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to L.A. in—66 hours! The trip from
Chicago to L.A. proved to be an
important connection—linking the
historic Gateway to the West with the
new commercial capital of the west
coast.
The trails blazed by waterways and
rails were the first to be traced by the
automobile. In 1925, the American
Association of State Highway Officials
(AASHO) formed a committee of five
people to create a map linking state
highways with uniform numbering to
assist motorists traveling across the
country. Transcontinental and principal
east-west routes were assigned
multiples of 10. U.S. Highways 20, 30,
40, 50, 70, and 80 were all marked from
Atlantic to Pacific. The lone exception
was the crescent-shaped route from
Chicago to Los Angeles marked as
U.S. 60. The committee felt that one
route preserving “the prevailing flow of
traffic” from Chicago to the west via St.
Louis “would inevitably be one of the
most heavily traveled U.S. Highways.”
The map drew immediate fire from
Kentucky Governor William Fields,
who felt that U.S. 60 should be routed
east from St. Louis through Kentucky to
Illinois
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CHICAGO METRO AREA
Produced & Printed In The USA • Keeping You On The Mother Road • 2012-2013
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