Discontinuous segments of signed, numbered routes

[hbelkins]

Kentucky has in the past been pretty good about not signing discontinuous segments of numbered highways. There have always been some exceptions where routes have been separated by geographical features, such as a lack of a bridge (KY 70, KY 92, KY 57 before it was rerouted), mountains (KY 72) or state line crossings (KY 87).

That's changing. Kentucky has started giving the same number to discontinuous segments of highways replaced by new alignments. An example is KY 2792. Two portions of KY 92 have been relocated to a new alignment, one extending east of US 27 in McCreary County and one extending west from I-75 in Whitley County. In both counties (in different highway districts, I should note) the old alignments of KY 92 have been posted as KY 2792. The routes are not co-signed along the section of KY 92 that hasn't been replaced.

Also, KY 1428 is discontinuous in Johnson and Floyd counties. The implied concurrency along US 23 is not signed. And KY 1247, the old alignment of US 27 between Stanford and Somerset (until a portion of US 27 was relocated for a third time) is increasingly being signed as discontinuous segments with no concurrencies.

Which states are good about meticulously signing concurrencies and which are bad about it ?(Here's looking at Arkansas.)

[pianocello]

Kinda like US-85 and US-87 "disappearing" along I-25 in Colorado or Florida highway A1A, right?

[roadman65]

Texas is both.  In Dallas you will not see either US 67 or US 77 signed at all as they both use the interstate system.  Yet in nearby Fort Worth the US routes there are signed where concurrent with the interstates.

San Antonio not only signs US 87 with I-10 but also gets San Angelo signed with El Paso on I-10 W Bound.

Of course US 77, unsigned with I-35E in Dallas will be signed with I-69E when that is done, and in fact already is from Raymondville to the Mexican Border.

[Eth]

That's changing. Kentucky has started giving the same number to discontinuous segments of highways replaced by new alignments. An example is KY 2792. Two portions of KY 92 have been relocated to a new alignment, one extending east of US 27 in McCreary County and one extending west from I-75 in Whitley County. In both counties (in different highway districts, I should note) the old alignments of KY 92 have been posted as KY 2792. The routes are not co-signed along the section of KY 92 that hasn't been replaced.

This sounds very much like MD 144, which is the number given to numerous discontinuous segments of old US 40. Even short implied concurrencies, like the one with MD 27 at the I-70 interchange, are not signed.

[dgolub]

New York has three routes with discontinuous segments, NY 24, NY 42, and NY 878.  As far as I know, none of them have signage between the segments.  There's also NY 120A, which crosses in and out of Connecticut.  I'm pretty sure that there's no route signage along the part in Connecticut, but since it's just a matter of going straight to stay on NY 120A, it probably doesn't confuse too many people.

[NWI_Irish96]

Indiana has a whole bunch of discontinuous state highways.  IN 101 has four discontinuous sections.

Some of the discontinuities resulted from decommissioning middle segments in order to return the road to local control or avoid lengthy duplexes with US/interstate highways.  Other discontinuities existed from the start but were numbered the same because of being in the same latitude/longitude on the state numbering grid.

[formulanone]

Mississippi has lots of disconnected MS 1xx routes applied former US Routes alignments. For example, MS 182 follows Old US 82 at times, but doesn't always connect where bridges have been removed.

FL 2 exists in four pieces, some of it downgraded to CR 2.

[bing101]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_65


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_84


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_90


In California there are 2 sections of CA-84, CA-90 and CA-65

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Minnesota I believe only has one intentional example, which is MN 65's gap through downtown Minneapolis that MNDot turned back about 2008. 65 still exists as the short freeway between its southern terminus at I-35W and downtown, then ends at the end of the freeway before picking up again where MN 65 intersects Washington Avenue several blocks ahead.

An unintentional example would be MN 101 in Carver County where that county has variously refused to accept certain sections of road for turnback.

[SD Mapman]

The only (signed) one in SD is SD 25 in the southeastern part of the state.

Now, there are several designated discontinuities, (SD 115 and 42 don't technically exist in Sioux Falls, SD 63 has an inexplicable gap near Parmelee, SD 53 is technically two segments), but these are all signed as if they don't exist.

[freebrickproductions]

AL 53's concurrency with US 231 isn't signed (save for a few AL 53 shields at the intersection with Drake Avenue here in Huntsville).

[froggie]

Minnesota I believe only has one intentional example, which is MN 65's gap through downtown Minneapolis that MNDot turned back about 2008.

If you include county routes, then there are scores of examples across Minnesota where a county route is offset along a state/US route.  Very few of them are signed, but by definition even the signed ones do not officially exist.

Although there is signage directing drivers to use I-94, MN 55 officially has a gap in downtown Minneapolis.

[jbnati27]

At least according to my observations, Ohio's pretty good about signing concurrencies. I've seen US40 & I-70 signed together around Cambridge, OH. Here around Cincinnati, there is even a US52 reassurance marker on I-275 between exits 71&72. However, I have never seen an Ohio 4 marker in Downtown Dayton along I-75, although I've seen it on some BGS at entrance ramps.

[NE2]

Although there is signage directing drivers to use I-94, MN 55 officially has a gap in downtown Minneapolis.

If the signs aren't official, who posted them?

[froggie]

It's possible the city posted them, as MnDOT has a maintenance agreement with Minneapolis for much of the state highway mileage in the city.  But MnDOT's logpoint is very clear that there's a gap.

[oscar]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_65

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_84

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_90

In California there are 2 sections of CA-84, CA-90 and CA-65

And two sections of CA-146, CA-168, CA-173, CA-178, and CA-190 (all broken up by mountains or other topographic barriers blocking a road connection, except CA-173 has a dirt road connection closed to the general public). CA-162 is also broken up by a mountain range, but there is a non-state road between the segments. CA 39 has three disconnected segments, one break due to a long-term road closure through mountains, and the other due to a never-built highway segment but there are connecting county roads between La Habra and Covina. CA-144 has two segments in Santa Barbara, connected by a local road. CA-271 also has two segments, connected by US 101.

Caltrans' route logs indicate CA-120 and CA-89 are broken up by national parks, though there are connecting roads within those parks, and for least CA-120 the park has non-Caltrans signage pointing motorists to the route continuation on the other side of the park.

Of all these disconnected segments, CA-120 might have the best-signed connection between segments. Others don't have any signage  at all. But there are some with which I don't have first-hand experience.

[Jim]

I was thinking that the two disconnected segments of FL 84 might qualify, given Florida's hidden state highway designations along I- and US- routes, but apparently Alligator Alley shares the hidden FL 93 designation with the rest of I-75.

[Duke87]

There's also NY 120A, which crosses in and out of Connecticut.  I'm pretty sure that there's no route signage along the part in Connecticut,

There are several NY 120A shields on the CT side of the section that straddles the state line, and a quite erroneous CT 120A shield on the southbound offramp from the Merritt.

The segments entirely within Connecticut do not have any 120A shields but they do have NYSDOT-issue reference markers, of which the middle line is "8701" as though the route never left Westchester County (for the uninitiated, that's region 8, county 7, first county the route passes through).

The spot where one must make a left turn to follow 120A to the north end (within CT) has the turn signed as TO NY 120. There are in fact several NY 120 (not A) shields within Connecticut indicating turns onto roads that will take you back to it.

Also...

but since no one in the area pays attention to route numbers, it probably doesn't confuse too many people.

FTFY. A local would know it as "King Street" and stand a decent chance of not knowing what "route 120A" is.

[noelbotevera]

PA 29 disappears when touching I-78 near Allentown, then suddenly reappears near Scranton. There's a large gap that I believe was filled for a long time before PA chopped the route. Might have to look at maps.

[briantroutman]

One of the more notable examples is US 422, which disappears westbound (ends, according to signage) in Hershey, PA and likewise eastbound in Ebensburg, PA.

Some evidence suggests that PennDOT internally considers US 422 to be continuous (a long, unsigned overlap with US 322 and 22) despite the END signs at either end.

[thenetwork]

Kinda like US-85 and US-87 "disappearing" along I-25 in Colorado or Florida highway A1A, right?

US-6 & US-50 in Western Colorado/Eastern Utah also say Hi!!!   

There's even a stretch of CO-141 SE of Grand Junction which multiplexes with US-50.  The 2-3 mile duplex is not co-signed -- rather they just have trailblazer signs in 4 locations which say "TO NORTH/SOUTH CO-141" with arrow blades. Probably a little easier to slap a NORTH CO-141 or SOUTH CO-141 underneath the WEST or EAST US-50 reassurance shields accordingly.

[cpzilliacus]

Kinda like US-85 and US-87 "disappearing" along I-25 in Colorado or Florida highway A1A, right?

US-6 & US-50 in Western Colorado/Eastern Utah also say Hi!!!   

Yeah, I noticed there is no mention of then along I-70 in either state, is there?

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Kinda like US-85 and US-87 "disappearing" along I-25 in Colorado or Florida highway A1A, right?

US-6 & US-50 in Western Colorado/Eastern Utah also say Hi!!!   

Yeah, I noticed there is no mention of then along I-70 in either state, is there?

Further, I think CDOT considers them to not even exist at all when they're on I-70, effectively creating I think 4 separate independent segments of US 6 within Colorado. AASHTO does for continuity purposes though.

[mrsman]

Not a fan of signing discontinuous segments the same number.  For state routes, it should be fairly easy to just renumber the different segments, there is no limit to numbers.   Furthermore, very few states actually have a numbering systmem that has to be followed.  I feel that US 422 should be treated similarly, the eastern US 422, lying entirely within PA should be a PA state route.

For situations like MD 144, where the state may want to keep the old routing of US 40 from Baltimore to the west being one number, the obvious solution there would be US 40A.  Bannered routes like alternate and business by definition could be discontinuous, so long as the discontinuous portion is the main US highway.

For most US highway discontinuities, like US 6 and US 50 mentioned earlier, the easiest solution would be more signage.  Now, it would not be required to have a shield for US 6 every time there is a shield for I-70, or at every exit, but there should be reassurance at a minimum every 10 miles.

[jemacedo9]

PA 29 disappears when touching I-78 near Allentown, then suddenly reappears near Scranton. There's a large gap that I believe was filled for a long time before PA chopped the route. Might have to look at maps.

Yes, PA 29 was replaced by (and partially re-routed because of) US 309 (later decommissioned to PA 309) between Tunkhannock and Allentown.  PA 29 also used to extend south to West Chester, and then very early on extend south to Delaware via US 202.

On the PennDOT website, you can download old maps from each decade, and some of the route changes are interesting.

Also in PA...PA 97 has a segment near Erie, and another segment south of Gettysburg that replaced US 140 when that was decommissioned - renumbered to match MD 97.  These two segments are unrelated.