Historic endpoints of US highway 98

View a map showing this route.

Photo credits: Justin Cozart; Alex Nitzman

US 98 was commissioned in 1934; at the time its east end was in Apalachicola FL, presumably at the dock for the car ferry that was used to cross the bay before today's bridge was built...

c. 1935, scan by Cozart

...however, I'm not sure exactly where the ferry dock would've been located. The photos below show a couple possibilities; this first one is looking at the east end of Avenue E, just off Water Street:

Cozart/Nitzman, Nov. 2006

Alex wonders whether that concrete may once have been an approach to the ferry dock. Otherwise, perhaps the dock was more to the south, at the manmade harbor off Bay Avenue. The photo below was taken from that area:

Cozart/Nitzman, Nov. 2006

You can see part of the Gorrie Bridge, which I'm assuming is a newer span that replaced the original bridge that eliminated the need for a car ferry. The old ferry may have docked just off to the right of that photo - if so, then the east end of US 98 was right around there.

In 1952, US 98 was extended east to its current terminus in Palm Beach; you can view photos from there on my main US 98 page.

Originally the west end of US 98 was in Pensacola. After crossing the Bay Bridge there, this 1935 map...

...indicates US 98 went straight ahead on 17th Avenue to its terminus at US 90 (Cervantes Street), as opposed to first veering west on Gregory Street (as it does today). If so, then the photo below shows the historic terminus:

Nitzman, August 1999

That's looking north on 17th; the upcoming junction is Cervantes. Note the blue shield: Florida used to further differentiate their highways with color, and there are still a few remnants around. To learn more about this, please visit Robert Droz' Florida in Kodachrome page. That old shield had been replaced with a standard black/white assembly by the time Alex was there again in 2004.

In 1955 the west end of US 98 was extended to Natchez MS. The map below makes it look like US 98 ended at the same intersection where US 65 began, and vice-versa:

c. 1991, MS DoT

However, I've seen some photos that suggest US 98 was co-signed with US 65/84 all the way to the Mississippi River... and some of these signs may still exist. Here's a photo from there:

Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004

That's in Natchez, looking west across the bridge that crosses the Mississippi to Vidalia. US 98 used to be signed to this point, but apparently it was never signed in Louisiana.

From what I understand, in 1999 the west end of US 98 was officially truncated to its junction with US 84 at Bude MS. However, until sometime in 2008, US 98 was still signed through Bude to its junction with US 61 in Washington MS (a few miles east of Natchez). So the shot below shows a former signed end of US 98:

Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004

The two assemblies in the distance are shown close-up below:

Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004

Signage for US 98 disappeared at that junction, and there are trailblazers only for US 84. Continuing that way, there are many signs where references to US 98 have been removed or greened out. Coming the other direction (east from Natchez) on US 84 (which is also northbound US 61), the road is signed in many places as "TO US 98":

Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004

Those signs probably used to say "East US 98", but they just replaced the tabs. (The green sign in the middle also designates this as a segment of the Great River Road, which follows the Mississippi from source to mouth.) A few miles further ahead was the turn to the signed west beginning of US 98:

Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004

The photo below shows what was the signed beginning of US 98 as seen from the opposite direction (southbound US 61):

Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004

If you took that left turn, you'd soon see the first eastbound confirming marker...

Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004

...but as of 2008, those two routes are no longer co-signed (or, more accurately, US 98 signs along this segment now say "TO US 98" as well). Now, about 30 miles ahead on US 84 is the first eastbound mention of standalone US 98 (you can get more info and view photos of its current endpoint on my main US 98 page).