Wednesday, December 26, 2007

US 50 Coast to Coast needs help

Wulf Berg of US 50 Coast to Coast Received the following question and requested help answering it. While it is not in our section, somebody may know something. If so please contact Wulf Burg via E@mail.

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Dear Wulf,

And a Merry Christmas to you all, too!

I have a question about Route 50. Do you know anything about the newer stretch between eas tof Lebanon, IL and Illinois 127 at Carlyle, Illinois? That seems to have been planned as a 4-lane stretch. There are interchanges for towns, as Trenton and Breese with short 4-lane stretches. There are at least three "ghost" bridges across streams for a never-completed 4-lane alignment. It appears thatmay ha been aborted when I-64 was completed. US 460as decommissioned in 1977 or so.It shared alignment with Illinois 15 from near E. St. Louis to Mt. Vernon, then is now Illinois 142 to Mcleansbrro and then Illinois 14 to New Harmony, IN, across the Wabash toll bridge to New Harmony, thence Indiana 66.

There were some earlier attempts of 4-laneing US 50 east of Salem, around Xenia, Olney, and Lawreceville. Parts of old U. S. 50 are now Illinois 250. The freeway stretch between Lawrenceville and Vincennes was an early alignment of I-64. Then, they decided to move it south to be nearer at Evansville IN, which has spur I-164, and a proposes extension of I-69.

George Richard "Rick" Carlisle, Jr.

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