I scored a batch of 1950s-70s highway maps from the New Castle Flea Market in Delaware on Saturday, including a 1959 AAA Northeast Map that displays an Interstate designation I have never seen before. When finding proposed designations, one has to use some skepticism, especially when not discovering such a route on any other maps. Maps are not always that accurate, and some changes such as proposed lines, designations, etc. are up to the discretion of the cartographer. However this particular find appears not only on the regional map, but also the Philadelphia city inset, and AAA out of Philadelphia appears to be the organization responsible for the inset, which adds to its potential validity. The scans below come from the 1959 AAA Map (click for larger):
Interstate 395 appears over what is the North-South Freeway (Interstate 76) on the Northeast Regional Map. We are aware that Interstate 76 was originally designated Interstate 80S through Philadelphia and Camden, but have never seen Interstate 395 on any stretch of the New Jersey freeway.
The reverse side of the map indicates the North-South Freeway as both Interstate 395 and New Jersey 42. New Jersey 42 is the North-South Freeway south of Interstate 295 and 76 still to this day. Interstate 395 was never signed as far as we know.
A look at the Interstate 76 westbound split with Interstate 295 northbound today (Photo taken May 20, 2007). Imagine Interstate 395 north – Walt Whitman Bridge / Philadelphia.
I love how you applied what we learned as cartographers about maps sometimes being insanely off with route designations (US 80 in the Pass, la la la)
… but even if it was some cartographer’s imagination its still pretty cool.
Yes, its funny how being an insider in the cartography trade changes your views on historical maps and their accuracy! But hey, Interstate 94 & 96 traveling southwest into Indiana for 15 years in atlases is fun nonetheless.
Having taken several cartography courses and currently working on a degree in that area, I definitely agree with the above comments! Wow…what a find, Alex!
This map has some fact to it, New Jersey requested from AASHO in August of 1958 the designation of I-395(Present I-76) and I-380 (Present I-680) for these routes. AASHO denied these designations in favor of Pennsylvania numberings of I-80S and I-680 which was approved in November of 1958.
See the following pages for all the grisly details on Philly’s I-395:
http://www.phillyroads.com/roads/schuylkill/
http://www.phillyroads.com/roads/vine/
http://www.phillyroads.com/roads/I-76_NJ/
http://www.phillyroads.com/roads/I-676_NJ/
Additional source: “New Roads with New Numbers Will Parallel Old U.S. Routes” by George Cable Wright, The New York Times (9/19/1958).