Moving Highways

Everybody seems to know about Route 66, but hardly anyone knows about historical roads of more import than sub-continental 66, such as The National Road, The Yellowstone Trail, The Jefferson Highway or, my personal favorite, The Lincoln Highway. Apparently, while you can get your kicks on Route 66, it's kinda tough to get kicks on US 40, US 65 or US 30. No television shows doesn't help the cause of those other routes, either.

Mr. arcada recently asked about the decommission of federal highways in California. He speculated that part of it might have to do with Interstate highways being nearby. I contacted my friend, Norman, who works at Caldot, to see if he could shed any light on that topic. He replied, "When did all this happen? Soon to be, or very recently? I hadn't heard of it. U.S. 66 and U.S. 99 were changed to State routes several years ago when the Federal Government decommissioned them due to the proximity of recently completed Interstate Routes."

So, arcada was partially correct, the decommission had to do with the proximity of an Interstate highway. As I mentioned before, that isn't always the case, as US 31 runs parallel to I-65, US 65 still runs parallel to I-35 and the Lincoln Highway (mostly US 30 from Philadelphia to Wyoming) is never more than a few miles away from I-80, except in Ohio. US 30 is a major thoroughfare in its own right, but US 65 is little more than a federally funded county highway, used mostly by farmers to move equipment. Your tax dollars at work.

Norman also pointed out (as any good California resident would) that California is the number one donor state, that is, the population of California is large enough that the state sends more gasoline tax dollars to Washington than they get back, and far more than any other donor state. The recipient states receive more federal dollars than they send in, like Nevada. Nevada, where most of the land is owned by the Federal government anyway, has relatively few residents but lots of federal highway miles. US 50, a.k.a. The Loneliest Road In America, runs parallel to I-80 but at least 100 miles south of it. The road connects Ely to Reno via Eureka, Austin, East Gate and Fallon. It also crosses the Navy's "Top Gun" proving grounds near the ghost town of Frenchman Flat.

Norman also confirms that a movement is afoot to promote California 99, recently decommissioned as US 99, to an Interstate highway. It would not be I-99, since numbers that high would be out east, anyway, and I-99 is already out of sequence, assigned, by law, to a highway in Pennsylvania. Norman reports that Cal 99, if promoted to Interstate status, will likely be commissioned as a three-digit number ending in 5, indicating it as an alternate route to I-5. He also indicates that I-7 would also be appropriate and the road could be thus designated.

For those of you who never notice such things, odd-numbered federal highways and Interstates run north-south and even numbered highways and Interstates run east-west. Lowest federal highway designations are in the north and east, highest in the south and west with incremental numbers in between. Interstate highway numbers are lowest in south and west, highest in the north and east. Three digit Interstate designations are bypasses, spurs and alternates. An even leading digit (I-465, I-295) are bypasses and loops that rejoin the parent route and share the parents' designation, where odd digits (I-794, I-580) are spurs.

Such knowledge helps guys navigate without having to stop for directions.