Most emasculated route?

[Mapmikey]

The only serious route truncation I can recall in Georgia was ~1993 when GA 13 north of Gainesville was superseded by GA 365. That chopped the route in half, dropping it from 99 miles to 49.

EDIT:
Wait, no, I can do much better. GA 50 used to be a cross-state route, from Eufaula, AL all the way to Jekyll Island along US 82 and US 84. Then GA 520 came along, cutting GA 50 all the way back to Dawson. From 244 miles down to 46.

GA 55 also got a fairly large chunk truncated by GA 520.

[pianocello]

Iowa highway 965 formerly ran 18 miles between Coralville and Cedar Rapids along the old alignment of US 218. In 2003, it was truncated to just under a half mile between US 6 and I-80. The DOT-maintained section is unsigned, but street blades in the old section still refer to it as "HWY 965"

[cjk374]

AR 81: now the world (in)famous US 425: 88.5 miles. The only part left is a 2.29 mile route linking US 65 with US 63/US 79 around a papermill.

AR 15: most of it became the world (in)famous US 63 from US 167 in El Dorado to Pine Bluff: about 89 miles. Still exists in Union County from the LA state line to US 82, 21.1 miles.

[bing101]

CA-17 is an emasculated route. CA-17 in the Bay Area used to go as far north as the Richmond/San Rafael bridge to Santa Cruz, CA.

But the northern CA-17 became I-880 in the 1980's from Oakland to San Jose.

The Richmond/San Rafael bridge became I-580 in the 1990's though.

[Ian]

I-495 in Maine is a good example. It used to run for just over 50 miles on the Maine Turnpike between Falmouth and Gardiner, where I-95 followed the Falmouth Spur and up what is now I-295 north of there through Freeport and Brunswick. In January 2004, I-95 was rerouted on the Turnpike through Auburn/Lewiston and I-295 was extended north to Gardiner, moving I-495 onto the 3.7 mile Falmouth Spur (leaving it unsigned to boot).

[TheStranger]

More California examples:

Route 72 (former US 101) in Whittier is now a mere 7.1 miles long, as opposed to its heyday from 1964-1981 where it covered 26 miles from east Los Angeles to Anaheim.

Today's Route 150 covers a 36 mile loop from Santa Paula west to Carpinteria, but used to continue along a whole 68 miles west to Surf via today's Route 192, Route 154, and Route 246.

[kkt]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned US 80.  In its day, extending from the Atlantic in Georgia to the Pacific at San Diego, now stopping short in Dallas.

[hotdogPi]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned US 80.  In its day, extending from the Atlantic in Georgia to the Pacific at San Diego, now stopping short in Dallas.

That's close to half, which is nothing near a reduction like the others mentioned in this thread.

[MikeTheActuary]

US 666.  Not only was it orphaned (with the decommissioning of its parent, US 66) and trimmed, it was forced to take a whole new number.

[US71]

AR 47 in Benton County, AR. Originally ran from Walnut & 8th St in Rogers to Mo 37 at the Missouri State Line.  Approx 18 miles

Later replaced by and truncated to US 62 at Gateway and extending just over half a mile to Missouri 37. Later renumbered AR 37.


There is an AR 37 in Jackson County, Arkansas which is not part of the Benton County route

[ftballfan]

The big one I can think of in Michigan is M-78, which only runs from M-66 north of Battle Creek to I-69 near Olivet currently. It used to run from the Indiana line near Sturgis to as far as Davison on its east end. This road was mostly replaced by M-66 and I-69.

Other examples in MI (but not to the extent of M-78) are M-17, M-21, M-29, M-35, M-42, and M-47. M-69 would have counted before its re-extension along its former route in around 2000.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

In this side of the pond: the Spanish N-152 (no, Catalonia is and will be Spain). It used to run from Barcelona all the way to the French border at Puigcerda. Now all what remains of it is the last mile before France, the rest having either been delegated to Catalonia (which renumbered it to C-17) or renumbered as part of N-260.

[Roadgeekteen]

US 10 was really slashed in length.

(no, Catalonia is and will be Spain).

Don't get controversial!

[bugo]

AR 3. It used to begin at the Louisiana line south of Magnolia where AR 19 begins today and ended at AR 16 (today's US 64) near Crawfordsville. Most of it was replaced with US 79 except for the part south of Magnolia and the part from US 70 at Lehi north to US 64. It went from being about 275 miles long to being 18 miles long at the southern stretch and 5 miles on the northern stretch. The stretch south of Magnolia is now AR 19 and the stretch north of Lehi is now AR 147. AR 3 no longer exists.

Several single digit Arkansas state highways have been decommissioned. Here's a rundown:

AR 1: still exists
AR 2: no longer exists, largely replaced by US 82
AR 3: no longer exists, largely replaced by US 79
AR 4: still exists in extreme western and extreme eastern Arkansas, largely replaced by US 278
AR 5: still exists in several unrelated segments
AR 6: no longer exists, replaced by US 270. A later short lived stretch of AR 6 was replaced by US 49
AR 7: still exists
AR 8: still exists
AR 9: still exists

[TheHighwayMan3561]

US 10 was really slashed in length.

Maybe in the grand scheme of things, but it's still not nearly as much as some of the others here.

[bugo]

AR 4 is another good example. Until US 278 was extended west from Mississippi to Arkansas in 1998, AR 4 ran from the Oklahoma line west of Cove to AR 1 northeast of McGehee, a distance of approximately 260 miles.  The vast majority of AR 4 was decommissioned soon afterward and now the western section is about 3 miles long while the eastern section is about 22 miles long.

[US 89]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned US 21 yet.

US 10 was really slashed in length.

Maybe in the grand scheme of things, but it's still not nearly as much as some of the others here.

Actually, US 10 is one of the largest cuts. It used to be about 2000 miles long, but it's now only 565.

[hotdogPi]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned US 21 yet.

US 10 was really slashed in length.

Maybe in the grand scheme of things, but it's still not nearly as much as some of the others here.

Actually, US 10 is one of the largest cuts. It used to be about 2000 miles long, but it's now only 565.

This thread is about largest percentage cut. US 10 and US 21 are not even close to some others mentioned here in terms of percentages.

[Max Rockatansky]

California 24 used to go across the Sierras but now is just a tiny freeway in the Bay Area...even was truncated by a three mile 3d Interstate. 

[US71]

AR 3. It used to begin at the Louisiana line south of Magnolia where AR 19 begins today and ended at AR 16 (today's US 64) near Crawfordsville. Most of it was replaced with US 79 except for the part south of Magnolia and the part from US 70 at Lehi north to US 64. It went from being about 275 miles long to being 18 miles long at the southern stretch and 5 miles on the northern stretch. The stretch south of Magnolia is now AR 19 and the stretch north of Lehi is now AR 147. AR 3 no longer exists.

Several single digit Arkansas state highways have been decommissioned. Here's a rundown:

AR 1: still exists
AR 2: no longer exists, largely replaced by US 82
AR 3: no longer exists, largely replaced by US 79
AR 4: still exists in extreme western and extreme eastern Arkansas, largely replaced by US 278
AR 5: still exists in several unrelated segments
AR 6: no longer exists, replaced by US 270. A later short lived stretch of AR 6 was replaced by US 49
AR 7: still exists
AR 8: still exists
AR 9: still exists

They killed 68 with 412 .

[bugo]

They killed 68 with 412 .

Several single digit Arkansas state highways have been decommissioned. Here's a rundown:

[Finrod]

State Road 43 once traveled from Solsberry in Greene County north all the way to Michigan City. Over time it was truncated by the addition of US 231 and US 421 to two small stretches in eastern Greene County and from Lafayette to Reynolds, totally 40 miles total. Even in the past few years the northern stretch was truncated even more from Downtown Lafayette up to I-65.

I remember when SR 43 was decommissioned where it was concurrent with US 231.  It seemed silly to leave it in two pieces like it ended up being.

Indiana SR 53 got it even worse from US 231: originally it ran from US 12/US 20 in Gary south all the way to US 52, but then US 231 took over its southern 76 miles leaving current SR 53 only 14 miles in length.

[US71]

MoDOT eliminated 88. It ran from the AR-MO line to Lanagan, MO (replaced by US 71), then later used along Scenic Ave in Springfield, MO.

Also MO 44 and MO 57 were eliminated.

[Hurricane Rex]

I'd nominate US 99 and US 10 but they aren't nearly as much as others on this list.

[Jordanes]

US-223 in Ohio used to run off of US-23 at Monroe St. (Current SR-51) all the way into downtown Toledo, then head Northeast on Summit St. (Current SR-65) to I-280 at the Craig Bridge.

Today it's just a short mile-long multiplex with US-23 from Monroe St. Up to the Michigan Line.

What is the point of US 223 in Ohio as it currently exists?

Nexus 6P

It's so that it's not a single-state route. When the US routes were created, there were some guidelines on their creation, e.g. "must be fairly direct" and "must be 300+ miles or cross a state line".

See also: 166 and 400

US 131, as well.