Salt Lake U.S. highways of yore

[CL]

Compared to the barren wasteland of federal highways in Salt Lake City (we only have US-89), the period from the 1920s to the 1970s was a mecca of mainline highways, alternates and what have you, right?

Well, I can't get exact dates down for when each designation was formed, when it moved or switched alignments, and when it was scrapped. I realize there are very few people that know the following, but it's worth a shot. Here are a few to consider:

-The US-50 and US-50A switch: this is when US-50 moved to central Utah and US-50A was formed through the old Salt Lake route. I have a hunch it's the early 1950s, but I'm not too sure. Along the same vein, did US-50A ever run along 3500 South? By the 1950s it for sure should have been on 2100 South.

-The US-40 and US-40A switch: US-40 used to run along 2100 South, State Street and North Temple. US-40 ran along Foothill Drive and met up with US-40 at North Temple. Somewhere in the late 1960s (I've isolated it to between 1962 and 1967), they switched alignments, except US-40A now met up with US-40 at Black Rock Jct west of Magna.

-US-89A/US-91A move: initially it ran along South Temple, but a Chevron map from 1971 has it along North Temple. When did it move?

-Truncation of US-50A: it wasn't 1976 - I have an image of an I-80 exit that shows a sole US-50A shield from 1979. That means US-50A remained in Salt Lake a few years after US-40 and US-40A were truncated.

Well, I hope someone who knows something will stumble upon this.

[agentsteel53]

-The US-50 and US-50A switch: this is when US-50 moved to central Utah and US-50A was formed through the old Salt Lake route. I have a hunch it's the early 1950s, but I'm not too sure. Along the same vein, did US-50A ever run along 3500 South? By the 1950s it for sure should have been on 2100 South.

Do you mean the I-70 corridor?  I believe that came as late as 1986.

-Truncation of US-50A: it wasn't 1976 - I have an image of an I-80 exit that shows a sole US-50A shield from 1979. That means US-50A remained in Salt Lake a few years after US-40 and US-40A were truncated.

I'd love to see this picture!  It may have been a straggler sign; the truncation took place three years earlier but they hadn't corrected the sign yet.  Been known to happen - CA had US-66 shields up as late as 1978, despite the final route decommissioning from the state in 1974.

[CL]

You've probably seen it before, but there it is. I was wrong - the US-50A picture's from 1976 (I swear seeing '79 somewhere). However, apparently it was taken after US-40/US-40A was truncated. See how there are outlines of THREE shields being on there at once (plus the arrow used to be lower than where it was)? One of them was definitely US-40A (which was concurrent with US-50A in the western Salt Lake Valley), but I'm not sure of the other one. So, since it seems like they went to some effort to remove a US-40A shield, I'm pretty sure US-50A remained for a few years after US-40A. Make sense?



As for US-50/50A, it used to be that US-50 ran through modern-day US-6 to Provo, up to Salt Lake, west to Wendover, and south to Ely (I believe US-6 took the central Utah route through Scipio, Richfield, etc). When they moved US-50 down to central Utah, they replaced the old routing of 50 with 50 Alternate.

[agentsteel53]

oh, that one... ALT 50, not 50A.  I think I vaguely remember that photo from Michael S.  I had been hoping for "50A" within the shield itself, kinda like how they do 89A these days in Kanab.

[CL]

Ah, sorry. For the sake of convenience I just refer to alternate routes as #A, regardless of how they're signed in the real world.

[CL]

P.S. The shield gallery places the ALT 50 photo in 1984. If that's the case, then the sign would definitely be a "straggler" by a few years.

[elsmere241]

P.S. The shield gallery places the ALT 50 photo in 1984. If that's the case, then the sign would definitely be a "straggler" by a few years.

Just like the US 91 shield I saw in 1985 in downtown Salt Lake, somewhere around Fifth West.