Best route numbering system

[hotdogPi]

I like Iceland's numbering system best. Route 1 is the outside ring, and the initial digit of the other routes shows what part of the island the route is on.

For the initial digit, 2 is the south part, 3 is the southwest, 4 and 5 are the west, 6 (outside the map below) is the northwest, 7 and 8 are the north, and 9 is the east.

From what I can tell, F means towards the center. I am not sure about 2 digits vs 3 digits.

[corco]

Washington and Wyoming both have killer numbering systems.

Washington's has been repeated ad nauseum, but basically, major north south routes increase in number from west to east, major east west numbers increase from south to north (but broken into three tiers, roughly west of I-5, east of I-5, east of the Columbia River (though those are rough approximations)).

Smaller routes are numbered off of the two digit route, so a 12x is a branch of US 12 and so forth. Historically, Washington was pretty anal about renumbering to make sure things fit- SR 537 was renumbered SR 237 when it stopped going to I-5, 832/833 were renumbered 432/433. They're less anal since the 90s or so, with things like 121 existing that don't touch US 12.

--

Wyoming numbers most of its major routes off of nearby US highways, so WYO 487 branches off US 287 and WYO 585 branches off US 85, though there are a few major routes that are numbered on their own (22, 24, 28, arguably 59, 89 sorta).

Lesser routes are numbered by county in alphabetical order, with each county allocated 20 numbers, so WYO 10-29 is Albany County, 30-49 is Big Horn County, 50-69 is Campbell, etc.

--

Of course, the simplicity of the US Highway system is hard to beat too.

[billtm]

I love Indiana's state route numbering system. For 2 digit highways, numbers increase as you go south for east-west highways and increase as you go west for north-south highways from 0-70. What is also very neat about this system is that many US highways fit nicely in with the grid. (Like US 40, US 6, US 50, US 36, US 31, and US 41.) Also, the three digit designations make sense because they all are child routes with numberings based off of their parent route. Ex. For SR 29 its child routes are numbered SR X29. (SR 229) Also, no state highways have the same number as a US Highway. Another plus is that you don't have to deal with 4 digit highways! *cough cough* Kentucky *cough cough* 

[countyguy]

North Carolina and Virginia have secondary networks that need to be given to the counties.

Louisiana is a bit of a mess with all the short highways.

Florida has a system similar to the US highways.  It really works.

Florida's system:

The state is divided into zones based on cross-state east-west state highways.  They are even-numbered, end in zero, and are two digits.  They are arranged in numerical order, with FL 10 being the northernmost.  FL 30 is semi-skipped and only a minor highway.  Other east-west two-digit highways are numbered from north to south as well.  All north-south highways are odd-numbered and all east-west highways are even-numbered, whether they be two-digit or three-digit.  North-south two-digit highways are numbered in a similar fashion, with FL A1A (essentialy FL 1) on the Atlantic coast and FL 97 west of Pensacola.  Three-digit highways, whether they are north-south or east-west, use a different system.  They are minor highways.  They begin in 1 if they are north of FL 10, 2 if between FL 10 and FL 20, 3 if between FL 20 and FL 40, 4 if between FL 40 and FL 50, 5 if between FL 50 and FL 60, 6 if between FL 60 and FL 70, 7 if between FL 70 and FL 80, 8 if between FL 80 and FL 90 (they begin with 9 if north of FL 90 and in Miami-Dade county), and 9 if south of FL 90.  County roads, as former state roads, follow this scheme as well.  Diagonal highways are x00.  Lastly, it is good that there are no four-digit numbers.

[mapman1071]

North Carolina and Virginia have secondary networks that need to be given to the counties.

Louisiana is a bit of a mess with all the short highways.

Florida has a system similar to the US highways.  It really works.

Florida's system:

The state is divided into zones based on cross-state east-west state highways.  They are even-numbered, end in zero, and are two digits.  They are arranged in numerical order, with FL 10 being the northernmost.  FL 30 is semi-skipped and only a minor highway.  Other east-west two-digit highways are numbered from north to south as well.  All north-south highways are odd-numbered and all east-west highways are even-numbered, whether they be two-digit or three-digit.  North-south two-digit highways are numbered in a similar fashion, with FL A1A (essentialy FL 1) on the Atlantic coast and FL 97 west of Pensacola.  Three-digit highways, whether they are north-south or east-west, use a different system.  They are minor highways.  They begin in 1 if they are north of FL 10, 2 if between FL 10 and FL 20, 3 if between FL 20 and FL 40, 4 if between FL 40 and FL 50, 5 if between FL 50 and FL 60, 6 if between FL 60 and FL 70, 7 if between FL 70 and FL 80, 8 if between FL 80 and FL 90 (they begin with 9 if north of FL 90 and in Miami-Dade county), and 9 if south of FL 90.  County roads, as former state roads, follow this scheme as well.  Diagonal highways are x00.  Lastly, it is good that there are no four-digit numbers.

FL 5054 (Unsigned) and FL 9336

[Thing 342]

North Carolina and Virginia have secondary networks that need to be given to the counties.

Based on how the Independent Cities sign the primary routes, I would not recommend this.

[pianocello]

I like the hub-and-spoke pattern found in the A (and B, I think) routes in Great Britain. Unfortunately, there isn't much of a chance to duplicate that system in the US.

[hbelkins]

I don't like the way Indiana signs discontinuous highways with the same number. I know of at least three separate IN 101s.

Regarding the reference to Kentucky upstream, how else should a state number routes when it has more than 3,000 separate highways on the state system?

[SD Mapman]

Washington and Wyoming both have killer numbering systems.

Washington's has been repeated ad nauseum, but basically, major north south routes increase in number from west to east, major east west numbers increase from south to north (but broken into three tiers, roughly west of I-5, east of I-5, east of the Columbia River (though those are rough approximations)).

Smaller routes are numbered off of the two digit route, so a 12x is a branch of US 12 and so forth. Historically, Washington was pretty anal about renumbering to make sure things fit- SR 537 was renumbered SR 237 when it stopped going to I-5, 832/833 were renumbered 432/433. They're less anal since the 90s or so, with things like 121 existing that don't touch US 12.

--

Wyoming numbers most of its major routes off of nearby US highways, so WYO 487 branches off US 287 and WYO 585 branches off US 85, though there are a few major routes that are numbered on their own (22, 24, 28, arguably 59, 89 sorta).

Lesser routes are numbered by county in alphabetical order, with each county allocated 20 numbers, so WYO 10-29 is Albany County, 30-49 is Big Horn County, 50-69 is Campbell, etc.

--

Of course, the simplicity of the US Highway system is hard to beat too.

Yeah, I think that Wyoming has the best "complicated" numbering system. For "simple" systems, I'd have to go with SD (yes, I know I live there) because our 3-digit numbering scheme is very orderly (based off of a statewide grid).

[Zzonkmiles]

I know that German Autobahns have numbers from 1-99 with the "children" Autobahns getting three digits.

The primary routes in the US end with 0 or 5. But in Germany, the primary routes are A1 to A9. The two-digit Autobahns are then numbered according to where they are in the country. A90-99 are in the southeast, for example. A10-19 are in the northeast. While I do like having the primary routes have only one digit, it only allows for 9 primary routes. In the US, there are up to 7 primary east-west routes (I think I-24 would be a decent I-50 and I-64 would be a decent I-60 if regulations allowed it) and 9 primary north-south routes, for a total of 16 numbers that can be assigned for primary routes. But maybe because Germany is much smaller, it can do fine with only 9 primary routes. Germany also doesn't list directions on its Autobahns either, which is a problem. "Okay, I just got on A5. Am I going north towards Frankfurt or south towards Heidelberg?" Not good.

[WashuOtaku]

North Carolina and Virginia have secondary networks that need to be given to the counties.

Seems a bit random to call them out for controlling all the roads within the state (except for the cities).  Don't see an issue really, they are maintained well by the state.

[Quillz]

I know that German Autobahns have numbers from 1-99 with the "children" Autobahns getting three digits.

The primary routes in the US end with 0 or 5. But in Germany, the primary routes are A1 to A9. The two-digit Autobahns are then numbered according to where they are in the country. A90-99 are in the southeast, for example. A10-19 are in the northeast. While I do like having the primary routes have only one digit, it only allows for 9 primary routes. In the US, there are up to 7 primary east-west routes (I think I-24 would be a decent I-50 and I-64 would be a decent I-60 if regulations allowed it) and 9 primary north-south routes, for a total of 16 numbers that can be assigned for primary routes. But maybe because Germany is much smaller, it can do fine with only 9 primary routes. Germany also doesn't list directions on its Autobahns either, which is a problem. "Okay, I just got on A5. Am I going north towards Frankfurt or south towards Heidelberg?" Not good.

Are the autobahns a radial network? That might be why they aren't given directions.

[english si]

Are the autobahns a radial network? That might be why they aren't given directions.

No it's a grid.

European navigation relies on destinations. Cardinal directions are very rarely used outside of the UK (other than say Paris (N) or whatever). Route numbers are seen as an administrative, not navigational, aid in some countries.

Germany seems excessively culturally bound to this way of thinking. It's always the Germans, rather than Poles, French, etc that complain on SABRE, etc that UK signs are rubbish and they got lost because they were expecting the UK to conform to their way of doing stuff.

[Henry]

I like states that give unique numbers to their highways, CA of course being one of them.

[Quillz]

Are the autobahns a radial network? That might be why they aren't given directions.

No it's a grid.

European navigation relies on destinations. Cardinal directions are very rarely used outside of the UK (other than say Paris (N) or whatever). Route numbers are seen as an administrative, not navigational, aid in some countries.

Germany seems excessively culturally bound to this way of thinking. It's always the Germans, rather than Poles, French, etc that complain on SABRE, etc that UK signs are rubbish and they got lost because they were expecting the UK to conform to their way of doing stuff.

Well, I guess it's because I'm an American, but I find it substantial less useful for a highway to use control cities rather than cardinal directions. Of course, the interstates often do both cardinal directions and control cities, seemingly the best of both worlds.

[agentsteel53]

Smaller routes are numbered off of the two digit route, so a 12x is a branch of US 12 and so forth. Historically, Washington was pretty anal about renumbering to make sure things fit- SR 537 was renumbered SR 237 when it stopped going to I-5, 832/833 were renumbered 432/433. They're less anal since the 90s or so, with things like 121 existing that don't touch US 12.

what I don't like about Washington is that the branch routes have the same prefix.  for some reason, I have trouble differentiating between 535, 536, 537 or whatnot - but if they were 535, 635, and 735 (same digits, just backwards) I would have it a lot easier.