Hierarchy of State Routes 1-10 (or of 10 lowest numbered state highways)

[bassoon1986]

I brought this type of thread down one more level. Rank your state's state routes. We have had threads before discussing the importance of Hwy 1 or Route 1 in your state, but how would you rank your state's 1-10 highways? Or for those states that are missing some of those digits, your 10 lowest numbered highways. We know some states consider a US or Interstate highway a state route for that purpose, too.

Louisiana actually has a basic grid set up fro state highways up to about 25. So many of 1 through 10 are major corridors and some cross the state entirely. Here's my rankings highest to lowest:

LA 1 - The longest of all Louisiana highways at 435 miles and is frequently called Louisiana's main street. It misses out on Baton Rouge and New Orleans, but it is a  main thoroughfare through Shreveport, Natchitoches, and Thibodaux, and catches a glance of the state capitol building.

LA 6-Part of the historic Camino Real, and is very heavily traveled at Christmas during Natchitoches famous Christmas Festival. It is also a fairly important route to the west into Texas and one of the main highways leading to Toledo Bend Reservoir. The "Grand Ecore" bridge over the Red River brings a fair amount of commuters into Natchitoches as well.

LA 10 - This highway nearly crosses both state lines, but stops shy of Texas at Fort Polk. It has lost some continuity since the Melville Ferry has ceased operating at the Atchafalaya River, but features a new bridge replacing a ferry over the Mississippi River. It meanders through central Louisiana and the boot, but hits a few medium sized cities: Oakdale, Ville Platte, New Roads, Jackson, and Bogalusa

LA 2 - Also nearly crossing east to west borders is LA 2. It crosses east-west across the northernmost part of Louisiana and is a suitable route when I-20 is too far south. It serves 5 parish seats of the 9 parishes it crosses. 2 major bridge crossings; Red and Ouachita rivers

LA 4 - LA 4 also serves a couple of parish seats across north-central Louisiana, but meanders a lot and not always the shortest route between 2 points.

LA 8- one of the seven crossings of Sabine River into Texas and probably the "back way" for many in central Louisiana going to Houston, TX. Its jagged route is really superceded by the mostly 4-laned LA 28.

LA 9 - At just under 100 miles, LA 9 has some importance in Louisiana, but is also lightly traveled other than in Homer and Arcadia

(LA 7) - LA 7 was replaced by US 371 in 1994. The section from I-20 north through Springhill and into Arkansas probably sees the most traffic. As a whole, US 371 is not a wise route to choose from end to end and isn't much of an alternative to US 71.

LA 3 - This highway could probably move higher in the list, but it is a very short route for a primary number. It is one of the main north south corridors through busy Bossier City. It was probably used more before I-49 was completed as a way to I-30 in Arkansas

LA 5 - LA 5 really only serves 3 very small towns, and its eastern terminus is at a set of railroad tracks in a secluded area. It isn't a major highway at all, and the LA 5 designation could really be used on a longer corridor somewhere else.

[hotdogPi]

Massachusetts (counting parts in Massachusetts only):

US/MA 3
MA 2
US 1
US 6
MA 9
US 7
MA 8
MA 10
US 5
MA 4

Conveniently, there is no 11, so 10 is a good place to stop.

Interesting note: The lowest-numbered route (without an "A" or a "Bypass" or similar) in New Hampshire that does not go into another state is 33.

[SD Mapman]

SD:
US 14
US 12
US 18
US 16 (because tourists)
SD 11 (because Sioux Falls)
SD 19
SD 10
SD 13
SD 15
SD 17

We have no single digit highways

[Pete from Boston]

Massachusetts (counting parts in Massachusetts only):

US/MA 3
MA 2
US 1
US 6
MA 9
US 7
MA 8
MA 10
US 5
MA 4

Conveniently, there is no 11, so 10 is a good place to stop.

Interesting note: The lowest-numbered route (without an "A" or a "Bypass" or similar) in New Hampshire that does not go into another state is 33.

5 before 10, for sure.  Where they don't run together, 5 is the more major corridor route. 

[DTComposer]

California:
I-5
I-10
CA-1
I-8
CA-4
CA-3
CA-2
CA-9
US-6
CA-7

I could argue about the order of 4-3-2-9, but I give 4 and 3 the nod because of their length.

[The High Plains Traveler]

Colorado:
U.S. 6 - its significance is diluted by a long concurrency with, or being a parallel surface route to I-70 over much of its length, but it is an independent route carrying traffic to Nebraska from the northeast plains.
CO-9 - Longest single-digit state highway, through the eastern mountains from U.S. 50 near Canon City to U.S. 40 at Kremmling.
CO-10 - Connects Walsenburg and La Junta. From the map, it looks like it should be busier than it is.
CO-7 - Zigzags across the plains-mountain interface north of Denver to Estes Park.
CO-5 - The road up Mt. Evans
CO-8 - Keeping the old concurrent state number for U.S. 285, a short state highway across the hogback on the west side of Denver.
CO-2 - Colorado Blvd. in Denver
CO-1 - Keeping the old concurrent state number for U.S. 87, a short state highway connecting I-25 and U.S. 287 north of Ft. Collins.
CO-3 - A short state highway in Durango.
CO-11 - A short state highway connecting far northeast plains towns to a county road in Nebraska.

No CO-4.
If you eliminated U.S. 6, I would put CO-12, the scenic loop from Trinidad west and north over Cucharas Pass to U.S. 160 west of Walsenburg above 5 and below 7 (i.e., 4th position).

New Mexico
I-10 - Major route across the southwest corner of the state
NM-4 - The road from the west to Los Alamos.
NM-11 - From the border south of Columbus to Deming
NM-6 - Original U.S. 66 from Belen west to I-40
NM-9 - Road parallel to the southern border from the western boundary of the state, through Columbus and connecting to a county road that ends near El Paso
NM-8 - Road through the oil patch in far SE New Mexico
NM-3 - Remnant of a much longer road, runs from U.S. 54 at Duran to I-25 west of Las vegas
NM-2 - Relic of original NM-2, also a piece of old U.S. 285 (which was originally NM-2) south of Roswell
NM-1 - Relic of original, pre-1926 NM-1, which later became U.S. 85.
NM-7 - Road into Carlsbad Caverns NP

No NM-5. Not using I-10, NM-12, which is a lonely road across ranch and mountain country from U.S. 180 to U.S. 60 at Datil, would probably go above 3 and below 8. That is, position 6.

Now, who gets to do Arizona?

[HTM Duke]

Virginia:

1) VA-3 - One of the longer east-west routes, runs from Culpeper to Gloucester, running through Fredericksburg along the way.
2) VA-7 - Serves the NOVA economic engine known as Tysons Corner, along with connecting Winchester and Alexandria.
3) VA-2 - Mainly because the US-301/VA-2 duplex provides a decent alternate route to Richmond from MD and if needed, and vice-versa.
4) VA-10 - Provides access to Richmond from Suffolk.
5) VA-5 - Ditto, but from Williamsburg instead.
6) VA-9 - Connects Leesburgh with Charles Town and Martinsburg, WV.
7) VA-8 - Links Christiansburg with NC.
8) VA-6 - Connects to Richmond from points west.
9) VA-4 - Aligned on top of (and provides access to) Kerr Dam, and leads to NC.
And since VA-1, VA-11, and VA-12 don't exist...
10) VA-13 - Services a courthouse.  Yippee.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Minnesota:
(2, 8, 10, and 12 are US routes, so that gives us MN 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15)

This is tricky...

1. MN 5 - serves MSP airport, but quickly loses importance west of Twin Cities
2. MN 13 - major route through southern MSP suburbs, but lives in I-35's shadow south of Prior Lake
3. MN 7 - similar to MN 5, loses importance in the shadows of US 12 and US 212
4. MN 11 - NW Minnesota's main E/W route
5. MN 3 - connects Northfield, a major college town, to the Twin Cities; would have been higher on this list pre-US 52 realignment onto Lafayette Freeway in the 1990s; also mostly overshadowed by I-35
6. MN 1 - MN's longest state highway, but doesn't serve any major population centers and has several lengthy duplexes
7. MN 15 - one of several N/S highways through central Minnesota; gets bonus points for passing through Saint Cloud
8. MN 4 - same region as MN 15 and goes through no major population centers
9. MN 9/MN 6 - rural routes

[TheStranger]

California:
I-5
I-10
CA-1
I-8
CA-4
CA-3
CA-2
CA-9
US-6
CA-7

I could argue about the order of 4-3-2-9, but I give 4 and 3 the nod because of their length.

Trying it now with the ten lowest numbered state routes (no interstates and US routes) for comparison:

1
4
14
12
13
2
9
3
7
11

14's importance not only as a commuter route from the Antelope Valley to the rest of metro Los Angeles but as a connector to the Sierras and towards Barstow/Las Vegas pushes it up the list; 11 isn't even built yet from what I understand.

DTComposer - does your idea of 2 include the section west of 101 (which may or may not be mostly decomissioned), or only the section east of it? 

[Rover_0]

For Utah, SRs 1-5 haven't been commissioned since 1977, so I'll go with the lowest 10 routes: US-6, SR-7, SR-8, SR-9, SR-10, SR-12, SR-13, SR-14, I-15, and SR-16. I think we all know who takes spots 1 and 2 here, but how do the rest shake out? I think this would be how:

I-15
US-6
SR-9
SR-12
SR-7
SR-10
SR-16
SR-13
SR-14
SR-8

Going strictly by state routes, you lose 15 and 6 and gain 17 and 18, in which case you get:

SR-9
SR-12
SR-7
SR-10
SR-16
SR-17
SR-13
SR-14
SR-18
SR-8

[oscar]

Alaska has only 12 state routes, but 1-10 are all assigned:

1 -- longest route, Kenai Peninsula via Anchorage to near Canadian border
3 -- links Anchorage to Fairbanks via Denali NP
2 -- Canadian border via Fairbanks to and beyond Dalton Highway (AK 11)
4 -- Valdez to AK 2 at Delta Junction
7 -- multi-segment route in the southeastern panhandle, including the state capital
9 -- part of connection between Seward and Anchorage
5 -- part of "Top of the World" loop to Dawson YT
6 -- minor route between Fairbanks and the Yukon River
10 -- minor two-segment route, one connects Chitina to AK 4, the other Cordova to nothing
8 -- old access to Denali NP (before AK 3 was built), prime candidate for decommissioning

Hawaii's single-digit numbers are used for the Interstates on Oahu, and the next lowest are on the Big Island (1x and 2x, but only two numbers used in that range) and Maui (3x, five numbers used) based on clustering by island:

H-1
H-3
H-2
11 -- longest state route, between Hilo and Kailua-Kona via Hawaii Volcanoes NP
30 -- main route between central and western Maui
19 -- another important Hilo/Kailua-Kona link
36 -- main (but least interesting) part of Hana Highway
31 -- access to south Maui beaches
37 -- part of link between central Maui and Haleakala NP
32 -- short main drag through urban central Maui

The next lowest numbers are four 5x routes on Kauai.  Of those, 50 and 56 rank highest, and would go between 19 and 36 on the above list if we ignore the Interstates.  51 in Lihue is short, contending with 32 for least important of the lowest 10 non-Interstate numbers.

[SSOWorld]

WI has no single-digit state routes, in fact, the number on the route means nothing to the state.

29 - esp between I-94 near Elk Mound and Green Bay
13 - going south on a northbound route anyone?
11
26 - premature expansion anyone?
21 - linking La Crosse to the Fox Cities
27 - the alt route to Ashland

Interstates and US routes fill the rest.

[Eth]

I'm going to tweak this slightly for Georgia. State routes 1, 3, 4, 7, and 8 all exist and are signed, but are concurrent with one or more US routes for their entire length, so I'm going to exclude them from this list and replace them with the next lowest numbers. (12 and 14* are thus excluded for the same reason.) All of the routes making the list (except for 16 and 17) still have substantial concurrencies with either US routes or Interstates, so I'm looking at the independent portions where reasonable.

16 - Crosses most of the state from west to east, serving important towns such as Carrollton, Newnan, Griffin, and Eatonton.
11 - Actually has an independent section of decent length from Gray to Jefferson, serving a few county seats between them. Could make a pretty good US 129 Alt for those wanting to avoid Athens.
17 - Reasonably important tourist route in the mountains of northeast Georgia. Also serves several county seats in east Georgia, but nothing big.
15 - Mostly independent south of Athens. Serves a number of county seats in east central and southeast Georgia, though long-distance travel along this corridor would probably be more likely to use US 441 and US 23.
5 - Of minor importance south of Douglasville. Serves as a major link in suburban Cobb County. Most of the rest is redundant to either I-575 or SR 515.
13 - Includes the original I-85 alignment in midtown Atlanta, an important connector between modern I-85 and the Peachtree Street corridor. Other independent sections are old US 23, serving local traffic.
6 - Redundant to US 278 west of Lithia Springs. The rest is a major corridor for the western Atlanta suburbs and leads directly to the airport.
2 - Runs entirely under US 76 east of Ellijay. Alternate to US 76 through the mountains west of there; also forms a fairly major corridor for the Chattanooga suburbs.
10 - Includes a portion of the cancelled I-485 proposal and then handles suburban DeKalb County traffic. Redundant to US 78 east of Stone Mountain.
9 - The independent portion is all old US 19. Mostly for collecting traffic from the northern Atlanta suburbs to eventually direct toward 400.

1 - excluded (US 27)
3 - excluded (US 19 and/or US 41)
4 - excluded (US 1)
7 - excluded (US 41 or US 341)
8 - excluded (US 29/29 Biz/78/278)
12 - excluded (US 278)
14 - excluded (US 29, except for a very short bit at the northern end which is also SR 154. I could have included it on a technicality, but nah.)

[hbelkins]

Kentucky:

9 -- The AA Highway
10 -- Eastern portion is a leg of the AA Highway
4 -- New Circle Road in Lexington
7 -- Major corridor from West Liberty to Grayson and part of the eventual London-Ashland corridor.
3 -- Segment from US 23 near Prestonsburg to Inez is mostly four lanes.
8 -- Runs along the Ohio River; portion from the Garrison area to South Shore is an important connector to US 23 and Ohio's US 52.
1 -- Most important section has been supplanted by KY 67 (Industrial Parkway).
5 -- Good shortcut from US 60 in western Boyd County to US 23
2 -- Serves mostly local traffic; utility as a through route between Olive Hill and Greenup has also been supplanted by KY 67.
6 -- Minor road in southern Kentucky

West Virginia has no Route 1 so we get to turn it up to 11 count to 12, since 11 is a US route.

2 -- Major route along the Ohio River
10 -- Crucial noth-south corridor in the western and southwestern part of the state.
9 -- Major east-west route in the eastern panhandle; eastern portion serves to link Martinsburg and Charles Town to the DC metro area.
3 -- East-west route running along the southern part of the state.
7 -- Connects Morgantown to the Ohio River and OH 7; east of Morgantown serves mostly local traffic.
6 -- Unsigned bridge and ramps crossing the Kanawha River and linking US 60 and WV 61.
12 -- Relatively minor route in the southeastern part of the state.
5 -- Not important.
8 -- Also not very important, just connects US 30 and WV 2 in the northern panhandle.
4 -- Formerly a border-to-border route, now mostly parallels I-79.

[Desert Man]

California:
I-5
I-10
CA-1
I-8
CA-4
CA-3
CA-2
CA-9
US-6
CA-7

I could argue about the order of 4-3-2-9, but I give 4 and 3 the nod because of their length.

Glad to find my state already mentioned in this thread. I been on I-10 (goes through the Palm Springs area), I-5 (many times), US 6 (however in Payson, UT), I-8 in San Diego, and the most famous state route in CA: the 1 or PCH. I've seen CA state route 2 freeway in Glendale, suburb of L.A. from the 101 and I'm familiar with the short CA route 7 from Mexicali on the border to I-8 in Imperial valley.

[cl94]

New York (I'm skipping all non-US suffixed routes)

US 9 - main north-south surface road in the state
NY 5 - main east-west surface road across the state
US 1 - important Westchester surface road
US 9W - bypassed by the Thruway, but major north-south road west of the Hudson
US 6 - Bear Mountain Bridge
NY 7 - replaced by I-88 west of Schenectady, but the major east-west road east of where NY 5 ends and connection to southern Vermont
US 4 - connection to northern New England
NY 3 - connection between the North Country tourist/mining/military areas and the rest of the country
NY 2 - Main claim to fame is being the extension of MA 2
NY 8 - locally important, but except for the small Utica stretch, a road from Deposit to Hague that goes through vast areas of wilderness
NY 10 - like NY 8, but nothing remotely suburban
US 2 - about one mile in the state and much of it is on a bridge

[Charles2]

In Alabama the lowest signed state routes are 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21.  Very few of these routes currently serve a true redeeming purpose, but here goes:

10-PRO: I think this is the only even numbered state route that goes from state line to state line (Mississippi to Georgia).  CON: The largest city that the route passes through is Troy, second largest is Greenville.

5-PRO: This is the third-longest odd numbered state route, and prior to the completion of I-65, it was part of the most direct route between Birmingham and Mobile.  CONS: South of Birmingham, the route travels in a general NE-SW orientation, while north of Birmingham, the route travels NW-SE.  The only cities of any size that the route passes through are Birmingham and Jasper.  Its usefulness has been supplanted by I-65, I-20/59 and now, I-22.

21-This is the second-longest odd numbered route in the state, but the only cities it passes through are Montgomery and Anniston/Oxford.

14-Connects Selma, Prattville and Auburn.

20-Connects Florence with Decatur.

17-The signed portion of the route travels along most of the western border of the state, but it's another route that doesn't pass through many towns of importance.

13-Largely an unsigned route, but it connects Tuscaloosa with several smaller towns in northwest Alabama.

9-Unsigned south of Montgomery, north of Montgomery it passes through rural areas in east Alabama.

18 & 19-Largely insignificant routes.

[roadman65]

Florida is hard because most of the single digits are either unsigned or short regional highways.

SR 1- Renamed SR A1A to avoid confusion with US 1 serves all the Atlantic Coast communities and acts as an alternate to US 1 as well.

SR 2 serves the border area of the state and is a local transit route for those who live near the border of GA with GA 94 also completing it as when SR 2 dips into The Peach State it connects the two segments of SR 2 as well as SR 2 doing the same for the two GA 94 segments.  Basically FL 2 and GA 94 are both one continuous highway serving the border area of FL and GA.

SR 3- Mainstreet of Merrit Island and for employees of Kennedy Space Center as well as visitors to access the facility.

SR 4- Cuts through the Blackwater Forest and is more of a local road than being used for long distance interstate travel.

SR 5 is silent with most of US 1 and part of US 17.

SR 6 is very short route in Madison and Hamilton Counties, but I guess can actually act as an alternate route to I-10 from Jasper to Madison.

SR 7- Though mostly concurrent with US 441 in Palm Beach and Broward Counties is not signed in shield, but on local blade signing and thus called it by locals.  So you can say it serves a lot of the central parts of those counties and is a local road to the Florida's Turnpike.

SR 8- Is silent route for I-10.

SR 9 is I-95 from Golden Glades north, but in Miami- Dade south of Golden Glades it is major N-S arterial in the Greater Miami area.

[pianocello]

I'm more familiar with the highways of Illinois than Indiana or Iowa, so I'll do that. I've noticed that state highways in general in Illinois are basically rural routes that connect small towns together, so this is kinda difficult. Anyway, here goes:

1-As the longest highway in the state, this makes sense as the most important one.
3-Hugs the Mississippi river, seems to be pretty significant in the south.
9-Cross-state, and it hits a couple of decent-sized towns.
10-See above. Doesn't go cross-state, but the towns are more decently-sized.
2-Same as 9 and 10. Route is shorter, towns are bigger. At this point, I'm not sure how to weigh those traits.
4-The only thing that stands out for 4 is the fact that it was US-66 at one point. That and the Springfield bypass.
6-pretty short, but it's a freeway, and serves as a bypass. Would be ranked higher if it were extended north or east, but that's not likely to happen anytime soon.
8-Not that lengthy, pretty much only serves Peoria and the small towns to its west
7-Regionally significant, but not much more than that.
5-Also regionally significant, but only that. It's shorter than IL-7, and it doesn't connect as many towns or suburbs, so it goes last.

[kurumi]

Connecticut:

Criteria:
* length
* areas served
* self-sufficiency (IOW, does a nearby interstate supplant it)

US 6 -- mostly independent of I-84; has own freeway segments
US 1 -- shore route and sheer population served
US 7 -- a primary route in its region
CT 8 -- fitful effort to get an interstate designation
US 5 -- a few miles away from I-91 most of the time
CT 9 (tie)
CT 2 (tie)
CT 10
CT 4
CT 3
CT 2A
US 1A

[Duke87]

For Pennsylvania we have to go up to 14 since 2, 4, 7, and 9 are not currently in use...

US 6
US 1
US 11
US 13
PA 8
PA 5
PA 3
PA 10
PA 14
PA 12

PA 12 is the sore thumb in here because it's less than 10 miles long and is kind of a waste of such a low number.

Even among the others, 3, 5, and 10 are all under 50 miles long, and 14 only barely exceeds that mark. 8 is the only state (not US) highway in the group that is really a major trans-state route.

[ctsignguy]

For Ohio

Ohio 1 (used twice....origional Ohio 1 was replaced by US 40...second Ohio 1 was a mishmash of concurrent routes that was intended to be used for a series of highways from Cincinnati to Conneaut) before it disappearwed in the 1960s...not in use now

Ohio 2 
Ohio 3
Ohio 4
Ohio 5
US 6
Ohio 7
Ohio 8
Ohio 9
Ohio 10
Ohio 11 (version 1 is now US 35, current version runs from Ashtabula south and is a limited access highway, though not up to Interstate standards)

[hotdogPi]

For Ohio

Ohio 1 (used twice....origional Ohio 1 was replaced by US 40...second Ohio 1 was a mishmash of concurrent routes that was intended to be used for a series of highways from Cincinnati to Conneaut) before it disappearwed in the 1960s...not in use now

Ohio 2 
Ohio 3
Ohio 4
Ohio 5
US 6
Ohio 7
Ohio 8
Ohio 9
Ohio 10
Ohio 11 (version 1 is now US 35, current version runs from Ashtabula south and is a limited access highway, though not up to Interstate standards)

OH 5 should be moved towards the bottom of the list, while OH 11 should be moved up to the middle or near the top.

[doorknob60]

Oregon has a weird way of numbering its highways (where the highway number is usually different than the signed route number), but for this I'll do the 10 lowest route numbers. I'll start with including US and Interstate highways. Might make a second list with only state routes another time (but there are only 2 differences). So the candidates are: OR-3, I-5, OR-6, OR-7, OR-8, OR-10, OR-11, OR-18, OR-19, US-20.

1. I-5: Duh
2. US-20: Longest route on this list, and one of the longest in the whole state
3. OR-18: Provides a major link between Portland/Salem and the coast (Lincoln City)
4. OR-6: Connects Portland to Tillamook
5. OR-11: Short, but provides a somewhat important connection between Walla Walla and Pendleton
6. OR-8: Mostly urban/suburban connections in the Portland Metro. Not sure if it needs a state highway number, but it's an important road
7. OR-10: Similar to OR-8, but shorter
8. OR-7: Connects Baker City to Central Oregon, but that's about it.
9. OR-19: In the middle of nowhere, not terribly useful because of US-395 and US-97. Provides an alternate route from John Day to Portland, but US-26 the whole way is probably a better route.
10. OR-3: Tucked in the remote corner of the state, this route has very little use. Really only useful for the Lewiston to Enterprise route, as in almost nothing. You could argue that it's the best route between Baker City/La Grande and Lewiston, but Google Maps won't route along it, though it is notably shorter (I haven't been on this route in nearly 10 years (I think; I don't remember if we used it on our Wallowa Lake trip; knowing my Dad, it wouldn't surprise me if we did), before I could drive, so I don't remember it).

[NWI_Irish96]

Was searching for something else and came across this:

For Indiana:

1) US 6
2) IN 3
3) IN 9
4) IN 2
5) IN 1
6) IN 5
7) IN 10
8) IN 7
9) IN 8
10) IN 4