Missouri Highways - Detailed Site History

Versions 1 through 7

This page contains a detailed list of changes for the Missouri Highways site until Version 8. Starting in Version 8, when the Missouri Road Signs & Sights Gallery was fully merged into the Missouri Highways site, I have not been maintaining as much detail about site changes. The most recent changes are listed first.

For the a more concise listing of many changes, you can take a look at the site's to-do list.

Note: Some links to external sites may no longer be valid.

Version 7.7.0.1, June 29, 2008

Added links to the new and improved New Mexico Signs & Sights Gallery, which I brought back to the 'Monitor on this date.

Version 7.7, March 4, 2008

The Tenth Anniversary Edition! To celebrate the occasion, we add two more historic maps of Missouri, this time for 1938 and 1948-1949. The home page for the site has been redesigned, with some links moved for a more balanced layout. A quick lookup box for the Route Log has been added to the home page. In addition, various bugs in the search programs have been fixed. A problem with the display of the Route Log on Internet Explorer 7, caused by IE 7's incorrect interpretation of width properties, has been fixed, but may still appear when the IE 7 browser window is narrowed. Also, the 1947 Kansas City street map has been removed from the site. It didn't seem to fit with the site's statewide focus. I also needed the disk space.

Update, March 9, 2008: I had forgotten to update the site history page with the new version number. I fixed that in this update, but I considered it a minor update that did not require its own version number.

Version 7.6.8.1, January 2, 2008

Added a link on the home page to David Backlin's US 71 Flickr site. David has contributed many photos over the years to the sign galleries here; look forward to more at his new pages! (Note: the link was changed January 12 to reflect an updated user name.)

Version 7.6.8, December 9, 2007

MO 13 Route Log revisions: thanks to David Backlin for the tip about Business Route 13 in Collins; also added historic information about Missouri 124 and Missouri 151 to the Route Log. Also fixed some of the links for change and version information that were pointing to the wrong pages after the Version 7.6.6 update, due to confusion between the original Site History, now renamed Earlier Changes (this page), and the newer, shorter Site History.

Version 7.6.7, October 13, 2007

Revised the Route Log with information on AASHTO's rejection of the proposed Interstate 49 designation for US 71 between Joplin and the Arkansas line. Also included additional historical information in the Route Log about Missouri 100. A review of earlier state highway maps showed that Missouri 100's original western endpoint was at Hermann, with subsequent extensions in 1962 (to Chamois) and 1966 (to Linn).

Version 7.6.6.1, September 23, 2007

Because of some spamming attempts against one of the search programs, which appeared to be automated, I renamed all the Route Log and Historic Route Log search programs. The search pages themselves retain the same names, but if you are attempting to link directly to the search programs, different names are now in use. Contact me if you need more information about this change. This is a "quiet" update; I didn't include it in the update boxes on the main site pages; I just mentioned it here.

Version 7.6.6, September 22, 2007

Some information about the site has been moved to different addresses. Only the most recent changes now appear on this page. The longer site history (subsequently renamed Earlier Changes moved to a slightly different location, which is this page. A shorter site history, less obsessed with version numbers, was also added.

Version 7.6.5, August 8, 2007

MO 215 MO 245 Updated the Route Log thanks to an inquiry from Gregory Patton, which led to the discovery that Missouri 215 and 245 were designated in 1971, coincidentally with the creation and opening of the Stockton Reservoir, which both highways cross. I also made minor changes to the numbering system page regarding the use of odd/even numbering in Missouri.

Version 7.6.4, July 24, 2007

MO 221 Updated the Route Log to reflect the designation of Missouri 221 in Iron and St. Francois counties. Thanks to David Herman for field-checking the new route and providing the information! By the way, MoDOT didn't appear to have ever made an official announcement of the new designation for Routes V and W in the two counties, and the designation didn't appear in any of the minutes of Missouri Highway Commission meetings. MoDOT now is using the designation in its news releases.

Version 7.6.3, July 7, 2007

US 160 Updated the Route Log entry for US 160, whose eastern endpoint has been (or soon will be) truncated to the intersection of US 67 and Missouri 158 southwest of Poplar Bluff. The Route Log entry for Missouri 158 was also changed to remove the reference to US 160. Thanks to Aric Troll and David Backlin for their tips about the action by AASHTO in May 2007 to approve MoDOT's request for the change. While the new endpoint had not been site-checked, I believe MoDOT wouldn't have gone to the trouble of requesting the change without intending to carry through with it. So I updated the Route Log accordingly.

I also consolidated the two pages with browser information. (Page removed December 3, 2011.) I was maintaining two copies of the same information, which wasn't a smart thing to do. Other minor changes were made to the browser information page as well, mainly to keep it up-to-date with current developments in browsers.

Version 7.6.2, April 21, 2007

Added scans of a 1935 official Missouri map to the historic road maps section. The 1935 map is different from the others in the collection. It's a map that was published weekly by the highway commission, showing detours and other notable travel conditions in the state for the upcoming week.

Version 7.6.1, April 1, 2007

Added scans of the 1929 official Missouri map to the historic road maps section. Also replaced the scans of the 1930 map with better-quality scans from a map in better condition. For the Route Log, updated county information for Business US 54 and Business US 63, added Spur US 71 in Milo (Vernon County), and replaced the misc.transport.road jargon of "multiplex" with the more commonly accepted term of "concurrence" to refer to multiple route designations for the same road. Thanks to Jeremy Lance for the tip on Spur US 71, and to Michael Maggio and G.R. Van for discussion regarding spur and business routes in Missouri. One more thing: the Lexington Bridge section was updated to remove a broken link to a MoDOT project page.

Signs and Sights Gallery Updates

New photos from David Backlin (Nixa and Cassville), David Herman (St. Louis), and G.R. Van (Kirksville). Along with his photo, G.R. also provided updated status on Business US 63 in Kirksville, which was decommissioned in 2001 or 2002. G.R. took a photo of the same intersection that I took in 1998; I've updated the text for my 1998 photo to reflect the subsequent changes. Thanks, everyone, for your contributions!

Version 7.6.0.1, March 25, 2007

Modified the 1926 and 1927 sections of the historic road maps to remove 96 dpi scans of the individual U.S. route maps. The 150 dpi scans were converted to a lower quality JPEG setting (60). But they're still readable. These changes made it possible to save space (4 MB) and make room for new features in the future.

Version 7.6, March 4, 2007

thumbnail of 1926-31 Missouri road system The Ninth Anniversary Edition. There was a significant expansion in historic material with the addition of official state road maps from the 1920s and 1930s, specifically, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1930, and 1932. The illustration at the left is from the cover of the 1926 map. Later history was represented by the addition of the 1957 official highway map, which included inset maps of many smaller Missouri cities (like the 1952 map and unlike the 1956 map). The smaller 1922 and 1923 maps were also moved to this part of the web site.

Significant corrections were made to historic information in the Route Log. Many of those corrections were based on discussions with David Backlin and G.R. Van (of My Land of Misery fame). Thanks to them for their insights and reviews of historic maps that they own.

Route Log entries were changed for these routes: MO 1, MO 15, MO 21A, MO 47, MO 56 (subsequently renumbered), MO 62 (subsequently redesignated), US 62, MO 79, MO 82 (subsequently redesignated), MO 96, US 160, US 169, US 275, MO 283, MO 291, and MO 740. The Route Log entry for MO 125 was also corrected, thanks to information from "Fred M."

Historic Route Log entries for MO 6 and MO 16 were changed. Thanks to G.R. Van for pointing out that the easternmost segment of MO 6 had, in fact, been redesignated in the 1930s. My review of the earlier state road maps also led to corrected entries for original routes 1A, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 12B; and the addition of routes 4A and 4B. Route 4A was on the 1922 Highway Commission map; 4B wasn't but did appear on maps from 1928 to 1931. Log entries for original routes 7 (now US 63) and 9 (much of which is now US 61) were modified based on my review of road maps and accounting for the opening of MO 27 in Clark County in 2004.

A new feature section was added on the Galena "Y" bridge, whose unusual configuration has landed it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. The bridge is near Missouri 413 in the Stone County seat of Galena, crossing the James River. It was built in 1927. Thanks to David Backlin for his photos of this unique bridge!

Finally, a feature that should have been added long ago was included in this update. After querying the route logs (or the Signs & Sights Gallery pages), the page with the results includes a form to submit new queries.

Signs and Sights Gallery Updates

At the Missouri Road Signs & Sights Gallery, 35 new photos were added, contributed by G.R. Van, Rich Piehl, and David Backlin. At the California Road Sings & Sights Gallery, a new section was added, featuring maps and other historic information about the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and related topics.

Version 7.5.1.1, January 1, 2007

US 60 Motto: "I've never been to Oklahoma, but they tell me I was born there." (Actually, I wasn't, and I have been to Spain.) Scott Maness pointed out that the west endpoint of US 60 is at the Oklahoma border, not the Kansas border. That error was corrected in the Route Log and in the Route Log PDF. Thanks, Scott!

On a related note, at the Road Signs & Sights Gallery, photos of the "US 249" sign goofs along Missouri 249 near Joplin were added. Thanks to David Backlin for those contributions.

Version 7.5.1, December 2, 2006

MO 13 Motto: "With 16 inches of snow in Columbia, I'd call it Misery, too." Added Lexington to the list of cities that have a Business Route 13. The route was added in November. Thanks to Mike Mundwiller for the tip! According to Mike, the business route follows the old Missouri 13 from the Missouri 13 interchange with US 24 north to Missouri 224, then follows Missouri 224 east back to the new Missouri 13.

Also added links to G.R. Van's My Land of Misery, featuring photos of Missouri highways, along with other items of highway-related interest.

Version 7.5.0.6, November 19, 2006

Changed links to the site journal (now defunct) and to the RSS/Atom feeds to use redirection from URLs at this site.

Version 7.5.0.5, October 1, 2006

I removed all the direct e-mail links from the pages that had those links. This was an attempt to reduce a particularly difficult type of spam that has begun showing up at my e-mail provider. A new e-mail address was provided instead on a separate Contact Information page.

Version 7.5.0.4, August 28, 2006

Modified the styles for the 1952, 1956, and 1969 official state map excerpts. The version 7.5 "box" was too small for large scans such as the map excerpts and some insets. This is a "quiet" update; I haven't included it in the update boxes on the main site pages; I'm just mentioning it here.

Version 7.5.0.3, August 19, 2006

Updated all the links to the Missouri Department of Transportation web site with its new address.

Version 7.5.0.2, July 16, 2006

Updated the link for Chris Geelhart's Nebraska Highways site (listed only on the index page) because the address had changed.

Version 7.5.0.1, July 4, 2006

Motto: "Malden or bust!" After examining photos sent to me by H.B. Elkins, and reviewing maps of Dunklin County, I revised my description of the current state of the routes shown in the 1969 state highway map inset of Malden, now including a description of the current route of Business Missouri 25.

Version 7.5, May 25, 2006

Motto: "No plug-ins needed!" Design facelift for the entire site. The biggest changes are at the Missouri, California, and US Highways Signs and Sights Galleries. The top-level index page was replaced by a search page, enabling you to quickly find photos for specific routes, types of routes, or categories of photos. You can also search for photos relating to specific cities, or counties (California and Missouri only). The search results and the automatically generated category indexes show new photos almost as soon as they are added.

Other than the new search pages, the most notable changes seen by most users were the new fonts used across the entire site. The fonts were optimized for Macintosh and Linux browsers. The new design should also look a little bit better with Internet Explorer 6 than the old design.

Additional changes were made to the Missouri Highways site:

Why Version 7.5?

It felt like there was enough work to call this Version 8. But a lot of the work was what I call "plumbing" - a redesign requires a lot of work on stylesheets and other adjustments that aren't seen by most users. The most apparent changes were the addition of the search pages at the Signs and Sights Galleries, but I hadn't been tracking version numbers at the galleries.

Version 7.4.3, April 8, 2006

Motto: "That was sure fast!" Redesigned the main Route Log program to allow more flexible input options. You can now specify lists, ranges, or both. For example, you can specify 22, 124, 151; or 20-29, or 22, 24-28, 124-128. That's just one of many possibilities. Ranges can still be specified with a hyphen or with a colon. Lists can be specified with commas, semicolons, or just spaces. In other words, 
60 61 62 63 
60, 61, 62, 63
60; 61; 62; 63 
60 61; 62, 63
60-62
60-63
60:63
and even 63-60 all will give the same results. Also fixed a bug introduced by the April 5 changes that caused badly formatted output for the city search and county search programs in the Route Log.

I had originally planned on introducing the Route Log enhancement in Version 7.5, but I decided to accelerate the changes due to the need for a bug fix.

Version 7.4.2, April 5, 2006

Thanks to Curtis Bohl for updated information regarding route changes in West Plains since the 1969 inset map was published. Also updated the Browser Information page (since removed), and fixed a problem with the Route Log that caused the list of gallery photos to display in a slightly ugly manner for business routes.

Version 7.4.1, March 19, 2006

MO 221 David Herman contributed corrections to the 1969 city inset maps for St. Louis, St. Charles, Festus, Farmington-Flat River, Perryville, Jefferson City, and Springfield. Thanks also go to David for a pointer to an article in a Farmington newspaper about a proposal for Missouri 221 between Farmington and Ironton, since adopted. That route replaced current routes V and W between the cities. That route and updated information for Missouri 367 in St. Louis were added to the Route Log.

Version 7.4, March 4, 2006

The Eighth Anniversary Edition. Added scans of Missouri official highway maps (fair use excerpts) from 1956 (50 years ago), 1952, and 1969 (city inset maps only) to mark the anniversary. The 1952 and 1969 maps included inset maps of many of Missouri's smaller cities. The "legacy" pages were also removed in this update.

Version 7.3.1.2, February 24, 2006

Thanks to B.D. Bowski for pointing out that the Route Log was missing Missouri 367 in St. Louis County. I don't know how that omission happened (because I know better, and even had already made a pseudo-marker for it!), but at least it was fixed in this version.

Version 7.3.1.1, February 5, 2006

Removed links to the "legacy" (old-style HTML) pages. I removed those pages in March 2006.

Version 7.3.1, January 21, 2006

MO 755 Added a page about the proposed, but never built, Missouri 755 freeway in St. Louis, including a map of the proposed route, contributed by David Herman. Thanks, David! Also updated the Route Log to provide more information about Missouri 755. Programming changes to the routelog and routetype scripts were also required to provide a link under the Missouri 755 entry to the map that David contributed. Also revised the historic bridge pages to update information about the former Lexington Bridge, which was taken out of service in 2005.

Additional Update, January 22, 2006

I updated the Browser Information and Site Information pages. I considered this to be a minor update that did not require its own version number.

Signs and Sights Gallery Updates

On January 29, moved 56 pages with 61 photos from the US Highways Signs and Sights Gallery to the Missouri Road Signs and Sights Gallery. The move was made to consolidate all the Missouri photos into the Missouri gallery. The Recent Additions page at the Missouri Road Signs and Sights Gallery lists the pages that were moved. In addition, I created a new category for supplemental route endpoints, once unusual but now cropping up in Missouri.

Version 7.3, January 4, 2006

Added a new feature to the Route Log: For route searches, where photos are available, each route entry returned by a query now has links to photos taken on the route or showing a marker for that route. For the city and county searches, there are links given for photos relating to each city or county entry returned by a query. This is yet another feature made possible by the huge XHTML conversion and addition of metadata in 2005.

US 36 A week before this change, I prepared for this change by adding headings to individual sign pages in the Missouri Road Signs & Sights Gallery, as well as pages at the Missouri Highways site (this site) that didn't have them. Headings were added to 580 pages. This made their appearance more consistent with those in the other Road Signs & Sights Galleries.

Also updated entries for US 36 and Interstate 72, reflecting the successful November 2005 election in five Missouri counties to establish a special taxation district. That district will pay for a four-lane divided highway from Macon to Hannibal, which would make US 36 a four-lane route across Missouri.

Version 7.2.1.1, December 10, 2005

Corrected errors in the Route Log listings for decommissioned routes Alternate US 71 and Missouri 88. Thanks to David Backlin for the corrections.

Signs and Sights Gallery Updates

On December 13, added anchors within the indexes by category for the Missouri, California, US Highways, and New Mexico sites. You can use them to move around more quickly in each of the indexes. For example, when in the Missouri Route Index, type "#MO763" after the URL to find the listings for Missouri 763. When in the Missouri City Index, type "#Columbia" after the URL to find the listings for Columbia. Be sure to omit any spaces and punctuation marks (examples: I70, US71, KansasCity, LeesSummit, SteGenevieve). In the Route Indexes, use "BL" for Business Loops, "BR" for Business Routes, "BS" for Business Spurs, and "SP" for Spur Routes. For Alternate Missouri 240, use "ALTMO240".

On December 26 in the Missouri gallery, created headings on all the individual sign pages. Outdated text on a few pages was brought up-to-date as well. The Interstate 72 page was updated with the results of the elections earlier in 2005 to provide special funding for making US 36 a four-lane highway from Macon to Hannibal.

Version 7.2.1, November 17, 2005

Updated the Lexington Bridge pages with photos taken in September 2005 after the 1925 bridge had closed. Updated the US 63/Interstate 70 intersection page with new text and photo from September 2005. Updated and corrected Route Log entries as a result of field checks plus information from David Backlin. Entries that were changed: Missouri 9, Missouri 37, Spur 45, Business US 60, US 160, Missouri 179, Missouri 240, Missouri 265, Missouri 291, and Missouri 413. An entry was added for Spur 41 in Miami (Saline County) but has not been field-checked.

Signs and Sights Gallery Updates

The Missouri and US Highways Signs and Sights Galleries were updated with 113 new photos, including 71 from my September 2005 trip to Missouri, as well as new contributions from David Backlin, James Baughn, and Scott Maness. Thanks, David, James, and Scott! In addition, five photos of mine from 1998 (one re-scanned, four totally new) were added to the Missouri Signs and Sights Gallery. There's also a new feature for the sign pages. Each sign page in the Missouri and US Galleries now has customized titles (the text that shows up in the title bar of a browser displaying the page) describing either the highways depicted on the page or other information about the photo(s) on the page.

At the Sign Galleries, the legacy (old-style HTML) sign index pages entered what I called "slow update" status. The updates no longer were listed in the legacy pages' update boxes. XHTML/CSS index pages will be updated first and the legacy pages followed as I found time to synchronize them. Synchronization of the XHTML/CSS index pages and the legacy pages was a time-consuming manual task that impeded my ability to update the galleries with new photos. The Sign Gallery legacy pages were removed in March 2006.

On December 1, I added photos of the new Octavia Boulevard in San Francisco to the California Road Signs and Sights Gallery, and updated the California sign pages with customized titles like those in the Missouri and US Galleries. On December 5, I added programs that create pages counting individual sign pages and photos in various categories, including cities, counties, routes, and states (as appropriate) for the Missouri, California, and US Highways galleries.

Version 7.2.0.2, August 28, 2005

The most significant changes were at the Sign Galleries, but there were also Route Log changes for Missouri 173, Missouri 265, and Missouri 770. Thanks to a post by Jeremy Lance in misc.transport.road, I discovered that part of the route now designated Missouri 265 (mostly concurrent with Missouri 413) carried the designation of Missouri 173 until the 1990s when the Missouri 173 designation was trimmed back to its present route in Stone County. Because I don't have many Missouri official maps for the early 1990s, I'm not currently able to determine the year of the change more precisely. The entries for Missouri 173 and 265 have been revised accordingly. The entry for Missouri 770, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge in St. Louis, was updated to reflect its status as Missouri 799 in some other documents. (The Missouri 770 designation came from a MoDOT list of Mississippi and Missouri bridges. That list is no longer available online.) I also purged or updated invalid links to other sites. Unfortunately, the links that were purged were links to sites covering Kansas City and St. Louis.

Signs and Sights Gallery Updates

The California, Missouri, New Mexico, and US Highways Signs and Sights galleries added automatically-generated indexes, listing the signs available grouped in various categories. The categories vary from site to site. A list of the indexes was available for direct navigation. As an example of the indexes, the Missouri gallery now contains indexes grouping the pages by the city shown, by the county where the photos were taken, by the route numbers shown, by the types of route shown, and by the contributors who have so generously submitted their photos over the years. The indexes cover all sign galleries. For example, the Missouri gallery indexes also include photos that are in the US Highways gallery. These indexes were made possible by the huge XHTML conversion and addition of metadata earlier this year. They were a first step toward a new approach toward managing the galleries by having their primary access through a search program. This was implemented in May 2006.

Version 7.2.0.1, June 26, 2005

Updated Lexington Bridge pages to reflect the opening of the new bridge, and closing of the old bridge, on June 25. Added newly designated Business US 160 in Willard to the Route Log. Thanks to David Backlin for the tips about these events. Also note that the font in the Route Log PDF changed. The change was a side effect, in a roundabout way, of a system crash on my development system. As a part of rebuilding the system, I installed a different set of fonts than I had been using before.

Version 7.2, March 4, 2005

The Seventh Anniversary edition. Added a new set of pages for the Missouri River bridge at Lexington which will be replaced in the spring of 2005 by a new bridge. Rescanned the photos of the original Chouteau Bridge over the Missouri River at Kansas City (photographed 1998, demolished 2001). Clarified Route Log entries concerning MO 4, MO 42, and MO 185 -- thanks to Ed Breed for the historical information. The site (including pages not previously converted to XHTML) was converted to XHTML 1.1. However, the really big changes, more than 400 files, occurred at the Signs and Sights Gallery, including the addition of metadata for each individaul sign page.

On March 7: Revised the "legacy" version of the site to link to the new Chouteau bridge photos and the new section on the Lexington bridge.

Missouri Signs and Sights Gallery Updates

The entire Missouri Signs and Sights Gallery was converted to XHTML 1.1, including the individual sign pages. Sixteen photos from 1998 were added, and others were rescanned or renamed. More details on the Recent Additions page at the Missouri Signs and Sights Gallery.

Subsequent additions on March 7: Added photos of exit signs from Cape Girardeau that refer to Illinois route 146, apparently new in 2004, with thanks to Adam Froehlig and Rich Piehl. Thanks also go to Adam for a photograph of the Missouri 84 exit from Interstate 55 at Hayti.

Version 7.1.1.1, January 15, 2005

Updated the Route Log to show extension of Missouri 109 from Interstate 44 into Jefferson County. Thanks to John Brocato for his report of the new designation in misc.transport.road.

Version 7.1.1, December 29, 2004

Corrected the Route Log entries for Missouri 27 (which opened to traffic on December 8) and updated the entry for Spur US 136 to show that it has been decommissioned in Clark County. There is still another Spur US 136 in Atchison County, which replaced the Clark County entry in the Route Log. Thanks to Jason Hancock of Iowa Highways for his report about the new Missouri 27 in misc.transport.road. Also added a permanent link to the Route Markers page describing the thumbnail images used in the Route Log.

Version 7.1, December 11, 2004

Updated the Route Log with the newly-activated status of Missouri 27, which opened to traffic on December 8. The Route Log entries for Missouri 27 and US 61 were updated. The Route Log PDF has also been updated. Also revised all the Route Log thumbnail markers to provide a more realistic appearance as described on the Route Markers page. That page, the Shields for Route Markers page, and the Site Information page were renamed and revised as well.

Road Sign Gallery Updates

Rich Piehl contributed a photo of a new mileage-marker style on Interstate 44 in Jasper County. Thanks, Rich!

Before that, several sign goof photos were added:

Version 7.0.2, August 3, 2004

Motto: "Another month, another version". Redesigned the home page for the site, moving the explanation of the Missouri highway numbering system to another page. This made for a cleaner, less forbidding "front page". The "What's New" box was removed from the History and Historic Route Log pages. Also corrected the ever-shifting north endpoint of Missouri 249, thanks to recent information from David Backlin. Also updated the Browser Information page (again). Finally, made a minor adjustment to the Historic Route Log to align the headings better with the photograph.

Version 7.0.1.2, July 1, 2004

Fixed broken links on the Shields and Thumbnails pages, including the Missouri shield blanks. Also updated the Browser Information page (no longer on the site).

Road Sign Gallery Updates

We went international by adding a photo of Avenida Kansas City in Seville, Spain.

Version 7.0.1.1, June 8, 2004

Revised northern endpoint for MO 249 in the Route Log, based on a field report from David Backlin. Thanks, David!

Road Sign Gallery Updates

Thirty-nine photos (not counting one duplicate) from my May 2004 trip to New Mexico were posted to the US Highways Signs & Sights Gallery and the New Mexico section of the Other Signs & Sights Gallery (incorporated into a separate New Mexico Signs & Sights Gallery beginning June 29, 2008) on June 5 and 6, 2004.

Version 7.0.1, January 27, 2004

Motto: "Not another version already!" Added stylesheets for printing. The original reason was to work around yet another Internet Explorer bug, but this actually was the right thing to do. As a result, a more appropriate printing layout can be provided, especially for portal pages, and lists of links can be hidden from printed pages (where they aren't terribly useful). Also modified the Routelog scripts (XHTML versions) so that only database-derived content is generated by the scripts. All static footer XHTML text is now in the static footer text file (before, the copyright notice had been generated from the script). The legacy scripts weren't changed. Also revamped the logical structure of many pages by re-coding their heading tags. This may have slightly altered the appearance of some pages. Otherwise, there were no changes in features or functionality.

Version 7.0, January 19, 2004

Design facelift for the site, using CSS for layout and formatting, along with implementation of a new database format for the Route Log.

Enhancements in Version 7.0

Few radical changes, but several enhancements were made during the facelift:

Content Changes in Version 7.0

Added Spur 112 in Barry County, discovered during a routine map check. Updated Missouri 109 in St. Louis County, thanks to information from Scott Maness, who also discovered that the previous alignment of Missouri 109 into Babler State Park was redesignated Route BA, the only such supplemental designation in the state so far.

Version 6.4.4.4, January 3, 2004

Updated Route Log entries for I-64, I-70, I-270, and Missouri 364. Thanks to Brian Dowd for the information. Also added links to Brian Dowd's new Gateway Roads site (now apparently defunct) and updated the link to the Iowa Highways site. Also removed the link to John Fischer's Missouri site because it appeared to have been inactive for some time, and reduced the number of updates listed in the update box in preparation for the site redesign in January.

Version 6.4.4.3, December 14, 2003

Updated Route Log entries -- MO 364 for the opening of the Page Avenue extension; corrections for MO 413 (thanks to David Backlin). Also added information about earlier versions of this site, with dates of most of the earlier versions.

Version 6.4.4.2, November 26, 2003

Updated Route Log entry for MO 364, the Page Avenue extension in St. Charles and St. Louis counties, scheduled to open December 13 (pictures and other links from MoDOT here). Also updated Route Log entry for MO 249, based on a Usenet post by David Backlin as well as information from the MoDOT District 7 page. Finally, shortened the list of updates in the right-hand "rail" of the pages with update information. The list was getting so long that the right-hand column was extending far below the rest of the page, making it appear unbalanced.

Note: As an experiment, this site made the entire Route Log available as a PDF file. This was later incorporated into Version 7.0.

Version 6.4.4.1, November 22, 2003

Amended description of MO 27 (future Avenue of the Saints in Clark County), based on a newspaper article from the Cedar Rapids Gazette posted to misc.transport.road in 2001. (Fair use paraphrase follows.) That article quoted a Missouri Department of Transportation engineer as saying that the MO 27 designation would be used for Missouri's northernmost seven miles of the Avenue of the Saints expressway between Minneapolis and St. Louis. The remainder of the expressway in Missouri will run along US 61. An August 2003 editorial in the Hannibal Courier-Post indicated that construction on the expressway in Clark County was scheduled to begin in the winter of 2003. That route replaced Route B and Spur 136.

Version 6.4.4, November 11, 2003

Added Alternate MO 240 in Howard County, thanks to information and photos from Curtis Bohl. Programming changes were required to accomodate this first-ever use of the "Alternate Missouri" category. It had been believed that there were no more "Alternate" routes in Missouri after Alternate US 71 was decommissioned in 1998. Also, from my October trip to Missouri, I modified entries for MO 1, MO 12, Spur 13, and MO 20 as the result of field checking.

Version 6.4.3.3, July 10, 2003

Changed continuation information for Missouri 171 into Kansas after KDOT changed the Kansas route number from 57 to 171 on July 1. Thanks to Richie Kennedy for the tip.

Version 6.4.3.2, July 3, 2003

Added Spur 185 in Franklin County to the Route Log. Thanks to Ted Craig for the tip.

Version 6.4.3.1, June 18, 2003

Added Missouri 465 in the Branson area to the Route Log. Route 465, the Ozark Mountain Highroad, opened June 16. Thanks to David Backlin for the update.

Version 6.4.3, June 8, 2003

Added new Business Route 37 in Seligman to the Route Log. Thanks to David Backlin for the information. Also corrected the eastern endpoint of Missouri 340 in University City. Thanks to Matt Rosenberg for the correction. Added a new thumbnail image of US 54 and Missouri 254 in Hermitage to the index page.

In the Road Sign Gallery, added 49 photos to the Missouri and US Highways Galleries, including photos from my March 2003 trip to Missouri plus contributions from David Backlin, Kim Harvey, and Chris Schneider. Thanks to all of you for your generosity!

Version 6.4.2.1, February 19, 2003

Added Business Loop 55 entry for Festus/Crystal City. Thanks to John Brocato for the information.

Version 6.4.2, February 8, 2003

Added Missouri 770 to the Route Log, based on a MoDOT list of bridges (note: this link is broken; it is retained here only for historic interest) published in February 2003 that showed Route 770 as the designation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge in St. Louis (the bridge was not otherwise marked and it was not shown as Missouri 770 on state maps). Based on that list, also revised the history pages and changed Route Log listings for Missouri 34, Missouri 74, and US 159. Updated the list of links to highways in neighboring states.

On a related topic, also updated the description and title of David Kendrick's "Shields Up" program to generate images of highway shields and revised the links to it accordingly.

Version 6.4.1.2, January 4, 2003

Corrected northern endpoint of Missouri 283 in Kansas City (it's at US 69 [Vivion Road], extending slightly north of I-29, not at I-29 itself). Thanks to Ben Prusia for the information.

Version 6.4.1.1, December 28, 2002

Updated and corrected entry for Missouri 96 (it no longer extends to the Kansas line and there is no longer a connection with Kansas SH 96), thanks to information from David Backlin.

Version 6.4.1, December 27, 2002

Made corrections and clarifications to the Route Log, thanks to information from John Fischer (for several highways) and Randy Wheeler (for US 71).

Version 6.4, December 20, 2002

Major update with additional information and features added to the Route Log. Added search functions to the Route Log for both cities and counties. Added list of counties for each route to the Route Log. Endpoints and multiplexes were corrected thanks to information compiled by John Fischer.

Version 6.3.4, December 8, 2002

Revised the Historic Route Log based on reinterpretation of the 1922 and 1923 system maps. Also modified the reverse lookup program to treat US 40 (State Highway No. 2) as a special case. Because of its long multiplex with Interstate 70, most of State Highway No. 2 had not been shown as being represented by modern-day US 40 between Grain Valley and Boonville and between Midway and Wentzville.

Historic Route Log Reinterpretation

The November 2002 rerouting of Missouri 13 south of Springfield led to a re-examination of the 1922 and 1923 maps. While the rerouting itself changed only one entry for State Highway No. 3, I decided that there were errors in interpreting several routes, most notably State Highway No. 1 south of Joplin, State Highway No. 3 south of Springfield, State Highways No. 76 and 78 in the Branson area, and State Highway No. 38 near Carthage (including removal of the obsolete ALT US 71 designation). Additionally, a comparison of the 1922 and 1923 maps led me to reinterpret the location of State Highway No. 1 in Kansas City. As one result, I am no longer counting present-day Missouri 1 as part of the original route for State Highway No. 1. I also decided to indicate the following state highways as largely following their Centennial Route System routes: 41, 47, 86, and 90. Finally, I made some minor editing changes, including reversing the direction in which the route segments are shown for State Highway No. 20.

The following diff output shows the changes that were made:

6,13c6,15
< 1 5   MO 92   Platte City to Nashua (?)   0
< 1 6   MO 1    MO 92 to Vivion Road, Kansas City   0
< 1 7   MO 269  I-35 across Chouteau Bridge, Kansas City    0
< 1 8   MO 291  Independence to Harrisonville   0
< 1 9   US 71   Harrisonville to Carthage   0
< 1 10  BR 71   Joplin to Neosho    0
< 1 11  US 71   Neosho to Anderson  0
< 1 12  MO 59   Anderson to Arkansas line   0
---
> 1 5   MO 92   Platte City to I-29, Kansas City    0
> 1 6   I-29    MO 92 to NW Cookingham Drive, Kansas City   0
> 1 7   City street NW Cookingham Drive to US 169, Kansas City  0
> 1 8   US 169  NW Cookingham Drive in Kansas City (at the former city of Nashua) to MO 9, Kansas City  0
> 1 9   MO 9    US 169 to I-70 in downtown Kansas City  0
> 1 10  I-70    MO 9 in downtown Kansas City to MO 291, Independence    0
> 1 11  MO 291  Independence to Harrisonville   0
> 1 12  US 71   Harrisonville to Carthage   0
> 1 13  BR 71   Joplin to Neosho    0
> 1 14  MO 59   Neosho to Arkansas line 0
23,26c25,29
< 3 0   US 65   Iowa line to Ozark  2
< 3 1   US 160  Ozark to Spokane    0
< 3 2   MO 176  Spokane to US 65    0
< 3 3   US 65   MO 176 to Arkansas line 0
---
> 3 0   US 65   Iowa line to SR EE S of Ozark   2
> 3 1   SR EE   US 65 to US 160 at Highlandville (SR HH between US 65 and US 160 is another possible candidate for this route)  0
> 3 2   US 160  Highlandville to Spokane (since November 2002 MO 13 has been multiplexed with US 160 in this area)  0
> 3 3   MO 176  Spokane to US 65    0
> 3 4   US 65   MO 176 to Arkansas line 0
80,83c83,86
< 20    0   MO 3    Huntsville to NW of Fayette 0
< 20    1   MO 240  NW of Fayette to MO 41  0
< 20    2   US 65   MO 41 to Waverly    0
< 20    3   US 24   Waverly to Kansas City  0
---
> 20    0   US 24   Kansas City to Waverly  0
> 20    1   US 65   Waverly to MO 41    0
> 20    2   MO 240  MO 41 to MO 3 NW of Fayette     0
> 20    3   MO 3    MO 240 NW of Fayette to Huntsville  0
114,116c117,120
< 38    0   ALT US 71   Monett to Fidelity  0
< 38    1   I-44    Fidelity to Mt Vernon   0
< 38    2   MO 174  Mt Vernon to Republic   0
---
> 38    0   MO 571  Carthage to US 71 S of Carthage 0
> 38    1   US 71   MO 571 S of Carthage to Fidelity    0
> 38    2   I-44    Fidelity to Mt Vernon   0
> 38    3   MO 174  Mt Vernon to Republic   0
119c123
< 41    0   MO 41   Miami to Marshall   0
---
> 41    0   MO 41   Miami to Marshall   1
129c133
< 47    0   MO 47   Troy to Washington  0
---
> 47    0   MO 47   Troy to Washington  1
168c172
< 76    0   US 160  US 65 to Forsyth    0
---
> 76    0   US 160  MO 248 to Forsyth   0
172,173c176,177
< 84    0   MO 84   (also US 412) Kennett to Caruthersville 1
< 86    0   MO 86   Blue Eye to US 65 near Ridgedale    0
---
> 84    0   MO 84   Kennett to Caruthersville (also US 412)     1
> 86    0   MO 86   Blue Eye to US 65 near Ridgedale    1
175c179,180
< 90    0   MO 90   Arkansas-Oklahoma line to Noel  0
---
> 90    0   SR EE   Lanagan to Pineville        0
> 90    1   MO 90   Pineville to Arkansas-Oklahoma line 0

Version 6.3.3, December 2, 2002

Updated the Route Log to reflect rerouting of Missouri 13 south of Springfield along US 160 and extension of Missouri 413 along former Missouri 13 to Reeds Spring. Thanks to Dave Backlin, David Backlin (yes, these are two different people), and Scott Maness for their e-mail and Usenet reports.

Version 6.3.2.1, November 19, 2002

Revised Missouri 360's opening date, which was November 26. Thanks to David Backlin for the updated information.

Version 6.3.2, November 12, 2002

Added Route Log revisions for proposed Business 54 at Louisiana, new Business 71 at Anderson, proposed Kansas 171 connecting to Missouri 171, and completion of Missouri 360 with an opening date of December 1, 2002. Thanks to David Backlin for Business 71 and Missouri 360 information; also to Scott Nuzum and John Fischer for their misc.transport.road posts related to the other Route Log updates. Also removed the update box from the Message Board and 1947 Kansas City map pages (so I have two fewer files to update every time the Route Log is updated).

Version 6.3.1, October 13, 2002

Revised the link to the Iowa Highways site, and remodeled the query page for the Historic Route Log with a new photo of the former State Highway No. 7.

For the Sign Galleries, extensively updated the Missouri and US Highways galleries with photos from my September 2002 trip to Missouri; contributions from David Backlin, most from his September 2002 roadtrip in northwestern Missouri and southwestern Iowa; and a contribution from Ben Prusia, who found another bannered supplemental route. A total of 74 new photos were added to the two sign galleries. In addition, four photos in the Missouri Sign Gallery were rescanned to eliminate the "banding" problem that had appeared on some scans.

Additional Road Signs & Sights Gallery Update, October 22, 2002

To the Missouri site, added a bannered "End" for Route N, courtesy of Ben Prusia. To the California site, added 16 photos near and along Interstate 238, plus Business Loop 80 photos from Sacramento and Interstate 5 photos from Stockton. Also linked to my site of Yosemite photos, which was added October 20.

Version 6.3, August 9, 2002

This was the long-awaited reformatting of the Route Log, including representative thumbnail markers of Interstate, US, and Missouri routes, as well as a clearer explanation of endpoints (termini). Also deleted Spur 65 from the Route Log, based on John Fischer's report in misc.transport.road on August 1.

Version 6.2.5, July 30, 2002

Made the following additions and corrections to the Route Log: Spur 111 (added), Spur 113 (added), Spur 169 (added), Missouri 179 (corrected north endpoint). Thanks to Ben Prusia for the additions and correction! In a related update to the Missouri Signs & Sights Gallery, added the following submissions from Ben Prusia: the Lake Ozark Community Bridge, a "Missouri" 24 marker near Carrollton, and an "M291" marker in downtown Lee's Summit.

Additional Road Signs & Sights Gallery Update, August 7, 2002

Submissions from Ben Prusia (thanks!): a "US 224" construction marker, an odd Route E marker in Windsor, Missouri 59 for US 59 in northwest Missouri, a before-and-after set when confusing signs on Missouri 10 in Carrollton were fixed, and misspelled directional sign for Lamoni, Iowa. Also added a photo that I took of a Columbia city-limit sign with updated Census figures, combining it on same page with a previous city-limit sign with 1990 figures (showing 22% population growth for Columbia!).

Version 6.2.4, July 22, 2002

Updated Route Log by adding Spur US 69, deleting Spur 5 in Laclede, removing linkage of Missouri 124 as derivative of US 24, and adding information about US 61 and Missouri 179. In a related update, added 33 new photos to the Missouri Signs & Sights Gallery from my July 2002 trip to Missouri. New signs include Spur US 69 and US 136 in Bethany, Missouri, Missouri 146, Missouri 128, Business US 65 in Trenton (in the US Highways Signs & Sights Gallery), Missouri 5 and 6 near Milan, the Humphreys village limit signs, the US 63 freeway being wrapped up at Moberly (including East EE marker), Missouri 151 and 22 as well as Routes CC and V near Sturgeon, and Spur Route Y in Montgomery County.

Additional Road Signs & Sights Gallery Update, July 24, 2002

Combined the two Missouri 64A pages to show both the 64A-64 sign assembly and the West 64A reassurance marker on the same page.

Version 6.2.3, July 7, 2002

Added links to the new section of Road Signs & Sights Gallery (Other Signs & Sights) and made minor modifications to the Boonville Bridge pages.

Version 6.2.2, July 2, 2002

Another find for the Route Log: added decommissioned US 460 in St. Louis (the MacArthur Bridge) to the Route Log. Thanks to Scott Maness for the tip!

Version 6.2.1, July 1, 2002

In the history section, added page showing a map of Missouri River bridges in 1924 and a page on the July 4, 1924 opening of the Boonville bridge. Corrected and expanded Route Log entry for dormant MO 750 proposal in Boone County.

Version 6.2, June 22, 2002

Relocated historical and other pages and moved the US 63/I-70 page from the Sign Gallery to the main part of the site, where it really has always belonged. To avoid automatic fit-to-window image resizing in Internet Explorer 6, links to the 1947 Kansas City map and 1922 and 1923 Centennial Road System maps were switched to HTML files anchored to those images, rather than using direct links to the JPEGs. Also added links to my Pioneer Radio History site (no longer active).

In related areas of the site, created a new cover page for the roadfan portion of this site and moved (and rescanned) photos of the Edward Buehler Delk traffic signal in Kansas City to the Missouri Signs & Sights Gallery.

Version 6.1, May 29, 2002

Added link to this page in the right-hand column of links on most of the other pages at this site. Updated comments about wide state highway markers on the Missouri 763 page. Updated Route Log with Veterans Memorial Bridge designation for Missouri 364 when completed in 2003. Also added historical information for Missouri 115 and Missouri 370. Added link to the misc.transport.road FAQ to most of the other pages at this site. On related pages: also redesigned the cover page for the roads and highways section of this site as well as the intermediate page for the road signs and sights pages.

Version 6.0.3.1, May 23, 2002

Numerous formatting changes for individual Route Log entries along with some modifications to correct inconsistencies and slightly outdated information (did not mention this set of changes in the Update boxes on any of the web pages).

Version 6.0.3, May 22, 2002

The Route Log was updated with historical information about several highways, courtesy of John Fischer. Added Route Log entry for Missouri 178, which was found by a close reading of the 1964 official state highway map. Corrected erroneous information for Missouri 137 (Spur 136 comments also appeared in the MO 137 entry). Added information about Missouri 41 designation to Jefferson City, also found by a close reading of the 1964 state highway map. Added entries for defunct routes 21A and 76A.

Version 6.0.2, May 19, 2002

The Route Log was updated with information about former MO 44, former MO 57, and pre-1969 MO 148. The Centennial Route Log was updated to reflect MO 57's status as a highway that has been renumbered but otherwise follows its original route. Fixed erroneous link for showing the entire Route Log. Missing and incorrect links in the Signs and Sights Gallery were corrected.

Version 6.0.1, May 18, 2002

Added information from the 1922 Highway Commission system map (courtesy of David Backlin) to the Centennial Route Log. John Fischer contributed additional insights and interpretation of early system maps for the Centennial Route Log.

Version 6.0, May 13, 2002

Complete site redesign with tighter integration of Sign Gallery with other elements of the site. New Sign Gallery design intended for easier navigation and quicker updates. Interstate 72, US 71, and Chouteau Bridge road trip pages merged into the Road Sign Gallery. Road Sign Gallery renamed the Road Signs and Sights Gallery to reflect the added content. (Road Trip pages were subsequently discontinued.) New photos added to Sign and Sights Gallery and history pages. History pages redesigned to be consistent with other pages. Related links page removed, replaced by a list of links on each page, weblog-style. Updated and corrected external links, route log, and historical information. Reformatted this page to facilitate updates.

Version 5.0.7.3, May 5, 2002

Final interim update to correct the Missouri Route Log. Thanks to David Backlin (for Missouri 59, Missouri 175, and US 71, as well as former Missouri 57 and former Missouri 88) and Ben Prusia (for Missouri 224 and Missouri 273) for their corrections.

Version 5.0.7.2, May 31, 2001

Interim update to correct the link to the Iowa Highways Page. And there it stayed for almost a year.

Version 5.0.7.1, April 23, 2001

Added page on the US 63-Interstate 70 interchange at Columbia.

Version 5.0.7, March 3, 2001

Consolidation of various version 5.0.6 changes across all pages on the site.

Version 5.0.6, February 4, 2001

Updated route log and road-trip pages for Interstate 72 in Hannibal.

Version 5.0.5, May 25, 2000

Added pages for excerpts of the 1947 Kansas City street map published by the Gallup Map and Stationery Company.

Version 5.0.4, May 19, 2000

Updated the route log and numbering-system page with new Missouri 413 in Springfield and changes for Missouri 175 in Newton County.

Version 5.0.3, April 22, 2000

Updated the route log with opening of Missouri 249 between Missouri 66 and Interstate 44.

Version 5.0.2, March 30, 2000

Updated Related Links page.

Version 5.0.1, March 22, 2000

Corrected error in numbering-system page and added Missouri 249 to the route log.

Version 5.0, July 18, 1999

New design and move to new ISP.

Previous Versions

Version 4.0 added historical information about the Centennial Road Law of 1921 that established the foundation for today's Missouri highway system. Version 4.0.1 added links to related pages. Version 4.0.2 moved those links to a separate page, moved the version information onto a separate page (this one), and included updated information about Missouri route 59, which was extended to replace Alternate US 71 south of Carthage.

Versions 3.0-3.0.4 added lookup capabilities to select highways by category. Missouri 364, the "Page Avenue extension" in the St. Louis area, and Missouri 465 near Branson. Version 3.0.4 also added a Road Trip Gallery for trips in 1998 along US 34 and US 136 in Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois.

Dates of Earlier Versions

Some of this information is incomplete. The Route Log was the first part of this site to be developed.

More Information about Site Changes

A concise listing of many changes can be found on the site's to-do list.

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