E/W Highways That Maybe Should Be N/S (and vice versa)

[OCGuy81]

I was looking at Google Maps, and got to wondering why certain highways are signed east/west when they appear to travel on more of a north/south pattern.

The few that come to mind

I-24 could be N/S, though this one isn't quite as bad as....

I-26 really seems to head further south than it does east, and the one I really think should be signed N/S is...

I-4, especially since it's routed N/S in the main city that it serves (Orlando)

Any other "angled" highways that are up for debate?

[Brandon]

I-81.  It's really more E-W IMHO than N-S between I-40 and I-78.

I-44 west of I-35.

[hotdogPi]

I-85 is more east-west than north-south, but is signed north-south.
I-82 is more north-south than east-west, but is signed east-west.

There are some routes that are signed either way depending on where you are (US 52, US 62, US 202, all an almost perfect diagonal).

[Brandon]

I-85 is more east-west than north-south, but is signed north-south.
I-82 is more north-south than east-west, but is signed east-west.

There are some routes that are signed either way depending on where you are (US 52, US 62, US 202, all an almost perfect diagonal).

I-85 would've made a great I-30, IMHO.

Oh well.

[vdeane]

NY 8 is more east-west than N-S.  In fact, it's L shaped with the turn at the end of a multiplex; just make the southern section an extension of NY 840 (which would then need to be resigned N-S).

NY 28 is C shaped and signed N-S on nearly the entire route.  This is rather comical as you're actually traveling south at the northern end.  The majority of the road is E-W, it just flips on itself via a N-S segment between Oneonta and Alder Creek.

My interstate pet peeves have already been mentioned.

[PHLBOS]

Had MA 128 been completely exorcised from the I-95 section of the YDH; the remaining Peabody-to-Gloucester segment of 128 would be an E/W highway.

In South Jersey, the short leg of I-76 goes N/S and the mile markers are numbered as such but it's tagged with E/W cardinals.

Once upon a time, and prior to it receiving an Interstate designation; the Schuylkill Expressway was a N/S highway (the original PA 43).  Until recently, old button-copy BGS' reading Schuylkill Expressway Northbound at the PA 291/Passyunk Ave. interchange was the last surviving sign that gave hint of such.

[The High Plains Traveler]

My own list, which I've researched a little to determine actual direction between their two ends, is:

I-82 (should be I-9)
I-85 - this was a surprise to me, but it's actually more E-W by about 100 miles. So, if it were corrected would you choose a number consistent with either end (e.g. I-46 or I-18)? or the average of its ends (I-32)?
U.S. 33 (should be U.S. 32)
U.S. 79. It's pretty obvious that it angles easterly from its beginning. I've thought it would make a good U.S. 88 for its starting position in Texas.

There are also the doubly non-compliant routes like the single-state U.S. 57 and U.S. 96 in Texas.

[JustDrive]

I-980 is north-south, yet it's signed east-west.

[adventurernumber1]

Georgia State Route 20...I don't even know..  It goes east from the Alabama Line then make a circle through the Atlanta Metro Area and ends up going WEST to then end in Hampton. It's east-west most of its way, but to be making a partial circle, I just don't know what I can say about GA SR 20 

[agentsteel53]

Georgia State Route 20...I don't even know..  It goes east from the Alabama Line then make a circle through the Atlanta Metro Area and ends up going WEST to then end in Hampton. It's east-west most of its way, but to be making a partial circle, I just don't know what I can say about GA SR 20 

don't ask about CA-18, then ...

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I-238 runs East-West, yet it is signed North-South due to 'being part of' CA 238.

US 321 in TN, clearly. Runs essentially East-West, yet it is signed North-South with the famous U-turn at Elizabethton.

[Bruce]

WA-16 is signed east-west, but would be better off being north-south. WA-19, anyone?

(The existing WA-19 should be a child route of WA-20, anyway)

[hbelkins]

Any of the diagonals mentioned might qualify, as well as others.

If I-24 and I-26 could (should) be N-S, then I-71 could just as easily be E-W. (And its parallel, US 42, is signed E-W in Kentucky but N-S in Ohio.)

U.S. 33 (should be U.S. 32)

Signed E-W in West Virginia and Virginia.

[The High Plains Traveler]

Georgia State Route 20...I don't even know..  It goes east from the Alabama Line then make a circle through the Atlanta Metro Area and ends up going WEST to then end in Hampton. It's east-west most of its way, but to be making a partial circle, I just don't know what I can say about GA SR 20 

don't ask about CA-18, then ...

Just consider if it still had its original southern terminus in Long Beach.

[dgolub]

How about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (I-278) in New York?  It's signed as east/west even though it's really north/south.  It's especially confusing at the approach to the RFK Bridge, where there's a wrong-way multiplex with the Grand Central Parkway.  The only downside of making it north/south is that I-278 would then be east/west on Staten Island, north/south in Brooklyn and Queens, and then east/west again in the Bronx, changing direction twice within a single state.  Still, it might be less confusing than the current setup.

[pianocello]

US 421 in North Carolina. The freeway section leads almost due east into Winston-Salem, multiplexes with I-40 to Greensboro, and then goes diagonally toward Wilmington. Signing it east-west east of Boone wouldn't hurt anything. (come to think of it, why have the bump at Boone with US 321? It would make more sense if the N-S section of 321 south of Boone became 421, and the Boone-Winston-Salem corridor would be an extended E-W 321. I realize this is jumping into the realm of fictional, though.)

[SD Mapman]

Wyoming signs US 310 as E-W, despite Montana signing it N-S. (187, 789?)

[admtrap]

Georgia State Route 20...I don't even know..  It goes east from the Alabama Line then make a circle through the Atlanta Metro Area and ends up going WEST to then end in Hampton. It's east-west most of its way, but to be making a partial circle, I just don't know what I can say about GA SR 20 

don't ask about CA-18, then ...

Just consider if it still had its original southern terminus in Long Beach.

That'd at least give it a direction.. sorta.  As it stands, both directions ought just be signed   "Snoweath"

[DandyDan]

I believe Iowa signs Iowa 136 as a north-south highway throughout, even though it is east-west from Oxford Junction eastward into Illinois at Clinton.  It would be better served as two highways, with Iowa 136 north of Wyoming getting a different number.

Speaking of highways in Iowa, US 151 seems like an obvious candidate to change to east-west signing, including its route in Wisconsin.

As for my home state of Nebraska, there's the nonsense that is I-76. 

[mjb2002]

I was looking at Google Maps, and got to wondering why certain highways are signed east/west when they appear to travel on more of a north/south pattern.

The few that come to mind

I-24 could be N/S, though this one isn't quite as bad as....

I-26 really seems to head further south than it does east, and the one I really think should be signed N/S is...

I-4, especially since it's routed N/S in the main city that it serves (Orlando)

Any other "angled" highways that are up for debate?

US 52 from S.C. to W.Va. should be renamed to US 53, or become a state highway.

[Rover_0]

Not an entire route, but as US-491 is labeled E-W between the Utah-Colorado state line and Monticello, the same logic should apply for US-89 between Kanab and the Arizona state line near Lake Powell. Whether you agree that US-89 should be labeled E-W or US-491 N-S, some consistency would be nice.

[DandyDan]

US 52 from S.C. to W.Va. should be renamed to US 53, or become a state highway.

The people in Minnesota and Wisconsin laugh at that renumbering suggestion.  I personally would go with US 801 for the segment from Charleston, SC to I-81 near Wytheville, VA and an extended US 21 from Wytheville to the Huntington, WV area.

[bing101]

How about CA 51 Sacramento its North/South but is signed as east west for Business 80.

[texaskdog]

I-81.  It's really more E-W IMHO than N-S between I-40 and I-78.

I-44 west of I-35.

I-81 should be part of I-40

[texaskdog]

My own list, which I've researched a little to determine actual direction between their two ends, is:

I-82 (should be I-9)
I-85 - this was a surprise to me, but it's actually more E-W by about 100 miles. So, if it were corrected would you choose a number consistent with either end (e.g. I-46 or I-18)? or the average of its ends (I-32)?
U.S. 33 (should be U.S. 32)
U.S. 79. It's pretty obvious that it angles easterly from its beginning. I've thought it would make a good U.S. 88 for its starting position in Texas.

There are also the doubly non-compliant routes like the single-state U.S. 57 and U.S. 96 in Texas.

Angled highways should have the 11/22/33/44/55/66/77/88/99 numbers that would be cool.  Like US 62.