Trivia and Quiz

Missouri Interstate Trivia

• Missouri has 17 interstate routes, which total 1,180 miles.  They include: I-29, I-35, I-44, I-55, I-57, I-64, I-70, I-72, I-155, I-170, I-229, I-255, I-270, I-435, I-470, I-635, I-670.

• Missouri’s capital, Jefferson City, is one of only five state capitals not directly served by the interstate system.

• Because U.S. 50 passes through Missouri, interstate 50 does not exist because it would have most likely also passed through Missouri.  National standards discourage interstates and U.S. highways with the same number to exist in the same state.

• Interstate 70, which bisects Missouri, is the fifth longest interstate route (2,153.13 miles from Cove Fort, Utah, to Baltimore, Maryland).  It was built between 1956 and 1965, which also makes it one of the nation's oldest interstate highways.

Interstate Quiz

To see correct answer, place your mouse to the right of the italized "Answer" text and quickly click three times.

1. Which of these states does not claim to have the first section of the interstate highway system?

1. Pennsylvania
2. Missouri
3. Kansas
4. New York

 

Click here three times for answer: 4. New York

2. Where is the reputed oldest section of highway that is now incorporated into the interstate system?

1. I-70, St. Charles County, MO (U.S. 40)

2. I-10, California (U.S. 66)

3. I-278, New York (Grand Central Parkway)

4. I-95, Rhode Island (U.S. 1)

 

Click here three times for answer: 3. Grand Central Parkway in Queens, N.Y., built in 1936.

3. I-70 passes through how many states?

1. 9
2. 18
3. 10
4. 6

 

Click here three times for answer: 3. 10, from Maryland to Utah

4. What river is not crossed by I-70 between Wentzville and Independence?

1. Grand
2. Lamine
3. Loutre
4. Blackwater

 

Click here three times for answer: 1. Grand

5. I-70 in Missouri was completed in 1965. In what year was the state’s portion of I-44 completed?

1. 1973
2. 1965
3. 1966
4. 1979

 

Click here three times for answer: 3. 1966

6. How many miles of interstate highways does Missouri have?

1. 1,542
2. 294
3. 896
4. 1,187

 

Click here three times for answer: 4. 1,187

7. BGS stands for what?

1. Big Green Shield
2. Big Green Sign
3. Blue Guide Sign
4. Bad Gravel Street

 

Click here three times for answer: 2. Big Green Sign

8. What is the shortest interstate that ends in 0?

1. I-10
2. I-20
3. I-30
4. I-70

 

Click here three times for answer: 3. I-30 (Little Rock to Dallas)

9. What state is not entered by I-84?

1. Idaho

2. Pennsylvania

3. New Jersey

4. Massachusetts

 

Click here three times for answer: 3. New Jersey

10. What is the only interstate still split into directional branches?

1. I-90

2. I-80

3. I-35

4. I-15

 

Click here three times for answer: 3. I-35 splits into directional braches in both Dallas/Ft. Worth and Minneapolis/St. Paul.

11. The control city on I-24 westbound, west of Paducah, KY is what?

1. Carbondale, IL
2. St. Louis, MO
3. Chicago, IL
4. Mt. Vernon, IL

 

Click here three times for answer: 2. St. Louis, MO

12. According to current AASHTO policy, if the West Virginia DOT were to build a complete bypass around Charleston, WV, what could it not be called?

1. I-470

2. I-477

3. I-679

4. I-264

 

Click here three times for answer: 1. I-470

13. “The Father of the interstate System” was

1. Douglas MacArthur

2. Harry S. Truman

3. Dwight D. Eisenhower

4. John F. Kennedy

 

Click here three times for answer: 3. Eisenhower

14. The final sections of I-70 in Missouri were completed in which counties?

1. Montgomery and Warren

2. Jackson and Lafayette

3. Cooper and Boone

4. Saline and Lafayette

 

Click here three times for answer: 2. Jackson and Lafayette

15. Missouri is acknowledged to have had two ‘firsts’ following passage of the Federal-Aid Highway of 1956 that created the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of interstate and Defense Highways. Which ones are they?

1. First state to award a contract with new interstate construction funding

2. First state to open a section of completed interstate highway

3. First state to upgrade an existing route to interstate status

4. First state to award a contract and to begin construction on an interstate highway project

 

Click here three times for answer: 1. and 4.

16. In what county of Missouri did construction of I-44 begin?

1. Greene

2. Laclede

3. Jasper

4. St. Louis

 

Click here three times for answer: 2. Laclede

18. The first piece of I-70 in Missouri was a 2.6-mile section in St. Charles County. What was that section of road called at the time?

1. Route 66

2. Daniel Boone Parkway

3. Mark Twain Expressway

4. Busch Gardens

 

Click here three times for answer: 3. Mark Twain Expressway, or Bypass U.S. 40

19. The first eight miles of the national interstate system opened Nov. 14, 1956. It was:

1. I-70 in Topeka, Kan.

2. I-70 in Columbia, Mo.

3. I-70 in St. Charles, Mo.

4. I-44 in Lebanon, Mo.

 

Click here three times for answer: 1. I-70 in Topeka, Kan.

20. The nation’s interstate system of highways now includes more than 46,000 miles. It was originally envisioned to include how many miles?

1. 13,000

2. 104,000

3. 67,000

4. 42,000

 

Click here three times for answer: 4. 42,000

21. The last link in the interstate system, I-105 in Los Angeles, was completed in what year?

1. 1993

2. 1997

3. 1980

4. 1976

 

Click here three times for answer: 1. 1993

22. When did the word “interstate” first appear on the official Missouri highway map?

1. 1960

2. 1956

3. 1939

4. 1944

 

Click here three times for answer: 3. 1939

23. Which official Missouri highway map was the first edition to indicate routes of the interstate highway system that was established in 1956?

1. 1956

2. 1957

3. 1958

4. 1959

Click here three times for answer: 4. 1959

24. Separate cities in different states can have the same interstate loop or link designations. Which of the following cities does not have an I-270?

1. Denver, Colo.

2. Rockville, Md.

3. Columbus, Ohio

4. Indianapolis, Ind.

Click here three times for answer: 4. Indianapolis

25. Much of U.S. 40 became I-70, or was replaced by it. In turn much of U.S. 40 was known as the National Old Trails Road. Who served as president of the National Old Trails Road Association from 1926 through the late 1940s?

1. Dwight D. Eisenhower

2. Rex Whitton

3. Harry S Truman

4. George S. Patton

 

Click here three times for answer: 3. Harry S Truman

26. On Aug. 17, 1962, a 5.2-mile section of Kansas City’s Southeast Trafficway was opened as part of I-70. Rex Whitton, former Missouri State Highway Department chief engineer and Federal Highway Administrator in 1962, was joined at the ribbon cutting by one man who stated, “I know something of this project; I wanted it built 30 years ago.” Who was that person?

1. Dwight D. Eisenhower

2. Harry S Truman

3. J.M. Lowe

4. Tom “Boss” Pendergast

 

Click here three times for answer: 2. Harry S Truman

27. After his presidency, Harry Truman was returning to Missouri from a Washington, D.C. visit when he was pulled over by a state trooper because he cut in front of vehicles that were trying to pass him. On what road did this occur?

1. U.S. 40 in Ohio (later I-70)

2. Pennsylvania Turnpike (later I-76/I-70)

3. U.S. Route 36 in Illinois (later I-72)

4. U.S. Route 40 in Maryland (later I-68)

 

Click here three times for answer: B. Pennsylvania Turnpike

28. On July 20, 1945, President Harry Truman and General Dwight Eisenhower raced along a German autobahn between Berlin and Potsdam to a summit with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin. Ironically, although Eisenhower was to become known as the father of the interstate system in 1956, Truman was involved in the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944 which designated a 40,000-mile system of interstate highways. What other passenger with Eisenhower and Truman may have overheard them discussing the merits of the German autobahns?

1. General George C. Marshall

2. General George S. Patton

3. General Omar Bradley

4. General Mark Clark

Click here three times for answer: 3. General Omar Bradley of Clark, Mo.