Business Interstate Routes Are They Useful for You?

[Rothman]

It was probably stated earlier, but my opinion is that the green interstate shield should be redesignated for toll routes and that business I-XX signage should change color or go away altogether.  There was a point in time where it made sense for smaller towns that were being bypassed to indicate commercial areas that could be accessed from the interstate, but that time has long since passed and most traveler businesses have been relocated nearer to interchanges at any rate.

If you were going to redesign the interstate shield for toll routes, I would just reverse the blue and red on the current shield. Green is a bad color for signage because it generally means a guide sign.

Actually, since the Feds recognize Purple as the color to designate an electronic tollway, why not just use that? White on Purple would stand out.

Not to red-green colorblind people.

[Roadgeekteen]

I wish we had some. I believe the one closest to me is all the way in Pennsylvania.

[pderocco]

I grew up in Massachusetts, which doesn't have any roads signed as business routes, but it does have a lot of alternate routes with an A suffix. There are two things to note about them. First, many roads have alternates in several places, and they all use the same A suffix, rather than A, B, C,  which to me seems entirely reasonable, as they all represent old alignments of the same road, which can be thought of as having an invisible concurrency with the main road between the alternate roads. Second, they are all state highways, signed as such, so they don't need to ask AASHTO for permission to number them that way.

In Massachusetts, most alternates are associated with state routes, but US-1, US-6, and US-20 all have state route alternates. No Interstates do, but I see no reason why the logic couldn't be extended to Interstates when they bypass a town leaving only the main drag through the town center. That would be unlikely to happen in Massachusetts, because Interstates were never built over older roads, but were always built along completely new alignments where there were few properties to condemn (which is why there are no BRs there). But when I think of all the BRs along, say, I-10 or I-40 out west, I don't know why they couldn't call the BRs route 40A, and sign them as either state routes or county routes.

Even as a young child I was aware that A meant an alternate route that left the main route for a while and ultimately came back to it. That's one of the two guarantees implied by a "business loop", the other being that they have business on them. Perhaps they could use B as a suffix instead for those, and reserve A for old alignments that have few businesses. But the main point is that multiple loops from the same road wouldn't need sequential letter suffixes, because they don't represent confusing numbering conflicts.

[ran4sh]

The main problem with that suggestion is that businesses often close and the DOT or other agency doesn't end up updating the route designations to reflect that.

[JayhawkCO]

I wish we had some. I believe the one closest to me is all the way in Pennsylvania.

What benefit would they provide you other than novelty?

[DandyDan]

It seems like the most common rationale for business Interstates is to serve as some level (usually minimal) of compensation to a bypassed town to direct traffic to businesses somewhat dependent upon a steady traffic stream.  Almost invariably the loops are along the former signed highway, regardless of whether much of the town was served by that highway or not.  If that were less of a common configuration, and the business-loop concept expanded to serve actual extant business areas either on or off the former through highway, there might be a real reason to post such things.  As an example, Sioux Falls, SD has business routes decidedly not on former US 16 and US 77 -- and the times I've been through the town I've managed to find decent dining along those routes, particularly "Spur 29" on 41st Street.  Creative thinking regarding these things might be the key to successful biz-loop/spur deployment.

To me, this seems like the only justification for the existence of BL 35 in Clear Lake, Iowa, a city dependent on some tourist money. There don't seem to be many actual businesses on that route, and the ones that are on it are on US 18.

[kphoger]

If you were going to redesign the interstate shield for toll routes, I would just reverse the blue and red on the current shield. Green is a bad color for signage because it generally means a guide sign.

I don't know if swapping the colors is different enough to be clearly distinguishing:

Red shouldn't be used for a route shield background.

... an alternate route that left the main route for a while and ultimately came back to it. That's one of the two guarantees implied by a "business loop", the other being that they have business on them.

Glenrio, NM/TX

[Rothman]

Why not red?

[kphoger]

Red shouldn't be used for a route shield background.

Why not red?

Because . . .

Preface

The use of red on signs is limited to stop, yield, and prohibition signs.

[Rothman]

Red shouldn't be used for a route shield background.

Why not red?

Because . . .

Preface

The use of red on signs is limited to stop, yield, and prohibition signs.

Oh.  Reasons.

[vdeane]

Red shouldn't be used for a route shield background.

Why not red?

Because . . .

Preface

The use of red on signs is limited to stop, yield, and prohibition signs.

New Zealand says hi.

[kphoger]

New Zealand says hi.

Well yeah, obviously US standards don't apply outside the US.

[Molandfreak]

I wish we had some. I believe the one closest to me is all the way in Pennsylvania.

What benefit would they provide you other than novelty?

Useful paths through town. Not everyone wants to use GPS every time they're just looking for something to eat.

[Molandfreak]

From a western perspective, I tend to like business routes because they 1) tell me a town is fairly substantial and is likely to have anything I might need, and 2) provide a signed surface through route if I do find myself off the freeway in such a town.

In Minnesota, they also tend to be established after locally-owned businesses lobby for them. So they can also tell me there are local businesses that are not part of a national chain in the town looking for patronage.

[Avalanchez71]

I noticed they are signed pretty well in South Dakota; however, they are not on the South Dakota highway map.