Major US routes vs. major Interstate routes.

[kphoger]

The Fall River area of Kansas has lettered county roads with fractions in between, except they don't actually use fractions.  Halfway between F RD and G RD would be F 50 FD.  The 50 means 0.50, or one-half.  So, if your Grand Junction example were out there, it would be G 75 RD.

[Scott5114]

The best solution to diagonals that I can think of is to do what Florida does and use x00 numbers for them. Although that means you only get 9 diagonal routes, so use them wisely. Unless you want to allow US 000 or go into four digits, of course.

If we could use fractions, I-99 could have been I-79 1/2 instead.  Then it would fit the grid.

Could also use halves or quarters to get rid of east and west versions of the same number.

Heck some cities have numbered street alleys signed in fractions.  Though not feasible to highway numbers, but living in this illogical universe it is not a bad idea to assign fractions.

Fractions aren't feasible route numbers? Someone tell West Virginia...

The Fall River area of Kansas has lettered county roads with fractions in between, except they don't actually use fractions.  Halfway between F RD and G RD would be F 50 FD.  The 50 means 0.50, or one-half.  So, if your Grand Junction example were out there, it would be G 75 RD.

Lyon County does something similar but uses serial numbers instead of fractional numbers. So the first road between County Road R and County Road S is County Road R1, then comes R2, and so on.

[kphoger]

Fractions aren't feasible route numbers? Someone tell West Virginia...

I can't tell from here:  is your tongue in your cheek?  The state of West Virginia doesn't call those 'fractions', does it?  I thought that was just a roadgeek thing.

[GaryV]

Kalamazoo County has E-W roads named by alphabet letters. A road halfway between two of them gets both letters.  E.g., U Ave, UV Ave, V Ave.

[Big John]

^^
greeting = HI Av
negative = NO Av
confusion = ST Av

[skluth]

The best solution to diagonals that I can think of is to do what Florida does and use x00 numbers for them. Although that means you only get 9 diagonal routes, so use them wisely. Unless you want to allow US 000 or go into four digits, of course.

The diagonal options could easily be doubled by using another XYY combo like X55 or X99. While the elongated state of Florida doesn't really need many diagonal routes, a more compact state like Ohio or South Carolina might require more. Use one XYY combo for NE-SW diagonal routes and the other XYY combo for NW-SE diagonals. A similar option would be to use all XXX triple-digit options (e.g., 222, 777) for diagonals.

[SkyPesos]

First, how would you define a diagonal route? US 1 looks as diagonal as US 11 and US 79 in parts despite not many people thinking of it as a diagonal.

[kenarmy]

First, how would you define a diagonal route? US 1 looks as diagonal as US 11 and US 79 in parts despite not many people thinking of it as a diagonal.

Exactly I was confused when hp described US 41 as being diagonal..

[NWI_Irish96]

First, how would you define a diagonal route? US 1 looks as diagonal as US 11 and US 79 in parts despite not many people thinking of it as a diagonal.

Exactly I was confused when hp described US 41 as being diagonal..

It has to be at least somewhat diagonal considering it intersects interstates 55, 65, 75, 85 and 95

[hbelkins]

First, how would you define a diagonal route? US 1 looks as diagonal as US 11 and US 79 in parts despite not many people thinking of it as a diagonal.

Exactly I was confused when hp described US 41 as being diagonal..

By "diagonal" I mean it crosses other x1 routes. US 11 is probably the biggest offender, as it crosses 31, 41, and 21. The interstate equivalent would be 85.

There are no x0 diagonals that cross each other, either in US or Interstate categories.

Fractions aren't feasible route numbers? Someone tell West Virginia...

I can't tell from here:  is your tongue in your cheek?  The state of West Virginia doesn't call those 'fractions', does it?  I thought that was just a roadgeek thing.

No, the state doesn't call them that. They aren't even fractions in the broad definition of the term. A "denominator" is to a "numerator" in the WV county/secondary route system as a first digit is to the other two digits in a three-digit US or Interstate.

[SkyPesos]

First, how would you define a diagonal route? US 1 looks as diagonal as US 11 and US 79 in parts despite not many people thinking of it as a diagonal.

Exactly I was confused when hp described US 41 as being diagonal..

It has to be at least somewhat diagonal considering it intersects interstates 55, 65, 75, 85 and 95

It looks more diagonal than US 31 and US 51 for sure, but for the interstates it intersects, I-85 is out of the question for obvious reasons. I would rule out I-95 too, as it's in I-77's grid position in Florida. I-55 is diagonal in Illinois, as it took over the US 66 corridor. I-65 and I-75 are pretty close to each other for parts in the Midwest, sometimes less than 100 miles between them.
So US 41 is less diagonal than you expect taking all of those into account.

[Dirt Roads]

Fractions aren't feasible route numbers? Someone tell West Virginia...

I can't tell from here:  is your tongue in your cheek?  The state of West Virginia doesn't call those 'fractions', does it?  I thought that was just a roadgeek thing.

Well, the WVDOH does refer to the road that I grew up on as "thirty-three over three".  But yes, its just a roadgeek thing.  Not sure who started it, but Marc Fannin memorialized West Virginia fractional routes in the misc.transport.road FAQ page.

[SkyPesos]

Well, the WVDOH does refer to the road that I grew up on as "thirty-three over three".  But yes, its just a roadgeek thing.  Not sure who started it, but Marc Fannin memorialized West Virginia fractional routes in the misc.transport.road FAQ page.

So would a route 32/4 simply to route 8 in WV?

[I-55]

Well, the WVDOH does refer to the road that I grew up on as "thirty-three over three".  But yes, its just a roadgeek thing.  Not sure who started it, but Marc Fannin memorialized West Virginia fractional routes in the misc.transport.road FAQ page.

So would a route 32/4 simply to route 8 in WV?

The top number is the route the county road spurs from, the bottom is what number it was assigned (ex. 60/5 Main St in Barboursville. 60 comes from US-60 and 5 is because it was the 5th route designated off of 60.

[texaskdog]

The grid is dumb anyway.  Why not just make the longest routes have the lowest numbers?

[SkyPesos]

The grid is dumb anyway.  Why not just make the longest routes have the lowest numbers?

So I-90 would be I-1, I-80 as I-2, I-70 as I-5, etc?

[texaskdog]

The grid is dumb anyway.  Why not just make the longest routes have the lowest numbers?

So I-90 would be I-1, I-80 as I-2, I-70 as I-5, etc?

sure it could be anything.  then I-29 and I-49 can be the same route without anyone getting upset.

[kphoger]

So would a route 32/4 simply to route 8 in WV?

[insert West Virginia stereotype joke here]

[kenarmy]

First, how would you define a diagonal route? US 1 looks as diagonal as US 11 and US 79 in parts despite not many people thinking of it as a diagonal.

Exactly I was confused when hp described US 41 as being diagonal..

It has to be at least somewhat diagonal considering it intersects interstates 55, 65, 75, 85 and 95

That's true. Maybe I never really thought of 41 as diagonal because it's straight for a much longer stretch than US 11 and US 62.

[NWI_Irish96]

First, how would you define a diagonal route? US 1 looks as diagonal as US 11 and US 79 in parts despite not many people thinking of it as a diagonal.

Exactly I was confused when hp described US 41 as being diagonal..

It has to be at least somewhat diagonal considering it intersects interstates 55, 65, 75, 85 and 95

That's true. Maybe I never really thought of 41 as diagonal because it's straight for a much longer stretch than US 11 and US 62.

Lots of it is straight but between Hopkinsville KY and Atlanta GA it's almost exactly 45 degrees diagonal.

[roadman65]

41 is actually diagonal from Macon, GA up to Hopkinsville, KY. More so in TN than the rest. It does move over because of Lake Michigan thought and it is in its correct place in the grid  north of Chicago. Though being it crosses US 31 in Nashville one could argue this particular city of where US 41 really fits.

Hey, let's switch both US 41 and 31 south of Nashville.

[Dirt Roads]

So would a route 32/4 simply to route 8 in WV?

[insert West Virginia stereotype joke here]

I'm pretty sure that I resemble that remark.  Except that I was pretty good at math.

[StogieGuy7]

41 is actually diagonal from Macon, GA up to Hopkinsville, KY. More so in TN than the rest. It does move over because of Lake Michigan thought and it is in its correct place in the grid  north of Chicago. Though being it crosses US 31 in Nashville one could argue this particular city of where US 41 really fits.

Hey, let's switch both US 41 and 31 south of Nashville.

Yeah, 41 starts at the shores of Lake Superior (the westernmost Great Lake) and, after heading south-southeastward through WI and N IL, takes a southeasterly turn into IN and stays southward until it gets into TN where it takes a more southeastwardly course which is follows (more or less) through much of GA and into N FL. Then it goes southbound again to follow the Gulf Coast only to take a perpendicular turn straight to the east and into Miami.  To simplify that long description, US 41 runs north-northwest to south-southeast. It's an erratic, eventually meeting up with and ending at US 1.

US 45 is more true to it's north-south status, though it too wanders a bit off the beam.

[kphoger]

Let's just post a map so everyone can form their own opinions without consulting an atlas.

[StogieGuy7]

Let's just post a map so everyone can form their own opinions without consulting an atlas.

Yep. I was going to do that too: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Copper+Harbor/Miami,+FL/@38.4140594,-92.6020061,5.77z/am=t/data=!4m73!4m72!1m60!1m1!1s0x4d5a83ab442ba0eb:0xca056ee77d4c790c!2m2!1d-87.8903203!2d47.4683113!3m4!1m2!1d-87.3936589!2d46.5406417!3s0x4d4e20997a7e036d:0x344c4492b479a709!3m4!1m2!1d-86.9722459!2d45.9687124!3s0x4d4dc59a182afcff:0x47ea13b56ca58891!3m4!1m2!1d-87.5221021!2d45.694289!3s0x4d5279add452c415:0xaf5356ade6165ad5!3m4!1m2!1d-87.6117743!2d45.1569069!3s0x4d52a5d2249615c7:0xaa0eefc71a0e228c!3m4!1m2!1d-88.5370327!2d44.1013523!3s0x8803c1b2b2c21a07:0xdefde7d16b0f0b91!3m4!1m2!1d-87.9027398!2d42.376846!3s0x880f8d87d3a5d101:0x34547952a682efa6!3m4!1m2!1d-87.862521!2d42.251419!3s0x880f9528defcedaf:0x7a8d492f2eb46e72!3m4!1m2!1d-87.65309!2d41.9840446!3s0x880fd179fe8c50f1:0x279b45dd2432ebd9!3m4!1m2!1d-87.451812!2d37.976445!3s0x886e2c998edc555b:0xd4c30632ac1cf4f1!3m4!1m2!1d-82.0119!2d26.9152358!3s0x88db58443f475abf:0x2bc773b0ae2c599c!3m4!1m2!1d-81.336598!2d25.901569!3s0x88da44ca8a9b6c8d:0xf5f3a0715f0cc63!1m5!1m1!1s0x88d9b0a20ec8c111:0xff96f271ddad4f65!2m2!1d-80.1917902!2d25.7616798!3e0!6m3!1i0!2i1!3i22

1,990 miles  Google maps got to the point where it wouldn't let me move the route onto 41 through the south side of Chicago because I'd apparently gone beyond their limit for route diversions.

Just remember that straight south from Copper Harbor, MI is roughly New Orleans, LA. And Miami is an awful lot of miles east of there.