Alps' Roads Special - Watertown Road Meet

Watertown Road Meet, September 10, 2011

I came up to Watertown the day before the meet via I-80 into Pennsylvania, up I-380 to I-81 and into New York, where I hit some bad traffic that put me on the streets of Binghamton. I found my way to Robinson St., up NY 7 to I-88, and followed NY 12A and US 11 back to I-81. Determined to continue my planned route, I took Exit 9 to US 11 and followed NY 392, NY 215, NY 13 and NY 281 to NY 80, where I jogged west to continue north on NY 11A. (NY 215 was once part of NY 90, which also followed NY 392 east of their junction.) Finally, this brought me back to US 11 and onto I-81 into Syracuse, where I took Exit 23 and added to my US 11 mileage from that point north. After dinner and meeting up with John Krakoff, we did a quick loop along NY 232 for a couple of old signs, and then back into town on curiously named Ives Street Road for the ancient sign to the left.
In the morning, we maximized the use of our time by heading out along NY 12E all the way up to Clayton, and then poked around Jefferson County with stretches along NY 12 and NY 411. We came back south on I-81 to check out I-781 construction from that vantage, since it wouldn't be featured on the meet. After lunch, the meet jumped off on Black River Pkwy., then turned up Mill St. to US 11 and north to the Fort Drum Connector (I-781). After poking around there, we headed west to the new Goulds Corners Rd. overpass and poked around some more. We continued west to NY 37 NB for one more pass under I-781, and turned west on Military Rd. (Jefferson CR 53). The old Military Road exists in fits and starts now, so the meet took Bridge St. at NY 12E, down Old Rome State Rd. to NY 3, and west to Adams Rd./CR 75 to the westernmost section of Military Rd. That's where it crosses Mill Creek on a bridge so old, President Monroe got a 19-gun salute. (The other two were busy "crossing swords" in the tent.) That's also where we took the meet photo, below. We headed back east on NY 3 from there through the then-recently reconstructed I-81 interchange and on to downtown, where we checked out the historic buildings of Public Square. Finally, we came back to the restaurant to part ways. My way of choice was out on NY 3 to the old route in Natural Bridge to see some old signs, then out to NY 812 and back to the hotel via NY 126 and NY 3. I picked up my car and headed northeast into the night, toward a clinch of US 11 in New York and grabbing NY 189 (a short border route) along the way.
My Sunday route spent most of its time across the border, following US 11 to QC 221 and north to QC 132. I checked out old QC 132 through Kahnawake, and crossed the river on QC 138. I shot through Montréal on Autoroute 20, Autoroute 15, and the southern stretch QC 117, up to QC 158 (bypassing what I had done before via A-15). I headed west on 158 to QC 148, picked up the most newly opened segment of A-50, and took several turnoffs as I headed west to criss-cross the future 50, including QC 323, Chemin Ste-Hyacinthe, QC 321, and QC 317. I rejoined A-50 at its western newly opened segment, then took the old road (QC 148) into Gatineau. I headed north on QC 366 and back down A-5, checking out the construction along that freeway from QC 105 as, just like 50, its missing link was being completed. I crossed into Ottawa at Pont Champlain and took Carling Ave. (former Trans-Canada Highway 17) to TCH 417 and south on Highway 416 back toward the U.S. I picked up a clinch of Highway 16 and then crossed the Prescott-Ogdensburg Bridge onto NY 812. My route home followed NY 37 to NY 12, with a brief detour along former NY 28B to see its remaining reference marker. That took me to I-81, and back the way I came to get home.

As promised, the meet photo, looking south along I-81 from the Military Road overpass toward I-781 construction. From left to right: Doug Kerr, Anthony Costanzo, myself, Jon Deane, Carl Tessier, John Housty, Philip Cousin, Scott Davis, Brian Reynolds, Chris Jordan (standing), and most of all, John Krakoff, holding one of his three shields featured in this photo. H.B. Elkins was not featured in this photo.

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