea level. Islip Saddle serves as the junction of CA 2/Angeles Crest Highway at the north terminus of CA 39/San Gabriel Canyon Road. While the junction of CA 2/CA 39 unto itself is noteworthy due to the striking views from Islip Saddle southward through San Gabriel Canyon it has been become far more known for the long standing closure on the latter route since 1978.

CA 39 was one of the original 1934 State Highways and was made up of Legislative Route Number 171 south of what was US Route 101 in Buena Park and LRN 62 north of it. In the case of LRN 62 it was created during the 1919 Third State Highway Bond Act. The original legislative definition of LRN 62 had it running north from Azuza to Pine Flats in the San Gabriel Mountains to LRN 61 (which b…

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…

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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