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State or US Highways with little or no use.

Started by TBKS1, March 13, 2018, 12:32:20 PM

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TBKS1

I don't know if this thread has been made before or not.

Anyways, I wanted to make this thread just to see what everyone else thinks about these types of highways.

Now, my personal definition of a "useless highway" is a highway that's less than a mile long, usually has a hanging/random ending, and has no intersections of any other highways.

Arkansas State Highway 266 is a perfect example of this

The entire state highway (Google Maps)
I take pictures of road signs, that's about it.

General rule of thumb: Just stay in the "Traffic Control" section of the forum and you'll be fine.


index

#1
NC Highways 136 and 400 are both very short (400 being the shortest in the state) and serve very little, ending at a dead end. 136 serves some homes and I think a handful of businesses in Currituck County and is 1.36 miles long and ends at a boat ramp.

NC 400 is more useful but not that important, its existence is hardly known and it wouldn't be any different not existing. It serves the downtown area of Manteo and a festival park, ending at a dead end on a small island. I think this route's in the realm of 4,000-4,500 feet long.

NC 343 south of US 158 also serves some homes and a handful of businesses, and also ends at a dead end.

Also, we definitely have had a bunch of useless/short route threads in the past, I think they've primarily been about Interstate Highways. I don't remember seeing any one about state or federal highways, although I'm 100% sure they exist.
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Counties traveled

Max Rockatansky

#2
CA 173 is pretty useless given the dirt segment was recently abandoned by the state.  Both sides of the highway really don't go anywhere too significant.  CA 172 is an old one-lane segment of CA 36 and is closed all winter aside from a couple miles from the eastern terminus. 

SectorZ

US 3 north of West Stewartstown NH. North of Pittsburg NH, past where NH 145 ends, there is little to no traffic. The last 20 miles up to the international border are so sparse, on the 40 mile round-trip on a bike ride over about three late morning weekday hours, I encountered 5 vehicles.

sparker

CA 107 -- the southern segment between CA 1 and I-405 that wasn't relinquished decades ago -- is pretty useless; just a commercial strip connecting regional malls; it could disappear without consequence.  CA 222 is still on the books but is basically a bridge over the Russian River connecting US 101 to a Buddhist retreat located on the grounds of a former state hospital near Ukiah; likely the only thing keeping it within the system is local political pressure to keep state maintenance of the river crossing.  And getting back to metro L.A., CA 213, or Western Avenue from I-405 to an abrupt end at W. 25th Street in San Pedro, is about as useless as can be (ostensibly commissioned to ensure state maintenance of an access road to several nearby refineries) as a state route; the street was in use as a multilane facility years before it was commissioned as CA 213.

freebrickproductions

The current AL 62. Leads to a long dead factory, and had gotten its number (from another highway in the state even!) by the time said factory had already closed.
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JasonOfORoads

I have no idea what the purpose of the Swift Highway (Oregon 120) is... or ever was, really. State maintenance on this section has pretty much been scaled back to a bridge and the connection to I-5, and it hasn't been signed as Oregon 120 in the 15 years it's existed. It needs to go.
Borderline addicted to roadgeeking since ~1989.

SteveG1988

NJ has several that are just a bridge...we have one that is literally an underpass beneath train tracks. NJ route 59 is 0.15 mile long.
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I55,I82,I84(E&W)I88(W),I87(N),I81,I64,I74(W),I72,I57,I24,I65,I59,I12,I71,I77,I76(E&W),I70,I79,I85,I86(W),I27,I16,I97,I96,I43,I41,

Eth

GA 260 in its current form* is pretty useless. It's 1.2 miles long, and all but the westernmost four blocks or so is just a residential street. It does connect US 23 with I-20, but it's faster to just go directly to I-20. If the Moreland Avenue interchange were incomplete, it might have utility, but it isn't.

* until about a decade ago, it continued east to US 278

CNGL-Leudimin

The first two highways I thought of when I saw the thread title were US 50 and US 6 across Nevada.

And since this excludes Interstates (or really, any roads outside the US as I interpret the thread title), I won't mention the many useless freeways built in Spain during the Noughties.
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TBKS1

Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on March 13, 2018, 07:02:32 PM
The first two highways I thought of when I saw the thread title were US 50 and US 6 across Nevada.

And since this excludes Interstates (or really, any roads outside the US as I interpret the thread title), I won't mention the many useless freeways built in Spain during the Noughties.

Roads in other countries are also allowed for this as well. I just didn't think anyone from outside the US would reply. :D
I take pictures of road signs, that's about it.

General rule of thumb: Just stay in the "Traffic Control" section of the forum and you'll be fine.

Super Mateo

Two that come to mind right away:

-IA 165:  A state route that doesn't connect to any other routes in a town (Carter Lake, IA) that is separated from the remainder of the state by a river.  There is no direct access to the rest of the state.  It ends at the NE border on both sides.
-IN 134:  Applied on the north-most segment of Girls School Road, this state highway randomly disappears once it passes the girls' school the road is named after.  It does hit US 136, however.

kurumi

There are a few signed state routes Connecticut wanted to get rid of, but arbitration or other agreements led to the routes being retained: 152, 166, 174, 176, 305, and 314.
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US71

#14
Arkansas has quite a few. Many are state maintained access roads to factories, such as Ar 369 near Paris, Ar  which dead ends at the charcoal factory.

There was a section of Ar 102 in Rogers for many years that was state maintained access to a Tyson Chicken plant.
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US 89

#15
UT 174 is a little-used road that goes to the Intermountain power plant. UT 45 is a highway to nowhere. I have no idea why roads like these are kept as state routes.

Also, compared to other cities/metro areas, the state maintains a much larger proportion of the arterials and collectors in the Wasatch Front metro area. With only three exceptions, every exit of I-15 in Salt Lake County is to a state route. I’m not sure why the cities couldn’t take over a lot of these routes.

A lot of the UT state highways serving state parks and institutions in the 281-320 number block are only given numbers because UDOT maintains the road. As an example, UT 312 begins at a local road and goes half a mile northwest to the boat ramp at Willard Bay. UT 299 is the drivers license test course in West Valley.

Max Rockatansky

#16
Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on March 13, 2018, 07:02:32 PM
The first two highways I thought of when I saw the thread title were US 50 and US 6 across Nevada.

And since this excludes Interstates (or really, any roads outside the US as I interpret the thread title), I won't mention the many useless freeways built in Spain during the Noughties.

At minimum they provide secondary access routes through the state.  US 50 is a pretty decent alternate to I-80 and has a cool auto-tour segment with the Loneliest Highway segment.   US 6/50 provide general access to Great Basin National Park.  A lot of the urban routes in Nevada in the 600 plus range are really not needed and rarely signed these days.   US 95A/US 93A ought to be renumbered to state highways since they are huge deviations from the mainline highways they represent.

With Arizona some specific routes come to mind.  AZ 99 south of doesn't really have a specific destination but it does continue as a Forest Route to AZ 260.   The AZ 260 multiplex of AZ 87 ought to be split back into two routes.  AZ 77 is multiplexed way too long on US 60 and ought to be spun off into two highways.   AZ 89 should have never been bumped down to a state highway from a US Route.  The northern segment of AZ 95 ought to be renumbered if it can't meet I-40 within Arizona.

froggie

As a general rule, most 2xx and 3xx routes in Minnesota.  These are smaller (and mostly spur) routes that connected to small towns or state facilities, with most of them added by the Legislature in 1949.  MnDOT has (slowly) been turning them back as they've come to agreements with the relevant counties and towns, but the counties/towns usually mandate that MnDOT reconstruct the roadways in question before they agree to take them over.  And MnDOT's Turnback fund isn't exactly flush with cash.

MNHighwayMan

#18
Quote from: froggie on March 14, 2018, 09:17:51 AM
As a general rule, most 2xx and 3xx routes in Minnesota.  These are smaller (and mostly spur) routes that connected to small towns or state facilities, with most of them added by the Legislature in 1949.  MnDOT has (slowly) been turning them back as they've come to agreements with the relevant counties and towns, but the counties/towns usually mandate that MnDOT reconstruct the roadways in question before they agree to take them over.  And MnDOT's Turnback fund isn't exactly flush with cash.

Might just be easier to list the ones that are safe from turnback, in that regard...

I'd also rather have seen many of those non-institutional spur routes turned into longer, more connective routes for a more comprehensive, denser state-numbered route system, but that's just me digressing into fictional territory.

PHLBOS

Quote from: RobbieL2415 on March 13, 2018, 09:36:43 PM
MA 8A, 78, 112
Note: there's actually two MA 8As (I didn't know this until checking Google Maps): one's a shorter parallel route to its MA 8 parent in the North Adams area (which isn't too well marked based on GSV), the other's a much longer route that leaves its MA 8 parent route further south in Dalton and heads northward into Halifax, VT where its ends at VT 112.  Which 8A were you referring to?

Additionally, at least for the MA examples, is what's your reasoning for listing 8A (either variant) or the other two (78 & 112)?  Especially given the OP's view (reposted below):

Quote from: TBKS1 on March 13, 2018, 12:32:20 PMNow, my personal definition of a "useless highway" is a highway that's less than a mile long, usually has a hanging/random ending, and has no intersections of any other highways.

All three of those are several miles long (including the North Adams 8A) and continue into VT (except the North Adams 8A).
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froggie

Quote from: MNHighwayManMight just be easier to list the ones that are safe from turnback, in that regard...

Oddly enough, there was one that would have typically been "safe" given MnDOT's policies, but was turned back anyway.  That being former MN 242 (now Anoka CSAH 14).  242 was a major route and a principal arterial between US 10 and MN 65.  But because 242 was so far down MnDOT's priority list that it didn't even register a blip, Anoka County felt that they could 4-lane it faster via their own funding mechanisms that they took it back from MnDOT.  It has since been 4-laned by the county.

jp the roadgeek

Quote from: RobbieL2415 on March 13, 2018, 09:36:43 PM
CT 11, 197, 197, 213, 354

I wouldn't count 197, or any other short number (35, 55, 78, 116, 131, 186, 216, 343) that is a short continuation of a route from across a state line.  However, I would count MA 15 because of its length and that it's not even signed

Can add a few more for CT: 21, 43, 102, 125, 135, 139, 155, 166, 182, 182A, 200, 244, 314, 316, 318, 361 (especially since NY decommissioned its portion), 364.

Interstates I've clinched: 97, 290 (MA), 291 (CT), 291 (MA), 293, 295 (DE-NJ-PA), 295 (RI-MA), 384, 391, 395 (CT-MA), 395 (MD), 495 (DE), 610 (LA), 684, 691, 695 (MD), 695 (NY), 795 (MD)

jeffandnicole

Half of the 1.5 mile NJ 324 is a closed road; the other half has 3 houses and a boat yard on it. Due to nearby construction, it's only accessible one way, via a local street that goes under the Commodore Barry Bridge.

MNHighwayMan

Quote from: froggie on March 14, 2018, 11:30:49 AM
Quote from: MNHighwayManMight just be easier to list the ones that are safe from turnback, in that regard...
Oddly enough, there was one that would have typically been "safe" given MnDOT's policies, but was turned back anyway.  That being former MN 242 (now Anoka CSAH 14).

Ahh yes, the strange case of MN-242. I actually have a couple vague memories of the old and awful 242/65 intersection from many years ago. That signal just sucked.

CrystalWalrein

Quote from: jeffandnicole on March 14, 2018, 12:16:13 PM
Half of the 1.5 mile NJ 324 is a closed road; the other half has 3 houses and a boat yard on it. Due to nearby construction, it's only accessible one way, via a local street that goes under the Commodore Barry Bridge.

Low-hanging fruit in my opinion, along with NJ 167 that caters to Chestnut Neck Boat Yard, and NJ 163 which could easily be grassed over.

NJ 47 between both ends of NJ 347 is a little easier to knock and could be downgraded to a county highway (CR 553 extension?), with the designation transferred full-time to current NJ 347.



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