Counties that contain no national-level routes

[Duke87]

New York has several. Hamilton, Lewis, Orleans, Schuyler, Tompkins, Wayne, and Yates (7/62) have no US routes or Interstates.

+Fulton. 8/62.


Connecticut and Delaware both have none.

[webny99]

New York has several. Hamilton, Lewis, Orleans, Schuyler, Tompkins, Wayne, and Yates (7/62) have no US routes or Interstates.

Yep, I was going to mention Orleans and Wayne. Neither of those are too surprising given there are no US Routes between the Thruway and Lake Ontario.

Wouldn't be surprised at all if Tompkins is the most populous county on the list nationwide - a population of 105,000 and no US Routes is quite impressive. Now I'm curious. I don't think any other county mentioned yet is more populous.

Oh, and I have been to seven of those eight (including Fulton as mentioned by Duke87). I have not been to Lewis County.

[Flint1979]

Heck there would be several counties in Michigan:

Huron, Sanilac, Tuscola, Oscoda, Montmorency, Leelanau.

I believe that every county in the U.P. has at least one U.S. highway in it and the only two counties up there with an Interstate is Chippewa and Mackinac.

[webny99]

I don't think PA has any counties that qualify. Like SC and some of the other Southern states, PA is loaded with US Routes, especially compared to NY. For example, both US 15 and US 220 run the vertical length of PA, hitting close to 20 PA counties combined, only to end at/near the NY border.

[Flint1979]

Illinois has a bunch in rather remote areas--state highways only.  Calhoun, Hardin, and Gallatin counties spring to mind immediately.  There are a lot of counties in the Great Plains states that have one or two north-south state routes and one or two east-west state routes, but no US or Interstate.

This is a very common occurrence west of the Appalachians, I think you'll find.

Calhoun might be the strangest county in Illinois to me. Totally landlocked between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers with only one  bridge going across the Illinois River and a ferry route going across the Illinois River as well. Does anyone really ever visit that county? At least the other two counties you mentioned are easier to get to.

[Flint1979]

I'm thinking Newaygo County in Michigan doesn't have any US or Interstate Highways in it.  US 131 comes within a mile or so of Newaygo County.  Oscoda and Montmorency counties also fit the bill.

I never thought about Newaygo when I was making my list. With the size of the counties in the U.P. I didn't even waste my time they have at least a U.S. highway in every county. I thought Alger would be the county without a U.S. highway but US-41 clips it on the southwest corner.

Adding onto this I forgot one county in the U.P. doesn't have a U.S. or Interstate highway in it and that's Luce County.

[Flint1979]

New York has several. Hamilton, Lewis, Orleans, Schuyler, Tompkins, Wayne, and Yates (7/62) have no US routes or Interstates.

Yep, I was going to mention Orleans and Wayne. Neither of those are too surprising given there are no US Routes between the Thruway and Lake Ontario.

Wouldn't be surprised at all if Tompkins is the most populous county on the list nationwide - a population of 105,000 and no US Routes is quite impressive. Now I'm curious. I don't think any other county mentioned yet is more populous.

Oh, and I have been to seven of those eight (including Fulton as mentioned by Duke87). I have not been to Lewis County.

That would be interesting to know.

[formulanone]

Florida has 3: Union, Calhoun, and Liberty.

The last two appear to have FL 20 running though them, an NHS Route. (It's erroneously denoted by "FL 12", another NHS route, which is nearby and runs though Liberty County.)

Alabama has 2: Geneva and Clay, neither of which have an NHS Route.

[MNHighwayMan]

MN has Lake and Cook which were historically served by US 61 but no longer.

I'll add that Isanti and Kanabec Counties briefly had US-65 back in the 1930s, but have only state routes now.

Lake of the Woods and Roseau Counties are two more that don't, from a brief glance at a map. Sibley County is close, if it weren't for the small piece of US-169 that cuts through the southeast corner.

[ibagli]

I think the only ones in Ohio are Monroe and Morgan.

[csw]

Indiana has Brown, Fayette, Ohio, Switzerland, and Blackford. Before the new I-69 Monroe and Pike would've also qualified.

[jp the roadgeek]

No counties in CT.  Litchfield County is the only county without an interstate, but has US 6, 7, 44, and  202.

[Duke87]

Wouldn't be surprised at all if Tompkins is the most populous county on the list nationwide - a population of 105,000 and no US Routes is quite impressive. Now I'm curious. I don't think any other county mentioned yet is more populous.

Hawaii County, Hawaii is home to 198,449 people.

[oscar]

Wouldn't be surprised at all if Tompkins is the most populous county on the list nationwide - a population of 105,000 and no US Routes is quite impressive. Now I'm curious. I don't think any other county mentioned yet is more populous.

Hawaii County, Hawaii is home to 198,449 people.

Which beats Maui County (about 166K).

Anchorage (AK) municipality has a population of almost 300K. But it has two unsigned Interstates, parts of which are freeways. Ditto Fairbanks North Star Borough, with under 32K. Alaska's largest-population qualifying county equivalent is the City and Borough of Juneau, with under 33K.

[Ga293]

Despite a lot of pokey little counties with tiny little county seats, only Washington, Hancock, Glascock, Jasper, Marion, Baker, Elbert, Macon, and Calhoun counties have no national routes.

Pickens County nearly qualifies, but the northern end of Interstate 575 just crosses the border before ending. It, along with Candler and Cherokee counties, have interstate routes, but no U.S. routes.

[wxfree]

I scanned through Texas and came up with this list.

Loving and Winkler - adjacent counties in rural west Texas, I-20 is less than 2 miles from the corner of Winkler
Bosque - separated by one county from Tarrant, home of Fort Worth
Llano - separated by one county from Travis, home of Austin
Bandera - adjacent to Bexar, home of San Antonio
Jim Hogg - named for Jim Hogg, who had a daughter named Ima, and according to an untrue urban legend, another named Ura
Cochran - There's are US highways through the lines of counties in west Texas, (I-20, formerly US 80, US 180, US 380, US 82), but US 82 turns southwest and misses Cochran.
Briscoe
Hansford
Grimes - I didn't expect to find any in the east, away from the coast, but this one is roughly rectangular and squeezes between two US highways.
Brazoria, Matagorda, Aransas - coastal counties away from the future I-69 corridor, Calhoun is in that line, but has the end of US 87

I submit Brazoria County as the one with the highest population.  According to Wikipedia it's 362,457.  (It's just south of Houston and within 3 miles of I-45 at the northeast corner.)

[SteveG1988]

Cumberland County NJ.

[slorydn1]

Without looking at a map the only county in my half of NC that has no Interstate or US routes is Pamlico County.
I will have to spend some time later looking out west when I have time.


****edit****


I found time, Pamlico is the only county in NC with no "national" route.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I'll end Alaska earlier if I list the boroughs which have "Interstates": Anchorage, Denali, Fairbanks North Star, Kenai Peninsula, Matanuska-Susitna, and the Unorganized Borough. Everything else doesn't have any national-level routes.

You can add Craig, Dickenson, and Westmoreland to the VA list.

However the other Craig, the one which I used to style as craIG county until a certain sign was replaced, has both an Interstate and US highways (the sign was on Northbound US 69).

[Max Rockatansky]

Tulare County and Mariposa County by me doesn't have any US Routes nor Interstates.  Given US 99 is long gone I'd suspect when I look at a map with county boundaries on them that much more exist to the north in the Sierras. 

[Eth]

Despite a lot of pokey little counties with tiny little county seats, only Washington, Hancock, Glascock, Jasper, Marion, Baker, Elbert, Macon, and Calhoun counties have no national routes.

One more: Fayette County has none, somewhat surprising given its proximity to Atlanta.

Still, that's only 10 out of 159, because Georgia has a bunch of US routes running through it.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

I think the only ones in Ohio are Monroe and Morgan.

And Carroll (Ottawa gets honorable mention due to the Ohio Turnpike just clipping it twice in its SW corner.)

[webny99]

Wouldn't be surprised at all if Tompkins is the most populous county on the list nationwide - a population of 105,000 and no US Routes is quite impressive. Now I'm curious. I don't think any other county mentioned yet is more populous.

Hawaii County, Hawaii is home to 198,449 people.

Which beats Maui County (about 166K).
Anchorage (AK) municipality has a population of almost 300K. But it has two unsigned Interstates, parts of which are freeways. Ditto Fairbanks North Star Borough, with under 32K. Alaska's largest-population qualifying county equivalent is the City and Borough of Juneau, with under 33K.

Limiting it to the continental US, Tompkins County might still stand a chance.

[kphoger]

Calhoun might be the strangest county in Illinois to me. Totally landlocked between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers with only one  bridge going across the Illinois River and a ferry route going across the Illinois River as well. Does anyone really ever visit that county? At least the other two counties you mentioned are easier to get to.

But isn't it totally reasonable that a county hardly anyone goes to doesn't have a US Route?

[BrianP]

I don't think PA has any counties that qualify. Like SC and some of the other Southern states, PA is loaded with US Routes, especially compared to NY. For example, both US 15 and US 220 run the vertical length of PA, hitting close to 20 PA counties combined, only to end at/near the NY border.

You haven't read the thread then.