Southeast:
The
Texas State Highway Department was created in
1917 and laid out a proposed system of 26 state highways that year, several of which followed auto trails. 1-8 were assigned to major cross-state highways, with odd numbers east-west and even numbers north-south; 9-26 were weakly clustered on more minor routes. Alternate routes and spurs received letter suffixes. Since then, new routes have usually received the next available number. I don't know when signs were first posted, but the 1926 Rand McNally shows a shield design, and the
1922-24 biennial report implies that they were being installed by then.
Maps and logs:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5112http://www.dot.state.tx.us/tpp/search/query.htmThe
Florida State Road Department created a map in
1917 that listed roads numbered 1-15. These numbers were used in the
1916-18 biennial report, but the
1918-20 report shows a partial renumbering. 1-5 remained, 9 became 6, and 11 became 7; all the other routes (except Bronson to Cedar Key) were replaced by state aid roads numbered from 101 to 133, which also added new roads to the state-funded highway system. 8, 9, and 134-137 were added in 1921.
The original 1917 numbers were clustered: 1 east-west in the panhandle, 2-5 north-south in the peninsula, 6-7 east-west in the peninsula, 8-11 from east to west in the panhandle, and 12-15 back to the peninsula from south to north. The partial renumbering put 6-7 in the panhandle, while the state aid roads were mostly clustered. 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, and 110 were parts of old 5, 6, 7, 8, 8 (not 9), and 10, and 111 was somewhat randomly west of Tallahassee, but 101-104 were clustered near Jacksonville, 112-118 went from west to east in the panhandle, and 119-129 were nicely clustered in the peninsula. 130-133 were probably added afterwards, as were 134-137 (and 8-9).
1923 saw the
legislative establishment of many of these routes as state roads (most others joined in 1925 or 1927, but the last straggler, 112/537, remained a county road until 1939). Numbers 1-9 were kept with minor changes, but all of the state aid numbers were changed.
Signs were posted in
1925 or 1926. Many of the initial 1923 numbers were clustered, with 10-18 and 21-27 running from northwest to south in two bands, but 19 and 20 are randomly up in the panhandle, 28 is near 13, and 29-38 are stranger yet: even numbers are all in the central and south parts of the peninsula, while odd numbers are in the panhandle or the north part of the peninsula.
After a bunch of duplicated numbers and other flubs in 1927, numbering control was shifted to the State Road Department, which labeled new routes in order, but also reused numbers that had been absorbed by other routes. In
1945 all routes were renumbered. 1-2 digit numbers were used for a grid, with 3-digit numbers assigned to shorter routes in horizontal bands between the x0 routes. This is still mostly followed, but in addition to minor violations there are more major violations such as 112 in Miami and 727 near Pensacola.
Maps and logs:
1917
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00053687/00001/1x1921
http://archive.org/stream/BiennialreportoftheStateRoadDepartmentoftheStateofFloridafortheperiod1921-22#page/n81/mode/2up1929-1939
http://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Roads--Florida.%22http://neroute2.blogspot.com/search/label/pre-1945 http://neroute2.blogspot.com/search/label/route%20logVirginia's legislature created a state highway system in
1918, comprising
28 numbered routes. 1-5 were major north-south routes, with 6-13 (and perhaps 14) as major east-west routes. 15-20 were clustered from north to south in the middle of the state, while 21-28 were somewhat randomly assigned to short connections, mostly leading to state lines. The State Highway Commission initially assigned lettered suffixes to spurs of these routes, but decided in 1923 to instead use three-digit numbers in much the same manner; for example 121 and 122 (rather than 12X and 12Y) were spurs of 12. Since this system did not work with single-digit numbers, 1-9 were renumbered as 31-39. Additionally, at this time, 15 (a rather minor route) became 331, and the number was reassigned to what had been 12Z. 29 and 30 were given to what had been long spurs of 9, while a second 12X became 40, and 41 was assigned to a newly-taken over route that didn't connect to any others. Two four-digit numbers, 1411 and 3111, were spurs of spurs, and 1010 to (probably) 1013 continued the sequence of spurs from 10 after 101-109 were all used.
Route markers were installed by mid-1925, but
a 1922 (?) map shows a sample direction sign for Route 5, meaning that the numbers were being marked before the 1923 renumbering.
A second renumbering in 1928 got rid of the spur numbers, replacing them with a clustering pattern, where the first digit was the district (1 to 8) in which the route lay. 42 to 55 (and later 56-59) were given to routes that crossed district lines. Finally, 1933 saw a third renumbering, which essentially compressed all the ranges to make way for the new secondary numbers beginning at 600. (Which, in hindsight, was silly, since some counties have reached five-digit secondary numbers by now.)
Maps and logs:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5112http://www.vahighways.com/route-log/The
Georgia legislature reorganized the State Highway Department
in 1919 and directed it to lay out a 4800-mile system of state-aid roads to connect the county seats. A preliminary system was chosen on
January 1, 1920, but according to the State Highway Engineer in the
1919-20 annual report (p. 23):
In preparing the map, I found that the roads necessary to make a complete State system, and equitably serve every community, exceeded the 4,800 mile limitation. Therefore, I have shown additional roads on the map and designated them "Federal Aid Roads." I consider these roads of equal importance and necessity as the State aid roads shown on the map of the State system, and recommend that the State system be enlarged to include these additional roads, designated as Federal Aid roads.
These proposed federal aid roads are not numbered on
what seems to be the original plan, but (mostly) are on the map at the end of the 1919-20 report. They are also all included in a revised map at the end of the
1920-21 annual report.
In 1921 the legislature increased the mileage to 5500 miles and directed the State Highway Department to take over maintenance of the state-aid roads; the
system approved September 23, 1921 made more changes.
Numbering in the 1920 plan was mostly according to a simple grid, with odd numbers from 1 to 27 running north-south from west to east (with a few minor violations) and even numbers from 2 to 32 running east-west from north to south. 29-53 were short north-south routes, roughly clustered (it appears that 51 and 53 were numbered late in the process), while 38-46 were short east-west routes with no clustering apparent.
The
1918-19 annual report (p. 25) shows a sample "mile post" with route numbers and alphanumeric codes for towns (?). These may have never been used. The
1923-24 annual report (p. 136) shows a "truck operated by sign posters. Every route is being thoroughly marked by this party." The
1924-25 annual report (p. 136) shows examples of these signs, including route shields both on posts and painted on poles. Therefore it appears that signs were being posted
by 1923.
Maps and logs:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5112http://georgiaroads.tripod.com/The
North Carolina State Highway Commission
laid out and numbered a connected system of state highways in
1921, pursuant to a law passed that year; routes were being marked by 1922. Main routes were numbered as multiples of ten, with 10 and 20 being the major east-west routes, 30-80 north-south routes from east to west, and 90 a relatively minor spur of 10. Reasonably major spurs of these routes got two-digit numbers (e.g. 12 from 10), and minor spurs of any two-digit route received three-digit numbers (e.g. 104 from 10 and 125 from 12). One-digit numbers were not used until the 1930s.
Maps and logs:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5112http://www.vahighways.com/ncannex/route-log/In 1920,
South Carolina created a State Highway Department, which laid out a system of state highways that year. Routes were numbered and
signs first posted in
1921. Some numbers were chosen to match adjacent states: 12 and 21 (and perhaps 2, 8, 10, and 17) continuing from Georgia, and 16, 19, 23, 26, 29, and 50 from North Carolina. 1 to 10 were assigned to relatively major routes, and most other numbers from 11 to 47 followed a rough clustering across the state. 34, 35, 38, and 43 did not fit the clustering or any other pattern I can discern.
Subsequently-added routes began at 51, with 48 and 49 being skipped initially. Three-digit numbers were used for spurs, such as 392 from 39 and 301 from 30. Two-digit spurs were also created off of routes 6 to 9, such as 72 off 7.
Maps and logs:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5112http://www.angelfire.com/sc3/scroads/In accordance with state law, the
West Virginia State Road Commission
laid out and numbered a system of state roads which connected the county seats and adjacent states in
1921 (or perhaps early 1922); these routes were marked on poles by 1923. Numbers were assigned based on direction: odd numbers were east-west and even numbers were north-south. 1-9 and 2-6 (or 8) were the most major highways, and then each direction had three passes: 11-23, 25-43, and 55-67 (all increasing from north to south, though 17 and 19 were inexplicably switched); and 8-28, 32-50 (both increasing from west to east), and 52-66 (roughly in reverse order, from east to west). 45-49 are clustered in the eastern panhandle, and 30, 51, 53, and 68 do not seem to fit the system.
Maps and logs:
1922
http://books.google.com/books?id=7XDVAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA2 (no numbers, but system seems to have had few if any changes to 1926)
1926
http://broermapsonline.org/online/NorthAmerica/UnitedStates/Midatlantic/1927
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~33741~1171457:Rand-McNally-junior-auto-road-map-Dhttp://www.millenniumhwy.net/wvroads/wvroads.htmlIn
1921, the
Louisiana state legislature created the Highway Commission and a state highway system of
98 routes. 1-7 were major cross-state routes (several of them auto trails), with 8-27 clustered west of the Atchafalaya River, 28-31 clustered between the Atchafalaya and Mississippi, and 32-37 clustered east of the Mississippi. 38-98 were probably tacked on to the bill later as pork, as 1-37 served all the parish seats except Cameron. It's unclear when the routes were first signed; the 1927 Rand McNally shows no shield design.
A complete renumbering was made in 1955. Low numbers were assigned in a grid: 1-23 (except 5) were north-south from west to east, and 2-14 were east-west from north to south, with a second pass from 16 to 20 in the east. Beyond that, no obvious pattern jumps out.
Maps and logs:
http://www.southeastroads.com/la_route_log.htmlOn
October 1, 1923, the
Tennessee Department of Highways approved a network of federal aid and state aid highways, the former also approved by the federal government on that date. Federal aid routes received numbers from 1 to 40, numbered in two passes: 1-9 were the most major routes, and 10-40 were clustered from west to east. State aid routes were numbered from 41 to 78 (there was also a state aid extension of 36 south of Erwin), with 41 to 68 clustered from west to east, 69 out of place, and 70 to 78 on remaining routes from east to west. Subsequent changes eliminated the numeric separation between federal and state aid, as many state aid routes became extensions of routes 1-40.
I don't know exactly when signs were posted, but they were by 1925-26.
Maps and logs:
1923, 1926
http://neroute2.blogspot.com/2013/10/early-tennessee-route-logs.htmlhttp://www.vahighways.com/tn-annex/index.htmIn 1915 the
Alabama legislature
defined a system of "state trunk roads" numbered 1-34. Other routes were subsequently added, but these numbers seem to have been used only internally. A new system of state highways was laid out
by 1925 and marked by 1926. Numbers 1-10 were assigned to main routes, including several auto trails, and 26 was the Dixie Overland Highway to match Georgia. 11-30 and 31-48 were roughly clustered in two groups, south and north of 26, and 49 was probably added after the numbers were initially assigned. The numbers had reached 62 by
1927 or 1928, when a complete renumbering was made. The new numbers do not seem to have followed any strict pattern. 2-12 were east-west in order from north to south, and 1-5 and 13 were north-south from east to west, but 7-11 were diagonal. 14-30 were rather weakly clustered, and 31-63 made a second pass, but 42, 47, and 58 don't seem to have fit. A final partial renumbering in the mid-1950s brought directional parity, making all odd numbers north-south and even numbers east-west.
Maps and logs:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5112http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/alroutes/index.htmlhttp://colepages.com/asrni.htmlThe
Mississippi legislature defined a system of legislative route numbers in 1924, separated into federal aid (1-28) and other (30-78, amended to 30-135 in 1926). These numbers do not seem to have been used except internally, and signed numbers were not assigned until
about 1929. These were numbered in a rough grid: 1-25 went north-south, mostly in order from west to east, in the north part of the state (I can't find original 17 or 21), 55-63 were in a small band in the south part of the state, and a few other numbers were in between (35, 39, 41 existed by 1931). 2-26 were east-west routes in order from north to south (4 and 14 may have been skipped initially), and by 1931 30, 32, 42, and 48 were present in between other routes.
Later details in
msubulldog's post.
Maps and logs:
1931, 1938
http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalmaps/us_states/mississippi/index2_1926-1940.htmhttp://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/msroutes/index.htmlKentucky also had an early legislative system,
first defined in 1920 and appearing on some maps. Signed routes waited until
about 1929, and were numbered in a rough grid. Some numbers were skipped initially, and it appears that the grid of odd numbers north-south in order from east to west and even numbers east-west in order from north to south was followed pretty well by the original routes, but when gaps were filled in the pattern did not hold. By 1939 all 1-2 digit numbers were in use (except perhaps 24).
Maps and logs:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5112http://bunkerblast.info/roads/