Map: US Counties by Route Status (US Route, Interstate, Both, or Neither)

[webny99]

Since it came up in the "Counties with no federal highways" thread, I've been working on a full US map of counties colored by whether they have a US route, Interstate, both, or neither. Because this brings its own potential for a much broader range of discussion, I figured I would put it here in its own thread so it can stand on its own apart from the "federal highway" discussion.

Without further ado:



Red = 1441 counties with a US Route, but no Interstate
Blue = 118 counties with an Interstate, but no US Route
Purple = 1298 counties with BOTH a US Route and an Interstate
Brown = 286 counties with NEITHER a US Route nor an Interstate

2739 counties with a US Route // 404 counties with no US Route
1416 counties with an Interstate // 1727 counties with no Interstate

I was pretty thorough with cross-checking everything via mob-rule, Google Maps, or both, but it's still probably not perfect. In particular, there are some long Interstate/US route overlaps I may have missed. Please let me know if you see any county that looks incorrect, and I'll update it and keep the most updated version here in this post. For Alaska, I counted any borough with an Alaska Interstate built to Interstate freeway standards as having an Interstate. Single-state maps for any state are also available upon request.

[vdeane]

There's an overlap between US 40 and I-70 between Frederick and close to Baltimore, so Carroll County, MD has both.

I would think that even the two-lane portions of Alaska's interstates should probably be counted., especially given that Alaska doesn't have US routes (although they tried to get US 97, but failed because Yukon wouldn't play ball).

[Bickendan]

Re: Alaska US 97... I think requiring Yukon to renumber YT 1 to 97 was an unfair ask. If Alaska had been able to do it, Yukon might have felt motivated to match it after the fact.

[webny99]

There's an overlap between US 40 and I-70 between Frederick and close to Baltimore, so Carroll County, MD has both.

Got it, thanks. Totals have been updated. Carroll is also very close to having neither, as I-70/US 40 only just nicks the southwest corner.

I would think that even the two-lane portions of Alaska's interstates should probably be counted., especially given that Alaska doesn't have US routes (although they tried to get US 97, but failed because Yukon wouldn't play ball).

While I am open to changing my mind on this, I have trouble counting anything that isn't a freeway as an Interstate, especially if it's not even divided. It's just not consistent with the mainland US, although it is tough to find a solution that is.

[hotdogPi]

I just checked if there was more blue than red on the map by population. While this is not the case, it's probably closer than you think.

[gonealookin]

Storey County, Nevada should be blue; I-80 passes through it (very briefly), but there's no US route within its boundaries.  (Google map)

[webny99]

I just checked if there was more blue than red on the map by population. While this is not the case, it's probably closer than you think.

It's certainly true for a handful of individual states... CA, MI, NM, and NY, for starters.
The blues in California alone are probably more populous than the browns on the entire map.

[webny99]

Storey County, Nevada should be blue; I-80 passes through it (very briefly), but there's no US route within its boundaries.  (Google map)

Updated, and good catch. Three US routes are quite close but none enter it.

[webny99]

Creating this map was also really helpful for getting more familiar with all the "Does Route X enter County Y" questions that come up with mob-rule, because all of the edge cases inevitably came up while I was double-checking the counties I was unsure about.

I believe the most shocking one in the entire US is that I-79 enters Gilmer County, WV (twice, in fact! as shown here). That one appears to have fooled even the most technical mob-rule users, who are themselves much more informed than the average person. Gilmer should be almost identical in color to Lewis/Braxton, but at a glance, it's completely immune to the usual "interstate bump".

[Rothman]

Creating this map was also really helpful for getting more familiar with all the "Does Route X enter County Y" questions that come up with mob-rule, because all of the edge cases inevitably came up while I was double-checking the counties I was unsure about.

I believe the most shocking one in the entire US is that I-79 enters Gilmer County, WV (twice, in fact! as shown here). That one appears to have fooled even the most technical mob-rule users, who are themselves much more informed than the average person. Gilmer should be almost identical in color to Lewis/Braxton, but at a glance, it's completely immune to the usual "interstate bump".

Nah.  Even average roadgeeks know it.  I think it's even marked on the highway.

[Jim]

Just added it to mine.  It's been almost 25 years since I traveled I-79 through there, so it was among my original set of counties added on mob-rule.  So it has a slightly better interstate bump than it did 5 minutes ago.

[Duke87]

What is going on with Alaska? The Alaska interstates enter several more "counties" than those shown.


It is otherwise fascinating just how few counties have neither. The US highway system is quite prolific.

Meanwhile most of the "interstate only" counties formerly had a US highway but it got truncated or eliminated on account of the interstate's construction. The former paths of US 10, 91, and 99 are conspicuously visible on the map.
New York has the bulk of "interstate only" counties that never had a US route, just because NY was always chintzy with them even before the interstate system. Though offhand I know Storey County, NV is also an example of this (I-80 briefly enters it twice, but US 40 never did).

EDIT: Re: Gilmer County, WV, I too missed that I-79 enters it. I had it marked as clinched anyway from having driven US 33 across it, but I had it labeled as clinched in the wrong year (2015, should be 2012) so I still had something to fix. Nice catch.

[webny99]

I believe the most shocking one in the entire US is that I-79 enters Gilmer County, WV (twice, in fact! as shown here). That one appears to have fooled even the most technical mob-rule users, who are themselves much more informed than the average person. Gilmer should be almost identical in color to Lewis/Braxton, but at a glance, it's completely immune to the usual "interstate bump".

Nah.  Even average roadgeeks know it.  I think it's even marked on the highway.

Even setting aside the map proof and the last two replies... being signed isn't that good of an indicator unless someone happened to both see the sign and remember it when entering their travels. In this particular case, mob-rule's "Show Roads" function (one of the easiest/fastest ways to add counties, especially with Interstate travel) is a bit misleading as it looks reasonably clear that I-79 misses Gilmer.

[webny99]

What is going on with Alaska? The Alaska interstates enter several more "counties" than those shown.

Mentioned at the beginning of the thread, I only counted those with Interstates built to Interstate freeway standards:

I would think that even the two-lane portions of Alaska's interstates should probably be counted., especially given that Alaska doesn't have US routes (although they tried to get US 97, but failed because Yukon wouldn't play ball).

While I am open to changing my mind on this, I have trouble counting anything that isn't a freeway as an Interstate, especially if it's not even divided. It's just not consistent with the mainland US, although it is tough to find a solution that is.

[epzik8]

It took me seeing this map to pay any mind to the complete lack of a Long Island U.S. route...

[Rothman]

I believe the most shocking one in the entire US is that I-79 enters Gilmer County, WV (twice, in fact! as shown here). That one appears to have fooled even the most technical mob-rule users, who are themselves much more informed than the average person. Gilmer should be almost identical in color to Lewis/Braxton, but at a glance, it's completely immune to the usual "interstate bump".

Nah.  Even average roadgeeks know it.  I think it's even marked on the highway.

Even setting aside the map proof and the last two replies... being signed isn't that good of an indicator unless someone happened to both see the sign and remember it when entering their travels. In this particular case, mob-rule's "Show Roads" function (one of the easiest/fastest ways to add counties, especially with Interstate travel) is a bit misleading as it looks reasonably clear that I-79 misses Gilmer.

What are you babbling about?

Yes, some people certainly don't catch that I-79 enters Gilmer, but it certainly does and roadgeeks are generally aware of this.  Not all people on mob-rule are roadgeeks.  Not by a long shot.

Unlike the bad scale of the "Show Roads" function, the county maps on mob-rule certainly show I-79 entering the county.

I-79
https://maps.app.goo.gl/w4VFXAq8jngzhax5A

[cwf1701]

Meanwhile most of the "interstate only" counties formerly had a US highway but it got truncated or eliminated on account of the interstate's construction. The former paths of US 10, 91, and 99 are conspicuously visible on the map.

and a couple of counties in the thumb of Michigan with no interstate/US highways would be wrong if the map was made in 1972, when US-25 was removed from Michigan. you might see similar interstate only routes where Michigan eliminated its US highways starting in the 1960s (US-2, US-12(1926-62), US-16, US-25, US-27)

[webny99]

Since it came up in the "Counties with no federal highways" thread, I've been working on a full US map of counties colored by whether they have a US route, Interstate, both, or neither. ...



Red = 1441 counties with a US Route, but no Interstate
Blue = 118 counties with an Interstate, but no US Route
Purple = 1298 counties with BOTH a US Route and an Interstate
Brown = 286 counties with NEITHER a US Route nor an Interstate

2739 counties with a US Route // 404 counties with no US Route
1416 counties with an Interstate // 1727 counties with no Interstate

I was pretty thorough with cross-checking everything via mob-rule, Google Maps, or both, but it's still probably not perfect. In particular, there are some long Interstate/US route overlaps I may have missed. Please let me know if you see any county that looks incorrect, and I'll update it and keep the most updated version here in this post. For Alaska, I counted any borough with an Alaska Interstate built to Interstate freeway standards as having an Interstate. Single-state maps for any state are also available upon request.

Well, I have this map saved but I have lost the live version on mapchart.net. So if there are any changes, the whole thing will have to be reentered from scratch. It's the one downside of mapchart, but I did not want to create a second mob-rule account just for this.

[vdeane]

^ I imagine the eyedropper and paint bucket tools of pretty much any image editing tool would work well too.

[IowaTraveler]

Well, I have this map saved but I have lost the live version on mapchart.net. So if there are any changes, the whole thing will have to be reentered from scratch. It's the one downside of mapchart, but I did not want to create a second mob-rule account just for this.

Well it's a bit late for this now, but for future reference in case you didn't know, you can export the map configuration file from Mapchart through the "Save - Upload Map Configuration" button below the download button. This way, you can import that map file back into Mapchart through the same button and edit the map again.

There is another method that might still work, though. As long as you haven't made any new maps since then, there's also an option to restore an autosave. If you click on that same "Save - Upload Map Configuration" button, there's a tab labeled "Autosave" at the top of the window that pops up.

[freebrickproductions]

I just realized, is Madison County, AL, the only Alabama county that contains a 3di, but not a 2di?

[webny99]

Well, I have this map saved but I have lost the live version on mapchart.net. So if there are any changes, the whole thing will have to be reentered from scratch. It's the one downside of mapchart, but I did not want to create a second mob-rule account just for this.

Well it's a bit late for this now, but for future reference in case you didn't know, you can export the map configuration file from Mapchart through the "Save - Upload Map Configuration" button below the download button. This way, you can import that map file back into Mapchart through the same button and edit the map again.

There is another method that might still work, though. As long as you haven't made any new maps since then, there's also an option to restore an autosave. If you click on that same "Save - Upload Map Configuration" button, there's a tab labeled "Autosave" at the top of the window that pops up.

Thank you for the heads-up! I got excited for a second when went to Save/upload and the Autosave popped up, but figures, it turned out to be another map I had made more recently for another thread. Either way, great to know for the future (and hopefully it won't be needed if the one we have is right. )

[MikieTimT]

So, the brown counties are where you want your bug-out plot of land for when civilization become unhinged.  Duly noted.

[Big John]

So, the brown counties are where you want your bug-out plot of land for when civilization become unhinged.  Duly noted.

of the 9 states that have a Brown County? 

[Flint1979]

Brown County, Indiana has neither and that's my favorite county in the state of Indiana.