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Longest east-west stretches along normally north-south highways, and vice versa

Started by KCRoadFan, February 11, 2024, 03:10:15 AM

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GaryV

Quote from: Great Lakes Roads on February 12, 2024, 03:47:02 AM
Another one in Michigan: I-196 runs more north-south than east-west.

It "switches" direction at Holland - e/w east of there, n/s south of there.


GaryV

Quote from: jlam on February 11, 2024, 04:11:22 PM
US 24 runs north-south between Vail and Buena Vista, Colorado, a total of nearly 70 miles.

It's also n/s from Toledo to Clarkston, MI - but it's signed N/S there.

miclugo

If we're going by signed direction, all of I-85, in particular from about Suwanee, GA to Charlotte and from Greensboro to Durham. 

KCRoadFan

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on February 12, 2024, 01:25:51 AM
In Minnesota:

TH 1 between Ely and TH 61 is about 60 miles mostly N/S but signed E/W.

TH 9 between Benson and New London is 35 miles, due E/W but signed N/S and features two prominent "wrong way" stretches - this segment shouid probably either be re-oriented or just given a different number

I've heard anecdotes that locals on the shore refer to TH 61 as an E/W route, but never investigated this myself. There is one local sign in Two Harbors referring to "61 West".

TH 92 is fully N/S but signed E/W from its "eastern" terminus at TH 200 north to the town of Clearbrook, 27 miles.

And what about Highway 23, for that matter? It cuts across the state at a diagonal from SW to NE, about 350 miles from I-90 just east of Sioux Falls to Duluth. It's signed east-west, but I suppose a case for north-south signage could be made as well. (Or perhaps both - I could see it being marked N-S from I-90 to Willmar, then E-W from there to I-35, and then finally N-S again on the section near Duluth.) Anyway, what do you think?

TheHighwayMan3561

I've never had an issue with TH 23 being signed entirely E/W. I don't know if it was an error or not, but there were formerly signs for "23 South" coming off I-35 southbound in Duluth, with the signs likely dating to before the part of 23 through downtown and east Duluth was removed in 1997. The replacement signs no longer carry a directional indicator.
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Henry

Quote from: miclugo on February 12, 2024, 10:00:51 AM
If we're going by signed direction, all of I-85, in particular from about Suwanee, GA to Charlotte and from Greensboro to Durham. 
Also from Montgomery to Opelika, AL. The Greensboro-Durham section is also part of an I-40 concurrency.
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Rover_0

I take it that no one has yet mentioned the normally north-south US-89 running east-west for about 72 miles between Kanab, Utah and Page, Arizona? Well, fine, I will.

The vast majority of US-89A's route, despite being marked as N-S, runs more E-W, particularly between Fredonia and Bitter Springs, AZ.
Fixing erroneous shields, one at a time...

miclugo

QuoteAlso from Montgomery to Opelika, AL. The Greensboro-Durham section is also part of an I-40 concurrency.

Yes, that's true. 

Although I'm realizing now that this makes it sound like 85 looks like a staircase, when it's really not!  It's just a road that runs basically southwest to northeast, and has some segments that happen to be a little more east-west than others.

MATraveler128

Since I haven't seen it mentioned yet, I'm going to say MA 28 on Cape Cod which is signed north south from Falmouth to Chatham, but runs entirely east west. Even the segment from Middleborough to the Bourne Bridge runs more east west. MA 28 just has a really bizarre path in general.
Formerly BlueOutback7

Lowest untraveled number: 96

TheStranger

Not really a long stretch, but notable due to change of route type and importance:

Route 238 from Fremont to Castro Valley is north-south between I-680 and I-580, and runs north-south.

The freeway segment towards San Lorenzo and Ashland that is now I-238 is also signed as north-south, even though 0% of that short freeway connector between 580 and 880 runs north-south at all. 
Chris Sampang

DandyDan

IA 136 from Oxford Junction east to the Mississippi River Bridge in Clinton is signed N-S even though it's basically an E-W road for 49 miles.
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boilerup25

Here's another one:
I-85 from Atlanta to Charlotte is more E-W than N-S.
I-84 from Twin Falls to Hermiston has an NW-SE orientation, but has a steeper N-S run.
I-74 has a directly N-S segment from the Quad Cities to Galesburg.

JCinSummerfield

US-68 has a hook and goes E-W in Kentucky, but I'm not sure how it's signed.

hbelkins

Quote from: JCinSummerfield on February 19, 2024, 01:15:18 PM
US-68 has a hook and goes E-W in Kentucky, but I'm not sure how it's signed.

It's signed E-W, as is US 42.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

DandyDan

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on February 12, 2024, 01:25:51 AM
In Minnesota:

TH 1 between Ely and TH 61 is about 60 miles mostly N/S but signed E/W.

TH 9 between Benson and New London is 35 miles, due E/W but signed N/S and features two prominent "wrong way" stretches - this segment shouid probably either be re-oriented or just given a different number

I've heard anecdotes that locals on the shore refer to TH 61 as an E/W route, but never investigated this myself. There is one local sign in Two Harbors referring to "61 West".

TH 92 is fully N/S but signed E/W from its "eastern" terminus at TH 200 north to the town of Clearbrook, 27 miles.

Just looking at Google Street View, US 169 is signed N-S from Grand Rapids to Virginia even though it's more of an E-W road. MN 169 appears to be the same.
MORE FUN THAN HUMANLY THOUGHT POSSIBLE

TheCatalyst31

IL 113 is fully signed north-south but is primarily east-west. Oddly enough, its sister highway IL 102 across the Kankakee River is signed east-west.

TheStranger

An obvious Bay Area one that I just re-remembered:

I-580 between Exit 10B in Richmond and I-238 is mostly north-south, a distance of about 22 miles.  Arguably, one could even say that all of 580 from 101 to 238 is primarily a north-south route, despite the east-west Richmond-San Rafael Bridge: the portion from 101 to Albany is former north-south Route 17!

(580 provides part of an all-freeway north-south route from the South Bay to northern Marin County, bypassing San Francisco entirely)

Interestingly, 580 itself has a loop route around it that IS signed north-south - Route 13, whose termini are both on different portions of 580 - with the Ashby Avenue segment representing half the route and going entirely east-west!  (The 5.4 mile freeway portion from 580 to 24, a trajectory of north/northwest, is the only portion of 13 as built that fits a north-south orientation)

---

Also in the Oakland area is one that can be argued either way:

I-980 is signed east-west, though its orientation is primarily northeast/southwest.  As 980 was originally planned as an extension of the east-west 24, and seamlessly continues into 24, the orientation of the longer route was retained for the Interstate-funded final couple of miles to 880.
Chris Sampang

roadman65

Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

OCGuy81

I think I-82 could be mentioned here.

Roughly 40 miles south from I-90 until just south of Yakima, WA.

Then about another 30 mile N-S segment from just south of the Tri-Cities to its terminus at I-84 in Oregon.

DTComposer

More Bay Area:

CA-85 (signed north/south) runs decidedly east/west from CA-17 in Los Gatos to US-101 in south San Jose, nearly 45% of its entire length.

boilerup25

More I saw:
I-69 in Indiana from Fishers to Daleville (signed N-S, E-W in reality)
All of I-295 in Pennsylvania (signed E-W, actually N-S, used to be signed N-S when it was I-95)
I-295 in New Jersey from the US 1 junction to the NJ/PA line (signed N-S, actually E-W, same situation when this was I-95)

TheHighwayMan3561

Quote from: DandyDan on February 25, 2024, 04:58:35 AM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on February 12, 2024, 01:25:51 AM
In Minnesota:

TH 1 between Ely and TH 61 is about 60 miles mostly N/S but signed E/W.

TH 9 between Benson and New London is 35 miles, due E/W but signed N/S and features two prominent "wrong way" stretches - this segment shouid probably either be re-oriented or just given a different number

I've heard anecdotes that locals on the shore refer to TH 61 as an E/W route, but never investigated this myself. There is one local sign in Two Harbors referring to "61 West".

TH 92 is fully N/S but signed E/W from its "eastern" terminus at TH 200 north to the town of Clearbrook, 27 miles.

Just looking at Google Street View, US 169 is signed N-S from Grand Rapids to Virginia even though it's more of an E-W road. MN 169 appears to be the same.

Another significant one is US 10 between St. Cloud and Motley, which is 65 miles mostly N/S. You could probably put the start of the more N/S section a little further SE closer to Becker or Big Lake if you really wanted.
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

discochris

WIS 13. Starts near Superior and hugs the northern edge of the state. It starts out going north, but is technically considered southbound as it turns south near Red Cliff.

Bitmapped

All of I-79 is signed as north/south, but the part from its terminus at I-77 to US 19 at Exit 57 is predominantly east-west.

US 119 is signed as north/south in West Virginia. Its overall path in the state is a diagonal, but from Charleston to the PA line is a series of roads that are largely at right angles to each other. It is multiplexed with east-west US 33 for 81 miles from Spencer to Buckhannon.

WV 4, which parallels I-79 and US 119, is a diagonal, but covers 2.5x as much east-west distance as north-south distance. Nevertheless, it is posted north/south.

roadman65

US 62 in NY is 103 miles N- S with the final three miles running E-W in the opposite direction.

However, NYSDOT signs it North- South along with PA to the south.  The interesting thing is that in the Keystone State, the route is actually more East- West. Only north of US 6 it is truly N-S. PennDOT should banner it as East- West.

For sake of OP, the PA stretch being awkwardly signed also fits this discussion. US 62 is 113 miles in Pennsylvania.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe



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