User:Hoskir/Revision Request 4287
903.4.51 Corridor Designations
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Support. Corridor designations are typically multi-state route names established and/or implemented by neighboring state DOTs. In Missouri, the adoption of corridor designations was accomplished through Commission action.
There were two approved corridor designations in the state, the Avenue of the Saints and the Chicago-Kansas City Expressway (CKC). The CKC corridor designation was decommissioned in January 2024 with route markings being removed through attrition. The Avenue of the Saints continues to be signed.
Avenue of the Saints(M17-9) - The Avenue of the Saints was the concept of businessman Ernest Hayes of Mount Pleasant, Iowa who in the 1980s envisioned a four-lane highway between St. Paul and St. Louis. It was named by Gary Smith, who at the time was Executive Director of the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission. Smith and Hayes convened a group of area business and political leaders, who organized an effort to convince the Iowa Department of Transportation to study the idea, which they did in 1988.
In 1990 the FHWA chose its route for the Avenue of the Saints: the signed highway would follow the existing Interstate 35 from St. Paul to a point south of Clear Lake, Iowa; U.S. Route 18 to Charles City, Iowa; U.S. Route 218 to Cedar Falls, Iowa; U.S. Route 20 and Iowa Highway 58 around Cedar Falls and Waterloo, Iowa; Interstate 380 from Waterloo through Cedar Rapids to Interstate 80 near Coralville, Iowa and Iowa City, Iowa; U.S. Route 218 to Donnellson, Iowa; Iowa Highway 394 and Route B to Wayland, Missouri; and Interstate 64 and U.S. Route 61 from Wayland to St. Louis. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 made the Avenue of the Saints an official "high-priority corridor," and signs were put along the route by the end of the year.
On July 25, 2008, the final nine miles (14 km) of highway between the Lewis—Clark county line and Wayland, Missouri, was open to four-lane traffic. A ceremony was held at the intersection of US 61 and Route 27 to commemorate the completion of the four-lane highway in Missouri. The Avenue of the Saints is now complete from St. Paul to suburban St. Louis.
The Avenue of the Saints supplemental plaque is displayed above the cardinal direction and US 61 and MO 27 route shields on route confirmation assemblies downstream on entry points onto US 61 and MO 27. Any supplemental plaques over US 61 and MO 27 shields within advance route turn and route turn assemblies should be removed as the route assemblies are maintained.