Respecting US Highways

[geoking111]

I am a big supporter of US Highways. I don't like the fact that some states have decommissioned a US Highway just because an interstate took over its route. I think in some circumstances, it is appropriate to shorten or decommission a US highway. I'd like to see some existing routes extended and some new routes added to the system.

My question is which states are the most disrespectful to US Routes and which states are the most respectful?

Clearly, I think California has the worst record. Michigan and Texas are also pretty bad. Many of the states in the Southeast have a good record.

[Voyager]

California is the most disrepectful for sure, but at least now they're putting up historical US highway markers for it. Then of course CA does have the best US highway as a freeway for nearly it's entire length, US 101, and there's an especially beautiful bridge along it that I was at earlier today!

[Scott5114]

Oklahoma has kept the mostly useless US-266 around. Also, when I-35 was being built, Governor Bellmon (geez, he was Governor a lot) had a law done up to protect US-77 and the towns along it, saying that I-35 had to be within 1 mile of US-77. When US-66 was decommissioned, about half of it became the present-day SH-66. And they're spending a lot of money in Norman to realign US-77 to get it out of downtown and onto a route more suitable for thru traffic that for whatever reason doesn't want to take I-35. US-64 and US-75 are signed along the IDL in Tulsa, and the Interstate route (I-444) isn't signed at all! And whenever there's a concurrency, chances are the US route will be fully signed.

But then again ODOT totally went against the US route numbering system with US 377. See, US 377 ends at Madill. Officially, anyway. ODOT wanted a US route to pass through Ada and up to Stroud, so they submitted a US-377 extension, and got shut down by AASHTO. Tried again with US-177, got rejected. They even tried bringing US-169 down from the south, and of course guess what happened? Finally the ODOT people got tired of dealing with AASHTO and printed up a bunch of US-377 shields and stuck them up without any approval from AASHTO. Not really respectful of the numbering system, I guess. And so now US-377 ends at SH-66 in Stroud. Or maybe I-44. Or something.

California gets some points for posting cutout shields still!

[FLRoads]

Florida has been pretty decent as far as its US highways go.  There have only been a few notable decommissions (namely US 94 and US 541 and probably ALT 129) and very few truncations (US 41 in Miami comes to mind).  The one decommission that nearly happened was US 92.  There were plans to decommission the route entirely because it only stretched across the state and was less than 150 miles in length.  It was decided, however, that retiring the number would have caused major disruption for businesses and residences along the route, so US 92 remains intact.

[DrZoidberg]

With the exception of the former US 16, I think Wisconsin has done a pretty good job.  I wouldn't be surprised if I-41 ever came to be, that they'd sign an I-41/US-41 multiplex.

[Alex]

California definitely is up there, as is Washington with its deep sixing of U.S. 410, U.S. 830, U.S. 295. Throw in Pennsylvania for the removal of a slew of U.S. highways for good measure.

Of course, some remember almost ten years ago when Michigan decided to remove U.S. 27 in favor of an extended U.S. 127, which merits them mentioning in this thread.

[un1]

I really miss when U.S 61 went all the way up to the Canadian border, they replaced it with Minnesota State Route 61.   

[SSOWorld]

How about this - Minnesota and Colorado may not have decommisssioned US Routes that run along the same route as Interstates- but they certainly don't sign them.

[akotchi]

I don't like the practice of realigning U.S. highways onto Interstates as multiplexes, which is done by many states.  Even worse is when a U.S. highway is realigned from a local route to a freeway, then the freeway becomes an Interstate, since the U.S. highway generally does not go back to the original alignment.

To boot, a number of these multiplexes are not signed well.

[geoking111]

Thanks for the great opinions on this topic. I definitely think that US 61 should be extended back to the Canadian border. I also don't like when US Highways are moved onto interstates as multiplexes. Kudos to North Carolina for moving US 117 back to its original alignment after getting approval for I-795

[algorerhythms]

Maryland has a mixed record in this regard. They sign the US-50 freeway as US-50 without signing I-595 at all, but at the same time, they multiplex US-40 with I-68 and I-70 instead of letting it follow its original alignment (which is signed as US-40 ALT, US-40 Scenic, or MD-144 depending on the location.)

[SSOWorld]

Thanks for the great opinions on this topic. I definitely think that US 61 should be extended back to the Canadian border. I also don't like when US Highways are moved onto interstates as multiplexes. Kudos to North Carolina for moving US 117 back to its original alignment after getting approval for I-795

There are exceptions

I-39 in Wisconsin was laid upon US 51, which was expanded for the most part at it's original alignment.  Exceptions to the latter are around Stevens Point, Mosinee, Wausau, and Merrill (which became either Business 51 or a County Trunk Highway)

I-39 in Illinois, on the other hand, follows exactly what you explained.  I-39 was built, and US 51 was redirected along that route. (partially because of the staged signing of the Interstate).  The old US route is now signed as route 251.

[roadgeek]

There is talk of making Old US-27 in Michigan a historical highway as the likes of historical US-66.

[Alex]

Thanks for the great opinions on this topic. I definitely think that US 61 should be extended back to the Canadian border. I also don't like when US Highways are moved onto interstates as multiplexes. Kudos to North Carolina for moving US 117 back to its original alignment after getting approval for I-795

One of the problems that lead to these "useless" multiplexes (when a U.S. highway almost silently merges onto a freeway), is the whole state mileage limitation. I'm by no means an expert on what states have the limits and how they are set up, but this is why Indianapolis and Fort Wayne have all the numbered routes syphoned onto a freeway, and the mileage-swap of Alabama 112 and 181 probably is related to a similar rule for Alabama, which led to all of the U.S. highways in Montgomery shifting to the congested-plagued East and South Boulevards. Additionally a point should be made to point out the ludicracy that is the Interstate 40/BL I-85, U.S. 29, U.S. 70, U.S. 220 mess in Greensboro (which included U.S. 421 until the recent relocation of that route onto Painter Boulevard).

Good topic btw.

[mightyace]

The problem, as I see it, is that the Interstates essentially duplicate the original function/purpose of the US highway routes:  that of long-distance/inter-regional travel.  With the completion of the Interstate system, this has basically left the U.S. routes "without a cause".  Some states decommissioned their US routes as a result.  Some didn't.

Well not all decommissioned routes were replaced by freeways.  In my home state of Pennsylvania, you have both.

US 111 was replaced by I-83.

A small stretch of US 122 became I-176, but most of it was replaced by PA 61 from Sunbury to Reading and PA 10 from Morgantown south.

US 611's north end was replaced by I-81E (now I-380), I-80 and PA 33.  From Easton south, it is about 10-15 miles east of the PA Turnpike northeast extension.  (a.k.a. I-476)  Most of this highway, except the upper end near Scranton is now PA 611.

US 309 was essentially replaced by the PA Turnpike northeast extension (a.k.a. I-476) between Allentown and Philadelphia but the old US 309 is now PA 309.  Between Allentown and Hazleton, 309 goes between the I-476 and I-81 corridors.  It then follows and briefly duplexes I-81 to Wilkes-Barre (as PA 309).  It then departs from the I-81 corridor for its final miles to its current PA 309 terminus in Tunkhannock, PA.  I'm looking at an old 1950 Rand McNally atlas and that shows US 309 duplexing with PA 6 from Tunkhannock to Towanda and US 220 from Towanda to Waverly, NY.  This duplexing was probably dropped when 309 was downgraded from a US route to a PA route as it seems to have been superfluous.

The short US 106 which went from US 6 at Wyalusing to US 11 at New Milford is now PA 706.  This route is not an interstate corridor.

The old US 140 ran from Baltimore, MD to Gettysburg, PA and is now MD 97 and PA 97 though the I-795 freeway outside the NW section of the Baltimore beltway parallels this old route.

Now, while PA had quite a few decommissioned US routes, all of the ones I mentioned happened before I started following highways in the early 70s.

[DrZoidberg]

An interesting question on this topic would be: "Are any new US highways being built, or in the planning phase?"

[Alex]

I'm looking at an old 1950 Rand McNally atlas and that shows US 309 duplexing with PA 6 from Tunkhannock to Towanda and US 220 from Towanda to Waverly, NY.  This duplexing was probably dropped when 309 was downgraded from a US route to a PA route as it seems to have been superfluous.

The short US 106 which went from US 6 at Wyalusing to US 11 at New Milford is now PA 706.  This route is not an interstate corridor.

New York should get a mentioning in this thread, because U.S. 106, 220, and 309 never went anywhere in the state because of some kind of disagreement between government officials there and those who laid out the system. I believe that U.S. 309 may have gone somewhere independent of U.S. 220, and U.S. 220 would have met its parent. Also look at U.S. 104, it never came anywhere close to U.S. 4.

For Pennsylvania, Jeff Kitsko has them all covered here.

[Hellfighter]

I think they should reactivate US-16 along I-96 as an emergeny and/or alt route.

[SSOWorld]

An interesting question on this topic would be: "Are any new US highways being built, or in the planning phase?"

I think they stopped signing them as soon as Interstates were up

[Revive 755]

Illinois is definitely bad at respecting US Highways.  US 54 and US 460 were wiped out or cut back for no good reason.  US 460 was somewhat parallel to I-64, but at least in Illinois it strays a bit from I-64.  US 54 does not have a parallel interstate for its length as IL 54 now.  I think there were also enough unique (non outer road) sections of US 66 left that it could have stayed.  US 51 could easily replace IL 251, and in the southern half of the state it was needlessly shifted onto I-57 - though it's old route had narrow lanes.  US 36 could be shifted back off I-72.  Around the St. Louis area, US 50 was shifted onto I-64 (with part later being shifted again onto I-255), even though parts of the old route are stilled signed just as Route 50 on the traffic lights in O' Fallon.  I'm not sure I have much of a problem with it being put on a freeway through East St. Louis though.

Missouri seems to be a mixed case.  There are a lot of cases where the interstates were built by upgrading an existing four lane divided US route, as is the case with I-70 and I-44, and will be the case with I-64 in St. Charles County, I-49, and maybe I-72, I-66, and whatever number the US 67 corridor south of Festus gets.  US 50, US 61, and US 67 could be shifted onto I-270, but this hasn't happened yet.

Iowa definitely doesn't respect US Highways.  US 6 has had several sections rerouted onto I-80, US 275 has been needlessly shifted onto I-29 between US 34 and IA 92, and US 218 was shifted onto I-380 between Coralville and Cedar Rapids (but that's probably due to US 218 having a non-interstate freeway section south of I-80).

Nebraska seems to respect US Highways, which is surprising since it has a mileage cap.  The only ones I can think of that have been shifted onto interstates are US 6 for the Missouri River crossing with I-480, US 77 around Lincoln (partly due to US 77 being shifted onto the West Bypass for Lincoln), and I think there's a section of US 30 in the far western half of the state that's been shifted onto I-80.  I think I-180 was built over existing US 34.  However, if the East Lincoln Beltway is a state project, I would expect to see US 6 shifted onto I-80 between Exit 409 and exit on the west side of Lincoln.

[mightyace]

New York should get a mentioning in this thread, because U.S. 106, 220, and 309 never went anywhere in the state because of some kind of disagreement between government officials there and those who laid out the system. I believe that U.S. 309 may have gone somewhere independent of U.S. 220, and U.S. 220 would have met its parent. Also look at U.S. 104, it never came anywhere close to U.S. 4.

For Pennsylvania, Jeff Kitsko has them all covered here.

Thanks for the info on New York.  I've always wondered why US 220 ends in the middle of nowhere.  At least that terminus will someday be I-86.

I'm guessing that US 220 and US 309 would have connected with their respective parents in New York if that disagreement hadn't happened.

[US71]

Arkansas is somewhat disrespectful in that the highway department doesn't co-sign the US Routes along the Interstates.

[oldparoadgeek]

An interesting question on this topic would be: "Are any new US highways being built, or in the planning phase?"

Well recently added the US 400 and US 412 combo  which in my opinion is one of the dumbest ideas of the whole highway numbering system.  I mean how did they come up with numbers so disconnected from the rest.  I think this is way worse than I 99.

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

Louisiana historically has seemed to respect its US routes (or "Federal" routes, if you go by what a certain West Coast "highway librarian" says) . There have been no major US highway removals except to eliminate concurrencies of varying lengths for US 11, 51, and 65 that brought those routes into New Orleans, as well as truncating US 71 to remove it from the Baton Rouge vicinity. Also there have been removals onto more efficient alignments such as with US 90 in south La. Those were certainly reasonable, IMO.

With the recent US 425 extension and the truncation of US 65 in favor of that imposter, I might have to revise my opinion. But in all fairness, LaDOTD was probably just thinking about keeping the number of route designations as low as possible. I would guess the route planners there probably don't have a deeper understanding of the US route numbering system such as we do. I don't disagree with the US 425 extension in principle, but really this should be the US 65 mainline; current US 65 could be relegated to US 265 or something similar.

One idea I have kicked around in my head would be to extend US 65 south along LA 15 and then LA 1, LA 20, and finally LA 24 to terminate at either US 90 or LA 182 (old US 90) in Houma; or otherwise truncate and reroute US 61 similarly since Airline Highway has functionally been replaced by I-10 as a intercity through route for the most part. But frankly, by no stretch of the imagination could LA 1 between Donaldsonville and Thibodaux ever be considered for "US" status. The road follows the banks of Bayou Lafourche and while the pavement width is adequate, the road is too winding and indirect to be a good through route of this sort. A multilane bypass of this stretch would change my opinion, though.

[Darkchylde]

How about this - Minnesota and Colorado may not have decommisssioned US Routes that run along the same route as Interstates- but they certainly don't sign them.

In Colorado's case, "officially", the parts of US Highways that run concurrent with Interstates do not exist. That means that while you'd assume some sort of concurrency for, say, US 6 along I-70... not in the eyes of the state. Instead, US 6 and others are segmented, and US 87 doesn't even exist!