Gribblenation

Pittsboro, like the rest of Chatham County, is growing.  As a result, heavier truck traffic along US 15/501 through Downtown Pittsboro has led local leadership to ask NCDOT to move US 15/501 as the North/South route through downtown.   Instead, US 15/501 will be routed along NC 87 North and west of Downtown Pittsboro to the US 64 Bypass.  At the Bypass, 15/501 will head briefly east on US 64 to pick up 15/501's regular route North towards Chapel Hill and Durham. But this is just temporary.  Just east of Downtown Pittsboro, the Chatham Parkway is being completed.  When that road is finished, US 15/501 will move to the new road and serve as an eastern bypass for North/South traffic around Pittsboro. NC 902 has been truncated slightly to end at NC 87.  There is no change to Business US 64, as that will continue to travel through Downtown Pittsboro along West and East Streets. NCDOT has now signed the changes around Pittsboro.  Tracy Snead, a friend o...

The Teilman Bridge is a semi-abandoned structure over Fresno Slough west of Burrell siding near the intersection of Elkhorn Avenue and Elkhorn Grade.  This structure is the only known Concrete Pony Truss Bridge constructed in California and was designed by Ingvart Teilman.  Teilman's Bridge would open in late 1915 when the Elkhorn Grade was the primary road between Fresno and Coalinga.  The structure would be replaced in 1991 but was left standing as it carries pipelines over Fresno Slough.  Part 1; the history of the Teilman Bridge In the early Twentieth Century the most direct highway between Fresno and Coalinga followed the Elkhorn Grade.  The Elkhorn Grade began at Fresno Slough a short distance west of Burrell siding.  From Fresno Slough the Elkhorn Grade followed a generally southwestern course through San Joaquin Valley into the Kettleman Hills towards Coalinga.   The Elkhorn Grade can be seen on the  1914 C.F. Weber map of Fresno Coun...

Blackie Road is an approximately five-mile highway located in Monterey County.  The corridor originates at US Route 101 in Prunedale and terminates to the west at California State Route 183 in Castroville.  Blackie Road was the original road which connected the communities of Castroville and Prunedale.  The corridor was bypassed in 1933 when Legislative Route 22 was extended from Prunedale west Castroville via San Miguel Canyon Road and Castroville Boulevard.  Part 1; the history of Blackie Road Blackie Road is the original highway corridor which served as the connection between Prunedale and Castroville.  The corridor can be seen east of Castroville extending to the future site of Prunedale at San Miguel Canyon on the 1882 Bancroft's map of California .   Castroville was founded in 1863 off of land that was part of Rancho Bolsa Nueva y Moro Cojo.  Castroville would gain importance when it became a siding of the Southern Pacific Railroad during th...