Number of Major Cities that Major US Highways Pass Through

[Zeffy]

For example, US 1 hits a shitload of major cities along the east coast, starting with:

ME: Brunswick, Portland
NH: Portsmouth
MA: Boston
RI:  Providence
CT: New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford
NY: Bronx, Manhattan
NJ: Jersey City, Newark, Woodbridge (Township), New Brunswick, Trenton
PA: Philadelphia
MD: Baltimore
DC: Washington
VA: Richmond
NC: Raleigh
SC: Columbia
GA: Augusta
FL: Jacksonville, Port St Lucie, Miami

So, US 1 hits 24 major cities along it's entire length. It hits the most in New Jersey with 5. Do any other major US Highways pass through a close number of major cities within states?

FYI: My definition of "major city" is a city that is more important to your state than others. Most of the time, these are the cities mentioned by the state as their "core" cities. Feel free to post it anyway if you are unsure.

[adventurernumber1]

Since it's my avatar, I'll start with US 76. Really not much at all, lol.

Tennessee: Chattanooga
Georgia: no large cities
South Carolina: Columbia
North Carolina: Wilmington

[Kacie Jane]

I feel like this is going to be impossible without a better, less subjective definition of major cities. For instance, if I were making the list, I'd definitely include a couple of Florida cities that are definitely more major than Woodbridge (Daytona for example???), and recognize that by any definition, Bronx and Manhattan are not separate cities.

[pianocello]

I'll go with the US Route I'm most familiar with, US 6.

CA: Formerly Los Angeles and Long Beach, but not anymore
NV: really nothing
UT: Provo's southern suburbs
CO: Denver
NE: Lincoln, Omaha
IA: Des Moines, Iowa City, Davenport
IL: Chicago's southern suburbs
IN: NW Indiana (should probably be considered part of Chicago's southern suburbs)
OH: Cleveland
PA: Scranton
NY: Not much of anything
CT: Danbury, Hartford
RI: Providence
MA: Fall River

That's between 13 and 15, depending on how you look at it. For a cross-country route, it doesn't hit much of anything.

[golden eagle]

I-10: Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans and Jacksonville.

[Zeffy]

I feel like this is going to be impossible without a better, less subjective definition of major cities. For instance, if I were making the list, I'd definitely include a couple of Florida cities that are definitely more major than Woodbridge (Daytona for example???), and recognize that by any definition, Bronx and Manhattan are not separate cities.

Maybe an easier way to put it is cities with a population of at least 70k? Major Cities IMO are ones that you generally know by name when referring to the state in question. Except with this criteria, New Brunswick isn't considered a major city since it only has 55k people, but I still think it's major (as it hosts the de-facto state college of New Jersey). That's why I'm reluctant to use a population size as an indicator. That's why I opted for the posting of cities that people think are major in their respective states.

[Brandon]

I feel like this is going to be impossible without a better, less subjective definition of major cities. For instance, if I were making the list, I'd definitely include a couple of Florida cities that are definitely more major than Woodbridge (Daytona for example???), and recognize that by any definition, Bronx and Manhattan are not separate cities.

Maybe an easier way to put it is cities with a population of at least 70k? Major Cities IMO are ones that you generally know by name when referring to the state in question. Except with this criteria, New Brunswick isn't considered a major city since it only has 55k people, but I still think it's major (as it hosts the de-facto state college of New Jersey). That's why I'm reluctant to use a population size as an indicator. That's why I opted for the posting of cities that people think are major in their respective states.

Exactly.  What defines a "major city" varies from state to state, and from area to area.  Marquette is a major city in Michigan's UP despite only having a population of 21k.  Livonia, next to Detroit, has a population four times that amount, but is not a major city as it is merely part of a larger metro area.

A cutoff of 70k leaves out every city in West Virginia, Wyoming, Maine, and Vermont.

[Zeffy]

Exactly.  What defines a "major city" varies from state to state, and from area to area.  Marquette is a major city in Michigan's UP despite only having a population of 21k.  Livonia, next to Detroit, has a population four times that amount, but is not a major city as it is merely part of a larger metro area.

A cutoff of 70k leaves out every city in West Virginia, Wyoming, Maine, and Vermont.

I leave it to the opinion of the poster on their definition of whether or not a city is major enough. My criteria I used was:

* State Capitals (obviously)
* Major state college towns (I.E. New Brunswick and Rutgers)
* Heavily developed city (in comparison to others in the state)

The criteria is vague, but that's why I've left it up to the poster on whether or not they want to list it. Pianocello's list is a good example of what I'm looking for.

[JakeFromNewEngland]

US 3
MA: Cambridge
NH: Nashua, Manchester, Concord

US 5
CT: New Haven, Hartford
MA: Springfield
VT: Not really any major US cities, however many cities can be considered "large" on a Vermont scale. These cities I would count as Brattleboro, White River JCT. (Hartford), and St. Johnsbury.

US 44
NY: Poughkeepsie
CT: Hartford
RI: Providence
MA: On a historical scale, US 44 ends in Plymouth, MA.

US 7
CT: Norwalk, Danbury
MA: Pittsfield
VT: Rutland, Burlington

[Zeffy]

US 30:

NJ: Atlantic City, Camden
PA: Philadelphia, Lancaster, York, Gettysburg, Pittsburgh
WV: <nothing qualified as major>
OH: Canton, Mansfield*
IN: Fort Wayne
IL: Joliet
IA: Cedar Rapids
NE: <nothing qualified as major>*
WY: Cheyenne
ID: Twin Falls, Boise
OR: Portland, Astoria

* Means that I wasn't sure on whether or not it should be listed

[hotdogPi]

US 3
MA: Cambridge
NH: Nashua, Manchester, Concord

US 5
CT: New Haven, Hartford
MA: Springfield
VT: Not really any major US cities, however many cities can be considered "large" on a Vermont scale. These cities I would count as Brattleboro, White River JCT. (Hartford), and St. Johnsbury.

US 44
NY: Poughkeepsie
CT: Hartford
RI: Providence
MA: On a historical scale, US 44 ends in Plymouth, MA.

US 7
CT: Norwalk, Danbury
MA: Pittsfield
VT: Rutland, Burlington

I would also include Lowell MA for US 3.

[hbelkins]

Why is Port St. Lucie a major city for US 1?

[adventurernumber1]

Why is Port St. Lucie a major city for US 1?

PSL has roughly 170k people, and it's a growing city in FL. But agreeing with someone else, for US 1 in FL, I would have put Daytona Beach as well. I would have also added Ft. Lauderdale (even though it's in the Miami Metropolitan Area, it's still a pretty large city), and possibly even Titusville.

[Charles2]

U.S. 11

Louisiana: Slidell
Mississippi: Hattiesburg, Meridian
Alabama: Tuscaloosa, Birmingham (bypasses Gadsden)
Georgia: Nothing
Tennessee: Chattanooga, Knoxville, Bristol
Virginia: Roanoke
West Virginia: Martinsburg
Maryland: Hagerstown
Pennsylvania: Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton
New York: Binghamton, Syracuse

US 31

Alabama: Montgomery, Hoover, Birmingham
Tennessee: Nashville
Kentucky: Bowling Green, Louisville
Indiana: Jeffersonville, Indianapolis, West Lafayette, Gary

[DTComposer]

(cities in italics may not qualify as major, depending on your criteria, but all do have significant regional importance.)

US-101
Los Angeles
Oxnard
Ventura
Santa Barbara
Santa Maria
San Luis Obispo
Salinas
San Jose
San Francisco
Santa Rosa
Eureka
Coos Bay
Astoria
Aberdeen
Port Angeles
Olympia

One could argue that there's only three major cities on this list (Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose), which might make US-101 a candidate for fewest major cities per mile?

[GaryV]

US 31

Alabama: Montgomery, Hoover, Birmingham
Tennessee: Nashville
Kentucky: Bowling Green, Louisville
Indiana: Jeffersonville, Indianapolis, West Lafayette, Gary

I presume you meant South Bend.

Why not include Benton Harbor/St Joe, Holland, Grand Haven, Muskegon and Traverse City?

[hotdogPi]

One could argue that there's only three major cities on this list (Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose), which might make US-101 a candidate for fewest major cities per mile?

US 2.

[roadman65]

US 1 should include Edison for New Jersey as it is the fourth largest city in NJ. 

West Palm Beach, FL is very large and notable I might add.

Daytona Beach has the famous speedway.

Petersburg/ Colonial Heights needs mentioning for Virginia for sure.

[adventurernumber1]

US 31

Alabama: Montgomery, Hoover, Birmingham
Tennessee: Nashville
Kentucky: Bowling Green, Louisville
Indiana: Jeffersonville, Indianapolis, West Lafayette, Gary

I presume you meant South Bend.

Why not include Benton Harbor/St Joe, Holland, Grand Haven, Muskegon and Traverse City?

I think he mightve gotten mixed up and thought US 31 ended in Gary, as well as I-65 does. But US 31 does end its time being parallel to I-65 in Indianapolis, then goes north into northern Indiana, then into Michigan.

[roadman65]

If I made the assumption that US 31 ended in Gary some on here would have a field day with me lol!

Anyway yes I have to agree with this.  He obviously thought US 31 and I-65 are always joined at the hip.

[Pete from Boston]

US 1 should include Edison for New Jersey as it is the fourth largest city in NJ.

I vote no.  Both Woodbridge and Edison are large townships, not cities.  They are a) characteristically different from cities, and b) not generally considered "major" by anyone not in their immediate area, at least in part because of a). 

Also, not to nitpick (as I proceed to anyway), but Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, and Elizabeth are all bigger than either.   

[bassoon1986]

I put iffy ones with question marks. Tell me what you think. I feel like it's hard to not be biased with your home state. Some of the Louisiana ones I know aren't as big as cities in other states, but maybe in my mind it's because Louisiana has a decent amount of destinations on BGS's.


US 90:

Texas: San Antonio, Houston, Beaumont
Louisiana: Lake Charles, Lafayette, (Morgan City? or previously Houma?), New Orleans
Mississippi: Gulfport
Alabama: Mobile
Florida: Pensacola, Tallahassee, Jacksonville


US 80

Texas: Dallas, Longview?
Louisiana: Shreveport, Monroe
Mississippi: Vicksburg?, Jackson, Meridian
Alabama: Montgomery
Georgia: Columbus, Macon, Savannah

Historic 80:
Texas: also Abilene, El Paso
New Mexico: Las Cruces?
Arizona: Tucson, Yuma?
California: San Diego

[pianocello]

Historic 80:
Arizona: Tucson, Yuma?

Nit-picking here, but didn't US 80 go through Phoenix at one point?

And to actually contribute something to the thread, I'll do US 27 (historic in parenthesis):

MI: (Lansing)
IN: Fort Wayne
OH: Cincinnati
KY: Lexington
TN: Chattanooga
GA: Columbus
FL: Tallahassee, Disney area, Miami

[TheStranger]

Historic 80:
Arizona: Tucson, Yuma?

Nit-picking here, but didn't US 80 go through Phoenix at one point?

Indeed (it was AZ 84 that I-8 followed east from Gila Bend to Casa Grande, while US 80 followed today's AZ 85 north, then what later became (but no longer is) the east-west section of AZ 85 from Buckeye to Phoenix).

[bassoon1986]

Historic 80:
Arizona: Tucson, Yuma?

Nit-picking here, but didn't US 80 go through Phoenix at one point?

Indeed (it was AZ 84 that I-8 followed east from Gila Bend to Casa Grande, while US 80 followed today's AZ 85 north, then what later became (but no longer is) the east-west section of AZ 85 from Buckeye to Phoenix).

Yes! Thanks for that correction.