South's first four-lane highway?

[cbalducc]

Could it have been US 80 through Jackson, Miss., in the late 30s?

God bless,

CKB

[Mapmikey]

Parts of US 1 in Virginia were 4-laned by 1937.

US 52-78 in Charleston was 4 laned by 1939.

Mapmikey

[berberry]

I wouldn't put it beyond the realm of possibility that Mississippi could lay claim to that "first".  The first paved road in the South opened through Tupelo back in 1915 or thereabouts.

[berberry]

I don't know why, but this question has been nagging at me since I noticed it a couple hours ago.  It's a good one, really, but I don't like the example of US 80 through Jackson.  That's because it's an urban roadway, which to my mind puts it in a different category altogether from rural highways.  I should think that some urban roads were four-laned very early on, and perhaps they weren't even US highways. 

There are many roadgeeks on this forum who know a lot more about highway history than I do, so I welcome any corrections they might make to what I'm saying here, but I would assume that the inclusion of urban roadways in the scope of the OP's question makes it nearly impossible to give a certain answer.  Politics has often dictated the alignments of highways, old and new, and it would seem reasonable to assume that in some early cases a less-than-ideal route was chosen, such that other, more important and less broken routes existed mainly for local traffic, and some of those might well have been four-laned long before any numbered thru route.  Would we define those four-laned but unnumbered roads as "four-lane highways"?  Whether we do or not, I think a far better approach, if you really want an urban answer, would be to find out precisely when the first four-laned segment of Hwy 80 opened in Jackson and challenge others to find something earlier.

If we limit ourselves to rural highways of the US or primary-state systems, then I feel sure that Mississippi would not have the first.  I've gone through most of the historical maps in Mississippi DOT's archive, with one of the questions in my mind being the first rural four-lane highway.  At least in Mississippi, the answer appears to be either 1959 or 1960 for a stretch of US 49 extending from a short distance north of Hattiesburg, through that city and south for about another 20 miles.  There is no 1959 map in the archive, but the map of 1958 shows no four-lane roadways, while the 1960 shows the stretch of 49 I just mentioned.

So I doubt Mississippi had the first, at least not with my qualifications to the OP's question.  Does anyone know of earlier rural four-lane openings in the South?  I'm thinking the oldest is probably in Georgia, or maybe Florida.  I think there's an off-chance it might be part of Airline Highway in Louisiana, but I don't know.

[NE2]

Restricting the question to rural highways makes it much more interesting and answerable.

A 1947 Florida Rand McNally map shows the following "Super Highways--4 lanes or over":
*A1A (now 10), Jacksonville to Atlantic Beach (this has become suburban, but was mostly swamp back then) - however USGS shows this as 3 lanes; Beach Boulevard (now US 90) opened in 1949 and was definitely 4 lanes
*US 1, Miami to Hollywood (this was already fairly urban)

USGS topos show that by 1956, US 1 was four-lane from Miami to Jupiter, and on and off north to Georgia. I don't see any other significant four-lanes. So Florida certainly has Mississippi beat as far as long-distance rural highways.

[NE2]

Georgia has historic maps online: http://www.dot.state.ga.us/maps/Pages/StateMaps.aspx
Divided highways first appear in 1950 (US 41 from Atlanta to Marietta, US 27 through Fort Benning, US 80 from Savannah to Pooler). 1955 shows US 41 north to Cartersville and south to Griffin, and SR 247 from Macon to Warner Robins.

[NE2]

Alabama maps are also online: http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalmaps/stateroads/index.html but four-lane roads are not marked until 1957. At that time, most of US 31 north of Birmingham had already been widened.

[berberry]

Alabama maps are also online: http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalmaps/stateroads/index.html but four-lane roads are not marked until 1957. At that time, most of US 31 north of Birmingham had already been widened.

Yeah, and as I recall a lot of that is extant pretty much in its original four-laned form.  It was never incorporated into the interstate system, but rather the interstate assumed a brand new alignment, which was rare for the system when a nearby four-laned route existed.

Another interesting resource I stumbled across some time ago and had forgotten about is the FHA's Highway History page.

[NE2]

It seems that I-65 did use US 31 north of Athens. The rest was likely too urban.

[Mapmikey]

US 52 was 4-laned out to Goose Creek by 1941 which was definitely not urban back then.

If Virginia is considered the south for this question, some of the 1930's 4-laning of US 1 was definitely out in the country.

I believe I have a 1937 or 1939 map that shows multilaning; definitely have a 1941 Rand McN that does

Mapmikey

[agentsteel53]

Georgia has historic maps online: http://www.dot.state.ga.us/maps/Pages/StateMaps.aspx
Divided highways first appear in 1950 (US 41 from Atlanta to Marietta, US 27 through Fort Benning, US 80 from Savannah to Pooler). 1955 shows US 41 north to Cartersville and south to Griffin, and SR 247 from Macon to Warner Robins.

those maps appear not to mark any distinction for undivided four-laners.  was that ever a design principle rurally, and - if so - does the possibility exist that there were undivided four-laners before 1950?

[NE2]

those maps appear not to mark any distinction for undivided four-laners.  was that ever a design principle rurally,

Certainly - US 460 between Petersburg and Suffolk.

and - if so - does the possibility exist that there were undivided four-laners before 1950?

Hell if I know. US 460 was widened from two lanes in the 1950s: http://www.route460ppta.org/history.asp

[berberry]

I've just noticed I was wrong about US 49 upthread; it still might have been the first (for Mississippi), but not necessarily.  That same 1960 map I cited earlier does indeed show 49 as I described it, but I hadn't noticed that it also shows what was apparently the state's first stretch of interstate, or at least rural interstate:  I-55 from Jackson south to Terry.  

So I guess there are two possibilities for Mississippi's first.  I wonder if a 1959 official map was ever published.  Its absence could be due to the archivist's inability to run down a copy.  Now that I've noticed this, I'm more curious about it than ever.

[cbalducc]

It doesn't matter to me whether the highway was urban or rural, divided or undivided.
Sometimes US highways began to be built on new four lane right-of-way before being made part of the Interstate system.  For example, a stretch of Interstate 55 south of Jackson was originally built in the 1950s as a new right-of-way for US 51.
Post Merge: January 23, 2012, 06:34:21 PM
And what about the "Bessemer Super Highway", US 11 between Bessemer and Birmingham, AL?  I wonder if it was made "super" by being four-laned a long time ago.

[cbalducc]

This answered my question about the Bessemer Super Highway:

http://tinyurl.com/7c9abdm

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

I think there's an off-chance it might be part of Airline Highway in Louisiana, but I don't know.

The Airline Highway bypass of BR was four lanes upon its original construction in 1940; at the same time a dual carriageway portion of Florida Boulevard (US 61/190 BUS) was opened from Baton Rouge out to the Airline Highway intersection (a traffic circle in those days). Also, the section of Airline Highway extending from Metairie Road/Shrewsbury Road into New Orleans was also opened as a dual carriageway route the same year. The rest of Airline Highway was widened to four lanes in the 1950s.

Of course, many urban boulevards in New Orleans have been dual carriageway since time immemorial.

[Mapmikey]

those maps appear not to mark any distinction for undivided four-laners.  was that ever a design principle rurally,

Certainly - US 460 between Petersburg and Suffolk.

and - if so - does the possibility exist that there were undivided four-laners before 1950?

Hell if I know. US 460 was widened from two lanes in the 1950s: http://www.route460ppta.org/history.asp

VDOT should look at their own official maps...US 460 was already fully 4-lane between Petersburg and Suffolk on the 1947 Official.  Most of this was shown as multilane on the 1941 Rand McN

4-lane undivided was a design staple in Virginia in the 1930s-40s:

US 1 Petersburg to Alexandria was almost fully 4-lane undivided
US 11 Roanoke to near Buchanan
US 29 in Fairfax County
VA 168 (now VA 143) from Newport News to Williamsburg
US 58-460 Suffolk to Bowers HIll was this way on what is now the EB carriageway
Military Hwy
US 460 Petersburg to Suffolk
GW Pkwy

Divided roads started cropping up in the 1940s:
VA 350 Shirley Hwy
US 1 ALT bypass of Fredericksburg
US 60 Bottoms Bridge to VA 30
US 11-460 Elliston area

Mapmikey

[Anthony_JK]

I think there's an off-chance it might be part of Airline Highway in Louisiana, but I don't know.

The Airline Highway bypass of BR was four lanes upon its original construction in 1940; at the same time a dual carriageway portion of Florida Boulevard (US 61/190 BUS) was opened from Baton Rouge out to the Airline Highway intersection (a traffic circle in those days). Also, the section of Airline Highway extending from Metairie Road/Shrewsbury Road into New Orleans was also opened as a dual carriageway route the same year. The rest of Airline Highway was widened to four lanes in the 1950s.

Of course, many urban boulevards in New Orleans have been dual carriageway since time immemorial.

That begs me to wonder whether segments of US 190 between Krotz Springs and Baton Rouge were actually built as four-lane at that time, too. I'm sure that the Morganza Spillway bridge between KS and Lottie wasn't originally built as two-lane.


Anthony

[berberry]

This thread, and in particular the mini "debate" we had over how broad the OP's question should be, has reminded me of something I hadn't thought of in many years.

I'm 51 years old.  I'm old enough to remember a substantial number of important but unpaved roadways in Central MS (I used to time my visits to certain friends who lived on unpaved roads with car-washing in mind).  And I remember something in particular about some small-town "4-lane" roads.  The quote marks are very necessary because although, to use Vicksburg as an example, Washington Street (old US 61) and Clay Street (old US 80) have been marked like any typical undivided four-lane roadway for as long as I can remember, the rules for using small-town four-laned roads have changed A LOT!  Back in the day, it was perfectly legal to PARK in the right lane.  Not off to the side but directly IN the right lane.  Go shopping.  Have lunch.  Come back when you're ready and the car is right there where you left it, in the right lane of a major, "four-laned" US highway!

This was due to local rules that didn't apply in Jackson or Baton Rouge, the places where I learned to drive.  It was very confusing to go to some small towns where pavement markings didn't always mean the same thing they meant in  cities that weren't very far away.

There was a major overhaul of traffic laws back in - I think - the late 70s and this is one of the things that changed.  I think this was done at the same time right-turns-on-red were made legal at most intersections.  State-wide standards were imposed so that what LOOKED like a four-laned road had to actually accommodate four lanes of thru traffic, else the dotted lines had to be made solid so that parking areas were more easily noticed.

[bugo]

There are some "4 lane" roads in Kansas City, MO that have parking in the right lane, at least during certain times of the day.

[berberry]

It seems that I-65 did use US 31 north of Athens. The rest was likely too urban.

Probably that was most of the reason, but don't forget there's a mountain or two in that area.  I think the potential upgrade tab for 31, even without all the ROW costs, might have been so high that brand new roadway would have been feasible.  It's a fairly unique stretch of interstate highway, at least for this part of the country.

I'm not sure exactly when it was built, though.  I do remember a road trip with some other kids to Atlanta to see Little Feat back in about '76 - still can't believe my parents let me go - and I'll never forget the nightmare passage through Birmingham.  Even at that late date there was no freeway.  And I seem to remember that the route wasn't all-too-easy to follow.  Probably wasn't well marked.  In any case, I think Birmingham was very late to the dance of the city freeways.  So maybe AL was late building that part of 65, in which case mountain highway construction technology might have had a few more years to advance before the project began.

Either that, or me and my friends were so totally stoned by the time we got to Birmingham that day that we completely missed the freeway and any interstate shields we would have passed along the way.

(j/k).  (s/o).