Current and historic US Highway ends in Jacksonville FL
Photo credits: me
Additional research: Robert Droz
| Highway | Approx. time period |
|---|---|
| US 17 | 1926-1932 |
| US 90 | 1926-1950 |
| US 23 | 1950-present |
Let's begin with a map that shows how things were arranged in 1927, when the US routes were first assigned:
As you can see, US 90 is shown coming in on "Enterprise St" (which is now known as Beaver Street), meeting US 1 at Myrtle Avenue. US 17 comes in on Main Street. A map of this scale is inconclusive as to exactly where the US 17 and US 90 designations would've ended, so unless I get more definitive info, I can only guess. I doubt US 90 terminated at Myrtle; more likely it was co-signed with US 1 into downtown. Since there was no Main Street Bridge at the time, US 1 traffic used the Acosta Bridge. Heading northbound, it turned right on the road labeled "Riverside Ave", but that's actually Broad Street north of that intersection, heading into downtown. In my opinion, the logical place to begin signing the intersecting routes would've been at Adams Street:
me, Oct. 2003
I took these photos in October 2003; above we're looking northbound on Broad at Adams. Neither of these roads are designated highways anymore, but this used to be northbound US 1, which continued to the left. If it were me, I would've begun signing US 90 to the left at this point, and US 17 would've begun to the right.
However, it's also possible that US 90 was signed both directions on Adams from there. Its east end could've been at Adams and Main, and that also could've been the south end of US 17. The advantage to that theory is that all of Adams (an east-west street) would've been US 90 (an east-west route), and all of Main would've been US 17. Also, as Robert Droz points out, that way both routes would've been signed from the courthouse and city hall. The photo below is looking east on Adams at Main...
Google Maps Street View, 2008
...and this could've been the east end of US 90, and the south beginning of US 17 could've been to the left (both of these streets used to run both ways).
US 17 was extended south of Jax by 1932. US 90 continued to end there until about 1950. However, my 1959 map shows that US 90 had been rerouted to stay on Beaver through downtown. If that change was made before 1950, then US 90 once had a terminus at Beaver and Main. Below we're looking south on Main at Beaver:
me, Oct. 2003
It's possible that US 90 used to begin to the right. If you take that turn, you'll soon see what was once the first westbound reassurance marker:
me, Oct. 2003
That's looking west on Beaver. US 23 uses the two blocks to the north (right), and that route ends a few blocks from here. You can view photos from there on my US 23 page. Also, my US 90 page has photos of the current east end of that route, which is on the beach about 15 miles east of Jax.