Unpopular Route Opinions

[KeithE4Phx]

Why are people so against US highways?  Philosophically, I'm not much of a southerner, but the southern states do respect their US highways.

They do?  Then why do several southern states dual-sign their US highways with state routes?  Georgia comes to mind immediately.

I don't understand the purpose of decommissioning US routes to state routes, when the state still has to maintain the route, but then has spend money on resigning it as a state route?  There are those of us who see value in US Routes as we prefer traversing the back routes across state lines.

All US routes are state-maintained routes.  With the completion of the original Interstate highway system in the '70s, there has been little reason to keep the US highway system.  California got rid of most of theirs 57 years ago.  There is no reason to maintain US highway markings anymore, other than for nostalgia purposes.  Canada does quite well without such a system, with the exception of the handful of Trans-Canada Highways they still sign. 

This is not 1927, or even 1967.  Most people are smart enough to be able to get where they want to go without US highways.  Most trans-continental traffic is via Interstates, anyway.

[hbelkins]

I-99 is OK as a route number designation, and should be extended up I-390.

US 31 between Indy and South Bend does not need to be a full freeway.

[Ned Weasel]

Repeating one- or two-digit numbers within the same system in different geographies is dumb, and the shorter and/or less useful of the two should be a three-digit route number instead.  Example: I-76 in Colorado and Nebraska should be: take your pick of an available I-x70 or an I-x80.

[kphoger]

Repeating one- or two-digit numbers within the same system in different geographies is dumb, and the shorter and/or less useful of the two should be a three-digit route number instead.  Example: I-76 in Colorado and Nebraska should be: take your pick of an available I-x70 or an I-x80.

Personally, I don't think there should ever be two routes with the same number in the same system that don't connect.  This means that, if a segment in the middle is "implied" or removed, then one of the ends should be renumbered at that time.

US-2 ?

[texaskdog]

Long gaps in US routes make a lot more sense than extremely long concurrencies.

[Konza]

California is an isolated case.  As a "corner state", the only US route that entered the state that didn't terminate there was, and still is, US 95.  if the US route numbers were superfluous, I'm OK with the state removing them from their original termination back to a place where they were relevant.

While it is true that most cross-country travel is on interstates, some is not, and there is a benefit to having a second system of highways whose route numbers do not change when you cross a state line.

If a US route is paralleled by an Interstate route from a certain junction to the point where it ultimately terminates, I'm OK with truncating the US route.

[Roadgeekteen]

Why are people so against US highways?  Philosophically, I'm not much of a southerner, but the southern states do respect their US highways.  I don't understand the purpose of decommissioning US routes to state routes, when the state still has to maintain the route, but then has spend money on resigning it as a state route?  There are those of us who see value in US Routes as we prefer traversing the back routes across state lines.

I'm not against all US highways, only ones that have been turned into long interstate business routes.

[roadman65]

Why are people so against US highways?  Philosophically, I'm not much of a southerner, but the southern states do respect their US highways.

They do?  Then why do several southern states dual-sign their US highways with state routes?  Georgia comes to mind immediately.

I don't understand the purpose of decommissioning US routes to state routes, when the state still has to maintain the route, but then has spend money on resigning it as a state route?  There are those of us who see value in US Routes as we prefer traversing the back routes across state lines.

All US routes are state-maintained routes.  With the completion of the original Interstate highway system in the '70s, there has been little reason to keep the US highway system.  California got rid of most of theirs 57 years ago.  There is no reason to maintain US highway markings anymore, other than for nostalgia purposes.  Canada does quite well without such a system, with the exception of the handful of Trans-Canada Highways they still sign. 

This is not 1927, or even 1967.  Most people are smart enough to be able to get where they want to go without US highways.  Most trans-continental traffic is via Interstates, anyway.

Only Georgia. The rest use silent concurrencies.

[Roadgeekteen]

Freeways should always become interstates if they meet standards and make sense as an I-route.

[Max Rockatansky]

Freeways should always become interstates if they meet standards and make sense as an I-route.

How is that an unpopular opinion?  It seems like a lot of posters on this forum would probably agree. 

[Roadgeekteen]

Freeways should always become interstates if they meet standards and make sense as an I-route.

How is that an unpopular opinion?  It seems like a lot of posters on this forum would probably agree.

I have seen too many people want to turn CA 99 back to US 99 instead of I-7 or I-9.

[Max Rockatansky]

Freeways should always become interstates if they meet standards and make sense as an I-route.

How is that an unpopular opinion?  It seems like a lot of posters on this forum would probably agree.

I have seen too many people want to turn CA 99 back to US 99 instead of I-7 or I-9.

That's probably mostly just me.  The only reason I say it because I like to get the Interstate-everything crowd spun up. 

[froggie]

Freeways should always become interstates if they meet standards and make sense as an I-route.

How is that an unpopular opinion?  It seems like a lot of posters on this forum would probably agree. 

Probably because most posters look just at the first part (meet standards) and ignore the second part (make sense).

[Max Rockatansky]

Freeways should always become interstates if they meet standards and make sense as an I-route.

How is that an unpopular opinion?  It seems like a lot of posters on this forum would probably agree. 

Probably because most posters look just at the first part (meet standards) and ignore the second part (make sense).

There certainly are a lot of grid perfectionists and FritzOwl types out there that are into things like Interstate-everything.  The lack of common sense in a lot of the road hobby is one of the aspects about it I find most annoying. 

[Mapmikey]

- US 65 holds the cake for most embarrassing truncation.

US 113 says hold his cake

[empirestate]

Mileage-based exit numbering is grossly overrated.

[Max Rockatansky]

-  The Redwood Highway was a more impressive engineering feat of the California First State Highway Bond Act era than the Old Ridge Route. 
-  US 80 is a way more historically significant route in Arizona than US 66. 
-  FL 4A did more to develop what would become the modern Overseas Highway than the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. 
-  Postmiles still are useful and provide more information to the trained eye than Mile Markers. 
-  Reflective paint signs and button-copy get unfairly ripped on in a modern sense, they certainly were built far longer than reflective vinyl.
-  US 191 over the Coronado Trail, US 550 over Red Mountain Pass and US 212 over the Beartooth Highway make US 129/The Dragon look tame. 
-  The Hoover Dam is just as much of a historic corridor for US 466 as US 93. 

[KeithE4Phx]

Why are people so against US highways?  Philosophically, I'm not much of a southerner, but the southern states do respect their US highways.

They do?  Then why do several southern states dual-sign their US highways with state routes?  Georgia comes to mind immediately.

I don't understand the purpose of decommissioning US routes to state routes, when the state still has to maintain the route, but then has spend money on resigning it as a state route?  There are those of us who see value in US Routes as we prefer traversing the back routes across state lines.

All US routes are state-maintained routes.  With the completion of the original Interstate highway system in the '70s, there has been little reason to keep the US highway system.  California got rid of most of theirs 57 years ago.  There is no reason to maintain US highway markings anymore, other than for nostalgia purposes.  Canada does quite well without such a system, with the exception of the handful of Trans-Canada Highways they still sign. 

This is not 1927, or even 1967.  Most people are smart enough to be able to get where they want to go without US highways.  Most trans-continental traffic is via Interstates, anyway.

Only Georgia. The rest use silent concurrencies.

You're right.  My bad.  I was specifically thinking about Alabama.  On Google Maps, they show both a US and state highway (for example, US 80 and AL 8), but checking with Streetview shows that the state highway is not signed in the field.

[SeriesE]

Number of concurrent routes on a particular stretch should be limited to 2 maximum.

[froggie]

On a few occasions, the state route is cosigned in Alabama, but for the most part they're not.

HOWEVER, on the subject of Alabama, it should be noted that the milemarkers along Alabama's US routes correspond to the underlying state route, not to the US route itself.

[Mapmikey]

On a few occasions, the state route is cosigned in Alabama, but for the most part they're not.

HOWEVER, on the subject of Alabama, it should be noted that the milemarkers along Alabama's US routes correspond to the underlying state route, not to the US route itself.

This is also true of mile markers in Tennessee which also rarely posts the state route with the accompanying US route.

[interstatefan990]

I like to get the Interstate-everything crowd spun up.

You've awoken FritzOwl...

[SkyPesos]

Number of concurrent routes on a particular stretch should be limited to 2 maximum.

Guess we'll truncate I-64 back to its former East St Louis terminus then

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

No freeway should lack a numeral designation. Yes, I'm looking at you, Central Scranton Expressway.


In other news, 222 should probably be downgraded to a state route.

[SkyPesos]

No freeway should lack a numeral designation. Yes, I'm looking at you, Central Scranton Expressway.

So would FL 91 for Florida's Turnpike count even though it's unsigned?