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Highway 98
U.S. Highway 98 (US 98) is a major east–west United States Highway, running 964 miles from Meadville, MS to Palm Beach, FL. Originally created as an intrastate highway within Florida connecting Pensacola and Apalachicola, US 98 has been extended westward into Alabama and Mississippi, and eastward into the Florida Peninsula. It is also a Primary Hurricane Evacuation Route.
History[edit]
Much of present-day US 98 in Mississippi started out as Mississippi Highway 24. In 1955, a large section of MS 24 in southeast MS was redesignated as part of US 98.
Like most major highways at the time, it was originally a two-lane paved highway, but upgraded in many places to four lanes to accommodate additional traffic.
Highway 98 in Hattiesburg[edit]
The portion of MS 24 that went through Hattiesburg became part of US 98 in 1955, replacing the MS 24 concurrency with US 49 and on Hardy Street. The routing remained unchanged until 1986, when an extension connecting US 98 directly to Interstate 59 was completed.
Today, the portion of Hardy St. between USM and I-59 that was part of US 98 was redesignated Mississippi Highway 198 after the extension to I-59 was completed.