Quote from Billburmaster.com
QuoteThe State of Tennessee use to have "primary" and "secondary" highways. The primary highways were shielded by white rectancles with a picture of the state below the number. Tennessee's secondary highways were marked by black rectangles with white triangles on them. Noel Evans, Manager I in the Planning Division of the Tennessee Department of Transportation, stated that Section 1006 of the Intermodel Surface Transportation Effciency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 directed the development of a National Highway System (NHS) of roads. The approval of NHS in 1993 ended the previous Federal-Aid Primary and Federal Aid Secondary system of roads. The 2007 Tranportation Map from TDOT (Tennessee Department of Transportation) was the first map issued from the state that indicated that they were no longer using primary and secondary highways.
http://www.billburmaster.com/rmsandw/tennessee/state/tnstatemain.html (http://www.billburmaster.com/rmsandw/tennessee/state/tnstatemain.html)
Somehow I did not hear this news previously.
Since this has been true for a good while, I wonder if they will eliminate one of the marker types (probably the secondary), and I wonder why this has not already been done.
The 2013 map shows both shield designs...it just calls them both "Tennessee State Routes". They still have de facto primary/secondary systems.
So apparently, they're consolidating their highways into one system? It sounds like they are.
They're not.
Quote from: NE2 on September 18, 2015, 01:20:51 AM
The 2013 map shows both shield designs...it just calls them both "Tennessee State Routes". They still have de facto primary/secondary systems.
And they're definitely signed as such, although the signage can be haphazard.
It is correct that all Tennessee state routes are the same; however, the ones that are part of the Federal-aid primary highway system are in rectangle, while sections that are not use the triangle shield. It is common for a route to change versions depending if that section is part of the federal-aid or not. Also, if you look at a TDOT map, it still identifies which shields.
Quote from: WashuOtaku on September 19, 2015, 12:31:22 PM
the Federal-aid primary highway system
has not existed since 1993...
Quote from: WashuOtaku on September 19, 2015, 12:31:22 PM
It is correct that all Tennessee state routes are the same; however, the ones that are part of the Federal-aid primary highway system are in rectangle, while sections that are not use the triangle shield. It is common for a route to change versions depending if that section is part of the federal-aid or not. Also, if you look at a TDOT map, it still identifies which shields.
It's also worth noting that the highways with the primary shields generally connect the larger towns (county seats), while the secondary ones mostly just go out into the hinterlands. I remember from the old Tennessee Driver's Handbook where it stated that the primary state highways "primarily connect cities".
Is there or was there once any correlation between primary/secondary and whether full width paved shoulders are provided?
My experience in Tennessee was there is no system for whether a route is signed with a rectangle or a triangle. I observed dozens of routes where at one junction its the triangle and the next junction, square. No change in the physical roadway or even what county I was in. Any 'system' there is supposed to be seems to have broken down over time. In some places it seems like they went with whatever the contractor printed up.
In my experience, the triangle routes are more of a farm-to-market type road while the primary routes are more improved routes. And I have seen instances, like triplemulitplex says, where a route can go from secondary to primary and then back again.
Quote from: codyg1985 on September 30, 2015, 11:18:11 AM
In my experience, the triangle routes are more of a farm-to-market type road while the primary routes are more improved routes. And I have seen instances, like triplemulitplex says, where a route can go from secondary to primary and then back again.
The official state map does a good job of showing which routes are primary and which are secondary -- a lot better job than signage in the field, to be certain.