Weird Routes

[Max Rockatansky]

Did the thread title change again?

[Flint1979]

Did the thread title change again?

Yeah I thought it was just weird routes. Oh well same thing I guess.

[MCRoads]

Did the thread title change again?

Yeah, there was some drama regarding the first title of this thread. You can probably figure it out, just by the premise of the thread. But, that is enough said about that.

There are plenty of useless routes in Colorado (CO101, CO53, CO394, CO317, and CO239 jump to the top of the list).  But the most random routing is probably CO30.  Takes over when US285 ends at I-25, has to turn north otherwise it would run into the Cherry Creek Reservoir, cuts east again at 6th Ave and then instead of ending at I-225 which would make some sense, keeps going around Buckley Air Force Base and then ends at Quincy Avenue, which isn't a particularly important intersection. 

For the record, the blue dot is my house (that I just noticed was on the snip). 

Chris

CO115 is kind of weird, too, dipping south to Florence before heading back up north to Cañon City.

https://goo.gl/maps/ye7nuRXoZWNka53WA

To make this route even weirder, according to Wikipedia, it continues north all the way to the CO21/83 intersection. If it does, there is no evidence of signage.

[kphoger]

CO115 ... dipping south to fluoresce ...

Now, that's something I'd like to see!   

[JayhawkCO]

CO115 ... dipping south to fluoresce ...

Now, that's something I'd like to see!   

We can't get the reflectors on our lane lines here unlike Arizona and others.  Maybe this is our way?

Chris

[MCRoads]

CO115 ... dipping south to fluoresce ...

Now, that's something I'd like to see!   

We can't get the reflectors on our lane lines here unlike Arizona and others.  Maybe this is our way?

Chris

I was really confused until I realized there was a typo.

That would be really cool, however, my damn phone refuses to acknowledge that "Florence"  is a word. (to type it, I have to actively stop it from "correcting"  the name. Thanks apple!)

[kphoger]

Yeah, any program that thinks "fluoresce" is a more likely entry than "Florence" has . . . issues.

[MCRoads]

Yeah, any program that thinks "fluoresce" is a more likely entry than "Florence" has . . . issues.

Crap like this doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's really annoying.

[1995hoo]

Did the thread title change again?

Yeah, there was some drama regarding the first title of this thread. You can probably figure it out, just by the premise of the thread. But, that is enough said about that.

....

It looks like the original reply #150 on that issue disappeared.

[sparker]

Yeah, any program that thinks "fluoresce" is a more likely entry than "Florence" has . . . issues.

Crap like this doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's really annoying.

Reasons #1-50 inclusive why I disabled Spellcheck years ago and have no intention of putting it back. 

[MCRoads]

Yeah, any program that thinks "fluoresce" is a more likely entry than "Florence" has . . . issues.

Crap like this doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's really annoying.

Reasons #1-50 inclusive why I disabled Spellcheck years ago and have no intention of putting it back.

Spellcheck is useful, because there are some words I just can't spell. For instance, "Cinicinati" . I know it's spelled wrong, but I purposely overrode the correction to show what I wrote unassisted.

[roadman65]

Spell Check can also not help like with environment. I had to use a dictionary to find the correct spelling as I would spell it as it's pronounced: E-N-V-I-O-R- M- E-N-T, and the dumb tool was clueless on what I was attempting and therefore did not remotely attempt to correct it.

[sparker]

Yeah, any program that thinks "fluoresce" is a more likely entry than "Florence" has . . . issues.

Crap like this doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's really annoying.

Reasons #1-50 inclusive why I disabled Spellcheck years ago and have no intention of putting it back.

Spellcheck is useful, because there are some words I just can't spell. For instance, "Cinicinati" . I know it's spelled wrong, but I purposely overrode the correction to show what I wrote unassisted.

Suggestion: keep two things near your computer:  a real (i.e. book) dictionary (also a thesaurus if you've got the room) and a road atlas.  Sometimes the "old school" methods we old farts learned decades ago remain valid! 

[hotdogPi]

Spell Check can also not help like with environment. I had to use a dictionary to find the correct spelling as I would spell it as it's pronounced: E-N-V-I-O-R- M- E-N-T, and the dumb tool was clueless on what I was attempting and therefore did not remotely attempt to correct it.

It's one letter off, and there are no other words that are anywhere close. It really should be able to fix this one.

[SEWIGuy]

Yeah, any program that thinks "fluoresce" is a more likely entry than "Florence" has . . . issues.

Crap like this doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's really annoying.

Reasons #1-50 inclusive why I disabled Spellcheck years ago and have no intention of putting it back.

Spellcheck is useful, because there are some words I just can't spell. For instance, "Cinicinati" . I know it's spelled wrong, but I purposely overrode the correction to show what I wrote unassisted.

Suggestion: keep two things near your computer:  a real (i.e. book) dictionary (also a thesaurus if you've got the room) and a road atlas.  Sometimes the "old school" methods we old farts learned decades ago remain valid! 

You don't need a book dictionary. An online one works just as well and is easier to use.

[Scott5114]

I'm as supportive of paper books and maps as much as the next person, but paper dictionaries face some pretty bad limitations. Putting the ease of use concerns aside, paper dictionaries are limited to the number of pages, and thus number of entries, they can include due to cost reasons. This means that more obscure terms tend to be excluded, while online dictionaries with no such cost concerns can include them. Additionally, while online dictionaries can be updated and expanded as usage changes, dead-tree dictionaries are fixed in their contents, and thus are merely a time capsule recording usage as of its printing date.

My dead-tree dictionary was purchased in the early 2000s, and thus while it contains a rudimentary survey of Web 1.0 computing terminology, newer terms like blockchain are of course absent, as are words related to social media culture like selfie and shadowban. Recent slang is also missing, of course. I find myself looking up slang terms I don't recognize all the time (I am becoming a somewhat old fart so I don't often adopt them into my vocabulary, but sometimes I find one I like).

[mrcmc888]

DE-34 went away because of this, it was a 3 mile connector between Newport Gap Pike and Dupont Road north of I-95 that served nothing but houses.  Absolutely zero reason for it to have a number.

In terms of state routes that are still around, I'd say DE-202.  Why DelDOT thought the 1 mile stub end of what used to be US-202 should keep a number is beyond me.  It's a fairly unremarkable, 2-lane city street almost the entire length.

[kphoger]

Spell Check can also not help like with environment. I had to use a dictionary to find the correct spelling as I would spell it as it's pronounced: E-N-V-I-O-R- M- E-N-T, and the dumb tool was clueless on what I was attempting and therefore did not remotely attempt to correct it.

I actually pronounce the n before the -ment.

It's one letter off, and there are no other words that are anywhere close. It really should be able to fix this one.

It isn't just one letter off.  Two letters are inverted, and it's missing another letter entirely.

But yes, it should have known what he meant to type.



The other day, our internet was down at work and I needed to write the word 'adapters' on a box.  But I couldn't remember if it was supposed to end with -ers or -ors.

So I started typing it both ways into my cell phone's stock text messaging program, and both spellings are apparently in its lexicon.  No help.

Then I texted my wife to look up which way it's spelled.  She couldn't remember either, so she searched online–and found both spellings there too.  D'oh!  It was only because, when she clicked on 'adaptors', it went to an online dictionary entry for 'adapters' instead, that she figured out the correct spelling for me.

[sparker]

Spell Check can also not help like with environment. I had to use a dictionary to find the correct spelling as I would spell it as it's pronounced: E-N-V-I-O-R- M- E-N-T, and the dumb tool was clueless on what I was attempting and therefore did not remotely attempt to correct it.

I actually pronounce the n before the -ment.

It's one letter off, and there are no other words that are anywhere close. It really should be able to fix this one.

It isn't just one letter off.  Two letters are inverted, and it's missing another letter entirely.

But yes, it should have known what he meant to type.



The other day, our internet was down at work and I needed to write the word 'adapters' on a box.  But I couldn't remember if it was supposed to end with -ers or -ors.

So I started typing it both ways into my cell phone's stock text messaging program, and both spellings are apparently in its lexicon.  No help.

Then I texted my wife to look up which way it's spelled.  She couldn't remember either, so she searched online–and found both spellings there too.  D'oh!  It was only because, when she clicked on 'adaptors', it went to an online dictionary entry for 'adapters' instead, that she figured out the correct spelling for me.

One of my businesses is a retail vintage audio store; we have bought "adapters" of various types on a pretty regular basis, and the suppliers (or importers, as the case usually is) seem to alternate between "adapter" and "adaptor" with little or no consistency in that regard.  FWIW, one thing I have noticed:  Eastern European-made products cite "adaptor" more frequently than those from East Asia.   

[froggie]

Unless I missed it, nobody has yet mentioned VA 165 in this thread.

[Quillz]

CA 77 and it's tiny half mile freeway lacking a full interchange.

LOL only 1/2 a mile? That's literally just a long stretch of an avenue without a traffic light! Yeah over here we have a road called the "Prospect Expressway" that's only like 1.7 miles long, but half a mile LMAO

Shortest field signed State Highway in California.  Grander ambition would have had it much larger in scale than it turned out.

Even at full length it would have qualified as a "weird route", taking a convoluted path through the Oakland hills and ending up at I-680 in Pleasant Hill.  Trouble was it went through a lot of ultra-pricey property in Moraga and Lafayette along the route, so its prospects were pretty dim from the beginning (it was cut back in the '70's to Lafayette) -- and once the urban freeway revolt was in full swing circa the '70's, the entire alignment was pretty much toast. 

Nevertheless, if one wants weird-shaped routes, you can't do much better than CA 18: from its southern terminus at CA 210 it goes north for several miles, east for several more, winding through mountains (after all, it's labeled the "Rim of the World" highway) before crossing between two lakes (one mostly dry) and then heading nortwest out of the mountains before striking out west across the desert.  And it has one of the few "mutual terminations" in the state:  CA 138 terminates at CA 18 near Crestline, while CA 18 terminates at CA 138 out in the desert near the L.A./San Bernardino county line between Phelan and Pearblossom. 

Came in to see if anyone had mentioned CA-18. And don't forget its historical alignment had it extend southwest down to around Long Beach, using the alignment that is today CA-91. This is actually why it was numbered "18," because the number made sense relative to the other routes of the era (original CA-14, CA-22 (still exists) and CA-26, for example). That kind of made it even weirder: a relatively straightforward urban route, then does a northeast swing and basically completely inverts itself coming down the north side of the mountains. Even Caltrans doesn't really post directional signage on this route for the most part.

One that I don't think got mentioned yet is CA-169. It's not really "weird" per se, but unrealized. Has an unconstructed 30-mile gap between its two pieces. So you've got the western piece that basically runs for about 2 miles and just ends. The eastern piece is a fairly conventional highway, except roughly half of its route is narrow, maybe 1.5 lanes wide. Similar to the dreaded CA-236. So you've got an unrealized route that isn't very wide in a very remote part of the state. It's one of those routes that is fairly well signed but is completely forgettable.

[Max Rockatansky]

CA 77 and it's tiny half mile freeway lacking a full interchange.

LOL only 1/2 a mile? That's literally just a long stretch of an avenue without a traffic light! Yeah over here we have a road called the "Prospect Expressway" that's only like 1.7 miles long, but half a mile LMAO

Shortest field signed State Highway in California.  Grander ambition would have had it much larger in scale than it turned out.

Even at full length it would have qualified as a "weird route", taking a convoluted path through the Oakland hills and ending up at I-680 in Pleasant Hill.  Trouble was it went through a lot of ultra-pricey property in Moraga and Lafayette along the route, so its prospects were pretty dim from the beginning (it was cut back in the '70's to Lafayette) -- and once the urban freeway revolt was in full swing circa the '70's, the entire alignment was pretty much toast. 

Nevertheless, if one wants weird-shaped routes, you can't do much better than CA 18: from its southern terminus at CA 210 it goes north for several miles, east for several more, winding through mountains (after all, it's labeled the "Rim of the World" highway) before crossing between two lakes (one mostly dry) and then heading nortwest out of the mountains before striking out west across the desert.  And it has one of the few "mutual terminations" in the state:  CA 138 terminates at CA 18 near Crestline, while CA 18 terminates at CA 138 out in the desert near the L.A./San Bernardino county line between Phelan and Pearblossom. 

Came in to see if anyone had mentioned CA-18. And don't forget its historical alignment had it extend southwest down to around Long Beach, using the alignment that is today CA-91. This is actually why it was numbered "18," because the number made sense relative to the other routes of the era (original CA-14, CA-22 (still exists) and CA-26, for example). That kind of made it even weirder: a relatively straightforward urban route, then does a northeast swing and basically completely inverts itself coming down the north side of the mountains. Even Caltrans doesn't really post directional signage on this route for the most part.

One that I don't think got mentioned yet is CA-169. It's not really "weird" per se, but unrealized. Has an unconstructed 30-mile gap between its two pieces. So you've got the western piece that basically runs for about 2 miles and just ends. The eastern piece is a fairly conventional highway, except roughly half of its route is narrow, maybe 1.5 lanes wide. Similar to the dreaded CA-236. So you've got an unrealized route that isn't very wide in a very remote part of the state. It's one of those routes that is fairly well signed but is completely forgettable.

CA 18 wasn't so weird until 1964 when the stretch west of Victorville was added via what had been unconstructed LRN 268.  CA 169 makes more sense when you consider it was intended to be part of CA 96 (and even appears on 1930s era commercial maps as such) when originally envisioned.  Given CA 169 serves some rural Native American communities I don't see how having a state highway to them is per se "weird"  even if the connecting segment is in complete in the middle.  Similarly CA 236 serves a state park (poor Big Basin) and was the original alignment of CA 9. 

Probably the ultimate in weird California State Routes is the Zombification of CA 225.  The highway has been relinquished down to about 0.09 miles in length and consists solely of a railroad underpass.  It can be observed very much alive on the Caltrans Postmile tool on Castillo Street south of US 101 in Santa Barbara. 

[kenarmy]

LA 3220 is just a ~420 foot swing bridge.

[TheGrassGuy]

The graveyard one in Texas

[Max Rockatansky]

The graveyard one in Texas

TX 165 in Texas State Cemetery.