Strange Route Termini

[wxfree]

Texas has the practice of building farm to market roads that end at county lines.  In my observation, this is in a smaller county and the road ends at the boundary of a more populated county.  If you're not paying attention, it looks like a random place to end the road, but it's a county line.  My assumption is that the state built a road in a more rural county and ended it where it met a more developed county, which is more likely to have improved roads.  It doesn't always mean that it ends at a good road.  FM 216 in Bosque County ends at the Erath County line, and it just turns into a gravel road.

Imagery

The designation makes it clear that it ends at the county line.  Johnson County is on both sides of this type of road.  FM 2488 in Hill County, a less developed county, ends at the county line.  FM 2331 in Johnson County ends at the Tarrant County line, where Fort Worth is.  In both of those cases, the FM turns into a reasonably good paved road upon entering the larger county.

[El-Caz]

The southern terminus of NC-5 in Aberdeen.

[LilianaUwU]

Speaking of Virginia and harbors, US 360's eastern end is weird because it ends at SR 644 before a harbor instead of continuing to the harbor.

[Mapmikey]

Speaking of Virginia and harbors, US 360's eastern end is weird because it ends at SR 644 before a harbor instead of continuing to the harbor.

It ended at the cul-d-sac at the harbor until May 1954...

[freebrickproductions]

The north end of AL 145 is where the highway just randomly stops at Shelby County Route 61 a few miles outside of Wilsonville, AL, with a "Temporary" banner and a trailblazer for AL 25:
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.2007519,-86.5122316,3a,20.5y,24.47h,85.99t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sDqQzZpYs_NFb3bUc5KG1lg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D4.011754489283945%26panoid%3DDqQzZpYs_NFb3bUc5KG1lg%26yaw%3D24.470469115527493!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDEwNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

It ain't the only one in the state that just seemingly randomly ends without directly intersecting another highway, such as AL 235, AL 261 and AL 257 (which ain't signed for whatever reason), but all three of those are spurs to connect a community or industry with the rest of the state's highway network, unlike AL 145. AL 227 is another one that randomly peters-out in the middle of nowhere, though it's also unsigned at its southern end. Of course, I should mention that this is the west end of AL 62...

[Henry]

The north end of I-229 in Sioux Falls, SD has it downgrading to a 2-lane road (really!), called 476th Avenue.

[kphoger]

Missed the east terminus change of I-70

The best part of it is that our big hullabaloo about it a few years ago was after its truncation—but apparently none of us realized that (?), or else there would have been no real argument to be had.

(Well, I guess we could have debated whether Baltimore is a good control city for I-70 anyway, but at least there would have been no arguing that it reached the city limit.)

[kphoger]

The north end of I-229 in Sioux Falls, SD has it downgrading to a 2-lane road (really!), called 476th Avenue.

To be fair, your description does kind of gloss over the fact that it ends at I-90.

[Scott5114]

CA-299 ends at the Nevada State border and turns into a dirt road that seemingly goes nowhere. (It can be used to reach some towns). From the California side, it's an odd way for a major route across the state to end.

Less odd than it appears; the dirt road on the Nevada side used to be NV-8A. (The fact that it's not three digits gives you a good idea how long ago it was last a state highway.)

On the other hand, OK-58's northern northern terminus is at a dirt road on the Kansas state line that has never been a state highway. OK-58's southern northern terminus is also weird, just randomly ending at a county line.

[Max Rockatansky]

CA-299 ends at the Nevada State border and turns into a dirt road that seemingly goes nowhere. (It can be used to reach some towns). From the California side, it's an odd way for a major route across the state to end.

Less odd than it appears; the dirt road on the Nevada side used to be NV-8A. (The fact that it's not three digits gives you a good idea how long ago it was last a state highway.)

Also the original planned Winnemucca to the Sea Highway corridor as proposed in the 1950s.

[mgk920]

CO109 - Ends in "Toonerville"

Here's a picture of the terminus:

Interestingly enough, it was named after a cartoon - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toonerville_Folks.

And their Trolley met all of the trains! 

Mike

[GaryV]

CO109 - Ends in "Toonerville"

Here's a picture of the terminus:

Interestingly enough, it was named after a cartoon - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toonerville_Folks.

And their Trolley met all of the trains! 

Mike

Unfortunately it's defunct.

https://mynewberrynews.com/editorial/farewell-to-the-toonerville-trolley-and-riverboat-tour/

[DandyDan]

Right here in Mason City, Iowa, IA 122 ends going eastbound at the city limits. There is no cross road there and it all feels like random farm fields there.

While most Nebraska spur routes end upon entering some small town's limits, there was one I remember driving in NE Nebraska that ended at a University of Nebraska agriculture research center.

[JayhawkCO]

(Well, I guess we could have debated whether Baltimore is a good control city for I-70 anyway, but at least there would have been no arguing that it reached the city limit.)

I feel like the same people that think Baltimore shouldn't be one for I-70 EB think that Vegas should be one for I-70 WB.

[kphoger]

On the other hand, OK-58's northern northern terminus is at a dirt road on the Kansas state line that has never been a state highway.

You'll be happy to know, this has now been paved up to the turnoff for Corwin.

[JayhawkCO]

On the other hand, OK-58's northern northern terminus is at a dirt road on the Kansas state line that has never been a state highway.

The same applies to K-51, WY430, and CO318.

[Bitmapped]

Aside from some weird pointless multiplexes, West Virginia's state routes generally end in sensible places. There are a couple oddities:

• WV 17 (old US 119) ends at the old alignment of WV 10 in Stollings. It was never extended along the old WV 10 alignment when that road was moved to a new 4-lane highway about a decade ago.
• WV 18 ends at the Sistersville Ferry, with the last piece of it past WV 2 being unsigned city streets.
• WV 7 ends at the Ohio state line on the New Martinsville Bridge, but its multiplex with WV 2 isn't signed except for at the very beginning where WV 7 turns onto WV 2.

There are a couple other cases where the endpoints make sense, but don't complete a logical corridor:

• WV 705 ends at US 19/WV 7 and US 119 in Morgantown, but it's part of a northern belt around Morgantown that connects to I-79 and I-68 on the east end. The last pieces tying into the Interstates are county routes on both sides. WV 705 ought to be extended so it forms a through route with a single number.
• WV 480 ends at WV 115 (former WV 9) in the Eastern Panhandle. It continues as CR 1 to and past the current WV 9 routing. WV 480 should be extended.

Ohio has some routes that were spurs built to service a particular place or town. Some have been deleted, but others still remain:

• OH 799 ends just north of Clendening Lake
• OH 728 serves the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville
• OH 371 provides access to Shawnee State Forest
• OH 365 provides access to a state park boat ramp
• OH 53 ends at a ferry boat dock
• OH 383 ends at Ohio's oldest Catholic Church near Somerset
• OH 609 connects Orangeville to OH 7
• OH 293 connects Wharton to SR 53 (formerly to US 30)
• OH 698 ends at an old alignment of US 25
• OH 134 connects Port William to US 68

Maryland has a slew of routes that end at city limits or county lines.

[Quillz]

Due to California's (excessive) relinquishment, many routes end at arbitrary points like city limits as opposed to more natural breaks. CA-246, for example, just stops at the western Lompoc city limits, even though the actual road still goes for another 10 miles or so to the coast. (Of course, historically, it used to reach the coast).

[hbelkins]

There are a bunch more I can think of in Virginia. VA 82's end in Cleveland comes to mind.

In Kentucky, with the number of state highways we have, a lot of them end in what one might consider strange, arbitrary places.

[kphoger]

I keep thinking there's a secondary state highway somewhere in west Texas that basically dead-ends at one guy's ranch.  But I can't remember which one it is.

[kphoger]

On the bright side, while looking, I found this really loony spur:  https://maps.app.goo.gl/XKMvXx7Ngk4RKpLJ8

[kphoger]

The northern terminus of RM-2424 is at this quite random spot in the middle of nowhere.  The best part is that it was extended about nine miles to this wacky endpoint in 1958.

[JayhawkCO]

Without looking, I'd bet about 30% of Wyoming's state highways would qualify for this thread.

[Max Rockatansky]

Oahu had a lot of strange terminus points and in general state highways.  There are a lot of leftovers from before the Interstate and local roads under HIDOT jurisdiction:

https://hidot.hawaii.gov/highways/home/oahu/oahu-state-roads-and-highways/

[wxfree]

I keep thinking there's a secondary state highway somewhere in west Texas that basically dead-ends at one guy's ranch.  But I can't remember which one it is.

I know of some of the roads in the region that dead-end, by which I mean ending without continuing on a public road, not a designation terminating at a county road.  RMs 1108 and 1165 end at what were originally described as a pipeline booster stations in the designation orders.  FM 2119 ends at an old resource extraction site.  This is a reasonable location, as a once-active site.  FM 2037 ends at a prison.  FM 1832 ends at a Boy Scout camp.  FM 1837 originally ended at a Girl Scout camp, but now the property is listed as belonging to Mitre Peak Ranch.  This might be what you're thinking of.

The Real Property Asset Map, which gives access to right-of-way surveys, has an option to display land parcels and ownership information.

https://maps.dot.state.tx.us/AGO_Template/TxDOT_Viewer/?appid=6e6821ecba51466789de423165516843