Starting back in 2016, when I was just 13 years old, I had initially started taking pictures of route shields on travels to feature on Wikipedia pages. Over time as I started traveling more, and as I've grown up, gotten better equipment, and eventually got my first car, I kept driving more and more and got more pictures of route shields I didn't have previously. I kept track of all the pictures I had, saved the photos with specific route shields in a photo album I created back in 2020 when I was about halfway done with the project and kept adding on from there. On 28 May 2025, I finished the project, with the last route shields I was missing being located in North Arkansas near the border of Missouri. Some of these photos admittedly aren't great, although I haven't felt like trying to replace all of the photos in this album since I initially created it back in 2020, but I'll probably do that at some point.
A few things to note, there are some gaps of route numbers that no longer exist in Arkansas, such as 2, 3, 6, 47, among others. There have also been a few now-decommissioned state highways that I got shield pictures of before they were removed, such as AR 132 and 396. US Routes and Interstate highways aren't in this photo album either. Most state highways in Arkansas consist as multiple disconnected sections, but for this album I've just featured one photo per route number, regardless of which section it is.
Now that I'm done with this project, I'm not sure what's gonna happen after, or what state I'll complete next, but I'm very happy to have this done.
Photo album link (Google Photos) (https://photos.app.goo.gl/YWYXGMCZdXVpiuJ57)
Please let me know if this link doesn't work.
~~ Ethan
The link works for me. Nice work.
Congratulations!! You completed the shield gallery! Many years of exploring have led to this accomplishment, and you should be proud!
Now you find yourself at a crossroads, the same crossroads I found myself at in May 2014. I decided in the summer of 2004, when I was 14, that I wanted a photo of every numbered route in my home state of Illinois. Ten years later, I realized that goal. (https://flic.kr/s/aHskHt4vT6) I found myself wondering what to do next. That was when I decided to try a nationwide collection of route marker photos for every US highway number and for every Interstate numbered 1 to 100. I also decided to start other statewide collections in neighboring states. You can also shift priorities more toward clinching mileage, clinching counties, visiting all the state parks, visiting all of the incorporated municipalities, or other goals. It, of course, all depends on your preferences! What are your favorite aspects? What gives you the most enjoyment? That's what it's all about. It all depends on your interests (and nobody else's)!
Another funny thing about building a gallery of shield photos (routesnapping, as I call it) is that you will be tempted to revisit roads you've already photographed, in the quest to get a better photo. With county clinching or travel mapping, you get the thing clinched and you're done. With photography, even though you've taken a photo of a particular route, you might find it less than stellar! So if you encounter that route again, you can try to get a better photo. I found myself going back to routes so I can take better photos to replace the older crappier ones, and so I could extract separate shield images (https://flic.kr/s/aHsktMPart) that look nice and are properly aligned.
Now I have a fancy new camera, and it's tempting me to revisit everything :banghead: ... Our work is never done!