Commission approves US Highway 78 designation through Northeast Arkansas

[usends]

I just got a photo of US 78 signage from someone who was at the new west terminus.  Also, it turns out a Street View car went through there in April, and US 78 was already signposted by then.

[Road Hog]

I just got a photo of US 78 signage from someone who was at the new west terminus.  Also, it turns out a Street View car went through there in April, and US 78 was already signposted by then.

The Cash-Jonesboro sign is a different font. Is ARDOT starting to phase that in?

[bugo]

Well, this is weird, I am sure most of us were just waiting for US 78 to be truncated to I-22 northwest of Birmingham.   

I know I was.

Did you think Mississippi and Alabama would really have truncated US 78? Neither state is known for decommissioning highways.

[bugo]

AASHTO is so zealous about the single state rule that they managed to break two other guidelines they wouldn't have broken if the Cash-Blytheville highway could have been a single state US highway:

Extension of present U.S. numbered routes may be made only when the proposed extension is in the general direction of the present route.

And this one:

Any proposal that would exploit the prestige of the U.S. numbered highway system to direct traffic over routes that are not the shortest and best available between major control points on the system, especially when it appears to be for the purpose of benefiting businesses located along such a proposed route, shall constitute reason for denying any application to make such an addition to the system.

I am of the opinion that short single state routes that connect two or more US highways have a place in the system. The former US 154 in Kansas is an excellent example.