U.S. Route 1 in Florida - History

History

U.S. 1 was designated nationwide on November 11, 1926, running from Miami, Florida north to Fort Kent, Maine. The label was generally applied to the Atlantic Highway, except between Jacksonville, Florida and Augusta, Georgia, where a more inland route was chosen. In Florida, U.S. 1 was designated along the full length of State Road 4. South of Jacksonville, this was both the Atlantic Highway and the eastern division of the Dixie Highway; the route from Jacksonville northwest into Georgia was a Jacksonville-Macon, Georgia Dixie Highway connector.

With the Overseas Highway being completed in 1938, U.S. 1 was extended from Miami over the Overseas Highway (State Road 4A) to Key West shortly afterward, where it still ends today.

The section of US 1 between Miami and Jacksonville has been replaced by Interstate 95 for most through traffic.

In Florida, where signs for U.S. highways formerly had different colors for each highway, the "shield" for US 1 was red. Florida began using the colored shields in 1956, but during the 1980s the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices was revised to specify only a black and white color scheme for U.S. Highway shields. As such, Federal funds were no longer available to maintain the colored signs. On August 27, 1993, the decision was made to no longer produce colored signs. Since then, the remaining colored signs have been replaced gradually by black-and-white signs.