AASHTO Route Numbering Database Documents

[US 89]

1926: Virginia is filed under Utah.
1927: Virginia and Washington are filed under Utah.
1929: Virginia is filed under Utah.

There is a bunch of stuff misfiled under Utah through the early years (I've seen some Ohio stuff somewhere in there, too), most likely because AASHO President Henry H. Blood was from Utah and had a mailing address in Salt Lake City.

[kurumi]

There are quite a few misfiled documents ("US" vs. "Interstate", some route numbers, etc.).

Filed under "DC" are more than 200 docs, many addressing non-DC or nationwide issues (such as what appears to be a late 1970s interstate route log). It's a bit of a treasure hunt, but there's some good treasure.

Edit: "Other_DC_1927__" is a 143-page doc announcing the birth of the US system, with strip maps of many major routes

[CNGL-Leudimin]

There are some correspondence under IL and US Routes that have never entered that state. Those are inquiries from Rand McNally.

[Mapmikey]

Edit: "Other_DC_1927__" is a 143-page doc announcing the birth of the US system, with strip maps of many major routes

A second Other_DC_1927 document contains all 50 states replying to the question of what percentage of the US routes have you actually signed?

Useful for questions like, was US 511 ever signed?  The answer is no (I've seen a separate document saying TN still hadn't signed their US routes as of Feb 1929).

LOL - New Jersey not only said no posting, they said they hadn't even decided to accept the concept of interstate routes...

[CNGL-Leudimin]

A second Other_DC_1927 document contains all 48 states replying to the question of what percentage of the US routes have you actually signed?

FTFY. Alaska and Hawaii weren't states yet at the time.

[bugo]

There is a bunch of stuff misfiled under Utah through the early years (I've seen some Ohio stuff somewhere in there, too), most likely because AASHO President Henry H. Blood was from Utah and had a mailing address in Salt Lake City.

There are a bunch of files in the Oklahoma section that are actually for Oregon. I wonder if there are a whole bunch of OK documents that are filed in another state's folder.

[usends]

"Other_DC_1927__" is a 143-page doc announcing the birth of the US system, with strip maps of many major routes

Can you either post the URL, or else the search parameters you used to find this?  I'm using various combinations of "DC", "1927" and "Other", but I can't seem to find it.

[froggie]

A few more Minnesota tidbits not mentioned by Patrick (TheHighwayMan394):

• US 169 was not an original U.S. route.  Minnesota requested its addition as early as 1927.
• Correspondence from Minnesota in 1930 regarding US 10 and US 12 crossing into Wisconsin.  Both routes were originally routed via the Hudson, WI toll bridge because there was no other bridge available.  In 1930 the Prescott bridge was being built, initially as a toll bridge but with both Minnesota and Wisconsin negotiating to make it toll-free.  Minnesota requested that, upon removal of the Prescott tolls, that US 10 be permanently rerouted to that bridge and US 12 be temporarily routed there as well until the Hudson bridge became toll-free.
• More 1930 correspondence, with Minnesota giving its blessing to South Dakota's request to extend US 77 from Milbank to Ortonville.
• Relevant to upthread conversation about US routes in Arkansas, approval of US 371 from Little Falls to Cass Lake (with recommended concurrency along US 2 to Bemidji) in 1931.  "I am suggesting that route be run in Over Route 2 to Bemidji and then be designated as U.S. 371.  The No. 271 is already in use."
• A 1932 request by the "U.S. 69 Highway Association" to extend US 69 from Albert Lea to International Falls.  Minnesota Highway Department declined.
• US 14 extension from Winona, MN to Chicago in 1933.  Minnesota had a preference to routing it via LaCrescent (as wound up being approved), but otherwise was deferring to Wisconsin as to how the extension would traverse that state.  So there was a possibility it could have crossed the river at Winona instead of LaCrescent-LaCrosse.  The other interesting thing is that the AASHO Executive Committee decided to approve the US 14 extension in March, without waiting for the annual meeting in June.
• A 1933 proposal by local interests to extend US 77 from Milbank, SD to Fargo, ND via Rosholt, ND.  From what I can tell, the "local interests" comprised of groups in Milbank, Rosholt, Roberts County (SD), and the publisher of the newspaper in Browns Valley, MN.  There seems to have been some misunderstanding involved...as the groups apparently weren't aware that US 77 was extended to Ortonville three years prior (see above), and AASHO wasn't interested in extending US 77 from Ortonville, nevermind that the proposal came from private citizens instead of the respective state transportation commissions, though a Minnesota Congressman representing the area did send an inquiry letter to AASHO.
  
  The proposed route appears to have continued north from Milbank (via today's SD 15), then gone to Browns Valley, MN, then north along the west side of Lake Traverse to Rosholt where it would meet then-US 81, then concurrent with US 81 up to Fargo.  The proposers pushed this as a "more direct route" from Sioux Falls to Fargo.  AASHO's disinterest focuses mainly on the proposal not reaching them via the state authorities, but in their correspondence they also cited the lengthy concurrency with US 81, having both US 75 and US 81 as north-south routes in the region, and the proposed route following county roads instead of state roads.
• In 1935, AASHO initially approved the extension of US 59 via Granite Falls, Montevideo, and Benson (basically today's MN 23, US 212, MN 29, and MN 9).  Minnesota felt this was an error and sent a clarifying letter noting that improved routes were either already built or under construction more directly connecting Marshall and Morris via Montevideo and Appleton (i.e. today's US 59).  AASHO concurred and corrected it in the final update.
• US 77's later, approved, truncation from Ortonville to Milbank, SD in 1966.

A whole lot more in there.  I'll probably make a separate post about the jumble of changes (and various proposals) that occurred in the 1933-34 timeframe.

[froggie]

One more I just found:  a 1950 request from the Minneapolis Junior Chamber of Commerce for a single U.S. route number running from "Indian River City" (Titusville, FL) via Orlando, Columbus (GA), Birmingham (AL), East St. Louis (IL), Cedar Rapids (IA), and St. Paul (MN), to the Candian border at Pembina, ND.  The group claimed (rather falsely) that "there are few, if any, highways across the United Sgtates that have one number.".  They also claimed that tourists spend too many hours plotting their vacations and that such a route would increase tourist travel in the communities along the route.

AASHO denied it on the simple basis that the request didn't come from the respective state highway departments, but went further noting the need for "strong justification in the form of traffic survey data" and also corrected their false claim.

[Mapmikey]

"Other_DC_1927__" is a 143-page doc announcing the birth of the US system, with strip maps of many major routes

Can you either post the URL, or else the search parameters you used to find this?  I'm using various combinations of "DC", "1927" and "Other", but I can't seem to find it.

Search DC and 1927...just 4 documents come up and it's one of the first two...

[Max Rockatansky]

One more I just found:  a 1950 request from the Minneapolis Junior Chamber of Commerce for a single U.S. route number running from "Indian River City" (Titusville, FL) via Orlando, Columbus (GA), Birmingham (AL), East St. Louis (IL), Cedar Rapids (IA), and St. Paul (MN), to the Candian border at Pembina, ND.  The group claimed (rather falsely) that "there are few, if any, highways across the United Sgtates that have one number.".  They also claimed that tourists spend too many hours plotting their vacations and that such a route would increase tourist travel in the communities along the route.

AASHO denied it on the simple basis that the request didn't come from the respective state highway departments, but went further noting the need for "strong justification in the form of traffic survey data" and also corrected their false claim.

So score another US Route denial for poor old FL 50?  That road is so important to that part of the state but couldn't get an ounce of respect from the AASHO. 

[usends]

"Other_DC_1927__" is a 143-page doc announcing the birth of the US system, with strip maps of many major routes

Can you either post the URL, or else the search parameters you used to find this?  I'm using various combinations of "DC", "1927" and "Other", but I can't seem to find it.

Search DC and 1927...just 4 documents come up and it's one of the first two...

This is what I'm seeing...

I think it's ok to just post the URL.  My understanding is that works as long as you're already in the database and you paste in the link.

[Mapmikey]

"Other_DC_1927__" is a 143-page doc announcing the birth of the US system, with strip maps of many major routes

Can you either post the URL, or else the search parameters you used to find this?  I'm using various combinations of "DC", "1927" and "Other", but I can't seem to find it.

Search DC and 1927...just 4 documents come up and it's one of the first two...

This is what I'm seeing...

I think it's ok to just post the URL.  My understanding is that works as long as you're already in the database and you paste in the link.

https://na4.visualvault.com/app/AASHTO/Default/documentviewer?DhID=e7695a22-55e6-ea11-a98a-ff9beffbfef8&hidemenu=true

[kurumi]

"Other_DC_1927__" is a 143-page doc announcing the birth of the US system, with strip maps of many major routes

Can you either post the URL, or else the search parameters you used to find this?  I'm using various combinations of "DC", "1927" and "Other", but I can't seem to find it.

Search for state == "DC", year == 1927 works for me. There are 4 results. Two have the same "Other_DC_1927__" name. The first is the 143-page doc, the second is a "status of highway markings and sign erection" doc that may also be of interest.

[usends]

Search for state == "DC", year == 1927 works for me. There are 4 results. Two have the same "Other_DC_1927__" name. The first is the 143-page doc, the second is a "status of highway markings and sign erection" doc that may also be of interest.

I found the problem: I had left the database open in a browser tab for a few days, and it was no longer working properly, even after refreshing the page.  Instead I had to re-open the URL.

Anyway, that document is a great find.  The first section talks at length about the conditions of US 40 across the country, and I love this excerpt from p. 8:

...the excellent gravel roads make 40 miles an hour a comfortable speed.  It is probable that the ordinary driver will average about 150 miles a day for the entire trip, and at this rate the journey from coast to coast may be made in three weeks."

[usends]

Search for state == "DC", year == 1927 works for me. There are 4 results. Two have the same "Other_DC_1927__" name. The first is the 143-page doc, the second is a "status of highway markings and sign erection" doc that may also be of interest.

One of the other documents that comes up in that search is the April 1927 route log that Droz used as the primary source on the 1927 listing on his website.  It contains the errors he and others have noted, e.g. US 89 beginning in "Armington" (instead of Spanish Fork), the omission of US 611, etc.

[ozarkman417]

It appears that this database only includes data that dates before 2015. I came upon the lack of results after searching for the I-587 (NC) AASHTO submission from 2016.

[froggie]

^ Perhaps because all submissions and meeting materials for 2015 through 2019 are on another webpage...

[bob7374]

Found an amusing typo in the Mass. application to reroute US 20 onto I-291 in Springfield in 1972 (besides referring to the application as being for an Interstate), the hand-drawn key for the map of the new route labels the red line as being "US Route 20 (as presently appv'd by ASSHO)". Perhaps that's why Mass. doesn't send to many applications to them these days.

[rschen7754]

A lot of the files have now been uploaded to https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Minutes_from_the_American_Association_of_State_Highway_and_Transportation_Officials.

There is a project to transcribe them on https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Portal:American_Association_of_State_Highway_and_Transportation_Officials.

[Alex]

The 1984 application by Georgia for requesting the establishment of I-516 has two items of interest. In a letter dated June 20, 1984 from the FHWA to GDOT, there were requests for adding SR 400 from I-285 north to SR 306 near Cumming as an Interstate (29 miles), and SR 316 from I-85 east to SR 120 west of Lawrenceville (5 miles) as an Interstate, with SR 316 east from SR 120 to U.S. 29/SR 8 as a future addition (5.5 miles).

FHWA responded on SR 400:

We find that this route would not be a logical addition to the Interstate System because this route lacks the unique characteristics which would warrant incorporation as part of the Interstate System.

FHWA responded on SR 316:

The segment between I-85 and SR 120 west of Lawrenceville was requested as an addition under Section 139(a). The segment between SR 120 and SR 8 was requested as a future addition under section 139(b). We find that both segments of this route would not be logical additions to the Interstate System because the route lacks the unique characteristics which would warrant incorporation as part of the Interstate System.

The same letter cited that adding SR 365 from I-85 to Gainesville [I-985]

would be a logical addition to provide a direct Interstate connection for Gainesville which is approaching the status of an urbanized area.

[jdb1234]

^^^
Georgia also applied to swap the I-75 & I-475 designations in Macon and extend I-16 to the current I-75/475 split north of town.

[Rover_0]

Another extension I found interesting is that Kentucky wanted to extend US-58 to East St. Louis, IL in 1955. Link below (just remember to search beforehand.)

https://na4.visualvault.com/app/AASHTO/Default/documentviewer?DhID=a8fb03a8-bbd5-ea11-a98a-ff9beffbfef8&hidemenu=true

It should be under US 58, KY, 1955.

[Rover_0]

When the US 60 extension west of Springfield, there was some uncertainty about its routing. One plan sent US 60 into Kansas and ending in Colorado, and extending US 164 east to Springfield. The proposed US 60 routing in Kansas and Colorado was replaced largely by US 160.

It's almost like US-160 was a "failed"  US-60 extension–just slap a 1 in front of the number! Same thing, right?

At least 160 didn't become a 1000+ mile US-60N; in that sense you could call 160's numbering more forward-thinking.

[Max Rockatansky]

When the US 60 extension west of Springfield, there was some uncertainty about its routing. One plan sent US 60 into Kansas and ending in Colorado, and extending US 164 east to Springfield. The proposed US 60 routing in Kansas and Colorado was replaced largely by US 160.

It's almost like US-160 was a "failed"  US-60 extension–just slap a 1 in front of the number! Same thing, right?

At least 160 didn't become a 1000+ mile US-60N; in that sense you could call 160's numbering more forward-thinking.

I'd argue that end result of US 60 and US 160 was the right call.  US 66 the was planned as US 60 originally outside forces changed that because they wanted an X0 Route.  Getting the final US 60 across the country in just a couple years really panned out since it was built over a lot of new highway like the Salt River Canyon and the Sonoran Desert in California.