County Routes in Massachusetts / New England

[Derek]

Was recently driving NB on MA Route 27 in Acton, Mass, when I saw what appears to be a Middlesex County Route sign: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.461317,-71.4551377,3a,18.2y,357.66h,86.06t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1swhH2XmOhgN1cy01NvZoC3g!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DwhH2XmOhgN1cy01NvZoC3g%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D116.89223%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

First, I was under the impression that county routes didn't exist in New England, or if they do, that they are very few and far between.

Second, I can't understand why what appears to be a fairly new county rd. sign would be placed on State Rd. 27. I spoke with a friend who has lived there his whole life and he told me that the sign in question (or perhaps an older iteration of the same one) has been there as long as he could remember.

Does anybody have any insight into this? Is it just a screw-up, or is there something I'm missing?

[Alps]

That's the original AFAIK. No idea where it would have come from or why it has held up so well. You're not missing anything, it's just an oddity.

[NE2]

It's a fuckup.

But supposedly Rhode Island used to have them decades ago.

[dgolub]

But supposedly Rhode Island used to have them decades ago.

Interesting.  The question is: Do they still have them unsigned?  According to the document I got from RIDOT, they don't even have numbers for their unsigned state routes.

[KEVIN_224]

Anything above 372 in Connecticut is unsigned. The Willow Brook Connector (as I call it) in Berlin near the New Britain city line is secret state route 571. I've seen an "S.R. 911" sign on an I-84 overpass before near the Bethel/Danbury city line. I want to say it's with the bridge at Exit 8.

I know Maine still has county seats (i.e. Alfred for York County). Despite living there twice, I have never seen any county route signs.

[Alps]

But supposedly Rhode Island used to have them decades ago.

Interesting.  The question is: Do they still have them unsigned?  According to the document I got from RIDOT, they don't even have numbers for their unsigned state routes.

That's correct. Only the signed routes have numbers. Some signed routes aren't even state maintained (hello, 51).

[cl94]

The only New England state that has them is Maine and they only exist in unorganized areas that are not part of any town. New York is the easternmost state with signed CRs and a widespread system of them.

[dgolub]

Anything above 372 in Connecticut is unsigned. The Willow Brook Connector (as I call it) in Berlin near the New Britain city line is secret state route 571. I've seen an "S.R. 911" sign on an I-84 overpass before near the Bethel/Danbury city line. I want to say it's with the bridge at Exit 8.

I know Maine still has county seats (i.e. Alfred for York County). Despite living there twice, I have never seen any county route signs.

SSR doesn't stand for secret state route but rather special service road, which is what they call the routes in the 400 series.  They generally connect signed state routes to state parks, airports, train stations, or other facilities.  Then they use SR, which stands for state road, for 500 and up, which are just unsigned state routes where the first digit indicates what region of the state they're in.  I-684 and I-691 are exceptions because they're interstates.

[Alps]

Anything above 372 in Connecticut is unsigned. The Willow Brook Connector (as I call it) in Berlin near the New Britain city line is secret state route 571. I've seen an "S.R. 911" sign on an I-84 overpass before near the Bethel/Danbury city line. I want to say it's with the bridge at Exit 8.

I know Maine still has county seats (i.e. Alfred for York County). Despite living there twice, I have never seen any county route signs.

SSR doesn't stand for secret state route but rather special service road, which is what they call the routes in the 400 series.  They generally connect signed state routes to state parks, airports, train stations, or other facilities.  Then they use SR, which stands for state road, for 500 and up, which are just unsigned state routes where the first digit indicates what region of the state they're in.  I-684 and I-691 are exceptions because they're interstates.

Does CT 695 fit the SR pattern or is that a special case of hidden route?

[SectorZ]

Anything above 372 in Connecticut is unsigned. The Willow Brook Connector (as I call it) in Berlin near the New Britain city line is secret state route 571. I've seen an "S.R. 911" sign on an I-84 overpass before near the Bethel/Danbury city line. I want to say it's with the bridge at Exit 8.

I know Maine still has county seats (i.e. Alfred for York County). Despite living there twice, I have never seen any county route signs.

SSR doesn't stand for secret state route but rather special service road, which is what they call the routes in the 400 series.  They generally connect signed state routes to state parks, airports, train stations, or other facilities.  Then they use SR, which stands for state road, for 500 and up, which are just unsigned state routes where the first digit indicates what region of the state they're in.  I-684 and I-691 are exceptions because they're interstates.

Does CT 695 fit the SR pattern or is that a special case of hidden route?

It fits the pattern. The numbering existed before it broke off of what is now I-395.

[dgolub]

Anything above 372 in Connecticut is unsigned. The Willow Brook Connector (as I call it) in Berlin near the New Britain city line is secret state route 571. I've seen an "S.R. 911" sign on an I-84 overpass before near the Bethel/Danbury city line. I want to say it's with the bridge at Exit 8.

I know Maine still has county seats (i.e. Alfred for York County). Despite living there twice, I have never seen any county route signs.

SSR doesn't stand for secret state route but rather special service road, which is what they call the routes in the 400 series.  They generally connect signed state routes to state parks, airports, train stations, or other facilities.  Then they use SR, which stands for state road, for 500 and up, which are just unsigned state routes where the first digit indicates what region of the state they're in.  I-684 and I-691 are exceptions because they're interstates.

Does CT 695 fit the SR pattern or is that a special case of hidden route?

It fits the pattern. The numbering existed before it broke off of what is now I-395.

Right, the state roads in that area of Connecticut are in the 600 series.  Whether the 95 was chosen because it's part of the turnpike or if it's just a coincidence I can't say.

[AMLNet49]

Anything above 372 in Connecticut is unsigned. The Willow Brook Connector (as I call it) in Berlin near the New Britain city line is secret state route 571. I've seen an "S.R. 911" sign on an I-84 overpass before near the Bethel/Danbury city line. I want to say it's with the bridge at Exit 8.

I know Maine still has county seats (i.e. Alfred for York County). Despite living there twice, I have never seen any county route signs.

SSR doesn't stand for secret state route but rather special service road, which is what they call the routes in the 400 series.  They generally connect signed state routes to state parks, airports, train stations, or other facilities.  Then they use SR, which stands for state road, for 500 and up, which are just unsigned state routes where the first digit indicates what region of the state they're in.  I-684 and I-691 are exceptions because they're interstates.

Does CT 695 fit the SR pattern or is that a special case of hidden route?

It fits the pattern. The numbering existed before it broke off of what is now I-395.

Right, the state roads in that area of Connecticut are in the 600 series.  Whether the 95 was chosen because it's part of the turnpike or if it's just a coincidence I can't say.

Either way it fits in nicely as what I call a "Caltrans Interstate". Would be even better if it were signposted but that's never happening to a SR 6xx.

[yakra]

The only New England state that has them is Maine and they only exist in unorganized areas that are not part of any town.

These would be Townways in areas where there is no organized town. So yes, they're maintained by the county, but to call it a "county route" in terms of classification, or as part of any organized system for wayfinding purposes would be a misnomer. Nothing's signed as such, and there are certainly no pentagon county route markers.

As a neato-keen aside, a numeric code (semi-FIPS-ish?) for the county is often (usually?) incorporated into the unsigned inventory numbers of public roads. I forget how exactly how it works, and can't be arsed to look it up. Pore thru the GIS shapefiles long enough and you can see how it works.

[Duke87]

Does CT 695 fit the SR pattern or is that a special case of hidden route?

It fits the pattern. The numbering existed before it broke off of what is now I-395.

Right, the state roads in that area of Connecticut are in the 600 series.  Whether the 95 was chosen because it's part of the turnpike or if it's just a coincidence I can't say.

It's a coincidence. At one point in time several spurs off the Connecticut turnpike were assigned numbers from 991 through 996, and that one was 995. When DOT started assigning unsigned numbers by region, 993 became 693 (Montville Connector), 994 became 794 (Branford Connector), 995 became 695, and 996 became 796 (Milford Parkway). 991 is now part of I-395, Kurumi's site has no record of 992.

[KEVIN_224]

Montville Connector...is that today's CT Route 2A, a.k.a. the road to Mohegan Sun?

[shadyjay]

Montville Connector...is that today's CT Route 2A, a.k.a. the road to Mohegan Sun?

Montville Connector is Exit 78...err... Exit 5 which connects CT 32 to I-395 at the Montville/Waterford town line.

Other turnpike connectors, all which have "secret" routes, except Danielson Connector:
(signed connectors left out - US 7 connector, 8/25 connector, etc)

Sherwood Island Connector, Exit 18
Milford Connector, a/k/a Milford Pkwy, Exit 38
Branford Connector, Exit 53
Hammonasett Connector, Exit 62
Rocky Neck Connector, Exit 72
Danielson Connector, I-395 between Exit 90/35 and 91/38