The most a route will change alignments in one city limit

[roadman65]

If you drive FL 121 through Williston, FL you will find yourself making 4 complete turns going from one end of the city to the other whether heading north or south on it.

N Bound you make a left first on US 41 first and begin a concurrency with the US highway until US 27 Alternate where both routes turn right to begin a wrong way concurrency with the alternate route.   Then both FL 121 and US 41 turn left in Downtown Williston to join US 27 North.  After this third turn FL 121 is concurrent with both US 27 & US 41 for a short distance before finally turning one last time to the right to head out of the city.

The southbound is reverse of above, but US 41 only turns twice while in that particular city while US 27 is once and US 27 Alternate is one alignment that terminates there and defaults to and from its parent.

Besides the four major cities of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston along with any city over a million people, are there any small cities that have plenty for one specific route and how many?

[pianocello]

I was just about to say US-41 in Chicago, but it looks like you forbade that.

US-67 in Clinton, IA: 5 turns northbound, 6 southbound.

[Brandon]

A bit special as these do it together, US-45 and US-52 together make 5 turns each way in Kankakee, Illinois.

US-150 makes 6 turns eastbound and 8 turns westbound in Bloomington, Illinois.

[jp the roadgeek]

In Meriden, CT:  Northbound CT 71 has to make 4 turns from Cook Ave (which becomes one way southbound) onto Hanover St onto Grove St. onto West Main St..  Farther down West Main, it turns onto the Chamberlain Highway.  Southbound is simplified in that it's a left from Chamberlain onto West Main, then right on Cook Ave.  In nearby Cheshire, CT 68 (going WB, but the opposite EB) makes 5 turns from Yalesville Rd. left onto Academy Rd (now multiplexed with CT 70), right onto Main St (triplexed here with CT 10), then with CT 70 bears left to continue as Main St. (CT 10 continues straight as Highland Ave),  then 68 and 70 turn left onto West Main St. then finally 68 breaks away from 70 by turning left onto Cheshire Rd.

In Bristol, CT: CT 72 is quite complex (though it used to be even more complex), as heading east to avoid Memorial Blvd (cars only), it turns left from Park St onto Main St, then right onto Riverside Avenue, which then turns left to assume the route that was once Memorial Blvd, then turns left onto Pine St.  Before the 4 lane road was built to connect Pine St. to the expressway in Plainville, CT 72 would turn left again off of Riverside onto CT 229, then immediately right on Broad St, then turn right in Forestville Center onto Central St and then immediately left onto East Main St.

[Mapmikey]

The entirety (maybe a mile) of VA 188 entails 5 turns within Clifton Forge:



They were all posted in cutouts last time I was there - http://www.vahighways.com/cutouts/va188.htm


US 17 Bus NB in Fredericksburg requires 5 turns...
VA 40 in Rocky Mount may have 7

Because of how big the independent cities are, there might be some that surpass these (VA 116 in Roanoke has 7...VA 337 in Norfolk may have more)

[Eth]

US 278 makes 6 turns within Atlanta* city limits, along with a 7th turn if you allow for a brief segment just outside:

Enter on Hollowell Pkwy
1. RIGHT on Northside Dr
2. LEFT on North Ave
3. LEFT on Piedmont Ave if traveling eastbound (one-way pair; westbound uses Juniper St instead)
4. RIGHT on Ponce de Leon Ave
5. RIGHT on East Lake Rd
(leave Atlanta/enter Decatur)
6. RIGHT on Park Pl
(leave Decatur/re-enter Atlanta)
7. RIGHT on College Ave

(* yes, Atlanta counts - the city itself isn't even 500k, never mind a million )

[ftballfan]

The most I can find in my area is three, on M-22 in Frankfort, MI.

Enter from the south on Lake St
1. LEFT on Forest Ave
2. RIGHT on Bellows St
3. LEFT on Crystal Ave

[cpzilliacus]

U.S. 29 across the District of Columbia from south (Arlington County, Virginia) to north (Montgomery County, Maryland) goes like this.  Last time I checked, none of these turns were signed.

1. Enter D.C. on the Key Bridge, N.W.

2. Turn right onto Whitehurst Freeway, N.W.

3. At about 27th Street, N.W. Whitehurst Freeway ends and becomes K Street, N.W.

4. Turn left onto 11th Street, N.W.

5. Turn right onto Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.

6. Turn left onto 6th Street, N.W.

7. Turn left onto Florida Avenue, N.W.

8. Turn right onto Georgia Avenue, N.W.

After about 4.7 miles, leave D.C. via Georgia Avenue into Montgomery County.

[PHLBOS]

MA 1A through Salem:

From Beverly Harbor (at the Essex Bridge) to Bridge St. (which makes a bend, courtesy of tying into the new bridge) to Winter St. to Washington Sq. N to Washington Sq. W (which becomes Hawthorne Blvd.) to Derby St. to Lafayette St. to Loring Ave. (which makes several bends) to Paradise Rd.: 7 turns.

[7/8]

For my area, highway 7 through Guelph requires three turns.

Heading East:
Make a right onto the Hanlon (Hwy 6/7)
Exit at Wellington St and turn left
Turn right onto Wyndham St

[SP Cook]

Charleston WV:

US 60 eastbound:

Enter from South Charleston on MacCorkle Ave,
Turn left to Patrick Street Bridge, then Patrick Street,
Turn right to West Washington Street,
Slight right to Lee Street West, eventualy becoming Lee Street East,
Turn left to Brooks Street,
Turn right to Washington Street East,
Turn right to Greenbrier Street,
Turn left to Kanawha Blvd,
on ramp for concurency with I-64 of about 1 1/2 miles,
off ramp to Kanawha Blvd,
city limit.

Westbound:

Enter at city limit on Kanawha Blvd,
On ramp for concurency with I-64 of less than 300 yards,
Off ramp to Kanawha Blvd,
Turn right to Greenbrier Street,
Turn left to Washington Street East, becomes West Washington Street,
Turn left to Iowa Street,
Turn left to 5th Avenue,
Turn right to Patrick Street, then Patrick Street Bridge,
Turn right to MacCorkle Ave,
South Charleston city limit.

US 60, Huntington , WV

Eastbound:

Enter as Waverly Road,
Slight left becomes briefly Auburn Road then Adams Ave,
Slight left becomes 5th Avenue,
Left turn to 31st Street, becomes Midland Trail (often locally incorrectly called 29th Street Road).

Westbound
Enter as Midland Trail,
Turn left to 3rd Avenue,
Turn right to Veterans Blvd,
Trun left to 3rd Avenue,
Turn left to 1st Street,
Turn right to Washington Avenue,
Turn left to 18 Street West,
Turn right to Adams Ave,
Slight left to briefly Auburn Road then Waverly Road
city limit.

[hbelkins]

3. At about 27th Street, N.W. Whitehurst Freeway ends and becomes K Street, N.W.

This one's signed.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

MN 4/MN 30 in St. James, MN.

Duplex begins at the same exit off MN 60 (MN 4 follows MN 60 westbound; MN 30 follows MN 60 eastbound).
A few blocks after leaving MN 60, NB 4/WB 30 turn left onto 7th Avenue.
Several blocks later 4/30 turn left onto 1st Avenue.
One block later, 4/30 turn right onto Armstrong Blvd.
Several blocks later, 4/30 turn left onto 11th Ave N.

[pianocello]

U.S. 29 across the District of Columbia from south (Arlington County, Virginia) to north (Montgomery County, Maryland) goes like this.  Last time I checked, none of these turns were signed.

Additionally, there's another turn less than a mile into Maryland that's unsigned southbound.

5. Turn right onto Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.

6. Turn left onto 6th Street, N.W.

7. Turn left onto Florida Avenue, N.W.

8. Turn right onto Georgia Avenue, N.W.

Oh, so that's the route. I guess I thought it was 11th to Rhode Island to 7th to Georgia. Either way, it's unsigned, as far as I know.

Trying to follow the US Routes in DC (except for 50, sometimes) is a royal pain in the ass.

[briantroutman]

Historically, both US 15 and US 220 have followed tortured, intertwined paths through the City of Williamsport. This is largely due to the city having two different street grid patterns which meet diagonally.



If we bend the rules a bit to include South Williamsport, someone driving north on US 15 would:

• enter South Williamsport on Montgomery Pike which becomes Eighth Ave
• turn right onto Hastings Street
• bear left to merge onto Market Street, cross into Williamsport
• turn left onto Sixth Street
• turn right onto Pine Street
• turn right onto Hepburn Street
• turn left onto High Street
• bear right onto Lycoming Creek Road

A motorist heading southbound on US 220 would:

• enter greater Williamsport via East Third Street
• bear right onto Washington Boulevard, enter city limit
• turn right onto Market Street
• turn sharply left onto Hepburn Street (approximately 150° turn)
• turn right onto High Street
• turn left onto Campbell Street
• turn right onto West Fourth Street

The landscape was later complicated even further with the addition of Truck bannered routes for both US routes within the city limits by 1960.



A trucker headed south on US 15 would

• enter Williamsport on Lycoming Creek Road
• bear left onto High Street
• turn right onto Park Avenue
• turn right onto Cemetery Street
• turn left onto West Fourth Street
• turn right onto Maynard Street
• turn left onto West Third Street
• turn right onto Pine Street
• bear left onto Market Street, cross bridge into South Williamsport
• bear left onto Eighth Ave/Montgomery Pike

When the freeway bypasses gradually opened in pieces between 1971 and 1982, the result wasn't just a slightly quicker way through town; a tangled traffic labyrinth was mercifully put to rest.

[GCrites]

Ohio SR 561 zigzags all over Cincinnati on many different surface streets. I clinched it once and had to follow signs like a hawk.

[noelbotevera]

The most convoluted I can think of is US 60 in Richmond. None of these turns are signed, though US 60 is signed whenever it has an interchange with a freeway.
This is only for eastbound, but I will note whenever westbound takes a different alignment.


1. Enter Richmond on Midlothian Turnpike

2. Left on West Roanoke Street

3. Right on Forest Hill Avenue

4. Slight left onto Semmes Avenue

5. Left onto ramp, crossing the Manchester Bridge

6. Split into one-way couplet; EB uses S. 9th Street and WB uses S. 8th Street. Slight right at the end of the bridge.

7. Turn right, and split into one-way couplet again; EB uses E. Cary Street, WB uses E. Main Street

8. (EB only) Turn left onto S. 14th Street

9. (EB only) Turn right onto E. Main Street

10. Slight left onto Williamsburg Road (this portion of Main Street is signed as VA 5 - is it a multiplex?)

11. Turn left onto Stoney Run Road

12. Turn right onto Government Road

13. Turn left onto Williamsburg Road. City limit shortly after.

[cwf1701]

Before being decommissioned in 1973, US-25 in Detroit came into Detroit on Dix-Toledo, then Fort St., Cadillac Square, Randolph st, and Gratiot Ave. I might be missing one road in Detroit.

[sparker]

Back before freeways extended into downtown Sacramento, CA, US 99 and its split-route cohorts 99E & 99W took rather convoluted routes.  Pre-1950, 99 came into town on Stockton Blvd, which was a diagonal SE-NW route.  It turned north at Alhambra Blvd. for 3 blocks, then left on M Street (later East Capitol Ave.) for about 15 blocks to 16th Street.  It turned right on 16th to the corner of L Street; this was the original 99 split point.  99E continued north on 16th St., along with US 40 eastbound, to the American River crossing, at which point it entered North Sacramento.  The facility continued as Del Paso Blvd. to El Camino Ave. (yeah, a redundancy -- El Camino translates to "The Road", so it's "The Road Avenue"  -- go figure!).  Del Paso was a SW-NE diagonal at that point; the highway turned east onto El Camino.  About a mile east, El Camino ducked under the SP RR tracks through a narrow underpass (lotsa those in Sacto!), immediately afterward it curved north onto Auburn Blvd, taking that facility all the way east to Roseville.  99W made a few more turns in downtown; it headed west with westbound US 40 on L Street (one way WB) to 9th Street, which was one-way south, turning south to West Capitol (1 block), then west on West Capitol to the Tower Bridge, which took 99W and US 40 westward into Yolo County.  Southbound 99W (east US 40) did the reverse, using W. Capitol to 9th, right a block to N street (1-way EB), taking that to 16th, where 99W/40 turned north a block to M, where it merged with 99E traffic and headed east as 99.

After 1950 the paths became only marginally less complicated, particularly with 99W.  The Elvas Freeway was completed, which was accessed through the 29th Street (SB) and 30th Street (NB) couplet.  It was decided to reroute 99 through Sacramento -- partially due to the establishment of the UC Davis teaching hospital located on Stockton Blvd. just SE of Alhambra Blvd.  99 (along with US 50) still entered Sacramento on Stockton Blvd., but turned west on Broadway, which itself had a couple of diagonal turns, to 30th Street.  This was the relocated 99 split point; 99E turned north there, with 50, toward the Elvas Freeway southern terminus.  50 turned east at East Capitol (the renamed M Street); that segued into Folsom Blvd (by the way, SSR 16 also occupied much of the M/Capitol stretch of the old 99 as well as 50 east of 99E; after the '50 route changes, it was the sole signed route occupying East Capitol from 16th to 29th.  99W continued west on Broadway to 16th Street, where it turned north to N Street.  Part of the rerouting scheme took state highway traffic off L Street; N Street was made 2-way (and perpetually congested!); the reason for the original split was to circumscribe the State Capitol grounds between L & N.  99W, along with WB 40, headed west on N to 8th (1-way NB), where it turned N to West Capitol; both routes exited town via the Tower Bridge as before.

I'll regale you with stories of the equally convoluted SSR 24 in a later post.

[jwolfer]

In Jacksonville Florida i think the most convoluted route in city limits is SR 228. Remember nearly all of Duval County is city limits.

Enters Jacksonville on *Macclenny-Maxville Hwy( yes I know it's CR 228 here but same number connecting 2 parts of  SR 228)
*Short concurrency with US 301
*Normandy Blvd
*Post St
*McDuff Ave
*Roosevelt Blvd(us17)
*I-10/SR 8
*I-95/SR 9
*State/Union St - one way pair
*Main/Ocean St-one way pair
*Forsyth/Adams St -one way pair
*Hart Bridge
*Commodore point Expressway

SR 228 is not signed well once it gets on Roosevelt. In the past it went on surface streets into downtown.  An additional one way pair on Post and College St then on Riverside Ave.. it was signed well all the way to Hart Bridge Expressway even had nice yellow US 17 shields

[WNYroadgeek]

The most complicated one I can think of is NY 31 in Rochester:

EASTBOUND:

1. Enters city from town of Gates on Lyell Ave.
2. Turns right onto W. Broad St.
3. Turns left onto W. Main St.
4. Turns right onto W. Broad St. (I-490 cuts W. Broad into two segments)
5. Turns right onto South Ave.
6. Turns left onto Woodbury Blvd.
7. Turns right onto Chestnut St.
8. Exits city into town of Brighton on Monroe Ave.

WESTBOUND:

1. Enters city from town of Brighton on Monroe Ave.
2. Turns left onto Woodbury Blvd.
3. Turns right onto S. Clinton Ave.
4. Turns left onto E. Broad St.
5. Turns left onto W. Main St.
6. Turns right onto W. Broad St. (I-490 cuts W. Broad into two segments)
7. Turns left onto Lyell Ave. and exits city into town of Gates.

[cl94]

US 4 in Troy, NY is a bit complex:

Northbound:
1) Right onto Burden Avenue from Mill St
2) Right onto 4th St
3) Right onto King St
4) Left to stay on King St
5) Right onto River Street
6) Left onto 126th Street

Southbound:

1) Right onto 2nd Avenue
2) Right onto River Street/3rd St
3) Right onto 4th Street
4) Left onto Burden Ave
5) Left onto Mill St

A couple of those are because of one-way streets.


For an honorable mention, I'll list NY 40 in Troy before it was truncated to NY 7:

Northbound:
1) Left from Winter Street Ext to Winter St at south city line
2) Left onto Pawling Ave
3) Left onto Congress St
4) Right onto 15th St
5) Left onto Frear Park Rd
6) Right onto Oakwood Ave
7) Right onto Northern Dr
8) Left onto Leversee Rd at north city line

Southbound was the opposite of that.

[hobsini2]

A bit special as these do it together, US-45 and US-52 together make 5 turns each way in Kankakee, Illinois.

US-150 makes 6 turns eastbound and 8 turns westbound in Bloomington, Illinois.

I'm surprised Brandon you didn't use the local Joliet examples of US 6, US 30, US 52, Ill 7 and Ill 53. Especially 52. Jefferson St, Raynor Ave, McDonough St, Chicago St, Doris Ave, Manhattan Rd and Briggs St.

http://www.scribblemaps.com/api/maps/images/450/450/HZCzXbSQrF.png

[kphoger]

US-45 through Paducah, KY

Heading northbound...
right turn @ Jackson Street
left turn @ 28th Street
right turn @ H C Mathis Drive
left turn @ 8th Street
...and then that big, beautiful, blue bridge.!.

[cpzilliacus]

Trying to follow the US Routes in DC (except for 50, sometimes) is a royal pain in the ass.

Agreed. I had the opportunity to point that out to a staff person from the DDOT not so long ago, but I am not sure that anything will come of it. Even U.S. 50 has several places where it turns but the signs are entirely missing.