Gribblenation

Back in April 2017 I took a detour down the pre-1942 alignment of California State Route 180 on Dunlap Road in far east Fresno County in the Sierra Nevada Range. Dunlap Road is 13 miles long and connects from modern CA 245 west to CA 180.  At some point between 1940 and 1942 SSR 180 was moved to modern alignment CA 180 takes on the Kings Canyon Highway and SSR 65 was extended north to where the modern northern terminus of CA 245 is now.  The routing for SSR 180 on Dunlap Road and the eventual changes I described can be seen on these maps: 1935 Fresno County Road Map 1938 State Highway Map 1940 State Highway Map 1942 State Highway Map CA 180 would have continued westbound to the right on Dunlap Road in the below picture while CA 65 would have begun on the left. Dunlap Road is significantly more curvy than the modern Kings Canyon Highway to the north which CA 180 now runs on.  There is some evidence of former state maintenance with culverts that had des...

The roads around Pittsburgh International Airport have a lot of history and intrigue.  The growth of the airport and resulting land acquisitions have changed the routing of many roads in Western Allegheny County.  As the airport grew and traffic around the airport increased, the need for new highways would also change the landscape.  Of course, the fact that this is Pittsburgh means there were also plans for roads that never came to be.  Two of these never built highway plans, the Beaver Valley Expressway (BVE) extension and the full-speed connection to the Southern Expressway at Flaugherty Run Road have traces - specifically ghost ramps - of highways that never came to be. Beaver Valley Expressway Extension: Pavement stubs for a never-built extension of the Beaver Valley Expressway that would have bypassed the Greater Pittsburgh International Airport terminal.  (Adam Prince - October 1998) For nearly three decades, this unused piece of roadway along t...

Back in April I took some time to track down the original alignment of Signed State Route 41 in Kings County. Surprisingly the original alignment of SSR 41 iskind of odd with various 90 degree turns and a weird loop through the Kettelman Hills.  The original alignment can be seen here on this 1935 California Division of Highways Map of Kings County: 1935 Kings County Highway Map I didn't take my photos in order but sorted them later on.  The photos start at Elm Avenue at the Fresno County line which is the location of Camden and proceed southward.  Camden is one of the San Joaquin Valley towns that really isn't an inhabited place anymore.  Supposedly Camden had a post office for a couple years in the early 20th century but today there is nothing but a gas station and a couple abandoned houses: 41 ran south on Elm to Excelsior Avenue along the Kings County Line before making right turn to run west.  The original alignment on Excelsior ...