This is the first in a series of posts commemorating the centennial of the United States Numbered Highway System.
U.S. Route 40 (US 40) was one of the transcontinental routes of the newly created United States Numbered Highway System to be officially approved by the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads in January 1927. US 40 was designated to cover 3,205 miles (5,158 kilometers) altogether and cross a total of 14 states between Atlantic City in New Jersey and the San Francisco Bay Area in California.
By the summer of 1927, the overall public enthusiasm and painstaking professional work with respect to US 40 could clearly be seen in the building of a portion of this highway in central Missouri. This effort involved constructing a solid, seamless U.S. highway route between the major cities of St. Louis in the eastern part of Missouri and Kansas City on western boundary of the Show-Me State…