Route numbers without freeways?

[Scott5114]

What is the lowest route number which no freeway in the United States carries?

Concurrencies count, so because I know US-6 concurs with an interstate near Chicago, that rules 6 out. Also, for the sake of simplicity, ignore prefix and suffix letters, so I-H1 counts as "1".

Just to save some time, here is a list of all the 2dis, meaning these numbers are not going to be the answer:
1 2 3 4 5 8 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 19 20 22 24 25 26 27 29 30 35 37 39 40 41 43 44 45 49 55 57 59 64 65 66 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 93 94 95 96 97 99

[hotdogPi]

48 in the United States.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=15332

[Scott5114]

Well, damn, I thought I was being clever. Also, 48 is surprisingly low. Any upgrades to any route numbered 48 in the past 5 years?

[webny99]

Any upgrades to any route numbered 48 in the past 5 years?

No upgrades, but NY 48 is so close...
Unfortunately, the freeway, a continuation of the same road that carries the NY 48 designation, is numbered NY 690.

[Max Rockatansky]

Wasn't AZ 89A Spur briefly designated as AZ 48?  Granted that doesn't count because the current expressway isn't really a freeway and Fain Road was at best a Super Two with at-grade intersections.

[ilpt4u]

I feel like INDOT missed a chance to rectify this...The "middle"  segment of disjointed IN 48 ends at I-69/IN 37 in Bloomington

IDOT could fix this, by pulling an INDOT and putting IL 48 on the US 51/I-72 Decatur Bypass Freeway, instead of using the thru town route

[sprjus4]

Well, damn, I thought I was being clever. Also, 48 is surprisingly low. Any upgrades to any route numbered 48 in the past 5 years?

US-48 is being used for the Corridor H upgrade across West Virginia and into Virginia if they ever actually build it 

It's only built to expressway standards though with at-grade intersections at minor crossroads and interchanges at major junctions. No continuous segments of interchanges creating a full freeway segment as of now though.

[KeithE4Phx]

Wasn't AZ 89A Spur briefly designated as AZ 48?  Granted that doesn't count because the current expressway isn't really a freeway and Fain Road was at best a Super Two with at-grade intersections.

AZ 48 was proposed by ADOT for Fain Rd. about 20 years ago, but I don't believe it was ever approved or signed on the road.

[Max Rockatansky]

Wasn't AZ 89A Spur briefly designated as AZ 48?  Granted that doesn't count because the current expressway isn't really a freeway and Fain Road was at best a Super Two with at-grade intersections.

AZ 48 was proposed by ADOT for Fain Rd. about 20 years ago, but I don't believe it was ever approved or signed on the road.

It definitely was never field signed, I drove that thing as it progressed to current standards frequently when I lived in the area.

Interestingly CA 48 which was signed as CA 138 approaching Antelope Valley was built up to freeway standards East of I-5 during the 1960s to Gorman Post Road.  The Route Definition of CA 48 was pushed eastward towards the planned realignment of CA 138 during 1968.  So technically there has been a route 48 with a freeway grade past tense:

https://www.cahighways.org/041-048.html#048

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/california-state-route-138.html?m=1

[Some one]

Unless you count the ramps in its southern end, SH 3 in the Greater Houston area is a surface road for its entire length.

[Scott5114]

Unless you count the ramps in its southern end, SH 3 in the Greater Houston area is a surface road for its entire length.

I-H3 exists, and even if it didn't, OK-3 concurs with I-44, I-240, and I-40 through Oklahoma City, so there are definitely freeways that carry the number 3.

[Scott5114]

Now, hang on just a minute here.

There's a stretch of US-48 in Buckhannon, WV that looks an awful lot like a freeway to me. It's short, but there's two consecutive interchanges followed by a grade separation with no ramps, and there's a decent amount of controlled access on either side before at-grade junctions begin and it becomes obvious expressway.

[jp the roadgeek]

Unless you count the ramps in its southern end, SH 3 in the Greater Houston area is a surface road for its entire length.

I-H3 exists, and even if it didn't, OK-3 concurs with I-44, I-240, and I-40 through Oklahoma City, so there are definitely freeways that carry the number 3.

MA/US 3 for sure; 90% of it south of Nashua is freeway.  CT 3 has a freeway stretch between I-91 and CT 2 to cross the Putnam Bridge (was supposed to be part of proposed I-491 and later an extension of the decommissioned I-86).  NJ 3 is a Jersey freeway as it passes through the Meadowlands and into Secaucus.   

[Max Rockatansky]

WA 3 is mostly a freeway grade on the Kitsap Peninsula. 

[sprjus4]

Now, hang on just a minute here.

There's a stretch of US-48 in Buckhannon, WV that looks an awful lot like a freeway to me. It's short, but there's two consecutive interchanges followed by a grade separation with no ramps, and there's a decent amount of controlled access on either side before at-grade junctions begin and it becomes obvious expressway.

This two mile stretch would actually indeed be built to full freeway standards. It's short, but that is technically a freeway segment. Two interchanges and a grade separation with no intersections in between. That would eliminate the number 48.

[hotdogPi]

Now, hang on just a minute here.

There's a stretch of US-48 in Buckhannon, WV that looks an awful lot like a freeway to me. It's short, but there's two consecutive interchanges followed by a grade separation with no ramps, and there's a decent amount of controlled access on either side before at-grade junctions begin and it becomes obvious expressway.

This two mile stretch would actually indeed be built to full freeway standards. It's short, but that is technically a freeway segment. Two interchanges and a grade separation with no intersections in between. That would eliminate the number 48.

That means we're looking for a 102 now.

[JayhawkCO]

That means we're looking for a 102 now.

I know it was brought up earlier, but FL 102 is probably the most debatable? 

Chris

[Max Rockatansky]

That means we're looking for a 102 now.

I know it was brought up earlier, but FL 102 is probably the most debatable? 

Chris

M-102/8 Mile Road has a full limited access interchange with US 24/Telegraph Road. 

[ilpt4u]

Unless you count the ramps in its southern end, SH 3 in the Greater Houston area is a surface road for its entire length.

I-H3 exists, and even if it didn't, OK-3 concurs with I-44, I-240, and I-40 through Oklahoma City, so there are definitely freeways that carry the number 3.

IL 3 is multiplexed on the I-255/US 50 Freeway for a short segment as well

[sprjus4]

That means we're looking for a 102 now.

I know it was brought up earlier, but FL 102 is probably the most debatable? 

Chris

M-102/8 Mile Road has a full limited access interchange with US 24/Telegraph Road.

Isn't a full freeway on either side. Just an arterial interchange.

The segment near the M-10 Lodge Fwy / Greenfield Rd forms a full freeway segment though passing through two interchanges. Debatable though.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/42.4445505,-83.208376/42.4449204,-83.1953468/@42.4444113,-83.2016317,694m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0!5m1!1e1

[Scott5114]

OK-102 concurs with I-40 for upwards of a mile between Dale and McLoud. Definitely a freeway.

The next number mentioned in the other thread is 106, but it doesn't look like anyone in the other thread bothered with it since it was assumed 48 was the winner.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

A-48 is a freeway in Spain. However the lowest number not used currently for a freeway is 18, and not only that, one has to go very local to find a route numbered 18. However, historically there has been an A-18 (in Catalonia, now part of C-16). Thus the lowest number to have never been signed on a freeway is 24 (however there is an A-24 proposed), and the lowest number to have never been officially assigned to any planned freeway is 28 (I was about to say 25 because A-25 wasn't official but then remembered Catalan freeway C-25).

[GaryV]

M-102/8 Mile Road has a full limited access interchange with US 24/Telegraph Road.

The "Farmington Bypass" which is now part of M-5 used to be the western end of M-102, and it is freeway (although it only has 2 partial interchanges).

But since OK-102 is part of a freeway, we don't have to go down the path of "does a former route count?"

[paulthemapguy]

To be clear, is a tollway a freeway with tolls (so it counts)?  Or is it considered separate from a freeway so it doesn't count?

[hotdogPi]

To be clear, is a tollway a freeway with tolls (so it counts)?  Or is it considered separate from a freeway so it doesn't count?

Tollways are freeways.

Free as in libre, not gratis.