About 20 miles north of me, also known as US 78, some stretch’s of its first route are known as old 78 or are now county roads. Now it’s rerouted again as I22 from Birmingham to Memphis.
Hello, We have been on various portions of the San Diego area route that eventually turned into I-8 to Phoenix. When we were in Albuquerque, for a day on our big road trip East, we decided to go to Roswell, N.M. to see where my wife’s dad had gone to school. The New Mexico Military Ins***ute was located in Roswell, as well as the weirdo space museum. We were on Highway 380 from San Antonio, N.M. to Roswell. That is the portion of the Bankhead Highway. History did not present itself, as this highway is relatively unknown to most travelers. Over the years, it has been swallowed up by the big interstates and the revamped smaller U.S. highways throughout the Southwest. Jnaki We have yet to venture into the Southeast areas except for airport stops. The portion of the Bankhead Highway we drove (as most areas of the Southwest) were fairly barren and absolutely hot during our road trip through that area. A great time to roll up the windows, listen to some great music and talk about why we don’t live out there. The old saying works well here: “It is a nice place, but I wouldn’t want to live there…”
Part of Bankhead highway still exists in the Atlanta, GA area, currently known as route 78. There is a section of Atlanta known as Bankhead, named after the former highway on the southside of Atlanta, but renamed to help people forget the high crime rate of the current city. As for the Bankhead family, do you recall an actress from the early 20th century named Tallulah Bankhead? She was part of the Alabama political family from which the highway was originally named.
The Jalopy Journal
