- For the U.S. Route 60 in the 1925 plan, see
U.S. Route 66.
U.S. Route 60 is an east-west
United States highway, running
2,670 miles (4,300 km)
from eastern Virginia
to western
Arizona
. Despite the final "0" in its number,
indicating a transcontinental designation, the 1926 route formerly ended in Springfield,
Missouri
, at its intersection with the major U.S. Route
66. In fact, Route 66 was almost given the US Route 60
number.
As of
2005, the highway's eastern terminus is in
Virginia Beach,
Virginia
, at Pacific Avenue in the city's oceanfront resort
district at the Rudee Inlet Bridge. Its western terminus
was in Los Angeles,
California
, from 1932 to 1966, but that was moved to east of
Quartzsite,
Arizona
, to an intersection with Interstate 10 after the highway was abandoned in California in
1964. Some US 60 signs can be seen at this
intersection — that is about five miles (eight kilometers) west of Brenda, Arizona
. Interstate 10
replaced US 60 from Arizona to Beaumont, California
, and California State Highway 60
replaced US 60 from there to Los Angeles.
Route description
California
U.S. Route 60 has been decommissioned in California.
In the Los Angeles
and Inland Empire
, it exists as a branch of Interstate 10, designated as State Route 60. In
addition, many parts of it remain as just a two-lane highway in the
Mojave Desert areas. One such section
of US 60 is located in the Chuckwalla Valley and is referred to as
Chuckwalla Valley Road.
Arizona
The westernmost stretch of US-60 to the California border has been
replaced by Interstate 10.
The western terminus of US-60 is near
Brenda,
Arizona
, where it travels northeast to Wickenburg,
Arizona
. From there the highway bears southeast to
briefly rejoin I-10 in Phoenix
- before
diverging as the Superstition
Freeway. While in Phoenix, Route 60 turns into
Grand Avenue, and then
becomes the US-60 highway once again. Here, US-60 is a significant
part of the local commuter
freeway system.
East of the Phoenix
area, US-60 bears roughly east-northeast through mountainous areas,
passing through Globe
, Show
Low
, and Springerville
before exiting the state at the border with
New
Mexico
.
New Mexico
please see
U.S. Route 60 in New Mexico
Texas
US 60
runs in a northeasterly direction across the Texas
Panhandle
.
It enters
the state as a four-lane divided highway at Farwell
on the Texas-New Mexico border, and heads
northeast, intersecting U.S.
Route 385 at Hereford
. At Canyon
, the route
begins a concurrency with both U.S. Route 87 and
Interstate 27; the three routes are
united to Amarillo
.
At Amarillo, the road crosses
Interstate
40 and has a short concurrency with Historic US 66 on Amarillo
Boulevard.
The road continues as a divided highway,
heading northeast to Pampa
, where the
road goes to two lanes. At Canadian
, the route briefly returns to four-lane status and
forms a concurrency with U.S.
Route 83.
US 60 leaves Texas
for Oklahoma two miles (three kilometers) east of Higgins
.
Oklahoma
Except
for three short sections near Enid
, Vinita
, and Ponca City
, US-60 is a two-lane highway its entire length
across Oklahoma. It enters the state fourteen miles (21
kilometers) west of Arnett
and travels east to Orienta
where it begins a concurrency with U.S. Highway 412. At Enid, it leaves
the concurrency with US-412 and begins another with
U.S. Highway 64 with which it is
united for .
Near Tonkawa
, US-60 has an interchange with Interstate 35.
At
Ponca
City
, US-60 enters Osage County, leaving it at
Bartlesville
. From Vinita to Afton
, the highway
has a concurrency with Historic U.S. Highway 66 and
U.S. Highway 69. The road will cross
Interstate 44 at each
Vinita and Afton. It passes through
Twin Bridges State Park about west
of the Missouri state line.
Missouri
please see
U.S. Route 60
Illinois
U.S. 60 continues its concurrency with
U.S. Highway
62 for its entire length, , in Illinois. The routes enter
Illinois at its very southern tip between the
Mississippi and
Ohio rivers.
The
concurrent routes pass Fort Defiance
, which lies at the lowest and southernmost point of
Illinois
, then intersect with U.S. 51 south
of Cairo
, turning
eastward along with southbound U.S. 51 to cross the
Ohio River into Kentucky.
Kentucky
Upon entering Kentucky, U.S. 60 is concurrent with
U.S. 51 and
U.S. 62 from the Ohio
River bridge to the town of Wickliffe
. At Wickliffe, U.S.
60 separates from the
other routes and heads generally northeast toward the city of
Paducah
. Between Wickliffe and Paducah, the towns of
Barlow
, La Center
and Kevil
are
situated along the route.
Upon reaching Paducah, U.S. 60 intersects with
Interstate 24, and I-24's business loop enters
the city concurrent with U.S. 60. In the downtown area, the route
once again meets U.S. 62, and also meets U.S. 45. Once out of the
city of Paducah, U.S.
60 again veers to the northeast, generally
following the Ohio River until reaching Smithland
, where the route again turns to the east, passing
through the small town of Burna. From Burna, U.S.
60 passes
through Salem
.
The next
city along the route is Marion
. At Marion, U.S.
60 turns once more to
the north, where it heads toward Sturgis
. From Sturgis, the route continues generally
northward to Morganfield. In recent years, a by-pass of U.S.
60 around
the south and east sides of Morganfield
has taken a great deal of traffic congestion out of
the city.
U.S.
60
passes through Waverly
and Corydon
before reaching Henderson
. At Henderson, the route intersects Kentucky
Highway 136, Kentucky Highway 425 and U.S. Highway 41 Alternate.
U.S. 41-A is concurrent with U.S. 60 along Green Street in the city
of Henderson as it intersects with Kentucky Highway 812 and
Kentucky Highway 351. At the U.S. Highway 41/Pennyrile Parkway
interchange, U.S. 41-A ends and U.S.
60 continues alone,
going through Owensboro
, Hawesville
, and Hardinsburg
.
In
Fort
Knox
, U.S. 60 connects with U.S. 31W, and
they remain together until downtown Louisville.
Originally built as a
"bypass route" around downtown Louisville
, Alt US 60 used several existing roads running
through Louisville to get between the east and south sides of town
without having to travel through the heavily congested downtown or
west ends of town. 'Alt 60' runs northeast to southwest from
St.
Matthews
to Shively
; including a stretch on one of Frederick Law
Olmsted's last remaining parkways, Eastern Parkway.
After
passing Shelbyville
, it continues through the state capitol in Frankfort
. In Versailles
, its eastbound lanes are the westbound lanes of
U.S. 62. After intersecting the
Bluegrass Parkway, it is one of the major
routes through Lexington.
It intersects I-75 and
goes to Winchester
and the Mountain
Parkway. It proceeds to Mount
Sterling
, Morehead
, past Carter Caves State Resort
Park
, on to Grayson
and finally to Ashland
. U.S. 23 South follows U.S.
60 East into Catlettsburg
, where they split at 35th St. U.S. 23
South continues straight as a 4-lane highway, while U.S.
60 East
turns left on 35th St., passes Oakland Avenue, and enters Kenova, West
Virginia
via the Billy C. Clark Bridge.
Especially in the eastern and central part of the state, U.S. 60
has been largely replaced by
Interstate
64 for long distance travel, since both routes follow each
other through much of this area. However, several cites in this
area rely on U.S. 60 to connect them to the interstate. By
contrast, in the western part of the state, U.S. 60 is not paired
with an interstate highway and serves a much more independent
purpose, connecting communities located along and near the
Ohio River.
West Virginia
In
West
Virginia
, US 60
largely follows the path of the Midland
Trail. It enters the state at Kenova
by crossing over the Big
Sandy River from Kentucky
. From there, it heads through Huntington
east to Charleston
.
From
Charleston
, US 60 heads southeast on its own course apart
from Interstate 64, its
replacement. The road first follows the Kanawha River to its source at Gauley
Bridge
, where US 60 then climbs out of the river valley
and follows a twisting path through Rainelle
and back to Interstate
64 at Sam Black Church
. This is the last section of US 60 to have
been bypassed by the Interstate system in West Virginia, with I-64
between Beckley
and Sam Black Church being opened to traffic on
July 15, 1988 This is the only section of US 60 in West Virginia
that sees a significant amount of traffic as a through
route.
From
Sam Black
Church
east through Lewisburg
to White
Sulphur Springs
, US 60 lives in the shadow of I-64 and carries a
very small amount of traffic. Just east of White
Sulphur Springs, US 60 joins I-64 for the last in the state before
they enter Virginia
at Allegheny Mountain
.
Virginia
In Virginia, U.S. Route 60 runs west to east through the central
part of the state, generally close to and paralleling the
Interstate 64 corridor, except for
the crossing of the
Blue Ridge
Mountains, and in the
South
Hampton Roads area.
Between
Lexington
in the Shenandoah Valley
and Richmond
, I-64 uses a lower elevation crossing of the Blue
Ridge Mountains located about further north, where it runs parallel
to U.S.
Route 250 through Rockfish Gap
. In contrast, through this section, the
older US 60 is mostly a rural two-lane road. With the crossing of
the Blue Ridge Mountains at a higher altitude in more rugged
terrain, US 60 in this area offers much more challenging and
weather-sensitive driving conditions, as well as a history of many
crashes in the years before I-64 was completed.
East of north-south
U.S. Route 29 (which runs parallel to the eastern
slope of the Blue Ridge), the older US 60 and I-64 gradually
converge as they pass through the rolling hills of the rocky
Piedmont region in an
easterly direction to reach the fall line
at Richmond
, where they again become very close.
From
Richmond east to the harbor area near the mouth of Hampton Roads
, US 60 again essentially parallels I-64 through
Williamsburg
and the Historic
Triangle region, extending down the Virginia
Peninsula
east to the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel
which it shares with I-64. A few miles south of
the bridge-tunnel, in Norfolk
, US 60 diverges to the west to follow the south
shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay
through Ocean
View
and past the south entrance to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to
reach Cape Henry. There it curves south
to run along the Atlantic
Ocean
shoreline to end near the south end of the Virginia
Beach resort strip.
History
US 60 had
its beginnings in the Midland Trail,
an auto trail organized in 1912 by
residents of Grand Junction, Colorado
. The next year, this route was considered but
rejected for the Lincoln Highway,
after which the Midland Trail Association laid out and marked its
own transcontinental highway, eventually connecting Newport
News, Virginia
with Los Angeles, California
. When the
Joint Board on Interstate
Highways published its preliminary plan for a system of
interstate routes in 1925, the Midland Trail was split among many
numbers, including
52, 62,
150,
50, and
40.
East of Louisville
, where it would become US 60, it was assigned parts
of 52 and 62. Route 52 began at Newport News and followed
the Midland Trail to Richmond
, but took a more southerly route to Lexington,
Virginia
. The trail was used again through West Virginia
to Huntington
, where Route 52 split to the northwest.
Route 62
began at Ashland,
Kentucky
(near Huntington) and followed the Midland Trail
across northeastern Kentucky
to Louisville, where the trail crossed the Ohio River and became Route 150.
Route 62
continued southwest along the south bank of the Ohio River to
Wickliffe
in western Kentucky, and then crossed the Mississippi River at the Ohio's
mouth. The final portion of Route 62 crossed
southern Missouri
to Springfield
on an existing main highway that had been numbered
16 by the state.
Kentucky Governor
William J.
Fields objected to the Joint Board's plan,
which took most major east-west routes (multiples of ten) to the
East Coast, but sent Route 60 from
Los
Angeles
northeast to end in Chicago
, leaving none to cross Kentucky, the only Mississippi Valley state without such a
route. Proposals were considered for splitting US 60 into
60N and 60E at Springfield or using 62 for the Chicago route;
Missouri had already prepared maps that showed the original plans
for 60 and 62.
The final plan, agreed to by the affected
states, assigned US 66 to the Los
Angeles-Chicago highway and US 60 to the route from Springfield to
Virginia
Beach
(extended from Newport News), absorbing all of 62
and part of 52 from the 1925 plan.
Although
US 60 initially stretched less than halfway across the country, due
to its late creation, it was soon extended west to Los
Angeles
. One auto trail — the
Atlantic and Pacific Highway -
and three other U.S. Highways played a part in this extension.
The
Atlantic and Pacific Highway had been organized in 1921, and
connected New York
City
with Los Angeles. The original alignment
of
U.S. Route 70 entered Clovis, New Mexico
from the east, as it does now, but continued
west to Holbrook,
Arizona
. Crossing US 70 at Clovis was the El Paso
-Amarillo
U.S.
Route 366. Finally,
U.S. Route 164 was created by
1928, stretching northeast and east from Amarillo to
U.S. Route 64 and
U.S. Route 77 in
Enid,
Oklahoma
. The
American
Association of State Highway Officials approved the first part
of the extension in May 1930, following the rest of Missouri's
Route 16 to the Oklahoma state line, and several state highways to
Enid, before absorbing US 164 to a terminus at Amarillo. The
remainder to Los Angeles was approved at AASHO's June 1931 meeting,
and involved a number of other changes.
US 60 replaced US 366
from Amarillo to Clovis, where it continued west along US 70 to
Springerville, Arizona
. The remainder of US 70 to Holbrook,
Arizona
became a new U.S. Route 260,
while US 60 followed the Atlantic and Pacific Highway, which it had
picked up at Vaughn,
New Mexico
, southwest and west through Phoenix
to Los Angeles. US 70 was not
truncated to Clovis, but was instead redirected southwest along US
366 to El Paso, and later reached Los Angeles itself, though most
of the route west of Globe, Arizona
overlap US
60.
After the
Interstate Highway System
was signed into law in 1956, the Midland Trail portion of US 60,
from Louisville
east to the Hampton Roads
area, was bypassed by Interstate 64. From Phoenix
west to Los Angeles
, Interstate 10
paralleled and replaced US 60. I-10 and I-64 were
mostly completed by the late 1970s, though part of Interstate 64 in West
Virginia, built on a new alignment east from Beckley
, did not bypass the old winding US 60 until July
15, 1988. California decommissioned its portion of US 60 in
1964; most was replaced by I-10, while the independent piece in the
Los Angeles area became
State Route 60. In the 1970s,
the portion
overlap I-10 in western
Arizona was removed. US 60 between Phoenix and Louisville remains a
major regional corridor in most places, and is not paralleled by an
Interstate for any significant length.
See also
Related U.S. Routes
Auxiliary routes
- Temporary US 60 - Globe
- Springerville, Arizona
(decommissioned)
- Business US 60 - Tonkawa,
Oklahoma

- Business US 60 - Ponca City,
Oklahoma

- Business US 60 - Seneca, Missouri

- Business US 60 - Neosho, Missouri

- Business US 60 - Monett, Missouri

- Business US 60 - Verona
-Aurora,
Missouri
- Business US 60 - Springfield,
Missouri
(decommissioned)
- Business US 60 - Rogersville, Missouri

- Business US 60 - Mansfield,
Missouri

- Business US 60 - Mountain
Grove, Missouri

- Business US 60 - Cabool, Missouri

- Business US 60 - Willow
Springs, Missouri

- Business US 60 - Van Buren,
Missouri

- Business US 60 - Poplar
Bluff, Missouri

- Business US 60 - Dexter, Missouri

- Business US 60 - Sikeston,
Missouri

- Business US 60 - Paducah,
Kentucky

- Bypass US 60 - Owensboro,
Kentucky

- Business US 60 - Cloverport, Kentucky

- Alternate US 60 - Louisville, Kentucky

- Business US 60 - Versailles, Kentucky

- Bypass US 60 - Versailles, Kentucky

- Business US 60 - Lexington, Kentucky

- Bypass US 60 - Lexington, Kentucky

- Truck US 60 - Charleston, West Virginia
(decommissioned)
- Business US 60 - Clifton
Forge, Virginia

References
- Endpoints of US highways
- Illinois Technology Transfer Center. T2
GIS Data. Retrieved June 2, 2006. As documented in .
- 18
- Nevada State Journal, Working for
Better Roads, May 3,
1913
- Lincoln Highway Resource Guide: Chapter 13: Lincoln Highway in Colorado
- Missouri State Highway
Commission, Route Map Showing Designated Routes and
Numbers, Approved September 19, 1922
- Rand
McNally Auto Road Atlas, 1926, accessed via the Broer Map
Library
- Report of Joint Board on Interstate Highways, October 30, 1925, Approved by the Secretary of Agriculture,
November 18,
1925
- It should be noted that the 1925 plan took US 62 via
West
Plains to Ozark,
but by the time the 1926 Rand McNally was published, the proposed
US 62 followed the former Route 16.
- Missouri State Highway
Commission, Official Road Map of Missouri, 1926
- Richard F. Weingroff, From Names to Numbers: The Origins of the U.S. Numbered
Highway System
- United States System of Highways,
November 11,
1926
- United States Numbered Highways, American
Highways (AASHO),
April 1927
- Indianapolis Star, August 17, 1921
- Oklahoma State Highway
Commission, Oklahoma State Highway System 1928,
July 1, 1928
- Port
Arthur News, 25 Highways are Numbered, May 29, 1930
- Richard F. Weingroff, U.S. 666: "Beast of a Highway"?, accessed October
2007
- Gulf, Tourgide: United
States, Canada and Mexico (Rand McNally & Company),
1977
- New York
Times, Travel Advisory, July 31, 1988
- California Highways and
Public Works, Route Renumbering, March-April 1964
External links