US Route Freeways

[qguy]

Forgive if this question has been asked before. (I couldn't find it if it were.)

Is there a US route that is a freeway for its entire length?

If there is none, then which US route:
     1) Is a continuous freeway for the greatest percentage of its length?
     2) Is a freeway (noncontinuous) for the greatest percentage of its length?

[NE2]

Probably not, unless you count auxiliary ("bannered") routes. Even in the old days, US 66 may have been the only one.

[US71]

Probably not, unless you count auxiliary ("bannered") routes. Even in the old days, US 66 may have been the only one.

Possibly US 40 pre I-70

[Takumi]

If US 121 is ever built, would it be full freeway, or will it have at-grade intersections too?

[ftballfan]

If US 121 is ever built, would it be full freeway, or will it have at-grade intersections too?

I think it would have at-grade intersections.

US-40 is freeway from Oakley, KS to Topeka, KS
US-85 is freeway from Castle Rock, CO to El Paso, TX
US-87 is freeway from Buffalo, WY to Raton, NM

[corco]

US-87 is freeway from Buffalo, WY to Raton, NM

* east of Glenrock WY to Raton NM

[Scott5114]

I don't think US 66 and US 40 were ever 100% freeway either, reason being that most of the freeway bypasses were only built when the Interstate System started happened. Additionally, US 66 followed what's now SH 66 in Oklahoma up to the very end, and it's not a freeway at all.

[xonhulu]

I can't think of any US Highway today that is 100% freeway.

Historically, was the 2nd incarnation of US 48 (now I-68) ever completely a freeway?

[Mr. Matté]

What about the second US 48, the one that's now I-68? Basing what I've read off Teh Whickapedia, it seems like the US 48 designation was wholly on the freeway and not any surface roads (unless it was designated along US 40 while the part east of Cumberland was under construction).

EDIT: Or what he said.

[Beltway]

If US 121 is ever built, would it be full freeway, or will it have at-grade intersections too?

The Coalfields Expressway will have a limited access right-of-way, but will have some intersections at grade.  It won't be a freeway.

[Beltway]

What about the second US 48, the one that's now I-68? Basing what I've read off Teh Whickapedia, it seems like the US 48 designation was wholly on the freeway and not any surface roads (unless it was designated along US 40 while the part east of Cumberland was under construction).

I believe it was ... although not continuous until the last section of the National Freeway was opened, upon which the highway was designated I-68 and the US-48 designation removed.

[Riverside Frwy]

I don't think you will get full length freeways but you are more likely to find US Routes that are Expressways.

As for the US Route with the greatest mileage/percentage of freeway, My guess would US 101 in California. It's a freeway/expressway along most of the California Coast.(ATLEAST 70%-80%)

[froggie]

As for the US Route with the greatest mileage/percentage of freeway, My guess would US 101 in California. It's a freeway/expressway along most of the California Coast.(ATLEAST 70%-80%)

But much less in the other two states that US 101 traverses.  I read the OP's question as the entire length of a US route and not just its route within a given state.  Otherwise, you'd have US 22 in WV, US 75 in TX, and US 78 in MS fitting the bill.

[qguy]

I read the OP's question as the entire length of a US route and not just its route within a given state.

Yes, the OP (me) meant the entire length, not just its route within a given state.

[hbelkins]

My recollection of US 48 in WV and MD was that the designation ended somewhere in Cumberland, but I cannot remember exactly where. I do not recall US 40 and US 48 carrying a dual designation east of Cumberland.

I was on that route twice. Once in the early 80s, when much of US 40 between Cumberland and Hancock was still two lanes, and then again in the early 90s, just as the four-laning of US 40 was being finished up and a year or so prior to the designation of I-68 as such.

[Brandon]

US-131 is freeway for a great percentage of its length from Schoolcraft, MI north to Manton, MI.  Maybe 70% of US-131 is freeway.

[TheStranger]

US-131 is freeway for a great percentage of its length from Schoolcraft, MI north to Manton, MI.  Maybe 70% of US-131 is freeway.

169 of 271 miles, approximately 62.3%! 

Though interestingly that's not the highest percentage for a US route in a single state, which probably would go to US 78 (future I-22) in Mississippi.

I'll calculate a comparison to US 101 both in California alone, and as a whole route.

[TheStranger]

US 101 has an amazing 35 freeway segments (if we consider any stretch of road with one interchange and no intersections as a freeway, which Caltrans does for Route 35 in Daly City!) in California...

From Los Angeles, the first 79.4 miles are freeway before an at-grade intersection
then a 33 mile stretch between Carpinteria and about 3 miles west of Exit 113 (near Goleta)
a 7 mile stretch from 3 miles west of Exit 113 to near Refugio State Beach
2 miles around Exit 128
3.2 miles around the Gaviota split with Route 1 (Exit 132)
5.9 miles through Buellton
5.1 miles around Exit 146 (Route 154)
3.8 miles through Los Alamos
4.9 miles north from Palmer Road past Exit 161
19.6 miles through Santa Maria and Nipomo to Hemi Road
19 miles through Arroyo Grande and San Luis Obispo from East El Campo Road to Fox Hollow Road
23.1 miles from Tassajara Creek Road in Santa Margarita to Monterey Road in Paso Robles
47.7 miles from San Miguel to north of King City
5.6 miles through Greenfield
16.1 miles from south of Soledad to Gonzales
2.2 miles through Chualar
one brief interchange at Abbott Street/old US 101 south of Salinas
7.5 miles through Salinas
1 mile through Prunedale (south Route 156 junction)
13.5 miles from Route 156 north junction (San Juan Bautista)
1.1 miles around Exit 353 (Route 25)
80.7 miles from Mesa Road south of Gilroy to Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco
28.6 miles from Lyon Street & Richardson Avenue in San Francisco to north of Novato
2 miles near Redwood Sanitary Landfill Road exit
57.3 miles from Petaluma to approximately 11 miles north of Cloverdale
16.8 miles through Ukiah and Calpella
8.6 miles from Cummings to Leggett (bypassing south segment of Route 271/old US 101)
5.8 miles through Piercy (bypassing north segment of Route 271/old US 101)
43.5 miles from Benbow to south of Scotia (bypassing Route 254/old US 101/Avenue of the Giants)
4.2 miles from Scotia to Rio Dell
19.3 miles from Alton to south Eureka
24.3 miles from Arcata to Big Lagoon
2.6 miles around Exit 753 (Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway/old US 101)
2.6 miles around Exit 755 (Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway/old US 101)
4.8 miles through Klamath
3.7 miles from Crescent City to US 199

605.5 miles out of 807 = 75.03% of US 101 in California is freeway!  As 101 is the longest single road in the state, that's pretty impressive.

However, outside of the state, MUCH less of 101 is limited access.

In Oregon, only 3 miles of the 343 total contain any interchanges at all - four short segments all less than a mile, at OR 42 in Coos Bay, at OR 18 near Knight County Park, a RIRO configuration at OR 104S/Business US 101 in Warrenton, and at US 26 south of Seaside.  This only covers 0.87% of US 101 in that state!

Washington has slightly more freeway segments along its 365.55 miles of the route:

1/2 mile from WA 105 to US 12
4.8 mile bypass of Sequim
1.6 miles at WA 104 near Crocker Lake
6.1 miles bypassing Shelton
2.8 miles near Kamilche
1.2 miles in Schnieders Prairie
6.2 miles through Olympia from WA 8 to the terminus at I-5

This covers 23.2 miles of freeway for 6.35%, not much compared to California, but longer than Oregon.  This is barely longer than the Santa Margarita-Paso Robles segment of the US 101 freeway though!

Overall, 631.7 miles (95.85% of those located within California) of US 101 are freeway, out of a total distance of 1515.55 or so miles of the entire route, so 41.68% of US 101 as a whole is covered.

Had the Central Freeway gap between the SF Presidio and Market Street been filled in - approximately 4 miles - the longest continuous segment of freeway would have been 113 miles from Gilroy to Novato.  As it stands, the current longest segment is from Gilroy to Mission Street in San Francisco, at 80.7.

[corco]

4.8 mile bypass of Sequim

I think that's a Super-2

[TheStranger]

4.8 mile bypass of Sequim

I think that's a Super-2

I counted any limited-access/no-intersection segment in all the examples (several super 4 stretches in far northern California for instance), especially to highlight how rare interchanges are for US 101 north of Crescent City.

[Riverside Frwy]

As for the US Route with the greatest mileage/percentage of freeway, My guess would US 101 in California. It's a freeway/expressway along most of the California Coast.(ATLEAST 70%-80%)

But much less in the other two states that US 101 traverses.  I read the OP's question as the entire length of a US route and not just its route within a given state.  Otherwise, you'd have US 22 in WV, US 75 in TX, and US 78 in MS fitting the bill.

I know, but US 101 in California is so different from the US 101 in other states it might as well be considered a separate highway. In California, US 101 is practically an full freeway interstate, and acts like one, whereas in other states it's just a normal-ass US Highway.

US 101 has an amazing 35 freeway segments (if we consider any stretch of road with one interchange and no intersections as a freeway, which Caltrans does for Route 35 in Daly City!) in California...

-snip-
605.5 miles out of 807 = 75.03% of US 101 in California is freeway!  As 101 is the longest single road in the state, that's pretty impressive.

However, outside of the state, MUCH less of 101 is limited access.
-snip-

So my assertion of 70-80% was correct.

Seriously, US 101 in California could easily be upgraded to a freeway it's entire length and made into an interstate. The biggest issue with US 101 IMO is it's street running through downtown SF.

[Mapmikey]

The last versions of US 111, US 230, and US 240 were almost entirely freeways...

Mapmikey

[TheStranger]

Seriously, US 101 in California could easily be upgraded to a freeway it's entire length and made into an interstate. The biggest issue with US 101 IMO is it's street running through downtown SF.

I would say this is only really true for the segment of US 101 between Los Angeles and SF - reaching Interstate standards being an entirely extra addition altogether.  With the deferment of the Prunedale bypass, this isn't particularly inevitable.

The Santa Barbara section of freeway only dates back to mid-1992!

---

North of Ukiah things get very rural - absolutely no demand to spend the extra money to add a carriageway on undivided sections.  Eureka virulently opposed being bypassed in the 1960s by a 101 freeway.

Hopland (where 101 runs on a two-lane-with-turning-lane configuratin) and Willits both need to be bypassed as well for this to work, along with several other communities.

605 miles may be quite a bit of limited-access road but when the longest segment is 80 miles, that tells me that it's far from continuous.  And 200 non-freeway miles remains plenty.

[roadman65]

What about US 78 from Memphis to Birmingham?  Its mostly freeway in anticipation for the future I-22, but nonetheless most of it freeway.  In Mississippi, I believe it is all or more than 90 percent grade seperated from other roads.

[nds76]

US-127 in Michigan is also very close to being all freeway. Just a short stretch north of St. Johns is still a divided highway and then south of Jackson to the Ohio state line is non-freeway.