Showing posts with label road and highway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label road and highway. Show all posts

Monday, October 12, 2026

A floating World War Two roadway of the type used during the D-Day landings as a portable harbor wall, to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944, has been unveiled following preservation works,



Associated British Ports (ABP) used cranes to lift the structure, known as a whale, from Town Quay in Southampton last year after it had spent decades partially submerged.

The unveiling of a plaque at its new home outside Solent Gateway at Marchwood, Hampshire, was carried out by the Lord-Lieutenant for the county, Nigel Atkinson, with the local MP, local council leaders and veterans in attendance.

Mulberry Harbours, as they were known, were built in the UK and used overseas to help transfer Allied troops and equipment as they began the liberation of France.

Port director Richard Parkinson said: "The Mulberry Harbour was a brilliant piece of British engineering in the Second World War to create the harbour that enabled Operation Overlord and the D-Day landings.

"It was absolutely a battle-winning, innovative British engineering invention."

The whale is one of only two known surviving examples in England that are not submerged.





They were designed in 1942, then built in under a year in great secrecy; within hours of the Allies creating beachheads after D-Day, sections of the two prefabricated harbours were towed across the English Channel from southern England and placed in position off Omaha Beach (Mulberry "A") and Gold Beach (Mulberry "B"), along with old ships to be sunk as breakwaters.

The Mulberry harbours solved the problem of needing deepwater jetties and a harbour to provide the invasion force with the necessary reinforcements and supplies, and were to be used until major French ports could be captured and brought back into use after repair of the inevitable sabotage by German defenders. Composed of floating but sinkable breakwaters, floating pontoons, piers and floating roadways, this innovative and technically difficult system was being used for the first time.

The Mulberry B harbour at Gold Beach was used for ten months after D-Day, while over two million men, four million tons of supplies and half a million vehicles were landed before it was fully decommissioned. The partially completed Mulberry A harbour at Omaha Beach was damaged on 19 June by a violent storm that arrived from the northeast before the pontoons were securely anchored.

Saturday, September 05, 2026

truly old roads from before Alabama was a state, there were at least four early roads that converged near Ardmore


their routes are highlighted here on a detail of the Limestone County 1914 Soil Survey Map. 

With the exception of the Mooresville Road, there's little reason to doubt the other three were viewed and marked along ancient trails, mostly established by animals following the paths of least resistance between their intended destinations.

 Along the right-hand edge of this image would have been a significant ancient trail that had fallen out of use long before 1815, but is likely picked up by the Elkton Road (green line).

 The earliest survey found that may have been of that road is from 1802, when Col Thomas Butler was commissioned to nominate a route for the first federal commerce highway, and he followed a "road no longer in use", starting about the intersection of today's Page Road and Post Road in Belle Meade, southwest of Nashville, passing through here, and ending at a ford on the Tennessee River, probably near the mouth of Indian Creek.

Thursday, August 06, 2026

New research shows that mountain lion/cougar/puma often steer deer populations away from human roads.

Biologists studied puma and deer populations living in the Pacific Northwest. They found that areas that had a greater puma presence tended to have fewer deer-vehicle collisions.

“On the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, deer alter their use of both space and time where pumas are present, overlapping less with roads and reducing activity at night, when some of the most dangerous collisions occur,” Suraci said.

Their findings, published Thursday in Current Biology, also provide some insight into how exactly pumas are causing less car accidents.

Sunday, May 10, 2026

the "Old Brick Road", found deep in the scrub forest of Flagler County.


This nine-mile stretch of brick road that looks like it belongs in another century...because it does! Locally known as the "Old Brick Road," this bumpy, red-brick path was part of the original Dixie Highway, a massive 1915 project meant to connect Chicago all the way to Miami.

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, has rolled out what it calls India’s first “table top red marking” on a highway as part of a 3 pronged method to reduce vehicles colliding with animals


At the heart of the idea is a 0.2 -inch thermoplastic red surface layer placed across a 2.0-kilometer danger zone. Officials say the bright red color and the slightly raised feel are meant to alert drivers and “naturally” bring speeds down without harsh braking.

A change in pavement texture can make you lift your foot off the gas before you consciously decide to.

NHAI is leaning into that psychology. It says the raised red surfacing provides mild tactile and audible feedback, with lower noise than conventional rumble strips

the markings are paired with 25 dedicated animal underpasses placed along the 7.4-mile corridor at identified movement locations.

The press release also describes continuous chain-link fencing along both sides of the highway, designed to prevent animals from entering the roadway and to guide them toward the underpasses.





https://www.ecoticias.com/en/india-is-inaugurating-its-first-red-road-to-save-wildlife-and-the-trick-is-not-fences-or-speed-cameras-but-a-surface-that-forces-drivers-to-slow-down-almost-without-realizing-it/30825/

Wednesday, April 01, 2026

a court has concluded the 15-year legal battle over a Caltrans project that aims to modify a stretch of Highway 101 through Richardson Grove State Park.


a three-judge panel in California’s First District Court of Appeal affirmed a lower court’s decision to reject the latest lawsuit from conservation groups that challenged the project’s compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The Richardson Grove Improvement Project, as Caltrans has dubbed it, will modify an approximately one-mile stretch of Highway 101 as it wends through the state park’s massive coast redwoods, some of which are more than 200 feet tall and hundreds of years old.

Caltrans describes the work as “minor adjustments” that are necessary to improve traffic safety and accommodate industry-standard-sized semi trucks that are currently prohibited from passing through this narrow stretch of 101.

Project opponents, on the other hand, argued that both the construction activity and the resulting road realignment could harm the ancient trees — not by removing any of them down but by cutting into their root systems.

A simpler solution? Make the one mile stretch a one lane, one way, and the road is already big enough, in the video they had a cop doing escort duty with lights on to make both lanes clear for the trucker... so, they are used to the idea of it being single vehicle use already, just like narrow country bridges. Put a stop light on either end of the one mile, one way, one lane section, for shifting the direction of traffic flow

Skip the first 40 seconds and it's over at 3:10. The rest of the video is open highway like any other, no cool redwood trunks inches away from the road


Saturday, January 24, 2026

Incredibly rare type of Roman road discovered in Worcester, its only comparatives are in Rome and Pompeii.


The road is believed to have been hidden for nearly 2000 years.

Archaeologists were brought in to establish the authenticity of the cobbled path. The road is constructed with large stones laid in bands, a well-known Roman building technique.

Sunday, January 04, 2026

Sam Cooke sang about the Highways and Byways in the hit song Chain Gang, but I never wondered what a byway was until now


"Byways," the roads that are part of the National Scenic Byways Program,  stunning and storied routes, the roads most-traveled including famous ones like the Blue Ridge Parkway, Route 66, Seward Highway, Big Sur Coast Highway, and Florida Keys Overseas Highway, offer unique scenic, historic, or recreational travel experiences across various states.

To be designated as a National Scenic Byway, a byway must meet the criteria for at least one of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The features contributing to the distinctive characteristics of the corridor’s intrinsic quality are recognized throughout the region and are considered regionally significant.

To be designated as an All-American Road, a byway must meet criteria for at least two intrinsic qualities that are nationally significant and have one-of-a-kind features that do not exist elsewhere. The road or highway must also be considered a "destination unto itself." That is, the road must provide an exceptional traveling experience so recognized by travelers that they would make a drive along the highway a primary reason for their trip.

 If you're looking to make some road trip memories of your own, these scenic byways are among the oldest in the US. 

the Historic National Road Scenic Byway
Dates to between 1811 and 1834 when Thomas Jefferson was in office, and authorized the construction of the road back in 1806. Originally called the Cumberland Road, the highway spanned 620 miles, connecting Cumberland, Maryland, to St. Louis, Missouri, and serving as the main route for settlers moving westward across the US. 

the Historic Columbia River Highway in Oregon with emerald forests, snow-capped mountains, crystal clear lakes, and majestic waterfalls, and some of the country's most enchanting outdoor wonders thrive in the northwestern corner of the US. 

Built between 1913 and 1922, the 74-mile stretch of highway is the oldest in the US, and is still drivable today. Traveling from just outside of Troutdale, it's the gateway to the Columbia River Gorge, whose quaint downtown boasts shops, brews, and eateries – and ends in the state's best-kept secret sun-drenched town, The Dalles. You can drive the whole thing in about an hour

Sunday, December 07, 2025

a road in Motherwell, Scotland made with EcoFlakes, a new asphalt additive made of recycled plastic, will be monitored for the next five years

To roll out a new layer of road, construction crews make asphalt by combining things like gravel and sand with a crude-oil byproduct called bitumen. Intense heat is applied to bind the materials together, and planet-heating gases are released along the way.

In fact, the creation and upkeep of roads accounts for over 12% of those harmful gases globally, according to the World Resources Institute.

However, adding EcoFlakes into the asphalt mixture can cut up to 20% of the related pollution and make the resulting road last longer, the council reported.

That means using the recycled plastic product is a double win. It can enhance the road's quality for drivers while also replacing some of its dirtier oil-based ingredients with a cleaner option.

Sunday, November 23, 2025

I have finally got around to looking up why the roads in my hometown were purplish, not typical gray


The one place in the world that has Kona Dolomite, which, is in the Kona Hills near Marquette, Michigan.


That's about 60 miles from where I grew up

The asphalt in the Yoop used to use the reddish hue crushed rock called Kona Dolomite as aggregate in asphalt.

Most dolomite found throughout the world is gray or white. Kona dolomite is quite colorful and is found nowhere else. Dolomite is a calcium limestone with magnesium added.

Kona Dolomite pink and reddish tones come from iron oxide absorbed during its formation around 2.1 to 2.2 billion years ago.

The use of local stone is common because shipping aggregate is expensive, road color varies depending on the local geology, such as the red roads in Arizona from iron, and copper-rich stone, or the pinkish/reddish roads in parts of Michigan that used Kona Dolomite


Sunday, November 16, 2025

the 66-mile Angeles Crest Highway was built between 1929 and 1956 with the use of prison laborers using 1,000 pounds of dynamite a day


The occasionally deadly highway as a whole is a favorite for motorcycles and speeding sports cars

the highway’s highest point around 7,900 feet, Dawson Saddle, opens up to views of Palmdale and Lancaster to the north and nearly the entirety of the San Gabriel Mountains to the south. 


Saturday, November 15, 2025

An elevated border highway under construction in Tijuana to link the city’s coastal neighborhoods to Tijuana’s airport, allowing drivers to bypass the San Ysidro Port of Entry and busy downtown areas, is now partly open but not 1/2 way completed



This first portion to open will take motorists from the coast to just shy of downtown Tijuana.

Construction began 2 years ago, and it was supposed to be done by now, but the Mexico govt reports it will open in stages

Delays are attributed to issues such as land-ownership disputes, the need to relocate underground utilities, and difficult terrain.

The project is currently targeting a completion date of late 2026.