GC1KBYE Lost Highways - El Paso (Traditional Cache) in Illinois, United States created by bjstover

This cache has been archived.

bjstover: Moved away and this one is missing.

GC1KBYE ▼

A cache by bjstover Message this owner

Hidden : 1/19/2009

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

The Lost Highways
The Interstate 39 Dead End Cache Series

Before 1984 US-51 was the primary route of travel for motorists traveling north and south from Bloomington to Rockford, IL. Many roads crisscrossed 51 and many small towns flourished along the route. Things soon changed and the roads and small towns were soon cut off from the new Interstate.

This series is a tribute to the roads and towns that are now cut off by Interstate 39.
None of these caches are directly accessible from the highway. Many can be reached with a short 2-3 mile drive off the Interstate.

A sign seen frequently along the roads intersecting I-39/US-51

Interstate 39

Interstate 39 (I-39) runs from Normal, Illinois to Rothschild, Wisconsin. In Illinois, Interstate 39 runs from its southern terminus at Interstate 55 in Normal to the state boarder near South Beloit, a length of 145 miles.

Interstate 39 is primarily used as a long-distance bypass for commercial vehicles around Chicago and was built in the 1980s and 1990s.

Interstate 39 shares part of the longest triple interstate multiplex in the country, where Interstate 39, Interstate 90, and Interstate 94 share pavement between Madison and Portage. This connection forms the 29-mile “triple multiplex” (I-39/90/94) — one of only two triple concurrences on the Interstate system, and by far the longer of the two (I-55/64/70 in St. Louis, MO and East St. Louis, IL is three miles long)

A sign in Wisconsin showing the complexity of the triple multiplex

History of Interstate 39

1984 - Interstate 39 from U.S. 20 near Rockford to Illinois 5 near Rochelle was opened.
1986 - Interstate 39 extended from Illinois 5 to Interstate 80.
December 1987 - the section from Interstate 80 south, across the Illinois River, was opened and its southern terminus was Illinois 251 (old U.S. 51). It was not open from Illinois 251 to Illinois 71. At one mile in length, the bridge is the longest in Illinois. It is named the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge.
Late 1988 - construction began on the interchange with Interstate 55 in Bloomington
Summer of 1990 - Interstate 55 was reconstructed around Normal to handle an additional lane of traffic. The existing interchange of U.S. 51 and Interstate 55 was closed completely and then reconstructed with its present configuration. Bridge work continued for the overpasses between Normal and Oglesby. The section from Oglesby to Normal contains a unique style of overpass construction that allowed for the elimination of the center pier. U.S. 51 was rerouted onto the Interstate 55/74 bypass around Bloomington-Normal, and the main route through town was designated as Business U.S. 51 (AASHTO action taken to establish Business U.S. 51 on June 2, 1990.)
Summer/Fall of 1991 - segments of the new highway were opened south to Illinois 18.
Spring/Summer 1992 - more segments of the road were opened to traffic
Fall 1992 - final segment of Interstate 39 opened, completing the entire freeway from Rockford to Bloomington. Illinois 251 extends on most of the old U.S. 51; some minor rerouting was necessary because the new four-lane highway was built on top of the two-lane road. It is interesting to note that Illinois 251 terminates just north of Normal, while a four-lane "Business U.S. 51" was constructed over the old U.S. 51 for several miles north of Normal. There is a gap of several miles between the two. It is not known why Illinois 251 and Business U.S. 51 were not connected in some manner.

Interstate 39 in Illinois

October 22, 1993 - Interstate 39 extension to Wisconsin approved by AASHTO.
Mid-1995 - rest areas were opened on both sides of Interstate 39 between Rockford and LaSalle (Interstate 80). Prior to this time, "phantom exits" were built to illustrate where the actual ramps would be. Also, before the rest areas opened, "Truck Pull-Off Areas" existed on both sides of the highway several miles north of the rest areas. These are now closed and have since been fenced off to prevent access.
1998-1999 - Interstate 39 extended again, this time into Wisconsin. Signage was placed first on the U.S. 51 freeway from Portage north to Wausau, and co-signage with Interstates 90 and 94 was added thereafter. The 1999 Rand McNally was the first atlas to show Interstate 39 along these routes through Illinois and Wisconsin.
2003-2004 - At the Interstate 39/90 interchange in Rockford (Cherry Valley Interchange), the southbound toll was eliminated in December 2003, and the toll booth was torn down. The northbound toll was eliminated in November 2004, but the toll booth remains.
April 17, 2003 - E.J. 'Zeke' Giorgi Highway designated along Interstate 39 between Interstate 88 (Ronald Reagan East-West Tollway) and the Illinois-Wisconsin State Line. Representative Zeke Giorgi pushed for the construction of Interstate 39 through Northern Illinois.

Heading north along the Eisenhower Interstate System

Interstate 39 has replaced U.S. 51 for almost its entire length, except for the section it shares with Interstate 90 between Rockford and Portage. Interstate 39 is cosigned with at least one other route for its entire length.

It is this replacement that has created the theme and home for each of the caches in this series. When Interstate 39 was built, many existing roads which previously intersected with US-51 had to be cut off and dead ended in order to create the unabridged roadway.

The Cache
The Lost Highways
"El Paso"

This small town of around 2800 sits on the boarder between McLean and Woodford county. El Paso is a small community in Central Illinois that took on more characteristics of a highway community after Interstate 39 was built (U.S. Highway 51, the old major north/south road, was overlapped onto the new Interstate after its construction). In addition, El Paso is a potential stop for Chicago-Peoria traffic via U.S. Highway 24.

For more El Paso, IL history visit the town website at http://www.elpasoil.org/ or their history page with many pictures of old homes at http://www.elpaso.net/~bank/elpasohistory/index.htm It looks like the town took a photo of each and every home in El Paso in 1896 so it is worth looking at.

The cache is a small container which holds a log and something small. Please bring your own writing utensil. You can see a nice view of the road and a sign from this location.

The Lost Highways series...

For those of you looking for a bigger challenge, Take note of any Letters and Numbers you may see on the cache case lid. You may see A1 which means A=1. BC23 would result B=2 C=3. For the final of this series, you will need many of the letter and number combination.

Lost Highways - Final (GC1KENE)

Items you may want to pack while hunting the Lost Highways caches.

Tweezers
Flashlight
Dark Colored Pen
Pencil
Poking/Retrieving stick

The Lost Highways series was inspired by the following dead end caches.

Ziplock Inside (GCT6C0)by GAAK
I Love Jack #3 (GC12YKE)by MutherAndSun
You Can't Go There (GC15GE4)by SORS

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Uneqre va gur fhzzre orpnhfr bs gur cynagf.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

This cache has been archived.

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Lost Highways - El Paso Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

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Geocache Description:

Attributes

Inventory

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