Maps for the old US Routes

[Sam Pembroke]

Are there any maps for the us routes? I know Route 66 is mapped well. I just wonder if any other route is mapped as well.

[Parsa]

Sam,
Of course, researchers are still finding some of the oldest alignments of Route 66... Very few old US highways have been mapped out for tourist travel. Some stretches are promoted like US 80 in California, and you can find my maps of California US 80 here.
Jeff Jensen from Tucson has mapped out a lot of US 80 east from California toward Louisiana. For individual states and certain stretches of old highways, there are websites you can see on this links page.

A lot of people are interested in the older auto trails that preceded the US highways, and many of these became the first routes of certain US highways. Good examples are the Lincoln Highway that became US highways 30, 50 and 40. There's a map project here.
I'm always working on various routes. I was working on the National Old Trails Road (US 40 in the east), but have switched for a time to the Bankhead Highway, and I've been doing preliminary mapping of that road in Arkansas. It became the first path of US 70 and 67 in Arkansas (and US 80 west of Dallas). Check out my virtual road trips for several old highway field surveys, including the National Old Trails Road through Kansas.

If you have questions about old highways in your area, I can show you some auto trail and US highway maps to help you explore.

Steve

[Sam Pembroke]

I was thinking of making maps for every route in the system, including mileage circles ( for whichever direction, and the other can be without. The US routes are better than the interstate super slabs that replaced them.

To quote William Least Heat Moon

"Life doesn't happen along the interstates, it's against the law."

[Parsa]

I think that's pretty ambitious. Part of the problem is that many of the routes changed over time. For instance, US 80 still exists in the South, but much of it is a 4 lane expressway. However, the original 1926 road still exists in a lot of places as county roads. It's finding those routes with a degree of detail and certainty that is challenging. Many US highways are now route along interstate highways, and some like US 66 have been decommissioned. I encourage you to do this, but I'd start with one road or state of interest (for example Kansas), and do the road maps for that particular road or state.

Steve

[Sam Pembroke]

In one of my Route 66 guidebooks by Tom Snyder he shows the interstates along the highway. Rittenhouse's guidebook to 66 doesn't show detailed maps, but has great descriptions of the route.