route clusters

[ftballfan]

Michigan only has a couple:
M-37 and M-137 near Traverse City (separated by 5.5 miles along US-31)
M-79 and M-179 near Hastings (separated by 6 miles along M-37 and M-43)
The second one is intentional. I saw somewhere M-179 would have been an extension of M-79 if not for a three-way concurrency in Hastings.

[TheStranger]

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.

This suddenly makes me think:

We know of 1934-era routes (i.e. 180, 1) and the 1964-era routes (i.e. 58).  But I don't know if there's been really much chronology listed yet for routes created between those two periods (the current 28, 42, 17, 107) - would be fascinating to see which existing routes were not original to 1934 but were created before 1964.

Would 43's existence as a 1950s route make it one of the earliest examples of clustering in its current form in California?

[agentsteel53]

This suddenly makes me think:

We know of 1934-era routes (i.e. 180, 1) and the 1964-era routes (i.e. 58).  But I don't know if there's been really much chronology listed yet for routes created between those two periods (the current 28, 42, 17, 107) - would be fascinating to see which existing routes were not original to 1934 but were created before 1964.

Would 43's existence as a 1950s route make it one of the earliest examples of clustering in its current form in California?

Daniel Faigin's cahighways site tends to have this information, but it is collated in a strange manner, with a lot of reliance on the old LRN system.

the easiest thing to do is look up each individual signed number and read very carefully.

[Compulov]

There is also a PA 513 in that group of x13's, and it intersects its parent.  PA 313 exists, too, but I am not as familiar with that one -- it is north of the rest.  PA 113 also exists, but in Chester County.   Not sure that one reaches U.S. 13, but I know it does not get to any of the others.

I had forgotten about 113 and 313 (given they're in areas I rarely go). I also forgot about 513.
So, while looking at 113 and 313 today, I was trying to figure out how they fit into the cluster. They do cross each other, but that didn't alone fit them into the x13 family. I saw on PAHighways.com that 113 originally terminated at US 13, but was moved in 1946. I was curious what its original route looked like, since US 13 is nowhere near where it runs now. I found some maps on the USGS site (Burlington and Langhorne 1947, in case anyone is interested) and it looks like 113 was actually run along Bensalem Blvd earlier in its life. It also looks like there was a 713 designated along Newportville Rd at one point.

This does beg the question, what clusters do we have presently that might not make sense along current alignments, but make sense in a historical context? Guess that's a lot more work to figure out...

Sorry for going off topic.

[sandiaman]

Only  a  few  cluster  groupings  left  here  in  the  "Land  of Entrapment" (  New  Mexico).   A good  example  would  be  in  north  central  NM,   you  would   find    state  routes  75,  76  (the  high  road  to  Taos),    a  small remnant  of  74 ,  which     used  to  run  all    the  way  to  the  Colorado  border  and  is  now  US  285,  and  73,  a  very short  route  around    the  mountain  village  of  Penasco.  NM  71  was  also  in that  same  cluster  around  the    north  side  of  Las  Vegas.

[Alps]

Only  a  few  cluster  groupings  left  here  in  the  "Land  of Entrapment" (  New  Mexico).   A good  example  would  be  in  north  central  NM,   you  would   find    state  routes  75,  76  (the  high  road  to  Taos),    a  small remnant  of  74 ,  which     used  to  run  all    the  way  to  the  Colorado  border  and  is  now  US  285,  and  73,  a  very short  route  around    the  mountain  village  of  Penasco.  NM  71  was  also  in that  same  cluster  around  the    north  side  of  Las  Vegas.

You need a new spacebar.

[The High Plains Traveler]

Only  a  few  cluster  groupings  left  here  in  the  "Land  of Entrapment" (  New  Mexico).   A good  example  would  be  in  north  central  NM,   you  would   find    state  routes  75,  76  (the  high  road  to  Taos),    a  small remnant  of  74 ,  which     used  to  run  all    the  way  to  the  Colorado  border  and  is  now  US  285,  and  73,  a  very short  route  around    the  mountain  village  of  Penasco.  NM  71  was  also  in that  same  cluster  around  the    north  side  of  Las  Vegas.

Most of the true route clusters in New Mexico are a result of the 1988 renumbering that affected some but not all routes. As examples: there are numerous routes in the 180s and 190s from Sunland Park up the Rio Grande Valley to T or C. There are also some 250s routes around Roswell that, though they have the proper NMDOT district prefix, pre-date 1988. I wouldn't consider 73 at Peñasco and former 71 at Las Vegas to be clustered - those were 1960s (?) routes likely just assigned available numbers (both had been 1920s routes elsewhere that disappeared by the 1930s). 74, 75 and 76 cited above were probably 1920s route clusters.

[national highway 1]

A few in Denver: (italics are decomissioned/unsigned)
30, 32, 33, 35, 36
72 and 75
83, US 85, US 87 and 88
Reno/Sparks
430, 431, 443 & 445
647, 648, 650, 651, 659, 663, 667, 671
Las Vegas
146, 147, 159, 160, 171
562, 564, 573, 574, 582, 589, 592, 593, 594, 595, 596, 599
604, 605, 607, 610, 612

I'm guessing both the current Nevada system and the pre-1976 system both had/have several instances of route clustering.

[roadman65]

Does Bergen County, NJ count with CR's 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, and 507.  506 does not quite make it into Bergen, but is just south of the Bergen/ Hudon Line along NJ 7.

[roadfro]

Reno/Sparks
430, 431, 443 & 445
647, 648, 650, 651, 659, 663, 667, 671
Las Vegas
146, 147, 159, 160, 171
562, 564, 573, 574, 582, 589, 592, 593, 594, 595, 596, 599
604, 605, 607, 610, 612

I'm guessing both the current Nevada system and the pre-1976 system both had/have several instances of route clustering.

Your list actually leaves out a lot more clustering than actually exists (or existed)... it would take a while to list them all.

The current numbering system in Nevada is based on assignment of numbers in the Federal Aid highway system and State Aid system. These numbers were assigned by county for the Federal Aid Secondary (FAS) and State Aid Primary (SAP) routes, and were assigned by urbanized area for the Federal Aid Urban (FAU) routes--numbers were assigned increasing through the county/urban area alphabetically. Many numbers were assigned, not all were state highways--wherever an FAS/FAU/SAP route was state maintained, it kept that number as the state route number. This is why you see a group of state highways somewhat close together in one geographic area, but the next highway in numerical order will be in a completely different part of the state. [This concept has been discussed in greater detail in other threads.]

The pre-1976 numbering in Nevada was based legislatively in state law, and routes were more-or-less assigned in numerical order based on date (although others were later altered). There was some clustering, only by virtue of routes being established around the same time--old SR 27 & SR 28 come to mind (old SR 27 is now SR 431, so these two actually intersected at Incline Village).

[Alps]

Does Bergen County, NJ count with CR's 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, and 507.  506 does not quite make it into Bergen, but is just south of the Bergen/ Hudon Line along NJ 7.

That's not a route cluster, that's just the fact that CR numbering works from E-W and N-S.

[Quillz]

California has Routes 23 and 27 fairly close together, and Route 33 isn't far west from them, either.

[national highway 1]

California has Routes 23 and 27 fairly close together, and Route 33 isn't far west from them, either.

CA 33 was extended south onto US 399 to Ventura in 1964 - US 399 turned east onto what is now CA 119. CA 33 originally used CA 166 to connect to old US 99.

[hotdogPi]

This is completely random (not planned), but:

In northeast Massachusetts, routes 108, 110, 111 (NH), 113, and 114 are close together.

Route 114 doesn't touch any of the others, but it's still extremely close to the others.
Route 111 is closer in New Hampshire than it is in Massachusetts, but it's the same route.
108, 110, and 113 are in Haverhill, MA.

NH 107 is just a bit too far away for it to count.
NH 107A might count though.


Also, even they are not that close, NH 84, 85, 87, and 88 are all single county routes in Rockingham County. And 286 used to be 86 (also in Rockingham County).

[agentsteel53]

I feel like MA has planned clusters.  127, 128, 129 are also near each other, from what I recall.

[hotdogPi]

Yes, 127, 128, and 129 are all close.

[deathtopumpkins]

MA does make some attempt at clustering, particularly with the low-100s numbers, but it's not very consistent.

[bulldog1979]

Michigan only has a couple:
M-37 and M-137 near Traverse City (separated by 5.5 miles along US-31)
M-79 and M-179 near Hastings (separated by 6 miles along M-37 and M-43)
The second one is intentional. I saw somewhere M-179 would have been an extension of M-79 if not for a three-way concurrency in Hastings.

And M-120 is a spur from, and former routing of, M-20.

[amroad17]

In Virginia, the Hampton Roads area has a cluster from 164-173 (including the decommissioned 167), the Eastern Shore has a cluster in the 170's and 180's, Richmond/Petersburg has some 140's and 150's, and Roanoke has the 110's.  Also, southside Hampton Roads has a cluster of 189, 190, 191, 192, 194, and 196.

Doesn't Northern Virginia have a cluster in the 230's?

[Takumi]

Virginia's current numbering scheme actually was entirely clustered by district originally, but over time as routes have been decommissioned/renumbered and new routes created, this has become less obvious.

[NE2]

And they didn't leave any empty space in 1933. All so they could start secondaries at 600 rather than 900.

[Alps]

Related: Route strings. Sullivan County, NY strings together county route numbers. Following the same road, you're on 151, 152, 153, 154... there might be a 157 spur too. Numbers reset at junctions or sometimes just village centers.

[Pete from Boston]

Yes, 127, 128, and 129 are all close.

I thought this thread was going to be about the new roadgeek cereal.

125 is close to those as well (though 126 is a bit far west in Concord).

[Avalanchez71]

SR 246 & SR 247 meet and have a short concurrence with each other in Maury County, TN.

[Takumi]

And they didn't leave any empty space in 1933. All so they could start secondaries at 600 rather than 900.

I started a fictional numbering project guessing what today's routes would be numbered had they stayed with the 1928 system, but never got far with it. There are so many variables that have happened since then that it could never really be much more than conjecture.