What is the lowest route number which no freeway in the United States carries?
Concurrencies count, so because I know US-6 concurs with an interstate near Chicago, that rules 6 out. Also, for the sake of simplicity, ignore prefix and suffix letters, so I-H1 counts as "1".
Just to save some time, here is a list of all the 2dis, meaning these numbers are not going to be the answer:
1 2 3 4 5 8 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 19 20 22 24 25 26 27 29 30 35 37 39 40 41 43 44 45 49 55 57 59 64 65 66 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 93 94 95 96 97 99
48 in the United States.
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=15332
Well, damn, I thought I was being clever. Also, 48 is surprisingly low. Any upgrades to any route numbered 48 in the past 5 years?
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 07, 2020, 09:22:53 PM
Any upgrades to any route numbered 48 in the past 5 years?
No upgrades, but NY 48 is so close (https://www.google.com/maps/@43.186005,-76.3570724,15.29z/data=!5m1!1e1)...
Unfortunately, the freeway, a continuation of the same road that carries the NY 48 designation, is numbered NY 690.
Wasn't AZ 89A Spur briefly designated as AZ 48? Granted that doesn't count because the current expressway isn't really a freeway and Fain Road was at best a Super Two with at-grade intersections.
I feel like INDOT missed a chance to rectify this...The "middle" segment of disjointed IN 48 ends at I-69/IN 37 in Bloomington
IDOT could fix this, by pulling an INDOT and putting IL 48 on the US 51/I-72 Decatur Bypass Freeway, instead of using the thru town route
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 07, 2020, 09:22:53 PM
Well, damn, I thought I was being clever. Also, 48 is surprisingly low. Any upgrades to any route numbered 48 in the past 5 years?
US-48 is being used for the Corridor H upgrade across West Virginia and into Virginia if they ever actually build it :spin:
It's only built to expressway standards though with at-grade intersections at minor crossroads and interchanges at major junctions. No continuous segments of interchanges creating a full freeway segment as of now though.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 07, 2020, 09:45:08 PM
Wasn't AZ 89A Spur briefly designated as AZ 48? Granted that doesn't count because the current expressway isn't really a freeway and Fain Road was at best a Super Two with at-grade intersections.
AZ 48 was proposed by ADOT for Fain Rd. about 20 years ago, but I don't believe it was ever approved or signed on the road.
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on May 08, 2020, 03:44:17 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 07, 2020, 09:45:08 PM
Wasn't AZ 89A Spur briefly designated as AZ 48? Granted that doesn't count because the current expressway isn't really a freeway and Fain Road was at best a Super Two with at-grade intersections.
AZ 48 was proposed by ADOT for Fain Rd. about 20 years ago, but I don't believe it was ever approved or signed on the road.
It definitely was never field signed, I drove that thing as it progressed to current standards frequently when I lived in the area.
Interestingly CA 48 which was signed as CA 138 approaching Antelope Valley was built up to freeway standards East of I-5 during the 1960s to Gorman Post Road. The Route Definition of CA 48 was pushed eastward towards the planned realignment of CA 138 during 1968. So technically there has been a route 48 with a freeway grade past tense:
https://www.cahighways.org/041-048.html#048
https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/california-state-route-138.html?m=1
Unless you count the ramps in its southern end, SH 3 in the Greater Houston area is a surface road for its entire length.
Quote from: Some one on May 08, 2020, 05:31:52 PM
Unless you count the ramps in its southern end, SH 3 in the Greater Houston area is a surface road for its entire length.
I-H3 exists, and even if it didn't, OK-3 concurs with I-44, I-240, and I-40 through Oklahoma City, so there are definitely freeways that carry the number 3.
Now, hang on just a minute here.
There's a stretch of US-48 in Buckhannon, WV that looks an awful lot like a freeway to me. It's short, but there's two consecutive interchanges followed by a grade separation with no ramps, and there's a decent amount of controlled access on either side before at-grade junctions begin and it becomes obvious expressway.
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 08, 2020, 08:34:12 PM
Quote from: Some one on May 08, 2020, 05:31:52 PM
Unless you count the ramps in its southern end, SH 3 in the Greater Houston area is a surface road for its entire length.
I-H3 exists, and even if it didn't, OK-3 concurs with I-44, I-240, and I-40 through Oklahoma City, so there are definitely freeways that carry the number 3.
MA/US 3 for sure; 90% of it south of Nashua is freeway. CT 3 has a freeway stretch between I-91 and CT 2 to cross the Putnam Bridge (was supposed to be part of proposed I-491 and later an extension of the decommissioned I-86). NJ 3 is a Jersey freeway as it passes through the Meadowlands and into Secaucus.
WA 3 is mostly a freeway grade on the Kitsap Peninsula.
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 08, 2020, 08:56:26 PM
Now, hang on just a minute here.
There's a stretch of US-48 in Buckhannon, WV that looks an awful lot like a freeway to me. It's short, but there's two consecutive interchanges followed by a grade separation with no ramps, and there's a decent amount of controlled access on either side before at-grade junctions begin and it becomes obvious expressway.
This (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/38.9991575,-80.251917/39.0009563,-80.21735/@38.9973294,-80.2369195,2758m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0) two mile stretch would actually indeed be built to full freeway standards. It's short, but that is technically a freeway segment. Two interchanges and a grade separation with no intersections in between. That would eliminate the number 48.
Quote from: sprjus4 on May 08, 2020, 09:34:01 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 08, 2020, 08:56:26 PM
Now, hang on just a minute here.
There's a stretch of US-48 in Buckhannon, WV that looks an awful lot like a freeway to me. It's short, but there's two consecutive interchanges followed by a grade separation with no ramps, and there's a decent amount of controlled access on either side before at-grade junctions begin and it becomes obvious expressway.
This (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/38.9991575,-80.251917/39.0009563,-80.21735/@38.9973294,-80.2369195,2758m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0) two mile stretch would actually indeed be built to full freeway standards. It's short, but that is technically a freeway segment. Two interchanges and a grade separation with no intersections in between. That would eliminate the number 48.
That means we're looking for a 102 now.
Quote from: 1 on May 08, 2020, 09:44:48 PMThat means we're looking for a 102 now.
I know it was brought up earlier, but FL 102 is probably the most debatable?
Chris
Quote from: jayhawkco on May 08, 2020, 10:25:53 PM
Quote from: 1 on May 08, 2020, 09:44:48 PMThat means we're looking for a 102 now.
I know it was brought up earlier, but FL 102 is probably the most debatable?
Chris
M-102/8 Mile Road has a full limited access interchange with US 24/Telegraph Road.
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 08, 2020, 08:34:12 PM
Quote from: Some one on May 08, 2020, 05:31:52 PM
Unless you count the ramps in its southern end, SH 3 in the Greater Houston area is a surface road for its entire length.
I-H3 exists, and even if it didn't, OK-3 concurs with I-44, I-240, and I-40 through Oklahoma City, so there are definitely freeways that carry the number 3.
IL 3 is multiplexed on the I-255/US 50 Freeway for a short segment as well
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 08, 2020, 10:30:17 PM
Quote from: jayhawkco on May 08, 2020, 10:25:53 PM
Quote from: 1 on May 08, 2020, 09:44:48 PMThat means we're looking for a 102 now.
I know it was brought up earlier, but FL 102 is probably the most debatable?
Chris
M-102/8 Mile Road has a full limited access interchange with US 24/Telegraph Road.
Isn't a full freeway on either side. Just an arterial interchange.
The segment near the M-10 Lodge Fwy / Greenfield Rd forms a full freeway segment though passing through two interchanges. Debatable though.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/42.4445505,-83.208376/42.4449204,-83.1953468/@42.4444113,-83.2016317,694m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0!5m1!1e1
OK-102 concurs with I-40 for upwards of a mile between Dale and McLoud. Definitely a freeway.
The next number mentioned in the other thread is 106, but it doesn't look like anyone in the other thread bothered with it since it was assumed 48 was the winner.
A-48 is a freeway in Spain. However the lowest number not used currently for a freeway is 18, and not only that, one has to go very local to find a route numbered 18. However, historically there has been an A-18 (in Catalonia, now part of C-16). Thus the lowest number to have never been signed on a freeway is 24 (however there is an A-24 proposed), and the lowest number to have never been officially assigned to any planned freeway is 28 (I was about to say 25 because A-25 wasn't official but then remembered Catalan freeway C-25).
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 08, 2020, 10:30:17 PM
M-102/8 Mile Road has a full limited access interchange with US 24/Telegraph Road.
The "Farmington Bypass" which is now part of M-5 used to be the western end of M-102, and it is freeway (although it only has 2 partial interchanges).
But since OK-102 is part of a freeway, we don't have to go down the path of "does a former route count?"
To be clear, is a tollway a freeway with tolls (so it counts)? Or is it considered separate from a freeway so it doesn't count?
Quote from: paulthemapguy on May 09, 2020, 01:29:11 PM
To be clear, is a tollway a freeway with tolls (so it counts)? Or is it considered separate from a freeway so it doesn't count?
Tollways are freeways.
Free as in libre, not gratis.
Quote from: GaryV on May 09, 2020, 08:52:33 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 08, 2020, 10:30:17 PM
M-102/8 Mile Road has a full limited access interchange with US 24/Telegraph Road.
The "Farmington Bypass" which is now part of M-5 used to be the western end of M-102, and it is freeway (although it only has 2 partial interchanges).
But since OK-102 is part of a freeway, we don't have to go down the path of "does a former route count?"
Forgot about that one and even lived off M-5 for awhile too.
I would not include US 48 in Buckhannon. That second "interchange" is only a single off-ramp. If it were a full interchange it'd be a different story.
Quote from: froggie on May 09, 2020, 01:50:13 PM
I would not include US 48 in Buckhannon. That second "interchange" is only a single off-ramp. If it were a full interchange it'd be a different story.
Yeah, but if we do that, the thread is over, and that's boring.
I consider US 48 to count as a freeway, and thus would like another answer.
Quote from: froggie on May 09, 2020, 01:50:13 PM
I would not include US 48 in Buckhannon. That second "interchange" is only a single off-ramp. If it were a full interchange it'd be a different story.
It's still two interchanges and an overpass with no at grade intersections for a 2 mile stretch. It's built to full freeway standards and is a freeway segment.
Quote
Yeah, but if we do that, the thread is over, and that's boring.
Wouldn't be the first time on this forum...
Quote from: froggie on May 09, 2020, 05:17:19 PM
Quote
Yeah, but if we do that, the thread is over, and that's boring.
Wouldn't be the first time on this forum...
Okay, so go lay down and have a nap, content in the knowledge that 48 is the lowest unused freeway number in the US.
Anyone who considers US-48 in Buckhannon to be a freeway is welcome to keep searching for an answer they consider more accurate.
Does anyone know of a 106?
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 09, 2020, 05:20:41 PM
Does anyone know of a 106?
After going through every 106 I could find in the United States in TM...unfortunately not.
NY 106, on Long Island, comes close. If not for the southbound carriageway's at-grade intersection (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7938657,-73.5410503,979m/data=!3m1!1e3) at the north end of the NY 107 overlap, it would have consecutive interchanges. But alas, that ruins it. Slightly further south, I-495's use of service roads where it meets NY 106/107 also ruins what would otherwise be back-to-back cloverleaf interchanges.
TX 48 East of Brownsville may qualify. There are two exits in quick succession with no driveways or crossovers in between them. Also a small stretch East of those exits with a jersey barrier and no driveways.
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