Alabama's County Roads

[mwb1848]

There's no doubt that Alabama is home to a pretty robust network of County Roads. However, I'm looking for information on the relationship between the Alabama Department of Transportation and county roads around the state. More than many states, Alabama seems to treat its county roads as a secondary state highway system. For example, it's common to see county road pentagons on BGS's and integrated into DOT ground-mounted sign installations. ALDOT's state highway maps have always included a lot of information about county roads. It's also not uncommon to see DOT installations point motorists to county roads when connections between state highways.

Any insight would be appreciated!

[cjk374]

Most of the county road shields I have encountered on ALDOT maintained roads (at county road junctions) look as though the county put them up, not ALDOT. There may be exceptions.

[froggie]

These are county roads.  While some may receive state or federal aid from ALDOT for a given roadway project, they are owned and maintained by the counties.

[freebrickproductions]

Good luck navigating them though. Some places, like Madison and Limestone Counties don't even sign their county routes. Other places, like Jackson and Cullman Counties sign any and everywhere that cars drive, have driven, and/or will drive with a county route shield.

[codyg1985]

Some counties do an excellent job of signing county routes and do a general good job of maintaining good signage along their routes (Jefferson, Shelby, and Baldwin Counties come to mind). Others are hit or miss, and still others are much left to be desired.

[Brian556]

The way Jackson County signs every county maintained road with pentagons is insane.

[Charles2]

Blount County is another one that does a very good job of signing county roads, at least when they intersect state or US routes.  Walker, on the other hand, is abysmal.

[formulanone]

My understanding of the old "captive county" routes was that a handful of counties allowed the state to maintain most routes which weren't fully state routes. I thought I read somewhere the process stopped around 1980 or so. From 1950 to 1970, some of them had these signs:

The way Jackson County signs every county maintained road with pentagons is insane.

Dekalb even goes as far as to sign some of the gravel roads. I suppose some of it is for emergency and 911 purposes.



(...but great for number-collecting purposes.)

Cullman County seems to number them up to around 1800 or so. I suppose it does make more sense than trying to find a theoretical "Fir Street" on map, when there's possibly a Fur Street, Firth Street, and Fourth Street.

[freebrickproductions]

Cullman County seems to number them up to around 1800 or so. I suppose it does make more sense than trying to find a theoretical "Fir Street" on map, when there's possibly a Fur Street, Firth Street, and Fourth Street.

A bit of a bump, but I found out that Cullman County has a CR 6200 back in April:
Cullman CR 6200 by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
Not the best photo, but it appears to have been a rather recent install. It is posted along US 31 southbound (with another for northbound US 31, IIRC) and the arrow points towards the driveway of this trailer park as well, IIRC.

[formulanone]

Cullman County seems to number them up to around 1800 or so. I suppose it does make more sense than trying to find a theoretical "Fir Street" on map, when there's possibly a Fur Street, Firth Street, and Fourth Street.

A bit of a bump, but I found out that Cullman County has a CR 6200 back in April:
Cullman CR 6200 by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
Not the best photo, but it appears to have been a rather recent install. It is posted along US 31 southbound (with another for northbound US 31, IIRC) and the arrow points towards the driveway of this trailer park as well, IIRC.

I have one from the other direction...



There's a few of those in DeKalb and Cherokee County as well...they aren't always posted, but they seem to be gravel/dirt roads. I'm guessing it's just a driveway that serves multiple residences.

[codyg1985]

I think the ones in DeKalb County without the County name on them are not maintained by the county and are just glorified driveways.

[mwb1848]

In Lafayette County, Mississippi, they use the pentagons with "ROAD" at the top to indicate private roads which have been numbered for 911 purposes. In some cases, the driveways there aren't even glorified.

[codyg1985]

In Lafayette County, Mississippi, they use the pentagons with "ROAD" at the top to indicate private roads which have been numbered for 911 purposes. In some cases, the driveways there aren't even glorified.

Same with Lee County and Tippah County.