U.S. 60 Memories

A few posts ago, I wrote about U.S. 6, a highway that crosses nearly the entire country but which I've drive only a short distance. "Six" made me think of “sixty,” and in turn U.S. 60, which I’ve driven quite a bit more. (Quite a while ago, I also wrote about U.S. 460, a related route.)

Antique sign from the years when US 60 was also
a California highway, crossing the Mohave
Desert and passing through Los Angeles.

U.S. 60 originally linked Virginia Beach, VA with Los Angeles. After Interstate 10 opened over forty years ago, the route was decommissioned west of Brenda, AZ near Quartzsite. But the road is a major route through Phoenix and continues as a significant highway as it heads toward the Atlantic Ocean. As originally planned, the road’s western terminus was Springfield, MO, but proponents of a certain Chicago-to-LA road wanted to name their route “60,” in conflict with the supporters of the Virginia Beach-to-Springfield road. Eventually, those proponents agreed with some other as yet unused number like 62 or 66. They chose 66, and the road from Virginia Beach westward kept the number 60.  

The very first time I was on U.S. 60 was when I was a tiny child and my parents and I visited Mom’s nephew in the Army. He was stationed at Fort Knox. In those pre-interstate days, I assume we drove south from my hometown in Illinois, picked up U.S. 50, took that over into Indiana, turned southeast onto U.S. 150, and then took 150 down to Louisville, where we would’ve driven U.S. 31W/U.S. 60 along the river to the base.

Pre-World War II embossed shield.

Many years later, my family and I lived in Louisville.  Highway 60 takes two interesting pathways through the city, and I especially liked to take the path called Eastern Parkway through some pretty neighborhoods.  As I left Louisville east toward Shelbyville, I loved an abandoned bridge on the south side of the road, and I also found interesting the historical markers commemorating Lincoln’s grandfather, killed by Indians in that area.

I traveled some of 60 during a business trip to Owensboro, but my other Kentucky memories of the road center around Paducah, a nice community. At the time I was a pastor of three small churches in Illinois, but most of my hospital calls were in Paducah. As I recall, highway 60 has a couple of routes through town, and I liked to explore the place and visit antique stores.  Beth and I were dating, but

Sign along Shelbyville Road
in Louisville, KY

she lived in another community, so at that time of my life I was happy yet lonely, and ready to begin life with her. The pleasant shops in Paducah cheered me up.  In fact, I think the jewelry shop where I picked out her ring was near Business 60.

Our most “epic” trip was the time Beth and I, newly married, moved to Charlottesville, VA from Illinois. Traveling I-64 across Kentucky, we realized that the interstate had not yet been completed through West Virginia. Charlottesville is along I-64, so we figured we could detour south along Interstate 77, pick up I-81 in Virginia, and then drive north to rejoin I-64 near Staunton, which isn’t too far west of Charlottesville. That seemed like a long detour, though. We also figured we could pick up U.S. 60 in West Virginia and reconnect with I-64 near Staunton. On a map, that seemed the more doable trip.

Black and white shield that replaced
the earlier cut-out shields.

Oh goodness!  Route 60 is such a winding, slow road through West Virginia’s mountains!  I recall that we spent over three hours just to travel about sixty miles. It was pretty and scenic, though. When our moving truck arrived the next day, the driver was chagrined, because he’d made the same decision as we did.  I was glad that we hadn’t had a big truck to follow as we drove 60 through those mountains.  

A few years later, we lived in Arizona. We drove 60 quite a bit in Phoenix where it is named the Superstition Freeway toward Mesa, and also the major street called Grand Avenue. We vacationed a couple times in the east-central portion of the state, and I recall traveling route 60 through pretty towns like Show Low and Springerville, as well as the Apache Reservation. That is a beautiful part of the state. I wish I could recall other, gorgeous sights along the road, like the Salt River Canyon.

Once in a while I’d travel some of Van Buren Avenue, a west-east Phoenix street once not only U.S. 60 but also U.S. 70, 80, and 89 into the city. With four major (pre-interstate) highways using the same street, of course there were many motels and restaurants along that avenue, serving travelers. By the time we lived in Arizona, though, that area had declined and all those motels were quite seedy-looking.  I’ve not been back to that area for over twenty years to know its present state, but I did find an interesting website about it: http://www.sierraestrella.com/vanburen.html

There is one stretch of U.S. 60 that I regret not visiting, although I live close enough now that I could drive there if I wanted.  That stretch, less than a mile in length, is the path Route 60 takes through the southern tip of Illinois between the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, just south of Cairo. On its cross-country, 2670-mile path, the road barely visits my home state.