Someone upthread mentioned the Jefferson Davis National Highway in my home state (Washington) and I got to wondering how it came to be. It came about as a response to the Lincoln Memorial Highway. Never heard of it? Neither had I. I have two links if you are interested:
Origins of the Lincoln Memorial Highway:
http://lincolnhighway.jameslin.name/history/part1.html
Origins of the Jefferson Davis National Highway:
Named highways existed until 1926 when an ordered, numerical naming convention was implemented. The United Daughters of the Confederacy sought to extend the highway nationwide and because named highway system preceded the numbered system Highway 99 (which stretches north/south from the Canadian border to Mexico) held both identifications.
The U.D.C. sponsored the placement of markers at Blaine and Vancouver Washington - both remain although they removed the reference to Davis on the Blaine marker and the Vancouver marker was moved to a location adjacent to Interstate 5 on private property.