SR 67 – Why?

When the Great Renumbering occurred on 1 October 1926, the general rule was that roads were basically north-south and east-west. There may have been a little out of true cardinal directions, SR 34 and SR 29 come instantly to mind. But they were generally in the cardinal directions. But there was one that didn’t quite fit the scheme. And this was done purposely. That state road was SR 67.

SR 67, at its greatest extent, connected Vincennes (in southwestern Indiana) to the Indiana-Ohio State Line east of Bryant (in east central Indiana) via Indianapolis. Basically, it is a northeast-southwest road, crossing (more or less) diagonally across the state. Unlike all the other renumberings that happened in 1926, SR 67 crosses many state roads, both odd and even numbered. There are too many similarly numbered (i.e. odd numbers) routes that SR 67 crosses to list here.

And this was done, again, purposely. On top of that, it was done with a bit of hope from the Indiana State Highway Commission.

So, how did SR 67 get that number? In 1925, while the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) was laying out the United States Highway system, there was a plan for a US 67. But the original plan called for US 67 to have a northern terminus of Cairo, Illinois. Highway officials in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio hoped that US 67 would be continued from Cairo to Cleveland, Ohio. This would make US 67 cross Indiana in basically the same place as SR 67 does now. The ISHC hoped, with this routing, that all they would have to do is change the signage from a state route to a US route.

As it turned out, US 67 was located in an entirely different area, entering Illinois at Alton, north of Saint Louis, Missouri. It would basically head (more or less) due north through Illinois. This left SR 67 in the lurch. Instead of renumbering (again) the entire route to more closely match the state numbering system, the ISHC just left it. Today, we are left with this legacy to the hope of another US highway in Indiana.