"OPTIONAL" US 66 embossed shield

[Brian556]

Found this on the flikr page of a local guy whose photo stream I view from time to time.
Never seen one like this before.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/us_71/10583251285/

[Billy F 1988]

Me neither. This must be during the early times before ALTERNATE or BY-PASS were used. Betchya OPTIONAL was a state MUTCD supplement, too.

[NE2]

(yawn)
http://www.us-highways.com/optus.htm

[Billy F 1988]

Yawn my ass, NE2! Yawn my ass! Do me a favor and shut up already if you can't come up with anything constructive in response to this.

[US71]

Found this on the flikr page of a local guy whose photo stream I view from time to time.
Never seen one like this before.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/us_71/10583251285/

"Optional" was, I believe, a precursor to "Alternate" or "Bypass"

[Brandon]

How often was "Optional" used in place of Alternate or Bypass?

[Zeffy]

Was "OPTIONAL" ever used on '61 spec banners? I don't think that the meaning is clear enough... it almost sounds like it's saying, 'you can take this road if you want, but really, it's just optional'. Rather than ALTERNATE meaning 'If you're looking for another way to go, pick these route', and BYPASS 'If you don't want to use this road but you still want to go to the same place, take me instead'.

[NE2]

How often was "Optional" used in place of Alternate or Bypass?

http://www.us-highways.com/optus.htm

[Brandon]

How often was "Optional" used in place of Alternate or Bypass?

http://www.us-highways.com/optus.htm

A grand total of 8, and most were gone by 1941 with one exception that made it to 1963.  Two were replaced by Alternates, one by a City route, one by the actual US route, and the rest were just decommissioned.  Of those, only one is a Business US route currently.  The Optional US-66 would've been between Venice, Illinois and Saint Louis, Missouri.

The most interesting thing about the Optional routes is that one-half of them were in Kansas City, Missouri, and seven of them were either wholly within Missouri or went between Missouri and an adjoining state (Illinois, Kansas).  The remaining one was in Florida for a grand total of a year.  Not all eight existed at the same time either.

[US71]

How often was "Optional" used in place of Alternate or Bypass?

http://www.us-highways.com/optus.htm

I'll have to pull my maps, but it seems like Kansas City had an Optional 71 which became Bypass.

I suspect there were more than are shown on the website, but not documented.

[NE2]

I suspect that US 541 Optional may have been a map error, meaning the designation was entirely Missouri's fault. The first one (1929, before there was such a thing as an Alternate route) entered Illinois, but early official maps show it as an unbannered US 66, and the 1935 map shows it as OPT but only on the Missouri side (the line is thinner in Illinois).

[mrsman]

For the bannered routes, is there some kind of rhyme or reason?

Connecting A to B, there could be many routes:

An old 2-lane street that was the historic US highway.
A more modern 4-lane street that was the first bypass and where many of the auto-oriented businesses have relocated.
An interstate-grade expressway between A and B
An interstate-grade circumferential around A and B to continue your journey south of A and north of B

Which one should be a bypass, an alternate, a business route, an optional route, etc.

A real-life example.  Consider US 40 connecting Frederick-Baltimore-Aberdeen Maryland.

In the area just west of Baltimore city (around US 29), you have MD-144 that splits into Frederick Ave and old Frederick road just east of Ellicott City.  You also have US 40, and I-70.  MD-99 is also known as Old Frederick Road, but I don't beleive US 40 was ever routed on it.  MD-26, Liberty Road, provides a very northerly connection between Baltimore and Frederick (maybe a good candidate for an optional 40).

And then of course through Baltimore, you have your choice of Lombard/Pratt, Baltimore Street, or Mulberry/Franklin.  Truck are advised to use Truck 40 along North Avenue, and you can bypass all of that with 695 to connect I-70 with I-95 north.

North of the city, Philadelphia Rd MD-7, Old Philadelphia Rd, US 40, I-95, and US 1 all generally connect to Philadelphia.

[NE2]

For the bannered routes, is there some kind of rhyme or reason?

Connecting A to B, there could be many routes:

This is why a separate Interstate numbering was created - so the U.S. Route number would not have to do quadruple duty. Sadly some states and AASHTO have forgotten this.