Clearview...AAH!

The Clearview sign font is spreading throughout the Oklahoma City metro area. Within the past couple weeks, button copy signs on I-235 between I-40 and N. 36th Street have been replaced with Clearview signs. Also, button copy signs on Lake Hefner Parkway (OK 74) between I-44 and OK 3 West (NW Expressway) have also been replaced with Clearview. There are still a few button copy signs around the metro, but most of them are on the I-40 Crosstown section that will be replaced in the next few years. And we all know that when the new I-40 opens that the new signs will probably be in...Clearview. AAH!

Texas County-Collecting Roadtrip & A New Car!

Later today, I will be leaving for Fort Worth, where I will be spending the night before heading out tomorrow for some county collecting in East Texas. The planned route is as follows:

Saturday:

I-30 East -> I-35E North -> Spur 366 East -> U.S. 75 North -> SMU -> U.S. 75 South -> I-45 South -> U.S. 175 East -> U.S. 69 South -> U.S. 59 South -> U.S. 190 West -> TX 19 North to Palestine

New counties: Henderson, Anderson, Cherokee, Angelina, Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity, Houston

Sunday:

TX 19 North -> TX 154 West -> TX 24 South -> I-30 West -> U.S. 380 West -> U.S. 75 North -> U.S. 70 West -> I-35 North to OKC

New counties: Rains, Delta

On this trip, I will collect 10 new counties and will clinch U.S. 175 in its entirety.

This will also be my first trip out-of-state in my brand new 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer ES! I bought it on Wednesday. I do still have the old Lancer (with 176,450 miles on it and counting) but I will be selling it to someone.

And here is the new official car of OKRoads...

ES

OK 34A & OK 34B

OK 34A & OK 34B, 2 short spurs to the towns of Willow & Brinkman, respectively, were supposedly decommissioned several years ago. Yet I just looked in Google Street View, and both of those highways are signed at its respective intersections with U.S. 283/OK 34 with "END" signs! And the shields are the meat cleaver versions. It looks like the "END" signs are the only places were the highways are signed, though. Neither 34A nor 34B are signed from U.S. 283/OK 34. Weird...

Wyoming Trip Announcement

With 99 days left until the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, I am happy to announce the Wyoming Trip! The trip will take place on Memorial Day weekend (May 29-June 1) and will take us to our 44th state, Wyoming. This trip will also have a few sidetrips built in to see some college football stadiums (and also to go to a few extra counties).

Planned trip route: (subject to change)
I-35 North to I-135
I-135 North to U.S. 81
U.S. 81 North to U.S. 136
U.S. 136 East to U.S. 77
U.S. 77 North to I-80
I-80 West to Laramie, WY
I-80 East to I-25
I-25 South to U.S. 36
U.S. 36 West to Boulder
U.S. 36 East to I-25
I-25 South to U.S. 87
U.S. 87 South to I-40
I-40 East to OKC

This will not be the only big trip we will be taking this summer, as we are also planning our first trip to Michigan since May 2003. The dates for that are not set yet, but it will likely be in late June or early-mid July. The route is already planned, but I will hold off on announcing the route until a later date.

ES

Upcoming Short Trips

Today's blog will cover 2 trips I plan to take the next 2 weekends (1 short trip & 1 medium-length trip by OKRoads standards). In my next blog, I will announce a Memorial Day Weekend roadtrip!

Tomorrow night, I will be leaving OKC on a 3-day trip to the Lubbock, TX area for a concert & for county collecting. I will be driving to Weatherford, OK tomorrow night, and then on to Lubbock & Post on Saturday, and then home on Sunday. This will be my 3rd time to be in Lubbock but the first time I have been there since April 2006, when I was there on two consecutive days. (On a related note, it seems like I only go to Lubbock every 4 years because the 1st time I went there was in July 2002)

Route:
Friday & Saturday:
I-40 West to I-27
I-27 South to Loop 289
Loop 289 East to U.S. 84
U.S. 84 East to Post
U.S. 84 West to Lubbock

Sunday:
U.S. 82 East to TX 6 (including Marsha Sharp Freeway)
TX 6 North to U.S. 287
U.S. 287 South to U.S. 283
U.S. 283 North to OK 6
OK 6 North to I-40
I-40 East to OKC

The new counties that will be collected this weekend are all in Texas, and they are Lynn, Garza, Dickens, King, and Foard counties.

On Sunday 2/28, I plan on taking a trip to Clinton, OK for another concert. This trip will just be along I-40, but if I have time, I may cover other roads in the area. Of course, this is weather permitting.

Next blog: Wyoming Trip announcement!

ES

Fictional Interstate 140

The 2nd fictional highway I have created is Interstate 140. Interstate 140 would be 45.2 miles and span from I-40 & the Muskogee Turnpike to OK 112 northeast of Poteau.

Map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=114889200168569772209.00047f36a8c70bc859f91&z=10

Sign Examples:

EB - http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157623395824432/

WB - http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157623280421087/

Exits:

• Exits 1A-B - Interstate 40 - Ft Smith/Okla City - Cloverleaf with c/d lanes
• Exit 5 - E1100 Rd - Simms - diamond
• Exit 12 - Tamaha Rd - Garland - diamond
• Exit 18 - OK 9 - diamond
• Exit 24 - OK 26 - diamond
• Exit 29 - OK 31 - diamond
• Exit 36 - Calhoun - diamond
• Exit 43 - U.S. 59/U.S. 271 - SPUI
• Exits 45A-B - OK 112 - trumpet

Speed limit: 70 mph

Lanes: 4 lanes (2 EB, 2 WB)

My next fictional highway idea is Interstate 38. Interstate 38 would connect Interstate 27 in Lubbock, TX, to Interstate 30 in Hope, AR, via Altus, Lawton, Duncan, Ardmore, Hugo, and Ashdown. There would also be an Interstate 238 (a legitimate one at that) that would connect I-38 near Vernon to I-44 in Wichita Falls along the U.S. 287 corridor.

ES

Fictional Highways

First, I have finished writing captions from last weekend's trip to NE Oklahoma.

Second, I have created a new collection on the OKRoads Flickr page. This collection is called Fictional Highways, and will, you guessed it, be about fictional highways that come to my mind for one reason or another.

The first highway I have created is Interstate 344. Fictional Interstate 344 runs along OK 3 from U.S. 81 to OK 74, then NW Expressway (former OK 3A) from OK 74 to Interstate 44. It is about 27 miles long. This interstate would ease the traffic woes that plague NW Expressway at most hours of the day and would separate long-distance travel from short-distance travel.

I used Kurumi's SignMaker (located at http://www.kurumi.com/roads/signmaker/signmaker.html) to create these signs. SignMaker does use the old circle shields for state highways, and it doesn't use Clearview (which is what new Oklahoma signs would use, but I prefer the old font anyway), but otherwise, these are what I propose the signs to look like.

Interstate 344 East - http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157623394410424/

Interstate 344 West - http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157623394415396/

Exit list (with proposed interchange type & other notes)

Exit 1 – U.S. 81 South – Concho/El Reno (mm 0.0) - currently a trumpet interchange & would stay the same

Exit 2 – Alfadale Rd (mm 2.2) - there isn't much between U.S. 81 & OK 4, but I didn't want there to be 13 miles between exits. This would be a simple diamond. Plus, this would probably be the only exit in the country with the word "Alfadale" on it.

Exit 8 – NW 164^th St – Piedmont (mm 8.4) - this would provide access for eastbound travelers to downtown Piedmont without using OK 4. Piedmont would not be signed on westbound because motorists would exit at OK 4. Another diamond interchange.

Exit 11 – Frisco Rd (mm 11.2) - another exit that could provide access to Piedmont. Diamond.

Exit 13 – OK 4 – Yukon/Piedmont (mm 13.4) - SPUI due to anticipated growth in this area

Exit 14 – Mustang Rd (mm 14.6) - diamond

Exit 16A – Hefner Rd WB/Morgan Rd (mm 16.5) - diamond, some ramps would be weaved with the ramps for Exit 16B...

Exit 16B – Kilpatrick Turnpike (mm 16.7) - stack interchange

Exit 17 – Hefner Rd EB (mm 17.2) – EB only - Y-interchange inside the Kilpatrick Stack

Exit 18 – County Line Rd (mm 18.0) - Diamond

Exit 19 – Council Rd/Britton Rd (mm 19.1) - Diamond

Exit 20 – Rockwell Ave (mm 20.3) - Diamond

Exit 21A – Wilshire Blvd (mm 21.2) - Diamond

Exit 21B – MacArthur Blvd (mm 21.5) - Diamond

Exit 22 – Meridian Ave/Lake Hefner (mm 22.7) - Diamond

Exit 23A – N.W. 63^rd St (mm 23.3) - Diamond

Exit 23B – Portland Ave (mm 23.8) - Diamond

Exit 24A – OK 3 East/OK 74 (mm 24.1) - Stack

Exit 24B – Independence Ave/Baptist Medical Center (mm 24.4) - Diamond

Exit 25 – May Ave (mm 24.9) - SPUI

Exit 26A – Penn Ave/Penn Square Mall (mm 26.0) - SPUI

Exit 26B – Classen Blvd (mm 26.8) - SPUI

Other notes:

• Frontage roads would be built between Exit 18 (County Line) and Exit 24B (Independence)
• Texas turnarounds would be built for all interchanges between Exit 18 & Exit 24B (except for the Exit 24A stack)
• The freeway would be 4 lanes (2+2) between U.S. 81 & Kilpatrick Turnpike, and 6 lanes (3+3) from the Kilpatrick to I-44