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When the US route system was conceived in the mid-1920s, one of the guidelines was that the longer, more important routes would be assigned 1- and 2-digit numbers. Given that, US 46 really seems like an outlier. At only 75 miles in length, it is the shortest of all 1- and 2-digit US routes. Not only that, but US 46 is entirely in one state (New Jersey). Why would AASHO consider a short, single-state highway to be worthy of a 2-digit US route designation? Historic documents in their route numbering archive reveal at least some of the answers. As it turns out, when US 46 was first proposed in the mid-1930s, it was envisioned as a route running between New York City and Cleveland, along the corridor shown on this map:
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Some 1934 maps showed new US routes in Minnesota and/or extensions of US routes. This was due to a series of errors and misunderstandings involving AASHO, MNDoT, and commercial map publishers. By 1935 all of these misprints had been corrected. I will explain in more detail below, but first I will jump ahead to the final analysis:
We will begin with the following map, which illustrates the current routings of US highways 136 and 150 between Indianapolis and Bloomington. From its eastern terminus in Indianapolis, US 136 (the blue line) heads west to Danville. US 150 (the red line) approaches Danville from the south. The two routes "bump" there before separating again, and then they have another intersection just south of the town of LeRoy IL:
In 1979 Arizona asked AASHTO to extend the US 93 designation to Phoenix; following is the route description from the actual meeting minutes:
By 1970, US 666 had reached its maximum historical extent, from Douglas AZ to Monticello UT (represented by the blue line on this map):
Just outside the north edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a scenic Tennessee highway connecting I-40 near Newport to Gatlinburg and Maryville. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, it appears TNDoT was determined to unify this corridor with a single US route designation. They first attempted to accomplish this by extending the US 74 designation west from Asheville NC (which was the route's western terminus from 1926-1987). Following is the route description from the actual minutes of the June 1978 meeting of AASHTO's route numbering committee:
In 1967 the US 270 designation was at its maximum extent, from Pine Bluff AR to Syracuse KS. That year the Kansas DOT petitioned AASHO* to extend the US 270 designation even further:
In 1963 the US 13 designation was extended about 50 miles southwest from its former terminus in Goldsboro to Eastover NC. So at that time US 13 attained its maximum length and its current route, which is shown as a thin blue line on this map:
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