I was studying some old Oklahoma state highway maps that can be found at:
http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/hqdiv/p-r-div/maps/state-maps/index.htm
The 1957 map shows what is now US 56 as US 55 (with a detour along US 64 and OK 95.) I've read about this numbering before, but I wonder if it was ever signed as US 55, and was it signed N-S or E-W? Does anybody have another map scan that shows US 55 in OK/KS/NM?
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi167.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu126%2Fbugo348%2FUS551957.jpg&hash=d50e085cc81b25d7b44fcff499306056028d5dc8)
I'd never heard of the US-55 number being applied to that route.
how do we know it's not just a typo from the doc given to the map company, who then used the incorrect number in all the spots that called for an identifying shield?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_56#History
"By mid-1954, it was being promoted as U.S. Route 55 between the Great Lakes and the Southwest."
"The committee approved the request, but since the proposed route was more east—west than north—south, it changed it to an even number - US 56 - and the spur to US 156."
http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/memorial/highways/pdfs/us56/action1.pdf
There is a document on the ODOT site that verifies that the original number for the corridor was US 55. That document can be found here:
http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/memorial/highways/pdfs/us56/action1.pdf
It was renumbered to US 56 because it was more E-W than N-S. It was also supposed to be extended to Wisconsin, replacing US 151.
Quote from: NE2 on August 20, 2012, 06:38:14 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_56#History
"By mid-1954, it was being promoted as U.S. Route 55 between the Great Lakes and the Southwest."
"The committee approved the request, but since the proposed route was more east—west than north—south, it changed it to an even number - US 56 - and the spur to US 156."
http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/memorial/highways/pdfs/us56/action1.pdf
US 156 was to be US 155. It would have had to be signed E-W.
This was brought up in another thread a couple of months ago. There were links to scanned letters of correspondence from ODOT. I don't think it ever got to be signed that way and the maps were made before the actual designation was approved.