A current and historic US Highway endpoint in Natchez, MS

View a map showing these routes.

Photo credits: David Backlin; Justin Cozart; Brent Ivy; Karin and Martin Karner; Alex Nitzman

Highway	Approx. time period
US 65	1970s(?)-2005
US 425	2005-present

In 1951 the US 65 designation was truncated from New Orleans back to Natchez. At first the south terminus was probably downtown, but at some point (I'm guessing in the 1970s), thru traffic was rerouted onto a couple bypasses that skirt the city. After crossing the Mississippi River from Louisiana, eastbound US 84 is on Junkin Drive in Natchez. That also used to be southbound US 65, but now it's US 425 that's co-signed with US 84. The photo below shows the last southbound US 425 marker:

Karners, Jan. 2010

At Sergeant Prentiss Drive (the US 61 bypass), eastbound US 84 continues with northbound 61, but the US 425 designation ends:

Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004

(These photos were actually taken when it was US 65 that ended here; it was in 2005 that US 425 took over what had been US 65 between Natchez and Clayton LA.) This stretch also used to be the westernmost segment of US 98, but now that route has been truncated to a point east of Natchez, and the "East US 98" signs have been changed to "TO US 98". The green overhead signage is shown close-up below:

Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004

You can see how the word "East" above the US 98 shield has been greened out. (As far as I know, those signs remain unchanged - there was no reference to US 65 then, so there was nothing that needed to be changed to US 425... although the lack of an "End" sign at this junction is unfortunate.) Just ahead, at the true terminus, the assembly shown below is posted:

Backlin, Dec. 2008

Heading south on Prentiss (US 61/84), US 84 splits off to the right on Junkin, and US 65 began at that point...

Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004

...but now it's US 425 that begins to the right:

Karners, Jan. 2010

The green signs in the background are shown close-up below:

Karners, Jan. 2010

The photo below is looking the opposite direction (north on US 61) at the south beginning of US 65:

Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004

That sign has now been replaced with a US 425 shield...

Ivy/Nitzman, Jan. 2009

...but some of these signs had already been changed again within the next year: when that photo was taken, they were in the middle of a project to convert that junction to a "continous flow interchange". That project was finished by late 2009, and many of the new signs now refer to US 98 (which is odd, considering that Mississippi recently made considerable effort to truncate US 98 to Bude). Anyway, if you make that left turn, you'll soon encounter the first northbound US 425 confirming assembly:

Backlin, Dec. 2008