memorial weekend drive-a-round
In assembling my Colorado State Ends section, I realized I was missing some ends (Duh!), most notably in the Arkansas River Valley from the Front Range east. So, since it is the Memorial Day weekend, I thought I'd honor my American right to drive around aimlessly.
Playing in the river
Alright, we're now in the Arkansas River Valley, smack between Pueblo and Cañon City. Let's see what's out here, shall we?
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Between the masked turnoff from the previous page and downtown Florence, 115 is lit.
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A turnoff! I wonder what this could be?
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Why it's an END!! SH 120, to be exact. Let's take that for a while.
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The first reassuarance shield for 120.
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And here's a shot of the first few feet of 120. Looks like we get a chance to get blasted ahead, too.
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That's a cool bridge. One of many we're about to see.
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Going over that bridge from the last pic.
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120 is the original route that US 50 took through the valley. Consequently, there's not a lot of modern conveniences such as shoulders along the entire length of the highway.
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This is also a really bumpy road. My bet is that if you were to shave off a few layers of asphalt, you'd find the original cement roadbed under there.
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Hmm. Trucks turning on a blind corner at the top of a hill on a road with no shoulders. This could prove interesting if it wasn't a holiday weekend.
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After that hill in the last pic lies this scene. We're about to come upon a major cement processing plant.
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All this within two miles! Wow!
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Heading down into the valley.
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Considering this is such a heavy truck road, I'm surprised at this clearance.
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Two older bridges for the price of one!
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Heading under. I wanted to stop and get more pics, but this isn't the best bridge on this road!
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A little closer. There's no sign on that holder on this side of the bridge.
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From within the bridge.
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We pick up a rail line now.
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We're now in what's shown on the maps as Portland. In reality, Portland is the former name of this cement company. Talk about cheep advertising!
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Since it's a cement company town, the streets are is paved with cement and there's snazzy cement pillars along them it.
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As I said before, this used to be the Portland Cement Plant. Now, it's the Holcim Cement Plant. Aahhh, globalization.
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Railroad tracks criss-cross the highway through here.
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This is as close to the trains the r-dub-mobile has ever been. He's kinda afraid of the size of them.
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Blurry due to a bump, I wanted to keep this for the modified One Way sign. Also, we're about to encounter the best bridge on this highway...
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... this one.
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This is an original bridge from the construction of this highway.
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Not to be outdone, the railroad track has a great bridge, too.
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Standing in the middle of the road. Definitely something I couldn't have done if it wasn't a holiday weekend.
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The dedication plaque. The full plaque reads: Colorado State/ Highway Department / Viaduct over/ D. & R. G. W. R. R. & (Denver and Rio Grande Western Rail Road)/ Arkansas River./ Built by/ H.M.Fox, Florence, Colo./ 1926. Happy 80th birthday, bridge!
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Old metal and cement railings. I'll have some more pics from the opposite direction a little laterz.
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Climbing out of the Arkansas Valley now.
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I think that CDOT would be wiser just to put signs up when the bridge isn't narrow on this road: save some bling.
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Same style bridge as the last one. If you look closely, you'll see that the asset tag numbers are also chisled into the bridge abutment.
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Still climbing out of the valley.
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There's still quite a few curves on this road.
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Going through a rock cut. That's an old phone pole sitcking out of the rocks on the left.
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Alright, time to put the bottle away. No more getting blasted. For now.
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There's a lot of little, tight curves on this road. Since this road was built in the '20's, I'm not surprised modern safety standards aren't being followed.
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Another old man bridge.
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SH 120 takes a turn to the left off of the original alignment. Is it me or is something a little off with that arrow sign?
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Going straight keeps you on the original alignment of US 50 and SH 120. Hence the CR 120 name.
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Once you turn, SH 120 is a straight shot to US 50.
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Approaching US 50.
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The eastern END! of SH 120.
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A close-up of the end sign. Turn the page, folks! I go back down 120 and pick up 115 again.
- Where to next?
- Page 1
- This trip's Index
- Page 3
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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