Is there a term for...

[texaskdog]

...a US highway that closely follows an interstate that has hardly any traffic on it but never gets decommissioned?  Thinking of roads in Oklahoma for example, or US 90 through east Texas. I can't think of a term that fits

[hotdogPi]

I'm not sure if there is a name for it.

I think US 5 in certain places would be another example, though.

[jakeroot]

I would call it functionally obsolete.

[jeffandnicole]

Why would it need to be decommissioned?  Traffic Volumes don't play a part in whose jurisdiction a road should be maintained by or signed, does it?

[TheStranger]

Why would it need to be decommissioned?  Traffic Volumes don't play a part in whose jurisdiction a road should be maintained by or signed, does it?

I think it depends really state-to-state.  For instance, because California had been very aggressive in rerouting US routes to parallel freeways, when Interstate signage came along and supplanted those corridors, the US routes generally were decommissioned in 1964 or later (after having been co-signed with those US routes for a time).  (Some surface street routings remained in the state system but as individual state routes, many then taken out of the system in 1965)

[wxfree]

The most familiar example to me is US 77 in Hill and southern Ellis Counties in Texas.  Based on what I've seen there, I'd call those "de-emphasized highways."

[TEG24601]

Depending on the distance I either call them "Parallel Highways" or "Companion Highways".  Parallel usually means they are a ways away, like US-30 is to I-80 through Nebraska.  Companion are always mentioned at exits, and are often a few blocks or even adjacent to the Interstate.

[Revive 755]

On a somewhat less serious note, I'd nominate:

* The Scenic" Route
* The Way Less Traveled
* The Handy Construction/Incident Bypass route

Must say I like the 'Companion Route' name though

[GaryV]

The old road.

[Scott5114]

I would just call it a bypassed road.

[texaskdog]

"Shadow road" "hanger on"  gotta be something better.  "the old road" is too generic.  Anyone?  Froggie?  Ne2?

[vtk]

Call it a MySpace Route.

[Mapmikey]

How about:

Parallel Route
Companion Route
Grandfather Route


Garfunkel Route?

Mapmikey

[Zzonkmiles]

I'd nominate the following:

Interstate Shadow
"Route Make Sure Your Car Has Enough Gas"
Wide Load Road
"No Tresspassing Sign Buyers Alley" (Seriously, who lives back there?)

US 21 in South Carolina south of Rock Hill and north of maybe Ridgeway is as desolate as it gets because of I-77. There is absolutely NOTHING here.

[texaskdog]

They call our frontage roads "feeder roads" "service roads" ..i'm forgetting a few I'm sure.  THey have like 5 names I would think there could be one for these.

[hotdogPi]

"Route Make Sure Your Car Has Enough Gas"

No. The gas stations are all found on these roads, not the Interstates. It is easier to find gas on the surface roads.

[Brandon]

"Route Make Sure Your Car Has Enough Gas"

No. The gas stations are all found on these roads, not the Interstates. It is easier to find gas on the surface roads.

It is?  Ever been on US-6 between Tonopah and Ely, Nevada?  I-80 has more filling stations.  I can name more than a few downstate Illinois rural highways with fewer filling stations than I-55 or I-57.

[Scott5114]

"Shadow road"

Ooo, I like "shadow route". Not only does it shadow (follow along with) the Interstate route, it's usually outshadowed by the Interstate and becomes a shadow of its former self. I nominate this term.

[vdeane]

"Route Make Sure Your Car Has Enough Gas"

No. The gas stations are all found on these roads, not the Interstates. It is easier to find gas on the surface roads.

It is?  Ever been on US-6 between Tonopah and Ely, Nevada?  I-80 has more filling stations.  I can name more than a few downstate Illinois rural highways with fewer filling stations than I-55 or I-57.

I-80 technically doesn't have any.  You have to get off and use the gas stations on the surface roads near the exits.

[SD Mapman]

"Shadow road"

Ooo, I like "shadow route". Not only does it shadow (follow along with) the Interstate route, it's usually outshadowed by the Interstate and becomes a shadow of its former self. I nominate this term.

Second!

[Henry]

"Shadow road"

Ooo, I like "shadow route". Not only does it shadow (follow along with) the Interstate route, it's usually outshadowed by the Interstate and becomes a shadow of its former self. I nominate this term.

Perhaps ghost highway, even though it really doesn't fit the term like a ghost ramp would.

[Brandon]

"Route Make Sure Your Car Has Enough Gas"

No. The gas stations are all found on these roads, not the Interstates. It is easier to find gas on the surface roads.

It is?  Ever been on US-6 between Tonopah and Ely, Nevada?  I-80 has more filling stations.  I can name more than a few downstate Illinois rural highways with fewer filling stations than I-55 or I-57.

I-80 technically doesn't have any.  You have to get off and use the gas stations on the surface roads near the exits.

Technically, yes.  In reality, including exiting the freeway and getting back on, no.  I would include filling stations at interchanges as being "on" I-80 as they are easily accessible from the freeway.

[agentsteel53]

US-6 is not a "shadow" for any interstate in Nevada, so it is outside the realm of this discussion.  whether or not there are gas stations is determined by how much need there is for gas on US-6, not as a factor of I-80 being in the same state.

[jp the roadgeek]

A shunpike if it parallels a toll road.

[empirestate]

"Oxbow" is a fitting term if the US highway isn't continuous, but loops off from the Interstate in discrete segments.