Top 10 most important state routes in your state

[NWI_Irish96]

Here's some ones I've come up for Indiana. There's no order to this list (other than numeric order) and there is very much discussion about whether or not some of these are important. I've just based this by looking at a state map and looking for long corridors that seem like they connect a lot of areas or travel a good swath of the state. Very subject to debate.

1) SR 3
2) SR 9
3) SR 25
4) SR 26
5) SR 37
6) SR 46
7) SR 56
8) SR 63
9) SR 66 (Evansville area only, from Mt. Vernon to Boonville)
10) SR 67

I guess my criteria would be state routes that connect 2 major cities, or a major city with several minor cities, without having a US/Interstate highway as an alternative:

2: South Bend-LaPorte-Valpo (could call the Toll Road an alternative but it's not direct and of course not free)
3: Muncie-New Castle-Greensburg-North Vernon
25: Warsaw-Rochester-Logansport-Lafayette
26: Lafayette-Kokomo
37: Indy-Bloomington-Bedford
46: Terre Haute-Bloomington-Columbus-Greensburg
56: Scottsburg-Madison-Vevay-Rising Sun
62: Madison-Jeffersonville, Mt Vernon-Evansville-Boonville
63: Lake County-Terre Haute (with US 41)
67: Indy-Martinsville-Vincennes

I guess roads like 49, 331, 912, 930, 931 and 933 didn't make my cut because they mostly carry traffic within a county than between counties, and this is coming from somebody who has logged an awful lot of miles on 331.

[pianocello]

In no particular order,

IA 163
IA 330
IA 2
IA 3
IA 9
IA 92

After this, it gets kinda difficult. I covered the E-W corridors, and most of the N-S ones are covered by US highways. For the remaining 4, I would probably go with:
IA 5
IA 141
IA 14
IA 150

[jeffandnicole]

Without the NJTP and GSP:

1) NJ 440
2) NJ 29
3) NJ 42
4) NJ 3
5) NJ 17
6) NJ 23
7) NJ 18
8) NJ 139 (IF it counts due to it being in close proximity to I-78)
9) NJ 90
10) NJ 495 

Feel free to disagree with me on any (or all) of these here - this is based on my own observations.

90?

I'd put 55 in its place.

[hotdogPi]

VT 9
VT 103
VT 30
VT 12
VT 100
VT 102
VT 11
VT 15
VT 105
VT 14

(Without that 9 at the top of the list, this might not look like base 10!)

CT 15
CT 8
CT 2
CT 9
CT 66
CT 25
CT 10
CT 12
CT 72
CT 11

[bugo]

Arkansas:

AR 1
AR 5
AR 7
AR 8
AR 9 (notice a trend?)
AR 10
AR 22
AR 14
AR 23
AR 16

Honorable mention: AR 74

Oklahoma:

OK 3
OK 51
OK 99
OK 33
OK 9
OK 152
OK 82
OK 11
OK 8
OK 10

Honorable mentions: OK 77S, OK 63A

[Charles2]

Alabama:

1) SR-59: Main route connecting I-65 in Baldwin County with Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.  Try driving it in the summer!
2) SR-5: Before I-65 was completed it, it was the main route connecting Birmingham with Mobile (via U.S. 43 from Thomasville); north of Birmingham, the route is nowhere near as important
3) SR-10: the only signed state route that goes from state line to state line (Mississippi to Georgia)
4) SR-150: Connects the Birmingham suburbs of Hoover and Bessemer, has seen tremendous commercial, residential and institutional growth since the late '80's
5) SR-20: Connects the Florence/Muscle Shoals metro with Decatur
6) SR-157: Most direct connecting route from Birmingham to Florence/Muscle Shoals (via I-65 from Birmingham to Cullman)
7) SR-21: the longest state route in Alabama, extends from the Florida state line near Atmore to just short of the Georgia state line in the NE part of the state; the caveat against including this route would be that the only major cities in the state that it travels through are Montgomery and Anniston.
8) SR-255: bypass around the west and north sides of Huntsville
9) SR-152: although it is largely unsigned, this is the northeast segment of the bypass around Montgomery
10) SR-180 & SR-182: east-west routes around and through Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

[theline]

Here's some ones I've come up for Indiana. There's no order to this list (other than numeric order) and there is very much discussion about whether or not some of these are important. I've just based this by looking at a state map and looking for long corridors that seem like they connect a lot of areas or travel a good swath of the state. Very subject to debate.

1) SR 3
2) SR 9
3) SR 25
4) SR 26
5) SR 37
6) SR 46
7) SR 56
8) SR 63
9) SR 66 (Evansville area only, from Mt. Vernon to Boonville)
10) SR 67

I guess my criteria would be state routes that connect 2 major cities, or a major city with several minor cities, without having a US/Interstate highway as an alternative:

2: South Bend-LaPorte-Valpo (could call the Toll Road an alternative but it's not direct and of course not free)
3: Muncie-New Castle-Greensburg-North Vernon
25: Warsaw-Rochester-Logansport-Lafayette
26: Lafayette-Kokomo
37: Marion-Indy-Bloomington-Bedford
46: Terre Haute-Bloomington-Columbus-Greensburg
56: Scottsburg-Madison-Vevay-Rising Sun
62: Madison-Jeffersonville, Mt Vernon-Evansville-Boonville
63: Lake County-Terre Haute (with US 41)
67: Muncie-Anderson-Indy-Martinsville-Vincennes

I guess roads like 49, 331, 912, 930, 931 and 933 didn't make my cut because they mostly carry traffic within a county than between counties, and this is coming from somebody who has logged an awful lot of miles on 331.

I like both lists, though maybe the one from cabiness more. You forgot some major cities from your routes that bolster your argument more. I've added them, in bold.

[DTComposer]

My (admittedly subjective) California list:

99
1
58
152
91
14
37
41
60
(for now) 210

24 would be honorable mention if I include the much longer 14

A little biased towards urban areas, as 99 and 58 and 1 are the only ones I can think of that maintain their importance across regions.

If 65 is ever completed between Exeter to at least the area east of Chowchilla, I'd easily add that to the list.

I would remove 37, 60 and 210, which are important within their regions, but not as much statewide, and all have viable parallel highways. I might consider 86 and 299, maybe 198 or 108. If I was sticking to regional routes that don't have viable parallel routes, maybe 17 or 57.

[Buck87]

In numeric order

OH 2
OH 3
OH 4
OH 7
OH 8
OH 11
OH 21
OH 32
OH 126
OH 315

[TheStranger]

I would remove 37, 60 and 210, which are important within their regions, but not as much statewide, and all have viable parallel highways. I might consider 86 and 299, maybe 198 or 108. If I was sticking to regional routes that don't have viable parallel routes, maybe 17 or 57.

What would you consider to be a viable parallel alternate to 37 - 580?  12 is a bit far north to serve much of the Bay Area.

I'd probably think of 120 instead of 108 for a Yosemite/Central Valley route of importance, though 108 does serve Modesto...

While 299 and 86 do serve a large area geographically, not sure either one is around enough of a population to be notably important - but I can see the argument for those routes too, given their lengths.

[bzakharin]

Without the NJTP and GSP:

1) NJ 440
2) NJ 29
3) NJ 42
4) NJ 3
5) NJ 17
6) NJ 23
7) NJ 18
8) NJ 139 (IF it counts due to it being in close proximity to I-78)
9) NJ 90
10) NJ 495 

Feel free to disagree with me on any (or all) of these here - this is based on my own observations.

90?

I'd put 55 in its place.

I agree about 55, but if you're going to include 90, you need to include 73 too. It's almost impossible to go anywhere in NJ from 90 without using 73. Also, I'd include NJ 24 somewhere in there.

[DTComposer]

I would remove 37, 60 and 210, which are important within their regions, but not as much statewide, and all have viable parallel highways. I might consider 86 and 299, maybe 198 or 108. If I was sticking to regional routes that don't have viable parallel routes, maybe 17 or 57.

What would you consider to be a viable parallel alternate to 37 - 580?  12 is a bit far north to serve much of the Bay Area.

I know the traffic on 37 justifies its importance, but I also think that, other than traffic between the termini themselves (Vallejo-Novato) most other traffic has a reasonable alternative. Fairfield (and beyond)-Novato (or in the other direction, Santa Rosa/Petaluma-Vallejo) can use 12/121, Martinez/Concord-Novato (or in the other direction, San Rafael-Vallejo) can use 4/580, etc.

I'd probably think of 120 instead of 108 for a Yosemite/Central Valley route of importance, though 108 does serve Modesto...

I could agree with that - I picked 108 since it goes all the way through the Sierras as a state highway (120 officially ends/restarts at the Yosemite borders), and (I may be wrong here) 108 is less likely to be closed during the winter than 120.

While 299 and 86 do serve a large area geographically, not sure either one is around enough of a population to be notably important - but I can see the argument for those routes too, given their lengths.

I picked 299 since it connected Eureka/North Coast/Redwood Country (including the logging and fishing industries) to the Interstate system (maybe more people use 36?), and 86 since it connected two fast growing areas (Coachella Valley and Imperial Valley) to the Interstates.

[Pete from Boston]

Without the NJTP and GSP:

1) NJ 440
2) NJ 29
3) NJ 42
4) NJ 3
5) NJ 17
6) NJ 23
7) NJ 18
8) NJ 139 (IF it counts due to it being in close proximity to I-78)
9) NJ 90
10) NJ 495 

Feel free to disagree with me on any (or all) of these here - this is based on my own observations.

90?

I'd put 55 in its place.

I agree about 55, but if you're going to include 90, you need to include 73 too. It's almost impossible to go anywhere in NJ from 90 without using 73. Also, I'd include NJ 24 somewhere in there.

I thought about 55 when reading that list, then realized it required a whole discussion about what qualifies as "important" and didn't. 

55 is a non-duplicated primary route, even if it serves relatively sparsely popluated areas for NJ (admittedly just about the only part of NJ I haven't been to).  I would include it before 24 because 24 users have more alternatives, even if their numbers are greater. 

I'm not familiar with 90.  I'd put 94 out there for debate by the same logic as 55, though.

But there's no real compelling reason to choose one set of guidelines for inclusion over the other, so, yeah.   

[bzakharin]

I thought about 55 when reading that list, then realized it required a whole discussion about what qualifies as "important" and didn't. 

55 is a non-duplicated primary route, even if it serves relatively sparsely popluated areas for NJ (admittedly just about the only part of NJ I haven't been to).  I would include it before 24 because 24 users have more alternatives, even if their numbers are greater. 

Re 55: It is heavily used (along with NJ 47) during the summer by shore traffic
Re both: I think the existence of traffic jams during rush hour is a pretty good metric (for freeways, anyway). Both 24 and 55 get these every day. By this metric 24 should be ahead of 55, since more of it is jammed.

[mrsman]

My (admittedly subjective) California list:

99
1
58
152
91
14
37
41
60
(for now) 210

24 would be honorable mention if I include the much longer 14

A little biased towards urban areas, as 99 and 58 and 1 are the only ones I can think of that maintain their importance across regions.

If 65 is ever completed between Exeter to at least the area east of Chowchilla, I'd easily add that to the list.

Seven of these routes were former US highways.  US 99, ALT US 101, US 466, US 91, US 6, US 60, and US 66.

Your list is good, but I would also replace 37, 60, 91, and 210 for 120, 49, 86, and 198.  120 is a main connector Bay Area - Yosemite.  49 provides a routing through the historic mines in gold country, and 86 provides access to Imperial County.  198 is a great east-west road across the state.  37, 60, 91, and 210 are regionally important, but not state-wide important, expecially when I-10 parallels three of these routes.

[OCGuy81]

I'd add 17 to the California list.  It's short, but it's a vital link from the Bay Area to the coastal areas of Santa Cruz, Monterrey, and Carmel.

The rest of those are a pretty solid list.  Maybe 299 is worth an add too.

[JCinSummerfield]

My look at Michigan:

1. M-28
2. M-35
3. M-5
4. M-6
5. M-1
6. M-72
7. M-66
8. M-55
9. M-52
10. M-115

[jeffandnicole]

I thought about 55 when reading that list, then realized it required a whole discussion about what qualifies as "important" and didn't. 

55 is a non-duplicated primary route, even if it serves relatively sparsely popluated areas for NJ (admittedly just about the only part of NJ I haven't been to).  I would include it before 24 because 24 users have more alternatives, even if their numbers are greater. 

Re 55: It is heavily used (along with NJ 47) during the summer by shore traffic
Re both: I think the existence of traffic jams during rush hour is a pretty good metric (for freeways, anyway). Both 24 and 55 get these every day. By this metric 24 should be ahead of 55, since more of it is jammed.

Personally, NJ 90 may not even qualify for a top 20 spot.  It's AADT is around 25k a day between the Betsy Ross Br & 73, while NJ 73 between the Tacony Bridge & 90 is approaching 40k a day. 

This is partially due to the toll bridges.  The Tacony bridge is only a $2 toll, whereas the Betsy Ross Bridge is a $5 toll.  If you took out the entire Betsy Ross/NJ 90 corridor, it would strain, but not break, other corridors and bridges.

The 2 lane (per direction) Rt. 55 should be widened to 3 lanes per direction between 42 & 322.  It's quite common to struggle to maintain the speed limit during some rush hours.   Unfortuantely, the area's politicians are hellbent on spending $2 billion on a light rail line through the area, which would minimally reduce congestion.

Someone I missed 73 & 70.  At least one of them could be a top 10 route as well.

My upset pick for NJ would be NJ 140.  After all, how would anyone get to the truck stops for their last chance at cheaper fuel before leaving the state!!!

[Brandon]

My look at Michigan:

1. M-28
2. M-35
3. M-5
4. M-6
5. M-1
6. M-72
7. M-66
8. M-55
9. M-52
10. M-115

I'd replace M-6 with M-102.  Eight Mile Road is very important, and not just as a road.

Here's my list for Illinois in no particular order (and probably biased toward the northern half of the state):

IL-47: busy route through the far western suburbs of Chicago and down to the Champaign area.
IL-37: so important that an interstate (I-57) was built to replace it instead of along a US highway.
IL-29: carries the bulk of I-180 traffic to/from Peoria.
IL-83: Kingery Highway.
IL-53: freeway up north, replaced by I-355 in the middle, old US-66 down here.
IL-116: seems strange, but this route connects the state east to west via Pontiac and Peoria.
IL-13: across the populated part of the far south.
IL-15: parts were US-460 and important enough I-64 was built to parallel it.
IL-16: east to west across the middle of the state including Charleston (EIU) and Mattoon.
IL-59: might not seem important at first, but it is THE major route through NW Will County, western DuPage County, and north.  It was supposed to have been replaced by a freeway (Fox Valley Freeway).

[hbelkins]

You forgot 110 and 336. 

[Rupertus]

My look at Michigan:

1. M-28
2. M-35
3. M-5
4. M-6
5. M-1
6. M-72
7. M-66
8. M-55
9. M-52
10. M-115

I'd replace M-6 with M-102.  Eight Mile Road is very important, and not just as a road.

From an overall traffic perspective, the two most important ones are M-10 and M-39.

[hobsini2]

Here's my list for Illinois in no particular order (and probably biased toward the northern half of the state):

IL-47: busy route through the far western suburbs of Chicago and down to the Champaign area.
IL-37: so important that an interstate (I-57) was built to replace it instead of along a US highway.
IL-29: carries the bulk of I-180 traffic to/from Peoria.
IL-83: Kingery Highway.
IL-53: freeway up north, replaced by I-355 in the middle, old US-66 down here.
IL-116: seems strange, but this route connects the state east to west via Pontiac and Peoria.
IL-13: across the populated part of the far south.
IL-15: parts were US-460 and important enough I-64 was built to parallel it.
IL-16: east to west across the middle of the state including Charleston (EIU) and Mattoon.
IL-59: might not seem important at first, but it is THE major route through NW Will County, western DuPage County, and north.  It was supposed to have been replaced by a freeway (Fox Valley Freeway).

I would also consider IL 1, 2, 3, 17, 394.