Leftover mile markers along former route alignments or decommissioned highways

[KCRoadFan]

Along my ongoing cross-country Street View journey following US 20 from Oregon to Boston, I just got past the "Michiana" metropolitan region of north-central Indiana (South Bend, Mishawaka, Elkhart). Going through the region, I decided to follow the route that US 20 used to travel before the freeway bypass was built in the 1990s, namely:




• enter South Bend on Lincoln Way West before merging onto LaSalle Avenue just west of downtown
• go a block south to Colfax Avenue just before the St. Joseph River, then cross the river on Colfax and continue through the east side of South Bend
• turn left on Jacob Street for a couple blocks, then right on McKinley Avenue
• continue east on McKinley Avenue/Highway out of South Bend and through Mishawaka, as well as the industrial district east of that city; eventually, that road enters Elkhart, where it changes names to Lexington Avenue
• follow Lexington east into downtown Elkhart, then turn right on Main Street, heading south
• just before the train tracks, turn left on Middlebury Street, then right on Goshen Avenue soon thereafter
• after a short distance, turn left on Toledo Road, which leaves Elkhart and soon afterwards merges onto the current alignment of US 20 going east

Following the aforementioned route, one thing I noticed was that several of the mile markers from US 20 (blue rectangles with white numbers, per the INDOT standard for non-freeway US and state highways) were still in place, decades after the bypass opened. That led me to wonder: where else, throughout the country, have you seen or driven along roads that used to carry US or state highways, along which - after the highway that followed that road was realigned or decommissioned - the mile markers associated with the highway were still up? I'm sure there are many such examples.

[Rothman]

NYSDOT has all sorts of reference markers from previous alignments all over the place.

[Max Rockatansky]

Kings Canyon Road each of Peach Avenue in Fresno has a bunch of CA 180 Post Mile paddles.

[DJ Particle]

There are still some mile markers for the former MN-49 and MN-101 along their old alignments.

Also, MN-36 in Stillwater still has mile markers for the long-decommissioned MN-212.  They were even replaced once in a sign-replacement project that took place AFTER the decommissioning (but before the new St. Croix bridge area, which has MN-36 markers on it)

[TheHighwayMan3561]

There are still some mile markers for the former MN-49 and MN-101 along their old alignments.

Also, MN-36 in Stillwater still has mile markers for the long-decommissioned MN-212.  They were even replaced once in a sign-replacement project that took place AFTER the decommissioning (but before the new St. Croix bridge area, which has MN-36 markers on it)

MN is pretty hit or miss on removing mile markers from dead roads; they likely leave it to the county to decide what to do with them. But as to your second point, that's a different issue of inventory logging; the state is usually loath to recalibrate when a road is partially decommissioned or renumbered because it's not worth the effort. For one example MN 50 is still calibrated for its Lakeville terminus despite being truncated to MN 3 in Farmington, and MN 16 still carries the old US 16 mileposts.

One notable exception: MN 61, which was recalibrated to 0 at its then-southern terminus at MN 23 in Duluth following the decommissioning of US 61 in 1990. If it hadn't been, it would carry approximately mileposts 289-440.

[US 89]

Example from rural eastern Utah: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=27653.msg2533164#msg2533164

[Bickendan]

OR 255 has US 101's former milemarkers.
And surprisingly, 255's signed from SB 101 at the northern end, though I didn't see any reassurance shields, or mention of it at the southern end on 101.

[Avalanchez71]

Every once in a blue moon you can locate an old rectangle with four digits in Tennessee along some county road.  They are some type of old state aid system that is long gone.

[hbelkins]

You can find some along bypassed old alignments of new state routes in Kentucky.

Also, for years, the mile markers on a stretch of TN 111 between Livingston and Cookeville had the little "42" at the bottom, which means they were left over from the time the route was signed as TN 42. When I first drove the road, parts of it were signed with both routes, but I haven't seen any stray TN 42 signs along the corridor in years.

[DandyDan]

A lot of the roads around here which used to be Iowa state highways as of 2003 still have old mile markers, with IA 122 east of Mason City, IA 107 down by Thornton and IA 147 east of Rockford all having them still (as of the last time I was on those roads). My personal favorite, though, is the mileage sign for IA 105 in downtown Northwood which is on its former 3-block overlap with US 65.

I also remember seeing an old mileage marker for old NE 38 in Omaha the last time I was there.

[Avalanchez71]

Old TN SR 7 (Sante Fe Pike/Fly Rd) has some leftover mile markers.  I glanced real quick on GSV and didn't see one.  There is remnant state road signage left on it, however.

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7253741,-87.1266118,3a,75y,5.29h,96.16t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sDBWxkYunPle0YFTRyRwjyA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[Revive 755]

A lot of the roads around here which used to be Iowa state highways as of 2003 still have old mile markers, with IA 122 east of Mason City, IA 107 down by Thornton and IA 147 east of Rockford all having them still (as of the last time I was on those roads). My personal favorite, though, is the mileage sign for IA 105 in downtown Northwood which is on its former 3-block overlap with US 65.

Iowa never seems to remove the mile markers when a roadway is turned over.  There's even an old marker for US 218 north of North Liberty, despite that road being IA 965 (and which was well short of 100 miles in length) prior to being turned over.