Flickr 888 Trip - Old NC 75

The photo hosting site Flickr coined Friday, August 8 as another 24 hours of flickr day. And using it as an excuse to take some photos, I headed out after work yesterday to take some pictures. I had a few ideas in mind, but I decided to check out Old NC 75 aka Old Oxford Highway which were predecessors to US 15 in the area.

I'm glad I decided on this trip, and you'll see why soon.

For the entire photo set (71 in total) , head over to flickr.

I picked up the Old Oxford Highway from Business US 501 north of Durham. Old Oxford Highway is well marked, and there's reference to Historic Stagville as well. Once you turn onto Old Oxford Highway just follow it all the way to Oxford, it changes names to Old NC 75 once entering Granville County.

Not long into the journey, I had my first photo opportunity. An old Country Store just outside of the Durham City Limits.

I have a feeling fellow Surewhynoter, C.C. Slater, will enjoy that picture. This was the photo I used for the Flickr 888 Pool. (You were only allowed to enter one photo into the pool.)

Now the big surprised happened a number of miles later, the highway crossed a small creek and I looked to my left to see an old Pony Truss Bridge. The bridge is excellent shape, it's blocked off but easily accessible, and I spent a good 15-20 minutes there taking photos.

Next was a small stop in Stem. It is possible that Old NC 75 diverted briefly into Stem along Tally Ho Road and then Church St.

That folks is Downtown Stem on Tally Ho Road. Old NC 75 is about a 1/4 mile to the left over the railroad tracks.

I've never seen North/South signs for secondary roads and street blades done like this in North Carolina until this trip.

Later in the small community of Providence were a few examples of why I roadgeek and why I like the small backroad trips the most.

You don't find backdrops like those on the Interstate.

Finally, on my way home on US 15 from Oxford to NC 50 in Creedmoor. I grabbed a quick shot of this US 15/Jefferson Davis Highway shield. It appears that the Jefferson Davis Highway signs only appear on US 15 north of its split with US 501 in Durham. Or can they be spotted elsewhere?

Overall this trip took slightly more than two hours for all of 75 miles. However, what I saw and found over the two hours is almost always more than you can find on your run of the mill Interstate during the same time period.

Paper Highways: The Unbuilt New Orleans Bypass (Proposed I-410)

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Hernando de Soto Bridge (Memphis, TN)

The newest of the bridges that span the lower Mississippi River at Memphis, the Hernando de Soto Bridge was completed in 1973 and carries Interstate 40 between downtown Memphis and West Memphis, AR. The bridge’s signature M-shaped superstructure makes it an instantly recognizable landmark in the city and one of the most visually unique bridges on the Mississippi River. As early as 1953, Memphis city planners recommended the construction of a second highway bridge across the Mississippi River to connect the city with West Memphis, AR. The Memphis & Arkansas Bridge had been completed only four years earlier a couple miles downriver from downtown, however it was expected that long-term growth in the metro area would warrant the construction of an additional bridge, the fourth crossing of the Mississippi River to be built at Memphis, in the not-too-distant future. Unlike the previous three Mississippi River bridges to be built the city, the location chosen for this bridge was about two

Huey P. Long Bridge (New Orleans, LA)

Located on the lower Mississippi River a few miles west of New Orleans, the Huey P. Long Bridge is an enormous steel truss bridge that carries both road and rail traffic on an old-time structure that is a fascinating example of a bridge that has evolved in recent years to meet the traffic and safety demands of modern times. While officially located in suburban Jefferson Parish near the unincorporated community of Bridge City, this bridge’s location is most often associated with New Orleans, given that it’s the largest and most recognizable incorporated population center in the nearby vicinity. For this reason, this blog article considers the bridge’s location to be in New Orleans, even though this isn’t 100% geographically correct. Completed in 1935 as the first bridge across the Mississippi River in Louisiana and the first to be built in the New Orleans area, this bridge is one of two bridges on the Mississippi named for Huey P. Long, a Louisiana politician who served as the 40th Gove

Bob Malme said…

There were several 'Jefferson Davis Highway' signs at one time along the 15-501 bypass after the Morreene Road, NC 751 and Cornwallis Road interchanges when I first drove the road in the early 1990s. When new signs were put up along the entire route and exit numbers added in the mid-90's the highway name plates disappeared in favor of the 'To I-40' or 'To I-85' signs. The one remaining sign was northbound following the NC 751 exit where the old 15-501 assembly was not removed. While the assembly is still there, the JDH sign disappeared from underneath it about 1-2 years ago.

5:37 PM

Anonymous said…

They're probably not there anymore, but there were definitely some Jefferson Davis Highway signs on Columbia Street in Chapel Hill (which was US 15/501 Business at the time) when I was in college.

6:33 PM

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