Category: US 59

US route wannabes: Minnesota's rogue routes of 1934

1/13/2021

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:

There was never a US 59 running through Rochester and southeastern Minnesota. (The only US 59 that was ever signposted is the one that runs along the western edge of the state.)
US 65 was never signposted north of the Twin Cities.
US 212 was never signposted east of St. Paul (i.e. never to Stillwater).
US 218 was never signposted northwest of St. Paul (and probably never even north of Owatonna).

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Why and how US 96 should be renumbered

1/11/2017

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(most recently updated 1/26/2024)
US 96 is one of the worst numbering violations in the US route system, because it is wrong on several levels:

Its even number implies an east-west route, but US 96 actually runs north-south.
Its two-digit number suggests a longer route, but US 96 is only 165 miles in length.
It is an intra-state US route, meaning US 96 does not cross a state boundary (it exists only in Texas).
In 1937, AASHO (now AASHTO) adopted a policy stating that "No new U. S. route located wholly in one State shall be established." Yet just two years later, the US 96 designation was applied to a route located wholly in Texas.

How did all of this happen? When the US 59 designation was first commissioned in 1934, it did not turn west from Tenaha (through Timpson and Nacogdoches, as it does today). Instead, it continued south from Tenaha, through Center and San Augustine:

c. 1939, TXDoT

At the time, the south terminus of US 59 was in Port Arthur, and the diagonal highway between Houston and Laredo was designated US 96:

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US route wannabes: Minnesota's rogue routes of 1934

Why and how US 96 should be renumbered

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US Highways Blog

US route wannabes: Minnesota's rogue routes of 1934

﻿Why and how US 96 should be renumbered

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Why and how US 96 should be renumbered