Unusual Highway Networks

[talllguy]

Greetings! The OpenStreetMap Community needs your help!

We're creating a list of Unusual Highway Networks so that we can label and shield them on the map. Please comment here if you can think of any shielded, signposted routes that are not the traditional Interstate, US, State, County numbered varieties. These could be anything from named parkways and turnpikes, to more obscure named trails and such.

We're doing this for the benefit of the OpenStreetMap Americana Style, which aims to capture the spirit of classic highway maps that we all love here in a digital format. What ones in your area are we missing in our list? Thanks!!

[Alps]

[1995hoo]

Would Nova Scotia's tourist "trails" count? They have their own distinct route markers (e.g., the Cabot Trail, the Ceilidh Trail, the Fleur-de-Lis Trail, the Evangeline Trail, etc.). Some of them have route numbers dual-posted with the trail markers, some (notably the Cabot Trail) do not.

[US 89]

Tulsa has the Gilcrease Expressway and LL Tisdale Parkway that immediately come to mind.

Oklahoma also has a shield for its turnpikes (examples on the Kickapoo and Kilpatrick), but I bet those are being phased out now that every turnpike has a route number of some kind.

[CoreySamson]

Texas has a few tollways in the Houston and DFW metros with their own special shield without numbers:

Sam Houston Tollway
Westpark Tollway
Fort Bend Tollway
Hardy Toll Road
George Bush Turnpike
Dallas North Tollway
Chisholm Trail Parkway

[formulanone]

- Florida's Turnpike (and the Homestead Extension uses the same shield)
- Osceola Parkway

Not sure if you're counting scenic routes:
- Florida Scenic Route system (various)
- Alabama Coastal Connection
- Georgia Scenic Byways

Former?
- Astronaut Trail (former; mostly coastal A1A and US 1 near Kennedy Space Center).

[SkyPesos]

Pittsburgh's colored highways are the first to come up to my mind for unusual.

[cwf1701]

The former toll roads of Kentucky (many are now interstates).

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Minnesota's "Inter County" lettered routes used by a handful of counties in the central part of the state. They're overlaid on existing numbered county roads and I have never found them to be a useful navigation tool.

[7/8]

Some Ontario ones:

Don Valley Parkway


Gardiner Expressway


Lincoln Alexander Parkway


Red Hill Valley Parkway

[SEWIGuy]

Wisconsin has five scenic byways.

https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/travel/road/scenic-ways/default.aspx

Also the Rustic Roads program

https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/travel/road/rustic-roads/default.aspx

[JayhawkCO]

[Kulerage]

Would whatever the heck Charlotte Route 4 is count?

[bing101]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Highway
Historic route Lincoln Highway.

[hbelkins]

Someone beat me to mentioning Kentucky's parkways.

If you want graphics of the route markers, which are in their second (and in some cases, third) iterations, you could probably contact KYTC's Office of Public Affairs.

Graphics from the original toll roads can be found on some of the historic road maps from the late 1960s and early 1970s, which had parkway strip maps on the back side.

Don't forget there are also routes like the Great River Road, Kentucky Scenic Byways, the named and numbered bicycle routes (USBR 76 and MRT run through Kentucky, and now we have USBR 21 signed as well), the Lincoln Heritage Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway, and others. West Virginia has the signed Highland Scenic Highway that runs along state routes and a series of Byways and Backways that are signed.

[skluth]

There are routes that circumnavigate most of the Great Lakes. I don't know about the Canadian side, but Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior all have coastline routes in the US. I've seen the Lake Michigan Route signs in Wisconsin. Don't know about other states.


The Wikipedia images are better but huge. You can find those at the link in the first line.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

^I believe there's also a generic "Great Lakes Circle Tour" sign in use in some places.

[skluth]

Wisconsin also has their Rustic Road routes

[MATraveler128]

New York’s Parkway System

Saw Mill River Parkway
Palisades Interstate Parkway
Grand Central Parkway
Bear Mountain Parkway
Bronx River Parkway
Sprain Brook Parkway
Belt Parkway
Jackie Robinson Parkway
Moloshu Parkway
Henry Hudson Parkway
Meadowbrook Parkway
Sagtikos Parkway
Hutchinson River Parkway
Cross County Parkway
Southern State Parkway
Wantagh State Parkway
FDR Drive

(Edited to include the rest of them)

[Rothman]

New York's Parkway System

Saw Mill River Parkway
Palisades Interstate Parkway
Grand Central Parkway
Bear Mountain Parkway
Bronx River Parkway
Sprain Brook Parkway

You missed more than a few.

[Alex]

Would whatever the heck Charlotte Route 4 is count?

Charlotte Route 4 is already acknowledged on OpenStreetMap, so it should.

Although its poorly posted, the route was designated as a loop following what was the city limits of Charlotte at the time. It was numbered Route 4 because it was four miles out from Uptown Charlotte.
https://www.aaroads.com/guides/charlotte-route-4-nc/



The Foley Beach Express in Baldwin County, Alabama is another unnumbered route with a unique trailblazer:

[Max Rockatansky]

Fresno County Blossom Trail

0 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Fresno County Orange Blossom Trail

IMG_2314 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

There is a Fresno County Wildflower Trail but when I tried to capture one of the shields it was burnt to a crips (far right on Auberry Road)

IMG_4996 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

When said sign was not cripsy:

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.0605761,-119.3669651,3a,37.5y,341.77h,83.68t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1scy3tWr4d7ih3JBgyYyERoA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

[bing101]

Santa Clara County Expressway System


https://countyroads.sccgov.org/expressway-planning-activities


Montague Expressway
Capitol
San Tomas
Almaden
Laurence
Central
Foothill.




Note other parts of the Northern California have city/county managed expressways but not as systemic as Santa Clara
Vasco
Richmond
Rohnert Park
Air Base Parkway
Capital Southeast corridor (Under Construction as of 2022)

[MATraveler128]

New York's Parkway System

Saw Mill River Parkway
Palisades Interstate Parkway
Grand Central Parkway
Bear Mountain Parkway
Bronx River Parkway
Sprain Brook Parkway

You missed more than a few.

Just edited my last post to include the rest of them. Good catch, Rothman.

[stchuckroadgeek]

The Lewis & Clark trail should also be added.
The trail overview is here:
https://www.nps.gov/lecl/index.htm

Locally it follows Highway 94 where I live