What I mean is: signed business routes that actually take traffic away from the central business district in relation to the mainline route. Any examples of this?
Waco TX is what prompted this thread. Today mainline US 77 comes in from the north on I-35, which passes only about a mile to the southeast of the CBD. It then exits to the 17th/18th couplet, goes down to LaSalle Av, and then passes through Waco's renowned traffic circle on its way out of town.
Meanwhile, Business 77 exits I-35 way on the north side of town, and follows New Dallas Hwy. Long before reaching the downtown area, this swings around to the east, and crosses the river via LaSalle (rejoining mainline 77 at 17th/18th). So the closest Business 77 comes to the CBD is about two miles... which is about twice as far as mainline 77.
While an understanding of the history (http://usends.com/Focus/Waco/index.html) sort of explains how this situation came to be, I don't think it ever made sense to sign this route as "Business 77". "Alternate 77" seems more appropriate. Any other examples out there?
Business US-20 in Belvidere, Illinois is a bypass of the city with US-20 bypassing the city to the south. It's debatable which is closer.
Quote from: Brandon on January 30, 2015, 03:49:09 PM
Business US-20 in Belvidere, Illinois is a bypass of the city with US-20 bypassing the city to the south. It's debatable which is closer.
Yeah, I see what you mean. Looks like today's business route is a bypass of the original mainline, which went right through the CBD via State St. and Logan Av. But it's probably still legit to call it "Business 20", since it's an extension of the business loop through Rockford.