The Worst Concurrencies

[brad2971]

US 189 could lose 64 miles of continuous, superfluous overlap by being truncated to Daniel, WY at US 191.

(There are some benefits, though; I got a US 189 pic without having to drive south of Jackson, as well as the 4-way US overlap you see here: https://goo.gl/maps/ARGbpfQsdvV8i5LZ6)

Overall, Wyoming seems to have a big problem with this.

When you follow US 20 through Yellowstone, it’s not officially signed in the park, but when you come out the east entrance heading towards Cody, the signs for it reappear - along with US 14 and US 16, which appear out of nowhere. Among the three routes on the road between Yellowstone and Cody, only US 20 appears west of the park, so in my opinion, US 14 and US 16 should just begin at Greybull and Worland, respectively - that is to say, where both highways begin their standalone sections.

Further east within the state, US 20 again encounters such a phenomenon. After a short overlap with I-25 east of Douglas, US 20 splits off at Orin Junction - at which point US 18 suddenly appears. US 18 and US 20 overlap until Lusk, at which point US 18 begins another concurrency with US 85, while US 20 continues east on its own. Finally, halfway between Lusk and Newcastle, US 18 finally goes its own way when it splits off US 85.

In my opinion, US 18 should just begin at that junction with US 85 between Lusk and Newcastle. What do you think?

From when the highway was established to 1967, US 18 DID end at Mule Creek Jct. This native South Dakotan suspects that WYDOT extended US 18 to end at I-25/Orin Jct because SDDOT and SD's Dept. of Tourism asked them nicely to do it so they could get more tourists from Colorado and the West to the Black Hills.

It's probably similar in reasoning to why US 16 still exists as a US highway after 1980 when US 14 could have been rerouted onto the current US 16 between Rapid City and Moorcroft, then the section between Ucross and Worland could have been renumbered as WYO 16.

[brad2971]

US 189 could lose 64 miles of continuous, superfluous overlap by being truncated to Daniel, WY at US 191.

(There are some benefits, though; I got a US 189 pic without having to drive south of Jackson, as well as the 4-way US overlap you see here: https://goo.gl/maps/ARGbpfQsdvV8i5LZ6)

If one were to factor in the concurrencies with I-80 and US 40, US 189 in WYO and UT are, in effect, two separate highways. The first standalone section of US 189 is a mere connector (albeit a very beautiful and very busy one) between Heber City and Provo, and the other standalone section is from Daniel at US 191 to I-80 east of Evanston. I see no reason why US 189 cannot be erased from the books based on that.

[Avalanchez71]

The concurrences of the US Highways in Chattanooga are just weird with some of the routings.

[achilles765]

US 98 with US 19 in Florida. Really US 98 should continue east on US 27 and end in High Spring at US 441.  It's completely useless south of Perry and concurrent with too many other routes.


I know that old AASHTO archives show Florida wanting US 98 to end in St. Augustine on Florida's First Coast back in the day, but turned down of course.

For that matter US 98 should also just end at Interstate 55 in McComb. Growing up it always confused me as to whether it went to Natchez or not because it was only somewhat signed along it's concurrency with US 84. That stretch between I 55 and US 84 could be a state highway since it's two lanes and sparsely travelled. Just end it at Interstate 55—or an even better idea would have been to just have it take over the current MS 24 route between McComb and woodville.

[andrepoiy]

I just got back from a day trip in Upstate New York and man, what is that interchange in Utica NY... where there's I-90, I-790, NY 5, NY 12, all interchanging and going in different directions at the same place. Yikes.

Same in Rome NY, where there seems to be too many state routes intersecting/multiplexing.

[Avalanchez71]

How about the concurrency of US 74 with US 64 to Cleveland, TN and then the concurrency with I-75 to the GA/TN border.  Not one sign shows this I-75/US 74 concurrency.

[DandyDan]

US 73 and US 159 in Kansas and Nebraska. US 159 has two independent sections with a concurrency that crosses a state border in the middle. US 159 shouldn't really exist. The independent section south of Horton can be K-159, US 159 going east from Falls City can be an extension of NE 8, and the Missouri section can be MO 159,

[Rothman]

I just got back from a day trip in Upstate New York and man, what is that interchange in Utica NY... where there's I-90, I-790, NY 5, NY 12, all interchanging and going in different directions at the same place. Yikes.

Same in Rome NY, where there seems to be too many state routes intersecting/multiplexing.

Eh, given where the state routes go north and south of Utica, those concurrencies aren't bad.

The only issue I have in Utica is that I-790 just doesn't seem to be needed as a designation.  The mess of ramps and even a signalized intersection needed to get on the north-south freeway certainly doesn't feel like an Interstate.

I also bet that NYSDOT Region 2 has just stabbed its finger at a map and come up with where I-790 begins and ends and FHWA going along with it, rather than either really knowing whatever was officially designated.  I can see Region 2 submitting authorization requests for 90/10 splits and just crossing their fingers FHWA approves them.

[Amaury]

My choice would be US Route 30. I don't understand why it's even still a thing, at least at the US highway level, as even according to Wikipedia:

Despite long stretches of parallel and concurrent Interstate Highways, it has not been decommissioned unlike other long haul routes such as US 66.

I think it should be decommissioned and turned into local state routes where able in each respective state. Or even decommissioned completely even at state levels where it makes sense. I mean, that's what they did with US Route 10 and US Route 410, which became Washington State Route 10 and Washington State Route 410 here in Washington. I can't speak for most states, I can only speak on how I would handle it in Oregon and Idaho since I'm familiar with those states.

In Oregon alone, it is concurrent with Interstate 84 for over 90% of its total milage, which is pointless. This is how I would handle it in Oregon: I would cut it way back to just the westside of Oregon and would have it run only from the junction with Washington State Route 433 at the Lewis and Clark Bridge to its western terminus in Astoria at the junction with US Route 101. The current section of US Route 30 from the junction with Washington State Route 433 to the junction with Interstate 405 would be replaced with an extension of Oregon Route 127. Between the current northern terminus of Oregon Route 127 near Burlington and the junction with Interstate 405, it would be a spur route of Oregon Route 127. I've attached screenshots to better explain this theory.







For Idaho, I would keep the section where it separates from the concurrency between Bliss and Heyburn and decommission the rest. I've also included a screenshot of this.



Edit: I made a typo in my first image. It should read Oregon Route 30.

[kirbykart]

NY 39 and US 20A have such a long, useless concurrency. That little section from Geneseo to Avon does not need the NY 39 number! Truncate NY 39 to the western US 20A junction.

[kphoger]

Spider Prank, huh?   

[Bruce]

My choice would be US Route 30. I don't understand why it's even still a thing, at least at the US highway level, as even according to Wikipedia:

Despite long stretches of parallel and concurrent Interstate Highways, it has not been decommissioned unlike other long haul routes such as US 66.

I think it should be decommissioned and turned into local state routes where able in each respective state. Or even decommissioned completely even at state levels where it makes sense. I mean, that's what they did with US Route 10 and US Route 410, which became Washington State Route 10 and Washington State Route 410 here in Washington. I can't speak for most states, I can only speak on how I would handle it in Oregon and Idaho since I'm familiar with those states.

Oregon uses US 30 and OR 99/99W/99E as their business routes off I-84 and I-5, respectively. There's some fairly significant portions, such as the Historic Columbia River Highway, that need special treatment and deserve to be part of US 30.

[JayhawkCO]

No one has brought up I-25/US87 yet?

[kirbykart]

No one has brought up I-25/US87 yet?

"Levitate up onto the next bridge to continue on US-87 south".

[Amaury]

Oregon uses US 30 and OR 99/99W/99E as their business routes off I-84 and I-5, respectively. There's some fairly significant portions, such as the Historic Columbia River Highway, that need special treatment and deserve to be part of US 30.

I mean, in theory, you could designate those areas as Interstate 84 Business, or label them as historic, which I think is already there in some areas, so they keep receiving special treatment. But I'm not an engineer or a road expert, I'm just interested in them.