Unpopular Route Opinions

[kenarmy]

This isn't a state route, but taking the Natchez Trace from Jackson to Nashville is longer than I-55/I-40 but it has less miles. A nice drive that is shorter in miles and length is taking US 49 and 98 from Jackson to Pensacola instead of I-55/I-10.

-Something really random that I love is when US routes have short concurrencies with interstates (signed of course), and then they leave the interstate on a nice freeway.

[SkyPesos]

This isn't a state route, but taking the Natchez Trace from Jackson to Nashville is longer than I-55/I-40 but it has less miles. A nice drive that is shorter in miles and length is taking US 49 and 98 from Jackson to Pensacola instead of I-55/I-10.

-Something really random that I love is when US routes have short concurrencies with interstates (signed of course), and then they leave the interstate on a nice freeway.

I thought US 49 to US 98 is already the default routing from Jackson to Mobile, then I-10 to Pensacola.

[kenarmy]

- US 90 should follow 90-ALT in Pensacola, its current routing is unnecessary
- 78 should be cut back to Atlanta, not Birmingham.
- 278 should use 49's bridge to cross the MS river (slightly longer, but it wouldn't be completely concurrent with others routes from the two independent points)
- US 63 should completely replace 167
- 641 should be extended into MS , not AL, by replacing MS 25
- 171 is more useless than 371.
- 280 is nearly as important as its parent now
- 311 gets more hate than it deserves

[sturmde]

:
- 641 should be extended into MS , not AL, by replacing MS 25
:

641 should run down to Florence AL, and then follow AL 157 to meet up with I-65 in Cullman.  It then provides a wide west bypass of Nashville.  Also, get it north of the Ohio this time into Illinois, and follow IL 1 as far north as the southern suburbs of Chicago.
.
As to your 78 ending in Atlanta.... fine... but just put white-out on all the 2's in the 278 shields west of Atlanta, and promote 278 to 78.

[Flint1979]

I think that US-25W and US-11E should both become state highways and US-25E and US-11W should retain there route numbers.

[sturmde]

I think that US-25W and US-11E should both become state highways and US-25E and US-11W should retain there route numbers.

Well, the 25W elimination was proposed along the way to extend 129 up 25W, and 25E become plain 25... and that was before I-75.  Would have worked, too...
.
But now, it's the solution:  eliminate 25W altogether, and extend 129 up 11E to end at 321.  25E becomes 25, and 11W becomes 11.  Sure, you could have 129 take over 11W, but 11E has long concurrencies with 321, 19W, and 19.

[Flint1979]

I think that US-25W and US-11E should both become state highways and US-25E and US-11W should retain there route numbers.

Well, the 25W elimination was proposed along the way to extend 129 up 25W, and 25E become plain 25... and that was before I-75.  Would have worked, too...
.
But now, it's the solution:  eliminate 25W altogether, and extend 129 up 11E to end at 321.  25E becomes 25, and 11W becomes 11.  Sure, you could have 129 take over 11W, but 11E has long concurrencies with 321, 19W, and 19.

I was just on both 25 and 11 in that area three days ago that's why I made a comment on it. I didn't even know which 25 to take so I had to look them up and see where they went. I ended up on 25E due to it being about 30 miles shorter than 25W which is why I think it should just be one route and the other route should be a state highway and so I could stay away from I-75. Furthermore I think 25E is more scenic as well.

[Mapmikey]

A different solution regarding US 11E...

have US 321 replace US 11E to Knoxville
put US 70 onto current US 321 from Lenoir City to Newport
re-extend US 411 to Bluff City

[Flint1979]

Same thing with US-70. Make US-70N mainline US-70 and make US-70S a state highway. Also US-19E and US-19W same thing 19W should be US-19 and 19E should be state highways. Aren't all these state highways anyway? Like 25W follows TN- 9, 25E follows TN-32.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Except that a "plain" US 70 already exists, so both US 70N and US 70S would be downgraded.

[Mapmikey]

70S between US 41 and US 70 could be an extended US 412...

70N definitely no longer needs to be a US route with I-40 all over it.

[Flint1979]

Except that a "plain" US 70 already exists, so both US 70N and US 70S would be downgraded.

I never even noticed that. Yeah indeed 70N and 70S should both be downgraded to state highways.

[Flint1979]

Also make US-31W between Nashville and Louisville into just US-31 and make US-31E a state highway. I think these things are needed to ease confusion. The US highway would be placed on the shorter route for all of the highways that I have mentioned.

[SkyPesos]

I suggested this in fictional before, for the US 31 suffixes, here's the two options I have, both involving keeping US 31E as the sole US 31:

- Renumber US 31W as an US 42 extension to Nashville.
or
- Renumber US 31W north of Bowling Green as an US 79 extension, and combine that with US 42 to form a single SW-NE diagonal US route. Downgrade US 31W south of Bowling Green to a state route.

US 33 and US 42 can swap numbers after this if you really want even for E-W and odd for N-S. It'll fit nicely in the grid for both after the swap. For me, I don't care that US 42 is an even number on a N-S corridor.

[Flint1979]

I don't understand the Alternate routes they have either. Isn't that basically the same thing as having the E,W,N or S next to the number? A lot of these are just glorified state highways anyway and in Tennessee they are an unsigned state highway as well.

For example, I was following US-25E's routing and came into Tennessee, made it to Tazewell and then I lost US-25E's routing somehow and managed to start following TN-33 towards Knoxville. I obviously missed the 25E sign but turned around and backtracked. I found out that the sign was there and I just simply missed it. But it sure seemed like the sign wasn't there. On Google Maps too it's not signed as US-25E just TN-32 and that threw me off.

[Mapmikey]

I don't understand the Alternate routes they have either. Isn't that basically the same thing as having the E,W,N or S next to the number? A lot of these are just glorified state highways anyway and in Tennessee they are an unsigned state highway as well.

For example, I was following US-25E's routing and came into Tennessee, made it to Tazewell and then I lost US-25E's routing somehow and managed to start following TN-33 towards Knoxville. I obviously missed the 25E sign but turned around and backtracked. I found out that the sign was there and I just simply missed it. But it sure seemed like the sign wasn't there. On Google Maps too it's not signed as US-25E just TN-32 and that threw me off.

The A routes are there because AASHO wouldn't let them continue to use E-W-N-S suffixes.  Tennessee did change 70S to 70A for a time in the 1930s and begged AASHO to let them change it back.  Tennessee flat out ignored AASHOs changing 19E to 19A (which made some commercial maps) and dissolving 11E to TN 34 where US 411 didn't take it over (also made some maps).  AASHO finally officially re-recognized 11, 19, 25 and 45's suffixed routes in 1952.

[hbelkins]

Same thing with US-70. Make US-70N mainline US-70 and make US-70S a state highway. Also US-19E and US-19W same thing 19W should be US-19 and 19E should be state highways. Aren't all these state highways anyway? Like 25W follows TN- 9, 25E follows TN-32.

19E should be 19, and 19W should be a state highway. There's a marked difference in road quality; 19E is a much better road than 19W.

Or keep 19 on I-26 and make both 19E and 19W state routes.

I'd be in favor of turning 25E into 25, and truncating it at I-75 in Corbin, decommissioning both 25W in Tennessee and Kentucky, and 25 between Corbin and the Ohio River.

[kenarmy]

I don't understand the Alternate routes they have either. Isn't that basically the same thing as having the E,W,N or S next to the number? A lot of these are just glorified state highways anyway and in Tennessee they are an unsigned state highway as well.

For example, I was following US-25E's routing and came into Tennessee, made it to Tazewell and then I lost US-25E's routing somehow and managed to start following TN-33 towards Knoxville. I obviously missed the 25E sign but turned around and backtracked. I found out that the sign was there and I just simply missed it. But it sure seemed like the sign wasn't there. On Google Maps too it's not signed as US-25E just TN-32 and that threw me off.

The A routes are there because AASHO wouldn't let them continue to use E-W-N-S suffixes.  Tennessee did change 70S to 70A for a time in the 1930s and begged AASHO to let them change it back.  Tennessee flat out ignored AASHOs changing 19E to 19A (which made some commercial maps) and dissolving 11E to TN 34 where US 411 didn't take it over (also made some maps).  AASHO finally officially re-recognized 11, 19, 25 and 45's suffixed routes in 1952.

Too bad AASHTO pays 49's split dust and won't update their log to reflect newer alignments.

[froggie]

^ Because, as noted upthread, split US routes are not acceptable per AASHTO's US route policy and they won't approve those alignment changes until MDOT opts to eliminate the split.

[GaryV]

I'd be in favor of turning 25E into 25, and truncating it at I-75 in Corbin, decommissioning both 25W in Tennessee and Kentucky, and 25 between Corbin and the Ohio River.

I thought this would be a good idea too.  But then because all the decommissioned sections would need to be KY highways (in the absence of county roads) why bother?  All it does is change the sign.

[kenarmy]

^ Because, as noted upthread, split US routes are not acceptable per AASHTO's US route policy and they won't approve those alignment changes until MDOT opts to eliminate the split.

Right, but i think its more sticky than the other split routes since they are basically the same length and are equally important

[Flint1979]

I'd be in favor of turning 25E into 25, and truncating it at I-75 in Corbin, decommissioning both 25W in Tennessee and Kentucky, and 25 between Corbin and the Ohio River.

I thought this would be a good idea too.  But then because all the decommissioned sections would need to be KY highways (in the absence of county roads) why bother?  All it does is change the sign.

A US highway has a bit more importance than a state highway but all my ideas have the US highway using the shorter route like they should. When you come into a situation like 25E and 25W you'd have to look and see which one is the shorter route because there is no way I'd want to be on the longer route. So you take 25E between Newport, TN and Corbin, KY because it's shorter. 25W becomes useless as a US highway.

[kphoger]

A US highway has a bit more importance than a state highway but all my ideas have the US highway using the shorter route like they should. When you come into a situation like 25E and 25W you'd have to look and see which one is the shorter route because there is no way I'd want to be on the longer route. So you take 25E between Newport, TN and Corbin, KY because it's shorter. 25W becomes useless as a US highway.

But if the longer route serves more towns/people/traffic, then it could be argued it's the more important of the two and therefore better deserves the US designation.  I don't think shorter—longer should be the only consideration.

[kenarmy]

A US highway has a bit more importance than a state highway but all my ideas have the US highway using the shorter route like they should. When you come into a situation like 25E and 25W you'd have to look and see which one is the shorter route because there is no way I'd want to be on the longer route. So you take 25E between Newport, TN and Corbin, KY because it's shorter. 25W becomes useless as a US highway.

But if the longer route serves more towns/people/traffic, then it could be argued it's the more important of the two and therefore better deserves the US designation.  I don't think shorter—longer should be the only consideration.

This is one where AASHTO's suggestion makes sense, change the shortest one into an alternate! This reminds me of US 90's routing in Pensacola where 90 does a weird U, but the shorter route is designated 90A.

[Flint1979]

A US highway has a bit more importance than a state highway but all my ideas have the US highway using the shorter route like they should. When you come into a situation like 25E and 25W you'd have to look and see which one is the shorter route because there is no way I'd want to be on the longer route. So you take 25E between Newport, TN and Corbin, KY because it's shorter. 25W becomes useless as a US highway.

But if the longer route serves more towns/people/traffic, then it could be argued it's the more important of the two and therefore better deserves the US designation.  I don't think shorter—longer should be the only consideration.

When you have a situation like that I would think the older or shorter routing is what they would choose for the mainline US highway. There's only like six highways that have this that I can even think of and US-45's is pretty close to the same length too. US-11,19,25,31,45 and 49 so why not just eliminate them all at this point?