Respecting US Highways

[mightyace]

In Colorado's case, "officially", the parts of US Highways that run concurrent with Interstates do not exist. That means that while you'd assume some sort of concurrency for, say, US 6 along I-70... not in the eyes of the state. Instead, US 6 and others are segmented, and US 87 doesn't even exist!

Did Colorado do the logical thing and not sign the concurrent (duplexed) sections or do they sign these non-existent highways?

[SSOWorld]

I seem to remember exactly one set of signs on I-70 with US 6, 87 (and 287?) in Denver but that was back in 2004.

[Darkchylde]

I'll just point you here, it's where I found out about this: http://www.geocities.com/mapguygk07/Misc/US87inCO/index.htm

[akotchi]

I think Utah also does that with their Interstate/U.S. overlaps.  I was in Salt Lake City recently for design issues on Legacy Parkway and noticed one piece of U.S. 89 at M.P. 333 just before joining I-15, then upon exiting I-15 (6 miles or so later), seeing M.P. 334.  No overlap signing on the I-15 mainline (until I put some in at the north end of the overlap).

[US71]

In Colorado's case, "officially", the parts of US Highways that run concurrent with Interstates do not exist. That means that while you'd assume some sort of concurrency for, say, US 6 along I-70... not in the eyes of the state. Instead, US 6 and others are segmented, and US 87 doesn't even exist!

I was in Wyoming for a week in 2007 and I remember seeing no signs for US 87 along I-25 until I crossed into Wyoming. Then, it sort of "magically" appeared.

That's not totally unlike Arkansas, except our highways still exist, but just aren't posted. AHTD explained that once and their answer was "we only sign the main route". 

[ComputerGuy]

Washington does respect its U.S. routes...we still have an infamous US 99 sign in Downtown Seattle

[Alex]

The quote aspect keeps not working, oops on the "edit by aaroads"

Anyway:

Washington does respect its U.S. routes...we still have an infamous US 99 sign in Downtown Seattle

No they don't, they got rid of U.S. 830, U.S. 410, U.S. 295. I can understand the demise of U.S. 10 and U.S. 99, but those others existed without a parallel freeway (and I don't count I-84 in Oregon for U.S. 830).

[ComputerGuy]

Reasons:

AASTO says no more in-state U.S. Routes (bye bye US 830, US 295)
No need for US 410, replaced by US 12

[Alex]

Its still disrespecting U.S. highways. That AASHTO rule is a disrespect to U.S. highways IMHO. There are still merits for U.S. highways, even if they are less than 300 miles or intrastate.

[FLRoads]

I concur, AARoads. And it seems the rules for decommissioning U.S. highways less than 300 miles applies to some states but not others. Take for instance U.S. 192 in Florida. It stretches less than a 100 miles from U.S. 27 east to Florida A1A in Melbourne. If this U.S. highway still exists, then why not others?

So, CG, the rule you stated about AASHTO saying no more in-state routes has no merit.

[ComputerGuy]

Oh...well WSDOT believed in it long before I was born..I couldn't of stopped it...oh well, at least they still exist as state routes.

[Alex]

Well no one of us could have stopped it, the point of the thread is our opinions on what state disrespected its US highways. For that, I think that Washington disrespected theirs because of US 410, US 830, and US 295's decommissioning. That's just my personal preference 

[ComputerGuy]

If I could, I'd bring back them all and extend them like this:

US 410: Tacoma to Lewiston, ID to Boise
US 830: Raymond to Kelso to Vancouver to Plymouth to Pasco to Walla Walla to Pendleton
US 295: Dayton to Colfax to Pullman to Boise

[un1]

Well Manitoba certainly doesn't disrespect them that much (Yes, Manitoba). You know why Highway 75 is called that, because it runs from where US 75 terminated at one time to Winnipeg, US 75 doesn't even end there anymore but Manitoba didn't change it yet.

[ComputerGuy]

On a lighter note:

BC numbered their system to match WA's (e.g. US 99 in WA, BC-99 in BC) but WA changed in '64 and they haven't changed. Here's the U.S. and state route comparisons between WA, ID and BC.

WA-BC

I-5 (former US 99) - BC-99
US 97 - BC-97
US 395 - BC-395

ID-BC

SH-1 - BC-23
US 95 - BC-95

[Alex]

I agree that it is to a point. U.S. 630 in Oregon had little merit for instance.

[BigMattFromTexas]

I have just about no choice but to respect U.S Highways because thats all that San Angelo, Tx has. And i like U.S Highways better than Interstates

[florida]

Florida has been pretty decent as far as its US highways go.  There have only been a few notable decommissions (namely US 94 and US 541 and probably ALT 129) and very few truncations (US 41 in Miami comes to mind).  The one decommission that nearly happened was US 92.  There were plans to decommission the route entirely because it only stretched across the state and was less than 150 miles in length.  It was decided, however, that retiring the number would have caused major disruption for businesses and residences along the route, so US 92 remains intact.

Can you imagine a BL I-4? Yuck. I'm glad Florida respects its US routes and doesn't turn them into full-on freeways/expressways or build Interstates over them (except for the Sunshine Skyway). It's all about preserving the history.

[FLRoads]

And I am glad that Florida does try to preserve its history (but I really wish they would have fought and kept the colored shields!!)

That would depend on where the BL Interstate 4 would be...

Luckily with us being mostly on a peninsula we really don't have to worry about any new interstates that would overtake any U.S. routes, except for a possible U.S. 27 conversion through the south-central part of the state, but that will never happen. It could use some expressway bypasses of such places as Sebring, Lake Wales and Haines City though.

The Sunshine Skyway doesn't bother me as carrying an interstate designation as they do respect the fact that U.S. 19 still exists along the bridge as well.

The only item I wish they could do is extend U.S. 92 west to end at U.S. 19 in St. Petersburg. It has always bothered me that the route ends just north of downtown. I am not a real fan of dangling highways unless there is no other option (i.e. U.S. 1 in Key West).

[74/171FAN]

Referring to the extensions of US highways, I believe that US 211 should be put on a NW bypass of Warrenton and the current US 17 portion of the Warrenton Bypass to US 15/US 29.  US 211 in Warrenton obiously would become US 211 Business. I forgot that there was already a Warrenton US 211 Business so the only change would be extending US 211 Business to the current US 15/US 29/US 17 interchange(with US 211 added here of course). US 211 would then be extended onto US 29 from Warrenton to US 50 and VA 236 in Fairfax(with US 29/US 211 multiplexing with I-66 from Exits 43-52 to bypass Manassas National Battlefield).  US 211 would then follow VA 236 to US 1 in Alexandria and multiplex with US 1 south to I-95/I-495.  US 211 would cross the Woodrow Wilson Bridge along with I-95/I-495 into Maryland and stay on the Capital Beltway until MD 5 and replace MD 5 from I-95/I-495 to at least US 301 or even as far as MD 5's eastern terminus(also replacing MD 235 instead of MD 5 between  the Helen area and Ridge).

[74/171FAN]

First off, good luck getting VDOT to build a northwest Warrenton bypass, when they can't even build long-proposed bypasses of Tappahannock (US 17) or Crewe (US 460)...

Second, what travelshed are you trying to serve with this US 211 extension?

First, I had never even heard of official proposals for the US 460 bypass of Crewe or the US 17 Tappahannock Bypass .  I found the US 17 Bypass proposal here at http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/resources/fredricksburg.pdf, but the US 460 bypass was nowhere to be seen in the 2025 state highway plan(or realistically 2045 or later). Basically, the US 211 extension would serve SE Maryland with a second US Route connecting US 301 to DC(the only one currently being US 50) and since MD 235/MD 5 is at least 4 lanes north of Lexington Park it might as well be upgraded.  Also the VA 236 routing would give an east-west US Route connection between Fairfax and Alexandria as there are no east-west US Routes in Alexandria and the only one period is US 1.

[corco]

As far as states I'm highly familiar with

Wyoming- uh...I don't think any state could possibly respect US highways more

Idaho- Does a pretty darn good job taking care of US highways. US-95 is still the only paved road connecting Northern and Southern Idaho, US-20/26/93 all are very important through routes, and besides US-10 every single mile of original US Highway is still in the system, although the numbering may have changed. US-630 became 95 Spur, US 10 Alt and Northern US-195 became US-2, US-191 was rerouted out of the state but still exists as US-20, US-91 is even still an important route. US Routes running along interstates are still very well signed (except on overhead signs)

Washington- I would argue Washington is a unique situation. Washington has always been one of the least US Highway dependent states in the country, and I'd argue that with the exception of maybe California they still are. They've sort of disrespected, but US 10 and 99 couldn't still exist as US Routes in the state, US 410 really was legitamitely replaced by US 12 and there'd be no point in running a useless concurrency all the way across the state, and US 295 really shouldn't have ever existed. In my mind the only things they've done is ditch US-195 north of Spokane (which was redundant), and US 830, which I think should still exist. As far as signage, US-12 is fairly well signed along I-5, 97 is well signed along I-90, and 12/97/395 is well signed along I-82. 2/395 is not signed at hardly at all along their concurrencies with I-90, which is unfortunate. Washington isn't a blatant disrespector like some states, but it's not at the top of the list. With the exception of 830 and occasional concurrency signage, their moves have been in line with that should be expected within the US highway system. Unfortunately, US Highways just aren't very important in Washington, nor have they ever been.

[flowmotion]

I think it "disrespects" US highways when states leave them on substandard ROWs within eyeshot of an interstate or other improved freeway. US-signed routes shouldn't be treated as an obsolete highway network that was replaced by the interstate system.

If I was dictator of AASTO, I would eliminate all US routes that are not primary intercity highways. Highway users should know that when they get on a US route, it's the highest and best road between destinations.

Also the intrastate rule is really dumb. California 99 is the perfect example of something that should have been a US route.

[ComputerGuy]

^I certainly agree, corco...too bad SR 20 couldn't of been the westernmost section of US 0.  

[74/171FAN]

I think it "disrespects" US highways when states leave them on substandard ROWs within eyeshot of an interstate or other improved freeway. US-signed routes shouldn't be treated as an obsolete highway network that was replaced by the interstate system.

If I was dictator of AASTO, I would eliminate all US routes that are not primary intercity highways. Highway users should know that when they get on a US route, it's the highest and best road between destinations.

Also the intrastate rule is really dumb. California 99 is the perfect example of something that should have been a US route.

It was US 99 before I-5 came through.