Strange Route Termini

[Quillz]

CO 55 ends at a random curve about 3 miles south of I-76 in the middle of nowhere.

This is a perfect example of what I meant with California. There is a logical southern extension to US-6. But I guess Colorado is another state so fixated on the overly technical definition of the route (i.e. state maintenance) that they forego practical convenience (i.e. the physical road ending).

I've said many times before there are many ways this can be solved. Putting up signage along with a "NO STATE MAINTENENCE" sign could help. (Or something similar, like "STATE MAINTENENCE ENDS HERE" or whatever).

[kphoger]

CO 55 ends at a random curve about 3 miles south of I-76 in the middle of nowhere.

This is a perfect example of what I meant with California. There is a logical southern extension to US-6. But I guess Colorado is another state so fixated on the overly technical definition of the route (i.e. state maintenance) that they forego practical convenience (i.e. the physical road ending).

I've said many times before there are many ways this can be solved. Putting up signage along with a "NO STATE MAINTENENCE" sign could help. (Or something similar, like "STATE MAINTENENCE ENDS HERE" or whatever).

So, are you advocating that the state erect route shields along stretches of road that aren't actually state routes?

In the Colorado case, more of the road isn't CO-55 than is CO-55.  To me, it seems silly to expect the whole thing to be signed as CO-55, when the majority of it is not CO-55.  To me, a better solution would be for the county to make the non-state portion CH-55 and then sign it as such.

[Quillz]

CO 55 ends at a random curve about 3 miles south of I-76 in the middle of nowhere.

This is a perfect example of what I meant with California. There is a logical southern extension to US-6. But I guess Colorado is another state so fixated on the overly technical definition of the route (i.e. state maintenance) that they forego practical convenience (i.e. the physical road ending).

I've said many times before there are many ways this can be solved. Putting up signage along with a "NO STATE MAINTENENCE" sign could help. (Or something similar, like "STATE MAINTENENCE ENDS HERE" or whatever).

So, are you advocating that the state erect route shields along stretches of road that aren't actually state routes?

Yes. Using shields of a different color scheme or design, but retaining the same number and some kind of notice about it not being state maintaned (i.e. it's a county route) is good for motorists and navigation. From a practical standpoint, I see "Route 55" as still continuing south. A notice that it's now a county route would be fine. Having a route suddenly end at a random curve or street will not give me peace of mind, it makes me think I made a wrong turn or something. A route that has a pretty clear end at another numbered route would make me feel better.

And even in 2026, not everyone has GPS or cell phone service. I just came back from Death Valley which had zero service through 90% of the park. Better hope you either had paper maps or downloaded all the trail data before you got there.

[Quillz]

"To me, a better solution would be for the county to make the non-state portion CH-55 and then sign it as such."

This is actually exactly what I've advocated. Like I said, using a shield of a different color scheme or design, or having some notice about it not having state maintenance, is ideal. Keeping the number going on a road that has a pretty clear extension works well.

In this specific case, it looks like a pretty straightforward road so it's probably not going to induce too much confusion. But in California, cases like 190 across the Sierra/Sherman Pass would be a great example of this. Keeping one number across the mountains, even if the central segment is county/Forest Service maintained.

[Scott5114]

Yes. Using shields of a different color scheme or design, but retaining the same number and some kind of notice about it not being state maintaned (i.e. it's a county route) is good for motorists and navigation.

Until it ends up in the hands of some city or county that absolutely sucks at installing shields. That's worse for navigation, because at least if the route formally ends at the end of state maintenance, you're not expecting shields to be there that aren't there.

Virginia has a similar system to what you propose (state routes being intended to be signed over locally-maintained streets), and it works so well that we have a thread called The Attempt to Fix Virginia Signage Featuring WillWeaverRVA where said @WillWeaverRVA and other roadgeeks have been attempting to badger various cities into actually posting the shields they're supposed to be posting, with mixed results. The fact that it's amassed eleven pages over the course of a year gives you a good idea of how well it's going. (On the most recent page, Richmond appears to have handled the problem by simply removing the ability to report missing signs online, one city is insisting that US-6 passes through Virginia, and another is apparently dodging employees of other city departments which have been recruited to the effort.)

[kphoger]

From a practical standpoint, I see "Route 55" as still continuing south.

I guess we're just different, then.  To me, "Route 55" does not continue south.  If anything, I'm more likely to consider none of it "Route 55" than to consider all of it "Route 55".

A notice that it's now a county route would be fine. Having a route suddenly end at a random curve or street will not give me peace of mind, it makes me think I made a wrong turn or something. A route that has a pretty clear end at another numbered route would make me feel better.

Agreed.  That's why I'd be in favor of—would prefer—the county giving it a signed CH-# designation.  But that's the county's decision to make, not the state's.  If it's a county road rather than a state highway, then the county should be the one deciding how to sign it.  There's no statewide numbering scheme, which means there's nothing requiring Logan County to number it at all.

And even in 2026, not everyone has GPS or cell phone service. I just came back from Death Valley which had zero service through 90% of the park. Better hope you either had paper maps or downloaded all the trail data before you got there.

I have neither a smartphone nor a sat-nav device.  Aren't you old enough to remember when nobody had those things?  We managed to get around.

[Quillz]

"badger various cities into actually posting the shields they're supposed to be posting, with mixed results"

Sounds like the issue with California relinquishment. There are supposed to be locally-maintained shields through the relinquished areas (as relinquishment is supposed to be strictly a case of maintenance) but there rarely is.

[Quillz]

I have neither a smartphone nor a sat-nav device.  Aren't you old enough to remember when nobody had those things?  We managed to get around.

No, I am. I am using that against people who sometimes argue we don't still need shields and signage and what not, because "everyone can just use GPS."

[oscar]

I know of some of the roads in the region that dead-end, by which I mean ending without continuing on a public road, not a designation terminating at a county road.  RMs 1108 and 1165 end at what were originally described as a pipeline booster stations in the designation orders.  FM 2119 ends at an old resource extraction site.  This is a reasonable location, as a once-active site.  FM 2037 ends at a prison.  FM 1832 ends at a Boy Scout camp.  FM 1837 originally ended at a Girl Scout camp, but now the property is listed as belonging to Mitre Peak Ranch.  This might be what you're thinking of.

FM 1112 dead-ends at the entrance to the Marfa Recycling Center. I went there not to clinch the route, but to properly dispose of all the empty aluminum soda cans rattling around behind or under my car's driver's seat, after several days passing through several recycling-unfriendly states.

[WillWeaverRVA]

one city is insisting that US-6 passes through Virginia

Also Richmond.

At least VDOT is responsive most of the time, and in spite of Richmond changing their 311 rules, they have still been posting new signs in various places, so it's at least a bit better than it used to be.

[Scott5114]

one city is insisting that US-6 passes through Virginia

Also Richmond.

At least VDOT is responsive most of the time, and in spite of Richmond changing their 311 rules, they have still been posting new signs in various places, so it's at least a bit better than it used to be.

Given your experiences, do you think that the system many states have, where presence of a numbered route equals state maintenance, would be better than the system Virginia is using?

[CoreySamson]

US 69 Business in Trenton, TX has its northern terminus on a one-way ramp for a seperate interchange and does not directly end at US 69 at its northern end.

[WillWeaverRVA]

one city is insisting that US-6 passes through Virginia

Also Richmond.

At least VDOT is responsive most of the time, and in spite of Richmond changing their 311 rules, they have still been posting new signs in various places, so it's at least a bit better than it used to be.

Given your experiences, do you think that the system many states have, where presence of a numbered route equals state maintenance, would be better than the system Virginia is using?

Yes, absolutely.

But given the system that Virginia has, if the routes exist, they should be signed. After all, the cities and some towns may maintain those routes, but they still get funding from VDOT to do so.

[oscar]

One from Hawaii is a source of some motorist confusion: On Maui, HI 360 in Hana doesn't end at the Hana Hwy/Keawa Place intersection in Hana, even though there is an "end state maintenance" sign on the south side of that intersection. HI 360 instead makes an unsigned left turn onto Keawa Place, down to Hana Bay where the highway comes to an unsigned end near the old Hana Bay wharf.

[flan]

MN:

TH 11 east end at the Sha-Sha Resort seven miles east of International Falls. Ending at the Voyageurs NP entrance would at least make some sense over going all the way to where it does. MnDOT I think has plans to eventually eliminate the route east of I-Falls.

TH 169: stub extends east from Ely after a 40+ mile duplex with TH 1, bypasses the small town of Winton to the south, ends at Power Dam Road on its way into the BWCA

TH 172: similar to 11, ends at Wheelers Point on Lake of the Woods near a resort complex. This was TH 72 until 72 was rerouted to cross the border at Baudette.

Former: TH 25 extended north of Brainerd to the tiny town of Merrifield. Rightly truncated to Brainerd at TH 210 around 2000 in a general overhaul of Brainerd's local state routes..

I'll throw in MN 40's eastern terminus at Kandiyohi CSAH 5 in Willmar, less than a mile south of US 12. It used to continue farther east along Industrial Drive to US 12, but that route is now blocked by a Jennie-O parking lot.

Also MN 28's eastern terminus in Little Falls, where it runs concurrent with MN 27 for twelve miles and ends at the old alignment of US 10 while MN 27 continues eastward.
For North Dakota, ND 19's western end is square in the middle of nowhere (the border between McHenry and Pierce Counties ten miles north of Anamoose) where it turns into a gravel county highway. Similarly, the southernmost section of ND 1806 ends abruptly at the Morton-Oliver County line and continues as a gravel county highway.

ND 16's southern end is two miles south of Golva where it also continues as a gravel county highway, but that terminus isn't even a county line.

The northern terminus of the southern section of ND 8 is a dead end at Lake Sakakawea, though the highway used to be one contiguous segment before the lake was created. But it would make more sense to truncate ND 8 to ND 1806 or at least the community of Twin Buttes.

[Dirt Roads]

For the most part, West Virginia state routes have quite logical routings and termini (that wasn't necessarily so back in my day).  But there are still quite a few oddballs:

• WV-5 eastern terminus at Heaters (no logical connectivity to points further east).   Not sure if the original terminus at Bulltown (prior to construction of Burnsville Lake) was much better, but it did kinda align with WV-4 heading [eastward] towards French Creek -and- Rock Cave.

• WV-15 eastern terminus at Valley Head (no logical connectivity to points further east).  Just looking as the crow flies, it looks like the old State Road Commission might have wanted to head further east across Cheat Mountain to connect to US-250 at Durbin.  But soon after the original highway system was implemented, the Monongalia National Forest expanded to engulf this region (which was barely passable anywhoosit).

• Back in my day, WV-20 southern terminus ended at the Virginia border just short of VA-102.  Historically, the road from Pocahontas, Virginia -to- Welch, West Virginia held some importance (the West Virginia portion remains today renumbered as WV-103), but it would have still been illogical to try to connect a "southbound" route to a "northbound" route.

• Not on my list, but I will get slapped if I don't mention the southern extension of WV-44 to the fairly new section of US-52 and perhaps a bit beyond.

• WV-55 western terminus at US-19 near Muddlety.  I've hashed this one out numerous times, both on MTR and here at AARoads, but in a nutshell the State of West Virginia wanted a scenic corridor across this section and decided that the original section of the Highland Scenic Highway (WV-150) wasn't capable of being maintained during heavy Winter snowfalls.  And old WV-43 runs up high over the Gauley River at Crupperneck Bend.  Got it?  Didn't think so.*

• Does anything about WV-58 make any sense?  It does if you understand the Steelton Addition to the city of Clarksburg.  Good luck.

• The entire eastern segment of WV-63 seems like a tack-on.  It wasn't paved until the early 1960s.  But indeed, this was part of the original route.  On the other hand, a shortcut from White Sulphur Springs -to- Ronceverte ought to make sense.  This one didn't quite pan out.

• WV-65 has had so many strange termini over the years, that I can't decide whether today's version is necessarily "strange" on either end.  But it's history got so entangled with both US-119 and US-52 stepping on top of it that I had to add it to this list.

• Neither end of WV-66 makes any logical sense, but it's the only real way to get to Cass Scenic Railroad -or- Snowshoe.

• The entirety of WV-92 south of Belington gives me the chills.  But going way back, the 1950s extension to Morgantown and beyond was probably worse.

* My father taught me this route back in the mid-1960s long before the WV-55 extension was every conceived, and I've driven it hundreds of times, even back when it was an "Alphabet Route".

[epzik8]

The two that I recall for MD are 137 west and 351 south.

137 ends at an intersection west of MD 25 in Baltimore County. The road eventually became MD 89 in nearby Carroll County. At least 89's end made a tiny bit of sense ending at the Carroll/Baltimore county line.  But 89 was really short and the odd ending were probably reasons why it was decommissioned.

351 was decommissioned.  But it used to end nowhere in particular along Ballenger Creek Pike in southern Frederick county.

This is a hallmark of Maryland's state highway system. Off the top of my head, MD 150 ends at Graces Quarters Road in Chase, MD 165 ends at a former Ma and Pa Railroad crossing in Baldwin, MD 410 at Pennsy Drive in New Carrollton, and MD 277 apparently at a completely random spot in Cecil County. There are surely even more.

[jay8g]

Washington SR 263 ends at a grain elevator in the middle of nowhere. So does SR 194.

[GaryA]

Due to California's (excessive) relinquishment, many routes end at arbitrary points like city limits as opposed to more natural breaks. CA-246, for example, just stops at the western Lompoc city limits, even though the actual road still goes for another 10 miles or so to the coast. (Of course, historically, it used to reach the coast).

CA-246 occurred to me as a strange terminus just because it happens as the highway is exiting the city of Lompoc.  As you way, there are many occurrences of highways that end as they are entering a city that wanted to take over the roadway, but not many as a highway is entering unincorporated county lands.

[ModernDayWarrior]

Some other random Missouri route termini:

MO-32 ends at what seems like an arbitrary spot in downtown Sainte Genevieve instead of continuing on to the Ste. Genevieve-Modoc Ferry on the other side of town. I've never used this ferry, because it's $20 one-way or $30 round trip.

MO-164 ends several hundred feet short of the former Cottonwood Point Ferry terminal. Locals apparently called it the "Scary Ferry." It stopped running in 1976 when the Caruthersville Bridge opened a few miles upstream.

Several routes end at the entrances to state parks, such as MO-144, MO-187, and MO-119. MO-117, which dead-ends inside Indian Trail Conservation Area, is the shortest Missouri numbered route at 0.26 miles in length. Google Street View didn't even bother trying to cover this one.

But my personal favorite has to be MO-12, which for some reason ends at Spring Street in Independence, and continues on as Truman Road. At 3.787 miles in length, it's the second-shortest two-digit Missouri state highway. The shortest one is the road that started this thread, MO-85, which is just 3.414 miles long.

[DandyDan]

But my personal favorite has to be MO-12, which for some reason ends at Spring Street in Independence, and continues on as Truman Road. At 3.787 miles in length, it's the second-shortest two-digit Missouri state highway. The shortest one is the road that started this thread, MO-85, which is just 3.414 miles long.

I thought that one was odd when I was there, but I assume it has something to do with the fact Harry Truman's old house is on the route right before the end.

[Mav94]

A rather large number of Iowa's now-decommissioned state highways had weird, arbitrary ends. iowahighwayends.net is full of them.

[kphoger]

Washington SR 263 ends at a grain elevator in the middle of nowhere.

When looking for Texas examples, I generally ignored any routes that ended at anything resembling agricultural infrastructure.  I figure "farm to market" is part of the purpose of any state's highway network.

[Quillz]

Doesn't really count, but I always thought it interesting how I-35 looks like it should be border-to-border, but it ends just shy of the Mexican border and then just ends in Duluth, MN with little fanfare.

IIRC, US-9 in New York is the same, it doesn't actually touch the Canadian border, instead ending just shy of it.

[Tendies]

AZ-238 (which also breaks state numbering conventions) ends at some random point on the road, at which point maintenance transfers over to the county level. There used to be an END marker, but it was removed between 2014 and 2018. Now there's just a sign stating that maintenance transfers over to the county.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZjgACYLpiTj1pkob8

The north end of I-229 in Sioux Falls, SD has it downgrading to a 2-lane road (really!), called 476th Avenue.

It used to be a dirt road, until they eventually decided to pave a few miles of it in 2007