I was just looking through my photographs of NJ Route 45 and realized that it is not only in two NJ counties, Gloucester and Salem respectively, but transits both seats of government for both counties. It begins in Salem and passes the Salem County Courthouse and then further north passes through Woodbury, the county seat of Gloucester County.
So that route is two for two in county's seats.
Any others in your area or that you know does this. In Florida we have US 90 that almost does this, but does not enter the county seat of Nassau. Other counties it traverses it does serve the seats of government. Although Wikipedia does state it does enter every county seat even though it misses one.
IN 15 visits the county seat of all four counties it enters.
CT doesn't have county seats per se, but I-95 and US 1 both pass through the namesake cities of 3 of the 4 counties they pass through: Fairfield (though Bridgeport would be the seat and they both pass through it), New Haven, and New London. I-91 also hits all 3 traditional county seats: New Haven, Middletown (Middlesex; though nowhere near the center), and Hartford.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on May 06, 2025, 12:22:23 PMCT doesn't have county seats per se, but I-95 and US 1 both pass through the namesake cities of 3 of the 4 counties they pass through: Fairfield (though Bridgeport would be the seat and they both pass through it), New Haven, and New London. I-91 also hits all 3 traditional county seats: New Haven, Middletown (Middlesex; though nowhere near the center), and Hartford.
Since CT now uses the MPO areas as counties for Census purposes (and thus Mob-rule as well), whichever municipality where each MPO is based would seem to be the "county seat".
AK 1 serves the seats of all three boroughs it passes through (Soldatna for Kenai Peninsula, Anchorage, Palmer for Matanuska-Susitna), not counting two census areas in the Unorganized Borough, which don't have seats.
EDIT: I missed one! US-101 enters San Benito County but doesn't reach Hollister. OOOOOOPS
California:
US-101 is the clear winner, going 13 for 13: Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Salinas, San Jose, Redwood City, San Francisco, San Rafael, Santa Rosa, Ukiah, Eureka, and Crescent City. Bonus points for being the longest route in the state (808 miles).
More bonus points in that pre-1964, it was 15 for 15, including Santa Ana and San Diego.
All the other longer routes miss at least two county seats, including all the 2di Interstates except I-8 (which is only in two counties).
I-5 hits all 9 county seats in the 9 counties it serves.
As for state routes, SR 20 comes close but just misses out on Mount Vernon. It also passes through the very far side of Whatcom County, so it's 6 for 8.
MN:
TH 61 (though US 61 did not and still does not qualify in its truncated form)
TH 371 (also qualified as US 371 with Bemidji added that modern TH 371 doesn't go to)
former: US 16 (modern TH 16 does not qualify)
Quote from: DTComposer on May 06, 2025, 02:05:50 PMCalifornia:
US-101 is the clear winner, going 13 for 13: Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Salinas, San Jose, Redwood City, San Francisco, San Rafael, Santa Rosa, Ukiah, Eureka, and Crescent City. Bonus points for being the longest route in the state (808 miles).
More bonus points in that pre-1964, it was 15 for 15, including Santa Ana and San Diego.
Oops. It enters San Benito county without going through Hollister.
Pennsylvania Route 34 serves Gettysburg (Adams County), Carlisle (Cumberland County), and New Bloomfield (Perry County)
Pennsylvania Route 72 serves Lancaster (Lancaster County) and Lebanon (Lebanon County)
Pennsylvania Route 462 serves York (York County) and Lancaster (Lancaster County)
Maryland Route 12 serves Snow Hill (Worcester County) and Salisbury (Wicomico County)
Maryland Route 213 serves Centreville (Queen Anne's County), Chestertown (Kent County), and Elkton (Cecil County)
Quote from: pderocco on May 06, 2025, 05:37:49 PMQuote from: DTComposer on May 06, 2025, 02:05:50 PMCalifornia:
US-101 is the clear winner, going 13 for 13: Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Salinas, San Jose, Redwood City, San Francisco, San Rafael, Santa Rosa, Ukiah, Eureka, and Crescent City. Bonus points for being the longest route in the state (808 miles).
More bonus points in that pre-1964, it was 15 for 15, including Santa Ana and San Diego.
Oops. It enters San Benito county without going through Hollister.
AAAAAHHHHH! I have driven that literally over 100 times, how did I forget it?!?!?! Thanks for catching!
Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on May 06, 2025, 11:21:27 AMIN 15 visits the county seat of all four counties it enters.
Another one for Indiana- US 27 and IN 38
I'm pretty it's US 50 in Colorado. It serves the county seat of all 10 counties it passes through in the state.
Edit - Whoops, missed the State Highway part. Most I can find is CO 96, which serves all four of its counties' seats.
West Virginia ought to have some, given that many of the roads in the Mountain State have low traffic volumes and have been granted a State Route number only because they connect with the various county seats:
WV-7 (New Martinsville, Morgantown, Kingwood)
WV-14 (Parkersburg, Elizabeth, Spencer)
WV-16 (Welch, Pineville, Beckley, Fayetteville, Clay, Grantsville, Harrisville, Saint Marys)
US-19 (Princeton, Beckley and Fayetteville (along with WV-16), Sutton, Weston, Clarksburg, Fairmont, Morgantown)
WV-152 (Huntington, Wayne)
WV-310 (Fairmont, Grafton)
I-470 (Wheeling, twice!)
West Virginia also has some nifty one in the "almost, but not quite" category:
WV-2 (10 county seats, but not Ripley)
WV-3 (5 county seats, but not Lewisburg)
US-33 (7 county seats, but neither Grantsville nor Philippi)
US-219 (5 county seats, but not Kingwood)
US-220 (4 county seats, but not Romney)
US-250 (6 county seats, but not Marlinton nor New Martinsville)
I-94 in Michigan hits almost all the county seats on it's path. It only misses the westernmost one, St. Joseph, Berrien County.
- Paw Paw, Van Buren
- Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo
- Marshall, Calhoun
- Jackson, Jackson
- Ann Arbor, Washtenaw
- Detroit, Wayne
- Mt. Clemens, Macomb (just touches the eastern edge of the city)
- Port Huron, St. Clair
Quote from: jlam on May 06, 2025, 08:12:01 PMWhoops, missed the State Highway part.
Routes numbered in the Interstate and US systems are state highways.
US-41 hits all the county seats on it's path in Michigan:
- Eagle River, Keweenaw (just barely per Google Maps, although being an unincorporated place I'm not sure what is used as its boundaries)
- L'Anse, Baraga
- Marquette, Marquette
- Escanaba, Delta
- Menominee, Menominee
Quote from: pderocco on May 06, 2025, 05:37:49 PMQuote from: DTComposer on May 06, 2025, 02:05:50 PMCalifornia:
US-101 is the clear winner, going 13 for 13: Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Salinas, San Jose, Redwood City, San Francisco, San Rafael, Santa Rosa, Ukiah, Eureka, and Crescent City. Bonus points for being the longest route in the state (808 miles).
More bonus points in that pre-1964, it was 15 for 15, including Santa Ana and San Diego.
Oops. It enters San Benito county without going through Hollister.
None of the ten longest state highways hits every county seat. CA 49 did for a time when it needed at CA 89 and CA 140.
Quote from: GaryV on May 07, 2025, 09:36:21 AMUS-41 hits all the county seats on it's path in Michigan:
- Eagle River, Keweenaw (just barely per Google Maps, although being an unincorporated place I'm not sure what is used as its boundaries)
- L'Anse, Baraga
- Marquette, Marquette
- Escanaba, Delta
- Menominee, Menominee
Don't forget: Houghton, Houghton (right between Keweenaw and Baraga) (for authority, check user name)
Quote from: jlam on May 06, 2025, 08:12:01 PMI'm pretty it's US 50 in Colorado. It serves the county seat of all 10 counties it passes through in the state.
Edit - Whoops, missed the State Highway part. Most I can find is CO 96, which serves all four of its counties' seats.
I think the only SRs that even go in more counties than that are CO59 and CO71, and both of them miss several.
And US50 doesn't quite hit them all. It dips into Saguache County without going through the city of Saguache.
The only US Routes that are successful are:
US84 - 1 county (Archuleta)
US85 - 9 counties (Las Animas, Huerfano, Pueblo, El Paso, Douglas, Arapahoe, Denver, Adams, Weld)
US138 - 2 counties (Logan, Sedgwick)
US350 - 2 counties (Las Animas, Otero)
US491 - 2 counties (Montezuma, Dolores)
US550 - 4 counties (La Plata, San Juan, Ouray, Montrose)
No Colorado interstates are successful.
US 58 comes close in Virginia, if you include business routes created when bypasses were built:
- Jonesville, Lee County
- Gate City, Scott County
- City of Bristol
- Abingdon, Washington County (bypasses in concurrency with I-81, but part of the bypass is within town limits)
- Independence, Grayson County
- City of Galax
- Hillsville, Carroll County (bypasses, but parts of the bypass are within town limits)
- (Misses Floyd, Floyd County)
- Stuart, Patrick County (bypasses, but the bypass is within town limits)
- City of Martinsville, Henry County (bypasses, US 58 Business runs through town)
- (Misses Chatham, Pittsylvania County)
- City of Danville
- (Misses Halifax, Halifax County)
- Boydton, Mecklenburg County
- Lawrenceville, Brunswick County
- City of Emporia, Greensville County
- Courtland, Southampton County (bypasses, US 58 Business runs through town)
- City of Suffolk (bypasses downtown, US 58 Business serves downtown)
- City of Chesapeake (doesn't serve the government center area, but meh)
- City of Portsmouth (actually serves downtown)
- City of Norfolk (actually serves downtown)
- City of Virginia Beach (actually serves what could be considered downtown, plus the oceanfront)
This is a fun topic.
In Texas I looked for routes of at least 100 miles.
SH 17: Pecos (Reeves County), Fort Davis (Jeff Davis County), Marfa (Presidio County)
US 380 crosses mostly lined-up square counties with seats near the middle: Plains (Yoakum County), Brownfield (Terry County), Tahoka (Lynn County), Post (Garza County), Jayton (Kent County), Aspermont (Stonewall County), Haskell (Haskell County), Throckmorton (Throckmorton County), Graham (Young County), Jacksboro (Jack County), Decatur (Wise County), Denton (Denton County), McKinney (Collin County), Greenville (Hunt County)
14 counties
US 180 does the same thing one set of counties to the south, 10 counties from Weatherford to New Mexico, but it enters Texas again to the southwest and misses two county seats.
SH 22: Hamilton (Hamilton County), Meridian (Bosque County), Hillsboro (Hill County), Corsicana (Navarro County)
FM 4: Jacksboro (Jack County), Palo Pinto (Palo Pinto County), Granbury (Hood County), Cleburne (Johnson County)
I-27: Lubbock (Lubbock County), Plainview (Hale County), Tulia (Swisher County), Canyon (Randall County), Amarillo (Potter County)
Looking at the maps I learned something new. I pretty much know the counties in Texas, but I don't know all of the county seats. I had no idea there was one called San Diego. It's the seat of Duval County, south of San Antonio and west of Corpus Christi. While it's the county seat, it's at the east edge of the county, and partly over the line in Jim Wells County.
Quote from: TheHighwayMan3561 on May 06, 2025, 04:56:11 PMMN:
TH 61 (though US 61 did not and still does not qualify in its truncated form)
TH 371 (also qualified as US 371 with Bemidji added that modern TH 371 doesn't go to)
former: US 16 (modern TH 16 does not qualify)
US 16 never qualified because it missed Caledonia, the county seat of Houston County.
Quote from: GaryV on May 07, 2025, 09:36:21 AMUS-41 hits all the county seats on it's path in Michigan:
- Eagle River, Keweenaw (just barely per Google Maps, although being an unincorporated place I'm not sure what is used as its boundaries)
- L'Anse, Baraga
- Marquette, Marquette
- Escanaba, Delta
- Menominee, Menominee
US-41 doesn't go through or anywhere near Munising.
Off the top of my head, KY 40 -- Salyersville (Magoffin), Paintsville (Johnson), Inez (Martin.)
Quote from: Flint1979 on May 08, 2025, 09:06:42 AManywhere near Munising
Ah, I missed that it cut through the corner of Luce County. Sorry.
Quote from: wxfree on May 07, 2025, 02:18:41 PMUS 380 crosses mostly lined-up square counties with seats near the middle: Plains (Yoakum County), Brownfield (Terry County), Tahoka (Lynn County), Post (Garza County), Jayton (Kent County), Aspermont (Stonewall County), Haskell (Haskell County), Throckmorton (Throckmorton County), Graham (Young County), Jacksboro (Jack County), Decatur (Wise County), Denton (Denton County), McKinney (Collin County), Greenville (Hunt County)
14 counties
Boy you could play a big game of checkers on that part of the state.
Quote from: GaryV on May 08, 2025, 04:36:04 PMQuote from: Flint1979 on May 08, 2025, 09:06:42 AManywhere near Munising
Ah, I missed that it cut through the corner of Luce County. Sorry.
It's alright I just was looking at the counties it went through and noticed actually Alger County that you didn't mention but it's fine I was just mentioning it. US-41 takes a strange route through the U.P. anyway.
Over here I would need to consider the second-level equivalent to counties, i.e. provinces. However Spanish provinces are in general larger than the average county East of the Mississippi, and thus no routes are known to hit more than three provincial seats in a single community (or in the entire route).
Quote from: pderocco on May 06, 2025, 05:37:49 PMQuote from: DTComposer on May 06, 2025, 02:05:50 PMCalifornia:
US-101 is the clear winner, going 13 for 13: Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Salinas, San Jose, Redwood City, San Francisco, San Rafael, Santa Rosa, Ukiah, Eureka, and Crescent City. Bonus points for being the longest route in the state (808 miles).
More bonus points in that pre-1964, it was 15 for 15, including Santa Ana and San Diego.
Oops. It enters San Benito county without going through Hollister.
pukes
Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on May 09, 2025, 06:36:13 AMOver here I would need to consider the second-level equivalent to counties, i.e. provinces. However Spanish provinces are in general larger than the average county East of the Mississippi, and thus no routes are known to hit more than three provincial seats in a single community (or in the entire route).
I would think provinces would be more analogous to our states. That's certainly the case with Canada.
MD 2 goes through Prince Frederick (Calvert), Annapolis (Anne Arundel) and also the city of Baltimore.
Off the top of my head, US 72 here in Alabama passes through every county seat of every county it enters:
Colbert County - Tuscumbia
Lauderdale County - Florence
Limestone County - Athens
Madison County - Huntsville
Jackson County - Scottsboro
AL 35 also passes through both county seats of the two counties it traverses:
Jackson County - Scottsboro
DeKalb County - Fort Payne
AL 24 also serves the county seats of the three counties it serves:
Franklin County - Russellville
Lawrence County - Moulton
Morgan County - Decatur
Also, I'm not entirely sure if this qualifies as St. Clair County has multiple county seats, but AL 34 runs between Talladega County's seat of Talladega and Pell City, which is one of St. Clair County's two county seats. For counties with multiple seats, does the highway have to serve both?
Nevada's county borders and route numbering system don't lend towards having many routes that serve every county seat in each county the route traverses.
Most state routes lie solely within one county. For those few state routes that do serve more than one county, none serve more than one county seat.
Of the mainline US & Interstate Highways that traverse multiple counties, only one makes the list—it also happens to be the mainline national route with the shortest length of highway of the ones that travel through Nevada.:
US 395
Douglas Co - Minden
Carson City - Carson City (consolidated city/county & state capital)
Washoe Co - Reno
---
For funsies, looking at the hit/miss of county seats for all mainline national highways (including Alt US highways) serving more than one county in Nevada:
I-80
Washoe Co - Reno
Storey Co - MISS: Virginia City
Lyon Co - MISS: Yerington
Churchill Co - MISS: Fallon
Pershing Co - Lovelock
Humboldt Co - Winnemucca
Lander Co - Battle Mountain
Eureka Co - MISS: Eureka
Elko Co - Elko
US 6
Mineral Co - MISS: Hawthorne
Esmeralda Co - MISS: Goldfield
Nye Co - Tonopah
White Pine Co - Ely
US 50
Douglas Co - MISS: Minden
Carson City - Carson City (consolidated city/county & state capital)
Lyon Co - MISS: Yerington
Churchill Co - Fallon
Lander Co - MISS: Battle Mountain
Eureka Co - Eureka
White Pine Co - Ely
US 50 Alt
Lyon Co - MISS: Yerington
Churchill Co - MISS: Fallon
US 93
Clark Co - Las Vegas
Lincoln Co - Pioche
White Pine Co - Ely
Elko Co - MISS: Elko
US 93 Alt
White Pine Co - MISS: Ely
Elko Co - MISS: Elko
US 95
Clark Co - Las Vegas
Nye Co - Tonopah
Esmeralda Co - Goldfield
Mineral Co - Hawthorne
Lyon Co - MISS: Yerington
Churchill Co - Fallon
Pershing Co - Lovelock
Humboldt Co - Winnemucca
US 95 Alt
Mineral Co - MISS: Hawthorne
Lyon Co - Yerington
Churchill Co - MISS: Fallon
US 95 travels over 600 miles in Nevada (including concurrencies), and would have been included on this list were it not for the less than 2.5 miles it travels through the very eastern tip of the oddly-shaped Lyon County.
Not a state highway, but US Highway 71 goes through or serves a bunch of county and parish seats.
In Minnesota, it goes through 12 counties and 10 county seats. Only a short section goes through Itasca County.
In Iowa, it goes through 9 counties and 9 county seats.
In Missouri, it goes through 13 counties and 11 county seats. If you count former Bypass US 71, it goes through 14 county seats (Jackson County has 2 county seats, Kansas City and Independence. US 71 goes through Kansas City, while Bypass US 71 went through Independence).
In Arkansas, it goes through 10 counties and 10 county seats (It barely goes through Logan County, but it doesn't go through either of its county seats, Booneville and Paris. It goes through both county seats of Sebastian County, Fort Smith and Greenwood).
It goes through Bowie County, Texas, but doesn't go through the county seat.
It goes through 12 parishes in Louisiana, only going through 5 parish seats. US 71 used to go through Pointe Coupee, East Baton Rouge and West Baton Rouge parishes, but it only goes through one parish seat.
I quickly threw this post together, so it might have some errors. If you see an error, let me know and I'll edit my post.
I can think of state highways that enter two counties in Michigan and hit both county seats. M-1 hits Detroit and Pontiac and M-84 hits both Saginaw and Bay City are two that I can think of off the top of my head.
Quote from: Flint1979 on May 12, 2025, 09:44:24 AMI can think of state highways that enter two counties in Michigan and hit both county seats. M-1 hits Detroit and Pontiac and M-84 hits both Saginaw and Bay City are two that I can think of off the top of my head.
there is M-3 (Gratiot); Detroit (Wayne) and Mt. Clemens (Macomb)
There are two in Iowa that I can see that go through at least two counties. IA 56 goes through West Union (Fayette County) and Elkader (Clayton County). IA 64 begins in Anamosa (Jones County) and passes through Maquoketa (Jackson County).
Quote from: freebrickproductions on May 10, 2025, 11:50:20 PMAL 35 also passes through both county seats of the two counties it traverses:
Jackson County - Scottsboro
DeKalb County - Fort Payne
AL 35 also enters Cherokee County but does not serve Centre.
Quote from: cwf1701 on May 12, 2025, 12:29:32 PMQuote from: Flint1979 on May 12, 2025, 09:44:24 AMI can think of state highways that enter two counties in Michigan and hit both county seats. M-1 hits Detroit and Pontiac and M-84 hits both Saginaw and Bay City are two that I can think of off the top of my head.
there is M-3 (Gratiot); Detroit (Wayne) and Mt. Clemens (Macomb)
M-59 almost does hitting Pontiac and Howell, it comes within a mile or so of Mount Clemens like along Elizabeth Road. If you asked me I'd say it hits all three.
Quote from: bugo on May 11, 2025, 11:10:05 PMNot a state highway, but US Highway 71 goes through or serves a bunch of county and parish seats.
In Minnesota, it goes through 12 counties and 10 county seats. Only a short section goes through Itasca County.
In Iowa, it goes through 9 counties and 9 county seats.
In Missouri, it goes through 13 counties and 11 county seats. If you count former Bypass US 71, it goes through 14 county seats (Jackson County has 2 county seats, Kansas City and Independence. US 71 goes through Kansas City, while Bypass US 71 went through Independence).
In Arkansas, it goes through 10 counties and 10 county seats (It barely goes through Logan County, but it doesn't go through either of its county seats, Booneville and Paris. It goes through both county seats of Sebastian County, Fort Smith and Greenwood).
It goes through Bowie County, Texas, but doesn't go through the county seat.
It goes through 12 parishes in Louisiana, only going through 5 parish seats. US 71 used to go through Pointe Coupee, East Baton Rouge and West Baton Rouge parishes, but it only goes through one parish seat.
I quickly threw this post together, so it might have some errors. If you see an error, let me know and I'll edit my post.
71 only goes through 3 parish seats in Louisiana. Shreveport, Coushatta, and Alexandria. I would almost say 4 because it definitely serves Colfax, just doesn't go through the town proper.
NY 5 enters 14 counties and passes through the county seat of 12 of them.
Erie County - Buffalo
Genesee County - Batavia
Ontario County - Canandaigua
Seneca County - Waterloo
Cayuga County - Auburn
Onondaga County - Syracuse
Madison County - Wampsville
Oneida County - Utica
Herkimer County - Herkimer
Montgomery County - Fonda
Schenectady County - Schenectady
Albany County - Albany
The exceptions are Chautauqua County (Mayville) and Livingston County (Geneseo), though it does come within 10 miles of both.
Alabama SR 17 hits up 9 of 10 county seats; it misses Livingston in Sumter County.
Quote from: jdb1234 on May 18, 2025, 05:52:26 PMQuote from: freebrickproductions on May 10, 2025, 11:50:20 PMAL 35 also passes through both county seats of the two counties it traverses:
Jackson County - Scottsboro
DeKalb County - Fort Payne
AL 35 also enters Cherokee County but does not serve Centre.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. So I guess the current full list is:
US 72/AL 2, AL 24, and maybe AL 34 (depending on if the fact it only reaches one of the two county seats of St. Clair County counts or not?)?
Is this unusual?
K-27 starts less than a mile outside of Elkhart, but it hits all six of the other county seats on its way to the Nebraska state line.
Quote from: kphoger on May 19, 2025, 04:24:38 PMIs this unusual?
K-27 starts less than a mile outside of Elkhart, but it hits all six of the other county seats on its way to the Nebraska state line.
That was actually one of the first highways I thought of and then dismissed it since it missed Elkhart.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on May 19, 2025, 04:30:37 PMThat was actually one of the first highways I thought of and then dismissed it since it missed Elkhart.
My first thought was K-25, but I forgot Oakley and Russell Springs were in the same county and assumed Russell Springs was the county seat.
M-86 (St Joseph and Branch)
Near misses:
M-55, (Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, misses Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco)
M-72, misses Leelanau, but then hits the rest (Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Oscoda, Alcona)
M-32, (Charlevoix, misses Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena)
US 171 hits all 6 parish seats:
Shreveport (Caddo)
Mansfield (Desoto)
Many (Sabine)
Leesville (Vernon)
DeRidder (Beauregard)
Lake Charles (Calcasieu)
LA 10 hits 7 out of 10
Comes very close to Opelousas.
LA 18 hits 4 out of 5. If St James were the parish seat of St James Parish it would have all 5.
LA 26 hits all 3 (Beauregard, Allen, Jeff Davis) as does LA 39 (Orleans, St Bernard, Plaquemines)
LA 6, LA 82, LA 139 hit their 2