Highways that BARELY enter or miss a county

[Big John]

MN 23 crosses into Douglas County WI for a half mile.

[tmoore952]

The closest a highway comes to entering a county but doesn't?: My nomination of CO150 and Costilla County. 10 ft. per mob-rule map.

Depends.  What counts as the "highway"?  Does the shoulder count?

US-56.  The corner of Dallam County (TX) is shown below, with the official boundary marker circled in red:

Was looking at this last night on map, this is also the time zone boundary (at this location, New Mexico is Mountain, Texas is Central).

It's always been one of my geek bucket list things to be at a place like that on New Year's Eve at a time when it is one year on one side of the line, and another year on the other side., and walk back and forth between them. But in a way I also feel that if I were to actually do that, it would be a bit hollow, being that time zones, and how we mark the passage of time, are all manmade things (as opposed to things like eclipses, comets, Northern Lights etc.).

[Big John]

^^ I thought the west end of Texas was in Mountain time.

[tmoore952]

^^ I thought the west end of Texas was in Mountain time.

El Paso very well could be in Mountain time, but this picture isn't near there.

It's on US 56 (well) northwest of Amarillo, and due west of (and not very far from) the southwest corner of the Oklahoma panhandle. Where the Texas border makes a 90 degree turn.

[NWI_Irish96]

My favorite one in Indiana is that I-74 WB enters Rush County, but EB does not.

[webny99]

My favorite one in Indiana is that I-74 WB enters Rush County, but EB does not.

It could be argued that US 62 and Tillman County is similar, EB enters while WB does not:

One that mob-rule is inconclusive about is US 62 and Tillman County, OK. It looks to me like EB 62 straddles the county line, while WB 62 does not enter Tillman County. Anyways I would sure hope that any county-clincher driving that stretch of US 62 would at least swing in past the Headrick historic bridge to make it official.

On that note, I-490 (NY) straddles the Monroe/Genesee county line for about 2.5 miles. EB is entirely in Genesee County and WB is entirely in Monroe County from just north of Exit 1 to just north of Exit 2. This includes Exit 2 itself, at which NY 33A crosses the county line in the median of I-490.

[CtrlAltDel]

Depends.  What counts as the "highway"?  Does the shoulder count?

US-56.  The corner of Dallam County (TX) is shown below, with the official boundary marker circled in red:

I don't know if I'd count the shoulder, but I do know that I wouldn't count that as the shoulder.

[tmoore952]

Two from my driving excursions to New England and beyond in mid '90s.

New Brunswick 289 at Pohenegamook NB -- right near the northernmost point of Maine -- there is a border crossing at Estcourt Station, ME (Aroostook County ME --- note that I do not see this crossing on Googlemaps). I was driving west (heading to Quebec City). I remember a railroad bridge to my left, and if you went under the railroad bridge, customs was just beyond that. According to Wikipedia this border crossing is used by loggers. The Wikipedia entry for Estcourt Station ME is an interesting read -- apparently you can only cross the border there during business hours on weekdays.

Driving south on US 3 in northern New Hampshire - at Stewartstown NH there is a bridge to Beecher Falls, VT (Essex County, VT). US 3 never enters Vermont.
Incidental to the subject of this thread, crossing that bridge looks like you get on VT 259 which goes for less than a mile before it reaches the international border.

Both of these were done on the same trip. For the US 3 case I had come south from Quebec City intentionally to enter the US so I could drive on the northernmost part of US 3.

[JayhawkCO]

Forgot that US95 comes within 200' or so of Washington. (So Whitman County, specifically.)

[SectorZ]

Would US 1 in Middlesex County, Massachusetts count?

It's in Malden for about half a mile and Cambridge for half of a loop ramp as it exits I-93. Used to have more in the county, running across Cambridge, Everett, Malden, and Melrose before being moved to its current freeway/Jersey freeway stretches.

[kphoger]

The closest a highway comes to entering a county but doesn't?: My nomination of CO150 and Costilla County. 10 ft. per mob-rule map.

Depends.  What counts as the "highway"?  Does the shoulder count?

US-56.  The corner of Dallam County (TX) is shown below, with the official boundary marker circled in red:

I don't know if I'd count the shoulder, but I do know that I wouldn't count that as the shoulder.

What I meant is that, if you count the shoulder as part of the highway, then US-56 comes closer than 10 feet.

[JayhawkCO]

The closest a highway comes to entering a county but doesn't?: My nomination of CO150 and Costilla County. 10 ft. per mob-rule map.

Depends.  What counts as the "highway"?  Does the shoulder count?

US-56.  The corner of Dallam County (TX) is shown below, with the official boundary marker circled in red:

I don't know if I'd count the shoulder, but I do know that I wouldn't count that as the shoulder.

What I meant is that, if you count the shoulder as part of the highway, then US-56 comes closer than 10 feet.

I think even if the shoulder isn't part of the highway, then US-56 comes closer than 10 feet.

[MikieTimT]

The closest a highway comes to entering a county but doesn't?: My nomination of CO150 and Costilla County. 10 ft. per mob-rule map.

Depends.  What counts as the "highway"?  Does the shoulder count?

US-56.  The corner of Dallam County (TX) is shown below, with the official boundary marker circled in red:

I don't know if I'd count the shoulder, but I do know that I wouldn't count that as the shoulder.

What I meant is that, if you count the shoulder as part of the highway, then US-56 comes closer than 10 feet.

I think even if the shoulder isn't part of the highway, then US-56 comes closer than 10 feet.

It's also US-64 and US-412.  I've taken that way before to bypass both Texas and Kansas on the way to Colorado Springs as I find I-40 and I-70 to be mindnumbing with that as a destination.

I'll tell you, it's so close that I was able to keep feet on the pavement in New Mexico on that shoulder, and manage to piss in Texas without stepping foot in it on that trip.

[tmoore952]

Just east of Blacksville, WV 7 grazes the PA state line on a curve. The state line definitely runs through the ROW. When I dug into it previously, it appeared the shoulder entered PA but the travel lanes themselves did not: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3arWR4LZpFQ8vv468

I looked on the map and saw that this occurs due to topography as WV 7 is following a creek.

I was not aware of this occurrence. I have explored much of the southern PA border (which is the Mason-Dixon line, with the exception of the Delaware 12-mile circle), but the part I don't know well is where PA meets WV, and especially the part west of I-79 which is where this example is. I'll have to get out there at some point.

Some years ago I did drive out there to drive on US 250 west of I-79 and up to Wheeling, since it passes not far (within a half mile?) of the SW corner of Pennsylvania. I unsuccessfully looked for a marker stone (at SW corner of PA) there near a dirt road there that went east of US 250 (did not have GPS), but did not wander on foot too far off that dirt road since I wasn't sure if I was trespassing. (at the time I did this, I wasn't even sure there was a marker there) Subsequently, I believe I saw a picture of what I was looking for online. It's at least a 250+ mile drive for me one way, so I'm not going to attempt that again unless I have another reason to go out there.

[Bitmapped]

Just east of Blacksville, WV 7 grazes the PA state line on a curve. The state line definitely runs through the ROW. When I dug into it previously, it appeared the shoulder entered PA but the travel lanes themselves did not: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3arWR4LZpFQ8vv468

Some years ago I did drive out there to drive on US 250 west of I-79 and up to Wheeling, since it passes not far (within a half mile?) of the SW corner of Pennsylvania. I unsuccessfully looked for a marker stone (at SW corner of PA) there near a dirt road there that went east of US 250 (did not have GPS), but did not wander on foot too far off that dirt road since I wasn't sure if I was trespassing. (at the time I did this, I wasn't even sure there was a marker there) Subsequently, I believe I saw a picture of what I was looking for online. It's at least a 250+ mile drive for me one way, so I'm not going to attempt that again unless I have another reason to go out there.

There is a marker at the extreme southwest corner of Pennsylvania. It's on the side of a hill about 800 feet horizontally and a couple hundred feet vertically from the closest road. A friend wrote an article about visiting it last year: https://wvexplorer.com/2022/01/11/storied-west-virginia-monument-stands-forgotten-in-woods/

An abandoned stretch of the original B&O mainline to Wheeling is about 1000 feet west of the corner. Board Tree Tunnel, built in 1851 for the railroad, is also in the vicinity. The B&O took great pains with their alignment in this area because they were not allowed to build in Pennsylvania. This area also has terrain that is unusually rough for northern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania, further complicating matters.

[WNYroadgeek]

More New York examples:

NY 246 barely enters Genesee County, terminating at NY 63 only a tenth of a mile after crossing the county line.

NY 318 barely enters Ontario County, terminating at NY 14 and the Thruway .7 miles after crossing the county line.

NY 65 clips the northeastern corner of Livingston County for a quarter mile.

NY 263 and NY 266 both barely miss entering Niagara, terminating .3 and .1 miles from the county line, respectively.

NY 383 barely misses entering Livingston County, terminating at NY 36 .7 miles from the county line. Nearby NY 5 misses entering Monroe County by a mile.

NY 438 barely misses entering both Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties, terminating at NY 5/US 20 .3 miles from the former and at NY 39/US 62 .7 miles from the latter.

[cl94]

Alright, Nevada. I am going to exclude cases where a state route ends at the county line, such as SRs 705 and 294, as well as cases where there is a close miss/clip in one location and a clear entrance elsewhere:

• I-80 clips Storey County in two separate locations. The Storey-Washoe county line on the north side of Storey follows the centerline of the Truckee River as it existed in the 1950s or earlier. The western spot, unsigned along 80, is just west of Exit 36 and where the Truckee River was realigned during construction of I-80. The eastern spot (signed) is at the northeastern tip of Storey County. Despite I-80 replacing US 40 across Nevada, US 40 did not enter Storey County and was thus a close miss for the entire stretch between Sparks and Fernley while it existed on the surface.
• SR 447 is about 1/4 mile inside Pershing County for several miles between Nixon and Gerlach.
• US 50 comes within about 1 mile of Storey County without entering.
• The south end of SR 338 at the California line misses Mineral County by about 1/3 mile.
• The west end of SR 140 at the Oregon line misses Washoe County by less than 1000 feet. Immediately adjacent, the east end of Oregon SR 140 clips the southwest corner of Harney County, OR.
• SR 206 comes within about 600 feet of Alpine County, California near its southern end, but does not enter nor end at the border.

A weird but similar case is the Churchill-Lyon line running down the median of I-80 for about 3 miles east of Fernley.

Now for California:

• The aforementioned case of I-80 clipping Sierra County near the Nevada border
• US 395 clips Sierra County between the Nevada border and SR 70
• SR 88 follows the Amador - El Dorado county line for several miles between Cook's Station and Kirkwood. These are the only places where SR 88 enters El Dorado County
• SR 4 comes within about a mile of the Tuolumne County line near Cottage Springs
• SR 108 clips the southern tip of Alpine County around Sonora Pass and has a near miss west of Dardanelle, making for both cases on one road. The clip is unsigned.
• SR 128 clips the northwest corner of Solano County
• I-80 clips the southern tip of Napa County, unsigned.
• SR 108 comes within 200 feet of San Joaquin County in Riverbank
• SR 129 comes within 200 feet of Monterey County east of Watsonville
• SR 198 comes within 200 feet of San Benito County
• SR 91 comes within 500 feet of the southern tip of San Bernardino County
• SR 99 comes within 1/2 mile of Kings County and within 1000 feet of Yolo County
• US 395 comes within 1 mile of Plumas County south of Susanville

[DandyDan]

The one I am aware of in Nebraska is that US 34 and NE 2 enter Merrick County southeast of Grand Island. I believe the amount of distance you are in Merrick County is the length of the bridge over the Platte River there.

[webny99]

NY 65 clips the northeastern corner of Livingston County for a quarter mile.

So it does. I did not know that previously. It even passes less than 200 feet from the Monroe/Ontario/Livingston county tri-point.

And how about this rare pairing of one county's county line sign with another county's CR shield?

[index]

When entering NC, NC 161's northbound lane is briefly in Gaston County before the whole road enters Cleveland County just short of a mile later. It later fully enters Gaston County heading out of Kings Mountain into Bessemer City.

[kphoger]

And how about this rare pairing of one county's county line sign with another county's CR shield?

I think what makes that pairing unusual is that, in places where a signed county highway is the county line, the shield is likely to be placed upstream of the intersection but the county line sign downstream of it.

[JayhawkCO]

And how about this rare pairing of one county's county line sign with another county's CR shield?

I think what makes that pairing unusual is that, in places where a signed county highway is the county line, the shield is likely to be placed upstream of the intersection but the county line sign downstream of it.

In my CO150 example, eastbound US160 (where they intersect) posts the county line before CO150, despite it falling about 10 feet past it. I was expecting downstream as well.

[webny99]

And how about this rare pairing of one county's county line sign with another county's CR shield?

I think what makes that pairing unusual is that, in places where a signed county highway is the county line, the shield is likely to be placed upstream of the intersection but the county line sign downstream of it.

This county highway isn't even on the county line, which follows Honeoye Creek. The county line sign is just erroneously placed a few hundred feet too soon (which is somewhat common when a body of water forms the county line, but normally it would be closer to the start of the bridge).

[kphoger]

And how about this rare pairing of one county's county line sign with another county's CR shield?

I think what makes that pairing unusual is that, in places where a signed county highway is the county line, the shield is likely to be placed upstream of the intersection but the county line sign downstream of it.

In my CO150 example, eastbound US160 (where they intersect) posts the county line before CO150, despite it falling about 10 feet past it. I was expecting downstream as well.

Figures, I've only seen that intersection from the other two directions.  Speaking of which... is there no county line sign heading westbound?

[JayhawkCO]

Figures, I've only seen that intersection from the other two directions.  Speaking of which... is there no county line sign heading westbound?

Not that I see in GSV. No one likes Alamosa anyway.