Weird State Route alignments

[MoiraPrime]

So I've been doing some editing in OpenStreetMap lately to tag expressway=yes routes, and I've come across the very strange alignments of MS 57 and 63.

These two routes are 4 lane divided highways in their most important parts, filling in a gap in the state's network between Meridian and the coast right where US 45 leaves the state for Alabama.

The thing is, they meet in the middle, become concurrent through Leakesville, then split off in their respective directions.



So that makes me wonder, do any of your states have really strange state route alignments?

[froggie]

VA 165

[hotdogPi]

MA 80, which makes a 3/4 circle to nowhere. A bit unusual since Massachusetts is usually pretty good with route coherence.

MA 31 leaves the road it's on and comes back to it in Charlton, but I've been told that there's good reason for that (not that I can really see it).

MA 129 could easily parallel I-95/MA 128 in Lynnfield instead of going to downtown Wakefield and then overlapping with US 1, but then downtown Wakefield would be without a numbered route.

[JayhawkCO]

Am I the only one who's failing to see what's weird about the OP's example? It's just a concurrency, right? Maybe wrong-way signed(?), but still, not all that unusual. Am I missing something?

[WillWeaverRVA]

VA 165

I think VA 156 would qualify as well.

[MATraveler128]

MA 145 in Winthrop is basically just a loop that exists just so Winthrop can have a numbered route.

[zzcarp]

I nominate CO Highway 30, which begins at I-25/US 285 (Hampden Avenue) and ends at Gun Club Road/Quincy Avenue near the E-470 toll road. While the termini are approximately 12 miles apart as the crow flies, the route begins going due east on Hampden, then it curves north on Havana Street for 5 miles, then turns east on 6th Avenue, then curves back south about 6 miles to the end for a total of over 20 miles for the route.

Am I the only one who's failing to see what's weird about the OP's example? It's just a concurrency, right? Maybe wrong-way signed(?), but still, not all that unusual. Am I missing something?

I suggest that the reason is it's a continuous 4-lane expressway where the primary travel is through but the route numbers switch on the expressway and split apart to follow their original paths.

[LilianaUwU]

QC 132 and QC 169 are both loops that end at themselves, and QC 368 is a loop that never ends.

[skluth]

Am I the only one who's failing to see what's weird about the OP's example? It's just a concurrency, right? Maybe wrong-way signed(?), but still, not all that unusual. Am I missing something?

IMO it's both about the concurrency but with the expressway switching highway numbers at the interchange with both highways going off the freeway onto a concurrency. It's relatively common for a highway to change numbers at an interchange but usually one number ends at that point; both going off in the same direction as a concurrency is the difference here. It's similar to the I-74/80 interchange SE of the Quad Cities but with both highways going off in the same direction rather than opposite directions.

[hbelkins]

Similar to what the OP showed, the WV 9/WV 45 routing along the south side of Martinsburg.

[Takumi]

VA 165

I think VA 156 would qualify as well.

156 at least made sense in its original configuration, connecting a bunch of Civil War sites east of Richmond. It was when it was extended south of the James and took over VA 154 that it became a bit more odd. I don't think 165 ever made sense though.

[US 89]

Some candidates in Utah, leaving out institutional routes which are their whole own beast.

SR 68 at the north end in Bountiful. The route travels 67 miles almost due north along Redwood Rd through three counties, then turns east on 500 South in Bountiful, then back south on 200 West and then southwest to an interchange at US 89 - which it just crossed a mile or two back.

SR 147 in Utah County, which stair steps along section line roads and goes east through Spanish Fork, crosses US 89 into Mapleton, then turns north and west and hooks back to 89. There is really no reason this all should be one route, and the designations around Benjamin are especially dumb. 147 and 115 "bump" at Benjamin, and that north-south road through Benjamin changes from 115 to 147 to 77 in the span of a mile.

It used to be even worse - the southwest end of 147 used to extend back east on 10400 South into Payson. That got removed from the state system in the early 2000s, but they didn't combine 147 and 141 at the same time, so now those routes just end at each other for no particular reason.

[Max Rockatansky]

CA 77 and it's over abundance of reassurance shields on Route despite a true freeway to freeway connection with I-880:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/02/california-state-route-77-real-shortest.html?m=1

[Mapmikey]

Am I the only one who's failing to see what's weird about the OP's example? It's just a concurrency, right? Maybe wrong-way signed(?), but still, not all that unusual. Am I missing something?

IMO it's both about the concurrency but with the expressway switching highway numbers at the interchange with both highways going off the freeway onto a concurrency. It's relatively common for a highway to change numbers at an interchange but usually one number ends at that point; both going off in the same direction as a concurrency is the difference here. It's similar to the I-74/80 interchange SE of the Quad Cities but with both highways going off in the same direction rather than opposite directions.

A more extreme version like the Mississippi example is the expressway from Columbus OH to Newcomerstown OH which are the following designations without ever having to make a turn:

OH 161, OH 37, OH 16 and US 36

[ethanhopkin14]

The weirdest alignment has to be the AR-43 OK-20 cosign.  Besides the fact that two different state highways are cosigned, I don't even understand why OK-20 needed to be cosigned there since it ends at eh Missouri state line. 

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Routes that run a significant distance one set of cardinal directions, then flip to the other set (examples: MN 95, WIS 23)

[GaryV]

^

And M-123

[US 89]

The weirdest alignment has to be the AR-43 OK-20 cosign.  Besides the fact that two different state highways are cosigned, I don't even understand why OK-20 needed to be cosigned there since it ends at eh Missouri state line.

Isn't the road maintained by ODOT?

[Flint1979]

M-43 now that it doesn't go through downtown Kalamazoo.

[74/171FAN]

VA 165

I think VA 156 would qualify as well.

156 at least made sense in its original configuration, connecting a bunch of Civil War sites east of Richmond. It was when it was extended south of the James and took over VA 154 that it became a bit more odd. I don't think 165 ever made sense though.

Honestly I think VA 156 made more sense south of the James River than north of it.  Though this is probably due to personal bias as I grew up along this route in Prince George County.

[SkyPesos]

OH 37 - Alignment looks more like 3 or 4 separate routes than a single route
OH 15 - Same as above. Easternmost 19 miles also happen to be an expressway that's part of the Columbus-Toledo corridor

[Scott5114]

The weirdest alignment has to be the AR-43 OK-20 cosign.  Besides the fact that two different state highways are cosigned, I don't even understand why OK-20 needed to be cosigned there since it ends at eh Missouri state line.

Isn't the road maintained by ODOT?

Yep, it's part of Control Section 20-21-22.

It being concurrent routes from both states makes a lot of sense to me. Oklahoma maintains the road, but it does veer fully into Arkansas at points. Arkansas wants to maintain continuity between AR-43 and MO-43.

Oklahoma could "fix" the situation by designating the north-south road as OK-43, but that designation is already in use in southeast Oklahoma, and besides it would lead to two OK highways that end at each other, which is always awkward. And if Arkansas is kicking Oklahoma any money to help maintain the road, then Arkansas deserves to have their shield up too. Really, the concurrency is the best way of handling the situation.

[Takumi]

VA 165

I think VA 156 would qualify as well.

156 at least made sense in its original configuration, connecting a bunch of Civil War sites east of Richmond. It was when it was extended south of the James and took over VA 154 that it became a bit more odd. I don't think 165 ever made sense though.

Honestly I think VA 156 made more sense south of the James River than north of it.  Though this is probably due to personal bias as I grew up along this route in Prince George County.

You could argue it would make more sense as two separate routes: one from Templeton to Hopewell, and the battlefield tour route for the other one. The parts between them can stay 5, 10, and 106.

[skluth]

M-185 makes a complete car-free circuit along the shoreline of Mackinac Island

[Max Rockatansky]

M-185 makes a complete car-free circuit along the shoreline of Mackinac Island

Excepting emergency vehicles of course.  Close to car free, but not completely.