This report was from the last day of the week I spent at Boy Scout Summer Camp, on June 24, 2007.

Sunday, 6/24 marked the last day of my week-plus-weekends at summer camp plus the trips up and back. I started the day in Jesup, GA and basically made a westward trek across southern Georgia, picking up some more counties along the way before making a quick-as-possible dash across Alabama and Mississippi to get home at a decent hour.

- An error from my previous trip report: it was dark when I arrived in Jesup so I don't have photos to reflect it, but signage on US 341 suggests that US 25 also bypasses Jesup with US 301, instead of going into town with US 84.

- Just west of US 25/301, US 341 makes a right turn, looping around onto Pine St and following Pine St through Jesup instead of the original Cherry St. Pine St was rebuilt wider for the purpose: 5 lanes, plus a bridge over the CSX railroad tracks.

- Followed US 84 west from Jesup, which is 5-lanes in the middle of Jesup, becomes a 4-lane divided boulevard (complete with median tree plantings) through western Jesup, then narrows to 2 lanes on the west edge of town.

- US 84 remains 2 lanes for a few miles west of Jesup, then beginning at GA 203 is the start of a very recently opened 4-lane section (or recent repaving) that continues southwest of GA 203....orange barrels were still on the side of the road. Not sure how far south the widening goes because I turned off onto GA 203.

- GA 203 appears to be a typical, middle-of-nowhere Georgia state highway. There's a short duplex with GA 121 crossing some creek, then a 2-way stop at GA 15 just to the west of that (GA 15 traffic does not stop). The route also has a few turns and a short duplex with GA 32....it doesn't go straight through as the DeLorme suggests.

- GA 32 widens to 5-lanes undived a few miles east of Alma, and is basically a 4-lane street (16th St) through Alma. There's only a single through lane at US 1/23, though...the left lane on both sides is striped for a left-turn-lane at the junction. Also, curiously, GA 32 has protected-permitted left turn signals at the junction but US 1/23 does not.

- A little west of ALT GA 4, GA 32 curves north, then turns onto W 12th St and follows that street out of Alma, narrowing back to 2 lanes on the west edge of town.

- In a fashion similar to parts of Tennessee and Kentucky, it seems that every bridge on GA 32 was named for somebody.

- I'd mentioned in my previous trip report that several Georgia 2-lane routes have periodic passing lanes. GA 32 has a set of passing lanes between Nicholls and Douglas.

- Followed the bypass loop around the south side of Douglas. The southeast quadrant is signed as mainline US 221 and GA 135, and as TRUCK US 441 and TRUCK GA 32. GA 158 also joins the south part of the loop. The loop was mainly a 2-lane road, although the GA 135/158/206 triplex was 5 lanes.

- Took GA 135 to the southwest, where more bridges were named after people, including a newly replaced bridge over Indian Creek named for a Navy Gunner's Mate.

- Approaching US 82, the GA 520 trailblazer was green instead of the normal black.

- GA 158 follows the southern border of Irwin County between GA 90 and US 129, ending at US 129.

- And speaking of that GA 158 ending, just before it I came upon something strange. As I slowed down for the intersection, I saw something in the middle of the lane, that at first looked like a dead animal. But then just before I passed over it, it moved! I stopped immediately and went back to look, and it was a small female kitten laying in the middle of the driving lane. She was obviously hot and disoriented, with blood on her nose and some gunk in one of her eyes, and probably would have baked on that pavement had I not picked her up. After attempting to give her some water and making a few stops to find a place along the way, I eventually dropped her off at the Tifton, GA police department, where one of their animal control officers came to get her.

- US 82, at least from Alapaha west to Albany, is a mix of 4-lane divided and 5-lane undivided, generally being the former in the rural areas and the latter through towns. There were occasional signs that looked like a county pentagon shield, except that they were green background and had "South Georgia Parkway" on them. The occasional GA 520 shields that exist are also green background.

- While searching for the Tifton police station, I took US 41 for a few blocks through downtown Tifton, where US 41 is a 2-lane street with angled curb parking and left turn lanes at the intersections.

- US 319 is duplexed with US 82 through most of Tifton, but turns south just before the interchange with I-75 (which is a folded-diamond). Curiously, westbound US 82 has red-light photo enforcement at the intersection where US 319 turns south. Also, while the southbound I-75 ramp junction also had a photo enforcement sign, I didn't see a camera at that intersection.

- Most of the 4-lane divided segments along US 82 were signed for 55 MPH, which was slightly frustrating as similar segments in nearby states (particularly Alabama and Florida) would be signed 65 MPH instead. The only 65 MPH segment of US 82 I was on this day, besides the Albany bypass, was between the Tift/Worth County line and Sumner.

- A few miles east of Albany, US 82 splits off of its old route (BUSINESS US 82) at a half-directional interchange. The two parallel each other for several miles east of US 19, though, with BUSINESS 82 following Sylvester Rd and US 82 following Clark Ave. Looking at satellite imagery, though, BUSINESS 82 is a lot more commercialized, while mainline US 82 follows the northern boundary of most of eastern Albany's development.

- The Liberty Expressway is the name for the freeway-grade bypass around the north side of Albany, which both US 19 and US 82 follows.  In typical Georgia fashion, the milepost begin at the county line (Lee/Dougherty in this case) and increase going east, at least until US 82 exits off. However, the exit numbers are sequential and go in the opposite direction, with "Exit 1" at GA 133 and increasing to Exit 8 at the west end of the bypass, which is a trumpet interchange. Most maps show the freeway as ending at BUSINESS US 82, with the reason for this being a single at-grade signalized intersection near an industrial park north of GA 133.

- GA 234 (and part of GA 133) across the south side of Albany is listed on maps as Billy Langdale Pkwy or Oakridge Dr, but has a sign in the field that labels it "Isaiah Revills Parkway".

- GA 234 turns north onto GA 62, while GA 62 and GA 91 come together just south of GA 234. GA 62/91 are 5-lanes along their duplex, with GA 91 narrowing to 2 lanes just south of GA 62.

- GA 62 between GA 91 and Leary is basically two really long straight sections with a gradual curve in between. There were numerous low-hanging trees over the road, especially in the Chickasawhatchee Creek area (Dougherty/Calhoun County line).

- There's a short GA 37/GA 62 duplex in Leary, including a 3-way Y-intersection at the southern junction. GA 62 is the "through route" at the southern junction, with GA 37 being the "through route" at the northern junction, which also serves as the southern terminus of GA 55.

- GA 37 is a fairly low-key route between Leary and Suttons Corner.  There's a short 37/45 duplex in Morgan, and a short 37/216 duplex in Edison. Otherwise it's fairly rural and not much traffic.

- US 27 also seemed to have fairly light traffic, even for just 2 lanes. At the south end of the Cuthbert bypass, where US 27 widens to 4 lanes, an unused "southbound" carriageway extends for about 1/4 mile south of the junction.

- More oddities on the Cuthbert bypass: there's an at-grade railroad crossing about a mile south of US 82, but even more odd is approaching US 82. Northbound US 27 narrows to a single lane that first leans to the left side of the roadway, then leans back over to the right side of the roadway just before US 82. There's also a large billboard on the approach to the intersection that says "SLOW DOWN, DANGEROUS INTERSECTION". The speed limit also drops to 45 MPH on the approach.

- Took US 82 west through Cuthbert, where the two lanes of US 82 are actually split by the town's water tower. US 82 also splits and loops around the town square, as does BUSINESS US 27.

- US 82 is 2 lanes and rather hilly between Cuthbert and Georgetown.  It widens to 4 lanes on the east side of Georgetown (but not until past GA 27/GA 39). Also, a 4-block section in downtown Georgetown has recently been bypassed. US 82 previously took two 90-degree turns, and this is what's shown in the DeLorme. The new alignment, signed as the "Martin Luther King Jr. Bypass", basically cuts the corner on the northeast side.

- Crossing "Walter F George Lake" via the "Earnest Vandiver Causeway", US 82 is a narrow 4-lane section with a curbed median and grass shoulder, and an nondescript bridge across the Chattahoochee River part of the crossing. Once across the bridge one is immediately in a 30 MPH zone in the middle of Eufaula, AL.

- Took the length of AL 131 west from Eufaula. There are a trio of 4-way stops along AL 131, all at county roads: CR 79 at Baker Hill, CR 43 west of Texasville, and CR 33 at Tyler Crossroads.

- AL 10 has a set of passing lanes west of Clio. Not seen very often in Alabama...at least less often than Georgia.

- AL 10 duplexes with a largely 4-lane undivded US 231 between Brundidge and Troy, before hitting the commercial slog that US 231 has become through southern Troy.

- The US 231/US 29 "interchange" is basically a US 29 overpass over US 231 with a set of right-in/right-outs on each side of 231 to serve as access via VERY TIGHT ramps up to US 29.

- With it being a Sunday afternoon, there was *A LOT* of traffic along northbound US 331 in Luverne.

- Cut southwest on Crenshaw CR 77 between AL 10 and AL 106. CR 77 is almost state-highway quality.

- AL 106 had some really long straight stretches. East of Georgiana, there was a signed AL 106/CR 57 duplex.

- Picked up I-65 at Georgiana to make the run home. Approaching Exit 69 is a supplementary guide sign directing Pensacola travelers to use either Exit 69 (AL 113) or Exit 57 (AL 21). There was also a traffic camera at the AL 113 interchange, although it doesn't appear to be viewable from the ALDOT website (only Birmingham-area cameras are viewable).

- Some sort of grass fire in the median in northern Baldwin County.  Even with rain showers in the area, it doesn't surprise me given the drought southern Alabama has been experiencing.

- The 1 mile advance guide sign for Exit 37 omits the AL 287 shield.  The exit sign has it.

- Something I don't recall seeing before. Approaching I-165 is a supplementary guide sign saying "TO EAST I-10, EXIT 9". Exit 9 is the I-165 interchange. Presumably, there are further signs directing drivers "to I-10 East" across the Cochrane-Africatown USA bridge.

- Except for some congestion on I-10 near Gautier due to an earlier accident, the rest of the trip home was mundane/already-discussed-in-the-past.

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(C) 2007, Adam Froehlig