1926 map showing proposed US highway system

Started by bugo, March 12, 2018, 12:48:46 AM

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cwf1701

US-25 going to Pt. Huron via today's M-29 instead of going up Gratiot Ave.


sbeaver44

Quote from: vdeane on March 12, 2018, 12:53:42 PM
US 1 and US 2 are swapped in part of Maine via Alt US 1
US 20 follows US 20A in NY
US 2 appears to follow US 302 to an overlap with US 5 in VT, and also appears to be missing the connection to NY
PA 61 appears to be a US route in this plan
Re: PA 61
I believe that was US 122 and/or US 120 at various points in time?

Nexus 6P


formulanone

#27
US 72 west of Corinth, Mississippi heads north on US 45 and then jogs along what later became US 64.

US 96 made more sense in the planning stages as an even-numbered route, taking over the diagonal parts of US 59/77 and US 281.

Duke87

Quote from: BamaZeus on March 12, 2018, 11:36:24 AM
US 7 is aligned further west into NY state, and pretty much along the borders with CT and MA, instead of through Norwalk/Danbury/western Mass.

And from 1926 to 1928 this is, officially, how it was routed - via what is now NY 22, CT 41, and US 44.

Unlikely it was ever signed in New York, though.
If you always take the same road, you will never see anything new.

bugo

Quote from: formulanone on March 13, 2018, 08:29:52 PM
US 72 west of Corinth, Mississippi heads north on US 45 and then jogs along what later became US 64.

I'm pretty sure it was actually routed that way.

froggie

Quote from: bugo on March 14, 2018, 12:35:57 AM
Quote from: formulanone on March 13, 2018, 08:29:52 PM
US 72 west of Corinth, Mississippi heads north on US 45 and then jogs along what later became US 64.

I'm pretty sure it was actually routed that way.

Presumably until 1934.  The 1935 map is the first MDOT map to show US 72 remaining in Mississippi west of Corinth.

formulanone

Quote from: froggie on March 14, 2018, 09:09:37 AM
Quote from: bugo on March 14, 2018, 12:35:57 AM
Quote from: formulanone on March 13, 2018, 08:29:52 PM
US 72 west of Corinth, Mississippi heads north on US 45 and then jogs along what later became US 64.

I'm pretty sure it was actually routed that way.

Presumably until 1934.  The 1935 map is the first MDOT map to show US 72 remaining in Mississippi west of Corinth.


That's quite a realignment!

Rushmeister

What a great find! Thank you for sharing it with us.

I notice on the map that US 41 in western Indiana largely follows the present Ind 63 corridor, a previously debated subject on this board.  Please take notice of the distinct north-south section of the US 41/52 multiplex between Lafayette and Kentland. My theory is that the plan was to use the most improved road in that region, which would have been the Adeway, an Indianapolis-to-Chicago auto trail.  The southern junction of US 41 and 52 on this map would be on present-day Ind 352 between Boswell and Oxford, going north through Fowler, and then joining US 24 at Goodland and continuing west to Kentland, where the northern junction of the US 41/52 multiplex remains.

I remember seeing reference material indicating that in the 1920s, US 52's northern terminus was at Oxford, Indiana.  Because I grew up near Oxford, I took particular notice of that point.  Until I saw this map, it always struck me as odd that since present US 52 is not routed through Oxford, that it would ever have terminated at Oxford, where there are no other US highways.  However, if US 52 was once planned to go through Oxford, it makes much more sense that it would temporarily terminate there, rather than a larger nearby town like Fowler through which US 52 is routed, while northwest extensions were under construction.

I spent many years of my life living near the present-day Adeway, which today is a county-maintained road through southern Benton County from Fowler to the Warren County line.  Now that I'm a member of the daily metropolitan rat-race, I greatly miss the tranquil solitude of living out on the prairies of Benton County, which is perhaps the most sparsely populated (and friendliest) area of Indiana.

...and then the psychiatrist chuckled.

MantyMadTown

I see that US 10 merges with 53 and then follows 12 to get into Minnesota, in a similar path to I-94, instead of continuing west into Minnesota and going up the Mississippi River before going into St. Paul like it does today. I also noticed that 41 in Michigan goes straight north to Marquette instead of turning onto US 2 and making a detour into Escanaba and Gladstone before turning north again.
Forget the I-41 haters

sparker

It looks like US 99 makes a bit of a detour from its final routing (present CA 99) in the San Joaquin Valley; it utilizes CA 63 from Tulare to Visalia, and what looks like a road paralleling but somewhat north of CA 198 west from Visalia back to Goshen, where it resumes along the historic alignment adjacent to the old SP main line.  Not surprising; Visalia was always the largest town between Bakersfield and Fresno, and the assemblers of this initial national system took that into account.

texaskdog

I would love to print this and laminate it and put it on my wall

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: sparker on May 05, 2018, 04:16:47 PM
It looks like US 99 makes a bit of a detour from its final routing (present CA 99) in the San Joaquin Valley; it utilizes CA 63 from Tulare to Visalia, and what looks like a road paralleling but somewhat north of CA 198 west from Visalia back to Goshen, where it resumes along the historic alignment adjacent to the old SP main line.  Not surprising; Visalia was always the largest town between Bakersfield and Fresno, and the assemblers of this initial national system took that into account.

Looks like it swung east on LRN 10 from Goshen to Visalia which eventually became CA 198. 

texaskdog

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on March 12, 2018, 01:39:07 PM
A minor musing just for my own interests is the inland jog along US 61 near Lake Superior (which approximately correlates to modern Lake County Road 3 and possibly short pieces of County 4 and 5). I don't think 61 ever took that route, as the then-MN 1 along the lakeshore had already been completed before 1926 and all MN state maps from the era show US 61 along the lake.

I never knew the original proposal for US 53 had it continuing all the way to Dubuque.

I also believe regarding US 8's east end that Dale reported that the original proposal for US 8 to connect to US 2/41 in Powers rather than taking the left turn to go to Norway is still technically an "active" proposal even though neither WI nor MI are inclined to build it.

Notice the western end of 8 drops down to Stillwater

sparker

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 07, 2018, 10:25:07 AM
Quote from: sparker on May 05, 2018, 04:16:47 PM
It looks like US 99 makes a bit of a detour from its final routing (present CA 99) in the San Joaquin Valley; it utilizes CA 63 from Tulare to Visalia, and what looks like a road paralleling but somewhat north of CA 198 west from Visalia back to Goshen, where it resumes along the historic alignment adjacent to the old SP main line.  Not surprising; Visalia was always the largest town between Bakersfield and Fresno, and the assemblers of this initial national system took that into account.

Looks like it swung east on LRN 10 from Goshen to Visalia which eventually became CA 198. 

At first glance (w/squint) at the '26 US system map, it looked like the E-W portion of proposed US 99 swung a bit north of the present CA 198/former LRN 10 alignment and proceeded along what looks like Goshen Ave. (paralleled by the old SP Exeter-Coalinga cross-valley RR line) -- but comparing it with the Rumsey maps from both 1926 and 1928, it looks like a facility along that present 198 alignment was indeed intact in both cartographic years.  At this point, I'd take the national map more as a rough indication as to where the initial batch of US highways would go rather than a precise indicator of actual alignment. 

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: sparker on May 07, 2018, 06:54:34 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 07, 2018, 10:25:07 AM
Quote from: sparker on May 05, 2018, 04:16:47 PM
It looks like US 99 makes a bit of a detour from its final routing (present CA 99) in the San Joaquin Valley; it utilizes CA 63 from Tulare to Visalia, and what looks like a road paralleling but somewhat north of CA 198 west from Visalia back to Goshen, where it resumes along the historic alignment adjacent to the old SP main line.  Not surprising; Visalia was always the largest town between Bakersfield and Fresno, and the assemblers of this initial national system took that into account.

Looks like it swung east on LRN 10 from Goshen to Visalia which eventually became CA 198. 

At first glance (w/squint) at the '26 US system map, it looked like the E-W portion of proposed US 99 swung a bit north of the present CA 198/former LRN 10 alignment and proceeded along what looks like Goshen Ave. (paralleled by the old SP Exeter-Coalinga cross-valley RR line) -- but comparing it with the Rumsey maps from both 1926 and 1928, it looks like a facility along that present 198 alignment was indeed intact in both cartographic years.  At this point, I'd take the national map more as a rough indication as to where the initial batch of US highways would go rather than a precise indicator of actual alignment.

If anything it has me curious about the hyper early US 99 routing in Tulare, it looks like it was 1st street west of the tracks.

Highway63

Whoa. Just, whoa.

This is the ONLY map I have ever seen labeling US 218 as US 265 - the most logical # to use and whose non-use remains a mystery. There was nothing, nothing in the Iowa DOT archive that showed that. This is the ONLY map I have ever seen labeling an extension of US 53 from La Crosse to Marquette and using 53 instead of 55 to Dubuque - but there was a variant.

AASHO met in San Francisco 11/17-20/24 around the time I have a note "system as approved to March 1, 1924" but not the map. The first map I have is late October 1925, showing 53 running from Dubuque to McGregor and then following what is now IA 76 through Waukon. But there's no 55 at all. That changes by April 1926, when 53 goes through Decorah instead. 218 is 218 in both. The map posted in this thread splits the difference and has 55 where 52 is now, but 53 on the Great River Road. US 18's end at US 75 was that way right up until the final approval Nov. 11, 1926.

Ignoring the eventualities of the future in Kansas, there should have been some easy moves made in the Plains: US 32 extends from Council Bluffs to Lincoln and supersedes US 38 (not sure if 38 ends in Lincoln or Omaha); US 36 takes over US 40N and US 40 is on US 40S, OR, to maintain 40 through Denver, 36 still stops at Colby, 40N becomes 40, and 40S becomes 44.

I don't seem to be able to save a full-size version of the map.

texaskdog

Quote from: MantyMadTown on May 04, 2018, 06:50:41 PM
I see that US 10 merges with 53 and then follows 12 to get into Minnesota, in a similar path to I-94, instead of continuing west into Minnesota and going up the Mississippi River before going into St. Paul like it does today. I also noticed that 41 in Michigan goes straight north to Marquette instead of turning onto US 2 and making a detour into Escanaba and Gladstone before turning north again.

41 should follow the lake on M-35 but because of the original unbuilt plan it has that reroute.

Captain Jack

I noticed that south of Nashville, US 41 follows the current US 31 route through Birmingham to Mobile, while US 31 stays east of US 41, going to Chattanooga, where US 25 takes the current US 41 route through Georgia to Naples.

I always thought it made more sense for US 41 to take this alignment, and stay to the west of US 31. I never knew it was the original routing. My guess, as with US 66, Chicago carried a lot of weight in those days, and someone wanted to make sure Chicago had a single route to Florida.



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