route clusters

[sp_redelectric]

Washington's route numbering scheme gives rise to clustering

Exactly what I was thinking:

Vancouver;  SR (I-)5, 500, 501, 502, 503

Kelso/Longview:  SR 4, 411, 432, 433

Lewis County (Chehalis, Centralia):  SR (I-)5, 505, 506, 507, 508; SR 6, 603

Tacoma:  SR (I-) 5, I-705, SR 509, 512, 99; SR 16, 161, 163, 167 (161 and 167 no longer join its parent route)

King County (Seattle):  SR (I-)5, I-405, SR 509, 515, 516, 518, 519, 520, 522, 523, 527, 599, 99

[sp_redelectric]

OR ...

Of course using the internal highway system, all secondary highways are clustered by county; further highways 1 (I-5), 2 (I-84), and 3 (Oregon 43) all come together in downtown Portland; as did the former 1W (99W, now highway 91), 1E (99E, now highway 81) and 2W (U.S. 30 west to Astoria, now highway 92).

If you throw in Yamhill County as part of the Portland Metro area (which the Census Bureau does) you can also include 221 and 233 - they are no more of a stretch than 214 is.  219 in Hillsboro is definitely in the Metro area, and connects right up to 214 at its southern end and a stone's throw away from 211.

If you keep going south, you have 226 and 228 (and they're close to 22, albeit only by coincidence); 223 is not too far to the west from 221 (and again by coincidence right by 22).  228 is the furthest south of the cluster.

Another coincidence is found in Clatsop County/Astoria - Clatsop County is assigned the 100 routes, so you have 102, 103, 104 and 105...and of course U.S. 101.  (Highway 100 is an anomaly, being assigned to the Historic Columbia River Highway in Multnomah County whose routes should be in the 120 range.)

[sandwalk]

Ohio's route numberings are pretty much haphazard.  However, where I grew up, there's 4 north-south routes that may have been numbered together.  Routes 57, 58, 60, & 61 are separated apart by about 8 miles in Lorain, Erie, & Huron counties.  Then of course, Route 59 (which would make sense in this group) is an east-west route in the Akron area.  So, my theory is probably just a fluke.

[kphoger]

I prefer clusters of consecutive numbers to clusters of parent-child numbers.

That is to say, I would prefer a region to have a cluster of this sort:
131, 132, 133, 135, 136, 138

OTOH, when a region has this sort of cluster, I very easily get the routes mixed up in my mind:
72, 172, 272, 372, 472, 572

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Ohio's route numberings are pretty much haphazard.  However, where I grew up, there's 4 north-south routes that may have been numbered together.  Routes 57, 58, 60, & 61 are separated apart by about 8 miles in Lorain, Erie, & Huron counties.  Then of course, Route 59 (which would make sense in this group) is an east-west route in the Akron area.  So, my theory is probably just a fluke.

Here's the explanation for Ohio's numbering system:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050316065727/http://pages.prodigy.net/john.simpson/highways/expls.html

[CentralCAroadgeek]

I kinda consider 152 and 156 in my area to be clustered together. Oh, and how about 41, 43, and maybe 46 in the Central Valley?

[Compulov]

I prefer clusters of consecutive numbers to clusters of parent-child numbers.

That is to say, I would prefer a region to have a cluster of this sort:
131, 132, 133, 135, 136, 138

OTOH, when a region has this sort of cluster, I very easily get the routes mixed up in my mind:
72, 172, 272, 372, 472, 572

I think it depends on the type of cluster. If you're talking about a parent/siblings cluster (where each of the children intersects other children or a parent), I'd rather they all end in the same digit(s). If you mean a cluster where they were all just built around the same time, I'd much rather them be sequentially numbered.
I'm going to go even further and say I prefer the Interstate style numbering system. If you have a family (parent and child routes), stick with odd first digits for spurs and even digits for ones which intersect the parent and/or siblings multiple times.
Yeah, I know, that's asking a lot...

[WNYroadgeek]

(New York has all 9 possible 3dis from I-90, but they're spread across the state.)

They also cluster too with the exception of I-990; Buffalo has I-190, I-290, and I-990, and Rochester has I-390, I-490, and I-590

You mean I-690 (Syracuse), I-790 (Utica), and I-890 (Schenectady)?

[Quillz]

Are there any states that use a radial numbering system?

Some European nations will set it up so that the most important city, usually the capital, has all the primary routes begin there and follow the clock face. So, Route 1 might go northeast, and in between Route 1 and Route 2 that is more due east, you'll find Routes 11, 12, 13, etc.

[national highway 1]

Are there any states that use a radial numbering system?

Some European nations will set it up so that the most important city, usually the capital, has all the primary routes begin there and follow the clock face. So, Route 1 might go northeast, and in between Route 1 and Route 2 that is more due east, you'll find Routes 11, 12, 13, etc.

I'm pretty sure Great Britain has one, 1 to 6 radiating out from London, and 7, 8 and 9 radiating out from Edinburgh.

I kinda consider 152 and 156 in my area to be clustered together. Oh, and how about 41, 43, and maybe 46 in the Central Valley?

Also, 150 and 154 around Santa Barbara.

[kphoger]

I prefer clusters of consecutive numbers to clusters of parent-child numbers.

That is to say, I would prefer a region to have a cluster of this sort:
131, 132, 133, 135, 136, 138

OTOH, when a region has this sort of cluster, I very easily get the routes mixed up in my mind:
72, 172, 272, 372, 472, 572

I think it depends on the type of cluster. If you're talking about a parent/siblings cluster (where each of the children intersects other children or a parent), I'd rather they all end in the same digit(s). If you mean a cluster where they were all just built around the same time, I'd much rather them be sequentially numbered.
I'm going to go even further and say I prefer the Interstate style numbering system. If you have a family (parent and child routes), stick with odd first digits for spurs and even digits for ones which intersect the parent and/or siblings multiple times.
Yeah, I know, that's asking a lot...

Actually, I'm specifically disagreeing with the Interstate-style parent—child relationship.  On Interstates, it's not so bad, because they are fewer in number than surface highways.  My go-to example is Branson, Missouri, which has US-65 (easy to remember), as well as state routes 165, 265, and 465 (always getting these mixed up); then state routes 76, 176, and 376; then state routes 13 and 413.  I would keep these straight in my mind if the numbers were more random.

[Michael in Philly]

Are there any states that use a radial numbering system?

Some European nations will set it up so that the most important city, usually the capital, has all the primary routes begin there and follow the clock face. So, Route 1 might go northeast, and in between Route 1 and Route 2 that is more due east, you'll find Routes 11, 12, 13, etc.

I'm pretty sure Great Britain has one, 1 to 6 radiating out from London, and 7, 8 and 9 radiating out from Edinburgh.

I kinda consider 152 and 156 in my area to be clustered together. Oh, and how about 41, 43, and maybe 46 in the Central Valley?

Also, 150 and 154 around Santa Barbara.

Belgium does the radial thing.  Don't know of anything this side of the pond, but I don't claim to know state highways well outside the Northeast.

[vdeane]

(New York has all 9 possible 3dis from I-90, but they're spread across the state.)

They also cluster too with the exception of I-990; Buffalo has I-190, I-290, and I-990, and Rochester has I-390, I-490, and I-590

You mean I-690 (Syracuse), I-790 (Utica), and I-890 (Schenectady)?

Nope; note that I-990 is in Buffalo with I-190 and I-290, while every other x90 increments as I-90 heads east.  It's a major anomaly in NY's numbering system.

[jwolfer]

One interesting thing there that I've always wondered about the history of:  Pennsylvania (as already mentioned) does a lot of clustering where several routes in the same area share the same last two digits:  for example, Pa. 72, 272, 372, 472, 772 all serve Lancaster County.  Maryland, as mentioned, will have a lot of series that start out the same, such as all those 270s in Cecil County.  One oddity is that Pa. 272 - which fits into that x72 series in Pennsylvania - connects to Md. 272 - which fits into that 27x series in Maryland.  Obviously the two 272s lining up is not a coincidence, but the fact that they both fit into their own states' separate numbering systems is interesting.

I used to think that it was an interesting coincidence that PA 73 and NJ 73 lined up (not realizing at the time that NJ did purposefully use the same number as bordering states for highways that connected. I figured it fit NJ's "grid" (which, iirc, just happens to be whatever order they assigned them in) since it was in the same area as NJ 70.

NJ sort of has some clustering 30s around Central NJ/Trenton with 38, 40(now 70), 41, 42, 44, 45, 47 sort of radiating from Camden.  40 was changed to 70 and now there is a 70s cluster near 70... 71 in Monmouth County, 72 in Burlington/Ocean, 73 Burlington/Camden

[Michael in Philly]

Before the Great Renumbering of 1953, New Jersey route numbers - generally speaking - increased from the northeast to the southwest.

[Compulov]

NJ sort of has some clustering 30s around Central NJ/Trenton with 38, 40(now 70), 41, 42, 44, 45, 47 sort of radiating from Camden.  40 was changed to 70 and now there is a 70s cluster near 70... 71 in Monmouth County, 72 in Burlington/Ocean, 73 Burlington/Camden

Not to mention you've got the NJ 33, 34, 35, 36, and 37 cluster down the shore. As pointed out by the previous post, that's probably due to the way NJ sequentially numbered their routes.

[jwolfer]

NJ sort of has some clustering 30s around Central NJ/Trenton with 38, 40(now 70), 41, 42, 44, 45, 47 sort of radiating from Camden.  40 was changed to 70 and now there is a 70s cluster near 70... 71 in Monmouth County, 72 in Burlington/Ocean, 73 Burlington/Camden

Not to mention you've got the NJ 33, 34, 35, 36, and 37 cluster down the shore. As pointed out by the previous post, that's probably due to the way NJ sequentially numbered their routes.

I grew up in Pt Pleasant Beach.  When I was a kid we even have 38 nearby.  I wondered where 32 and 39 were

[agentsteel53]

Hawaii clusters numbers by island
1x/1xx & 2x/2xx routes-Big Island
3x & 3xx routes-Maui
4x & 4xx routes-Lanai/Molokai
5x & 5xx routes-Kauai
6x-9x & 6xx-9xx Routes-Oahu

there is more clustering than just the island-based scheme.  three-digit numbers tend to take the first two digits from a nearby two-digit.  for example, on the big island, 15 and 151 come to mind.

[Michael in Philly]

NJ sort of has some clustering 30s around Central NJ/Trenton with 38, 40(now 70), 41, 42, 44, 45, 47 sort of radiating from Camden.  40 was changed to 70 and now there is a 70s cluster near 70... 71 in Monmouth County, 72 in Burlington/Ocean, 73 Burlington/Camden

Not to mention you've got the NJ 33, 34, 35, 36, and 37 cluster down the shore. As pointed out by the previous post, that's probably due to the way NJ sequentially numbered their routes.

I grew up in Pt Pleasant Beach.  When I was a kid we even have 38 nearby.  I wondered where 32 and 39 were

The pre-'53 system is on Steve's site:  http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/nj/log/sr2.html

[DTComposer]

I kinda consider 152 and 156 in my area to be clustered together. Oh, and how about 41, 43, and maybe 46 in the Central Valley?

Not a cluster, but in terms of numbering schemes, I was thinking the cross-Central Valley routes had some semblance of order - north-to-south: 120, 132, 140, 152, 180, 198.

[The High Plains Traveler]

I kinda consider 152 and 156 in my area to be clustered together. Oh, and how about 41, 43, and maybe 46 in the Central Valley?

Not a cluster, but in terms of numbering schemes, I was thinking the cross-Central Valley routes had some semblance of order - north-to-south: 120, 132, 140, 152, 180, 198.

Those clusters are a remnant of California's original numbering system, where there were clusters of routes separated by 4. In the L.A. area, you had 3 (later Alt. 101 and now 1), 7, 11, 15, 19. Also 2, 6 (became 26 when U.S. 6 came in), 10 (later 42), 14 (91), 18, 22, and original 26 which was quickly dropped from the state route system.

Minnesota also had small clusters of minor routes when the 1920 Babcock Amendment that established the trunk highway system was adopted. Example: 56, 57, 58 and 59 (later U.S. 63).

[TheStranger]

I kinda consider 152 and 156 in my area to be clustered together. Oh, and how about 41, 43, and maybe 46 in the Central Valley?

Not a cluster, but in terms of numbering schemes, I was thinking the cross-Central Valley routes had some semblance of order - north-to-south: 120, 132, 140, 152, 180, 198.

Those clusters are a remnant of California's original numbering system, where there were clusters of routes separated by 4. In the L.A. area, you had 3 (later Alt. 101 and now 1), 7, 11, 15, 19. Also 2, 6 (became 26 when U.S. 6 came in), 10 (later 42), 14 (91), 18, 22, and original 26 which was quickly dropped from the state route system.

What intrigues me are the post-1964 clusters (i.e. 236, 237, 238 on former Route 9), which include:

231 (now gone), 241, 261 for the Orange County tollroads

72, 73 near 74 in Orange County (though 72 no longer goes to Orange County)

46 and 43 which run near Route 41

Route 63, roughly parallel to the original Route 65

Route 57, parallel to 1934-present Route 55

[agentsteel53]

Route 63, roughly parallel to the original Route 65

63, while not an original bear route, did exist by the 50s.  I have held in my hands a 1958 example of a route 63 white spade shield.

[The High Plains Traveler]

46 and 43 which run near Route 41

I always thought of CA-43, defined about the same time as the major 1964 route renumbering, as a probably deliberate clustering with CA-41 even though by that time there was no real constraint on route numbering because any "system" had long since become redundant. On the other hand, I figured CA-46 was a derivation of its pre-1964 designation, U.S. 466. I know CA-58 was the old legislative route number for U.S. 466 from Bakersfield to Barstow.

[national highway 1]

I reckon 41 and 43 are close together because of the two grids between NorCal and Socal come together in Kern County.