State highway 13

[bugo]

What is it with states decommissioning their state highway 13s?  Kansas truncated most of K-13 in favor of K-177.  Arkansas changed AR 13 to AR 81 and later to US 425, even though AR 13 has been reused near Beebe.  Were state highway departments superstitious?  Are there any other highway 13s that were eliminated or truncated?

[okroads]

OK 3W replaced OK 13 in 1976.

[agentsteel53]

the original California numbering system of 1934 did not include a 13.  A NorCal north-south route would have had a number in the pattern 5, 9, ... , 17, 21, etc - and all the others are represented, up to 53.  13 entered the system sometime in the early 50s.

[AsphaltPlanet]

Ontario has never had a Highway 13.  When the provincial route numbering system was debuted in the 1920s, it included numbers 2 through 17, with a highway numbered 12A in the grid where 13 should have been.  Ontario did however have a Hwy 666 for a while.

[NE2]

I bet there are more renumbered 69s than 13s. There are certainly several where the change was definitely due to theft (CA, NJ, TX, UT).

the original California numbering system of 1934 did not include a 13.  A NorCal north-south route would have had a number in the pattern 5, 9, ... , 17, 21, etc - and all the others are represented, up to 53.  13 entered the system sometime in the early 50s.

Actually the original system included 13 but no 17 (or 21). But 13 was inexplicably renumbered to 17 within a few years.
http://www.gbcnet.com/roads/ca_routes_1934.html

Florida still has its 13 and 69 from 1945. And there's a 666 (formerly a spur of 699).

[tdindy88]

Indiana's SR 13 is alive and well.

https://www.aaroads.com/guide.php?page=s0013in

[agentsteel53]

Actually the original system included 13 but no 17 (or 21). But 13 was inexplicably renumbered to 17 within a few years.
http://www.gbcnet.com/roads/ca_routes_1934.html

from what I understand, that August '34 issue of California Highways and Public Works had a preliminary system featured... and by the time the signage came, 13 had become 17.  (kinda like the '26 Rand McNally featuring a non-finalized US route system)

[Brandon]

IL-13 is alive and well in Illinois on most of the same roads as when it was designated as State Bond Issue (SBI) Route 13 in 1918.

M-13 is also kicking in Michigan; however, the original M-13 was decommissioned in favor of US-131.  It also has a connecting route, CONN M-13 to/from I-75.

Wis-13 is one of the longer route in Wisconsin, running from the Dells to Bayfield, and then back west to Superior.  Much of this is the original State Trunk Highway (STH) 13 from 1917-18.  It originally went further south, all the way to Beloit.  Wis-213 is a remnant of the original Wis-13 around Beloit.

[vdeane]

NY 13 is also alive and well.

[hbelkins]

Kentucky has a KY 13, but it's a very minor rural road entirely in one county.

[vtk]

Ohio 13 is a regionally-significant route in Ohio, having a few expressway portions.

[oscar]

Hawaii's route 130 on the Big Island, southeast of Hilo, was originally signed as route 13.  That was when three-digit secondary routes ending in zero were generally signed with only the first two digits.

HDOT later decided, statewide, to sign such routes with their full route numbers, so 13 was re-signed as 130.  Losing its "unlucky" number didn't protect the highway from the ever-erupting Kilauea volcano, which has truncated a few miles at the south end and occasionally threatens lava closures in the middle of the route.

[Alps]

NJ 13 is a tiny length of roadway over a bridge, basically unsigned and not connecting anywhere. But there are so many untaken numbers in the system, especially 3-digit numbers, that it makes no sense to have assigned 13. Clearly NJ is not interested in decommissioning it.
New England had a Route 13, and you still have MA-NH 13.

[Duke87]

Connecticut, meanwhile, does not have and never has had a route 13 of any classification.

[Takumi]

Not only does VA 13 still exist despite US 13 also being in the state, there were briefly two of them at once!
http://www.vahighways.com/route-log/va013.htm

[US71]

Missouri has a 13 which runs almost the whole length of the state.

Arkansas has three 13's (actually, it's just chopped up)

Beebe-Humphrey, Judsonia and McRae.

[jp the roadgeek]

Connecticut, meanwhile, does not have and never has had a route 13 of any classification.

Neither do RI, VT, or ME.  MA/NH 13 is the only route 13 in all of New England.

[kphoger]

Both IL-13 and MO-13 have been mentioned already, but let me also say that both of them have substantial four-lane sections, in fact.

[hbelkins]

Most of Kentucky's neighbors have already been accounted for in this thread, except WV and TN. There is no WV 13, but there most assuredly is a TN 13.

[roadfro]

Nevada's SR 13 had been directly supplanted by the southern extension of US 93, but continued to be defined by law until the 1976 renumbering.

[NE2]

NJ 13 is a tiny length of roadway over a bridge, basically unsigned and not connecting anywhere. But there are so many untaken numbers in the system, especially 3-digit numbers, that it makes no sense to have assigned 13. Clearly NJ is not interested in decommissioning it.

NJ skipped 13 to 20 in the 1927 numbering. Later they took over part of Ocean County 13E and kept the number. In 1953 they dropped the E.

[DandyDan]

IA 13 and MN 13 are both lengthy state highways with significant divided highway sections.  NE 13, on the other hand, is a minor highway in northeastern Nebraska that doesn't especially go anywhere, although it still does exist.  SD 13 is similar.

[PHLBOS]

PA's segment of US 13 (PennDOT SR 0013) goes through some of the more crime-ridden areas of the state (North Philly, West Philly, Darby Borough & Chester).

[WichitaRoads]

I never understood the desire for Kansas to drop most of K-13's routing in favor of K-177, other than to make people think that it is an alternative to U.S. 77, which varies from 5 to 30 miles to the west at various points. It was almost legendary when it was 13, snaking through the Flint Hills as it did.

Much of the original alignment (as 177) is still used in some form, with some sections in Morris County rerouted decades ago, and the southern terminus shifted from US 77 in El Dorado to US 54 east of town because of the lake project about 35 years ago. If you look carefully, you can still see in Google Maps where the old roadbed disappears into the lake. Same thing north of Council Grove, with the "missing" rainbow arch in the middle of their lake. Of course, the exisitng K-13, north of Manhattan, is a different alignment due to another lake project.

I drive this road many times a month, so it is in my blood.

ICTRds

[Rover_0]

Utah's SR-13 also remains well intact--though slightly out of place*--from Brigham City to I-15 at Plymouth.

*Of course, an earlier SR-13 ran between US-91 at Cove Fort and US-89 at Sevier (along modern I-70), fitting the Routes-11-to-19-in-the-southwest numbering pattern.