U.S. Route 51
Route information
Length:	1,286 mi[1] (2,070 km)
Existed:	1926[1] – present
Major junctions
South end:	US 61 at Laplace, LA
	I-20 at Jackson, MS I-40 at Memphis, TN I-57 at Mounds, IL I-70 at Vandalia, IL I-72 at Decatur, IL I-55 / I-74 at Bloomington, IL I-80 at La Salle, IL I-88 at Rochelle, IL I-90 at Rockford, IL I-39 / I-90 / I-94 at Madison, WI
North end:	US 2 at Hurley, WI
Highway system
United States Numbered Highways List • Bannered • Divided • Replaced

U.S. Route 51 is a north–south United States highway that runs for 1,286 miles (2,070 km) from the western suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana to within 100 feet (30 m) of the Wisconsin-Michigan border. Much of the highway in Illinois and southern Wisconsin runs parallel to or overlaps Interstate 39. The highway's northern terminus is between Hurley, Wisconsin and Ironwood, Michigan, where it ends with a T interchange at U.S. Route 2. Its southern terminus is Laplace, Louisiana, ending at U.S. Highway 61.

In addition to singing about U.S. Highway 61 on his album Highway 61 Revisited, musician Bob Dylan also commemorated Highway 51, covering Curtis Jones' folk song "Highway 51 Blues" on his eponymous album Bob Dylan. The North Mississippi Allstars also paid tribute to the highway in the title track of their album 51 Phantom.

In Memphis, Tennessee, all of U.S. 51 south of South Parkway East was renamed from Bellevue Boulevard to Elvis Presley Boulevard. Graceland sits on this highway, in the subdivision of Whitehaven.

In 2004, the six states that Highway 51 traverses banded together as the Explore Hwy 51 Coalition to help promote this "All-American Road". The group now offers visitor information for traveling the length of the road.^[2]

Route description[link]

Louisiana[link]

U.S. 51 crosses the Mississippi/Louisiana border a few miles north of Kentwood and continues to parallel Interstate 55 until just below its interchanges with LA 3234 and U.S. 190 it joins I-55 just south of Hammond at Exit 28. From Hammond, the two highways, cosigned, cross the swamps between Ponchatoula and Laplace on viaducts to Interstate 10, where I-55 ends. The old highway is located to the east of the interstate and is still used for local traffic. U.S. 51 continues southwestward into Laplace where it meets its end at U.S. 61 (Airline Highway). In the 1930s, this highway was called Jefferson Davis Highway.^[3]

Before the construction of I-55, U.S. 51 was routed along what is now U.S. 51 Business between Hammond and Ponchatoula. U.S. 51 Business ends at the joined I-55/U.S. 51 south of Ponchatoula. From this point southward, while U.S. 51 is joined with I-55, the former routing of U.S. 51 lies at ground level just to the east of I-55/U.S. 51 and carries no designation. While the southern terminus of U.S. 51 is in Laplace at U.S. 61, it was once co-signed with U.S. 61 into downtown New Orleans. However, it was originally slated to head toward New Orleans along the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain via the New Orleans-Hammond Highway (old LA 33), which was never completed.

Mississippi[link]

U.S. 51 enters the Magnolia State from Tennessee at Southaven and parallels Interstate 55 to the east for much of its length, except for the section between the Tennessee line and Grenada, where it parallels the highway to the west. From Memphis, U.S. 51 passes through Senatobia, Batesville, Grenada, Winona and Canton before reaching Jackson.

At the Jackson-Ridgeland line, U.S. 51 overlaps I-55 from Exit 103 (County Line Road) to Exit 96A (Pearl Street) downtown. The split is only temporary as the highway traverses Pearl, Pascagoula and State streets and meets I-55 again at Exit 93 (Interstate 20/I-55/State Street interchange). The Natchez Trace parkway is crossed near Clinton. The Natchez Trace Parkway is a 444 mile (715 km) long parkway, in the form of a limited-access two-lane road, in the southeastern United States. The southern end of the route is in Natchez, Mississippi, at an intersection with Liberty Road; the northern end is northeast of Fairview, Tennessee, in the suburban community of Pasquo, Tennessee, at an intersection with Tennessee 100. The road links the cities of Natchez, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee, via Jackson and Tupelo, Mississippi, and Florence in northwestern Alabama. [1]

The two highways run together until Exit 72 (North Crystal Springs). The highway then parallels the interstate through Hazlehurst, Brookhaven and McComb until it reaches the Louisiana border.

The Mississippi section of U.S. 51 is defined at Mississippi Code Annotated § 65-3-3.

Tennessee[link]

US 51 travels through Memphis and up to the Kentucky border in the Mississippi valley. It is planned to become or be bypassed by Interstate 69 through Tennessee.

This section requires expansion.

Kentucky[link]

U.S 51 enters Kentucky at Fulton, and continues north through the towns of Clinton, Bardwell and Wickliffe to the Ohio River, where it is multiplexed with U.S highways 60 and 62 over the Ohio.

This section requires expansion.

Illinois[link]

US 51 between Mounds and Cairo, during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.

U.S Highway 51 enters Illinois from Wisconsin in a concurrency with Interstates 90 and 39. The concurrency with Interstate 90 is for 17 miles. There is a toll plaza on this stretch. It costs $1.90 for cars and 95 cents for those with I-Pass transponders. The highway makes a brief 3 mile concurrency with U.S. Highway 20 then heads south in a concurrency with Interstate 39 to Normal. At Normal, the highway makes a concurrency with Interstate 55 and Interstate 74, bypassing Normal and Bloomington. South of Bloomington, the highway is an expressway until Decatur, where it makes a concurrency with Interstate 72, bypassing Decatur. The highway is an expressway from south of Decatur until Radford where it becomes a 2 lane road for most of the way to Interstate 57, with the exception of 10 miles between Centralia and Interstate 64. There is a concurrency with Interstate 57 for 23 miles. Passing through Carbondale, a section of the highway to the north of the main campus of Southern Illinois University is locally referred to as "The Strip." The highway then passes through Cairo before crossing the Cairo Ohio River Bridge concurrently with U.S. Highway 60 and U.S. Highway 62.

U.S. Highway 51 has intersections and concurrencies with Interstate 90, Interstate 39, Interstate 55, Interstate 74, Interstate 72, Interstate 70, Interstate 64, and Interstate 57.

Wisconsin[link]

In the state of Wisconsin, U.S. 51 enters from Illinois at Beloit. U.S. 51 splits off from Interstate 39 in Beloit and continues north through Janesville and Edgerton. In Edgerton, U.S. 51 rejoins Interstate 39 and Interstate 90 for three and a half miles before splitting off towards Stoughton and McFarland. U.S. 51 runs almost parallel to Interstates 39 and 90 through the eastern portion of Madison, crosses the interstate in DeForest, and finally rejoins the interstate at Portage. U.S. 51 runs concurrently with Interstate 39 until I-39's terminus in Wausau and continues on as a freeway until Merrill and then as a divided highway until just north of the intersection with U.S. Route 8. From there through Hazelhurst, U.S. 51 is a two-lane road with sporadic three-lane sections (which were recently constructed in 2008). U.S. 51 expands to four lanes with a central fifth turn lane from Hazelhurst to Arbor Vitae; north of Arbor Vitae it returns to two lanes and continues to its northern terminus in Hurley where it junctions with US 2.

See also[link]

Related routes[link]

• U.S. Route 151
• Interstate 39

References[link]

External links[link]

• US-51 endpoint photos

v t e United States Numbered Highways 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 87 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 101 163 400 412 425 All Bannered Divided Bypasses Routes in italics are no longer a part of the system. Highlighted routes are considered main routes of the system.

Browse numbered routes
← LA 50	LA	LA 52 →
← MS 50	MS	MS 53 →
← KY 49	KY	US 52 →
← US 50	IL	US 52 →
← WIS 50	WI	WIS 52 →

The following highways are numbered 51:

Cambodia[link]

• National Road 51 (Cambodia)

Canada[link]

• Alberta Highway 51 (defunct)
• Saskatchewan Highway 51

Iran[link]

• Road 51

Japan[link]

• Route 51 (Japan)

United Kingdom[link]

• British A51 (Kingsbury-Chester)

United States[link]

• U.S. Route 51
• Alabama State Route 51
• Arizona State Route 51
• Arkansas Highway 51
• California State Route 51 (former)
• Florida State Road 51
• Georgia State Route 51
• Hawaii Route 51
• Idaho State Highway 51
• Illinois Route 51 (former)
• Indiana State Road 51
• Iowa Highway 51
• K-51 (Kansas highway)
• Maryland Route 51
• M-51 (Michigan highway)
• Minnesota State Highway 51
• Missouri Route 51
• Nebraska Highway 51
• Nevada State Route 51^{[disambiguation needed ]} (former)
• New Hampshire Route 51
• New Jersey Route 51 (former)
• New Mexico State Road 51
• New York State Route 51
• North Carolina Highway 51
• Ohio State Route 51
• Oklahoma State Highway 51
  • Oklahoma State Highway 51A
  • Oklahoma State Highway 51B
• Oregon Route 51
• Pennsylvania Route 51
• Rhode Island Route 51
• South Carolina Highway 51
• Tennessee State Route 51
• Texas State Highway 51
  • Texas State Highway Spur 51
  • Farm to Market Road 51 (Texas)
  • Texas Park Road 51
• Utah State Route 51
• Virginia State Route 51
• West Virginia Route 51
• Wisconsin Highway 51 (former)
• Wyoming Highway 51

Vietnam[link]

•  QL 51  National Road 51 (Vietnam)

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

This article includes a list of roads, streets, highways, or other routes that are associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

U.S. Route 40
National Road Victory Highway
Route information
Length:	2,285.74 mi[2] (3,678.54 km)
Existed:	1926[1] – present
Major junctions
West end:	I-80 near Park City, UT
	I-25 in Denver, CO I-35 in Kansas City, MO I-55 / I-64 / I-70 in St. Louis, MO I-57 in Effingham, IL I-65 in Indianapolis, IN I-75 near Dayton, OH I-71 in Columbus, OH I-77 near Cambridge, OH I-79 in Washington, PA I-81 in Hagerstown, MD I-95 in Baltimore, MD
East end:	US 322 / Ventnor Avenue in Atlantic City, NJ
Highway system
United States Numbered Highways List • Bannered • Divided • Replaced

U.S. Route 40 (US 40) is an east–west United States highway. As with most routes whose numbers end in a zero, US 40 once traversed the entire United States. It is one of the original 1920s U.S. Highways, and its first termini were San Francisco, California, and Atlantic City, New Jersey. The western end has been truncated several times, and the route now ends at Interstate 80 just outside of Park City, Utah, near Salt Lake City.

Starting at its western terminus in Utah, US 40 crosses a total of 12 states, including Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. Three former and four current state capitals lie along the route.^a[›] For much of its route, US 40 runs parallel to or concurrently with several major Interstate Highways: Interstate 70 from Colorado, to Washington, Pennsylvania; and again from Hancock, Maryland to Baltimore, Maryland; Interstate 64 in parts of Missouri and Illinois; Interstate 68 along the Maryland Panhandle; and Interstate 95 from Baltimore to New Castle, Delaware.

The route was built on top of several older highways, most notably the National Road and Victory Highway. The National Road was created in 1806 by an act of Congress to serve as the first Federally funded highway construction project. When completed it connected Cumberland, Maryland, with Vandalia, Illinois. The Victory Highway was designated as a memorial to World War I veterans and went from Kansas City, Missouri to San Francisco, California. Other important roads that have become part of US 40 include Zane's Trace in Ohio, Braddock Road in Maryland and Pennsylvania, part of the Oregon Trail in Kansas, and the Lincoln Highway (the first road across America) in California.

Route description[link]

Utah[link]

The western terminus of U.S. Route 40 at Interstate 80 in Silver Creek Junction

The western terminus of US 40 is in Utah at Interstate 80, several miles north of Park City, at Silver Creek Junction. The road is a limited access highway from the I-80 junction to its intersection with Utah State Route 32 south of Park City, about 13 miles (21 km). From there, the road takes a generally southerly course to Heber City before turning southeast and passing by the northern shores of Strawberry Reservoir. US 40 goes through the towns of Duchesne, Roosevelt and Vernal before entering Colorado.^[6][7]

Colorado[link]

Colfax Avenue carries US 40 through Denver

Entering Colorado 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Dinosaur, US 40 mainly continues east through the Routt National Forest through Craig and Steamboat Springs. The highway continues southeast toward Denver, where it intersects with I-70, where it concurrent with for more than 140 miles (230 km) to Kit Carson. US 40 continues east from Kit Carson to Arapahoe where it travels east in to Kansas.

Kansas[link]

US-40 crossing the Great Plains in Kansas

US-40 enters Kansas near the unincorporated community of Weskan. The first sizable town it enters is Sharon Springs, where it intersects K-27. From there it goes northeast to Oakley and follows Eagle Eye Road before a merge with I-70 east of town. The two routes remain merged until Topeka, though the prior alignment of US-40, named Old Highway 40, parallels I-70 for most of the way.^[7][8] From Ellsworth to Salina, the old alignment of US-40 is signed as K-140.

In Topeka, US-40 leaves I-70 at exit 366, follows the Oakland Expressway concurrent with K-4 north to 6th Avenue, then heads east along 6th out of town. Through Topeka, US-40 closely follows the route of the Oregon Trail.^[9] At the Shawnee-Douglas county line near Big Springs, US-40 crosses to the south of I-70 and enters Lawrence from the west along West 6th Street. In Lawrence, the route is joined by US-59 and jogs north to cross the Kansas River. It follows North 2nd and North 3rd Streets, crosses back under I-70, leaves US-59, and merges with US-24^[7][8] before leaving town.

US-40 remains merged with US-24 as the two routes travel northeast to the town of Tonganoxie. From there, the merged routes turn due east toward Kansas City, Kansas. In Kansas City, US-40 and US-24 intersect US-73 and K-7, and turning south toward Interstate 70. US-40, along with US-24, then merge onto I-70 and recross the Kansas River over the Lewis and Clark Viaduct just before entering Kansas City, Missouri.^[7][8][10]

On December 1, 2008, US-40, along with US-24 and US-73, was rerouted south along K-7 west of Kansas City to the intersection with I-70. Before this date, US-40 and US-24 continued along State Avenue to College Parkway before turning right to follow Turner Diagonal for 1/2 where US-40 joined Interstate 70 for the duration of its journey eastward toward Missouri.

In 1951, the State of Kansas designated Route 40 as a Blue Star Memorial Highway from border to border.

Missouri[link]

The Daniel Boone Bridge carries US-40 across the Missouri River.

US 40 enters Missouri in Kansas City and leaves it in St. Louis on the Poplar Street Bridge across the Mississippi River. US-40 travels east–west across the center of the state, parallel to I-70.

US-40 enters Missouri in Kansas City along a concurrency with I-70. It leaves I-70 at exit 6 and follows Van Brunt Boulevard for a short distance before turning east and crossing I-70 again at exit 7A. US-40 parallels I-70 to the north through Kansas City until exit 11, where it crosses and parallels it to the south through the suburbs of Lee's Summit, Independence, Blue Springs and Grain Valley before rejoining I-70 at exit 24. An older alignment caries the designation "Old US-40".

US-40 stays with I-70 until Boonville, where US-40 leaves at exit 101, along with Business Loop I-70. Both designations follow Ashley Road, before US-40 leaves and heads north along Main Street. After crossing the Missouri River in Boonville, US-40 turns east before rejoining I-70 at exit 121, at the outskirts of Columbia. The two routes remain concurrent until exit 210B in Wentzville.

From Wentzville, US-40 joins I-64 and US-61 and heads southeast crossing the Missouri River over the Daniel Boone Bridge in St. Charles. US-40 stays joined with I-64 and leaves the state in St. Louis on the Poplar Street Bridge across the Mississippi River along with I-70, I-55.

Until 1926, US-40 in Missouri was Route 2.^[11]

On January 2, 2008, five miles (8 km) of US-40/I-64 in St. Louis was closed eastbound and westbound from I-170 to I-270. It re-opened December 15, 2008 two weeks ahead of the original scheduled date of December 31, 2008. On December 13, 2008, another five-mile (8 km) section of the freeway closed both ways from I-170 to the Kingshighway exit in the city. It was re-opened on December 7, 2009. The entire freeway is now open for travel, with the speed limit raised to 60 mph on most of the stretch. It is also now a full freeway all the way from Downtown St. Louis to Wentzville.^[12][13]

Illinois[link]

The Old State House in Vandalia marks the western terminus of the National Road, a precursor to US 40.

The next 159.99 miles (257.48 km) of US 40 lies within the state of Illinois.^[3] Except where the route has been re-aligned with Interstate 70, it is an entirely undivided surface route. Formerly a major highway, it has lost most of its non-local traffic to Interstate 70. Some early bypasses of towns were built with the apparent intention of twinning them as a divided highway with access limited to intersections. I-70 uses none of those old bypasses that remain as sections of US 40. The westernmost portion of the historic National Road lies on most of the US 40 alignment in Illinois.

US 40 crosses into Illinois at East St. Louis on the Poplar Street Bridge concurrent with Interstates 55, 64 and Interstate 70. The route will continue to have a close relationship with I-70 for the remainder of the time it spends in the state; either directly concurrent with or paralleling it throughout Illinois.

Between Pocahontas and Mulberry Grove, US 40 passes through several small towns. In Vandalia, Illinois, the former state capitol, it follows Veterans Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard (with US 51) through town. The Old State House in Vandalia marks the western terminus of the National Road, one of the earliest roads upon which US 40 was designated. From Vandalia, the road continues to the northeast passing through the early German settlement town of Teutopolis and several city streets in Effingham. Beyond Effingham, US 40 passes through many small unincorporated towns before leaving the state near Marshall.^[7][14]

Indiana[link]

Throughout the state of Indiana, the colloquialism "South of 40" is a reference to the strong historical, physically geographic, and cultural differences between southern and northern Indiana.

US 40 enters Indiana from the west at unincorporated Liggett along with I-70. US 40 leaves the interstate at exit 11 and heads north with SR 46. The road leaves the city to the northeast once reaching Wabash Ave. ^[7][15]

Once leaving Terre Haute, US 40 passes through the small towns of Seelyville, Brazil, Knightsville and Harmony. Between Seelyville and Brazil, the road bypasses several small unincorporated communities which are served by State Road 340, a former alignment of US 40. The road continues to the northeast beyond Harmony, passing many unincorporated places such as Mount Meridian along the way to Plainfield, a suburb of Indianapolis.^[7][15]

The Indiana Statehouse lies along the former US 40 alignment (Washington Street) in downtown Indianapolis

In Plainfield, US 40 is Main Street and passes the Metropolis Outdoor Shopping Mall and a nostalgic stainless steel diner. Once leaving Plainfield, US 40 becomes Washington Street, where it passes by the northern edge of Indianapolis International Airport. After passing the airport, US 40 is now routed onto Interstate 465 Southbound on the west side of Indianapolis. A sign along the entrance ramp advises motorists "For US 40 East, Follow I-465 South to Exit 46." This route bypasses downtown Indianapolis and instead goes through the southern part of Indianapolis; its nearest point is about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of the city center. (Previously, the highway did not join with I-465 but continued along Washington Street, where it entered Indianapolis proper near Eagle Creek, a tributary of the White River. In downtown Indianapolis, the old highway split into a pair of one-way streets: Washington Street carries westbound traffic and Maryland Street carries eastbound traffic. In Indianapolis, the old highway passes several key landmarks, including White River State Park, the Indianapolis Zoo, the Eiteljorg Museum, Victory Field, the Lucas Oil Stadium, and the Indiana Statehouse). Along the eastern edge of Indianapolis, US 40 leaves I-465 at Exit 46 and is once again routed onto Washington Street.^[7][15]

East of Indianapolis, US 40 enters Cumberland where it takes the name National Road. Paralleling I-70 at a distance of about 3.5 miles (5.6 km), US 40 continues eastward across Indiana, passing through such communities as Greenfield, Knightstown, Lewisville, Straughn, Dublin, Mount Auburn, and Cambridge City, where it is known by various local names including Washington Street, Main Street, or National Road.^[7][15]

US 40's last stop in Indiana is the city of Richmond. In Richmond, it passes a statue known as "Madonna of the Trail", one of a series of twelve statues across the U.S. to memorialize women pioneers who made the trek to settle the western U.S.^[16] In 1968, a section of US 40 (Main Street) in Richmond was destroyed by a massive gas explosion. This caused a section of Main Street to be closed to automobile traffic, and US 40 was rerouted along North A Street (westbound) and South A Street (eastbound).^[17] At the Indiana/Ohio border, US 40 crosses I-70 at exit 156B before entering Ohio.^[7]

Ohio[link]

US 40 enters Ohio just to the south of New Paris. The road is always close to the newer I-70 eastward toward Dayton. In Vandalia, the road passes to the south of Dayton International Airport and crosses I-75 and the Great Miami River. The road never actually enters Dayton, instead skirting the northern suburbs on the way toward Springfield.^[7][18]

In Springfield, US 40 is split between two one-way streets. North Street carries US 40 West and Columbia Street carries US 40 East. The route then shifts on to East Main Street before leaving town to the east, once again as National Road. I-70 crosses again at unincorporated Harmony. US 40 passes just north of London where it intersects Ohio State Route 56 and US 42 before heading into West Jefferson. In West Jefferson, US 40 is designated along Main Street.^[7][18]

The landmark Palace Theatre on US 40 in Columbus

In the Columbus metropolitan area, US 40 enters from the west as Broad Street. Among the sites along US 40 in Columbus are the Ohio Statehouse, the Columbus Museum of Art, and LeVeque Tower, the oldest skyscraper in Columbus. In Bexley, the route follows Main Street, using Drexel Avenue to get between Broad and Main. US 40 continues as Main Street through Reynoldsburg before leaving the Columbus area as National Road yet again.^[7][18]

East of the Columbus metro area, US 40 parallels I-70 at a distance of about 1-mile (2 km), passing through several small towns such as Kirkersville and Hebron. In Zanesville, the road becomes Main Street, and at the center of town US 40 begins a concurrency with US 22 that carries it to Cambridge. US 40 crosses the Muskingum River in Zanesville on the famous Y-Bridge. Routes 22 and 40 enter Cambridge from the southwest along John Glenn Highway, and split in town; US 40 follows Wheeling Avenue. In Old Washington, US 40 joins I-70 at Exit 186. It leaves I-70 at exit 201 near Morristown. The two roads cross paths several times before they both leave Ohio on a pair of bridges across the Ohio River at Bridgeport.^[7][18]

The now-decommissioned Ohio State Route 440 ran along old US 40 in places where US 40 had been shifted onto I-70.

West Virginia[link]

US 40 is only 10 miles (16 km) long as it passes through West Virginia. Much of the highway has been moved from the old National Road path to I-70.

Pennsylvania[link]

US 40 passes Washington & Jefferson College in the city of Washington, Pennsylvania

US 40 enters Pennsylvania at West Alexander. It closely parallels I-70 from West Virginia until it reaches Washington where it follows Jefferson Avenue and Maiden Street. In Washington, US 40 passes to the south of Washington & Jefferson College. Following Maiden Street out of town, the road turns southeast toward the town of California. A short limited access highway in California and West Brownsville provides an approach to the Lane Bane Bridge across the Monongahela River. From here, the road continues southeast to Uniontown.^[7][19]

US 40 bypasses Uniontown along a limited access highway that also carries US 119. An old alignment through Uniontown is signed as "Business US 40." Southeast of Uniontown, travellers pass the Fort Necessity National Battlefield. It follows Braddock Road southeast of Uniontown, crossing the Youghiogheny River Lake on a bridge completed in 2006. US 40 leaves Pennsylvania at Addison^[7][19]

Maryland[link]

A cut 340 ft (104 m) deep eases the crossing of Sideling Hill on I-68/US 40 west of Hancock

US 40 enters Maryland from Pennsylvania near Grantsville in the western part of the state. Here, and through most of the state, it is known as National Pike. US 40 leaves National Pike shortly after entering Maryland from the northwest and merges with I-68 and US 219 at exit 14B. The old alignment of US 40, still known as National Pike, is signed through much of the western part of the state as either "Scenic US 40" or "Alternate US 40". US 219 leaves the three-way concurrency at exit 22, but US 40 and I-68 remain on the same pavement through Frostburg and Cumberland.^[7]

East of Cumberland, the old National Pike (formerly US 40) carries the MD 144 designation. The I-68/US 40 roadway passes through a 340-foot (100 m) deep cut in Sideling Hill. Just to the east of the cut is the Sideling Hill Exhibit Center, a museum that highlights Western Maryland geology.^[20] At Hancock, where the state of Maryland narrows to less than two miles (3 km) wide, I-68 ends, and US 40 merges onto I-70 at exit 1. The two routes closely follow the course of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Potomac River for several miles before US 40 leaves the Interstate at exit 9. US 40 passes directly through the center of Hagerstown using Washington Avenue (eastbound) and Franklin Street (westbound). Heading southeast out of Hagerstown, US 40 diverges into two separate routes, US 40 and US 40 Alt. US 40 parallels I-70, its longtime travel partner, crossing it at exit 32 near Greenbrier State Park on the Baltimore National Pike alignment. US 40 Alt heads southeast on the Old National Pike alignment through Boonsboro, crossing South Mountain at Turner's Gap. The two routes converge just west of Frederick.^[7]

In Frederick, US 40 uses Patrick Street before merging onto the US 15 expressway for a short distance. It leaves US 15 and rejoins I-70 on the outskirts of Frederick. MD 144 once again takes over along the old alignment of US 40.^[7]

US 40 leaves I-70 for the final time upon entering the western suburbs of Baltimore, once again as Baltimore National Pike. The route passes through Patapsco Valley State Park north of Ellicott City and enters the Baltimore city limits along Edmondson Avenue. East of Gwynns Falls Leakin Park, US 40 becomes Franklin Street, and becomes an expressway (formerly I-170) for a short distance between Pulaski Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Through this area, an alignment called "Truck US 40" diverts larger vehicles onto an alternate route. US 40 passes through the Mount Vernon neighborhood and a few blocks from Baltimore's Washington Monument.^[21] After crossing the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83), US 40 follows Orleans Street, and finally becomes the Pulaski Highway as it leaves Baltimore to the northeast.^[7][22]

US 40, for the entire length of Pulaski Highway, closely parallels I-95. Pulaski Highway passes through Gunpowder Falls State Park near Joppa and the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Between Havre de Grace and Perryville it crosses the Susquehanna River on the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge. US 40 leaves Maryland in Elkton, crossing the border into Delaware.^[7][22]

The Delaware Memorial Bridge carries US 40/I-295 across the Delaware River

Delaware[link]

US 40 crosses Delaware for about 15 miles (24 km). Entering the state from Maryland in Glasgow, it continues along the Pulaski Highway. Much roadside commercial development slows traffic, as there are many traffic lights along the route. US 40 crosses Delaware Route 1 in the community of Bear before merging with US 13 and the Dupont Highway in Midvale. The concurrent routes turn north, pass the New Castle Airport and US 40 splits to join I-295 near Wilmington Manor. US 40, along with I-295, uses the Delaware Memorial Bridge to cross the Delaware River into New Jersey.^[7][23]

New Jersey[link]

US 40 terminates in Atlantic City, two blocks from its famous Boardwalk.

US 40 enters New Jersey in Deepwater, New Jersey along with I-295. US 40 briefly joins the New Jersey Turnpike, and exits to the south of the toll booths. The route follows Wiley Road, parallel to the Turnpike, before joining Harding Highway in Carneys Point. US 40 will be Harding Highway through most of South Jersey. Northeast of where US 40 joins it, Harding Highway carries the NJ 48 designation; though this was once part of US 40 as well.^[7][24]

It enters the borough of Woodstown as a concurrency with NJ 45 along West Avenue; it leaves town heading southeast. In Upper Pittsgrove Township, the road changes names to the Pole Tavern-Elmer Road. Passing through Elmer it becomes Chestnut St. and then Elmer-Malaga Road. In Malaga it uses Delsea Drive. The route bypasses the city of Vineland to the northeast, and becomes Cape May Avenue in Hamilton Township, where it crosses NJ 50 in Mays Landing.

US 40 merges with US 322 and the Black Horse Pike in McKee City. The two routes enter Atlantic City along Albany Avenue and pass the Atlantic City Airport. US 40 and US 322 both reach their eastern terminus at the intersection of Albany Avenue and Ventnor Avenue.^[7][25]

History[link]

Early roads[link]

US 40's history can be traced back several centuries. Several well established Native American footpaths, including Nemacolin's Path and Mingo Path in the Maryland-Pennsylvania area, followed similar alignments to US 40.^[26] Early American colonists established roads, some following the established Native American paths, that would later serve as US 40. These included a segment of post road between Wilmington, Delaware, and Baltimore, Maryland.^[27] In 1755, during the French and Indian Wars, General Edward Braddock blazed a trail en route to capture Fort Duquesne (modern Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). US 40 closely follows this route between Cumberland, Maryland and Uniontown, Pennsylvania.^[28]

Early in the history of the U.S., the State of Maryland established a network of turnpikes for long-distance travel. Three of these would later serve as part of US 40: the Baltimore and Havre de Grace Turnpike, the Baltimore and Frederick Turnpike, and Bank Road.^[29] Colonel Ebenezer Zane (for whom Zanesville, Ohio was named) blazed some of the first trails across the Ohio wilderness in the last years of the 18th century. Zane's Trace, as his road was called, stretched from Wheeling, West Virginia, to Maysville, Ohio. With some minor alignment differences, US 40 closely matches the segment from Wheeling to Zanesville.^[30]

Between the cities of Lawrence and Topeka, Kansas, US 40 follows the path of the Oregon Trail. During the 19th century, the Oregon Trail served as a major thoroughfare for people emigrating to the Pacific Northwest. Between 1850 and 1852, some 65,000-70,000 people traveled the trail.^[9]

Most of the western section of US 40 follows the former route of Victory Highway, a road that once linked Kansas City to San Francisco. The road was named as a memorial to fallen World War I veterans. Other than two sections (one in California and one in Kansas/Colorado) most of the original route of US 40 west of Kansas City used Victory Highway.^[31][32] According to a 1926 guide published about the Victory Highway, it was the fastest route between San Francisco and Salt Lake City, allowing travellers to complete the 784-mile (1,262 km) trip "comfortably and in high gear in from 3 to 4 days."^[33] Controversy over the routing of US 40 over the Victory Highway led to a "divided route", with US 40S following the Victory Highway and US 40N taking a more northerly route.^[32]

National Road[link]

A National Road mile marker in central Ohio

In 1806, Thomas Jefferson signed into law an act of Congress establishing a National Road to connect the waters of the Atlantic Ocean with the Ohio River. The law mentions Baltimore as its eastern terminus; but the route used established Maryland turnpikes east of Cumberland. A new road was constructed from Cumberland to Wheeling, West Virginia, and later extended across the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Segments of the National Road used Braddock's Road and Zane's Trace. Plans to extend the road to Missouri were never completed. The farthest western terminus for the National Road was the Old State House in Vandalia, Illinois.^[34]

The National Road was absorbed into the National Old Trails Ocean-to-Ocean highway, a route from New York, New York, to Los Angeles, California in the early 20th century. During the planning phases of what would become the U.S. Federal Highway System, the National Road was originally to be US 1.^{[citation needed]} This would have disrupted the organized numbering system, however, and the National Road became US 40 in the original 1925 plan for U.S. Routes. To this day, many places still name US 40 "National Road", even where the alignment was moved from the original road. Besides US 40, much of the National Road is paralleled by segments of Interstates 68 and 70.^[34]

California[link]

The former route of US 40 in California generally runs parallel to modern Interstate 80. In Contra Costa County it is San Pablo Avenue, now signed as California State Route 123. Portions of Historic Route 40 exist in Vallejo, along Broadway. In Cordelia and Suisun City, the original route is along Cordelia Road. It is also signed at as a historic route. The original route is preserved as Texas Street in Fairfield. In Vacaville the highway is preserved as Monte Vista Avenue. In Davis, the highway is now Russell Boulevard, the main street through downtown Davis. In Sacramento the highway followed the routes of modern Capitol Avenue, SR 160 and Auburn Boulevard. Through the Sierra Nevada many portions are still drivable, crossing I-80. Portions still drivable include Applegate Road in Applegate, Hampshire Rocks Road in a rural area near Cisco, and Donner Pass Road over Donner Pass and into Truckee. Between Truckee and the Nevada state line, the former route of US 40 is mostly visible from the freeway, but not drivable as a contiguous route. Portions accessible include Glenshire Drive, Hirshdale Road and Floriston Way.^[35]

Alternate U.S. Route 40[link]

From 1954 to 1964, an alternate route US 40 was available especially during winter to avoid Donner Pass. Donner Pass, elevation 7,085 ft (2,160 m), was closed through many weeks in the winter months. This alternate route used Beckwourth Pass, elevation of 5,221 ft (1,591 m). Since Beckwourth Pass was nearly 2,000 ft, (610 m), lower than Donner Pass, it could be kept open for a much longer time during the year. ALT US 40 parted the main track of US 40 near Davis and ran north along what was then signed as U.S. Route 99W into Woodland. From Woodland, ALT US 40 ran north along California State Route 24 through Knights Landing and Robbins into Yuba City. Most of the section from Woodland to Yuba City is now signed as California State Route 113. From Yuba City, ALT US 40 ran east through Marysville, then north through Oroville. Continuing north and northeast, ALT US 40 reached Paxton, then turned south and southeast to Quincy and Beckwourth before crossing. East of Beckwourth Pass, ALT US 40 descended to meet U.S. Route 395 at what is now Hallelujah Junction. The section from Marysville to U.S. Route 395 was then still an extension of Route 24, but is now signed as California State Route 70, although much of the old highway was moved further west before Lake Oroville was dammed and flooded in 1968.

Nevada[link]

In Nevada US 40 was also directly replaced by I-80. All of the I-80 business loops use the historical route of US 40. In the Truckee Meadows the route is still drivable as 3rd street in Verdi and 4th street in Reno and Victorian Ave in Sparks. In rural Nevada the highway forms the business loops for Wadsworth, Fernley, Lovelock, Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, Carlin, Elko, and West Wendover.

Utah[link]

In Wendover the former route of US 40 is signed as SR-58 and runs along a now unmentioned road just south of the freeway across the Bonneville Salt Flats.^[35] The route re-emerges from the shadow of I-80 as SR-138 through Grantsville and Tooele.^[35] In Salt Lake City US 40 was routed on North Temple Street on the west side of town. Past Temple Square US-40 had two alignments, originally along 2100 South and Parley's Way, at the time part of SR-201, but was later moved to Foothill Boulevard, along modern SR-186. East of Park City US 40 is still intact.

Evolution of US 40[link]

Variations of this sign are posted along old alignments in California.

US 40 was one of the original 1925 U.S. Highways.^[36] The route was a cross-country, east–west route, as most routes with a "0" number were defined. In 1926, the road had a total mileage of 3,228 miles (5,195 km). Though the eastern terminus was planned for State Road, Delaware, by 1927 it was moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey. The western terminus was San Francisco via an auto ferry across San Francisco Bay from Berkeley, California (see Berkeley Pier). Upon completion of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, US 40 was re-routed over the bridge, bypassing the ferry pier. Early alignments of the road featured ferries at both ends. To cross the Delaware River, ferries were used, originally from Wilmington, Delaware (1927–1929) and later from New Castle, Delaware (1929–1951). In 1951, the opening of the Delaware Memorial Bridge replaced the ferry service and carried US 40 across the Delaware River.^[37][38]

From 1926-1935 the route split in Manhattan, Kansas, into "40N" and "40S" routes; the two routes met again in Limon, Colorado. The "40S" route continued on to Grand Junction, Colorado. In 1935, the split routes were eliminated. US 40N between Manhattan and Limon and then US 40S from Limon to Grand Junction was replaced by U.S. Route 24, the remainder was renumbered as simply US 40.^[39][40]

New alignments for the road were designated in Maryland in 1948 and in Utah in 1950. California's segment of the highway was decommissioned in 1964. By 1966, the western terminus moved to Reno, Nevada. The road shortened again in 1975, to its current western end at Silver Creek Junction, Utah. In 1998, the California segment was given a sort of rebirth with the designation of Historic Route 40 through that state. Further realignments occurred in Utah where the highway was re-routed for the Jordanelle Reservoir in the mid 1990s, and Kansas City, Kansas, in 1999 to make way for the Kansas Speedway. On December 1, 2008, a further realignment in Kansas City rerouted US 40 away from State Avenue and the Turner Diagonal and onto K-7 and Interstate 70.

Major intersections[link]

• Interstate 80 near Park City, UT
• Interstate 25 in Denver, CO
• Interstate 35 in Kansas City, MO
• Interstate 55 / Interstate 64 / Interstate 70 in St. Louis, MO
• Interstate 57 in Effingham, IL
• Interstate 65 in Indianapolis, IN
• Interstate 75 near Dayton, OH
• Interstate 71 in Columbus, OH
• Interstate 77 near Cambridge, OH
• Interstate 79 in Washington, PA
• Interstate 81 in Hagerstown, MD
• Interstate 95 in Baltimore, MD

See also[link]

• List of U.S. Routes
• National Road
• All-American Road

Related U.S. Routes[link]

• U.S. Route 140 (decommissioned 1980)
• U.S. Route 240 (decommissioned 1971)
• U.S. Route 340

Notes[link]

• ^ a: The current capitals are Denver, Topeka, Indianapolis, and Columbus. Vandalia was a former capital of Illinois, Zanesville was a former capital of Ohio, and Wheeling was a former capital of West Virginia.
  

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Droz, Robert V. (2006). "U.S. Highways from U.S. 1 to (U.S. 830)". http://www.us-highways.com. Retrieved 2007-05-20. 
• Vale, Thomas R., and Vale, Geraldine (1983). U.S. 40 Today: Thirty Years of Landscape Change in America. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. ISBN 0-299-09480-4.  An updating of George R. Stewart's classic 1953 book.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: U.S. Route 40

• Route40.net

v t e United States Numbered Highways 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 87 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 101 163 400 412 425 All Bannered Divided Bypasses Routes in italics are no longer a part of the system. Highlighted routes are considered main routes of the system.

Browse numbered routes
← SR-39	UT	SR-42 →
← SH 39	CO	SH 40 →
← US-36	KS	K-42 →
← Route 39	MO	Route 41 →
← I-39	IL	IL 40 →
← SR 39	IN	US 41 →
← SR 39	OH	SR 41 →
← WV 39	WV	WV 41 →
← PA 39	PA	PA 41 →
← MD 39	MD	MD 41 →
← DE 37	DE	DE 41 →
← Route 39	NJ	Route 41 →

Sheila Bair
Chairperson of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
In office June 26, 2006 – July 8, 2011
President	George W. Bush Barack Obama
Preceded by	Martin Gruenberg (Acting)
Succeeded by	Martin Gruenberg (Acting)
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets
In office 2001–2002
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Richard Carnell
Succeeded by	Wayne Abernathy
Chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting
In office August 21, 1993 – December 21, 1993
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	William Albrecht (Acting)
Succeeded by	Barbara Holum (Acting)
Personal details
Born	(1954-04-03) April 3, 1954 (age 58) Wichita, Kansas, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Scott Cooper
Alma mater	University of Kansas, Lawrence
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Lutheranism

Sheila Colleen Bair^[1] (born April 3, 1954)^[2] was the 19th Chairperson of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).^[3] She was appointed to the post for a five-year term on June 26, 2006 by George W. Bush. Bair served as a member of the FDIC Board of Directors through July 8, 2011.^[4]

Early life[link]

Bair is a native of Independence, Kansas. Her father, Albert, was a surgeon. Her mother, Clara, was a nurse and housewife. She received her bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Kansas in 1975,^[5] and worked as a bank teller for a brief period, before receiving a J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1978. In 1981, she was recruited by Senator Bob Dole, a Republican from her state, to serve as counsel on his staff in Washington.

Career[link]

Prior to her appointment at the FDIC, Bair was the Dean's Professor of Financial Regulatory Policy for the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a post she had held since 2002. She also served as Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury (2001 to 2002), Senior Vice President for Government Relations of the New York Stock Exchange (1995 to 2000), a Commissioner and Acting Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (1991 to 1995), and Research Director, Deputy Counsel and Counsel to Kansas Republican Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (1981 to 1988). While an academic, Bair also served on the FDIC's Advisory Committee on Banking Policy. Bair also pursued a seat in the U.S. Congress (she lost the 1990 Republican nomination in the 5th Kansas district by 760 votes to Dick Nichols).^{[6][dead link]} Bair began her career in the General Counsel's office of the former US Department of Health, Education and Welfare.^[7] Ms. Bair left the FDIC on July 8, 2011, when her five year term expired.^[8] She became a senior advisor to The Pew Charitable Trusts in August 2011.^[9]

Bair has published two books for children: Rock, Brock and the Savings Shock (2006) and Isabel's Car Wash (2008). Both titles show children good examples of money management.

Bair is married to Scott P. Cooper and has two children, Preston and Colleen.

2008 financial crisis[link]

Bair assumed a prominent role in the government’s response to the crisis, including bolstering public confidence and system stability that resulted in no runs on bank deposits. The FDIC did not turn to taxpayer borrowing to manage its losses and liquidity needs, instead funding them through its traditional means of assessing banks for the cost of insuring their deposits. The FDIC’s resolution practice of selling failing banks to healthier institutions, while providing credit support of future losses from failed banks’ troubled loans, saved the FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund $40 billion over losses it would have incurred if the FDIC had liquidated those banks.

During the congressional effort to reform the financial regulatory system, Bair successfully pushed to establish tools to end the doctrine of “too big to fail” by extending the FDIC’s resolution process to large, systemically-important financial institutions. The FDIC was also given joint authority to order the restructuring of an entity that cannot demonstrate, though a continually-monitored “living will,” that it can be unwound.

Bair is active on the international front, and pressed the Basel Committee on Bank Supervision to adopt strong capital and leverage standards, as Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported.^[10]

In a fictional TV movie about the crises, Patricia Randell played Bair in the 2011 HBO movie Too Big to Fail, which was based on the popular book of the same name by New York Times journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Opinion[link]

In 2009, Bair was named one of Time magazine’s “Time 100” most influential people. In 2008, Bair topped The Wall Street Journal’s annual 50 “Women to Watch List.” In 2008 and 2009, Forbes ranked her as the second most powerful woman in the world behind German chancellor Angela Merkel. Forbes described her FDIC office as "the last stop for capital-starved banks (and their insured customers) before going under."^[11]

Criticism[link]

Bair has received criticism for her outspoken style and what some^[who?] saw as her single-minded defense of the FDIC’s deposit insurance fund in the heat of the response to the financial meltdown in 2008. The FDIC was sued by Judicial Watch twice seeking information regarding the FDIC decision jointly with the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department to “bailout” Citi. The litigants say the FDIC was refusing to provide any information on the reasons for its support of the bailouts of certain banks stemming from the Financial Crisis of 2008, and continues to do so. Judge Emmett G. Sullivan of the US District Court (DC) said the case was not moot because the litigants continued to contest whether the FDIC reasonably interpreted the scope of his request. The FDIC says the court specifically gave the FDIC the option to submit additional evidence demonstrating that its original search was complete. The FDIC says it has done so, and the issue of the scope of the search is now before the Court.^[12][13]

In addition to the legal proceedings, Bair has made the following remark, which spoke to the FDIC’s lack of statutory authority pre Dodd-Frank. In a response to the Inspector General for the TARP program, Bair remarked, "We were told by the New York Fed that problems would occur in the global markets if Citi were to fail. We didn't have our own information to verify this statement, so I didn't want to dispute that with them." In 2008, the FDIC did not have the legal authority to put large holding companies into its bank receivership process and little authority to access information outside of the insured institutions. Since these were holding companies, and not banks, the FDIC had to rely on information from other regulators. That is no longer the case. In 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act was enacted, expressly prohibiting bank bailouts by extending the FDIC’s resolution authority to close the largest financial firms and make their shareholders and creditors bear the losses without creating a systemic disruption. Dodd-Frank also gave the FDIC new authority to directly access information from large bank holding companies which are not in sound condition.^{[13] [14]}

In 2009, Bair lobbied hard to have the CEO of Citibank Vikram Pandit fired,^[15][16] failed to do so and was criticized for her efforts ^[17].

Awards[link]

Bair has received many awards, including the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award and Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award.^[18]

On March 29, 2012 Bair was honored by the Romney Institute of Public Management (BYU Marriott School of Management) as the Administrator of the Year.^[19][20]. She was awarded an honorary degree from Amherst College in 2012.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation website
• FDIC Biography of Bair
• New Yorker profile
• Sheila Bair "exit interview" by Joe Nocera, NY Times, July 9, 2011.

Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter in 2007
Background information
Birth name	John Dawson Winter III
Born	(1944-02-23) February 23, 1944 (age 68) Beaumont, Texas, United States
Genres	Electric blues, blues rock, rock and roll, Texas blues
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Guitar, mandolin
Years active	1959–present
Associated acts	Edgar Winter
Website	johnnywinter.net
Notable instruments
Gibson Firebird Erlewine Lazer

John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III (born February 23, 1944) is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters. Since his time with Waters, Johnny Winter has recorded several Grammy-nominated blues albums and continues to tour extensively. In 1988, he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and in 2003, he was ranked 74th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"^[1] He was born with albinism.

Early career[link]

Johnny Winter, along with his brother Edgar Winter, were nurtured at an early age by their parents in musical pursuits.^[2] Both he and his brother, who were born with albinism, began performing at an early age. When he was ten years old, Winter appeared on a local children's show, playing ukelele and singing Everly Brothers songs with his brother.

His recording career began at the age of fifteen, when his band Johnny and the Jammers released "School Day Blues" on a Houston record label.^[2] During this same period, he was able to see performances by classic blues artists such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and Bobby Bland. In the early days Winter would sometimes sit in with Roy Head and the Traits when they performed in the Beaumont, Texas area, and in 1967, Winter recorded a single with the Traits: "Tramp" backed with "Parchman Farm" (Universal Records 30496). In 1968, he released his first album The Progressive Blues Experiment, on Austin's Sonobeat Records.^[3]

Signing with Columbia Records[link]

Johnny Winter, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1969

Winter caught his biggest break in December 1968, when Mike Bloomfield, whom he met and jammed with in Chicago, invited him to sing and play a song during a Bloomfield and Al Kooper concert at the Fillmore East in New York. As it happened, representatives of Columbia Records (which had released the Top Ten Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills Super Session album) were at the concert. Winter played and sang B.B. King's "It's My Own Fault" to loud applause and, within a few days, was signed to reportedly what was then the largest advance in the history of the recording industry—$600,000.^[2]

Winter's first Columbia album, Johnny Winter, was recorded and released in 1969. It featured the same backing musicians with whom he had recorded The Progressive Blues Experiment, bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Uncle John Turner, plus Edgar Winter on keyboards and saxophone, and (for his "Mean Mistreater") blues legends Willie Dixon on upright bass and Big Walter Horton on harmonica. The album featured a few selections that became Winter signature songs, including his composition "Dallas" (an acoustic blues, on which Winter played a steel-bodied, resonator guitar), John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson's "Good Morning Little School Girl", and B.B. King's "Be Careful With A Fool".

The album's success coincided with Imperial Records picking up The Progressive Blues Experiment for wider release. The same year, the Winter trio toured and performed at several rock festivals, including Woodstock. With brother Edgar added as a full member of the group, Winter also recorded his second album, Second Winter, in Nashville in 1969. The two-record album, which only had three recorded sides (the fourth was blank), introduced a couple more staples of Winter's concerts, including Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" and Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited". Also at this time Johnny entered into an intimate, albeit short-lived affair with Janis Joplin which culminated in a concert at New York's Madison Square Garden where Johnny joined the then reigning Queen of R&R on stage to sing and perform.

Unofficial albums[link]

Contrary to urban legend, Johnny Winter did not perform with Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison on the 1968 infamous Hendrix bootleg album Woke Up This Morning and found Myself Dead from New York City's Scene Club. According to Winter, "...I never even met Jim Morrison! There's a whole album of Jimi and Jim and I'm supposedly on the album but I don't think I am 'cause I never met Jim Morrison in my life! I'm sure I never, never played with Jim Morrison at all! I don't know how that [rumour] got started."^[4]

Beginning in 1969, the first of numerous Johnny Winter albums was released which were cobbled together from approximately fifteen singles (about 30 "sides") he recorded before signing with Columbia in 1969.^[2] Many were produced by Roy Ames, owner of Home Cooking Records/Clarity Music Publishing, who had briefly managed Winter. According to an article from the Houston Press,^[5] Winter left town for the express purpose of getting away from him. Ames died on August 14, 2003 of natural causes at age 66. As Ames left no obvious heirs, the ownership rights of the Ames master recordings remains unclear. As Winter stated in an interview when the subject of Roy Ames came up, "This guy has screwed so many people it makes me mad to even talk about him."^[5]

Johnny Winter And[link]

In 1970, when his brother Edgar released a solo album Entrance and formed Edgar Winter's White Trash, an R&B/jazz-rock group, the original trio disbanded. Johnny Winter then formed a new band with the remnants of The McCoys—guitarist Rick Derringer, bassist Randy Jo Hobbs, and drummer Randy Z (who was Derringer's brother, their family name being Zehringer). Originally to be called "Johnny Winter and The McCoys", the name was shortened to "Johnny Winter And", which was also the name of their first album.^[2] The album included Derringer's "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo" and signaled a more rock-oriented direction for Winter. When Johnny Winter And began to tour, Randy Z was replaced with drummer Bobby Caldwell. Their mixture of the new rock songs with Winter's blues songs was captured on the live album Live Johnny Winter And. It included a new performance "It's My Own Fault", the song which brought Winter to the attention of Columbia Records.

Winter's momentum was throttled when he sank into heroin addiction during the Johnny Winter And days. After he sought treatment for and recovered from the addiction, manager Steve Paul courageously put Winter in front of the music press to discuss the addiction candidly.^[2] By 1973, he returned to the music scene with the release of Still Alive and Well, a basic blend between blues and hard rock, whose title track was written by Rick Derringer. His comeback concert at Long Island, N.Y.'s Nassau Colliseum featured the "And" line-up minus Rick Derringer. Performing on stage was also Johnny's wife Susie. The follow-up album, John Dawson Winter III featured Sweet Papa John, a highly-dubbed slow blues number written by Johnny, which also appeared in an extended version on the later issued "Captured Live." Saints & Sinners, continued the same direction; this was followed by another concert set, the aforementioned Captured Live!, which featured an extended performance of "Highway 61 Revisited". In 1975 Johnny returned to Bogalusa, Louisiana to produce an album for Thunderhead, a local band which included Pat Rush and Bobby "T" Torello, who would later play with Winter.

Muddy Waters sessions[link]

In live performances, Winter often told the story about how, as a child, he dreamed of playing with the blues guitarist Muddy Waters. In 1977, after Waters' long-time label Chess Records went out of business, he got his chance.^[2] Winter brought Waters into the studio to record Hard Again for Blue Sky Records, a label set up by Winter's manager and distributed by Columbia. In addition to producing the album, Winter played guitar with Waters veteran James Cotton on harmonica. Winter produced two more studio albums for Waters, I'm Ready (with Big Walter Horton on harmonica) and King Bee and a best-selling live album Muddy "Mississippi" Waters – Live. The partnership produced three Grammy Awards for Waters and an additional Grammy for Winter's own Nothin' But the Blues (Johnny Winter album), with backing by members of Waters' band. Waters told Deep Blues author Robert Palmer that Winter had done remarkable work in reproducing the sound and atmosphere of Waters's vintage Chess Records recordings of the 1950s. The albums gave Waters the highest profile and greatest financial successes of his life.

Later career[link]

Woodstock Reunion, Parr Meadows, Ridge, NY 1979

In 1984, Winter began recording for several labels, including Alligator Records and Point Blank Records, where he has focused on blues-oriented material.^[2] He continues to perform live, including festivals throughout North America and Europe. Winter has headlined such prestigious events as the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Chicago Blues Festival, Swedish Rock Fest, Warren Haynes X-mas jam, and Europe’s Rockpalast. He also performed with the Allman Brothers at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan on the 40th anniversary of their debut. In 2007 and 2010, Winter performed at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festivals. Two guitar instructional DVDs have been produced by Cherry Lane Music and the Hal Leonard Corporation. The Gibson Guitar Company released the signature Johnny Winter Firebird guitar in a ceremony in Nashville with Slash presenting.

In 2004, Winter received a Grammy nomination for his I’m a Bluesman album. Backing him are guitarist Paul Nelson, bassist Scott Spray, and drummer Vito Liuzzi. Beginning in 2007, a series of live Winter albums titled the Live Bootleg Series and a live DVD have all entered the Top 10 Billboard Blues charts. In 2009, The Woodstock Experience album was released, which includes eight songs that Winter performed at the 1969 festival. Johnny Winter is signed to Megaforce Records, who will release a new studio album titled Roots on September 27, 2011. It will include Winter's interpretation of eleven early blues and rock 'n' roll classics and feature several guest artists (Vince Gill, Sonny Landreth, Susan Tedeschi, Edgar Winter, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, and others!!).

Recognition[link]

Winter produced three Grammy Award-winning albums by Muddy Waters, Hard Again (1977), I'm Ready (1978), and Muddy "Mississippi" Waters – Live (1979). Several Winter albums were also nominated for Grammy Awards.^[6] In 1980, Winter was on the cover of the first issue of Guitar World and in 1988, he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame. There was a character in the video game Heavy Rain named after Winter.

Discography[link]

Throughout his career, Johnny Winter has been dogged by bootleg recordings and unauthorized re-releases of singles from his early pre-Columbia Records days. According to one biographer, only about fifteen percent of Winter's commercially-available recordings are legitimate, leaving 85 percent that he had no control over.^[2] Some of the releases were doctored with later overdubs by other musicians. Royalties were not Winter's primary concern, "I just don't want that bullshit out ... It's just bad music".^[2] The following lists Johnny Winter's official albums.

Studio albums[link]

Live albums[link]

• Live Johnny Winter And (Columbia 1971)
• Captured Live! (Blue Sky 1976)
• Together with Edgar Winter (Blue Sky 1976)
• Live In NYC '97 (Virgin 1998)
• Live Bootleg Series, Volumes 1–7 (Friday 2007–11)
• The Woodstock Experience (Sony/Legacy 2009)
• Johnny Winter Live Fillmore East 10/3/70 (Collectors 2010)
• Rockpalast Blues Rock Legend Vol. 3 recorded in Essen April, 1979 (2011)

Compilation albums[link]

• The Johnny Winter Story aka Raised on Rock (Columbia 1980)
• Scorchin' Blues (Columbia 1992)
• A Rock N' Roll Collection (Columbia 1994)
• Anthology (Columbia 1995)
• Return of Johnny Guitar (The Best of Johnny Winter 1984–86) (Empire 1996)
• White Hot Blues (Sony 1997)
• Deluxe Edition (Alligator 2001)
• The Best of Johnny Winter (Sony 2002)
• The Johnny Winter Anthology (Shout 2009)

As producer and guitarist[link]

• Hard Again – Muddy Waters (1977)
• I'm Ready – Muddy Waters (1978)
• Muddy "Mississippi" Waters – Live – Muddy Waters (1979)
• King Bee – Muddy Waters (1980)
• Whoopin' – Sonny Terry (1984)
• Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down – Muddy Waters & James Cotton (2007)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Johnny Winter

• JohnnyWinter.net - the official webpage