Highways with the most transformations?

[OCGuy81]

What are some highways that have the most "transformations" (for lack of a better term) throughout their length?

I'm going to use US-41 as an example.

From a rural highway in Michigan's upper peninsula

To an arterial in one of Wisconsin's larger cities (Green Bay)

To an Interstate for nearly 200 miles.

To Lake Shore Drive in Chicago

Once again to a rural highway in Kentucky and Tennessee.

To a parallel to I-75 on Florida's west coast

To the Tamiami Trail

To an arterial in downtown Miami.

[TheStranger]

US 101 in California alone is pretty wild:

Starts out at a massive interchange (East Los Angeles Interchange) as the northern segment of the freeway that goes to Disneyland on its other end

Continues as massive urban/suburban freeway for about 70 miles

Then rural beach freeway/expressway

Then narrower urban expressway in Santa Barbara

Then rural/semi-rural expressway/freeway for about 200 miles

Finally into larger suburban/urban freeway for 80 miles from Gilroy to San Francisco.

Then...surface boulevards along a busy municipal and commercial corridor in SF (Van Ness and Lombard)

Back to being freeway for another hour and a half, including the most iconic bridge in California

Then undivided four lane road in Hopland

Freeway again briefly in Ukiah

Mostly four-lane road north of there until a bit before Laytonville

Two-lane road in Laytonville up towards a freeway segment in Leggett

Super two with some interchanges from there through Piercy

Short freeway bypass in Garberville, then super 2 through Myers Flat

Freeway near the redwoods with Avenue of the Giants as the old 2 lane US 101 path nearby

Freeway from Fortuna to Eureka

Urban boulevard/streets in Eureka

Freway from north Eureka through McKinleyville

Freeway north of Trinidad

Undivided road through Orick

Super 4 (undivided freeway) towards Klamath

Super 2 in Klamath

Two lane road leading to Crescent City, then semi-urban one-way pair in Crescent City itself

Freeway leading out of Crescent City, then two-lane road past Fort Dick leading out towards Smith River and to Oregon

[Rothman]

Pretty sure there's a thread on this somewhere...something about routes that have the most drastic changes...

[Max Rockatansky]

Yes, my submission in said thread was CA 4.

[Quillz]

CA-299 is overlooked. Starts in redwood forest, winds through mountains, then agricultural plains, then passes by a volcano, then more mountains. Then finally winds down into the desert and literally over a dry alkaline lake. 

[Max Rockatansky]

CA-299 is overlooked. Starts in redwood forest, winds through mountains, then agricultural plains, then passes by a volcano, then more mountains. Then finally winds down into the desert and literally over a dry alkaline lake.

Starts as a freeway and has a second segment around Redding.

[Road Hog]

TX 121 is an example I posted on that thread, as well as AR/MO/IA 5.

[Bickendan]

US 101 in California alone is pretty wild:

Starts out at a massive interchange (East Los Angeles Interchange) as the northern segment of the freeway that goes to Disneyland on its other end

Continues as massive urban/suburban freeway for about 70 miles

Then rural beach freeway/expressway

Then narrower urban expressway in Santa Barbara

Then rural/semi-rural expressway/freeway for about 200 miles

Finally into larger suburban/urban freeway for 80 miles from Gilroy to San Francisco.

Then...surface boulevards along a busy municipal and commercial corridor in SF (Van Ness and Lombard)

Back to being freeway for another hour and a half, including the most iconic bridge in California

Then undivided four lane road in Hopland

Freeway again briefly in Ukiah

Mostly four-lane road north of there until a bit before Laytonville

Two-lane road in Laytonville up towards a freeway segment in Leggett

Super two with some interchanges from there through Piercy

Short freeway bypass in Garberville, then super 2 through Myers Flat

Freeway near the redwoods with Avenue of the Giants as the old 2 lane US 101 path nearby

Freeway from Fortuna to Eureka

Urban boulevard/streets in Eureka

Freway from north Eureka through McKinleyville

Freeway north of Trinidad

Undivided road through Orick

Super 4 (undivided freeway) towards Klamath

Super 2 in Klamath

Two lane road leading to Crescent City, then semi-urban one-way pair in Crescent City itself

Freeway leading out of Crescent City, then two-lane road past Fort Dick leading out towards Smith River and to Oregon

Isn't the section I bolded a Super-4?

At any rate, 101 through both Oregon and Washington also goes through quite the changes of character as well, from city arteries, one-way couplets, running along beaches, hugging hillsides, brief Super-2 sections, iconic bridges, cutting deep inland, and while I can't yet comment on how it is north of Aberdeen, it does finish how it starts -- as an urban freeway at a topographically impressive interchange... facing the 'wrong way'.

[TheStranger]

Isn't the section I bolded a Super-4?

Yep!

The freeway parallel to Avenue of the Giants is indeed a Super 4:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3967274,-123.9444209,3a,75y,280.32h,77.4t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOl3KNMyDzWW4gbSWgxu2J4WiRv10gBhF12NPlc!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOl3KNMyDzWW4gbSWgxu2J4WiRv10gBhF12NPlc%3Dw900-h600-k-no-pi12.601729533822876-ya352.4697257897085-ro3.405944824218807-fo90!7i5504!8i2752?coh=205410&entry=ttu

I haven't been there yet - but might be traversing a ton of 101 heading towards the fringes of the Orgeon Coast in about a month, if my travel plans hold up.  Part of the reason listing all the different forms of 101 in California ended up being a fun exercise, I've driven on all of it from East Los Angeles to about Ukiah but not yet further north.

[Flint1979]

What are some highways that have the most "transformations" (for lack of a better term) throughout their length?

I'm going to use US-41 as an example.

From a rural highway in Michigan's upper peninsula

To an arterial in one of Wisconsin's larger cities (Green Bay)

To an Interstate for nearly 200 miles.

To Lake Shore Drive in Chicago

Once again to a rural highway in Kentucky and Tennessee.

To a parallel to I-75 on Florida's west coast

To the Tamiami Trail

To an arterial in downtown Miami.

US-41 is pretty rural in Indiana as well and runs parallel to I-75 in Georgia as well.

[nexus73]

US 101 in California alone is pretty wild:

Starts out at a massive interchange (East Los Angeles Interchange) as the northern segment of the freeway that goes to Disneyland on its other end

Continues as massive urban/suburban freeway for about 70 miles

Then rural beach freeway/expressway

Then narrower urban expressway in Santa Barbara

Then rural/semi-rural expressway/freeway for about 200 miles

Finally into larger suburban/urban freeway for 80 miles from Gilroy to San Francisco.

Then...surface boulevards along a busy municipal and commercial corridor in SF (Van Ness and Lombard)

Back to being freeway for another hour and a half, including the most iconic bridge in California

Then undivided four lane road in Hopland

Freeway again briefly in Ukiah

Mostly four-lane road north of there until a bit before Laytonville

Two-lane road in Laytonville up towards a freeway segment in Leggett

Super two with some interchanges from there through Piercy

Short freeway bypass in Garberville, then super 2 through Myers Flat

Freeway near the redwoods with Avenue of the Giants as the old 2 lane US 101 path nearby

Freeway from Fortuna to Eureka

Urban boulevard/streets in Eureka

Freway from north Eureka through McKinleyville

Freeway north of Trinidad

Undivided road through Orick

Super 4 (undivided freeway) towards Klamath

Super 2 in Klamath

Two lane road leading to Crescent City, then semi-urban one-way pair in Crescent City itself

Freeway leading out of Crescent City, then two-lane road past Fort Dick leading out towards Smith River and to Oregon

Isn't the section I bolded a Super-4?

At any rate, 101 through both Oregon and Washington also goes through quite the changes of character as well, from city arteries, one-way couplets, running along beaches, hugging hillsides, brief Super-2 sections, iconic bridges, cutting deep inland, and while I can't yet comment on how it is north of Aberdeen, it does finish how it starts -- as an urban freeway at a topographically impressive interchange... facing the 'wrong way'.

There is also a lot of fun to be had finding all the old sections of 101 in Del Norte, Curry, Coos and Douglas counties.  Some sections like 42S got renumbered while other sections are tiny bits that are well-hidden.  Making discoveries like the "Pair Of Bears" on what was the south end of the 101 bridge by Klamath, which got washed away in 1964, is pretty dang cool. 

[roadman65]

NY Route 17 used to transform from expressway to freeway several times and even a suburban arterial in Corning and Elmira before I-86. It even was interesting when you throw in the non freeway four lane arterial south of Woodbury to the NJ State Line back then.

[michravera]

US 101 in California alone is pretty wild:

Starts out at a massive interchange (East Los Angeles Interchange) as the northern segment of the freeway that goes to Disneyland on its other end

Continues as massive urban/suburban freeway for about 70 miles

Then rural beach freeway/expressway

Then narrower urban expressway in Santa Barbara

Then rural/semi-rural expressway/freeway for about 200 miles

Finally into larger suburban/urban freeway for 80 miles from Gilroy to San Francisco.

Then...surface boulevards along a busy municipal and commercial corridor in SF (Van Ness and Lombard)

Back to being freeway for another hour and a half, including the most iconic bridge in California

Then undivided four lane road in Hopland

Freeway again briefly in Ukiah

Mostly four-lane road north of there until a bit before Laytonville

Two-lane road in Laytonville up towards a freeway segment in Leggett

Super two with some interchanges from there through Piercy

Short freeway bypass in Garberville, then super 2 through Myers Flat

Freeway near the redwoods with Avenue of the Giants as the old 2 lane US 101 path nearby

Freeway from Fortuna to Eureka

Urban boulevard/streets in Eureka

Freway from north Eureka through McKinleyville

Freeway north of Trinidad

Undivided road through Orick

Super 4 (undivided freeway) towards Klamath

Super 2 in Klamath

Two lane road leading to Crescent City, then semi-urban one-way pair in Crescent City itself

Freeway leading out of Crescent City, then two-lane road past Fort Dick leading out towards Smith River and to Oregon

... and that's just the California portion!

[Quillz]

I just wanted to add CA-245. I know it doesn't really count due to its length, but it has a very jarring transformation the moment you pass the CA-216 junction. Previously you're on arrow straight farm roads, with hard curves because the route will physically move onto different roads. Then afterward, pretty much out of nowhere, you start to ascend the Sierra and there are sharp, dramatic curves. You gain a lot of elevation quickly, and so just a few miles after flat farmland, you're now on the western slopes of the Sierra. It's interesting because this is one of the few south-north routes in California to ascend the Sierra, most others move west-east. I have driven CA-245 a few times and every time it's still amazing how abrupt the character shift is.

Probably even more historically impressive because this used to be part of CA-65, which was longer so had more time spent in the farmlands. Must have been a fun drive for the smaller cars of the 1930s on narrower roads ascending into the mountains.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

US 169 in MN:

Rural 2-lane road through farmland from Iowa to TH 60
Aging urban freeway through Mankato
Rural 4-lane expressway along Minnesota River (except for city street section in St. Peter)
Major urban freeway through Twin Cities suburbs
4-lane arterial through Champlin and Anoka
4-lane expressway/freeway from Anoka to Lake Mille Lacs
2-lane road on Mille Lacs shore with heavy resort/casino traffic
2-lane rural northwoods road to Grand Rapids
4-lane expressway through Iron Range to terminus

[RobbieL2415]

US 6, in MA alone, goes from four-lane major surface arterial, to urban streets (Fall River and New Bedford), to quasi freeway/parkway on Upper and Mid Cape, then to Super 2 on the lower Cape, back to four-lane surface arterial for the heart of the Outer Cape, then to a quasi Super 2 with one proper interchange through Truro, finally ending in Provincetown as a divided four-lane at its old alignment.