Weird Routes

[Flint1979]

M-123 also has 2 south termini - one near Newberry, the other near Rogers Park north of St Ignace. The most direct route via M-28 is about 60 miles. To take 123 the entire way, through Paradise, is nearly 100 miles.

M-22 does as well. Perhaps they could have used M-37 up the west side of Grand Traverse Bay instead of going up Old Mission Peninsula to dead end. Or they could have used M-237 to go up the peninsula. Or used M-201 to go to Traverse City.

[formulanone]

Pennsylvania 415 splits in two directions around Harveys Lake (technically, one is PA 0415 and the other 1415).

One branch is signed North-South and the other is signed South-North, which makes sense if you follow them in a loop around the lake.

[kphoger]

I guess US-24 has two northern terminuses.

Is US-24 signed as North-South anywhere in Colorado?

[Flint1979]

I guess US-24 has two northern terminuses.

Is US-24 signed as North-South anywhere in Colorado?

I'm not sure but it's heading north when it ends. It's signed North and South in Michigan.

[kphoger]

I guess US-24 has two northern terminuses.

Is US-24 signed as North-South anywhere in Colorado?

I'm not sure but it's heading north when it ends. It's signed North and South in Michigan.

I knew both of those facts.  But I don't think there are any North US-24 or South US-24 signs in Colorado.

[MultiMillionMiler]

Interesting thread. I see KY 620 was talked about earlier on. I wouldn't have created a whole thread on that route if I knew about this thread. I wonder if US 101 should be included with that weird turn it does at the northern end.

[LilianaUwU]

QC 199 is a weird one when it comes to heading in other directions. It's hook-shaped, and was cross-signed EST/OUEST (east/west) until 2004 due to, I believe, our tendency in the Magdalen Islands to refer to Havre-Aubert, at its south end, as the west of the archipelago and Grande-Entrée, at its north end, as the east.

[US 89]

I guess US-24 has two northern terminuses.

Is US-24 signed as North-South anywhere in Colorado?

I'm not sure but it's heading north when it ends. It's signed North and South in Michigan.

I knew both of those facts.  But I don't think there are any North US-24 or South US-24 signs in Colorado.

That is correct. It's signed east-west all the way up to the end at I-70 near Minturn.

[Flint1979]

I guess US-24 has two northern terminuses.

Is US-24 signed as North-South anywhere in Colorado?

I'm not sure but it's heading north when it ends. It's signed North and South in Michigan.

I knew both of those facts.  But I don't think there are any North US-24 or South US-24 signs in Colorado.

That is correct. It's probably about the same distance going north and south in Colorado as it is Michigan. It changes at the state line, actually I crossed the state line on US-24 yesterday. It should probably be north-south all the way to Maumee which is where it really changes directions. It also keeps the name Telegraph until Detroit Ave where US-25 used to split from a concurrency with it. https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0757553,-106.280902,3a,15y,40.08h,92.8t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sei0atcxzkjVZevINspwzhA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[Big John]

M-123 also has 2 south termini - one near Newberry, the other near Rogers Park north of St Ignace. The most direct route via M-28 is about 60 miles. To take 123 the entire way, through Paradise, is nearly 100 miles.

M-22 does as well. Perhaps they could have used M-37 up the west side of Grand Traverse Bay instead of going up Old Mission Peninsula to dead end. Or they could have used M-237 to go up the peninsula. Or used M-201 to go to Traverse City.

So does WI 13.  Wisconsin Dells and near Superior.

[Flint1979]

M-123 also has 2 south termini - one near Newberry, the other near Rogers Park north of St Ignace. The most direct route via M-28 is about 60 miles. To take 123 the entire way, through Paradise, is nearly 100 miles.

M-22 does as well. Perhaps they could have used M-37 up the west side of Grand Traverse Bay instead of going up Old Mission Peninsula to dead end. Or they could have used M-237 to go up the peninsula. Or used M-201 to go to Traverse City.

So does WI 13.  Wisconsin Dells and near Superior.

M-25 in Michigan is kind of the same way

[Flint1979]

Another Michigan route that is weird is M-48 it crosses over I-75 and then swings back to the east to end at it. So it has a southern terminus heads to the west and then has an eastern terminus. The route is in the U.P. near Rudyard and Pickford.

[MATraveler128]

I have one from Massachusetts. MA 145 in Winthrop. It basically exists just so Winthrop has a numbered highway. It pretty much takes an absolutely bizarre path for almost 7 miles just rejoin MA 1A 2 miles later.

[kphoger]

US 101, despite it being a two digit number with three digits, it's northern hook around to head south again to Olympia, WA is crazy.  It should end in Port Angela's as you have the Victoria Ferry there to Canada. The rest of the Route could be a WA State designation of some other number.

US 321 and US 101 both are N- S oddities that have two southern terminuses.

I wonder if US 101 should be included with that weird turn it does at the northern end.

So...  You didn't bother searching the thread to find out if it was already included?

[JCinSummerfield]

Do you know if M-43 can  be considered?  I've never been to the western terminal.

M-123 also has 2 south termini - one near Newberry, the other near Rogers Park north of St Ignace. The most direct route via M-28 is about 60 miles. To take 123 the entire way, through Paradise, is nearly 100 miles.

M-22 does as well. Perhaps they could have used M-37 up the west side of Grand Traverse Bay instead of going up Old Mission Peninsula to dead end. Or they could have used M-237 to go up the peninsula. Or used M-201 to go to Traverse City.

So does WI 13.  Wisconsin Dells and near Superior.

M-25 in Michigan is kind of the same way

[MultiMillionMiler]

US 101, despite it being a two digit number with three digits, it's northern hook around to head south again to Olympia, WA is crazy.  It should end in Port Angela's as you have the Victoria Ferry there to Canada. The rest of the Route could be a WA State designation of some other number.

US 321 and US 101 both are N- S oddities that have two southern terminuses.

I wonder if US 101 should be included with that weird turn it does at the northern end.

So...  You didn't bother searching the thread to find out if it was already included?

I didn't see this thread at all until a couple days ago. I created a thread on 620 back in early November.

[Flint1979]

Do you know if M-43 can  be considered?  I've never been to the western terminal.

M-123 also has 2 south termini - one near Newberry, the other near Rogers Park north of St Ignace. The most direct route via M-28 is about 60 miles. To take 123 the entire way, through Paradise, is nearly 100 miles.

M-22 does as well. Perhaps they could have used M-37 up the west side of Grand Traverse Bay instead of going up Old Mission Peninsula to dead end. Or they could have used M-237 to go up the peninsula. Or used M-201 to go to Traverse City.

So does WI 13.  Wisconsin Dells and near Superior.

M-25 in Michigan is kind of the same way

M-43's western terminus is in South Haven. It's at the corner of Phillips and LaGrange. It's actually heading NW-SE as it ends there. On the eastern end it ends at I-96 after running concurrently with M-52 for no reason at all other than to put it on the sign on I-96 so it is heading south when it ends at it's eastern terminus. Along the way M-43 takes an indirect route through Lansing and now you have the concurrency with M-89 and US-131 to go around Kalamazoo as well. All that rerouting in the Kalamazoo area did was added miles to M-43. I don't think anyone would really follow M-43 from end to end. I think the best route to go from South Haven to Webberville you'd follow it between South Haven and Kalamazoo then you'd lose it for the rest of the way, using US-131 to I-94 to I-69 to I-96. I would have to say M-43 is indeed a weird route.

[18 wheel warrior]

Unless I missed it, nobody has yet mentioned VA 165 in this thread.

Nope, no one else has mentioned it, even 1-1/2 year after your comment.

Yeah, when I first saw this topic, VA-165 came forefront in my mind.

Norfolk:
Little Creek Rd, N. Military Hwy, Northampton Blvd, Kempsville Rd

Virginia Beach:
Princess Anne Rd, North Landing Rd.

Chesapeake:
Mount Pleasant Rd, Battlefield Blvd, Cedar Rd, Moses Grandy Trail (formerly Cedar Rd).

The south end is actually slightly further west than the north end!

The thing is here that other than the local interstates, no one refers to route numbers in this part of Virginia. Unless a visitor happens to find me about route numbers, all you'll get are blank stares! Many won't even know that US-460 even comes into Norfolk.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/VA_165_map.svg

[sprjus4]

The thing is here that other than the local interstates, no one refers to route numbers in this part of Virginia. Unless a visitor happens to find me about route numbers, all you'll get are blank stares! Many won't even know that US-460 even comes into Norfolk.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/VA_165_map.svg

The only exceptions to this are routes like VA-168 and US-17 (south of I-64), but those are freeway / major highways.

I feel like US-13 is one that stands out to me, at least east of I-64 (along Northampton Blvd) but that's because that's the highway to the CBBT.

[Bitmapped]

I'll nominate WV 46, which exists as two separate sections in Mineral County connected by a section of MD 135 across the state line.

MD 46 is a fairly major road from WV 28 at Fort Ashby to US 220 in Keyser, the county seat. It functions as a rural major collective from there west to Piedmont, paralleled by the better MD 135 on the Maryland side of the North Branch Potomac River.

At Piedmont, things get weird. Until the 1970s, the road headed south out of town on what looks like a hellacious alignment out of the North Branch Potomac River valley that has since been abandoned (part is now CR 46/1). Then, the state rerouted WV 46 to head north of Piedmont into Maryland, where it hits MD 135 just over the state line. A couple mile section of MD 135 serves as an unsigned connection to the other part of WV 46, which begins again to the west near Beryl. Here, WV 46 heads south on what was previously a private road. This road is far below the quality of most other WV routes - mostly a chip-seal surface with no lane striping at all.

Once it gets to the top of the grade leaving the North Branch Potomac, it meets back up with its old alignment. It takes a meandering path for a while and then joins with a section that was realigned by the Army Corps of Engineers durign the construction of Jennings Randolph Dam. Here, it picks up the full asphalt pavement and lane striping common to WV state routes. It follows at this level, albeit on a winding hilly alignment, to its western end at a triangle with WV 42 at Elk Garden.

Honestly, I'm not sure why the western section remains signed as a WV route other than perhaps a desire to have a state route serve Jennings Randolph Lake. Considering the poor quality of the road, I'd be inclined to just demote that entire western half down to county route status.

[cl94]

CA-65 and CA-168 are weird routes because they are in two segments but was at one point supposed to be connected together until studies showed that connecting these two segments were not viable at the time.

https://www.cahighways.org/ROUTE065.html
https://www.cahighways.org/ROUTE168.html

California has ten such split roads that I'm aware of. The gap lengths are in air miles:

CA-65: 204 miles from CA-198 north of Exeter to I-80 in Roseville

CA-84: 32.3 miles from I-580 in Livermore to CA-12 in Rio Vista

CA-90: 27.1 miles from Slauson Ave in Culver City to CA-39 in La Habra

CA-146: 2.2 miles through a canyon in Pinnacles National Monument

CA-162: 28.7 miles from Indian Dick Road in Sherburns to Rd 307 NW in Elk Creek

CA-168: 30.6 miles from Lakeshore to Lake Sabrina

CA-169: 12.5 miles from Klamath Glen to Johnsons

CA-178: 53 miles from Trona Pinnacles Road to SE entrance to Death Valley

CA-190: 32 miles from Cedar Slope to US-395 in Olancha

CA-193: 6 miles from CA-49 in Cool to I-80 in Newcastle

CA 39 comes to mind also.  CA 39 possibly could have been signed on local roads between the state owned segments.

Some state routes which have a gap in state maintenance like CA 120 and CA 180 are still signed by the Park Service.  CA 89 used to have signed in Lassen Volcanic National Park but no longer does.

Then you get the routes that were once continuous, but are no longer so because part was decommissioned. SR 160 comes to mind.

[hbelkins]

I'll nominate WV 46, which exists as two separate sections in Mineral County connected by a section of MD 135 across the state line.

MD 46 is a fairly major road from WV 28 at Fort Ashby to US 220 in Keyser, the county seat. It functions as a rural major collective from there west to Piedmont, paralleled by the better MD 135 on the Maryland side of the North Branch Potomac River.

At Piedmont, things get weird. Until the 1970s, the road headed south out of town on what looks like a hellacious alignment out of the North Branch Potomac River valley that has since been abandoned (part is now CR 46/1). Then, the state rerouted WV 46 to head north of Piedmont into Maryland, where it hits MD 135 just over the state line. A couple mile section of MD 135 serves as an unsigned connection to the other part of WV 46, which begins again to the west near Beryl. Here, WV 46 heads south on what was previously a private road. This road is far below the quality of most other WV routes - mostly a chip-seal surface with no lane striping at all.

Once it gets to the top of the grade leaving the North Branch Potomac, it meets back up with its old alignment. It takes a meandering path for a while and then joins with a section that was realigned by the Army Corps of Engineers durign the construction of Jennings Randolph Dam. Here, it picks up the full asphalt pavement and lane striping common to WV state routes. It follows at this level, albeit on a winding hilly alignment, to its western end at a triangle with WV 42 at Elk Garden.

Honestly, I'm not sure why the western section remains signed as a WV route other than perhaps a desire to have a state route serve Jennings Randolph Lake. Considering the poor quality of the road, I'd be inclined to just demote that entire western half down to county route status.

I've seen photos of that western section after it leaves Maryland headed toward Mt. Storm that featured a "Pavement Ends" sign not long after crossing the Potomac. That was before I drove the road so I never saw it in person.

As far as the road itself goes, it's not really worse quality than, say, the eastern section of WV 72, or WV 71 for most of its length.

[MultiMillionMiler]

Since Scott mentioned it in another thread, I will nominate Arkansas highway 74. After looking at it on a map, I can't for the life of me understand how that "octa-plex" connects in any logical way. Did they just decide to randomly number 8 totally different routes as 74 for no reason whatsoever?

[bwana39]

The Indian Nation Turnpike (nascent OK-375) doesn't look too weird on paper, being mostly a straight line, but it connects Henryetta to...Hugo? Paris TX? Not a very common origin/destination pair at all, made worse by the fact that it manages to deftly dodge most of the population centers in eastern Oklahoma. (When you're reduced to using Antlers as a control city, you've kinda fucked up.) Whatever traffic is gets is Tulsa-to-Dallas traffic that jumps off of it at US-69, so everything south of there is a ghost town.

It supposed to be part of a Houston / Beaumont to Tulsa-4-laned route. US-59 or US-69 from Beaumont or Houston to Lufkin. US-69 to Greenville. I-30 to SH-24. SH-24 to Paris and US-271 to Hugo / INT.  INT / US-75 to Tulsa.

Most of it actually has over the decades been built out as  4-lanes.  Lufkin  to  Longview to Paris is a better route from Beaumont, but it wasn't pushed by a consortium of community route organizers. Following SH-19 from Huntsville to Paris is almost a straight line from Houston to Tulsa.

THE INT is on the route Google maps suggests. It makes the route between two of the biggest players in the oil and gas significantly closer. And yes, it does run between Bugtussell & BFE. Part of the allure was there really was no road there before the INT.

[Scott5114]

Actually, it misses Bugtussle by about 10 miles. https://www.google.com/maps/place/35%C2%B001'51.0%22N+95%C2%B041'24.0%22W/@35.0320179,-95.8701923,11.54z/data=!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d35.030833!4d-95.69?hl=en