I've come across a 1945 highway planning map and a 1947 highway planning map. This latest find seems rather comprehensive and surgical at slicing up the city.
I'm not sure what the time this freeway/trafficway planning map was created but it shows the 31st Street and Country Club Freeways which were never built. I'm guessing it would have been done 1955-1958 as it shows the Kansas Turnpike, the Paseo Bridge (see this blog post), I-29 up to Riverside, and I-35 up to Claycomo as solid lines. However, it could have been 1962ish as it shows all of the north, east, and very far south annexations which didn't happen until then.
All of these explain why I-70 was designed at the "Jackson curves." Playing around with the aerial below, one can see where quite a few whole blocks were bought up to finish the Southeast Freeway down to Blue Parkway (aka US 50 before I-435 was done).
Why was this interchange designed as it was? Because of the Southeast Freeway which I always knew about but maybe because of the proposed I-735 which would have gone from this interchange due west over to where I-35 curves at the KS/MO state line.
I wonder if that's why I-35 has a median that widens out because a wide median wasn't really needed to build the Southwest Trafficway interchange bridges.
The map also shows the US 24 connection from I-70 at Truman over to Independence Avenue along the Kansas City Terminal Railroad tracks and the MO 769 Country Club Freeway which basically would have followed the Trolley Track Trail all the way down to Hickman Mills Drive at 87th Street.
It also showed how State Line Drive was kind of the end of civilization.
It also still showed I-635 using the Fairfax Bridges.
The map also gives a shout out to us Miltonwood residents and shows the old Drennon Lake.
This planning map was hand drawn and it should have been weird drawing lines on a map knowing that it would displace tens of thousands of people, families, and businesses. If we didn't have a federal highway bill throwing gobs of money at Department of Transportation's back then, would we as a country really have spent all the money to buy all that property? Maybe massive federal spending on infrastructure really isn't good government (hint, Stongtowns plug follow here).
The map can be downloaded here but please be careful as it is 60+MB and should be done over WiFi.
Download Mid-1950s-Kansas-City-Freeway-Planning-Map2
The map in the download link is upside down.
Posted by: Routesixtysix Fan | 03/11/2021 at 04:22 AM