Highways That are Overal Signed as One Direction, Signed in Another Direction

[ethanhopkin14]

So, obvious to Interstate and US Highways because odd are north-south and even are east-west, there are instances where highways are an overall one direction but for a section run the other direction, and are actually signed as much.  Three instances come to mind:  US-83 in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, runs east-west near it's southern terminus (now cosigned with east-west I-2) and is signed east-west, US-54 in southern New Mexico near the second time it goes into Texas, north of El Paso, is signed north-south, and I-76 for it's mile in Nebraska is signed north-south. 


What are other examples of the signed direction changed per actual cardinal heading, even though the overall route is one direction?

[ilpt4u]

I believe part of I-69 is signed E-W in Michigan

The I-94 part of the Tri-State Tollway in IL used to be signed N-S in places. I believe ISTHA has since changed all signage to reflect the E-W "Even"  status now, despite I-94 in IL being almost exclusively a N-S route

[1995hoo]

This thread is not quite the same as this prior one because it isn't limited to "the opposite direction" as the prior one was:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25938.0

[hotdogPi]

Found the previous thread:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=4953

[ethanhopkin14]

Found the previous thread:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=4953

Thanks, but some of the examples in that other thread do not qualify for what I was asking.  Some are just a north-south highway running east-west for a bit.  This thread is not just about a route changing direction, but when a DOT actually takes it upon themselves to sign it per the temporary direction change.  (see examples)

Than again, that's what happens with some threads.  They get a little off topic. 

[TheHighwayMan3561]

In Minnesota MN 95 is signed N-S from Hastings to Taylors Falls, then E-W from Taylors Falls to St. Cloud.

I don't know of any other extant state-maintained examples offhand (there are county roads that switch or are mis-signed in spots). US 52 may have changed over in St. Paul when it was an independent route.

[Takumi]

VA 147 is a fucking mess.

[usends]

What are other examples of the signed direction changed per actual cardinal heading, even though the overall route is one direction?

As far as US routes, there are several examples and lots of discussion in this thread.

[ethanhopkin14]

What are other examples of the signed direction changed per actual cardinal heading, even though the overall route is one direction?

As far as US routes, there are several examples and lots of discussion in this thread.

I disagree with US-96 being on this thread.  The whole route is signed north-south.  If it were east-west for a stretch, and signed that way, then it turned north-south and then was signed that way, then it would be what I was asking.   

[KCRoadFan]

I believe US 1 in Connecticut is signed east-west at least in some places. I remember seeing at least one such sign near Groton.

[hbelkins]

West Virginia seems to be involved in a lot of these. Ohio as well.

US 33 (N-S in Indiana, E-W everywhere else).
US 35 (E-W in Ohio, N-S everywhere else).
US 250 (N-S in West Virginia, E-W everywhere else).
US 52 (does South Carolina sign it consistently, or is it it E-W in some places and N-S in others?)

And don't forget the oddity that is US 321 and its transition from N-S to S-N in Elizabethton, Tenn.

[jtespi]

New Mexico is actually surprisingly(?) very inconsistent with their signing of US-54's cardinal directions. It is signed north-south from the TX state line in El Paso to US-285 in Vaughn. At the concurrency junctions in Vaughn, US-54 is inconsistently signed both east-west and north-south. From Vaughn to Santa Rosa it is signed north-south. In Tucumcari at Exit 329 and Exit 333 on I-40, US-54 is signed east-west.

I agree with the state that it should be signed north-south from the TX state line in El Paso to US-285 in Vaughn. To be honest, I think US-54 should be signed N-S in El Paso because the frontage roads are named "Gateway North" and "Gateway South".
However, I think US-54 should be signed E-W from Vaughn to Santa Rosa since there is a 0.5° difference in longitude compared to a 0.35° difference in latitude. At least US-54 is correctly signed E-W from Tucumcari to the NM-TX state line where there's a 0.66° difference in longitude compared to a 0.47° ▲ lat.

[kirbykart]

I'm pretty sure US 62 is signed north-south in most or all of Pennsylvania. It is signed north-south for its entire length in New York.

[SkyPesos]

Ohio has a few US route examples
- US 33: signed E-W
- US 35: signed E-W
- US 42: signed N-S
- US 68: signed N-S

This leads to an interesting situation in Xenia, where US 35, 42 and 68 meet, but none in their "implied" direction.

Some toss-ups
- A common error of the US 22/OH 3 concurrency reassurance shields is the switch of the cardinal direction. So sometimes you have US 22 signed N-S (and OH 3 signed E-W).
- US 62 could possibly be signed N-S south of Columbus, I'm not sure.

[Hobart]

The state of Iowa signs US-52 as north-south, where Illinois signs it as east-west. There's at least one other state that signs US-52 north-south, it might be one of the Carolinas, but I forgot exactly which one.

I think I-75 is signed east and west for its stint on Alligator Alley as well, but I'm not sure of Florida stopped doing this.

US-24 also is signed north and south in the state of Michigan only; everywhere else, it's signed east and west.

[hbelkins]

The state of Iowa signs US-52 as north-south, where Illinois signs it as east-west. There's at least one other state that signs US-52 north-south, it might be one of the Carolinas, but I forgot exactly which one.

E-W in Indiana and Ohio; N-S in West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. I have seen it signed both N-S and E-W in South Carolina.

[webny99]

I think NY 3 qualifies.. it is appropriately signed as both north-south and east-west at various points along its length.

[Dirt Roads]

Ohio has a few US route examples
- US 33: signed E-W
- US 35: signed E-W
- US 42: signed N-S
- US 68: signed N-S

Some of these used to be signed in quarter-ordinates.  For instance, US-33 was signed as NORTH-WEST and SOUTH-EAST.  I always thought that was cool.  I'm assuming that ODOT switched over after FHWA refused to pay for signage not strictly conforming to trailblazer signage specifications from the MUTCD (same kind of thing that ended colored U.S. route shields in Florida).

[jp the roadgeek]

US 202 is signed North-South in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.  It changes to East-West in New York and is East-West in Connecticut until Avon, where it becomes North-South again (to be consistent with CT 10; most locals refer to it as Route 10 anyway).  It remains North-South throughout Massachusetts, then East-West again in New Hampshire and Maine.

CT 72 used to be signed North-South between US 6 and CT 4, as well as on the portion that used to follow what is CT 3 to Middletown.  It is currently signed East-West throughout, although CTDOT logs it North-South, which explains why the mileage-based exit numbers will go from East to West instead of West to East as the sequential numbers currently do.

There are only a couple of East-West signs for US 1 left in CT.  Most are directionals from another route (CT 146, CT 77, and CT 79 are a few I can think of).  All reassurance shields on the route itself are North-South. 

[LilianaUwU]

QC 132 changes from EB to WB and vice versa once it hits Percé.

QC 169 changes from NB to SB and vice versa somewhere in its Lac Saint Jean loop (not sure where).

[kphoger]

In because US-101 hasn't been mentioned yet.  It changes twice in Washington, to the point that it eventually ends up with North and South completely reversed.  That is, if you head up from Astoria on US-101 North, you'll eventually be on US-101 East, and then ultimately on US-101 South.

[kirbykart]

I think NY 3 qualifies.. it is appropriately signed as both north-south and east-west at various points along its length.

Why did I think Route 3 ended in Sackets Harbor? 

[amroad17]

To elaborate on hbelkins comment on US 321, this US highway has the distinction of being signed N-S from Hardeeville, SC to Elizabethton, TN, then as the highway makes a westerly-southwesterly turn, it is signed S-N from Elizabethton to its end in Lenoir City, TN, where the highway is physically heading north.  The directional change occurs at the US 19E/US 321/TN 67 intersection in Elizabethton where each first reassurance sign leading from that intersection both have SOUTH above the US 321 shield.  TNDOT should have made the cardinal directions W-E from there to Lenoir City.

USENDS.com has an excellent explanation of this oddity.

[amroad17]

When I was younger, I was perplexed as to why some highways were signed, say E-W, then were switched to N-S for an unexplained reason, then switched back to E-W.  NY 3 was my first time experiencing something like this, with my thought of "why is this signed N-S here when this has been signed E-W from Tupper Lake?"  I knew the highway was physically heading N-S at this point, but I did not believe it warranted a cardinal direction change since it was heading west again near Palermo at the NY 264 intersection.  I also noticed that NY 13 was signed East at the NY 3 intersection at Port Ontario (since corrected).

I could understand if a cardinal direction was switched at a state line (example: US 4), but the switches within a state were perplexing.  One historical one was VA 168.  When I moved to Chesapeake, VA in 1972, VA 168 was signed N-S in Norfolk and Chesapeake but signed W-E from the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel to its end at the current VA 30/33/249 intersection.  I believed it was supposed to be signed N-S everywhere.  It was not until reading entries in Virginia Highways Project that the section on the Southside was added after the section on the Peninsula and that is why the cardinal directions were they way they were.  This became moot when VA 168 was truncated to the Tidewater Dr/W. Ocean View Ave intersection in 1980.

As I have gotten older (and hopefully, wiser), the perplexity is gone and I just appreciate the oddities of our country's highway system.

[Evan_Th]

US 101 in Washington, in its 3/4-loop around the Olympic Peninsula, goes from being signed N/S to E/W to S/N.