Your State's "Main Street"

[theroadwayone]

What highway deserves the title "Main Street of [state?]" Among the things to factor in are how important it is, it's history, and whatever else you'd like to come up with.

[ftballfan]

Michigan: Grand River Avenue. It runs from downtown Detroit to Fulton St on the east side of Grand Rapids (although it changes names to Cascade Rd at the Kent-Ionia county line). It was US-16 prior to the coming of the interstates

[Super Mateo]

Illinois:  US 66, or if excluding decommissioned routes, Interstate 55.

-They connect the two biggest urban areas in Illinois:  Chicago and St. Louis.
-They run through the capital, Springfield.
-US 66 has a ton of history behind it and there are plenty of places it is commemorated.  Pontiac even has a museum for it.

If an Interstate doesn't qualify, then Old US 66 it is.

[TBKS1]

Arkansas: State Highway 7 for sure.

[bulldog1979]

Michigan: Grand River Avenue. It runs from downtown Detroit to Fulton St on the east side of Grand Rapids (although it changes names to Cascade Rd at the Kent-Ionia county line). It was US-16 prior to the coming of the interstates

No, I say it should be I-75, running north through Detroit, Flint, the Tri Cities, and up through the Northern Lower to the Straits of Mackinac where it crosses into the Upper Peninsula. In fact, the Detroit Free Press agrees with me on that assessment.

[US 89]

If we count decommissioned routes, then Utah's would almost certainly be US 91. The only two cities of any importance that it didn't go through were Price and Vernal.

US 91 was replaced by I-15 south of Brigham City, so I-15 probably took over as Utah's Main Street. But if we don't allow interstates (which I don't think we should), then it would be US 89.

[sparker]

In CA it would most likely be the original alignment of US 99 from Los Angeles to at least Manteca, where the "Main St." concept would split west (on CA 120 and the final US 50 alignment to Oakland/San Francisco), or north on US 99 to Sacramento.  Today, of course, that's I-5 up to Wheeler Ridge and CA 99 to Manteca, with a CA 120/I-205/I-580/I-80 routing on the west branch to S.F., and CA 99 continuing north to Sacramento.  I suppose some might argue that once I-5 was completed in the Valley, the "main street" concept should be shifted there.  My counterargument is that CA 99 continues to be the primary connector between the various metro areas strung out along its length, serving a significantly larger population base than the Westside/I-5 alignment.  Maybe CA 99 could be considered the "main street", while I-5 is the corresponding metro bypass! 

[Flint1979]

I-75 is Michigan's Main Street. It runs the length of the state north to south and connects Detroit to Up North. It's not uncommon for I-75 to backup with traffic going northbound on Friday's and southbound on Sunday's even in the stretch where it's eight lanes between Flint and Saginaw.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

ND, MN, WI: I-94

[fillup420]

North Carolina is most certainly US 64

[GenExpwy]

NY 5 goes through the following cities, in most cases through the middle of downtown: Albany, Schenectady, Amsterdam, Little Falls, Utica, Oneida, Syracuse, Auburn, Geneva, Canandaigua, Batavia, Buffalo, Lackawanna, and Dunkirk, en route to Erie PA.

The New York Thruway has billed itself "Main Street of the Empire State" , but at least for Upstate, I'd go with NY 5.

[Max Rockatansky]

In CA it would most likely be the original alignment of US 99 from Los Angeles to at least Manteca, where the "Main St." concept would split west (on CA 120 and the final US 50 alignment to Oakland/San Francisco), or north on US 99 to Sacramento.  Today, of course, that's I-5 up to Wheeler Ridge and CA 99 to Manteca, with a CA 120/I-205/I-580/I-80 routing on the west branch to S.F., and CA 99 continuing north to Sacramento.  I suppose some might argue that once I-5 was completed in the Valley, the "main street" concept should be shifted there.  My counterargument is that CA 99 continues to be the primary connector between the various metro areas strung out along its length, serving a significantly larger population base than the Westside/I-5 alignment.  Maybe CA 99 could be considered the "main street", while I-5 is the corresponding metro bypass!

I'll second 99 for California.  US 99 had such an impact on the state that it literally refused to die and lives on the longest non-Interstate Freeway.  I-5 definitely bypasses way too many important cities in Central California to take the title away.  I'd argue US 101 is even more of a Main Street than I-5. 

For Arizona it's defiitely I-10 considering it goes through Tucson and Phoenix.  I-40 is mainly oriented for commerce crossing the country. 

[Bruce]

Washington: I-5 / US 99.

About 5 million people live on the corridor, which is over two-thirds of the state's population. Serves the Seattle metro area and three of its anchor suburbs, the state capital, and some major regional centers (Mount Vernon-Burlington, Bellingham, Chehalis-Centralia, Kelso-Longview, Vancouver).

[Roadsguy]

Probably US 322 for Pennsylvania.

[bugo]

Arkansas: State Highway 7 for sure.

No way. The only decent sized towns it goes through are Harrison, Russellville, Hot Springs, Arkadephia, Camden and El Dorado. I would nominate I-30. It serves Fort Smith, Conway, Little Rock and West Memphis. (It doesn't actually go through Fort Smith or Little Rock but it goes through Van Buren and North Little Rock.) Future I-49 will go through Bentonville-Rogers-Springdale-Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Texarkana. AR 7 is a major tourist route but it isn't a major route for regular travel. The only long 4 lane stretch is from Camden to El Dorado. The rest of it is mostly 2 lanes with a few 4 lane sections in cities. US 65 and 67 are two other fairly important routes. But AR 7? No. Just no.

[index]

If I had to pick for NC, I'd say I-40. It traverses the state from mountains to coast, and is in or within close proximity to most of our major cities. Think Piedmont Triad, Research Triangle, Wilmington, Asheville, etc. Which are all cities with historical significance. Overall, its geographic diversity, service to our cities, and history along it qualifies it for a "Main Street" of North Carolina.


If I had to pick a US route, I'd do 64. It does the same thing as I-40, traversing the entire state, east-west, while providing a good look at almost everything big we've got. US 70 could also meet this criteria.


There isn't really a state route, in my opinion, that could be deemed a main street.

[hotdogPi]

Massachusetts: US 20. Goes through Boston and reaches the Berkshires. I chose US 20 over I-90 and MA 2 because "Main Street" normally isn't a freeway.

I originally said MA 9, but I think US 20 is a better choice.

[Buck87]

I-71 for Ohio

Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati

[webny99]

But if we don't allow interstates (which I don't think we should)

Second that. In fact, it should really be the most significant non-freeway corridor in the state.

[index]

Taking a shot at my southern neighbor, which isn't too far away from me, I'd have to say US 176 for South Carolina. It doesn't quite go into Charleston, and it misses Greenville, going for Spartanburg instead, but going by proximity, it services everything big the state has to offer. US 178 is similar. If Interstates are allowed, I-26. These seem like the more obvious go-to choices.

[jeffandnicole]

There's a few options for NJ: US 1 may seem fairly obvious, but it only covers the northern part of the state.  US 130 covers about 3/4 of the state and US 9 covers the enter state.  If I had to pick one, I'd go with US 9.

Delaware: US 13.

[hotdogPi]

Since nobody here lives in New Hampshire, I'll do New Hampshire. US 3, no contest.

[index]

There's a few options for NJ: US 1 may seem fairly obvious, but it only covers the northern part of the state.  US 130 covers about 3/4 of the state and US 9 covers the enter state.  If I had to pick one, I'd go with US 9.

Delaware: US 13.

Alternatively for Delaware, there's also DE 1, although if we don't want freeways/tollways, that may have to be excluded due to the fact that quite a bit of it is a tollway. DE 1 shows off other things the state has to offer, such as its coast, which US 13 doesn't.

[WR of USA]

Another New England state, Maine's main non interstate would probably be US 1 since it goes all the way from York to Fort Kent. Maine's main interstate would be I-95 because it connects many of the major cities to the capital and traverses the state from York to Houlton. Many trucks from Canada use these routes to get to the northeast too.

[hbelkins]

Kentucky's would be US 60. Paducah, Owensboro, Louisville, Frankfort (state capital), Lexington, Ashland.