Historic Missouri Road Signs And Lane Marking

To All:

Someone in an earlier post mentioned the curb or lip on the sides of the road. These became very dangerous as semi tires, etc. would ride up on them causing jackknifing, etc. There was a highway near my home in Independence, KS that had these and in the mid to late 50's the road was widened by digging a channel of the outside of each side of the road and then filling it in with a rock sub base and asphalt up to the height of the outside of the lip. Then the road itself was paved or filled up to the lip with asphalt also. Lastly a smooth top coat of asphalt was laid over the entire surface resulting in a smooth, wider road.

In the ensuing years cracks would form down the middle, at each expansion joint on the underlying old cement road and along the edge where the new channel surfaces were laid. Then a crew would come back and fill the cracks with black tar. That is why there is a seam down the middle of the road and one about 2' in on each side. Derrick modeled this correctly on his road.

Now you know.

 

I took some recent photos of old Hwy 13 between Clinton and Deepwater, MO. I thought someone might find these useful when modeling older state roadways. I was surprised how narrow it was.

 

Those lanes do look narrow, but I guess it's because of the grass/weeds growing up to the pavement.

 

I thought so too on the surface but after careful inspection the concrete stopped where you see the grass growing. There did seem to be a definant edge about 4 inches tall as others have described. It also looked as if there was a small gravel shoulder of sorts. I should have got some photos of it.

I'm wondering if most of these older concrete highways were narrower by later standards. Speeds maybe were slower and safety just didn't have the attention like it does today. It won't be long before our kids can't believe how we just let people drive around with free will, at high speeds, and no input from a GPS device controlling every input for the vehicle.

 

The standard lane width thru the late 40's was 9', today it is 12'.

 

Around here, the "shoulders" maybe 6 to 12 inches wide before one goes into the ditch on state maintained roads. If maintenance is deferred, then weeds can grow right up to the pavement.