mobilene Posted February 18, 2008 Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 (edited) I drove to Madison yesterday and back. It was a nice trip, and a pretty good day to be on the road. I also had a couple excellent travel companions. I followed Chris Rowland's Madison State Road directions on the way down. That was an excellent drive. I loved the old-alignmentyness of it. There was even a short one-lane segment. I drove the Michigan Road home. It is extremely twisty and hilly in Madison. Here's video. Michigan Road, Madison Here's a postcard image of what this stretch looked like back in the mid 1940s, when this was State Road 29. But north of there it ranges from typical Indiana country road, to minor US highway, to Interstate (as a couple miles of the old road are buried under I-74). I didn't take my usual volume of photos and I don't plan to write this one up -- this trip was for pleasure and to see how the dogs would do on a long car ride. I learned that it's important to bathe the dogs beforehand. I'll make the trip again on a nicer day and give it my usual treatment. But I did find two old 1800s one-lane bridges on the route, both on sections bypassed by US 421, that I had to share. I live about a half mile off the Michigan Road and it was very cool to drive ONE road all the way home from the Ohio River! jim Edited February 18, 2008 by mobilene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Rowland Posted February 18, 2008 Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 I followed Chris Rowland's Madison State Road directions on the way down. That was an excellent drive. I loved the old-alignmentyness of it. There was even a short one-lane segment. I drove the Michigan Road home. It is extremely twisty and hilly in Madison. Here's video. jim Jim, I'm glad my directions didn't get you lost. It was kind of fun to make them as much like the old ABB-style as possible. It would be awesome to have modern turn-by-turn directions of many of the old highways available on-line someday. It says your video is a private clip, so I wasn't able to see that awesome hill. I was wanting myself to stop somewhere and get a photo along that hill, but I couldn't find a good place to pull over at the time. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keep the Show on the Road! Posted February 18, 2008 Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 It says your video is a private clip, so I wasn't able to see that awesome hill. I was wanting myself to stop somewhere and get a photo along that hill, but I couldn't find a good place to pull over at the time. Chris Jim, Chris is right...you need to change the video to "public." Those two look like great dogs! 'Ol Bo was all excited! Loved the bridges. You guys have it all! I went to the mid $70's on the 1911 Scarborough, but there is another Hoosier out there who loved it more! Keep the Show on the Road! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobilene Posted February 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 Whoops! Video is now public. I was willing to go $40 on that 1911 Scarborough, but not to $78 or whatever it went for. That bidder has won a large number of Indiana maps and isn't afraid to spend the bucks on them. There WAS no good place to pull over on the Michigan Road hill. I parked my car when I reached the top and then walked back down to take photos of the one cut with the limestone. Yeah, that was safe. Anyway, the water that runs down the limestone had frozen and it looked really neat. Unfortunately, my blasted camera was acting up and the shot at the best angle was messed up. I think my favorite part of the Madison State Road trip was the Friendship Road (Drive?) segment where it disappeared under the fill of US 31. Was Friendship Rd/Dr ever part of US 31 or old SR1? I'll bet that 1911 Scarborough could have told us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Rowland Posted February 18, 2008 Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 (edited) I think my favorite part of the Madison State Road trip was the Friendship Road (Drive?) segment where it disappeared under the fill of US 31. Was Friendship Rd/Dr ever part of US 31 or old SR1? I'll bet that 1911 Scarborough could have told us. I partially used KTSOTR's 1916 Scarborough instructions, but the routing around Taylorsville is very confusing. I think Friendship Drive is newer than that time period. I thought the curious part about that road was that right before its southern terminus at 600N and US-31, it is carried over a bridge that is twice as wide as the road. Did you notice the width of that bridge? My thought is that the bridge was built that size to carry US31, but after the bridge was built they decided to bypass Taylorsville altogether. I believe that what the 1916 Scarborough actually describes is that what is labeled "Tecumseh Street" in Taylorsville actually continued due south along the section line to 600N and then turned east back to the tracks. Here's what it says approaching Taylorsville: "15.5 Taylorsville. Main part of town just ahead. Turn right (south) [My guess is that this would be turning right on Tecumseh from 650N]. 16.0 Turn left (east) [i think this is turning left onto 600N since it's .5 miles later] 16.1 Turn right (south). Railroad and trolley on left. Parallel same 2.6 miles. [This would be about where Friendship Road gets buried under US-31. Chris Edited February 18, 2008 by Chris Rowland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobilene Posted February 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 Oh yes, I absolutely noticed how wide that little bridge/culvert was. Here's where Friendship Drive goes under the fill for US 31. This little speck of road looks for all the world like the kind of road the state used to build and sign as State Road. jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennyG Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Good stuff. Especially liked the bridges. I'll have to check those out myself some day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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