Oregon Route 50

[Quillz]

At one point in the past, OR 39 (or its predecessor) continued east into Malin, Oregon from the junction between Malin and Merrill; then headed southeast (reuniting with SR 139 south of Tulelake, CA). This stretch of road continues to be known as the Klamath Falls-Malin Highway within Oregon, and has an ODOT Highway number (not a route number) of 50. It is unclear whether or not this highway will ever be signed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Route_39#History

Given that Oregon has been actively assigning numbers to previously unsigned highways since 2002, is there any reason why they are not actually signing the Klamath Falls-Malin Highway as Oregon Route 50?

The historic Oregon 50 was replaced long ago by US 26, so it seems there wouldn't be any numbering conflict here.

[NE2]

It slipped through the cracks because most of Highway 50 is Route 39. There are a few other segments like this IIRC.

[xonhulu]

I think NE2 has the most likely explanation.  It's odd, because you would think there'd be some incentive to have Malin linked to the State Route system, but it somehow got overlooked.

I drove this highway a couple years ago.  I don't recall seeing any signs indicating its state highway status, except some Adopt-A-Highway signs.  I also want to add that one problem with signing it as OR 50 would be dumping more traffic onto CR 114, which I remember not being a very good road.

The other inexplicable omission from the 2002 routes was Hwy 372, the Century Drive Highway.  I would think it was important enough to merit a Route number.  Interestingly, it's depicted as OR 372 on the official state highway map.  The other omissions are no big deal; many are just spurs, and the one other I can think of, Hwy 420, really wouldn't be that useful as a route.

[Sd_fan2119]

A similar comparison is Canby-Marquam Highway, also known as "State Highway 170". I grew up in Canby and it seemed more people call it 170 rather than Canby-Marquam, yet it's never been marked. Even if you look in the Wikipedia database of Oregon highways which has 1 and 2-mile stretches which aren't marked (e.g. OR-452, 453, 454) but are still identified as "Oregon state routes", 170 isn't on here. Google Maps now even has the 170 in an oval highway symbol even though it's technically unmarked.

[NE2]

Google Maps now even has the 170 in an oval highway symbol even though it's technically unmarked.

Probably because TIGER has State Highway 170 as an alternate name.

[xonhulu]

A similar comparison is Canby-Marquam Highway, also known as "State Highway 170". I grew up in Canby and it seemed more people call it 170 rather than Canby-Marquam, yet it's never been marked. Even if you look in the Wikipedia database of Oregon highways which has 1 and 2-mile stretches which aren't marked (e.g. OR-452, 453, 454) but are still identified as "Oregon state routes", 170 isn't on here. Google Maps now even has the 170 in an oval highway symbol even though it's technically unmarked.

Canby-Marquam Highway #170 is no longer maintained by ODOT; it was relinquished in 1994, according to the HSHO document:  http://www.oregon.gov//ODOT/HWY/GEOMETRONICS/ROW_Eng/HistoryHighwaysOregon/HSHO.pdf

So the road was no longer under ODOT's jurisdiction when route numbers were assigned to the unsigned Oregon Highways back in 2002, which is why it's not on the list you saw on Wikipedia.  However, locals who remember the Highway still refer to it as Hwy 170, and I've even seen some maps that still have the hwy no. 170 associated with the road.

It is similar to Highway 50 in that the locals refer to it by its highway number even though it's unposted.  For example, here is Highway 50 depicted on a Klamath County map: