New Ross Road
Canon PowerShot S95
2012
You’ll find brick streets still in daily use in some cities. But you won’t find any brick highways still in daily use.
I’ve not surveyed every highway in the nation. But I feel good about going out on that limb.
When you find a brick highway, it will be bypassed or abandoned.
This brick road near New Ross, Indiana, used to be part of the Dixie Highway. That was a network of roads that connected Chicago and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, with Miami. Later, Indiana routed State Road 34 over this road. At some point, probably after a new alignment of this road was built south of those railroad tracks in the upper left corner of the photo, the road became US 136.
In the photo’s foreground, notice the seam where the bricks’ pattern changes. That’s to facilitate a hard turn the road makes here so it can cross those railroad tracks at a right angle.
Eliminating this crossing is why the new highway was built. Providing access to one farm — see the fence on the right? — is why this road wasn’t abandoned.
A bridge was removed from this alignment, however. That’s why a guardrail blocks the road ahead.
See more photos of this brick road here. Map this brick road here.
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