Before the Interstate: U.S. Highways Quiz

Answer: 1

As with the Interstate highways, odd-numbered U.S. roads ran north to south; unlike the Interstate, the low numbers were in the east and the high numbers in the west. Route 1 still runs from Fort Kent to Key West and serves, in effect, as the main street of the East Coast, passing through Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Raleigh, Columbia, Jacksonville, and Miami.

Answer: 30

As with the Interstate highways, even-numbered U.S. roads ran east to west; unlike the Interstate, the low numbers were in the north and the high numbers in the south. Multiples of ten marked more major highways, some running coast to coast. Route 30 (like Route 40) still begins in Atlantic City and runs west through Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and on into the Midwest, where it bypasses the largest cities.

It runs through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska, and angles northwest through Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon, terminating on the Pacific coast at Astoria. Route 40, on the other hand, terminated in San Francisco.

Answer: 66

Probably the most famous of U.S. highways, Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985. As the song went: "Now you go through Saint Louis, Joplin, Missouri, and Oklahoma City is mighty pretty.
You see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico, Flagstaff, Arizona. Don't forget Winona, Kingman, Barstow, San Bernandino."

Answer: 11

Route 11 begins at the Canadian border near the shore of Lake Champlain and runs the length of the Appalachian mountain chain, passing through New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Answer: 52

Route 52 is something of an anomaly, breaking the odd-even rule, running diagonally from southeast to northwest. It heads north from Charleston through the Carolinas, Virginia, and West Virginia, then along the Ohio River to Cincinnati and then northwest to Indianapolis.

It continues through Illinois and Iowa, then through the Twin Cities, and eventually reaches the Canadian border in North Dakota.

Answer: 41

Route 41 has been an important conduit from the Midwest to the Deep South. It begins on the shore of Lake Superior on Michigan's Upper Peninsula and runs south along the shore of Lake Michigan past Milwaukee and Chicago. It continues south through Indiana, crossing the Ohio at Evansville, then through Kentucky and on to Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta. It then follows the west coast of Florida, where it becomes known as the Tamiami Trail, and crosses the Everglades to the Atlantic Coast at Miami.

Answer: 6

Route 6, as it originally existed, was the longest highway in the country. It still runs from the tip of Cape Cod, through southern New England, New York, northern Pennsylvania, and below the Great Lakes into the Midwest, passing through the Great Plains on into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Utah, and the Great Basin of Nevada. Since 1964 it has terminated at Bishop, California on the east side of the Sierra Nevada. It originally continued south and west to the Pacific coast at Long Beach.

Answer: 62

Route 62, another diagonal anomaly, is the opposite of Route 52, running from the northeast to the southwest. Beginning at Niagara Falls, it travels through western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky, touching the southern tip of Illinois at Cairo. It continues southwest through the Ozark country of Missouri and Arkansas, then across Oklahoma to the Texas panhandle, and then on to El Paso, cutting a corner of New Mexico on the way.

Answer: 89

Route 89 passes by some of the most spectacular scenery in the United States. It begins at the Canadian border near Glacier National Park and runs south through western Montana to Yellowstone National Park. It continues south through western Wyoming past the Tetons, cutting a corner of Idaho on the way to Salt Lake City. Continuing south through Utah, it passes near Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks and enters Arizona close to the Grand Canyon. Since 1992 it has terminated at Flagstaff, but originally ran to the Mexican border at Nogales.

Answer: 2

Route 2 runs across the northern tier of the Lower 48 states. It is interrupted by the Great Lakes; therefore it exists in two segments. The eastern segment travels through upper New England; the western segment runs from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, continuing westward through Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Washington. Since 1984, its start-point in Michigan has been St. Ignace.