Jonesin' for a Roadtrip 2
I wake up and the first thing I think of is "I have to get out of the Springs for a while!" Sounds like a roadtrip to me. Grab the camera, fill up the car, and let's get going. On my last trip north, I noticed some great things to get pics of but ran out of daylight. That won't be a problem this time! The pics for this trip start up right where that last trip left off.
From where we were...
Alright, here we go. I've just exited I-76 onto Brighton Blvd., which is where the pictures from the last trip left off. Let's continue, shall we?
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Anyone else find it ironic that the shot-up speed limit sign is right under (well, almost) the Combined Court Adopt-a-highway sign?
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Due to the fact the Brighton area is one of the fastest-growing "exurbs" of Denver, lots of money is being dropped into road improvements. Here is one example of this.
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Redundancy: the art of being redundant.
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That worker is a lot braver than I would be considering that lane is still open to traffic.
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A little bit of overkill on the lights, dontcha think? Also a great shot of Longs Peak and the rest of Rocky Mountain National Park.
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One for the WTF? page! Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this literally mean the left lane becomes the right lane, the existing right lane ends, and a new left lane begins? I'm just sayin'.
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Approaching a construction site. Nice add-on for the word Bromley. Probably a remnant from an earlier project.
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Man, they're not kidding about this construction.
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Aahhh, road widening at its finest. Good thing, too. The current road is severely overwhelmed.
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Bouncing over railroad tracks on our way to the intersection of US 85.
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This warning, albeit not on a standard-sized sign, is quite important. Too bad the numbnuts in front of me didn't understand it.
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Now heading north on 85, the first interchange we encounter is SH 7. I hear there's a good roundabout complex here: let's check it out.
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Yup, a good complex intersection. Interesting this is all on LWS's.
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I love those arrows!
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The camera is level here: the roundabout was built on a slope.
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The first "exit" from the eastern roundabout. I like the european style arrow signs. This isn't our first glimpse of this style sign, either.
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The eastern roundabout even has a mini-frontage road in its northeast quadrant.
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Hmmm. I think I see the downfall to using a white shield on a white sign.
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Now exiting to go west on SH 7.
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After heading under US 85, we hit the western roundabout.
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We're going to continue on SH 7 and double back.
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That 7 is a little off-center there!
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Turning onto a local street in order to turn around, I caught this old specimen.
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Speaking of old. Also spotted in the local streets.
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Sign rot, anyone? This section was full of old signs, including a rectangular yellow "Slow: children" sign whose shot didn't come out.
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Back to the roundabout complex, this time approaching it from the west.
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The first exit from the western roundabout.
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Mid-complex diagrammatic showing what happens after the bridge.
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Approaching the eastern roundabout: I've never seen the white-on-red arrows at a yield sign before today.
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Now on the onramp to NB 85. That merge is from the mini-frontage road we saw a few pics back.
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Hmmm. Seems to me that the WCR (Weld County Road) 2 sign gets easily hidden by the closer light pole.
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The first distance sign we see headed north on US 85.
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Yeah! Fasten them belts!
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The county roads up here are spaced about 1/2 mile apart. N/S roads have odd numbers and E/W roads have even numbers. When there's need for a county road that lies between the grid, they get 1/2 numbers, as seen here.
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The next town we approach is Fort Lupton, home of someone, I'd bet.
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Just when you thought 85 was about to be upgraded to a limited-access freeway, we get a driveway. Hate to try to back out of that!
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Just after the Bus 85/SH 52 exit lies this graceful curve. This looks even better in the summer. The South Platte River is just off of our west side of the road.
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The signal is where Bus 85 rejoins 85. It's also where quite a few people get pulled over, too, since the speed limit drops from 65 to 50 for this intersection.
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That's a really new sign. The old "Truck Entrance" sign can be seen in the background.
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Approaching Platteville, where a weigh station greets truckers.
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I've driven this road a countless number of times (having been to college in Greeley), and I can never remember a time where this weigh station was open. (This helpful tip to truckers brought to you by r-dub.)
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Also note the weigh station lives in the median of US 85.
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Approaching the weigh station.
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This is one old weigh station. No cool amenities here, except for the museum to the north, which we'll get into on the next page.
- Where to next?
- This trip's Index
- Page 2
Section Links
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with any of the orginizations listed within this site. I'm just a bored roadgeek with way too much time on his hands. All of the picts in this page are mine and mine alone unless otherwise noted. Remember, kids: stealing is bad, mmmm-k? I get quite pissy if things are taken without telling me. I don't like to be pissy. You won't like it either. If you want to link to this page, that's fine. Please shoot me an email beforehand so I can link to your page as well. K? Thanks. --Ryan
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