Differences In How States Treat US Routes (+Jarring Transitions at State Lines)

Started by CoreySamson, August 09, 2022, 03:29:39 PM

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US20IL64

Quote from: Flint1979 on August 17, 2022, 09:15:33 PM
Quote from: thspfc on August 09, 2022, 09:03:12 PM
WISDOT was planning on a US-12 freeway across the IL border into Chicagoland, but IDOT never started it so the freeway ends at an awkward intersection in Genoa City.
That was the first one that came to mind when I was reading the OP. Like it's a nice freeway in Wisconsin then bam you get to the Illinois border and it turns into the two lane highway that IDOT doesn't want to upgrade into a freeway. I don't get IDOT from their weird selection of control cities to their lack of maintenance and upgrades it's just crazy. IDOT might just be the worst DOT out there.

NIMBY's said ''no'' and that was end of it.


brad2971

Give South Dakota's DOT credit for preparing drivers that the 4-lane Heartland Expressway (US-385) will end as a 2-lane just right before the Nebraska border.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0010582,-103.2246706,3a,75y,307.94h,87.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swihFZ7Rm5n-ylO0QbjIfFw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Bitmapped

Quote from: brad2971 on August 19, 2022, 12:25:57 AM
Give South Dakota's DOT credit for preparing drivers that the 4-lane Heartland Expressway (US-385) will end as a 2-lane just right before the Nebraska border.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0010582,-103.2246706,3a,75y,307.94h,87.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swihFZ7Rm5n-ylO0QbjIfFw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

That looks like a standard sign sequence for where a divided highway ends, and since that happens in South Dakota still, it's on them to sign it.

I checked the traffic count for US 385 and it's less than 1300 vehicles per day in South Dakota. That road has no business being four lanes.

Avalanchez71

Quote from: MoiraPrime on August 10, 2022, 09:53:46 AM
Quote from: CoreySamson on August 09, 2022, 03:29:39 PM
As an example, let's look at Mississippi and Alabama. These two states are similarly struggling when it comes to road funding (correct me if I'm wrong), but they treat their US routes almost completely differently. Mississippi's US routes are typically 4-lane divided highways with bypasses and sometimes exits (except when the route in question has been superseded by an interstate). Alabama, on the other hand, is more frugal in upgrading it's US highways, which seems to be only 4-laned on high-traffic corridors. Just look at US 84 on the border between these two states, and you'll see what I mean:
https://www.google.com/maps/@31.7643196,-88.4771634,12175m/data=!3m1!1e3

In Mississippi this is because in 1987 the state legislature passed a 4 lane highway project. They basically picked all the trunk roads in Mississippi and slowly upgraded them in phases.

I found a document about it here: https://mdot.ms.gov/documents/Administration/Reports/FY%202012/1987%20Four-Lane%20Highway%20Program%20Report.pdf

They also passed a law back then stating that a constable could not earn a fee for an arrest or citation occurring on a US Highway.

No constable shall receive any fee provided by law for making an arrest, or attending any trial, wherein the defendant has been arrested, or is being tried for any violation of the motor vehicle laws committed on any designated United States highway located within the district or county of the constable.

Quillz

The US routes in CA are generally pretty good. 101 and 395 in particular are mostly expressway or freeway. But the state line transitions are pretty seamless as they pass from rural CA into rural OR or NV.

andrepoiy

I guess the Canadian equivalent of this would be the TCH.

Whereas the Western provinces treat it as their most important corridor (signing them with a TCH shield and naming it Highway 1), Ontario and Quebec really couldn't care less about it, co-signing them with provincial routes, and not bothering to sign the TCH shield at junctions. The Atlantic provinces then have the middle ground, where they do consider the TCH routes to be important, and have a shield for it, but not important enough to have one consistent number. (NFL is the exception, where it treats the TCH like a Western province would).




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