Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Saturday, July 12, 2014

The Big Roads


 
Okay it wasn't fluff or easy summer beach reading but it was interesting.  Historically, culturally, economic and socially interesting.  I'm one of those people who is easily bored with driving our interstate highways.  You see one or what you find next to  an interchange and you've seen them all. And drive from coast to coast and your unlikely to remember one thing you saw or that happened along the way unless perhaps you had a flat tire....  Unless your in a hurry to get from point A to 
point B  without flying. Then it works. Not so incidentally  the interstate freeway system
 changed our country BIG TIME. Swifts book The Big Roads tells how it all happened from the first cars and roads to  the  present and some real surprises along the way.

 As in a basic physical sense, expressways ripped apart American cities. With respect to economics, they moved industrial activity and other businesses from proximity to ports and railroads to interchanges outside cities. As for demographics, they lured middle-class white Americans out of the city and to the suburbs. Love them or hate them it makes for a fascinating story.....

13 comments:

  1. I remember when I5 was built through Oregon in the late 50's, up the middle of the Willamette Valley. The trip from Eugene to Portland took nearly 6 hours prior, after it was just over 2.
    If I'm going to take a road trip, I try to stick to the secondary bypasses, but it's near impossible.

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  2. Hubby and I try to avoid interstates ---but when the trip is done, and Sue wants to go home NOW---well, they serve their purpose. Quick way home, and with bathrooms to boot.
    Looks like an interesting read--will add to my "library list".

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  3. Definitely a major impact on American's lives. My husband and I resolve to use non -interstate roads on vacations. On this last trip we traveled the Blue Ridge Parkway. In our 6th hour of travel we were 60 miles from our starting point. We left the parkway and hit the Interstate.

    A mix of scenic and interstate is fairly typical, but this latest was a record slow, 10 mph!

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  4. I have a love hate with the super highways. People drive like lunatics on them, scenery is nil, but like you said, it can really get you from point A to B in a hurry.

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  5. The interchange makes me dizzy

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  6. I remember the days before I40 was completed from Asheville to Knoxville. The two-lane road meandered around the mountains along the French Broad River. It was beautiful but took forever.

    Unfortunately politics trumped engineering and the cut of the road goes through an unstable area subject to frequent landslides rather than the areas recommended by the engineers. Every year or so the road is closed due to slides.

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  7. Sounds interesting... But when I think of interstates, I have a "love--hate" relationship. I love them when we are getting from Point A to B quickly... BUT--I would much prefer to go on the back roads through all of the little towns IF we have time.

    I feel sorry for the small towns who suffered when the interstates come through --and the towns were no longer near the traffic....Example is Route 66....

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  8. I haven't read this one. I'll have to look into it. I'm getting ready to start The Silver Star.

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  9. I think I have been to that Mc Donalds on the Tollway into Chicago! I like the two lanes roads where I can stop and take photos...not much on the freeways to take photos of:)

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  10. There is nothing worse than riding motorways. It's the same in the UK .... our local mess of motorways is officially known as Spaghetti Junction...can you guess why?

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  11. Now this looks like a good read! When we visited Scotland in May, my husband ended up getting off the motorway and using the smaller roads. Lots more to see and the towns we drove through only had one or two stop lights.

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  12. Very interesting. Thank you for sharing.

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