EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) – State highway officials say Interstate 164 around Evansville will soon become part of Interstate 69.

Highway crews are starting to replace the signs that have designated about 20 miles of highway as I-164 since the route was completed in 1990.

The state received federal approval last year to renumber the route that links up with the I-69 extension being built through southwestern Indiana. The stretch of I-69 from where it meets I-164 to near the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center opened two years ago.

Highway department spokesman Will Wingfield tells the Evansville Courier & Press (http://bit.ly/1ySaO2D ) that by year's end I-164 will only live on in historical or outdated records.

The conversion involves replacing about 70 large signs near exits and hundreds of smaller signs along the highway.

Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com