AASHO rejected US 70 extension to Hawaii (really!)

[Mapmikey]

AASHO frequently received route requests from advocacy groups (various route associations, chambers of commerce and even private citizens).  In nearly all cases AASHO says thanks but you have to go through official state highway departments to get it on their docket.

Some of the crazier ones they would respond with never gonna happen.

Then there was a May 1960 request from the US 70 Hwy Association that requested US 70 be extended to Hawaii and run from Kailua to Honolulu.  There was no suggestion to somehow physically link Hawaii to California by ferry or bridge or anything in the future, but instead "...a gesture of friendship and unity between the 49 states on the main land and our new state of Hawaii"

Because AASHO thought more proposals like this might be forthcoming, they did meet as a whole to discuss and rejected this and any similar proposal like it.  This included reaching out to Hawaii who responded no thanks.  Arizona however at least supported the idea.

Found in the AASHO database under CORRESPONDENCE US 70 AZ 1960.

[ozarkman417]

The Owl must have been behind this one..

[hotdogPi]

70 is mathematically a weird number. This also explains Breezewood.

[oscar]

Then there was a May 1960 request from the US 70 Hwy Association that requested US 70 be extended to Hawaii and run from Kailua to Honolulu.  There was no suggestion to somehow physically link Hawaii to California by ferry or bridge or anything in the future, but instead "...a gesture of friendship and unity between the 49 states on the main land and our new state of Hawaii"

Because AASHO thought more proposals like this might be forthcoming, they did meet as a whole to discuss and rejected this and any similar proposal like it.  This included reaching out to Hawaii who responded no thanks.  Arizona however at least supported the idea.

Funny thing is there was a pending proposal to establish Interstates on Oahu, including one between Honolulu and Kaneohe (next door to Kailua) which was approved in August 1960 as Interstate H-3, and completed after major controversies in 1997.

Also, there was a temporary wartime highway system on Oahu during World War II, with U.S.-style route markers for its primary routes. Honolulu and Kailua were connected by primary routes 13, 1, and 16. That numbering system was abandoned soon after the war -- Hawaiians just aren't that into route numbers -- though some of the old signage lingered into the 1950s. The temporary system was replaced by a new numbering system by the time Hawaii became a state, but the only similarity between the systems is  the "teardrop" wartime secondary route markers became with some tweaks the new state's route markers.

Did the US 70 Hwy Association letter, the state's comments on that proposal, or AASHO's response mention the former route system or the pending proposed Hawaii Interstates?

[Max Rockatansky]

And I thought my US 70 theory on Pines-to-Palms Highway was weird...

[Mapmikey]

Did the US 70 Hwy Association letter, the state's comments on that proposal, or AASHO's response mention the former route system or the pending proposed Hawaii Interstates?

US 70 Hwy Assn and AASHO correspondence do not mention the WW2 system.  Hawaii's response is not on the database yet that I can find.

The only Hawaii document on there older than 1979 right now is correspondence from 1959.  Two of the three memos pertain to ensuring AASHO had the state highway marker correct for Hawaii.

The other one though was from Hawaii to Rand McNally pointing out that their 1959 atlas had the WW2 system shown on page 2 (this would be the whole country map) which had been abandoned in 1945.  Hawaii included maps with their letter (not in the AASHO database doc though) of each island's route system so that RMcN could represent Hawaii the same as the other 49 states.

This can be accessed here - https://grmservices.grmims.com/vsearch/portal/public/na4/aashto/default
search for HI and no other parameters.  Only 9 items are there currently.

[oscar]

The other one though was from Hawaii to Rand McNally pointing out that their 1959 atlas had the WW2 system shown on page 2 (this would be the whole country map) which had been abandoned in 1945.

I've seen that letter. It, or something else in the file, indicates HDOT was goaded by competing mapmaker H.M. Gousha (which I still miss).

Conveniently, when I was still working for the Federales, my office was just a few blocks from AASHTO's. I made an appointment and visited AASHTO on a stretched-out lunch hour, to review and photocopy the rather skinny Hawaii and Alaska files.

My Hawaii Highways website has a copy of RMcN's outdated Oahu inset to its Hawaii map, which got a half-page in RMcN's "49-State Road Atlas" (Alaska got the other half) in the brief interval between Alaska's and Hawaii's admissions to statehood. There's also a link to a more complete map of Oahu's wartime route network, from a souvenir map for the 1946 Army Day celebrations. That might be the only copy left, since the copy I reviewed (and photocopied) at the University of Hawaii library probably was later destroyed by a flood along with most or all of the University's map collection.

[SectorZ]

70 is mathematically a weird number. This also explains Breezewood.

I learn something from you weekly and never fail to be proud of our shared alma mater due to it.

[bugo]

There is a document in the AASH(T)O archive that is a letter from a citizen who wanted US 66 to be truncated at Holbrook, AZ and US 70 extended to Los Angeles, absorbing US 66. Originally, US 70 followed today's US 180 and ended in Holbrook at US 66. His reason for wanting to change it was because 70 ends in a 0 and it should be a transcontinental highway. Of course, it wasn't taken seriously, but I thought it was amusing. US 70 has been rerouted several times since then.

Did you know that Cyrus Avery did not initially want the US 66 designation? One of the documents is a letter from Avery where he "strenuously object(s)" to US 60 being changed to 66. It seems like they had already made a bunch of US 60 cutouts that they couldn't post because the numbering of the highway was in limbo. He was very angry at Kentucky for throwing a hissy fit about wanting US 60 to go through the state instead of 62, which was its original number. Kentucky got their way 62 became 60, and 60 became 66. Kentucky threw a temper tantrum and was rewarded for it. I wonder if the Department of Highways still had all those US 60 shields in 1930 when US 60 was extended from Springfield to Amarillo, absorbing US 164.

I noticed that the term "absorb" was often used in the 1930s when an entire highway was decommissioned and consolidated with a longer US highway, such as when US 12 was routed over old US 112 in Michigan. They also used the term "stop" when referring to the end of a highway. They would say "US 73 will stop at Atoka, and US 75 will be extended to Galveston." These documents are interesting on so many levels. Another thing I noticed is that poor spelling and grammar and typos were just as common back then as they are now.

[Max Rockatansky]

What year was that US 70 west of Holbrook letter?  I imagine that had to be before US 60 was extended to California?

[bugo]

What year was that US 70 west of Holbrook letter?  I imagine that had to be before US 60 was extended to California?

1929. If you select Arkansas and set the year to 1929 and click search, it will be the only one that pops up. The filename is Other_AR_1929__.pdf. This same document has a page that states that the Poteau-Mena highway was to be renumbered from 271 to 371.

[The Ghostbuster]

The US 70 extension to Hawaii was a ridiculous proposal. There was a proposal in the 1950s and 60s to designate a US 97 in Alaska. It would have followed AK 2 from the United States/Canadian border all the way to Livengood (which is northwest of Fairbanks). This proposal was canceled in 1968.

[ClassicHasClass]

Theoretically, though, that could have been a through route with US 97 via BC 97, but not all the provinces were on board.

[US 89]

Theoretically, though, that could have been a through route with US 97 via BC 97, but not all the provinces were on board.

Pretty sure AASHTO even approved that proposal on the condition that the Canadian provinces involved renumber their portions of the route as 97. Since the Yukon obviously never did, the plan fell through.

[Mapmikey]

Theoretically, though, that could have been a through route with US 97 via BC 97, but not all the provinces were on board.

Pretty sure AASHTO even approved that proposal on the condition that the Canadian provinces involved renumber their portions of the route as 97. Since the Yukon obviously never did, the plan fell through.

This is accurate...the 1964 application and approval are on the AASHO database.  Specifically mentioned Yukon adopting route 97 for a continuous number as the condition for approval.  There are no documents of any follow-up from AK or AASHO on efforts to get Yukon to do this or to say the matter is dropped.

[theroadwayone]

The Owl must have been behind this one..

Did he acquire a TARDIS to go back to 1960 to get that request through or something?

[TheGrassGuy]

So basically HI-61? The Pali Hwy?

[Max Rockatansky]

The Owl must have been behind this one..

Did he acquire a TARDIS to go back to 1960 to get that request through or something?

He probably just ran an Interstate through the TARDIS. 

[bing101]

Damn I thought its a joke!

[Mapmikey]

So basically HI-61? The Pali Hwy?

The request didn't say which road but whatever the 1960 alignment of HI 61 is makes the most sense...

[oscar]

Specifically mentioned Yukon adopting route 97 for a continuous number as the condition for approval.  There are no documents of any follow-up from AK or AASHO on efforts to get Yukon to do this or to say the matter is dropped.

Alaska DOT followed up with AASHO ca. 1968, saying it tried to get its Yukon counterparts to go along but those darned Canadians wouldn't budge.

Alaska DOT never explicitly dropped the US 97 request, nor did AASHO cancel its conditional approval.

[kkt]

So it could still happen, if Yukon were given a strong incentive.

Well, now is not the time to ask anyway.

[davmillar]

Maybe there needs to be a ferry linking the mainland and Hawaii that could be signed US 70, kinda like the S.S. Badger.

[Max Rockatansky]

Maybe there needs to be a ferry linking the mainland and Hawaii that could be signed US 70, kinda like the S.S. Badger.

I'm sure that would be a literal boat load of un-fun getting there.  I would probably take a transfer to Hawaii if it ever came up but I'm not going to concern myself with riding on a freighter with my cars.

[kkt]

For a long time there were a couple of steamers, the Monterey and Mariposa, making trips from Hawaii to California and back every week.  But they stopped after all the tourists started flying.