Highways you're surprised it hasn't gotten truncated/decommissioned

[Thing 342]

Given how mercilessly it was cut down from its original length, I'm surprised that the portion of VA-10 east of US-258 at Smithfield still exists, given that it's entirely multiplexed with other routes.

VA-162 used to run all the way through Williamsburg to meet US-60 at Lafayette St, but got deleted from the city in 1993, leaving only a tiny 0.17-mile stub in York County that inexplicably still exists as a signed route to this day.

Not sure why US-17 needs to exist north of I-66, since most of it is multiplexed with US-50 and trucks are prohibited from using the two-lane portion south of there.

Very unclear as to why the portion of VA-91 from VA-42 to US-19/460 BUS in Tazewell is still in the state primary system. It includes the only unpaved piece of primary highway in the entire state (about 5.3 miles) and the majority of the remainder has no striping of any kind. Only reason that I can think of is that it's probably (?) the fastest route from Chillhowie or Broadford to Tazewell (VA-16 is fully paved but very twisty), but it's totally unsuitable for larger vehicles and looks like a low-quality secondary road.

[rarnold]

Truncate US 412 West at Woodward, Oklahoma. It is overlapped for the rest of its route to Springer, NM. Routes  include OK 3, OK 95, OK 136, US 56, US 64, US 183, US 270, US 385.

I'd rather truncate US-412 at US-56 (near Boise City) and truncate OK-3 at US-81 (near Okarche).

That is also a good option. Oklahoma must spend a lot of money on shields and auxiliary plates.

[brad2971]

Truncate US 412 West at Woodward, Oklahoma. It is overlapped for the rest of its route to Springer, NM. Routes include OK 3, OK 95, OK 136, US 56, US 64, US 183, US 270, US 385.

I'd rather truncate US-412 at US-56 (near Boise City) and truncate OK-3 at US-81 (near Okarche).

There, frankly, should be no reason why either US56 or US412 should be in New Mexico. Especially when it is 13 miles shorter to run US64 down NM58, I-25 to Springer, and use the current US56/412 to Clayton.

Truncate US56 to near Boise City, run US64 on the current US412 routing from Boise City to Enid, and truncate US412 to I-35.

[Big John]

- US 141 south of its US 41 split ('Abrams Interchange') north of Green Bay, WI

BR I-41 anyone?  (The portion going thru Green Bay.)  The problem is it connects to I-41 at one end and I-43 at the other.

Business Route US 41 in Green Bay was decommissioned over 10 years ago.  Wisconsin doesn't use Interstate business routes.

[mgk920]

- US 141 south of its US 41 split ('Abrams Interchange') north of Green Bay, WI

BR I-41 anyone?  (The portion going thru Green Bay.)  The problem is it connects to I-41 at one end and I-43 at the other.

Business Route US 41 in Green Bay was decommissioned over 10 years ago.  Wisconsin doesn't use Interstate business routes.

Also, BR US 41 in the Green Bay, WI area went nowhere near downtown - it followed (from south to north) Ashland Ave, Lombardi Ave (Highland Ave), Military Ave and Velp Ave, the route that the current I-41 freeway supplanted.

Mike

[US 89]

Regarding Highways that really don't serve a transportation purpose, UT 900 and UT 901 certainly fit the bill.  Both routes were adoptions of primitive BLM roads that were intended to block the path a hazardous waste railroad line oriented for a nuclear waste facility that was planned for Skull Valley.  UT 196 was similarly added for the same purpose but at the very least that is an actual highway that serves the Dugway Proving Ground.

The weird part about 900 and 901 is at this point, there is no reason for either of them to still exist - the Skull Valley proposal was abandoned in 2012. I actually wrote up a blog post on the routes on that area a couple months ago.

[mrcmc888]

DE 2 past its intersection with DE 72 ends in a multiplex, and it should be cut back to there.

[Ketchup99]

When I-99 is completed to Williamsport, US-220 can be decommissioned north of Bedford, PA - the Bedford-Altoona-State College-Lock Haven-Williamsport portion will be I-99, and the rest can really be downgraded to state route.

[zzcarp]

When I-99 is completed to Williamsport, US-220 can be decommissioned north of Bedford, PA - the Bedford-Altoona-State College-Lock Haven-Williamsport portion will be I-99, and the rest can really be downgraded to state route.

I think US 220 north of Williamsport could be a relocated US 15 since current US 15 will be supplanted by I-99 north of Williamsport.

[hbelkins]

When I-99 is completed to Williamsport, US-220 can be decommissioned north of Bedford, PA - the Bedford-Altoona-State College-Lock Haven-Williamsport portion will be I-99, and the rest can really be downgraded to state route.

I think US 220 north of Williamsport could be a relocated US 15 since current US 15 will be supplanted by I-99 north of Williamsport.

No purpose is served by having US 220 extending north of Williamsport. It's a terrible road and is not a major through interregional corridor.

[webny99]

No purpose is served by having US 220 extending north of Williamsport. It's a terrible road and is not a major through interregional corridor.

Terrible even by rural PA standards?

I agree it doesn't make much sense with its current endpoint. However, NY 14 might make sense as a possible extension. NY 14 would almost certainly be a US route if it was in any other state.

[J3ebrules]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned US 6. Short of its importance to Cape Cod, it's so famously off the beaten track that Wikipedia lists two pop culture references shaming it for its uselessness - the "On the Road"  quote about "there's no traffic passes through 6"  and the author of "Route 40"  saying "Route 6 runs uncertainly from nowhere to nowhere" .

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned US 6. Short of its importance to Cape Cod, it's so famously off the beaten track that Wikipedia lists two pop culture references shaming it for its uselessness - the "On the Road"  quote about "there's no traffic passes through 6"  and the author of "Route 40"  saying "Route 6 runs uncertainly from nowhere to nowhere" .

And yet, it doesn't lack utility (especially out west) as a transportation corridor.  Bishop is a solid endpoint in my view and I've had a lot of use for the Highway all the way eastward into Utah over the years.  Within Colorado it branches of I-70 to justify it's existence...I wish US 85 had the same treatment. 

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned US 6. Short of its importance to Cape Cod, it's so famously off the beaten track that Wikipedia lists two pop culture references shaming it for its uselessness - the "On the Road"  quote about "there's no traffic passes through 6"  and the author of "Route 40"  saying "Route 6 runs uncertainly from nowhere to nowhere" .

And yet, it doesn't lack utility (especially out west) as a transportation corridor.  Bishop is a solid endpoint in my view and I've had a lot of use for the Highway all the way eastward into Utah over the years.  Within Colorado it branches of I-70 to justify it's existence...I wish US 85 had the same treatment.

And it used to end in Long Beach...

[texaskdog]

come on people we should hate US 6 for being a bad numbering violation.  it runs with 50, which is smack in the middle, and originally turned south to the SW corner.  bad!!!

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

come on people we should hate US 6 for being a bad numbering violation.  it runs with 50, which is smack in the middle, and originally turned south to the SW corner.  bad!!!

By that logic, Route 66 and Interstates 11 and 99 are just as evil.

[Max Rockatansky]

come on people we should hate US 6 for being a bad numbering violation.  it runs with 50, which is smack in the middle, and originally turned south to the SW corner.  bad!!!

It still has an Eastern Terminus close to correct grid position.  US 6 did take over some corridors like Loveland Pass that didn't have a US Route previously and was part of the solution for the nonsensical US 40S. 

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

come on people we should hate US 6 for being a bad numbering violation.  it runs with 50, which is smack in the middle, and originally turned south to the SW corner.  bad!!!

It still has an Eastern Terminus close to correct grid position.  US 6 did take over some corridors like Loveland Pass that didn't have a US Route previously and was part of the solution for the nonsensical US 40S.

And plus, US 6 used to be along US 6N to near Erie, so it used to fit into the grid.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

It still has an Eastern Terminus close to correct grid position.  US 6 did take over some corridors like Loveland Pass that didn't have a US Route previously and was part of the solution for the nonsensical US 40S. 

IIRC the solution for the nonsensical US 40S was extending US 24 to Grand Junction. US 6 came soon after that, but wasn't part of the solution. Anyway Colorado has truncated US 24 to Minturn since, so it no longer qualifies for this thread.

[Max Rockatansky]

It still has an Eastern Terminus close to correct grid position.  US 6 did take over some corridors like Loveland Pass that didn't have a US Route previously and was part of the solution for the nonsensical US 40S. 

IIRC the solution for the nonsensical US 40S was extending US 24 to Grand Junction. US 6 came soon after that, but wasn't part of the solution. Anyway Colorado has truncated US 24 to Minturn since, so it no longer qualifies for this thread.

US 24 was extended to Grand Junction circa 1936 whereas US 6 was extended circa 1937 to Long Beach.  Initially US 6 multiplexed US 24 from Leadville all the way to Grand Junction when it was aligned over Fremont Pass.  US 6 was realigned over Vail Pass and CO 91 was restored over Fremont Pass.  For some reason US 24 persisted all the way to Grand Junction until 1975.  Effectively both US 6 and US 24 were a solution for US 40S. 

One could say that US 6 having a terminus at US 24 would have been logical.  A cleaner US Route grid might have included something like a new US 48 (which was available in 1937) west of US 91 in Utah to Bishop or Long Beach.  In retrospect the corridor of the first CA 7 (current CA 14) over Sierra Highway was always fated to get a US Route of some kind given it was a major transportation corridor.  Personally I would have US 6 stay on CA 7 all the way down Sepulveda Boulevard (the CA 7 segment that became I-405) and end at US 101A (current CA 1) in Torrance over the Long Beach multiplex with CA 11. 

[bing101]

Business 80 Sacramento should have been decommissioned because the Elvas Freeway should have been renamed CA-51 and signed.
I understand the I-305/US-50 portion aka WX Freeway stopped being Business 80 in 2016 though.

I-238 should be renamed I-480 in Hayward area but there's a debate over the southern crossing in that area though between I-238 to I-380 in San Bruno though.

[hbelkins]

No purpose is served by having US 220 extending north of Williamsport. It's a terrible road and is not a major through interregional corridor.

Terrible even by rural PA standards?

Terrible by "major through corridor" standards. It's not dissimilar to a lot of roads linking county seats in Kentucky and West Virginia, but Williamsport-to-Waverly/Sayre isn't exactly a route that a lot of through long-distance traffic is going to take.

[texaskdog]

come on people we should hate US 6 for being a bad numbering violation.  it runs with 50, which is smack in the middle, and originally turned south to the SW corner.  bad!!!

By that logic, Route 66 and Interstates 11 and 99 are just as evil.

66 & 99 have met their punishments

[texaskdog]

It still has an Eastern Terminus close to correct grid position.  US 6 did take over some corridors like Loveland Pass that didn’t have a US Route previously and was part of the solution for the nonsensical US 40S. 

IIRC the solution for the nonsensical US 40S was extending US 24 to Grand Junction. US 6 came soon after that, but wasn't part of the solution. Anyway Colorado has truncated US 24 to Minturn since, so it no longer qualifies for this thread.

soooo..it could have been 24 instead of 6.  not great but better.  Heck 38 could have been extended instead of 6

[webny99]

No purpose is served by having US 220 extending north of Williamsport. It's a terrible road and is not a major through interregional corridor.

Terrible even by rural PA standards?

Terrible by "major through corridor" standards. It's not dissimilar to a lot of roads linking county seats in Kentucky and West Virginia, but Williamsport-to-Waverly/Sayre isn't exactly a route that a lot of through long-distance traffic is going to take.

Yeah, I guess from that standpoint, it is a good candidate. It's just over-designated, not really in poor condition considering the purpose it serves.