Unraveling the US Highway Map

[bwana39]

The North / South Routes do a fairly good of going to in a fairly straight line.  The east west routes not so much.

While GPS mapping has pretty much made follow a single route (Say US 82 from Tuscaloosa AL to Texarkana TX versus I-20 and I-49) less of an issue, How would we untangle the off the grid crooked road routing.

[frankenroad]

The North / South Routes do a fairly good of going to in a fairly straight line.  The east west routes not so much.

While GPS mapping has pretty much made follow a single route (Say US 82 from Tuscaloosa AL to Texarkana TX versus I-20 and I-49) less of an issue, How would we untangle the off the grid crooked road routing.

Not sure you can - there are two many hills, mountains, lakes, rivers, etc. to support a true grid.

Here in Ohio, we have a lot of US highways that run on a diagonal, some are even numbered (22, 42, 62) and some are odd (33, 35).  I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but the even-numbered ones run SW to NE and the odd numbered ones from NW to SE.

Then there's 68 which runs almost due N-S in Ohio.

[ozarkman417]

Then there is US 67 and 79 that go diagonal, more or less.

I did a little experiment on US 79. Using Google's measurement tool, I drew a line directly north from the southern terminus to the same latitude as the northern terminus. It goes for 450 miles. Then, I drew another line to the northern terminus from the longitude of the southern terminus. It runs for 600 miles. This means, in general, US 79 slopes a bit more East/West than North/South.

[hotdogPi]

Just because a route is diagonal doesn't mean it's crooked.

[Scott5114]

I've been designing a fictional country for a D&D game and, being a roadgeek, gave it a route numbering grid similar to the US route system. Being a roadgeek in complete control of route numbering, and having the option to move towns and geography wherever I want, you'd think I'd get a perfect grid, right?

Nope, route numbers still have to bend to reality, even when reality is fictional. I don't have a Route 60 because it would have to go straight over (or under) the country's tallest mountain, a bunch of 'major routes' get the I-45 treatment because there's just nowhere populated for them to go after a certain point, or else run into the problem of too many routes and too few mountain passes. Diagonals are always going to be necessary (more so in this environment, because people may end up having to walk between two cities) but don't play nice with grids.

My point is, if I couldn't get a perfect grid out of my fake country, how the heck could we get one out of the United States, where we can't invent towns and mountain passes out of thin air?

[webny99]

I should point out that the Great Lakes are probably the single biggest obstacle to creating some semblance of a grid in the US.

That and the fact that Florida isn't due south of Maine - not even close - which can be easy to forget.

[bwana39]

I should point out that the Great Lakes are probably the single biggest obstacle to creating some semblance of a grid in the US.

That and the fact that Florida isn't due south of Maine - not even close - which can be easy to forget.

US 1 does a fairly good job. Even US 90 did

Think about US 82 or 84. Perhaps US169.

[Max Rockatansky]

Looking back to the 1920s and expecting absolute grid perfection is just a pipe dream.  Many roads that ended up being essential to the US Route system simply didn't exist, especially out west where terrain was a huge issue.  Examples: US 50 had to take a major jog towards Salt Lake City until a more direct route west to Ely, Nevada could be built.  US 80 had major unintuitive jogs in Arizona because the primary roads went to mining communities or rail sidings.  Even US 66 once had a massive jog to Santa Fe since there wasn't a originally a good direct route to Albuquerque.  IMO the grid was about as good as it could be in 1926 and improved greatly in the 1930s as infrastructure developed.   US 60 even turned into to be viable as a continental Route after it was punted to a somewhat minor highway because certain states complained about not being on an X0 Route. 

[CNGL-Leudimin]

In addition there is a section of important highway now that didn't even make the original plan: There was no direct US Route between Phoenix and Indio. However I think that route later should have been US 70 alone, IMO it is too far South for US 60.

I should point out that the Great Lakes are probably the single biggest obstacle to creating some semblance of a grid in the US.

That and the fact that Florida isn't due south of Maine - not even close - which can be easy to forget.

In fact the state of New York lies entirely to the East of Florida (as pointed in the Geographical oddities thread). The -80° meridian bypasses New York to the West and barely misses Florida to the East.

[hotdogPi]

I don't see anything about a grid in the OP. He seems to be talking about whether a route is a straight line or not. US 84 is a major offender here, but US 42 is not.

[Max Rockatansky]

In addition there is a section of important highway now that didn't even make the original plan: There was no direct US Route between Phoenix and Indio. However I think that route later should have been US 70 alone, IMO it is too far South for US 60.

I should point out that the Great Lakes are probably the single biggest obstacle to creating some semblance of a grid in the US.

That and the fact that Florida isn't due south of Maine - not even close - which can be easy to forget.

In fact the state of New York lies entirely to the East of Florida (as pointed in the Geographical oddities thread). The -80° meridian bypasses New York to the West and barely misses Florida to the East.

Interestingly Arizona had far more development in the Sonoran Desert on the path that became US 60/70 than California did.  The Bradshaw Trail was really the only option East of Coachella Valley in the 1920s and even by that time it was considered beyond primitive.  California essentially built the grade of US 60/70 as an entirely brand new highway in the 1920s and 1930s.  Considering how hostile and uninhabited the Sonoran Desert is in California it is easy to understand why wagon routes and Auto Trails avoided it. 

[webny99]

I don't see anything about a grid in the OP. He seems to be talking about whether a route is a straight line or not.

My understanding is that grid and straight line are basically synonymous in most cases. Also:

How would we untangle the off the grid crooked road routing.

[Roadgeekteen]

US 62 has a pretty ridiculous route. How does a US highway get from Buffalo to El Paso?

[hotdogPi]

US 62 has a pretty ridiculous route. How does a US highway get from Buffalo to El Paso?

I don't see the problem, other than the overlap at the west end and the direction reversal at the "east" end. Routes need to exist in all directions, including diagonal.

[Roadgeekteen]

US 62 has a pretty ridiculous route. How does a US highway get from Buffalo to El Paso?

I don't see the problem, other than the overlap at the west end and the direction reversal at the "east" end. Routes need to exist in all directions, including diagonal.

Yeah I know, just doesn't fit the grid at all.

[texaskdog]

i'd love to strip them all and start over.  I'd save the double digits for 9 diagonal roads.

[hotdogPi]

There is no reason why we need a grid with every route going N-S or E-W. Long distance routes are meant to connect cities, and the cities aren't arranged in a grid.

[texaskdog]

There is no reason why we need a grid with every route going N-S or E-W. Long distance routes are meant to connect cities, and the cities aren't arranged in a grid.

that's why i'd save 11,22,33,44,55,66,77,88,99 for diagonals like 62 & ...well, 11

[Scott5114]

There is no reason why we need a grid with every route going N-S or E-W. Long distance routes are meant to connect cities, and the cities aren't arranged in a grid.

that's why i'd save 11,22,33,44,55,66,77,88,99 for diagonals like 62 & ...well, 11

And 66?

[dlsterner]

There is no reason why we need a grid with every route going N-S or E-W. Long distance routes are meant to connect cities, and the cities aren't arranged in a grid.

that's why i'd save 11,22,33,44,55,66,77,88,99 for diagonals like 62 & ...well, 11

Just a thought, although this would be creeping into Fictional Highways ...

What about using the "00" numbers for the predominately diagonal roads (rather than 11, 22, 33, etc).  You would still have nine of those:  100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900.
(Or ten if you would allow a route 00).
I believe this is basically what Florida does with their diagonal state highways.

[Max Rockatansky]

There is no reason why we need a grid with every route going N-S or E-W. Long distance routes are meant to connect cities, and the cities aren't arranged in a grid.

that's why i'd save 11,22,33,44,55,66,77,88,99 for diagonals like 62 & ...well, 11

Just a thought, although this would be creeping into Fictional Highways ...

What about using the "00" numbers for the predominately diagonal roads (rather than 11, 22, 33, etc).  You would still have nine of those:  100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900.
(Or ten if you would allow a route 00).
I believe this is basically what Florida does with their diagonal state highways.

What Florida does is have the three digit numbers begin south of whatever X0 Route they in grid with.  Example; almost all of the three digit routes south of Florida 50 are in the 5XX range.  The problem is that Florida doesn't have a ton of geographic constraints like large mountain ranges that really interrupt the southward ascending State Road Numbers.  The Rockies and Sierra Nevada Mountains alone make plotting cross country highways in a straight line almost impossible. 

[bwana39]

As to what I was initially talking about is roads that cross each other multiple times, make large dips off of the straight line. I am not talking about a geography line (absolutely straight), I am talking about arcs that increase the mileage by a third or even half again. I am not talking  mountain or even marine geography. My key example is US 190 from Bryan to Huntsville TX.

A total regrid like in 1939.

[hotdogPi]

My key example is US 290 from Bryan to Huntsville TX.

US 290 enters neither of those cities.

[bwana39]

My bad, I corrected it. It was a typo. US-190

[texaskdog]

There is no reason why we need a grid with every route going N-S or E-W. Long distance routes are meant to connect cities, and the cities aren't arranged in a grid.

that's why i'd save 11,22,33,44,55,66,77,88,99 for diagonals like 62 & ...well, 11

Just a thought, although this would be creeping into Fictional Highways ...

What about using the "00" numbers for the predominately diagonal roads (rather than 11, 22, 33, etc).  You would still have nine of those:  100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900.
(Or ten if you would allow a route 00).
I believe this is basically what Florida does with their diagonal state highways.

400 makes me ill