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

[tman]

I was always curious how it worked when the Interstate system was being built: did they put, say, I-90 shields on US 16 (while it was still two lanes) or did they finish the road then sign it? And how about when the road was built but it was still an expressway, with intersections? Was it still, say, I-90 when there were still intersections? Anybody have any good sites or photos that show any of this?

[Henry]

Back when the original system was laid out, there were TEMP signs on surface roads that connected two separate sections of the same Interstate until the freeway bypass was built (TEMP I-85 in NC is a prime example). Nowadays, they've been replaced by Future Interstate signs (I-11 and I-69), which may or may not become actual Interstate corridors in the future.

[Brandon]

Back when the original system was laid out, there were TEMP signs on surface roads that connected two separate sections of the same Interstate until the freeway bypass was built (TEMP I-85 in NC is a prime example).

Another one, a long-standing one, was TEMP I-69 in Michigan signed along US-27 and M-78.

[oscar]

In the early 1970s, I lived near Temporary I-15 in southern California, signed as such on what then was part of US 395 down to San Diego, while the permanent I-15 segments were being built. I-15 between San Diego and San Bernadino was a late addition to the original Interstate system.

[hbelkins]

Kentucky used "TO" signs. The gaps with which I'm most familiar were on I-64 between Frankfort and Lexington and between Grayson and the US 60 exit near the Boyd/Carter county line. In both cases, "To I-64" was signed on US 68, but my dad preferred to take US 421 between Lexington and Frankfort. It's two-lane instead of four-lane, but is a bit shorter and my dad didn't like the old narrow median on portions of US 60.

[DeaconG]

There were TO I-95 signs tacked on US 301 all the way through Virginia and the Carolinas when I was growing up and watching the road get built.

[jp the roadgeek]

There were TO I-95 signs tacked on US 301 all the way through Virginia and the Carolinas when I was growing up and watching the road get built.

There were also TO I-95 signs on the NJTP between Exits 7A and 10 until the official cancellation of the Somerset Freeway in the late 90's.  The TO on these signs were replaced with directional assurance signs.  There were still TO I-95 signs on I-195 west of the NJTP and I-295 north of I-195.  These will all go away when the PA Turnpike interchange is completed.

[nexus73]

In the early 1970s, I lived near Temporary I-15 in southern California, signed as such on what then was part of US 395 down to San Diego, while the permanent I-15 segments were being built. I-15 between San Diego and San Bernadino was a late addition to the original Interstate system.

I recall the I-15E signs when I was stationed at March AFB in the mid-Seventies.  The US 395 signs were still up but they would soon disappear...

Rick

[briantroutman]

I was asking some similar questions in a thread some time ago. You might find some of the responses helpful: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=9196.0

[Jardine]

I was but a kid, but I recall going over the Aksarben Bridge, Omaha/CB, while the i-480 bridge was under construction.  On the east approach they ripped out the Playland Park roller coaster (double track!!) and you could see sheet piling down in the water were the piers were being built.  There was a crane sticking up, pf course.  As I recall, the I-beams were barged up the river (components of the Ft. Calhoun Nuclear Plant were also barged).  For many years, the I-480 only crossed the Missouri and all traffic WB had to exit immediately upon crossing the Missouri, the remainder of the bridge wasn't started for quite a while.  The local channel 6 had some 'B' roll footage they used all the time of traffic east bound heading up the ramp from the Nebraska side to cross the new bridge.

There was some grumbling at the time about no concession for pedestrians on the new bridge, you would occasionally see someone walk across.  Good way to get run over, as there was another one just a few weeks ago.  When a pedestrian crossing was finally deemed ok, instead of inexpensively slinging it from the existing 480 bridge, a new cable stayed form was built a ways north.  Unfortunately (to my eyes at least) the main span and towers of the new ped bridge are not centered on the river and it looks lopsided from the 480 bridge.  A 25 million dollar eye sore for those of us that like things just so.

[GaryV]

My mother told me that on a trip (I don't know where, I would have been a young child) we were on a new freeway, but the bridges were not all complete.  So they had to get off and back on at the exits.

[dcharlie]

Tman, I can remember taking a trip to South Dakota from Wisconsin and there were big signs on US 16 telling you how far the gap was to the next completed portion of I-90.  I don't remember seeing any "To" signs, but I was pretty young and that doesn't mean that they were not there.  Would love to find a picture of those signs...

[roadman65]

I remember when I-95 was incomplete between NJ and FL.  No TO signs were present, if I remember correctly (and I say that just in case one troll on here has an old photo and likes to show it just to tell that I need to show proof myself that there was not before saying I therefore should not be commenting here), it was like it was the norm as in most places I-95 travelers were US 301 users previously.  Most knew back that interstate 95, at least between Santee, SC and Petersburg, VA that it was the bypass for US 301 when it was being built.  It ended usually at US 301 in each segment and the current Gold Rock Interchange where it once ended for years did have a " TO US 301" shield as that was enough.

I do remember though that before the section of I-95 was completed in GA between US 25/341 and US 17/84 (US 82 was not yet routed there) that it did have signs directing you between the two ends along GA 303 and the exit guide for US 25/341 South did have "Florida" as a control city where you were directed off. 

In Virginia between Exits 41 and 12 on I-95, the freeway just had ends signs about one half mile before the freeway defaulted onto the four lane US 301 arterial, but no signs letting you know that 301 will bring you back to it.  Ditto for I-64 west of Williamsburg where the freeway used to default into the former VA 168 arterial it was not signed with anything between the two freeway ends.

Anyway, for the OP I have to say its like I-49 is presently.  As you know US 71 is the road its taking away from so in between Texarkana and Fort Smith and north of Fayetteville, AR and just north of the AR/MO line it has two segments that are yet to be completed where you still use US 71.

Then I-69 is another as its a long extension of its previous routing.  Of course from its end near Tunica, MS and where it ends north of Houston, I even doubt there are signs in between yet as no direct US or local highway connects the two ends and the corridor yet has not been established.  Even in Indiana, I saw on GSV when the Google car was on the northern end of I-69 that no signs that I saw directing you back to I-69 north of Indy.  Most likely its because there was no real previous corridor between Evansville and Indianapolis where the new freeway now became part of yet.  The first phase of I-69 south of Indy is just currently a regional freeway used mainly by locals until it at least gets to Bloomington.  At that point I am sure IN 69 will be signed and even at current Exit 200 near Indianapolis we might see signs directing you to go clockwise on I-465 to IN 69 with follow up trailblazing.

Basically we still have interstates to be built, so the only difference now than then was maybe that we did not have future interstate shields along the way back in the hey day.

[vdeane]

Back when the original system was laid out, there were TEMP signs on surface roads that connected two separate sections of the same Interstate until the freeway bypass was built (TEMP I-85 in NC is a prime example). Nowadays, they've been replaced by Future Interstate signs (I-11 and I-69), which may or may not become actual Interstate corridors in the future.

Not really... TEMP signs denoted a detour traffic could use along local streets when a segment wasn't built yet.  Future denotes a freeway that will be added to the interstate system when it (and all necessary connecting segments) has been upgraded to meet interstate standards.  Two completely different things.

[WashuOtaku]

Back when the original system was laid out, there were TEMP signs on surface roads that connected two separate sections of the same Interstate until the freeway bypass was built (TEMP I-85 in NC is a prime example). Nowadays, they've been replaced by Future Interstate signs (I-11 and I-69), which may or may not become actual Interstate corridors in the future.

Not really... TEMP signs denoted a detour traffic could use along local streets when a segment wasn't built yet.  Future denotes a freeway that will be added to the interstate system when it (and all necessary connecting segments) has been upgraded to meet interstate standards.  Two completely different things.

You are correct for the most part, but they also post "Future Instate Corridor" signs on some stretches of adjacent highways.  Example of this is found in South Carolina with I-73 along US 501.

[hbelkins]

How was I-64's gap from Beckley to Sam Black Church signed? I don't remember how much, if any, I-64 signage was located on US 60 before the gap was finished in the 80s. We were only on that stretch of US 60 once, and I have no memory of it, except for my dad saying it took four hours to drive from White Sulphur Springs to Charleston.

There were also two gaps in I-40 in western North Carolina that I can remember. One was from US 276 in the Canton/Clyde area west of Asheville, and one was in the Old Fort/Black Mountain area east of Asheville. I cannot remember how they were signed.

Another gap I remember from childhood vacations was I-75 in Georgia, just north of Atlanta.

[jwolfer]

I remember when I-95 was incomplete between NJ and FL.  No TO signs were present, if I remember correctly (and I say that just in case one troll on here has an old photo and likes to show it just to tell that I need to show proof myself that there was not before saying I therefore should not be commenting here), it was like it was the norm as in most places I-95 travelers were US 301 users previously.  Most knew back that interstate 95, at least between Santee, SC and Petersburg, VA that it was the bypass for US 301 when it was being built.  It ended usually at US 301 in each segment and the current Gold Rock Interchange where it once ended for years did have a " TO US 301" shield as that was enough.

I do remember though that before the section of I-95 was completed in GA between US 25/341 and US 17/84 (US 82 was not yet routed there) that it did have signs directing you between the two ends along GA 303 and the exit guide for US 25/341 South did have "Florida" as a control city where you were directed off. 

In Virginia between Exits 41 and 12 on I-95, the freeway just had ends signs about one half mile before the freeway defaulted onto the four lane US 301 arterial, but no signs letting you know that 301 will bring you back to it.  Ditto for I-64 west of Williamsburg where the freeway used to default into the former VA 168 arterial it was not signed with anything between the two freeway ends.

Anyway, for the OP I have to say its like I-49 is presently.  As you know US 71 is the road its taking away from so in between Texarkana and Fort Smith and north of Fayetteville, AR and just north of the AR/MO line it has two segments that are yet to be completed where you still use US 71.

Then I-69 is another as its a long extension of its previous routing.  Of course from its end near Tunica, MS and where it ends north of Houston, I even doubt there are signs in between yet as no direct US or local highway connects the two ends and the corridor yet has not been established.  Even in Indiana, I saw on GSV when the Google car was on the northern end of I-69 that no signs that I saw directing you back to I-69 north of Indy.  Most likely its because there was no real previous corridor between Evansville and Indianapolis where the new freeway now became part of yet.  The first phase of I-69 south of Indy is just currently a regional freeway used mainly by locals until it at least gets to Bloomington.  At that point I am sure IN 69 will be signed and even at current Exit 200 near Indianapolis we might see signs directing you to go clockwise on I-465 to IN 69 with follow up trailblazing.

Basically we still have interstates to be built, so the only difference now than then was maybe that we did not have future interstate shields along the way back in the hey day.

I remember these. A few months ago I drove alone from MD back to Jax. I was able to checkout the remaining 4 Lane section of 301 North of Emporia. Fayetteville was like Virginia.. 95 just transited into 301.  I also remembet sitting in traffic on the 2 Lane US 17 waiting to cross bridge into Savannah, first time I saw a car wreck happen. The car in front of us tried to avoid re end collision and hit a.pole.

I was 7 or 8 when 95 was complete between DC and FL

[PHLBOS]

Prior to I-95 being rerouted onto 128 in the Greater Boston area (& prior to the completion of the Peabody I-95/MA 128 interchange); US 1 northbound north of MA 60/Revere would have TO NORTH 95 trailblazers periodically from there to I-95 (originally up to the Danvers/Topsfield interchange (Exit 50) then later just up to the Peabody (Exit 46) interchange). 

While the Northeast Expressway was officially part of I-95, prior to it becoming US 1; the old button-copy BGS' (some of which were only taken down a few years ago) still read TO 95 NORTH.

Along the Central Artery itself (again, such was considered to be part of I-95 though not yet signed as such); there were a couple of white TO SOUTH 95 unisigns posted in the southbound direction.  I don't believe there was any northbound trailblazer signage for I-95 along the Artery prior to the erection of the early-70s vintage BGS at the old I-93 split that originally read 95 NORTH Charlestown Revere.

South of the Artery (along the Southeast Expressway), one would not see any I-95 signage until the Braintree split.  The southbound exit BGS for then-Route 128 northbound included TO 95 references.  Along 128 northbound (now I-93 southbound); there were periodic TO 95 trailblazer signs until the I-95 Canton interchange.  For a brief period during the early 70s, between the time the Southwest Expressway (I-95) project was canned but the extension of the Northeast Expressway (also I-95) project was still on life support, the fore-mentioned trailblazer signs were stripped of the TO banners.  The I-95 trailblazer signs from Braintree to Canton would disappear altogether when this stretch of 128 became cosigned with I-93.

[roadman]

While the Northeast Expressway was officially part of I-95, prior to it becoming US 1; the old button-copy BGS' (some of which were only taken down a few years ago) still read TO 95 NORTH.

The last of these signs was on the Tobin Bridge northbound just prior to the curve in Chelsea.  It was taken down as part of Massport's sign replacement project in the early 2000s. 

Along the Central Artery itself (again, such was considered to be part of I-95 though not yet signed as such); there were a couple of white TO SOUTH 95 unisigns posted in the southbound direction.  I don't believe there was any northbound trailblazer signage for I-95 along the Artery prior to the erection of the early-70s vintage BGS at the old I-93 split that originally read 95 NORTH Charlestown Revere.

For a brief time in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the elevated Central Artery had actual I-95 confirmatory markers, without any disclaimers like 'TO' or 'TEMP'.  The signs on the Lower Deck (now I-93, originally part of the cancelled I-695) for the Tobin Bridge exit ramp (demolished in 1988) originally read "JCT 95" as well.

[SP Cook]

How was I-64's gap from Beckley to Sam Black Church signed?

As you know, 64 was one of the last interstates completed where the alternative was 2 lane.  It also, from Sam Black Church to Charleston, follows a totally different path than US 60, continuing due west to Beckley and then multiplexing with the WV Turnpike (I-77) to Charleston.  The gap (which has a political history, of course) was finished all at once, in 1988.

Heading west, WV used its standard practice.  You were forced down the Sam Black Church off ramp and at the bottom was simply a sign reading "Charleston" and a right arrow.  That was it.  You followed US 60 to Charleston, with no further signage, AFAIR.  That was consistant with WV practice on other interstates which were, mostly, built towards Charleston rather than from it (i.e. the sections nearest Charleston are the newest.)  You just got dumped down a ramp and followeed US 21 or US 119 or whatever and were supposed to figure it out.

Heading east was more complex, because the interstate did not really end.  The two lane turnpike was there, and eventually the four lane modern one was there, which connects seamlessly.  So here is a motorist driving down the interstate and never forced off it, but suddenly on I-77 alone, not I-64.

So it was like this.  There was a sign in Dunbar that simply read "I-64 ENDS - 8 MILES AHEAD - USE US 60".  Then at what is today the Belle exit (which was once the end of the Turnpike) the exit signage read "END I-64 - USE US 60 - Lewisburg" and the non-exit side "I-77 - Beckley - Toll Road - WV Turnpike" (earlier version added a "TO" above the I-77) .  There were a few "TO I-64" signs on the very first few miles of US 60 east of there, but it was the same deal, you just had to know US 60 took you to Lewisburg.

South (theoretically east) of that point on the WV Turnpike, as it was completed to interstate standards, all of the signage has just I-77 shields, which were off-center, because there was a space for the I-64 shield to be put up.  The day the road opened, the Turnpike had 100s of 64 shields ready and multiple crews that went up the whole 50 miles and put the 64 shields in their proper place.  Had it done in a day.

[US 81]

In Texas, back in the 1960's and 70's, I think I remember sections of US highways that were signed as the Interstate despite not being fully up to Interstate standards. I remember divided highways with at-grade crossovers along segments of I-10, I-20, I-35 and I-45. I think I also remember "TO I-45" signage along US 75 where it was sort of a wide surface street. I think....

More recently I have definitely seen "FUTURE" signage along the I-69 corridors.

[Rover_0]

Just before the 1977 renumbering, all Interstates in Utah were assigned the state route numbers 1-5. I-15 was SR-1, I-80 was SR-2, I-80N (AKA I-84) was SR-3, I-70 was SR-4, and I-215 was SR-5.

I wasn't alive or old enough to see it happen, but there are a couple of pictures of UT-4 shields near the current US-89/I-70 junction near Sevier, and another one of TEMP I-15 at Scipio where US-50 met (Temp) I-15, but there were no UT-1 shields that I could find. I'd love to see if there ever were any other routes 1-5 shields from this time.

(UT-4 Shields from UT-4 Shields are from the AlpsRoads' Utah US-89 Page and TEMP I-15/US-50 junction from CL's Photostream.)

[cwf1701]

When I-96 ended between 8 and 9 mile, I-96 was signed on Grand River as BS-96 as I-96 from I-75 to I-275 was being built. Besides BS-96 in Detroit, was any interstates signed on Business routes as the bypasses was being built?

[davewiecking]

The level of detail on some of these responses is mind-boggling, and interesting. Curious if the OP expected this kind of response, or whether he's just sitting back going "wow"...

[bandit957]

I have vague memories of "ALL TRAFFIC MUST EXIT" warnings on Interstates where you were approaching a stretch that wasn't open yet.

There were a few localized things too, like the control city for KY 9 off I-275 used to be Newport, not Wilder/Maysville.