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Longest east-west stretches along normally north-south highways, and vice versa

Started by KCRoadFan, February 11, 2024, 03:10:15 AM

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KCRoadFan

Along US 20, the longest road in the country, there are two roughly 100-mile stretches that largely run north-south - heading east, it goes mainly north from Idaho Falls to West Yellowstone, Montana, and later on, back south in Wyoming from Greybull to Shoshoni.

Meanwhile, on the East Coast, I-95 - along with parallel US 1 - spans the length of Connecticut east-west, also running about 100 miles, whereas down in Florida, I-75 (Alligator Alley) and parallel US 41 (Tamiami Trail) run just about the same east-west distance between Naples and the Miami area.

Also, back in the Northeast, I-95 and parallel US 1 from Baltimore to Philadelphia follow a primarily east-west trajectory, again spanning a little more than 100 miles. These are the examples I can think of - throughout the country, what other roads might there be that are mainly north-south but have a long east-west section, or vice versa? In addition, how long are these sections of highway that run perpendicular to the primary directional orientation of the road?


Bruce

WA 16 is signed east-west and treated as east-west (down to its even number), but most of it runs north-south.

Several sections of US 2 in WA are north-south, totalling about 60 miles.
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3467

74 from Galesburg North is sharp. 74 and a lot of Interstates are diagonals. . No doubt about 74 thoigh.

TheStranger

US 101 has two key east-west segments:

1. in California, from Route 134/Route 170 in North Hollywood to Gaviota.  122 miles

2. in Washington, from Beaver to Blyn.  81 miles

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I-15 in the Mojave Desert has a diagonal-ish segment that is more eastward rather than pure northeastward or northward, from Barstow to Wheaton Springs for about 105 miles

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California examples:
Route 78 (mostly east-west) has one north-south segment from county route S34 east of Glamis, north to I-10 in Blythe, for about 44 miles.

I-80 in California runs primarily north-south from the MacArthur Maze to I-505 in Vacaville (coincidentally, this was the segment that would have been part of planned I-5W before the 1964 renumbering), for about 48 miles.

Due to geography, Route 49 from Oak Valley to Sierra Brooks runs mostly east-west for 65 miles.

Although Route 70 is ostensibly an east-west route overall (using portions of former Route 24 and former Alternate US 40), the north-south portion is 94 or so miles, from Route 99 in East Nicolaus to near Bald Eagle Mountain.

Route 96 is signed east-west from its terminus at Route 299, but the portion from Route 299 to Seiad Valley area is 93 miles north-south trajectory.
Chris Sampang

roadman65

US 92 in Florida from Lake Alfred to DeLand is more N-S while paired with US 17. I believe it's around 95 miles. 
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

zachary_amaryllis

US 40, after you come off Berthoud Pass into Winter Park, seems like it's much more north, than west.

Like, doesn't really turn back 'west' again, until you get to Rabbit Ears.
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Rothman

Having lived in southeastern Idaho, US 20 is generally still perceived as an east-west highway, despite heading northeast to Yellowstone from Idaho falls.  Sort of like East and West Duluth, MN, come to think of it.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

SEWIGuy

I-94 between downtown Milwaukee and downtown Chicago is almost entirely n/s for about 100 miles.

I-90 between Buffalo, WY and Crow Agency, MT is about 100 miles pretty much n/s. More of an extension of I-25 than anything.


GaryV

EDIT: Sniped on parts of this

Perhaps not longest segments, but I-94 has 3 - Madison to Portage, Chicago to Milwaukee, and Detroit to Port Huron (that one is overall northeast, but several north portions). And I-94 along south of Benton Harbor / St Joe is on quite an angle as well.

I-90, Rockford to Portage. Another section in WY and MT is pretty much n/s too.


Mapmikey

Nominating the entire state of South Carolina.

Fairly recently they changed the direction banners on nearly the entire system such that even numbers are posted E-W and odd numbers are posted N-S.

Except their route numbering system wasn't developed with that in mind 80-100 years ago.

Egregious examples of longer routes are SC 5, SC 9, SC 20, SC 45, SC 61, SC 63 

epzik8

Quote from: Mapmikey on February 11, 2024, 10:02:12 AM
Nominating the entire state of South Carolina.

Fairly recently they changed the direction banners on nearly the entire system such that even numbers are posted E-W and odd numbers are posted N-S.

Except their route numbering system wasn't developed with that in mind 80-100 years ago.

Egregious examples of longer routes are SC 5, SC 9, SC 20, SC 45, SC 61, SC 63

SC 9 is blatantly confusing in that regard; it's indisputably east-west.
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74/171FAN

NC 55 is signed entirely east-west, but it truly a north-south route from its western terminus in Durham to Erwin at US 421.
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mgk920

Quote from: SEWIGuy on February 11, 2024, 08:35:32 AM
I-94 between downtown Milwaukee and downtown Chicago is almost entirely n/s for about 100 miles.

Farther than that, it doesn't turn eastward until the interchange with I-80/294/IL 394  in the south suburbs.  One of the minor reasons why I-41 was duplexed with it was to give at least that part of the road a proper north-south route number.

Mike

Quillz

The post-1964 extension of CA-1 is almost exclusively east-west between Santa Monica and Oxnard. Likewise, the northernmost alignment between Rockport and the Leggett Junction is windy and twisty, but is more west-east than south-north. Although this was a compromise, as CA-1 was intended to travel farther north to Ferndale.

dlsterner

There is a stretch of US 98 (nominally E/W) in Florida that runs generally N/S from Perry to Belle Glade (about 350 miles) before becoming E/W again towards West Palm Beach.

Been a while since I've been on it, but IIRC that section is actually signed N/S.

jlam

US 24 runs north-south between Vail and Buena Vista, Colorado, a total of nearly 70 miles.

Hobart

Interstate 69 runs about 130 miles from the north side of Lansing to Port Huron almost straight east, and is signed as such by MDOT. This portion of I-69 also appears to be slightly bowed, so there's portions that point slightly southeast (including the Blue Water Bridge) despite eastbound I-69 being "northbound" I-69.
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DriverDave

 I-81, which is designated north-south, goes a huge distance east-west through Virginia and TN. It's more diagonal so I don't know if it counts here. Was going to say I-75 in Florida but see it was already mentioned. Although more of I-75 within the state is north-south than east-west, unlike I-95 in CT which is entirely east-west through the state.

cwf1701

Quote from: mgk920 on February 11, 2024, 01:17:31 PM
Quote from: SEWIGuy on February 11, 2024, 08:35:32 AM
I-94 between downtown Milwaukee and downtown Chicago is almost entirely n/s for about 100 miles.

Farther than that, it doesn't turn eastward until the interchange with I-80/294/IL 394  in the south suburbs.  One of the minor reasons why I-41 was duplexed with it was to give at least that part of the road a proper north-south route number.

Mike

And at the Indiana-Michigan Line, I-94 is more north-south to the interchange with I-196.  A lot of the North-South routing of I-94 in WI, IL, and MI is because of Lake Michigan.

mgk920

US 11 hugs the Canada-USA border east-west between I-81 and I-87 in New York, too.

Mike

LilianaUwU

QC 162 is signed east-west but is exclusively heading north-south. It should have been QC 163.
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roadman65

South Carolina has plenty of them.  US 52 is signed E- W but is N- S in the state.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

TheHighwayMan3561

In Minnesota:

TH 1 between Ely and TH 61 is about 60 miles mostly N/S but signed E/W.

TH 9 between Benson and New London is 35 miles, due E/W but signed N/S and features two prominent "wrong way" stretches - this segment shouid probably either be re-oriented or just given a different number

I've heard anecdotes that locals on the shore refer to TH 61 as an E/W route, but never investigated this myself. There is one local sign in Two Harbors referring to "61 West".

TH 92 is fully N/S but signed E/W from its "eastern" terminus at TH 200 north to the town of Clearbrook, 27 miles.
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Great Lakes Roads

Another one in Michigan: I-196 runs more north-south than east-west.
-Jay Seaburg

wriddle082

Quote from: roadman65 on February 12, 2024, 01:15:07 AM
South Carolina has plenty of them.  US 52 is signed E- W but is N- S in the state.

South Carolina has a huge problem with this.  They blindly assigned all even numbered state routes as E-W and all odd numbered state routes as N-S with absolutely no regard to how they actually travel.  One of the worst examples is SC 14, which is signed E-W, travels mainly N-S, and its northern endpoint is barely west of its southern endpoint.  At one point it is multiplexed with I-385 for a couple of miles.  SC 14 west turns left onto I-385 north, run with it for a couple of miles, then branches off to the right.

SC 9 is also another really bad example, as it is signed N-S but mainly travels E-W from the NC line near Spartanburg all the way to North Myrtle Beach, staying close to the NC line for a good chunk of the time.



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