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State routes above the highest arbitrary number in that state

Started by hotdogPi, August 02, 2018, 09:09:14 AM

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hotdogPi

Massachusetts has a lot. Its highest arbitrary number is 181. However, 183, 186, 187, 189, 192, 193, 197, 198, and 220 are extensions from Connecticut (and 295 from New York), and 203, 213, 220, 225, 228, 240, and 286, are related to or former routes of xx or 1xx (e.g. 213 is a bypass of 113, and 225 used to be 25).

Rhode Island: 179 seems to be arbitrary. 214, 238, and 246 are related to 114, 138, and 146. 216 is an extension from Connecticut. 401, 402, and 403 seem to be part of their own sequence. Interestingly, if 179 didn't exist, 128 would be the highest arbitrarily numbered route in Rhode Island, as all existing numbers in between 128 and 179 are extensions from other states.

New York: 840 seems to be arbitrary, leaving only 878, 890, and 895, which look like Interstate numbers. Unfortunately, 747 (numbered that because it goes to an airport) is too low.

New Hampshire: 175 seems to be arbitrary. 236 may or may not be, given its proximity to ME 236. 286 definitely qualifies for this thread, as MA/NH 86 → MA/NH 286 when I-86 briefly came to Massachusetts.

Vermont: While a lot of the 2xx routes are extensions from Quebec, 315 seems to be arbitrary, so 346 (extension of NY 346) is the only one that qualifies.

Connecticut: I believe 364 is arbitrary. This leaves 372 as the only one, which was (likely) numbered 372 due to CT 72 being there.

Maine: Nothing. Numbers up to 238 are used, and there are no signed routes above that. 701 and 703 are unsigned.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.


oscar

What in heck is an "arbitrary number"? Is it some term unique to the Northeastern states?
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hotdogPi

Quote from: oscar on August 02, 2018, 09:12:55 AM
What in heck is an "arbitrary number"? Is it some term unique to the Northeastern states?

Any number assigned arbitrarily. This includes most state routes, but some route numbers are that way for an actual reason. Possible reasons are for consistency with neighboring states or a state route extension of a US route or Interstate, or being related to a similarly-numbered route (like AR 612 and US 412), or in rare cases, something else entirely, like NY 747 going to an airport because of Boeing 747.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

Max Rockatansky

AZ 51, 24, 143, 238 and 347 all come mind as route numbers that fail to follow any previous numbering conventions. 

oscar

Quote from: 1 on August 02, 2018, 09:33:59 AM
Quote from: oscar on August 02, 2018, 09:12:55 AM
What in heck is an "arbitrary number"? Is it some term unique to the Northeastern states?

Any number assigned arbitrarily. This includes most state routes, but some route numbers are that way for an actual reason. Possible reasons are for consistency with neighboring states or a state route extension of a US route or Interstate, or being related to a similarly-numbered route (like AR 612 and US 412), or in rare cases, something else entirely, like NY 747 going to an airport because of Boeing 747.

Alaska doesn't have much of a system for its few signed routes, but you have the normal sequence 1-11, then 98 (so numbered for the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898). It sounds like in your scheme 98 is the only "non-arbitrary" number.

Hawaii's sparse array system has routes all the way from 11 to 8930, with huge gaps and no attempt to keep the numbers sequential, and the numbers are all "arbitrary" as you define it. If anything, the limit is at the low end, with numbers 1-10 reserved for Interstates and a never-developed state auto ferry system.
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TheHighwayMan3561

#5
MN only has two state numbers above 336:

371: This may not even count as this replaced US 371.
610: Numbered as a bypass of US 10.
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hbelkins

Few of West Virginia's three-digit route numbers make any sense. Many seem to be former county routes updated to primary status, or primary routes signed as if they were county routes and spurring off the primary route (example: WV 211 in Mt. Hope, it's obviously the old routing of US 21 and if it was a county route, it would probably be CR 21/1).


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

jp the roadgeek

Quote from: 1 on August 02, 2018, 09:09:14 AM

Connecticut: I believe 364 is arbitrary. This leaves 372 as the only one, which was (likely) numbered 372 due to CT 72 being there.

Indeed.  CT 372 is the old routing of CT 72 before the CT 72 expressway was built, but was created when the Plainville-Forestville section was being constructed.  Only the portion from near CT 3 east to CT 99 was never part of CT 72 (it was an SR), as CT 72 used to follow the southern end of CT 3 along Newfield St in Middletown to CT 66.  When CT 72 was renumbered CT 9 south of downtown New Britain, CT 372 was rerouted off the Willow Brook Connector (SR 571) and through Kensington to connect to the East Berlin-Cromwell portion of CT 72 where the expressway once ended.  As for CT 364, it is totally arbitrary, and is a glorified town road; the speed limit for its entire length is either 25 or 30 MPH.   
Interstates I've clinched: 97, 290 (MA), 291 (CT), 291 (MA), 293, 295 (DE-NJ-PA), 295 (RI-MA), 384, 391, 395 (CT-MA), 395 (MD), 495 (DE), 610 (LA), 684, 691, 695 (MD), 695 (NY), 795 (MD)

WillWeaverRVA

VA 598 would seem to fit the bill, being the only non-interstate/non-US 5XX route in Virginia. It does become WV 598 (and one of the many WV 3-digit primary routes whose numbers make no sense) upon crossing the state line.

Also, VA 785 and VA 895 (and the inventory-only VA 90003, 90004, and 90005) are the only non-interstate primary routes in Virginia over 599 - the secondary route numbers begin at 600.
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kurumi

A lot of the seemingly arbitrary CT signed routes have origins in earlier (possibly arbitrary) unsigned routes:

CT 364 was SR 564.
CT 361 (formerly part of CT 4): to match NY 361
CT 354: SR 654
CT 349: SR 649
CT 343: NY 343
CT 341: NY 341
CT 334: SR 734
CT 322: SR 522
CT 320: SR 520
CT 319: SR 611. This is the highest signed state route number not related to a connecting or former route number.

318, 317, 316, and 315 all "rhyme" with earlier SRs.

314 was SR 759, so another arbitrary numbering

286 and 287 were also plucked out of a hat

220 is the highest of the pre-1963 "organic" route numbers (341 and 343 were continuations of NY routes)
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formulanone

#10
Alabama used to have a sequential system, that ran right up to 299. After the major routes received the lower numbers up to around 20-30, the rest were usually filed out in order of creation. Probably due to the shape of the state, no even-numbered state routes above 248 were yet created. ALDOT modified it for new routes since 2006; two new routes 604 and 605 were created from existing county/city roads (though 604 has since been decommissioned) and since the 300 "threshold" has been crossed, even-numbered routes 300 and 302 also exist, as well as 378 and 382 for former alignments of US 78 and US 82, respectively.

300 for a short link from I-59/20 to US 11 in Fosters...this could have been 250, 252, et al

302 for a link to New Brockton, probably due to US 84 bypassing it (could have just extended 122)

605 which was former Houston County Road 203.

There's also 759, a surface-level terminus of I-759 (not quite arbitrary) and the proposed AL 959 for Future I-422, which is proposed so far out in the future (2048) that the x59 is probably in case it never goes as it was planned. [/speculation]


jeffandnicole

In NJ, most anything 300 and over appears to be arbitrary. 

NJ 347 is the only one that makes sense, yet if you applied Interstate Highway Numbering rules to it, it doesn't.  It should be a even number 3di; not an odd number 2di.  147 from 47 spurring into North Wildwood makes sense.  247 isn't used, which would've worked perfectly.

NJ 324 is former US 322, which formerly served the Bridgeport-Chester Ferry into PA.

NJ 413 continues PA's Rt. 413; NJ 495 is former I-495.

NJ 439 & 440 are the only other 4xx series roads under NJDOT jurisdiction. 

Any other 4xx and higher roadways are under other state or multi-state jurisdictions.


jon daly

216 is an extension from Connecticut.

Regarding RI 216, here's what kurumi says about CT 216:

In 1931, State Highway 216 followed today's Route 49 and Route 14A from Stonington to the Rhode Island state line at Sterling. This is very close geographically to the modern Route 216, and I wondered if the number was retained because Rhode Island carried over its Route 216 from before 1932. The sources I have don't confirm this, though.

So you may be right, 1. But it's possible that it's the other way around.

Road Hog

I don't think there's any official arbitrary limit to numbering in Texas, but I can't think of any state highways numbered higher than the 300's (other than spurs) or FM roads higher than the 3000's.

Jim

Quote from: Road Hog on August 02, 2018, 12:44:54 PM
I don't think there's any official arbitrary limit to numbering in Texas, but I can't think of any state highways numbered higher than the 300's (other than spurs) or FM roads higher than the 3000's.

TM has only a couple 400+.

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Max Rockatansky

Pretty much all the 200 Range numbers in California are artibrary.  The 1934 State route numbers had some logic to them like east/west numbers being odd and 1XX being more rural.  The 200 Range numbers were essentially just slapped on mostly during the 1964 renumbering and don't have much logic, aside from stuff like 299 which used to be a US Route.  Interestingly both 330 and 371 make more sense given they were once part of a route and a child route of another. 

Mapmikey

West Virginia's highest arbitrary number is WV 892 near Parkersburg - made up of several former CRs and connects with WV 68 on both ends.  It had been 972 until it was renumbered as part of WV 93.  901 is a spur of 9 and 956 is to match MD 956.

North Carolina's is almost certainly NC 906 which has nothing to do any route it crosses.  One might argue it is supposed to be part of a cluster loosely involving 904 and 905.  If you subscribe to that then the highest arbitrary one is NC 690.

South Carolina's is SC 802.

TheStranger

#17
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on August 02, 2018, 01:07:15 PM
Pretty much all the 200 Range numbers in California are artibrary.  The 1934 State route numbers had some logic to them like east/west numbers being odd and 1XX being more rural.  The 200 Range numbers were essentially just slapped on mostly during the 1964 renumbering and don't have much logic, aside from stuff like 299 which used to be a US Route.  Interestingly both 330 and 371 make more sense given they were once part of a route and a child route of another. 

Looking at the 1964 renumbering, I've always noticed there was some geographical clustering with the 200 series routes - some of which is much more noticeable now that the Cahighways.org maps are up - albeit not perfectly.

For instance:

202 and 204 both spur off of Route 58

208 and 211 are both related to the Lost Coast section of Route 1 (though 211 dates to 1984)

212, 213, 214, 1964-era 215 are all around Los Angeles

224 and 225 are scenic coastal spurs from US 101 near Santa Barbara

227 and 229 are in the Central Coast

234 and 235 are unbuilt belt routes around Stockton

236, 237, 238 are all former portions of Route 9 (262, which also falls under this category, essentially was created afterwards in 1965 when I-680 and Route 17 did a route swap between Fremont and San Jose that created the current 680 routing to 101), while unbuilt 239 is also in NorCal

1964-era 240 (unbuilt I-605 south of Route 22), 1964-era 241 (the unconstructed "East Bypass" that would have provided an alternate north-south route connecting today's Route 110 between I-10 and I-5), and 1964-era 243 (now I-605's north segment) all are in the LA area, as is 1964-era Route 245 and the old Route 248 (former US 66) and unbuilt Route 249.  Route 250 was in Orange County.

Unbuilt Route 251, and current Route 253 and 254 are along the US 101 corridor going north from Marin.  Further north along US 101 is Route 255, which looks to be the last of the sequential numbers from the 1963-1964 period.

Route 263 and Route 265 are both former routings of US 99 in far northern California, both defined in 1965 (other routes that were defined in that year that were former routings of earlier state/US highways include 262, 259, 260). 

273 in Redding (former US 99) and 274 seem to have been arbitrarily assigned in 1965 (as numbers such as 264 and 272 were still available).  275 (former US 40/99W) continued this sequence in 1967. Then several more numbers were skipped to get to Route 282 in Coronado (defined in 1967 as well), then Route 281 in the Clearlake area, created in 1970.  283, 284, and 285 are also from the 1970 route creations.

A pair of exceptions: 221 (near Route 121) and 242 (former Route 24) seem to derive their numbers from nearby routes.

After 1970:

194 was recycled for I-15E (now I-215)
231/241/261 all were used for the Orange County tollways (and are all numbers recycled from the past)
330 and 371 are derived from former 30 and 71 respectively
117 was recycled along former Route 75 (it is now Route 905, deriving its number from planned interstate designation)
State route 210 is an extension of I-210, as is 110 with I-110 and 15 with I-15
Chris Sampang

NWI_Irish96

Indiana doesn't really have arbitrary numbers.  The 1 and 2 digit numbers are assigned based on a grid and the 3 digit numbers are assigned based some connection to a parent route.
Indiana: counties 100%, highways 100%
Illinois: counties 100%, highways 61%
Michigan: counties 100%, highways 56%
Wisconsin: counties 86%, highways 23%

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: TheStranger on August 02, 2018, 02:07:16 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on August 02, 2018, 01:07:15 PM
Pretty much all the 200 Range numbers in California are artibrary.  The 1934 State route numbers had some logic to them like east/west numbers being odd and 1XX being more rural.  The 200 Range numbers were essentially just slapped on mostly during the 1964 renumbering and don't have much logic, aside from stuff like 299 which used to be a US Route.  Interestingly both 330 and 371 make more sense given they were once part of a route and a child route of another. 

Looking at the 1964 renumbering, I've always noticed there was some geographical clustering with the 200 series routes - some of which is much more noticeable now that the Cahighways.org maps are up - albeit not perfectly.

For instance:

202 and 204 both spur off of Route 58

208 and 211 are both related to the Lost Coast section of Route 1 (though 211 dates to 1984)

212, 213, 214, 1964-era 215 are all around Los Angeles

224 and 225 are scenic coastal spurs from US 101 near Santa Barbara

227 and 229 are in the Central Coast

234 and 235 are unbuilt belt routes around Stockton

236, 237, 238 are all former portions of Route 9 (262, which also falls under this category, essentially was created afterwards in 1965 when I-680 and Route 17 did a route swap between Fremont and San Jose that created the current 680 routing to 101), while unbuilt 239 is also in NorCal

1964-era 240 (unbuilt I-605 south of Route 22), 1964-era 241 (the unconstructed "East Bypass" that would have provided an alternate north-south route connecting today's Route 110 between I-10 and I-5), and 1964-era 243 (now I-605's north segment) all are in the LA area, as is 1964-era Route 245 and the old Route 248 (former US 66) and unbuilt Route 249.  Route 250 was in Orange County.

Unbuilt Route 251, and current Route 253 and 254 are along the US 101 corridor going north from Marin.  Further north along US 101 is Route 255, which looks to be the last of the sequential numbers from the 1963-1964 period.

Route 263 and Route 265 are both former routings of US 99 in far northern California, both defined in 1965 (other routes that were defined in that year that were former routings of earlier state/US highways include 262, 259, 260). 

273 in Redding (former US 99) and 274 seem to have been arbitrarily assigned in 1965 (as numbers such as 264 and 272 were still available).  275 (former US 40/99W) continued this sequence in 1967. Then several more numbers were skipped to get to Route 282 in Coronado (defined in 1967 as well), then Route 281 in the Clearlake area, created in 1970.  283, 284, and 285 are also from the 1970 route creations.

A pair of exceptions: 221 (near Route 121) and 242 (former Route 24) seem to derive their numbers from nearby routes.

After 1970:

194 was recycled for I-15E (now I-215)
231/241/261 all were used for the Orange County tollways (and are all numbers recycled from the past)
330 and 371 are derived from former 30 and 71 respectively
117 was recycled along former Route 75 (it is now Route 905, deriving its number from planned interstate designation)
State route 210 is an extension of I-210, as is 110 with I-110 and 15 with I-15

Point conveyed in way more detail than I was prepared to do on the phone.  One of my biggest gripes with the 1964 renumbering was that more effort could have gone in to making the new numbers make sense with the 1934 numbering convention.  There was a really missed opportunity in my opinion to create more child routes like 330 and 371.  For instance; CA 245 could have just as easily ended up CA 365 (granted they tried CA 69 which apparently was a disaster) which would have been a nice fit with the previous CA 65 designation.

Max Rockatansky

For Florida, one that I could never wrap my mind around was FL 9336:

9336FLb by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Renumbering FL 27 made total sense considering it touched US 27.  To that end FL 997 was a completely logical numbering but I've never found any explanation what FL 9336 is supposed to denote.  Both 998 and 999 are available which would be a much better fit with the Florida State Road grid convention.

TheStranger

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on August 02, 2018, 03:43:59 PM


Point conveyed in way more detail than I was prepared to do on the phone.  One of my biggest gripes with the 1964 renumbering was that more effort could have gone in to making the new numbers make sense with the 1934 numbering convention.  There was a really missed opportunity in my opinion to create more child routes like 330 and 371.  For instance; CA 245 could have just as easily ended up CA 365 (granted they tried CA 69 which apparently was a disaster) which would have been a nice fit with the previous CA 65 designation.


Pre-1964, the "child" routes I can think of that existed:

440 and 740 (both later incorporated back into 44 and 74)
107 (created in the 1950s? after Route 7 was moved to what would later become the I-405 corridor)

In the 1964 renumbering, 242 was the only new "child" route created, though 221 arguably is one too.  (Then 330 and 371, which seem to be the last of those so far)

IMO, some numbering decisions that have baffled me over the years:

- 258/213 really should be one number, given all of that is the Western Avenue corridor (although 258 was created in 1965 and has never been built)
- 115 and 7 also should be one corridor, rather than two closely separated routes on the same corridor
- In that vein, the recycling of 7 and 11 in the 1990s seems to show that newer state routes would reuse older, lower-digited numbers that were out of the system for a while.  (Does that mean 21 will be next?)  I don't know if we have had any new state routes since Route 210 in 1998 though!
- I do get why 17 was retained when 880 was created, but the I-210/Route 210 situation is an alternative approach.  (980/24 was a function of 980 being built years later than the rest of that corridor, though I do feel that should be all one number too)
Chris Sampang

wxfree

Quote from: Jim on August 02, 2018, 12:55:52 PM
Quote from: Road Hog on August 02, 2018, 12:44:54 PM
I don't think there's any official arbitrary limit to numbering in Texas, but I can't think of any state highways numbered higher than the 300's (other than spurs) or FM roads higher than the 3000's.

TM has only a couple 400+.

http://travelmapping.net/hb/index.php?units=miles&sys=usatx

As far as I know, 550 is the highest one.  It's the new Brownsville toll road.  The part off I-69E is I-169 until the end of the freeway section.  There are two FMs in higher thousands.  I don't know why, and the minute orders don't say.
I'd like to buy a vowel, Alex.  What is E?

formulanone

Quote from: wxfree on August 02, 2018, 03:59:55 PM
Quote from: Jim on August 02, 2018, 12:55:52 PM
Quote from: Road Hog on August 02, 2018, 12:44:54 PM
I don't think there's any official arbitrary limit to numbering in Texas, but I can't think of any state highways numbered higher than the 300's (other than spurs) or FM roads higher than the 3000's.

TM has only a couple 400+.

http://travelmapping.net/hb/index.php?units=miles&sys=usatx

As far as I know, 550 is the highest one.  It's the new Brownsville toll road.  The part off I-69E is I-169 until the end of the freeway section.  There are two FMs in higher thousands.  I don't know why, and the minute orders don't say.

I thought I read that the University of Texas El Paso has an SH Spur 1966 to denote the year of their NCAA Basketball Championship. They typically get up into the high-500s.

Eth

After Georgia's initial routes 1-40 were laid out in a rough grid, newly formed routes were generally given the lowest available number in sequence, though with the numbers of decommissioned routes usually not re-used (with a few exceptions). The highest number resulting from this system is 388, which was created in the early 1990s.

Above that, there are the 400-series routes, assigned to all Interstates (most numbers from 401 through 419, all unsigned) and a few other major freeways (400, 410, and unsigned 422). A few other major expressway corridors have 500-series numbers: 515, 520, and the soon-to-be-signed 540, which will become the new highest signed state route number.



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