State Highways that are routed better than their US Highway Counterpart

[US 41]

INDOT wanted to build an interstate from NW Indiana down to Evansville, but it wasn't approved by the federal government. When INDOT wanted to build it, the Pennyrile in Kentucky did not exist yet. If it had existed it's very likely that it would have been approved. INDOT instead funded a 4 lane highway (US 41 / SR 63) from NW IN to Evansville.

Honestly I think INDOT just didn't want to change around a ton of signs to switch the routes. I think SR 63 probably should have been signed as Alt 41. It was SR 63 before it was 4 lanes, so they probably just figured they would stick with that. The signs on the north and south sides of the split are pretty clear that SR 63 is the through (main) route.

SS: https://goo.gl/maps/SbjucmUD6w52
NS: https://goo.gl/maps/xU3xCEbaQ2t

[bzakharin]

The freeway section of NJ 42 is better than US 30, which is not a freeway in that area
NJ 15 is preferable to US 206 between I-80 and NJ 15's northern terminus. It has a 7.5 mile freeway segment vs. US 206's 3 miles

[TheStranger]

Not routing 41 on the direct, and four lane route between Terre Haute and Attica seems to only confirm this theory. I can' find any logic to support anything else. It would also support why, despite nearly every Indiana city of any size having had bypasses built for years, US 41 still barrels right down the middle of Terre Haute.

Interestingly, US 150 also could have easily been routed to use IN 63 instead of its current (and older) alignment between New Goshen and Terre Haute.

[cl94]

US 7 and CT 8 is a notable one. Termini aren't too far apart, but CT 8 is almost entirely freeway.

US 44 and NY 299 near New Paltz. Unless there's a traffic jam in New Paltz, NY 299 is a good 5-10 minutes faster, a couple miles shorter and a higher-quality road, even where locally-maintained.

NY 9H serves as an expressway bypass of US 9 through Valatie with grade separation for a stretch. if going between the termini, 9H is a good 10-15 minutes faster and generally avoids developed areas.

NH 101 and US 4/202. Not much explanation needed there.

[Avalanchez71]

Does Indiana even have any Alternate bannered routes anyway?  I know that US 31W and US 31E were truncated back to Kentucky back some years ago.

[Captain Jack]

Does Indiana even have any Alternate bannered routes anyway?  I know that US 31W and US 31E were truncated back to Kentucky back some years ago.

Not that I am aware of. I have seen a few old maps that showed an Alternate 41 in Evansville, following Riverside Dr to downtown, then Sycamore and Virginia back to US 41, but I can't confirm if it was ever actually signed that way. I also recall seeing some showing Alternate 31 basically following the current SR 11 between Columbus and Seymour, but again, can't confirm it ever actually existed.

[US 41]

Not routing 41 on the direct, and four lane route between Terre Haute and Attica seems to only confirm this theory. I can' find any logic to support anything else. It would also support why, despite nearly every Indiana city of any size having had bypasses built for years, US 41 still barrels right down the middle of Terre Haute.

Interestingly, US 150 also could have easily been routed to use IN 63 instead of its current (and older) alignment between New Goshen and Terre Haute.

I'm not sure why INDOT hasn't ever built a highway connecting US 150 to SR 63. It seems like it would be a worth while project. I usually cut over using either Pennington Rd or Durkees Ferry Rd. There have been talks of INDOT building a connecting road some day. If they ever do it hopefully they built an interchange at SR 63 rather than have it come out to a stop light.

[NWI_Irish96]

Does Indiana even have any Alternate bannered routes anyway?  I know that US 31W and US 31E were truncated back to Kentucky back some years ago.

Many of the US highways have business routes, and a couple state highways have Truck routes, but there are no routes specifically bannered as "Alt" and none that have suffixes.  US 31W was turned into IN 311 which eventually got eliminated entirely.

[pianocello]

I think it's entirely possible that the powers feared that many motorists, with just a few stoplights in Terre Haute and Evansville, would opt to take the shorter and direct 41 route than travel the extra miles and fight the traffic in Indy and Louisville, if there was limited access for 41 traffic in Lake County.

I don't know about you guys or the general public, but the idea of driving in Lake County alone is enough to get me to take I-65 instead.

[Avalanchez71]

Driving through Lake County is certainly no worse than driving anywhere else off of the Interstate in a populated area.  The benefits of going up US 41 outweigh the drive up I-65.

[Captain Jack]

I think it's entirely possible that the powers feared that many motorists, with just a few stoplights in Terre Haute and Evansville, would opt to take the shorter and direct 41 route than travel the extra miles and fight the traffic in Indy and Louisville, if there was limited access for 41 traffic in Lake County.

I don't know about you guys or the general public, but the idea of driving in Lake County alone is enough to get me to take I-65 instead.

I agree. My point was that if I-65 had actually been routed a few miles west, and ran next to 41 from Kentland up through Lake County, that using 41 in its current state through Terre Haute and Evansville would be a viable option than taking I-65 out through Indy and Louisville. There is no way to describe 41 through Lake County other than it sucks.  When going to Chicago from Evansville, I usually cut over at Kentland and head toward Kankakee to pick up I-57. There is really not much between Kentland and Kankakee and you can get on 57 prior to getting into Kankakee.

[Avalanchez71]

Not routing 41 on the direct, and four lane route between Terre Haute and Attica seems to only confirm this theory. I can' find any logic to support anything else. It would also support why, despite nearly every Indiana city of any size having had bypasses built for years, US 41 still barrels right down the middle of Terre Haute.

Interestingly, US 150 also could have easily been routed to use IN 63 instead of its current (and older) alignment between New Goshen and Terre Haute.

Looking at the map on this one I would say that the bridge over the Wabash River has something to do with US 150 remaining on the current alignment.  You would have competing interests over not wanting to maintain that bridge.  I can see Terre Haute stating that their corporate limits end at the foot of the bridge.  Then you would have Vigo County probably not wanting to take all of the maintenance costs.

I would think that they just left it as is in lieu of naming US 150 some other route as I am sure that the state would need to retain maintenance over the bridge.  If it wasn't for the bridge I would see see little reason for Indiana not to reroute it as they sure like to keep as little state maintenance as possible.  I know there is some law in Indiana that limits mileage of the state system to something like 22,000 miles or so.

[TheStranger]

One I just noticed on Google Maps:

US 90 between the Huey P. Long Bridge and Broad Avenue/Tulane Avenue in New Orleans is a bit more circuitous than using the Earhart Expressway (LA 3139) and Earhart Boulevard then Broad Avenue to get in that direction.

[texaskdog]

SR 17 versus US 285 in Colorado.

Whoops I didn't see this when I made my post.  Good call though, look how much closer it goes to a national park

[Revive 755]

* US 67 versus IL 267 might qualify, even though the northern end of IL 267 no longer directly connects with US 67.  US 67 goes through too many downtown areas that seem to eat time.  Per Google though I'm not getting much of a distance advantage for IL 267 versus US 67.

* US 136 versus IL 336 from Tennessee to Macomb

* US 45 versus IL 145:  ~13.6 mile saving via IL 145 per Google, plus avoidance of the bends in Metropolis

* US 20 versus IN 2:  After the two routes bump near Rolling Prairie, IN 2 takes the more direct, four lane route to South Bend, while US 20 wanders a bit to the north before turning back south.

* One could make a case for US 61 versus MO 141 near St. Louis, with MO 141 being a slightly shorter, semi-expressway while the current alignment of US 61 has a lousy stretch with a busy railroad crossing in Kirkwood.

[nexus73]

Swap US 20 and SR 34 between Lebanon and I-5.  34 is basically the "Central Valley Expressway" except for a couple of miles by Lebanon that ODOT once said they would upgrade but never did AFAIK. 

The section of the current US 20 that would be swapped out is 2-lane highway.

Rick

[texaskdog]

There is one I like.  Heading up US 84 from Coleman, TX to Sweetwater, TX it is faster to take TX 153 & TX 70 than by staying on US 84.  There is not much on it though so "go" before you get on it.

[texaskdog]

Oh, and US 87 from Hartley, TX to south Amarillo, TX.  You head southbound on US 385 to Boys Ranch and there is a state highway shortcut along the west end of Amarillo that comes out just south of town on I-27.

[US 41]

Not routing 41 on the direct, and four lane route between Terre Haute and Attica seems to only confirm this theory. I can' find any logic to support anything else. It would also support why, despite nearly every Indiana city of any size having had bypasses built for years, US 41 still barrels right down the middle of Terre Haute.

Interestingly, US 150 also could have easily been routed to use IN 63 instead of its current (and older) alignment between New Goshen and Terre Haute.

Looking at the map on this one I would say that the bridge over the Wabash River has something to do with US 150 remaining on the current alignment.  You would have competing interests over not wanting to maintain that bridge.  I can see Terre Haute stating that their corporate limits end at the foot of the bridge.  Then you would have Vigo County probably not wanting to take all of the maintenance costs.

I would think that they just left it as is in lieu of naming US 150 some other route as I am sure that the state would need to retain maintenance over the bridge.  If it wasn't for the bridge I would see see little reason for Indiana not to reroute it as they sure like to keep as little state maintenance as possible.  I know there is some law in Indiana that limits mileage of the state system to something like 22,000 miles or so.

My guess is that Terre Haute and Vigo County would have said no to maintaining 40 a couple of years ago if they would have had to of taken care of the bridges. (This is if 150 was routed to SR 63 a long time ago.)

[TheStranger]

* US 67 versus IL 267 might qualify, even though the northern end of IL 267 no longer directly connects with US 67.  US 67 goes through too many downtown areas that seem to eat time.  Per Google though I'm not getting much of a distance advantage for IL 267 versus US 67.

I know the two routes were switched pretty recently (sometime in the last ten years)...what was the reason for that?  Was the current 67 corridor upgraded enough to be worth getting the US route nod in modern times?

[TheStranger]

One I just discovered looking through Google Maps:

US 169 between Gower, MO and King City, MO, where MO 31 takes the more direct path, while 169 deviates to the west to serve St. Joseph.

Between MO 31's two termini (27 miles apart), US 169 takes a routing that is 10 miles longer.

[roadman65]

PA 285 over US 6 crossing the PA/OH Border.

For years VA 168, was routed better than US 60 between the HRBT to Toano in the VA Peninsula.

Some could argue about NJ 10 over US 46, as Route 10 is mostly divided and four lanes where US 46 is two lanes through Kenville, Mine Hill, Wharton, and Rockaway. 

[epzik8]

I want to say Maryland Route 97 against U.S. Route 29. MD-97's southern terminus is at Silver Spring near the DC line. This is where U.S. 29 turns onto (or away from) Georgia Avenue. MD-97 shoots northward from Silver Spring, as Georgia Avenue, through the suburban areas of Montgomery County, into central Howard County and then into Carroll County, where it passes through Westminster and then up north into Pennsylvania, where it becomes PA-97 and continues to Gettysburg.

U.S. 29, on the other hand, cuts through eastern MontCo, then hits up Howard County for a trip through Columbia, and then just stops at I-70 outside of Ellicott City. This leaves poor Carroll County with just a sliver of national-level highway: I-70/U.S. 40 in the county's southwest corner near Mount Airy. Westminster, a sizeable town, and the home of McDaniel College, has been without direct U.S. highway access since the transfer of U.S. 140 to Maryland state maintenance back in the day. A Gettysburg-DC U.S. highway corridor, though, seems like it would be really beneficial.

There was talk circa 2008 of extending U.S. 29 to Gettysburg by routing it onto I-70 from Ellicott City to West Friendship, MD-32 from there to south of Westminster and MD-97/PA-97 from there to either U.S. 15 east of Gettysburg or to U.S. 30 in downtown Gettysburg.

[mrsman]

In the 1930s/1940s, what was then Route 150 between Los Olivos and Santa Barbara was clearly the more direct route between the two compared to US 101, but freeway upgrades on 101 have negated that advantage to a degree.  (That segment of 150 is now Route 154)

From the late 1950s to 1965-1966, Route 24 offered the much more straightline route to Marysville/Yuba City in comparison with US 99W and US 99E; after the 1964 state route renumbering, that portion of 24 became part of a realigned (state) Route 99 and the newly designated Route 70.

When US 50 ran between the Bay Area and Sacramento along today's I-580, I-205, I-5, Route 4 and Route 99 corridors, Route 24 between Oakland and Sacramento offered a scenic but less out-of-the-way route; while the portion of 24 from Oakland to Walnut Creek still exists, the rest has become I-680 (was Route 24/I-680 until 1990 or so), Route 242, Route 4 (originally Route 4/24), and Route 160.

And of course, the most direct route from Oakland to Sacramento was US 40, so the fact that SR 24 is more direct than US 50 does seem to ignore the "elephant in the room."

[mrsman]

I want to say Maryland Route 97 against U.S. Route 29. MD-97's southern terminus is at Silver Spring near the DC line. This is where U.S. 29 turns onto (or away from) Georgia Avenue. MD-97 shoots northward from Silver Spring, as Georgia Avenue, through the suburban areas of Montgomery County, into central Howard County and then into Carroll County, where it passes through Westminster and then up north into Pennsylvania, where it becomes PA-97 and continues to Gettysburg.

U.S. 29, on the other hand, cuts through eastern MontCo, then hits up Howard County for a trip through Columbia, and then just stops at I-70 outside of Ellicott City. This leaves poor Carroll County with just a sliver of national-level highway: I-70/U.S. 40 in the county's southwest corner near Mount Airy. Westminster, a sizeable town, and the home of McDaniel College, has been without direct U.S. highway access since the transfer of U.S. 140 to Maryland state maintenance back in the day. A Gettysburg-DC U.S. highway corridor, though, seems like it would be really beneficial.

There was talk circa 2008 of extending U.S. 29 to Gettysburg by routing it onto I-70 from Ellicott City to West Friendship, MD-32 from there to south of Westminster and MD-97/PA-97 from there to either U.S. 15 east of Gettysburg or to U.S. 30 in downtown Gettysburg.

If one is talking about DC-Gettysburg routings, there absolutely is/was a US level routing.  US 140 followed Wisconsin Ave out of DC through Rockville to Frederick.  From Frederick, US 15 took over to get to Gettysburg and Harrisburg.  The old routing of this route is now known as MD-355, at least south of Frederick.  Much of this corridor is now a freeway with I-270 seemlessly continuing its routing onto the US 15 freeway in Frederick.  Even the non-freeway portions of US 15 are multi-lane fast moving road without traffic lights all the way to (almost) Harrisburg.

As someone who lives close to GA Ave about a mile north of the Beltway, I would never dream of using MD-97 all the way to Gettysburg.  Its always Beltway-270-US 15 for the fastest trip.