What was it like While they were building the Interstates? And signs?

[J N Winkler]

Is the gap between Belle Vista, AR and Pineville, MO signed along US 71?

Yes.  Both ends of I-49 have signs advising traffic to continue on US 71.  The signs shown on Jim Teresco's page (with the possible exception of the stippled-arrow diagrammatic) were installed as part of the major I-49 signing contract a few years ago.



To answer the OP's question, treatment of uncompleted Interstates clearly varied from state to state, but a common approach in many states (such as Ohio and Arizona) was to incorporate temporary signing (often with lettering one size smaller) into paving or combined grading/drainage/paving contracts for discrete segments, and then come back later and replace all the temporary signing with permanent signs developed on a corridor-wide basis and installed as part of one contract.  It is fairly easy to see this approach at work in states that make old Interstate as-built plans available through electronic document management systems.

In Colorado, where rural I-25 in the southern part of the state was essentially an on-the-cheap and now unnervingly deficient upgrade of US 85-87, the basic approach in the early 1960's was to taper traffic down from four lanes divided to two lanes with large signs reading "KEEP RIGHT/(ruled line)/FORM ONE LANE/(ruled line)/NO PASSING," and follow this with a single-panel trailblazer:  "TO [I-25 shield] [up arrow]."

[KEVIN_224]

(I'm sorry in advance if this is in the wrong section!)

This was taken from a Facebook group I'm part of, mostly about early history of New Britain, CT and its environs.

The above photo is from November 1973. It shows CT Route 72 under construction. The photo is generally looking west to west-southwest. The interchange with I-84 is at the top right of the picture. I believe the road from that interchange to Corbin Avenue (the bridge under "Black Rock Ave." was already there, as the old route 72 would head south and east from there towards Berlin.

The split bridge above the word "construction" is where West Main Street passes under the highway today.

At the extreme top...the Tomasso Quarry is in Plainville, CT.

Top left...Slade Junior High School is still there now, but with more buildings.