One more for the Road:

[jrittenhouse]

Various information sources for people who are mapping / road folks:

• Future Interstates and Potential Interstate Corridors Like with the little old lady that the boy scout insisted on taking across the street, whether she wanted to go or not, these are the plans on the front burner. Or even a little further back. The vast majority of these are

Comments

[marklafon]

Having been over the Appalachian roads I can see why anyone who has seen them would want to either improve them or forget them. However, given the shrinking population in the mountains I do question the wisdom of improving many of the roadways. All it would do is let people go past the area faster. It might help develop tourism but one of the big aspects of tourism, especially in WV, is the appeal of the remoteness. Nothing quite like driving a back road and seeing no sign of people, except the road, for miles while dealing with the curves, falling rocks, and the distinct chance of hitting a large critter like a deer or bear.

[astro_not1]

In the Nashville area, they decided to extend the metropolitan area to the south by building an expressway linking I40 on the east side with I40 on the west side, way out of town south of Murfreesboro. Ostensibly, this will allow major truck traffic going along I40 (or transitioning south on I24 - yes, I know the signs say east at that point, but I24 runs much more north-south than it does east-west along its entire length) to avoid going through Nashville proper. Good news for hazmat loads, I suppose, until the housing and shopping start springing up at the exits, then between them, especially along the north side of the road.

[whl]

Thanks for the pointers; I'm far enough south of I-22, and recently enough arrived, to not have been following the issues involved. Clearly, I have some reading to do

[whl]

Ok, this explains the plans for I-69, and shows I wasn't thinking big enough. Texas to Port Huron, via Memphis and Indianapolis with a new Mississippi river bridge at Rosedale, and a new Ohio river bridge. And it should connect to the I-155 bridge, and I-24 in northern Kentucky.

From a purely connectivity standpoint, that all sounds good.

The total overview is here if anyone is interested.