Street signs on an Interstate? No way!

There's a little known secret to Interstate 40 in North Carolina. In the western part of the state within the mountainous Haywood County, there are a few 'at-grade' intersections with I-40. These 'T' intersections are with a handful of dirt National Forest roads within Pisgah National Forest.

Now, for years these roads were not marked. All you would see is a stop sign on the shoulder of the highway and a few do not enter signs as you saw a dirt road head into the forest. Well now at most of these 'crossings' there are now street sign blades. A few weeks prior to my trip to Nashville there was a comment in one of the transportation forums I frequent that said street signs existed for the at-grade Pisgah Forest roads on I-40. Well, knowing that I had my camera ready. And although they are a bit blurry, I did fetch me an example of these street signs on I-40.

The sign is for Hurricane Creek Road. (click image to enlarge) This one sneaks up on you.



Another for Walters Dam Road - like Hurricane Creek it doesn't have any advance warning - but it does have a few 'One Way' and 'Do Not Enter' signs. On the way back from Nashville, I did catch someone turning off I-40 East onto one of the Forest Roads...so they do have some traffic.

Anyone know more about these roads? I've heard they are for access to help fight any possible forest fires, etc. They are certainly worth exploring sometime.