Interesting county highway lettering trends

[peterj920]

Wisconsin's county highway lettering system is truly unique, but I'm finding that the lettering is even more interesting. 

For the longest time, there wasn't any County L, but the ones that were designated were all former numbered highways.  (Wis 24, Wis 26, US 51). County LL was once US 141.  Guess for some reason counties did not like the letter L. 

Triple letters are seldomly used, but Fond Du Lac County seems to like them.  (HHH, VVV, OOO).  Despite the rarity, there are 2 County HHH. 

GV seems to be an odd combination, but there are 2 County GV's within 25 miles (Brown, Outagamie).  Brown was first, and was supposed to indicate that it went to County G and V.  Outagamie was because it went into Greenville. 

For the bottom of the alphabet, X seems to be a popular letter.

PP also seems to be a popular lower of the alphabet double letter combination. 

County A in many counties seems to travel through the oldest settlements of a county since it was most likely the first letter used when designating a county highway. 

Brown County seems to have the most random designations recently (KB, MW, VK, RK,) Despite those randoms, county roads starting with I are county roads that do not end at another highway.  EB and EA are parralel arterials to I-41 and I-43. 

Any other interesting thoughts on lettering? 

[SSOWorld]

I have to go CTH PP.

CTH EW.

Triple letters are seldomly used, but Fond Du Lac County seems to like them.  (HHH, VVV, OOO).  Despite the rarity, there are 2 County HHH. 

Yes there are.

[NE2]

<---

[mgk920]

'L' and 'R' were not used until fairly recently because in the earlier days of automobility, shields with the letters 'L' and 'R' were used instead of arrows to mark routing turns.

Mike

[dvferyance]

'L' and 'R' were not used until fairly recently because in the earlier days of automobility, shields with the letters 'L' and 'R' were used instead of arrows to mark routing turns.

Mike

Hwy L in Kenosha County is not a fmr state highway I highly doubt the one in Washburn County is either. Hwy R in Waukesha County is not a fmr state Highway. Hwy R in Dodge County is it was once WI-109. Interesting that L is one of the 5 letters Missouri doesn't use and R is one of the two they don;t use much.. Waukesha County has a Hwy LO but that was chosen to honor Loyd Owens. It;s also worth noting that A is the only letter that does not exist in Waukesha County. Neither A or AA or any double letter combination with A is used at all in Waukesha County.

[SEWIGuy]

'L' and 'R' were not used until fairly recently because in the earlier days of automobility, shields with the letters 'L' and 'R' were used instead of arrows to mark routing turns.

Mike

Hwy L in Kenosha County is not a fmr state highway I highly doubt the one in Washburn County is either. Hwy R in Waukesha County is not a fmr state Highway. Hwy R in Dodge County is it was once WI-109. Interesting that L is one of the 5 letters Missouri doesn't use and R is one of the two they don;t use much.. Waukesha County has a Hwy LO but that was chosen to honor Loyd Owens. It;s also worth noting that A is the only letter that does not exist in Waukesha County. Neither A or AA or any double letter combination with A is used at all in Waukesha County.

Waukesha County A used to be what is now Waukesha County L - and was WI-24 in between.

Waukesha County AA used to be on what is now Maple Avenue between County L just south of Big Bend, and WI-83 just south of Mukwonago. 

Where is County R currently in Waukesha County?

[dvferyance]

'L' and 'R' were not used until fairly recently because in the earlier days of automobility, shields with the letters 'L' and 'R' were used instead of arrows to mark routing turns.

Mike

Hwy L in Kenosha County is not a fmr state highway I highly doubt the one in Washburn County is either. Hwy R in Waukesha County is not a fmr state Highway. Hwy R in Dodge County is it was once WI-109. Interesting that L is one of the 5 letters Missouri doesn't use and R is one of the two they don;t use much.. Waukesha County has a Hwy LO but that was chosen to honor Loyd Owens. It;s also worth noting that A is the only letter that does not exist in Waukesha County. Neither A or AA or any double letter combination with A is used at all in Waukesha County.

Waukesha County A used to be what is now Waukesha County L - and was WI-24 in between.

Waukesha County AA used to be on what is now Maple Avenue between County L just south of Big Bend, and WI-83 just south of Mukwonago. 

Where is County R currently in Waukesha County?

It runs between WI-16 and Nashotah Park between CR-C and CR-P. My point was the letter A is not currently used in Waukesha County. It was once used for the short stretch of what is now WI-164 between WI-59 and US-18 until the 80's. One thing I just noticed the other day is that Jefferson County only uses single letters not sure if any other county does that.

[SEWIGuy]

'L' and 'R' were not used until fairly recently because in the earlier days of automobility, shields with the letters 'L' and 'R' were used instead of arrows to mark routing turns.

Mike

Hwy L in Kenosha County is not a fmr state highway I highly doubt the one in Washburn County is either. Hwy R in Waukesha County is not a fmr state Highway. Hwy R in Dodge County is it was once WI-109. Interesting that L is one of the 5 letters Missouri doesn't use and R is one of the two they don;t use much.. Waukesha County has a Hwy LO but that was chosen to honor Loyd Owens. It;s also worth noting that A is the only letter that does not exist in Waukesha County. Neither A or AA or any double letter combination with A is used at all in Waukesha County.

Waukesha County A used to be what is now Waukesha County L - and was WI-24 in between.

Waukesha County AA used to be on what is now Maple Avenue between County L just south of Big Bend, and WI-83 just south of Mukwonago. 

Where is County R currently in Waukesha County?

It runs between WI-16 and Nashotah Park between CR-C and CR-P. My point was the letter A is not currently used in Waukesha County. It was once used for the short stretch of what is now WI-164 between WI-59 and US-18 until the 80's. One thing I just noticed the other day is that Jefferson County only uses single letters not sure if any other county does that.

Thank you on the County R thing.  I was just providing some history regarding County A. 

Jefferson County does have a couple double letters.

CW, which heads into Watertown from the east
SC, which runs north from WI-16 southeast of Watertown.
CI, which is the old WI-106 west of WI-67.

All of these are extensions of highways that exist in other counties though.

[SSOWorld]

<--- (see his CTH P - OO avatar)

Exactly.

[GeekJedi]

'L' and 'R' were not used until fairly recently because in the earlier days of automobility, shields with the letters 'L' and 'R' were used instead of arrows to mark routing turns.

Mike

Hwy L in Kenosha County is not a fmr state highway I highly doubt the one in Washburn County is either. Hwy R in Waukesha County is not a fmr state Highway.

Has nothing to do with whether or not it was a former state highway.

[dvferyance]

'L' and 'R' were not used until fairly recently because in the earlier days of automobility, shields with the letters 'L' and 'R' were used instead of arrows to mark routing turns.

Mike

Hwy L in Kenosha County is not a fmr state highway I highly doubt the one in Washburn County is either. Hwy R in Waukesha County is not a fmr state Highway.

Has nothing to do with whether or not it was a former state highway.

I know I was just recacting to what Mike said in his first post that the ones designated were former state highways.

[jbnv]

Despite those ransoms, county roads starting with I are county roads that do not end at another highway.  EB and EA are parralel arterials to I-41 and I-43. 

Doesn't county road ID run on the former alignment of US 18-151? (ID = "Iowa-Dane", two two counties in which the highway resides.)

[SSOWorld]

Despite those ransoms, county roads starting with I are county roads that do not end at another highway.  EB and EA are parralel arterials to I-41 and I-43. 

Doesn't county road ID run on the former alignment of US 18-151? (ID = "Iowa-Dane", two two counties in which the highway resides.)

I'm going to need to see some "ID" before you get your answer

Yes - from Barneveld to east of Mt. Horeb.  There are other parallels - 2 "HHH"s (Ridgeway and Keiler), an MV (parallel with a US-151 BUS in Verona), and an "XX" (Belmont to Platteville) that starts at 126 (which was extended to the freeway)

[peterj920]

Despite those randoms, county roads starting with I are county roads that do not end at another highway.  EB and EA are parralel arterials to I-41 and I-43. 

Doesn't county road ID run on the former alignment of US 18-151? (ID = "Iowa-Dane", two two counties in which the highway resides.)

The beginning "I" rule for county highways that do not end at other highways only applies to Brown County. 

[peterj920]

<--- (see his CTH P - OO avatar)

Exactly.

Here's the updated sign assembly with a unisign

[20160805]

<--- (see his CTH P - OO avatar)

Exactly.

Here's the updated sign assembly with a unisign

Nice. 

Are there any junctions of County A and SS? 

I've noticed that there are quite a few lettered N and BB around the state - as for BB, I've been on four, having clinched two, and there are probably several more throughout the state.

Interesting how PP is so common - is it because it sounds funny when said aloud?

Brown County does have some random ones - where do KB, MW, VK, RK, and HS come from?

[peterj920]

There is in Sheboygan County, I posted it a while back.  Can't post now because I'm on a phone.  HS stands for Howard Suamico, the 2 communities it passes through.  The others I have no idea how they came up with those.  Would like it if Lombardi Ave would have been VL for Vince Lombardi, I think that would be a lot better. 

[peterj920]

Here's the sign

Interesting enough it looks like the signs were intentionally posted separate to avoid the combination along Wis 28



This is for the Ric Flair fans


If you like P's
No idea why the road would be named Old County Road PP if the entire road is current County PP in Sheboygan Falls


X rated

[20160805]

Here's the sign

Interesting enough it looks like the signs were intentionally posted separate to avoid the combination along Wis 28



This is for the Ric Flair fans


If you like P's
No idea why the road would be named Old County Road PP if the entire road is current County PP in Sheboygan Falls


X rated

Did anybody else notice that on the PPP/PP/PP sign, the two signs for PP were pointed in the same direction? 

[GeekJedi]

Did anybody else notice that on the PPP/PP/PP sign, the two signs for PP were pointed in the same direction? 

Actually, one says "County PP" and the other says "OLD COUNTY ROAD PP".

[peterj920]

Did anybody else notice that on the PPP/PP/PP sign, the two signs for PP were pointed in the same direction? 

Actually, one says "County PP" and the other says "OLD COUNTY ROAD PP".

They're the same road which makes it even stranger.

[Mrt90]

I remember reading an article in the Kenosha News (couldn't find it now after a short search) about the names of the county highways in Kenosha County. There weren't any interesting reasons for the names. All of them were named after prominent county/town politicians or long-time highway department employees. The only exception to that that I can remember is Hwy KR which is the county line between Kenosha and Racine counties. The rest of them were just initials of people I never heard of.

I don't think Kenosha has ever had a triple letter highway, with all of the possible two letter combinations I'm not sure why anyone does.  I'm not sure if Racine County even has any two letter highways?

[invincor]

Just why is it that we use letters and hardly any other states do?   

Is it just because we numbered our highways before anyone else did, and thought letters would be good to distinguish the county system, but then no one else followed our lead on that point? 

[20160805]

Did anybody else notice that on the PPP/PP/PP sign, the two signs for PP were pointed in the same direction? 

Actually, one says "County PP" and the other says "OLD COUNTY ROAD PP".

They're the same road which makes it even stranger.

I think that's the dumbest road-related thing I've ever seen. 

[DaBigE]

Just why is it that we use letters and hardly any other states do?   

Is it just because we numbered our highways before anyone else did, and thought letters would be good to distinguish the county system, but then no one else followed our lead on that point?

It probably goes along with the notion of not having duplicate highway identifications (IH vs. US vs. state highways). If you want to continue down that path, using letter identifications is the easiest way of doing so. You could always go to four digit numbered highways, but three digits seems to be as large as WisDOT ever wants to go.