Long concurrencies vs. separate numbers -- discuss

[hotdogPi]

Another one is US 72 and US 76.  They come VERY CLOSE (within a mile) of ending end-to-end in Chattanooga, and combined they would follow a similar east-west path in each direction from Chattanooga.

I thought they did end end-to-end.

[froggie]

They don't.  72 ends at Broad and Main, but 76 ends at MLK and Market.

[bzakharin]

I'd keep the I-70/I-76 concurrency because it is part of the PA Turnpike in its entirety, so a continuous number makes sense.

On the other hand US 322/40 makes no logical sense because the two routes are concurrent to their terminus. I don't see how terminating 422 at 40 would hurt anyone.

[froggie]

I'd keep the I-70/I-76 concurrency because it is part of the PA Turnpike in its entirety, so a continuous number makes sense.

Flaw in this logic is that 76 splits off the Turnpike to head into Jersey.  If it stayed on the Turnpike all the way to the river, your argument would make more sense.

[bzakharin]

I'd keep the I-70/I-76 concurrency because it is part of the PA Turnpike in its entirety, so a continuous number makes sense.

Flaw in this logic is that 76 splits off the Turnpike to head into Jersey.  If it stayed on the Turnpike all the way to the river, your argument would make more sense.

Yeah, but it's such a short section in the grand scheme of things (and i think 76 splits off mostly to go to Philadelphia not NJ), and the rest is an x76 route. Sure it's going to partially be I-95 soon, but like I said, in most of PA I-76 = Turnpike.

[hbelkins]

They don't.  72 ends at Broad and Main, but 76 ends at MLK and Market.

They were once signed as ending at the same spot, but the reality was that even then they ended as you list.

[webny99]

On the flip side of the premise of this thread, what about two routes that together form a longer single corridor, but are given two separate numbers instead?

Rochester to Baltimore: I-390, I-86, I-99, US 15, I-83 

[Perfxion]

Pointless one in Texas, US290 and SH6. It's about 30 miles of pointlessness to connect a southern section that could have stayed FM1960.

[Beltway]

This logic is also why I don't support extending I-99 north of I-80: Considered in total (Corning to Bedford), it's just not a logical route, and it certainly doesn't merit incorporation into a highly visible Interstate designation over the other much more important interstate and international flows of traffic (Toronto to Baltimore/Washington, Buffalo to Baltimore/Washington, Rochester to Baltimore/Washington) that use the same corridor.

I-99 follows the Appalachian Thruway plan that was first proposed in the late 1950s, following the corridors of US-220 between Cumberland, MD and Williamsport, PA; and US-15 between Williamsport, PA and Corning, NY.  It does make logical sense for that corridor, granted that US-220 south of Bedford was defunded about 10 years ago to fund other projects.

These corridors were brought into the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) in 1965, and connect to other ADHS highways at each end.

Regarding I-99, I would favor extending it over that whole route, and if not, then eliminating it altogether.

[jp the roadgeek]

US 202 and several numbers along its route. The 202 corridor is circuitous, and 99% of people wouldn't use it to get from DE to ME.   First of all, the DE 141 and I-95 concurrencies are totally unnecessary.  From Haverstraw, NY to Westfield, MA, about 80% of it is multiplexed, and from Hillsborough, NH to its northern terminus, it's about 90% multiplexed.  The piece from Wilmington to Haverstraw should either become a rerouted US 13 (US 301 takes over Morrisville route) or have 301 goe to Haverstraw.  Eliminate the concurrences between Haverstraw and Westfield, and extend state routes over the standalone pieces. Demote the piece from Westfield to Belchertown, create a new state route, and extend MA 21 from Belchertown to Hillsborough (21 is available in NH).  Eliminate concurrent pieces north of there, and with a couple of short state route extensions, you're pretty much done.

[GenExpwy]

Another one is US 72 and US 76.  They come VERY CLOSE (within a mile) of ending end-to-end in Chattanooga, and combined they would follow a similar east-west path in each direction from Chattanooga.

It would be better to combine US 72 and US 74 (the west end of 74 is not far from Chattanooga), to eliminate the US 74/I-74 situation.

[jemacedo9]

Before cheaper airline travel and before GPS, having long concurrencies made sense to me, in some cases, for ease in navigation. For people travelling long distances to major metro areas, it is slightly easier to remember "take I-90 from Boston to Chicago" versus "I-90 to I-80 to I-92". So I can see the logic of this...but I don't think there are many examples where this is true. 

And now...I think it's even less important to keep continuity of route numbers, as long as there are enough numbers available. But I don't see the harm of keeping the existing ones in place, vs the hassle and expense of renumbering (ducks incoming commentary).

[Beltway]

Before cheaper airline travel and before GPS, having long concurrencies made sense to me, in some cases, for ease in navigation. For people travelling long distances to major metro areas, it is slightly easier to remember "take I-90 from Boston to Chicago" versus "I-90 to I-80 to I-92". So I can see the logic of this...but I don't think there are many examples where this is true. 

The I-80/I-90 overlap seems to be a special case, IMHO.  Both Interstates are coast-to-coast (or nearly so).  Yes, it is a very long overlap, but due to the configuration of the country, I-80 runs generally east-west and passes under the south of the Great Lakes, and I-90 bends southward so that it can also pass under the south of the Great Lakes.

The Ohio and Indiana turnpikes were already built in that corridor, and the I-80/I-90 overlap was logically placed there.  If the combined capacity was ever an issue then the highway could be widened to 6 lanes or more (and I believe that the Ohio Turnpike has recently been east of Toledo in the last 15 years).

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The local entry to this is MN 27 joining MN 65 for about 27 miles in east central MN. MN 27's role in this part of the state is to be a corridor for traffic from Duluth into central Minnesota. Along the duplex it flips geographically with MN 18 which largely serves a similar purpose. Traffic using this route is considerably less than that of MN 23 or MN 210 in the east central region.

[sparker]

I-7 or I-9 from Sacramento to Grapevine is supposed to be concurrent with CA-99.

It's pretty certain that whatever Interstate number that would be selected for CA 99, whether it be I-7 or I-9, would fully replace CA 99 south of either Sacramento or Stockton, depending upon the corridor's possible configurations.  Whatever is remaining of CA 99 north of the Interstate portion's end would in all likelihood retain the CA 99 designation.