Stupid decommissionings

[bugo]

US 61 in Minnesota
US 89/89A in Arizona

[Takumi]

Getting rid of the 1933 VA 44 probably seemed like a good idea at the time in the 50s, but now it's pretty developed.

[bulkyorled]

US 6 in CA (even though its still partially there). Especially through the Antelope Valley and lower Kern county...

[kphoger]

KS-96 from Wichita eastward.  But, then, oh, wait, no need for a concurrency with unnecessary US-400!

Not sure you'd actually count that as a decomissioning, since it just went from KS route to US route, and the corridor is major enough to warrant a US designation.

[texaskdog]

US 61 in Minnesota
US 89/89A in Arizona

Before I opened this, 61 was the first one I thought of, too.

How about US 371 & 210 in Minnesota?

[Rover_0]

Immediately thought of US-89 and US-89A south of Flagstaff. No reason why AzDOT wanted them to go. US-61 is right up there, too; no need for it to suddenly become MN-61 north of Wyoming, MN.

[Bickendan]

US 66 & 99, just to get them out of the way.
US 666
US 91

[agentsteel53]

US-101 could've been returned to a surface alignment in southern California.  the only real need for a multiplex would be through Camp Pendleton.

[mightyace]

PA 9 - why did the Northeast Extension have to be an Interstate, and worse an incorrect one.  If is is one, it should be an odd number as it would be a spur from the interstates connects with (or could connect with including the blue route.  Yes, it makes it one route number.  But, how many people actually take both the Turnpike and free sections of I-476?

PA 60 - The I-376 extension is completely ridiculous being started by a poorly reasoned political argument.

US 15 north of Painted Post, NY.  US 11 parallels I-81 and US 20 parallels I-90, why couldn't US 15 parallel I-86 and I-390?

OH 8 south of the central interchange in Akron.  The portion from Akron to Canton lost OH 8 altogether and from Canton south to the Ohio River it is now OH 800.

This one I'm posing as a question.  US 21 from Wytheville, VA to Cleveland, OH.

EDIT:
Two more.

US 611 - Scranton to Philly.  It still serves as a through route especially from Easton to Philly.

US 309 - ditto here (not worried about the part north of Wilkes-Barre, but from there south it is still a major through route.

[Bickendan]

US 10 west of Fargo
US 40 west of Heber City (yes, I know it starts north of there at I-80).
US 50 west of Sacramento
US 60 west of Arizona
US 70 west of Globe
US 80...
US 90...

Hey, there's a trend there!

[NE2]

US 70 west of Globe was pointless.

[agentsteel53]

US 90...

where has US-90 been significantly decommissioned?

agreed on US-60 - that can be rerouted through some desert roads easily, as has been discovered by many on the Fictional Highways area.

[texaskdog]

Yeah, when they decommission there are certainly lots of options for good reroutes.  They did 191 then just stopped.

[pianocello]

US-27 in Michigan
US-16 in Michigan (and WI, and MN)
US-12 in Michigan (well...112)
US-10 in Michigan south of Saginaw
US-2 in Michigan north of St. Ignace

All of these could have been avoided if they had been moved back to the completely intact old roads once the interstates were designated

[Coelacanth]

US-61 is right up there, too; no need for it to suddenly become MN-61 north of Wyoming, MN.

Well, it doesn't. MN-61 begins in Duluth. US-61 ends in Wyoming. A gap of 120-ish miles is hardly "suddenly".

This doesn't impact the validity of the point that it should still be US-61 all the way to Canada.

[F350]

US 15 north of Painted Post, NY.  US 11 parallels I-81 and US 20 parallels I-90, why couldn't US 15 parallel I-86 and I-390?

When was this decommissioned?

[PHLBOS]

PA 9 - why did the Northeast Extension have to be an Interstate, and worse an incorrect one.  If is is one, it should be an odd number as it would be a spur from the interstates connects with (or could connect with including the blue route.  Yes, it makes it one route number.  But, how many people actually take both the Turnpike and free sections of I-476?

I do, when I drive to either Harleysville or the Lehigh Valley from Delaware County.  It's the only continuous limited-access highway linking the Poconos and Lehigh Valley to the Greater Philadelphia area. 

I have to disagree with you regarding designating the NE Extension with an odd 3di because it's not really a spur route to any city; it either goes through or bypasses cities along the way.

PA 60 - The I-376 extension is completely ridiculous being started by a poorly reasoned political argument.

I wasn't aware about the reasoning but am not surprised by it either.  Not to mention that it turns an odd 3di (376) into a beltway.

US 611 - Scranton to Philly.  It still serves as a through route especially from Easton to Philly.

US 309 - ditto here (not worried about the part north of Wilkes-Barre, but from there south it is still a major through route.

Not to get picky here, but in terms of decommissionings, are we referring to when a route number is gone for good or when a number gets downgraded but remains (US to a State Route or SR)?  Those two fall in the latter.

[xonhulu]

I agree with virtually all those suggested here, plus these others:

US 126
US 299
US 466, at least the part west of Barstow

I especially find it pointless when a US Route is decommissioned and replaced with a state route with the same number.  What is the point of that?  It still functions as essentially one route.  I'm talking about you, MN 61 and AZ 89!

[Duke87]

Former CT 25 (now CT 111) south of CT 15
CT17/80 west/south of I-91
US 5 between its current southern terminus and US1
CT 4 east of its current random end

I understand that Connecticut hates posting state routes on pavement that isn't state maintained. And I understand that the cities of Bridgeport, New Haven, West Hartford, and Hartford are perhaps better suited to maintaining those streets. But the decomissionings leave odd gaps in the state highway network.

[triplemultiplex]

I might be in the minority here, but I say good riddance to all those 'follower' US highways that got the ax.  In fact, I'd like to see more of that.  I would even like to see some US highways broken into discontinuous chunks where they ride interstates for a state and a half.  US 40, US 85, US 87...

Then there are those US highways that meander aimlessly between two worthless termini.
Like US 62.  It may have made sense 70 years ago, but today it's the least useful route between Buffalo and El Paso, it's multiplexed for hundreds and hundreds of miles and is just another follower route for hundreds more.
Or US 52.  Good thing we still have the slowest route between Portal and Charleston signed as the same highway.
And then the density of US highways in the southeast is so thick that it raises my eyebrows.  Something's up when you're number 3dUS highways in the 700's.

So I would welcome a LOT more US highway decomissionings; like thousands of miles worth.

[The High Plains Traveler]

I've got your back on this one. For what it's worth.

First, I think the current - dating back to the late 1930s, from what I understand - AASHTO guidelines on U.S. route numberings should be followed. Their own guidelines, or policies (I dare not say "rules") say that short single-state routes and routes with directional suffixes should be eliminated or renumbered to conform with the guidelines.

Second, I would say that AASHTO and its predecessor organization hasn't followed its own guidelines. As an example: it approved a very short U.S. 156 in Kansas in the 1950s, and all the 4xx routes that don't follow any numbering pattern. (Did I forget 163?).

Third, look at the definition of a U.S. route. Nothing in their definition would support having a U.S. route act only as a city route or emergency detour for an interstate route. If a route is not the "shortest and best [route] between major control points on the system", it is probably not consistent with AASHTO policies to maintain a U.S. numbering when another route meets that definition better.

Finally, I think a given route should have as few identities as possible. As an example: when I drive from Pueblo to El Paso, I take I-25 and I-10 because those best identify the highways constructed within the interstate highway system. Having this route also designated as U.S. 85 does nothing to enhance navigation. Its former routing has no independent identity (serves no major population centers) anywhere within that 600 mile length.

There is a philosophical divide of sorts between routes constructed in the east and the west as far as whether the interstate was built on top of or supplemental to the previous U.S. route. I-25 is a prime example of a route built on top of the previous route, and former U.S. 85 only exists as short, disconnected routes through major cities along the interstate. The former routing in southern New Mexico (current NM-185 and 187) only serves as a local arterial connecting small farming communities. Lots of places along I-25 have no significant alternate at all.

In the east, the interstates were in large part constructed adjacent to the former U.S. route, but those roads continue to serve mainly local traffic. It's a totally different thread to argue whether, for instance, a U.S. 11 should continue to be identified from Louisiana to New York when nearly all that length has a nearby interstate.

So, of the decommissioned routes lamented in this thread, I only think U.S. 89 and, if you want to include its twisty alternate 89A, was an unnecessary decommissioning, at least as far south as Wickenburg.  I think Minnesota ultimately intends to turn back to county jurisdiction U.S. 61 from St. Paul to Wyoming (closely paralleling I-35E and I-35, and mainly carrying local traffic), so that leaves a concurrency of I-35 and U.S. 61 for about 150 miles. If you look at the routing, U.S. 61 approaches St. Paul from the southeast while MN-61 approaches Duluth from the northwest. There are shorter routes between Duluth and, to name a significant route along 61, La Crosse than going through St. Paul. Thus, route continuity is probably not important.

Oh, and 210 and 371 were single-state U.S. routes.

Gasoline, meet match...

[RoadWarrior56]

I had started a thread that had similar themes to the previous posting a couple of years ago.  I would have to agree with most of what is written above.

BTW, one change in US Highway commissioning I would allow is for official discontinuities to exisit on US highways where they are broken up by large stretches of Interstates.  That would allow US 87 to officially exist south of Raton NM, while letting it start again at Billings, MT, while eliminating it completely in the middle.  Many states appear to follow that policy on a de-facto basis anyway (e.g. - Colorado).   US 40 would be another good candidate............officially decommision it between St. Louis and western Kansas, while keeping it intact in other areas where it still has an independent alignment.

[hbelkins]

To me, a US route should signify the best route between two distant destinations. Yes, US 460 goes from Pikeville to Frankfort. But it's certainly not the best route to take in doing so. It's not even the best route to take from Salyersville to Prestonsburg because it jaunts to the north and then south.

Therefore I'd either put US 460 on KY 114 and the Mountain Parkway and end it at Winchester, or decommission it west of Pikeville.

[broadhurst04]

Immediately thought of US-89 and US-89A south of Flagstaff. No reason why AzDOT wanted them to go. US-61 is right up there, too; no need for it to suddenly become MN-61 north of Wyoming, MN.

And no need for US 33 to become VA 33 in downtown Richmond....

[NE2]

To me, a US route should signify the best route between two distant destinations.

Interstates don't even do that. See I-55 vs. I-57 and I-10 vs. I-12, as well as I-95 not being the best route from NYC to Boston.