Unraveling the US Highway Map

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

Route 66 should still exist. No questions asked.

[Roadgeekteen]

Route 66 should still exist. No questions asked.

I would like that, especially a section in the middle still numbered as SR 66.

[texaskdog]

Route 66 should still exist. No questions asked.

If routes like 11 still exist why not?

[Max Rockatansky]

Route 66 should still exist. No questions asked.

If routes like 11 still exist why not?

It kind of does because essentially there are so many people who have refused to let it fade into obscurity like other deleted US Routes. 

[US 89]

Route 66 should still exist. No questions asked.

If routes like 11 still exist why not?

It kind of does because essentially there are so many people who have refused to let it fade into obscurity like other deleted US Routes.

Even though it's closely paralleled by I-81 and others, US 11 is still around because for the vast majority of its route, the original alignment is still intact and used as a through route. In the case of US 66 and others (99, 91, 40, etc.) the interstate was often built right on top of the old road, and even when it wasn't, the old road was often abandoned and the US route moved onto the interstate. Several US routes became almost entirely concurrent with interstates, only leaving them for business loops through towns. Those routes were generally judged to be redundant and were truncated or decommissioned accordingly.

Personally I disagree with this logic, but that's what most western states went with.

[capt.ron]

The US highway system numbering is broken beyond repair. Some people complain about the Interstates numbers being out of place (example, I-59 being predominately east of I-65). But look at US 79 which for all practical purposes should be way west of where it is now. Then there are oddball numbers (US 400). US 412...being nowhere CLOSE to US 12. US 425 in Arkansas / Louisiana... far away from US 25.

[texaskdog]

US 62 has a pretty ridiculous route. How does a US highway get from Buffalo to El Paso?

plus it has that stupid concurrency with 180, and 180 hops back NW.  I'd truncate 62 and change 180 to 80

[Konza]

US 68 is one I don't understand.  East-west in Kentucky, then north south in Ohio.

Also not crazy about US 52.  It's pretty worthless across Illinois, and could be replaced by US 67 from Clinton, Iowa to St. Paul.  Not sure we need parallel US routes from Minneapolis to Fargo (and if we do, one fo them could be an x10), and we certainly don't need a diagonal route across North Dakota.  Truncate it at US 41.

And I've never understood US 218.  My understanding is that it used to be US 161 south of Cedar Rapids, but when they extended US 151 over its route from Cedar Rapids to Dubuque, they tossed the 161 designation.  They should have gotten rid of 218 instead.  US 218 should be US 161 over its entire length.

[Max Rockatansky]

US 62 has a pretty ridiculous route. How does a US highway get from Buffalo to El Paso?

plus it has that stupid concurrency with 180, and 180 hops back NW.  I'd truncate 62 and change 180 to 80

Demming to the Grand Canyon ought to be US 260.

[texaskdog]

I don't think anyone actually thinks like we do, they could have put roads in any order.  I would have made the longest road #1, 2nd #2 etc.  Started doing this but without an online mapping program it took a while and looked like a mess

[hobsini2]

i'd love to strip them all and start over.  I'd save the double digits for 9 diagonal roads.

Good luck with that. It's hard to do with just 9. Personally, I don't care so much about keeping a grid as opposed to making routes stay in a general direction. For instance, I have no issue with US 52 whatsoever because it runs as a true diagonal from northwest of Minot ND (Portal ND to be exact) to Charleston SC. It keeps it's general direction line.  Same with US 54 and US 62 except for the Buffalo end.

If you want to do something with the diagonal routes that would be unique to them, make them US 1xx and have the xx be in reference to any 2 digit it crosses. For example, US 151 is a true diagonal route and only crosses US 51 once.
For routes that do more paralleling of a parent route, use 2xx, or 3xx.

But as I said, having a true grid is not important to me. Grid guidelines, sure.

[Avalanchez71]

Route 66 should still exist. No questions asked.

If you renumber US 412 to US 66 you would actually fit the grid and have the US 66 number alive.

[texaskdog]

Route 66 should still exist. No questions asked.

If you renumber US 412 to US 66 you would actually fit the grid and have the US 66 number alive.

Maybe if you renumber your avatar it'll happen