U.S. Route 460 - History

History

Before it was commissioned as a federally designated route in the late 1940s, US 460 was Kentucky Route 40 from Lexington to Paintsville and Kentucky Route 4 from Millard to the Virginia state line near Grundy.

US 460 once ended in St. Louis, Missouri after crossing the MacArthur Bridge. Between St. Louis and Frankfort, it was a major highway in the pre-Interstate era, passing through Evansville, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky. Interstate 64 has supplanted most of old US 460 as a more direct route, and old US 460 has become parts of Illinois Route 15, Illinois Route 142, Illinois Route 14, State Road 66, State Road 62, and US 60 where Interstate 64 has not supplanted it even as a state highway in the greater Louisville area.

Many years after its elimination in Indiana in 1977, some older residents and even businesses along what is now Indiana State Road 62 still refer to the road as "Highway 460," to the point that older billboards retain that designation in the St. Meinrad area. Some present-day telephone books also contain listings for those living on "Hwy 460."

When Fishtrap Lake was created in Johnson County, Kentucky, US 460 was realigned to its current route from Salyersville to Paintsville. The former US 460 leading to the lake is now Kentucky Route 1789 and Kentucky Route 1499. The part between Paintsville and Millard remained U.S. Highway 23 and Kentucky Route 80.