States not upgrading freeways to Interstate Numbers

[NWI_Irish96]

Here is the question I am posing: What is the advantage absent dedicated funding to number a controlled access highway (freeway) to interstate numbering?

If you have an interstate, then you can get a Cracker Barrel

[bwana39]

Here is the question I am posing: What is the advantage absent dedicated funding to number a controlled access highway (freeway) to interstate numbering?

If you have an interstate, then you can get a Cracker Barrel

You probably have that right!

[Scott5114]

Anyways, given how fragmented modern interstate numbers are, they arguably don't communicate much anything.  "Located just off I-69" could mean "right near a major corridor" or "right near a dead-end route where you have to take a US or state route to continue on a surface road".

That applies to maybe four numbers in the entire system, though. 69 (and 69*), 86, 11, and 2. Am I missing any?

But do such factors matter as much?  I-86 hasn't done much for NY's southern tier.  I would think "near the freeway network" would be more important, especially these days when pulling up a location on Google Maps is easy.  If someone is local enough to care about specific designations, they probably already know about things like the Pennyrile Parkway.

The NY-17 Southern Tier Expressway and the Quickway are very well known as to what type of highway they are.

To you, because you're into highways, and to people who live around there. Your average non-road-nerd from out of state wouldn't have a clue.

[stevashe]

Anyways, given how fragmented modern interstate numbers are, they arguably don't communicate much anything.  "Located just off I-69" could mean "right near a major corridor" or "right near a dead-end route where you have to take a US or state route to continue on a surface road".

That applies to maybe four numbers in the entire system, though. 69 (and 69*), 86, 11, and 2. Am I missing any?

72, 73, 74, and 87 to name a few. Plus the routes that were always planned to dead end like 27, 35, 39, etc.

I agree with you in principle, though. The system as a whole is pretty coherent, especially compared to when it was being built. There definitely used to be way more gaps where the interstate designation stopped and started, which is the discontinuity that contributes the most to a system being fragmented, imo.

In fact, living out west, my whole experience with driving on interstates is completely devoid of any fragmentation - if I didn't have the interest to look at maps of other areas the concept of a 2di interstate dead end would be totally foreign to me! The only 2di "dead ends" I've ever encountered on the road are I-5 at Canada and Mexico, where such is expected because of the international border and thus doesn't imply fragmentation.

[Some one]

Texas has never been a big "let's number it I-XX or I-ZXX state. Interstate 69 is the first in over 40 years. Some of it is about making small upgrades to great expense to meet Interstate Standards. Texas Interstates are all (or virtually all) up to all interstate standards.(even to the point of widening existant bridges.)

TXDOT reeeeeally likes tollways. A lot more than interstates. Though lately we've gotten I-2 and I-14, and soon (er or later) an extension of I-27 and I-49 (though I-49 will be in Texas for like, 2 or 3 miles).

[Flint1979]

Other than completing I-69 to Port Huron, Michigan seems to have no interest in pursuing interstate designations for other existing freeways.  It's happy with keeping the M-6, M-14, US-127, US-131, and US-31 designations.  (All of these would be 3dis, but that's beside the point.)

I would add a more specific supplemental follow-up question to the OP:  Has any study shown that an interstate route number, and not the new construction or upgrading of a state/US route freeway facility, is responsible for any "economic development"?

That's about right. Michigan was done building interstates when the last stretch of I-69 opened in 1992.

I don't see where they would put another one anyway. Upgrading the ones we already have seems to be a project.

[kevinb1994]

NJ has NJ 55 that could be an ×76 but NJ wont allow NJ Turnpike an x95 designation south of Exit 6 as they are happy with what they got.

Kansas could have US 54 in Wichita become I-535 as it was arterial upgraded to freeways.

NJ-55 and the Atlantic City Expressway could in theory be an extension of I-76 itself to Atlantic City.

NJ 24 should be interstate as it connects two already.

It was supposed to connect with and perhaps become an extension of I-278 but NIMBYs.

[TheStranger]

In fact, living out west, my whole experience with driving on interstates is completely devoid of any fragmentation - if I didn't have the interest to look at maps of other areas the concept of a 2di interstate dead end would be totally foreign to me! The only 2di "dead ends" I've ever encountered on the road are I-5 at Canada and Mexico, where such is expected because of the international border and thus doesn't imply fragmentation.

There are 3 other 2di "dead ends" in California if that is referring to terminus points that are not other Interstates:

I-8 ends west of I-5 near Sea World
I-80 ends at US 101 (Central and Bayshore freeways) in San Francisco, though it was originally planned to end at the never-constructed I-280 alignment through Golden Gate Park
I-10 ends at the short Route 1 freeway segment in Santa Monica

I-15 is an interesting case, should the CA 15 segment eventually be included - is I-5 the true southern terminus then, or South 32nd Street?

[vdeane]

To clarify when I was talking about a dead-end route (I originally was going to write "dead-end stub" before realizing that stub implied stub ramps) wasn't anything that happened to not end at an interstate, like I-27 or I-90, but to refer to short sections of 2di routes that just end because the rest hasn't been built, like I-69 in Mississippi, I-87 in NC, I-86 east of Binghamton, etc.

[CardInLex]

Here is the question I am posing: What is the advantage absent dedicated funding to number a controlled access highway (freeway) to interstate numbering?

If you have an interstate, then you can get a Cracker Barrel

Danville, KY was allegedly (rumor has it) the first Cracker Barrel to not be on an interstate. Over 36 miles to I-75 and 43 miles to I-64.

[Beltway]

The NY-17 Southern Tier Expressway and the Quickway are very well known as to what type of highway they are.

To you, because you're into highways, and to people who live around there. Your average non-road-nerd from out of state wouldn't have a clue.

Pretty much many people in southern New York and northern Pennsylvania.

I know "average non-road-nerds" in the Buffalo area that know those names.

[Scott5114]

The NY-17 Southern Tier Expressway and the Quickway are very well known as to what type of highway they are.

To you, because you're into highways, and to people who live around there. Your average non-road-nerd from out of state wouldn't have a clue.

Pretty much many people in southern New York and northern Pennsylvania.

I know "average non-road-nerds" in the Buffalo area that know those names.

How about average non-road-nerds in Minneapolis, Minnesota? Tucson, Arizona? Los Alamitos, California?

[Revive 755]

There was a period in the late 1980s/early 1990s where federal law allowed 65-mph speed limits on rural Interstates only, so during that period there was an advantage to giving a road an Interstate number to make it eligible for the higher speed limit. Obviously, that advantage ended in 1995.

Except Iowa has a state level law giving interstates a slight speed limit advantage.  A few other states (IL, IN, and NE?) are the same in only interstates get the highest posted speed limits in the state.

[Beltway]

The NY-17 Southern Tier Expressway and the Quickway are very well known as to what type of highway they are.

To you, because you're into highways, and to people who live around there. Your average non-road-nerd from out of state wouldn't have a clue.

Pretty much many people in southern New York and northern Pennsylvania.
I know "average non-road-nerds" in the Buffalo area that know those names.

How about average non-road-nerds in Minneapolis, Minnesota? Tucson, Arizona? Los Alamitos, California?

What about them?

How many will need to know unless they are planning a trip there.  Then they can consult a map and see that in the legend that it is a Controlled Access Highway with 4 or more lanes.

[sprjus4]

How about a business looking to move to a new location that's not local? Interstate access is key for many. Being located off I-86 is a much better sell than being located off NY-17.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Here is the question I am posing: What is the advantage absent dedicated funding to number a controlled access highway (freeway) to interstate numbering?

If you have an interstate, then you can get a Cracker Barrel

Danville, KY was allegedly (rumor has it) the first Cracker Barrel to not be on an interstate. Over 36 miles to I-75 and 43 miles to I-64.

What I find more surprising is it's not even freeway-adjacent. The only non-Interstate Cracker Barrel I've ever seen was on US 75 in Sherman, TX, which is still freeway-grade.

[Beltway]

How many businesses are "looking to move to a new location that's not local"?

That's probably much rarer and much more complicated (think of moving all those employees and building new physical plant) than the Interstate-boosters think it is.

[NWI_Irish96]

Here is the question I am posing: What is the advantage absent dedicated funding to number a controlled access highway (freeway) to interstate numbering?

If you have an interstate, then you can get a Cracker Barrel

Danville, KY was allegedly (rumor has it) the first Cracker Barrel to not be on an interstate. Over 36 miles to I-75 and 43 miles to I-64.

What I find more surprising is it's not even freeway-adjacent. The only non-Interstate Cracker Barrel I've ever seen was on US 75 in Sherman, TX, which is still freeway-grade.

There's been one in Kokomo, IN, for as long as I can remember.  It's 31 miles from the nearest interstate, which was also the nearest freeway until recently when a new US 31 bypass was built.  There are a handful of non-freeway locations here and there, but it seems that their general strategy is to be near freeway exits.

[fillup420]

Here is the question I am posing: What is the advantage absent dedicated funding to number a controlled access highway (freeway) to interstate numbering?

If you have an interstate, then you can get a Cracker Barrel

Danville, KY was allegedly (rumor has it) the first Cracker Barrel to not be on an interstate. Over 36 miles to I-75 and 43 miles to I-64.

What I find more surprising is it's not even freeway-adjacent. The only non-Interstate Cracker Barrel I've ever seen was on US 75 in Sherman, TX, which is still freeway-grade.

There's been one in Kokomo, IN, for as long as I can remember.  It's 31 miles from the nearest interstate, which was also the nearest freeway until recently when a new US 31 bypass was built.  There are a handful of non-freeway locations here and there, but it seems that their general strategy is to be near freeway exits.

Boone, NC has a cracker barrel in the middle of town. its about 50 miles from I-77 to the east or I-40 to the south

[Henry]

IIRC, WA 18 was to be incorporated into I-605, which would've been the outer bypass of Seattle. But since that plan is dead, there really is no need to upgrade what is already there.

[Rothman]

How about a business looking to move to a new location that's not local? Interstate access is key for many. Being located off I-86 is a much better sell than being located off NY-17.

Not really.  Even then, you look at a map and drive through there and say, "There's nothing out here but trees and rust."

I think the benefit of the shield is exaggerated, especially in the eyes of local officials when faced with economic realities.  Unfortunately, you can spend millions on upgrades because of the desperation and then...you're not that much better off.

[hbelkins]

Here is the question I am posing: What is the advantage absent dedicated funding to number a controlled access highway (freeway) to interstate numbering?

If you have an interstate, then you can get a Cracker Barrel

Danville, KY was allegedly (rumor has it) the first Cracker Barrel to not be on an interstate. Over 36 miles to I-75 and 43 miles to I-64.

Jason Ilyes could probably answer the question as to the first Cracker Barrel not on an interstate.

There's another one in Kentucky. A location opened in Middlesboro a few years ago.

I'm pretty sure Pigeon Forge, Tenn., has had one for years. It's not directly on an interstate, but isn't that far from I-40,and is in a busy tourist area.

[Big John]

There is a Cracker Barrel on I-41 in Germantown WI, but it was there long before the Interstate was there.

[CtrlAltDel]

The Cracker Barrel farthest from an Interstate that I am aware of is on a regular stretch of arterial highway in Bradenton FL. It's about 8 miles away from I-75, and it's not even particularity easy to get there from there. I'm a bit surprised that they located it where they did, although I eat there somewhat often, since my grandmother likes it.

[Bruce]

Network legibility would be a huge benefit. If a road is built to Interstate standards and has a functional use within the network, it should be incorporated as such. It's easier for people to use and understand, which prevents confusion for visitors and new transplants.