End of US highway 98 |
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1933-1952
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1952-1955
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1955-1999
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1999-2008
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2008-present
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*US 98 was officially truncated to Bude in 1999, reducing its total length to 928.0 miles. However, it was signed to Washington until 2008, and in 2010 new signage in Natchez included references to US 98. So as of 2020 its signposted length was 962.5 miles (more below). US 98's maximum historical extent was 965.3 miles (to the Louisiana state line). Also note: although US 98 is signed east-west at both of its endpoints, it is signed north-south along a 300-some-mile segment through peninsular Florida (between Perry and the Okeechobee-Martin county line, which is roughly between the city of Okeechobee and Port Mayaca). That's about half of US 98's Florida mileage, and about one-third of its overall mileage.
Summa
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Claim to fame: during the three-year period when US 98 ran between Pensacola and Palm Beach, it was the longest-ever intra-state US route (about 655 miles).
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US 98 was commissioned in 1933; at the time it was an intra-state route, with its east end in Apalachicola, and its west end in Pensacola. In 1955 US 98 was extended west to Natchez. In late 1951 AASHO approved FDoT's request to extend US 98 to its present terminus in West Palm Beach...
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...although because of ambiguous signage in the area, one could easily conclude that the terminus is actually in Palm Beach (as we will see below). This first photo was taken in West Palm Beach, looking north on Dixie Highway (US 1) at Southern Boulevard:
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Sanderson, Oct. 2003
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Back then it seemed that FL hwy. 80 went both ways, but that US 98 began to the left. However, as of 2016 no reference to US 98 exists there.
Posted information has also changed for drivers heading the opposite direction: |
Sanderson, Oct. 2003
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Nasiatka/Nitzman, July 2016
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Formerly there was an old Florida-style colored shield indicating that US 98 began to the west. That has since been replaced, and more recently the designation was shown to extend east as well. (Note also that Dixie runs both ways. Some maps indicate it is one-way southbound, while the next block to the east [Olive Avenue] is the northbound counterpart. It may well have been that way in the past, but now Olive has its own designation: FL hwy. 5.)
Anyway, perhaps US 98 does end here at US 1 -- if so, then maybe there is an "End" sign on eastbound Southern... |
Sanderson, Oct. 2003
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...nope. But neither did that assembly indicate that US 98 continues ahead. So what does the confirming assembly past US 1 say?
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Sanderson, Oct. 2003
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Hmm, no more US 98. Continuing eastbound, there is a bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway, and in about one mile is a junction with FL hwy. A1A in Palm Beach (I did not observe any US 98 markers on that stretch). At FL A1A there is a rotary:
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Nitzman, Oct. 2021
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Southbound A1A simply makes a right turn, while northbound traffic goes halfway around the circle and then continues east for a block or so (on the same alignment as Southern) before curving to the north. Despite the signage back at US 1, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that rotary is the true east end of US 98. For example, check out the signage heading north on FL A1A...
Field/Nitzman, Feb. 2008
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Formerly there was also a "JCT US 98" sign heading south on A1A (but it was gone as of 2008). There were also "JCT US 98" signs on both nb and sb Olive. So, despite the misleading signage at US 1, it seems pretty clear that the US 98 designation still extends a bit east of US 1, and ends at its junction with A1A. The historic terminus was certainly at A1A; reportedly it was about the mid-1990s that FDoT started messing with things.
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In 1999 the west end of US 98 was officially truncated to its junction with US 84 at Bude. However, initially US 98 was still signed through Bude to its junction with US 61 in Washington (a few miles east of Natchez). As of 2008, US 98 was no longer overlapped along any segment of US 84 (or, more accurately: any US 98 signs still on eastbound US 84 had been changed to say "TO US 98"). Here is the former signed end of US 98, along with enlargements of the two assemblies visible in the distance:
Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004
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Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004
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Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004
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Signage for US 98 disappeared at that junction, and there are trailblazers only for US 84. Continuing to the right, there are many signs where references to US 98 have been removed or greened out. Coming the opposite direction (east from Natchez) on US 84 (which is also northbound US 61), the road is signed in many places as "TO US 98":
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Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004
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Formerly those signs probably read "East US 98", but the sign crew simply 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:
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Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004
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This photo shows what was the signed beginning of US 98 as seen from the opposite direction (southbound US 61):
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Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004
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If a traveler took that left turn, they would soon see the first eastbound confirming marker...
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Cozart/Nitzman, June 2004
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...but as of 2008, those two routes were 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, at the exit from modern US 84 to Bude, the first eastbound mention of standalone US 98 is posted:
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Ivy/Nitzman, Jan. 2009
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The exit ahead leads to old US 84, which also serves as a short segment of US 98. This shot shows signage heading the opposite direction (west on US 84), after taking the offramp to the beginning of US 98:
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Ivy/Nitzman, Jan. 2009
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If a traveler turns left there, they will soon encounter the first eastbound marker:
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Karners, Jan. 2010
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Heading the opposite direction (west on US 98), the last westbound marker is shown here:
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Karners, Jan. 2010
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About two miles ahead, there is no sign marking the endpoint, other than the standard junction signage at the US 84 interchange:
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Ivy/Nitzman, Jan. 2009
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In 2009, the intersection marking US 98's historic western terminus in Natchez was rebuilt as a continuous-flow interchange. As a part of that project, all signage in the area was replaced... and strangely, many of the new signs included references to US 98! We contacted MDoT to ask about this, and were told that officially the route does end in Bude. The erroneous US 98 shields in Natchez may have resulted from the signage contractor referring to AASHTO's information (which has not been updated in years, and which still says the route ends in Natchez), rather than referring to MDoT's own route logs. They said a fix was planned for the future, but as of 2019 plenty of US 98 signage still exists in the Natchez area. Also, at the interchange with US 84 in Bude, newer signage directs US 98 traffic further west, towards Natchez (see header photo at the top of this page). Many changes would have to be made to field signage in order to reflect US 98's official terminus in Bude.
Research and/or photo credits: Justin Cozart; Chuck Dent; Andy Field; Brent Ivy; Karin and Martin Karner; J.P. Nasiatka; Alex Nitzman; Jim Pernikoff; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa
Page originally created 2002;
last updated Oct. 28, 2021.
last updated Oct. 28, 2021.
