End of US highway 65 |
1926-1935
|
1935-1951
|
1951-1979
|
1979-2005
|
2005-present
|
Originally the US 65 designation went only to Vidalia LA, because there was no bridge across the Mississippi to Natchez:
|
In 2005, the south end of US 65 was truncated another 19 miles, to Clayton LA. Here is the story in the words of an e-mail reply from a LADoTD official:
"...the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has submitted an application to AASHTO requesting that US 425 be extended from its intersection with US 165 in Bastrop along US 165 to Mer Rouge, then along LA 133, LA 137, LA 15 and US 84 to US 61 in Natchez. We have also requested that US 65 end at Clayton instead of at US 61 in Natchez. This would hold the number of route designations to two in Mississippi. The purpose is to facilitate travel between the capitals of the States of Louisiana and Arkansas. Currently travel from Baton Rouge to Little Rock involves seven different route designations. Under this request, travel from Baton Rouge to Little Rock could be accomplished via three US routes, namely US 61 and US 425 in Louisiana and US 425 and I-530 in Arkansas."
There was nothing wrong with the desire to unify that corridor with a single US route number, but there was an even better option available (see the US 425 page for more details). However, AASHTO rubber-stamped the proposal, so US 65 now ends disgracefully at a 3-digit branch route with an illegitimate number.
"...the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has submitted an application to AASHTO requesting that US 425 be extended from its intersection with US 165 in Bastrop along US 165 to Mer Rouge, then along LA 133, LA 137, LA 15 and US 84 to US 61 in Natchez. We have also requested that US 65 end at Clayton instead of at US 61 in Natchez. This would hold the number of route designations to two in Mississippi. The purpose is to facilitate travel between the capitals of the States of Louisiana and Arkansas. Currently travel from Baton Rouge to Little Rock involves seven different route designations. Under this request, travel from Baton Rouge to Little Rock could be accomplished via three US routes, namely US 61 and US 425 in Louisiana and US 425 and I-530 in Arkansas."
There was nothing wrong with the desire to unify that corridor with a single US route number, but there was an even better option available (see the US 425 page for more details). However, AASHTO rubber-stamped the proposal, so US 65 now ends disgracefully at a 3-digit branch route with an illegitimate number.
The US 425 designation now runs through this area along with LA hwy. 15. Historically US 65 continued to the left (south), but that junction is now where US 65 ends. (Incidentally, it seems odd that the blue evacuation route sign pointed south, towards the Gulf. Seems like people would want to evacuate away from hurricanes, but maybe that sign was for people who wanted to evacuate Arkansas.)
Anyway, this junction has been reconfigured, as a result of recent upgrades in this corridor. US 425 is now a four-lane divided highway in this area, and the opposing lanes bifurcate through Clayton. The original two-lane segment now carries northbound traffic only. Southbound is on new pavement, built on an historic railroad right-of-way. This photo shows what the old junction looks like now:
|
Northbound LA 15 is still to the right (as well as northbound US 425). But for southbound, one must continue ahead, and then turn left, so that is where US 65 ends now. Here we are looking north on what was once US 65, but what is now northbound US 425, and the south beginning of US 65 is to the right:
|
On its north end, US 65 originally went to St. Paul, but after about eight years it was changed such that it terminated in Minneapolis. A 1934 Minnesota state highway map shows US 65 extending northward to US 210 at McGregor (now MN 210). There was at least one commercial map from the same year that showed US 65 extending all the way up to US 71 at Littlefork, and another that indicated US 2 at Swan River was the northern terminus. However, US 65 north of the Twin Cities was never approved by AASHO and it was never signposted that way. The north end of US 65 remained in Minneapolis from the mid-1930s until 1979, when it was truncated to its current terminus in Albert Lea. Here is that agenda item from AASHTO's meeting in June of that year:
Research and/or photo credits: David Backlin; Monte Castleman; Justin Cozart; Steve Lockwood; Jeff Morrison; Steven Nelson; Alex Nitzman; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa
Page originally created 2003;
last updated Jan. 14, 2021.
last updated Jan. 14, 2021.