Friday, March 7, 2008

California's Mother Road





In 1925 the Federal Government was faced with the dilemma of how to make a national US Highway system easily understood. The trend had been to name Highways after presidents or areas and this muliplied by all the Highways which cross the country would challenge even the best memory. They finally agreed upon a numerical system, which desiginated East-West Highways with even numbers and North-South Highway with odd numbers. This system was adopted, but took years for the signs to appear on most highways. The West Coast US Highway would be designated as US Highway 101. Then as now the large majority of people lived in the coastal area and this new highway would mimic the explosive growth of the Sunshine State.