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Your State's "Main Street"

Started by theroadwayone, June 20, 2018, 10:26:28 PM

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westerninterloper

Quote from: Buck87 on June 21, 2018, 08:49:28 AM
I-71 for Ohio

Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati

Not a street.
Either US 42 (Cincy, skirts Cols, CLE) or US 40/National Rd for Ohio.
Nostalgia: Indiana's State Religion


Max Rockatansky

If the criteria is non-Interstate then I revise my Arizona pick to US 60. 

Henry

Second the US 99 sentiment for CA, OR and WA, because the most populous cities are on that route. An alternative would be US 101, since it has access to those same large cities in some form.
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

Max Rockatansky

For Florida I think that I'd pick US 27.  US 1 is too tied to I-95 and the Atlantic Corridor and the Turnpike is essentially is an express corridor.  US 27 is in pretty every part of the state aside from the Keys. 

hbelkins

I'd have a hard time choosing for West Virginia. I'm leaning toward US 19 (Bluefield, Princeton, Beckley, Clarksburg, Fairmont, Morgantown) although a lot of the importance of that route, aside from the Corridor L portion, has been supplanted by I-77 and I-79.

Another possibility is WV 2, since it runs along the river and serves a handful of important cities/towns (Huntington, Parkersburg, Wheeling and Weirton).

For Virginia, how about US 460? It runs through Bluefield, Blacksburg/Christiansburg, Roanoke/Salem, Lynchburg, Richmond/Petersburg and the Hampton Roads area.

Tennessee's is obviously the mostly unsigned TN 1.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

Roadgeek2500

for PA, I'd say you could go either way with US 322 or US 30
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Flint1979

I don't know why freeways wouldn't count. I-75 is the busiest highway in the state of Michigan and called Michigan's Main Street for good reason. At 396 miles it is by far the longest highway in Michigan.

Michigan is also home to the most dangerous section of all of I-75 the stretch from Rochester Road to 14 Mile Road in Troy is the most dangerous stretch of the almost 1,800 miles of I-75.

freebrickproductions

Alabama's is most likely US 31.
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corco

I think it has to be US 95 in Idaho, since that's the only road that connects north to south

bzakharin

Quote from: jeffandnicole on June 21, 2018, 09:00:02 AM
There's a few options for NJ: US 1 may seem fairly obvious, but it only covers the northern part of the state.  US 130 covers about 3/4 of the state and US 9 covers the enter state.  If I had to pick one, I'd go with US 9.
US 9 isn't perfect either, seeing how its standalone portion only covers the shore, missing the bigger cities of central and south Jersey. The Turnpike is of course an option if freeways are acceptable. It misses Trenton, but so do all the other options save for US 1. If not, I'd vote for US 1, even though I live in South Jersey right now. You could also go with a "corridor" of US 130 to US 206 to US 1, then you've got the whole state, Camden, Trenton, New Brunswick, Edison, Newark, etc. Atlantic City misses out, but it's completely out of the way of all the other larger cities.

vdeane

Quote from: Flint1979 on June 21, 2018, 12:25:06 PM
I don't know why freeways wouldn't count. I-75 is the busiest highway in the state of Michigan and called Michigan's Main Street for good reason. At 396 miles it is by far the longest highway in Michigan.

Michigan is also home to the most dangerous section of all of I-75 the stretch from Rochester Road to 14 Mile Road in Troy is the most dangerous stretch of the almost 1,800 miles of I-75.
When most people think of "Main Street", they think of the street lined with businesses through their town's downtown, not the freeway they commute on to work.  I would think generalizing that concept to an entire state would yield the same assumption.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

wphiii


DTComposer

Quote from: sparker on June 21, 2018, 12:29:22 AM
In CA it would most likely be the original alignment of US 99 from Los Angeles to at least Manteca, where the "Main St." concept would split west (on CA 120 and the final US 50 alignment to Oakland/San Francisco), or north on US 99 to Sacramento.  Today, of course, that's I-5 up to Wheeler Ridge and CA 99 to Manteca, with a CA 120/I-205/I-580/I-80 routing on the west branch to S.F., and CA 99 continuing north to Sacramento.  I suppose some might argue that once I-5 was completed in the Valley, the "main street" concept should be shifted there.  My counterargument is that CA 99 continues to be the primary connector between the various metro areas strung out along its length, serving a significantly larger population base than the Westside/I-5 alignment.  Maybe CA 99 could be considered the "main street", while I-5 is the corresponding metro bypass! 

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 21, 2018, 01:27:05 AM
I'll second 99 for California.  US 99 had such an impact on the state that it literally refused to die and lives on the longest non-Interstate Freeway.  I-5 definitely bypasses way too many important cities in Central California to take the title away.  I'd argue US 101 is even more of a Main Street than I-5. 

I wouldn't quibble with 99, but here's my case for US-101 (in both cases, I'm considering their "glory days" when they both ran border to border):

-US-101 approximates the route of the El Camino Real, which (for better or worse) precipitated Western settlement of the state via the Spanish missions;
-US-101 directly connects the two most historically significant (and best known) cities in the state - Los Angeles and San Francisco;
-US-101 directly connects the two industries most identified with California - Hollywood and Silicon Valley;
-At its peak, US-99 connected San Bernardino, Pasadena, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, Sacramento, and Redding. At its peak, US-101 connected San Diego, Anaheim/Santa Ana, Long Beach (via US-101A), Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland (via US-101E or Alt), and Eureka. I'd argue the second list of cities carries more historical and cultural significance than the first list.
-When thinking of the physical features of California, US-101 has the Southern California beaches, spitting distance to the Big Sur coast, the Wine Country and the Redwoods. US-99 has the Mojave Desert, the Central Valley, and the Cascades (including Mt. Shasta). I'd argue the US-101 list is more "iconic" in this regard.

Again, I would be fine with 99, but if the stripped down argument is 101 hits San Diego and San Francisco, and 99 hits Sacramento, then I'll take 101.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: DTComposer on June 21, 2018, 03:53:03 PM
Quote from: sparker on June 21, 2018, 12:29:22 AM
In CA it would most likely be the original alignment of US 99 from Los Angeles to at least Manteca, where the "Main St." concept would split west (on CA 120 and the final US 50 alignment to Oakland/San Francisco), or north on US 99 to Sacramento.  Today, of course, that's I-5 up to Wheeler Ridge and CA 99 to Manteca, with a CA 120/I-205/I-580/I-80 routing on the west branch to S.F., and CA 99 continuing north to Sacramento.  I suppose some might argue that once I-5 was completed in the Valley, the "main street" concept should be shifted there.  My counterargument is that CA 99 continues to be the primary connector between the various metro areas strung out along its length, serving a significantly larger population base than the Westside/I-5 alignment.  Maybe CA 99 could be considered the "main street", while I-5 is the corresponding metro bypass! 

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 21, 2018, 01:27:05 AM
I'll second 99 for California.  US 99 had such an impact on the state that it literally refused to die and lives on the longest non-Interstate Freeway.  I-5 definitely bypasses way too many important cities in Central California to take the title away.  I'd argue US 101 is even more of a Main Street than I-5. 

I wouldn't quibble with 99, but here's my case for US-101 (in both cases, I'm considering their "glory days" when they both ran border to border):

-US-101 approximates the route of the El Camino Real, which (for better or worse) precipitated Western settlement of the state via the Spanish missions;
-US-101 directly connects the two most historically significant (and best known) cities in the state - Los Angeles and San Francisco;
-US-101 directly connects the two industries most identified with California - Hollywood and Silicon Valley;
-At its peak, US-99 connected San Bernardino, Pasadena, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, Sacramento, and Redding. At its peak, US-101 connected San Diego, Anaheim/Santa Ana, Long Beach (via US-101A), Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland (via US-101E or Alt), and Eureka. I'd argue the second list of cities carries more historical and cultural significance than the first list.
-When thinking of the physical features of California, US-101 has the Southern California beaches, spitting distance to the Big Sur coast, the Wine Country and the Redwoods. US-99 has the Mojave Desert, the Central Valley, and the Cascades (including Mt. Shasta). I'd argue the US-101 list is more "iconic" in this regard.

Again, I would be fine with 99, but if the stripped down argument is 101 hits San Diego and San Francisco, and 99 hits Sacramento, then I'll take 101.

As they stand now US 101 definitely has the leg up.  101 even surpasses 99 IMO given you still get Los Angeles and San Francisco on the modern alignment.  US 101 north of San Francisco is totally underrated and goes through a beautiful part of the state. 

pianocello

Davenport, IA -> Valparaiso, IN -> Ames, IA -> Orlando, FL -> Gainesville, FL -> Evansville, IN

Bickendan

While 99 has been mentioned for Oregon, the northern split has to be factored in.
I'd wager that 99E (Junction City-Harrisburg-Albany-[formerly]Jefferson-Salem-Woodburn-Aurora-Canby-Oregon City-Gladstone-Milwaukie-Portland) is more important than 99W (Junction City-Corvallis-Monmouth-McMinnville-Lafayette-Dundee-Newberg-Sherwood-King City-Tigard-Portland).

Flint1979

Quote from: vdeane on June 21, 2018, 01:13:39 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on June 21, 2018, 12:25:06 PM
I don't know why freeways wouldn't count. I-75 is the busiest highway in the state of Michigan and called Michigan's Main Street for good reason. At 396 miles it is by far the longest highway in Michigan.

Michigan is also home to the most dangerous section of all of I-75 the stretch from Rochester Road to 14 Mile Road in Troy is the most dangerous stretch of the almost 1,800 miles of I-75.
When most people think of "Main Street", they think of the street lined with businesses through their town's downtown, not the freeway they commute on to work.  I would think generalizing that concept to an entire state would yield the same assumption.
I-75 is actually called Michigan's Main Street. If we're talking about an actual street with businesses on it going through a downtown then that's more difficult to do since all cities downtowns are pretty much the same way. So I guess Woodward Avenue would be Michigan's Main Street if you want an actual street with businesses on it since it runs from downtown Detroit through some of the more populated areas of the Metro area to downtown Pontiac. I think Woodward would win over Grand River since the length of Grand River parallels I-96 and everyone would use I-96 for longer distance travel.

Northern Michigan is a summer getaway and people from Detroit have vacation houses in Northern Michigan making I-75 an extremely important highway in the state. When I'm traveling southbound on a Friday afternoon in the summer looking at the backup on the other side it goes on for miles and then breaks up and then a few more miles down the highway your looking at another backup of traffic. It's insane I worked at the Tony's in Birch Run for 15 years and just for where that restaurant is located it has lines out the door for hours on Friday and Sunday nights because of the traffic on I-75 I could tell how busy it was going to be. It's hard not to call I-75 Michigan's Main Drag.

US 89

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 21, 2018, 10:29:50 AM
If the criteria is non-Interstate then I revise my Arizona pick to US 60.

I'd say US 89 was far more of a Main Street to Arizona than US 60 (well, before 89 was truncated to Flagstaff). The only city of any real significance that US 60 goes through in Arizona is Phoenix. Whereas, at its full pre-1992 length, US 89 connected Phoenix and Tucson (the state's two largest cities) as well as Nogales, Prescott, and Flagstaff.

plain

Quote from: hbelkins on June 21, 2018, 11:52:43 AM
For Virginia, how about US 460? It runs through Bluefield, Blacksburg/Christiansburg, Roanoke/Salem, Lynchburg, Richmond/Petersburg and the Hampton Roads area.

When I saw this thread I was torn between US 1 (which would've been the traditional answer but it's completely overtaken by interstates), US 29 or US 58. You're right, US 460 makes the most since it connects 4 of the 5 largest metros in Virginia.
Newark born, Richmond bred

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: US 89 on June 21, 2018, 06:47:13 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 21, 2018, 10:29:50 AM
If the criteria is non-Interstate then I revise my Arizona pick to US 60.

I'd say US 89 was far more of a Main Street to Arizona than US 60 (well, before 89 was truncated to Flagstaff). The only city of any real significance that US 60 goes through in Arizona is Phoenix. Whereas, at its full pre-1992 length, US 89 connected Phoenix and Tucson (the state's two largest cities) as well as Nogales, Prescott, and Flagstaff.

That's the tricky thing, I would certainly say the same thing if US 89 was in it's prime.  But even then the full scope of US 80 probably still had it beat with having Phoenix, Tucscon, Yuma and even the southeastern mining districts on it's alignment.  Granted I know US 60/70/89 all shared Grand Avenue but US 60 is the only still there today.

US71

Arkansas: N-S, maybe US 67 / AR 367 since it's the Southwest Trail / Old Military Rd
E-W maybe US 70 since it was a branch of the Bankhead Highway.
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webny99

I think anything paralleled by an interstate can qualify historically, but not currently.

That's why I'm looking away from interstate corridors to find good candidates. US 20 has potential to qualify for NY, especially if you consider upstate and downstate separately.   :-P

vdeane

Quote from: webny99 on June 21, 2018, 09:04:29 PM
I think anything paralleled by an interstate can qualify historically, but not currently.
Any particular reason why?
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

Eth

Historically, US 41 would have been the obvious choice for Georgia, but outside of local traffic it's been completely supplanted by I-75. As for today...I don't think I can come up with a single clear winner. Arguments could probably be made for US 19, US 80, US 23, US 27, maybe even US 129.

I'll go with US 80, the east-west route crossing the state at its widest point linking Columbus, Macon, and Savannah. Even the Macon-to-Savannah portion is reasonably independent of I-16.

sparker

#49
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 21, 2018, 07:24:22 PM
Quote from: US 89 on June 21, 2018, 06:47:13 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 21, 2018, 10:29:50 AM
If the criteria is non-Interstate then I revise my Arizona pick to US 60.

I'd say US 89 was far more of a Main Street to Arizona than US 60 (well, before 89 was truncated to Flagstaff). The only city of any real significance that US 60 goes through in Arizona is Phoenix. Whereas, at its full pre-1992 length, US 89 connected Phoenix and Tucson (the state's two largest cities) as well as Nogales, Prescott, and Flagstaff.

That's the tricky thing, I would certainly say the same thing if US 89 was in it's prime.  But even then the full scope of US 80 probably still had it beat with having Phoenix, Tucscon, Yuma and even the southeastern mining districts on it's alignment.  Granted I know US 60/70/89 all shared Grand Avenue but US 60 is the only still there today.

Pre-Interstate years, both US 80 (E-W) and US 89 (N-S) did manage to connect most of the populated areas of the state -- so a case could conceivably be made for one or the other being the equivalent of a "main street".  However, historic AZ practice, generally due to topology, seemed to produce highly convoluted pathways for their U.S.  highways; the US 89 "detours" via Williams and Prescott and the tortured path of US 80, in order to serve Yuma, Phoenix, Tucson, and Douglas with a single designation, function as prime examples of the state's roadway priorities.  But they seemed to take great pains to provide state highways that "cut off" the more significant of these, such as the relative "straightlining" of AZ 84 and AZ 86 in the case of US 80 and AZ 69 and the original proposed AZ 79 for US 89 (both of which were, of course, later subsumed by I-17).  Development along the state "cutoffs" came somewhat later than that on the original U.S. alignments, particularly between Phoenix and Tucson -- but in that particular case, once it did it outstripped that along the original U.S. routes, at least until the massive Phoenix suburbs pushed east to Apache Junction.  Nevertheless, given all that, IMO there's only a scant case for any E-W "main street" -- but a composite equivalent on the N-S axis could be considered, from south to north, the original southern reaches of AZ 93 from Nogales through Tucson, Pichaco, and north to Mesa before jogging west into Phoenix on the "fearsome foursome" of 60/70/80/89.  I'd give the AZ planners the benefit of the doubt here, and continue the concept north on AZ 69 and the planned AZ 79, simply because the focal point of Northern AZ has been and will likely always be Flagstaff, and the most direct route between Phoenix and there would be the likely candidate.  They were trying to effect this with the 69/79 continuum pre-Interstate years -- but who could turn down the Feds' offer of 90% financing of your dream corridor! -- so I-17 it became!  North from there, historically the combination of US 89 and its original US 89A alignment would likely be the most likely to assume the "main street" label, since the later Page routing was prompted by Glen Canyon construction. 



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