So, who has heard of "Mrs. Orcutt's driveway?" (It's a 200 MPH driveway!!)

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67Dart273

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he Legend of Mrs. Orcutt's Driveway

55,528 views Apr 27, 2022 In 1964, when Interstate 40 was being built through California's Mojave Desert to replace Route 66, construction of the interstate was set to cut right through Bonnie Margaret Orcutt's driveway. This would have cut her house off from Route 66, and every other road, but Mrs. Orcutt wasn't going down with out a fight. After letters were written to the President of the United States, it was decided that the government will build Mrs. Orcutt a road to connect her to the nearest onramp to I-40, four miles away. The road, which became known as Mrs. Orcutt's Driveway, was well maintained, flat, and perfectly straight. Not to mention that since it only had one house on it, there was very little traffic. In the early 1970s someone from Car and Driver Magazine found it and realized it would be a great place to speed test cars. With a number of magazine articles and cars hitting over 200 miles-per-hour on the road, Mrs. Orcutt's Driveway became legendary. After Mrs. Orcutt died, the road fell into disrepair and its no longer possible to hit the incredible speeds that were achieved on the road in the past, but the road still remains, an empty four mile road-to-nowhere on the edge of Newberry Springs, California in the middle of the Mojave Desert (the road is now listed on Google Maps as Memorial Drive). In this video we explore Mrs. Orcutt's Driveway, talk about what a character Mrs. Orcutt was, and explore the ruins of her property.

 
That's pretty funny.
 
It's also a pretty good example of eminent domain and the government thinking that they can take anything they want. I am glad she won.
 
I was raised in Barstow, Ca. 20 miles from Newberry and I had no idea such existed. Newberry was always a little different :lol:. Being just a stone's throw from I 40 and in plain sight must be the reason such a strip of asphalt was not frequented by friends and acquaintances of the illegal speed associated auto activities in that area :rolleyes:.
 
I live in Orcutt Ca., it's named after William Orcutt, a geologist involved with the exploration and development of the Union Oil facility here. He was a long time VP at Union and Orcutt Hill had a very notable gusher called "Old Maud" 12,000 barrels/day. I looked but saw no relation to the Newberry Orcutts.
 
My wife’s maiden name is Orcutt. I guess the Orcutt clan is quite large. She does have distant relatives that live in California.
 
Pretty sure I saw that Bugs Bunny episode.
 
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