Lowest numbered route that doesn't exist in your state

[hotdogPi]

Not my state, but New Hampshire doesn't have a 5, 6, 7, or 8. The lowest route number it has that isn't a US route, a duplicate of a US route number (i.e. 4), or one of the original New England routes is 13, and even that goes into two states.

The lowest existing single-state route in New Hampshire, not counting letter-suffixed routes, is 27.


Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island have a whole bunch of low 1xx routes starting with 101. The lowest to not exist in Massachusetts is 144, NH is 105 (although VT 105 ends at the state line) with 131 in second place, VT is 115, and RI is 105.

[7/8]

Ontario has never had a Highway 1, with the next lowest one being Highway 13.

[US 89]

For Utah: 1. State route numbers 1 through 5 used to be unsigned designations for the state's five interstates before 1977.

The lowest that's never existed at all in the state is 321.

[elsmere241]

Delaware's, I think, is 11.

It is 19.  DE 11 does exist.  I do think DE 9 should have been renumbered to DE 19 when US 9 made it to DE.

I don't know where DE 11 is, it may be one of the more obscure routes downstate (like DE 5).

Something I've found, trying to work with DelDOT, is that they primarily use the "county" number internally.  Those numbers are much less likely to change over the years, while state routes do change from time to time.

[paulthemapguy]

Illinois is missing an 11.  From there, Illinois also doesn't have a 27, 28, 42, 44, or 46. (I'll stop at 50.) I'm actually impressed that New York State didn't skip a number all the way until 47, as Miss Deane has pointed out. 

And just because it's nice to know, for Ohio, the number would be 69, if it weren't for a lack of Route 1.

Delaware's, I think, is 11.

It is 19.  DE 11 does exist.  I do think DE 9 should have been renumbered to DE 19 when US 9 made it to DE.

I don't know where DE 11 is, it may be one of the more obscure routes downstate (like DE 5).

Something I've found, trying to work with DelDOT, is that they primarily use the "county" number internally.  Those numbers are much less likely to change over the years, while state routes do change from time to time.

Delaware 11 is a real thing, and I have even driven on it. It runs southwest from Kenton to the Maryland border. (Photo taken at the state line.)


DE-011WTER by Paul Across America, on Flickr

[flan]

The lowest currently unused highway number in North Dakota is 7. ND 7 was changed to ND 200 to create the multi-state route 200. The lowest number to never have been used in ND is 70. Wikipedia says there was an ND 64 at some point but with no further details.

[SEWIGuy]

1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 in Wisconsin

Since Wisconsin only uses two and three digit highway numbers (the singles are USHs), the lowest number two digit highway not in use in Wisconsin is 62. WI-62 was a short highway in Milwaukee County, decommissioned in 1999. Historically every two-digit number has been used at least once.

[hbelkins]

For Kentucky, it's 50 -- although I have seen old maps that indicate that KY 50 once ran on what is now US 421 between Lexington and Frankfort.

For West Virginia, it's 1 for state routes, although there are county routes with that number.

[Rothman]

Always surprising when KY misses a number.

[vegas1962]

Michigan: 7 (replaced with M-89)

4?

The lowest route numbers currently not in use in Michigan are 4, 7 and 9, although each of them were used previously and have since been decommissioned. 7 and 9 were taken out of use in 1940 when the state opted to reserve single-digit numbers for an intended network of state trunkline superhighways. 4 was used as recently as 1986 on a segment of Northwestern Highway, but was renumbered as part of M-10.

The lowest number that has never been used in Michigan is 128 (according to MichiganHighways.org.)

[vdeane]

I'm actually impressed that New York State didn't skip a number all the way until 47, as Miss Deane has pointed out. 

And NY 47 was a thing until around 1980 or so (it was superseded by 390 and 590).  I started looking for the lowest to never exist on the NY Routes website and stopped after getting through the 150s because I didn't want to click through that many pages.

[Mapmikey]

The lowest currently unused highway number in North Dakota is 7. ND 7 was changed to ND 200 to create the multi-state route 200. The lowest number to never have been used in ND is 70. Wikipedia says there was an ND 64 at some point but with no further details.

ND 64 ran from ND 5 Fortuna north to Canada and was replaced by US 85 on 1/1/41.
Here's a map that shows it: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/1937_official_road_map%2C_North_Dakota%2C_South_Dakota_-_DPLA_-_2d275d0cd6800bf9790cd56b7d2f03ad_%28page_1%29.jpg

It is not on the 1936 Divide County Map

[Scott5114]

Wikipedia is your friend on this one.

Wikipedia is no roadgeek's friend.

AARoads Wiki is your friend.

I hope the copying over from Wikipedia is going well.  Wikipedia's extensive pages on KY's routes are invaluable to roadgeeks.

Everything in North America has been copied over for a while now. rschen7754 is slowly chewing through the rest of the world—he's the real MVP when it comes to that.

[Streetman]

Thanks everyone for interesting discussion. It seems there are so many variables - blocks of low numbers excluded, former routes, so many county routes - that it's hard to have a definitive answer to which state has the most consecutive route numbers starting at 1.

[cockroachking]

I think the current answer for New York is 323. State route has been decommissioned and I can't seem to find a CR-323 anywhere. All other missing SR numbers have CR's.

445 appears to be the lowest SR number never assigned.

Thanks to http://newyorkroutes.net/ and NYSDOT's Local Highway Inventory.

[CapeCodder]

In Massachusetts it's 17. There is technically a MA 15 but it's unsigned and only runs for 0.2 miles from Rhode Island.

Where is MA 11?

It became MA 121 in the mid 1960s. It was in Wrentham

[jp the roadgeek]

Since the OP started with my home state, I'll take the next closest that hasn't been discussed:  RI, which is 8.

[DandyDan]

Iowa does not currently have a highway 11.

Nebraska does not have a Highway 3, as that was swallowed up by US 136 in the 60's

[froggie]

No VT 1, nor do I believe one has ever been in existence.

[Dirt Roads]

For West Virginia, it's 1 for state routes, although there are county routes with that number.

Indeed, but the original WV-1 was an important historical route that crossed over into Maryland and back into West Virginia.  Most of the original WV-1 became US-50 (and the WV-1 route was decommissioned for good), but ironically, US-50 was rerouted onto that missing section of the former WV-1 such that all of the original route eventually got promoted.

The lowest number not ever utilized in West Virginia is 110.  The lowest decade never utilized is the entire 170s.  Note that some of these numbers may have been used internally, as there have been a bunch of primary state routes that never got a route number (and were shown on official maps with rectangular state route symbols with no number inside).

[bugo]

It's 12 in Oklahoma. I'm not sure what the lowest number that was never used was.

[RG407]

For Florida, currently it's 27.  There was a SR 27 for many years, but it was renumbered to 997 to avoid confusion with US 27.  The lowest number to never have been used is 28.

I'm aware there is currently no SR 1, but I consider A1A as filling that role.

[Big John]

For Florida, currently it's 27.  There was a SR 27 for many years, but it was renumbered to 997 to avoid confusion with US 27.  The lowest number to never have been used is 28.

I'm aware there is currently no SR 1, but I consider A1A as filling that role.

US 27 goes into Florida: https://wiki.aaroads.com/wiki/U.S._Route_27_in_Florida

[Mapmikey]

The lowest number not ever utilized in West Virginia is 110

There has never been a WV 96, which I find odd because there have been 4 different WV 94's.

[TheStranger]

Since part of the topic is "lowest number that has never existed in your state"...

For California (explicitly excluding the never-used-in-the-field Legislative Route Numbers from the 1910s-1964):

Lowest number that never was built, but was indeed proposed: 64 (the Whitnall Freeway proposals of the 1960s)
Lowest number that was not ever used as a signed route number or as a proposed route: 272