After the Woody Guthrie post it got me thinking about what Highway travel was like in his day. Today we have the super fast Interstate Highways with travelers barreling along in their automobiles at speeds well over the posted limits. Racing along these black-tops and yellow lines with hardly a reason for a stop in a town. We have on board computers when we are lost and if we lock the keys in the car, a cell phone can get the car unlocked. Wow wee.
Let's take a ride back in time when most things were in Black & White. Travel was a little slower, life simpler, albeit a bit more difficult. Back to the Future and back again. Here we go.
When early motorists ventured away from their own neighborhoods to travel to new and strange destinations they needed some way to keep from getting lost. (no GPS in the day.)
There were no signs to direct people to where they wanted to go. When signs first appeared they were usually put up by business people who hoped to attract new customers. Often a group of merchants got together to promote a special route that would go through their own towns. Other road associations sprang up all over the states, each one marking the way with a painted pole to guide motorists to the cities along the routes.
The Red Ball Road was marked by a white strip of paint on fence posts with a red dot in the center. This road was marked between St. Louis, Missouri through Iowa to St. Paul, Minnesota in about 1908. The avenue of the Saints, or Highway 27, is on this route today. (FYI; this red ball story was how I came about designing the red ball on our Logo Shield).
Before 1925 a person traveling across the United States by car could become very confused. Some of the major routes across the country changed names from state to state. So in 1925 the U.S. Congress approved a national road numbering plan.
In 1926 Highways were numbered with even numbers running east and west. Odd numbers ran north and south. The standard federal marker was a U.S. shield bearing the name of the state and the road number. The familiar black and white shields have guided American motorists ever since.
Another safety feature was added to roads in 1926. To help drivers stay on the right side of the road, a black line was painted down the center of every paved road. It helped drivers avoid head-on collisions. In 1954 the continuous black center line was replaced with a dashed white line that reflected lights. The yellow no-passing lines were added to all heavily traveled roads.
Legend has it that the Interstate began with President Roosevelt drawing three lines East and West and three lines North and South on a map of the United States and asking the Bureau of Public Roads to build it. The first formal inquiry into the possibility of building an Interstate system goes back to the Federal Highway Act of 1938.
US Highways retain the same road number across state boundaries. Each US Highway number only applies to one highway throughout the entire United States. US Highways are usually specified as US 281, US 66, etc, together with a compass direction if relevant, for example US 281 North or US 281 South. As far as I am aware all US Highways are paved.
Safe motoring out there. As always, Ya'll come back...
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