Long routes that enter every single County Seat in a state

[roadman65]

US 1 in Georgia, is quite unique in a sense that all 8 counties it travels through it serves all of their seats of government.

Though south of Georgia in Florida the same US route misses 2 of the seats of counties it transits, but does go through 8 consecutive County Seats from Monroe to Brevard though that equals the total counties US 1 enters in the Peach State.

US 90 misses Nassau County's seat, but in Florida it makes it through 14 consecutive seats before Nassau breaks it's streak.

Can anyone find a long distance route either US or MSR. or interstate that accomplishes this in a single state?

[Max Rockatansky]

US 101 in California came to mind but actually missed Hollister in San Benito County.  I-5 doesn't hit all the County Seats either.  US 395 doesn't reach San Bernardino anymore and would be a hit. 

[Flint1979]

I-94 does hitting St. Joseph, Paw Paw, Kalamazoo, Marshall, Jackson, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Mount Clemens and Port Huron.

[Roadgeekteen]

I-91 in Massachusetts.

[bassoon1986]

I-12 is about the best I can do for Louisiana. Hits all 4 out of 4. A lot of the other major routes have one parish somewhere with a smaller parish seat or one that is off the beaten path (Bossier, Allen, St. Martin)


iPhone

[webny99]

I don't think you really mean "every single County Seat in a state." With the exception of Delaware, it's very rare for a route to pass through every county within a state.

NY 31 goes on a run, hitting the first 4 county seats: Lockport (Niagara), Albion (Orleans), Rochester (Monroe), and Lyons (Wayne), but the streak ends at Cayuga County.

[formulanone]

I understand the thread, but I guess wording it "Long Routes That Enter Every Possible In County Seat Within Its State" is also ambiguous. Either that, or some interesting road trips are planned (after all, there's many county collectors who only record the county seats as a "hit").

US 43 hits 9 straight counties in Alabama, then a tenth for Mobile; only missing tiny Chatom in Washington County. It also lines up with two county seats in Tennessee: Lawrenceburg and Columbia, before ending at the latter city.

[zzcarp]

It seems like there's a lot of near misses in Colorado. Two that seem to meet the standard are as follows:

US 550: Durango in La Plata County, Silverton in San Juan County, Ouray in Ouray County, Durango in Durango County

US 85 including its unsigned multiplex with I-25: Trinidad in Las Animas County, Walsenburg in Huerfano County, Pueblo in Pueblo County, Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Castle Rock in Douglas County, Littleton in Arapahoe County, Denver in Denver County, Brighton in Adams County, and Greeley in Weld County.

[1995hoo]

I don't think you really mean "every single County Seat in a state." With the exception of Delaware, it's very rare for a route to pass through every county within a state.

....

"Long routes that enter the seat of every county through which they pass in a given state." Not sure whether the forum software would allow that!

If Virginia's independent cities count for purposes of this thread, and if business routes count for situations where the US Route has been put on a bypass (such that it "serves" the county seat even if it may not technically "enter" it), then US-13 in Virginia would qualify. It passes through the Cities of Suffolk, Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach, then crosses the Bridge-Tunnel and passes through Northampton County (serving Eastville via a business route) and Accomack County (likewise serving Accomac via a business route).

I feel like business routes are consistent with the concept behind the thread even if maybe they don't strictly comply with everyone's definition.

[mrsman]

It's a surprise that there aren't more.

Historically, the "National Road" a forerunner of US 40, passed through state capitals along the western portion of its route.  Vandalia (old capital of IL), Indianapolis, Columbus.  It did this by design.

You would think that there would be more roads that connect segments of county seats, as in many rural areas the county seats are the only towns of significant size.

Some of the historic routings I think maybe approximated this a little more.  I know that a very old alignment of US 99 hit Visalia, CA the county seat of Tulare County - but more modern alignments were far straighter between Bakersfield and Fresno and bypass Visalia significantly.

[NWI_Irish96]

None of Indiana's interstates hit the county seat of every county they enter.
The only US highway that does is US 27, through 6 counties.
US 50 used to be a longer one that did this but now routes around Washington.
The longest state highway that does this is IN 15, through 4 counties.
IN 9 comes very close, hitting the county seat in 8 of 9 counties but ending just short of Columbus

[webny99]

I don't think you really mean "every single County Seat in a state." With the exception of Delaware, it's very rare for a route to pass through every county within a state.
....

"Long routes that enter the seat of every county through which they pass in a given state." Not sure whether the forum software would allow that!

"Long Routes That Enter Every County Seat" probably would have been sufficient. In the absence of a short, precise title, details can always be clarified in the original post.

[hotdogPi]

I don't think you really mean "every single County Seat in a state." With the exception of Delaware, it's very rare for a route to pass through every county within a state.
....

"Long routes that enter the seat of every county through which they pass in a given state." Not sure whether the forum software would allow that!

"Long Routes That Enter Every County Seat" probably would have been sufficient. In the absence of a short, precise title, details can always be clarified in the original post.

Then e.g. US 1 would have to qualify for every state to count, not just one state.

[webny99]

I don't think you really mean "every single County Seat in a state." With the exception of Delaware, it's very rare for a route to pass through every county within a state.
....

"Long routes that enter the seat of every county through which they pass in a given state." Not sure whether the forum software would allow that!

"Long Routes That Enter Every County Seat" probably would have been sufficient. In the absence of a short, precise title, details can always be clarified in the original post.

Then e.g. US 1 would have to qualify for every state to count, not just one state.

So you can just clarify it in the OP. You're probably going to be doing that anyways, regardless of how concise or clumsy the title is.

IMO the shorter the better when it comes to thread titles.

[kphoger]

I found a run of 15 counties, unless I missed something.

US-281, starting at the South Dakota state line
Boyd County, NE – misses Butte
O'Neill, Holt County, NE
Bartlett (barely), Wheeler County, NE
Greeley (barely), Greeley County, NE
St Paul (barely), Howard County, NE
Grand Island, Hall County, NE
Hastings, Adams County, NE
Red Cloud, Webster County, NE
Smith Center, Smith County, KS
Osborne, Osborne County, KS
Russell, Russell County, KS
Great Bend, Barton County, KS
St John (barely), Stafford County, KS
Pratt, Pratt County, KS
Medicine Lodge, Barber County, KS
Alva, Woods County, OK
Major County, OK – misses Fairview

[jp the roadgeek]

CT (and RI) doesn't have county seats, but as far as largest cities/namesakes. I-95 and US 1 hit the namesakes and largest cities in 3 of the 4 counties they enter: Fairfield (both the town and the largest city of Bridgeport), New Haven, and New London.  I-84 enters the traditional county seats and namesakes of Hartford and Tolland counties (Vernon/Rockville being the traditional seat).  US 6 enters 7 of the 8 counties of CT, but only enters the city of Hartford and the town of Windham (but bypasses the traditional county seat of Willimantic).   

[hbelkins]

US 60 is Kentucky's longest US route. It misses the county seats of Meade and Bullitt counties.

KY 80 is Kentucky's longest state route. It misses several county seats (Calloway, Casey, Knott and Floyd off the top of my head.