Gribblenation

I'm back with my annual review of what happened the past year with North Carolina's Favorite(?) Interstates, I-73 and I-74, and with other interstate routes proposed and/or under construction. Needless to say, 2020 was a difficult year. The Covid-19 pandemic had its effects on road construction too. NCDOT seeing a decline in its gas tax revenues put a hold on all future projects in the spring. In the fall the 2020-2029 State TIP was revised, restoring funding for some future projects, but also delaying or postponing many more. In my summary by route I'll discuss what was planned at the beginning of 2020 and where things stand at the end of the year. Was a very quiet year for I-73. No additions to the route, but a couple construction projects for future routings. In Richmond County work on the I-73/I-74 Richmond Bypass continued. Substantial clearing for the future interchange with the US 74 Rockingham Bypass was seen, as here in May, photo by Tracy Hamm: As of November 30, ...

  We want to thank our fans and readers of Gribblenation for your support during the past year. 2020 has been a challenging year for most. While not everything we hoped to see or travel to went as planned, we made the most of it and still have a lot of fun exploring and sharing our stories with you. Thank you for your continued support of our blog , our Facebook page (now with over 2000 likes!) and our Instagram account . It has been a great 2020, with such things like the recent addition of a new columnist Dan Murphy, who also runs the popular roadwaywiz channel on YouTube, learning about possible alternate routes for I-77 in Closing the Gap - How Interstate 77 in North Carolina and Virginia Came To Be , visited the glorified highway stopover in Breezewood, Pennsylvania , checking out some great drives in the Sierras, such as Horseshoe Meadows Road; former California State Route 190 and the legacy of the Lone Pine-Porterville High Sierra Road and Onion Valley Road; former Ca...

California State Route 281 exists as a mostly unbuilt State Highway along Soda Bay Road of the southern shore of Clear Lake.  Present California State Route 281 ("CA 281") is a 3 mile State Highway which follows Soda Lake Road northward from CA 29 towards Konocti Bay of Clear Lake.  In terms of scale only 3 of the 17 planned miles of Soda Bay Road have been assumed under Caltrans maintenance as CA 281. The current scale of CA 281 is observable in the Caltrans Post Mile Tool.  The 3 constructed miles of CA 281 appear in the Caltrans Post Mile Tool as Post Mile LAK 14.0-17.0 on Soda Bay Road.  Soda Bay Road northwest to CA 29 more or less is the implied connection of CA 281 beyond State Maintenance. Part 1; the history of California State Route 281 The genesis of CA 281 as a State Highway is somewhat recent having been given a Legislative description in 1970 according to CAhighways.org.  The the definition of CA 281 was given during 1970 Legislative Chap...