Stupid decommissionings

[Takumi]

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

Unlike 89 and 61, VA 33 was never US 33 (they were both VA 4 prior to 1938), though it should be at least to US 17.

Also, VA 167 should still be around. It's still on maps.

[Mdcastle]

I kind of wish they had left US 61, 210, and 371 also. They could have given US 61 the silent treatment, like US 52 between Jamestown and St. Paul. Although it does make sense for the mileposts to start in Duluth rather than La Crescent.

At least 3 of the US 61 markers survived at least a decaded after decomissioning, and US 61 shields went up for a detour on the old highway in Pine City that hadn't been part of US 61 in decades.

[bugo]

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.

You guys need to get out of the odd/even dichotomy and realize that the odd/even spur/loop requirement is actually more of a guideline that is not intended to be completely followed all the time than a rigid rule that must be followed all the time.  Just as the interstate grid is a general layout of the nation's roads, and not intended to be followed to the letter of the law.  Roads are going to cross other roads and the system is going to get out of whack.  Big deal.  It's the same way with odd/even spur/loops.  Not all the highways match up with what they should "really" be, for whatever reasons.

And if what I say isn't true, then why does US 57 remain?  According to the rules, it can't be there  It runs the wrong way and it's in the wrong part of the country.  I can list dozens of examples of US routes that shouldn't exist according to the rules.  It's the same with odd/even spurs/loops.  The rules aren't rules as much as they are suggestions.
Post Merge: December 31, 1969, 06:59:59 PM

US 90...

where has US-90 been significantly decommissioned?

I've seen maps showing TX 54 as US 90.  Whether it was signed or not, who knows, but I've seen it on more than one map. 
Post Merge: May 03, 2012, 08:38:27 PM

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.

62 wasn't intended to be followed end to end.  It's more of a collection of regional highways, with varying amounts of traffic and varying quality of roadway.  And for long stretches, it is a major corridor.

[NE2]

US 62 northeast of central Ohio seems much like US 202: a not-so-straight alternate to the main route along the shore (US 1/20). In northeastern Kentucky it's a chickenshit alternate to US 68, finally becoming its own corridor of sorts as it parallels the parkways. Across Arkansas it's been supplanted by 412, and it then stairsteps its way through Oklahoma and Texas. Very little of it seems useful for more than semi-local travel.

[bulkyorled]

I kind of wish they had left US 61, 210

to start in Duluth rather than La Crescent.

Wooo i was having a time reading that haha All I saw was "210" and I chose to read La Cresent as La CresentA and I was like "wait CA/I 210 was a US route? Nooo that couldn't be" 

[texaskdog]

Wouldn't it just be fun to redraw the whole grid, loosely based on what is already there. 

[mcdonaat]

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?

Minnesota can have US 371 back, they took my LA 7!

[vdeane]

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?

NY has never seemed to like US highways.  US 20 survived because the Thruway is toll and because it's in PA and MA.  US 11 survives only because it veers off of I-81 north of Watertown and treks through the north country.  I would expect US 11 to be truncated to Binghamton if I-98 is ever built.

[NE2]

Except that US 9 still makes it almost to the border. US 15 might be gone because of the long overlap with I-390.

[agentsteel53]

I've seen maps showing TX 54 as US 90.  Whether it was signed or not, who knows, but I've seen it on more than one map. 

Dale Sanderson's US Ends shows it as existing only 1939.  if you have other info, you may want to contact him.

Also, it's only about 60 miles... I don't think I'd put that in the same category as even US-60.

[NE2]

http://www.dot.state.tx.us/tpp/hwy/us/us0090.htm is pretty much the final word on US 90 replacing SH 54. US 90 was extended in the 1939 renumbering and cut back in 1940, returning to its pre-1939 number. It's plausible that it was never signed.

[ftballfan]

In Michigan:
US-10 south of Bay City
Original US-12
US-16
US-25
US-27
M-21 east of Flint
M-76
M-78 northeast of Olivet
The old alignments are still useful alternatives if the parallel interstate has issues.

[Bickendan]

http://www.dot.state.tx.us/tpp/hwy/us/us0090.htm is pretty much the final word on US 90 replacing SH 54. US 90 was extended in the 1939 renumbering and cut back in 1940, returning to its pre-1939 number. It's plausible that it was never signed.

Yeah, that was my mess up. For some reason, I was thinking it ran west of Van Horn to El Paso; that was US 80.

[texaskdog]

http://www.dot.state.tx.us/tpp/hwy/us/us0090.htm is pretty much the final word on US 90 replacing SH 54. US 90 was extended in the 1939 renumbering and cut back in 1940, returning to its pre-1939 number. It's plausible that it was never signed.

I drove that stretch of wasteland in 2002.  Saw 6 cars on the entire stretch, 3 of which were at the far south end near civilization.  Looks good on a map but its not a US highway.

[agentsteel53]

I drove that stretch of wasteland in 2002.  Saw 6 cars on the entire stretch, 3 of which were at the far south end near civilization.  Looks good on a map but its not a US highway.

so you're saying it should end in Uvalde or something?

I have no problem with it being a US route.  it is a logical directional continuation all the way out west.

by that reasoning, we should decommission US-6 all the way to I-15 or something, because hardly anyone uses it past that.

[NE2]

Presumably the empty road he's talking about was SH 54 north of Van Horn.

[agentsteel53]

Presumably the empty road he's talking about was SH 54 north of Van Horn.

good point.

but US-90 has similar traffic levels - especially between Del Rio and Sanderson.

[texaskdog]

Yeah, but it at least makes a connection to points west and east, connection places people might want to go.

I think another weird one is US 190 west of Menard.  I'd run it down to Sonora. 

[texaskdog]

I drove that stretch of wasteland in 2002.  Saw 6 cars on the entire stretch, 3 of which were at the far south end near civilization.  Looks good on a map but its not a US highway.

so you're saying it should end in Uvalde or something?

I have no problem with it being a US route.  it is a logical directional continuation all the way out west.

by that reasoning, we should decommission US-6 all the way to I-15 or something, because hardly anyone uses it past that.

No, I'm not saying decommission.  I'm saying I wouldn't run it further north from Van Horn.

[NE2]

http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/tpp/traffic_counts/flowband/2010_traffic.pdf
SH 54 has 110 per day (4-5 per hour), while US 90's lowest is 380.

[texaskdog]

http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/tpp/traffic_counts/flowband/2010_traffic.pdf
SH 54 has 110 per day (4-5 per hour), while US 90's lowest is 380.

I believe it.   I was on vacation going from Carlsbad to Big Bend.  Little reason for much of anyone to drive it.

[The High Plains Traveler]

...
The old alignments are still useful alternatives if the parallel interstate has issues.

I don't think that's the role of a U.S. route designation. It's supposed to represent the "shortest and best [route] between major control points on the system", not serve as a local road that occasionally might get additional through traffic when an interstate-designated freeway is blocked by an accident. Michigan posts the old U.S. routes in areas as "EMERGENCY" I-route (94 is where I've seen it). State and county roads can easily serve as interstate alternates, and just having a U.S. designation wouldn't necessarily tell a stranger to the area that this is the route to take as a detour.

[PurdueBill]

I've always found the disclaimer on the official Indiana maps interesting: "US Routes are indicated in red but they are not always the best or shortest routes between points."  I guess it depends which points one is talking about.

[flowmotion]

I've always found the disclaimer on the official Indiana maps interesting: "US Routes are indicated in red but they are not always the best or shortest routes between points."  I guess it depends which points one is talking about.

Interesting admission. I've always felt it was lazy cartography to mark roads by classification, rather than function.

[The High Plains Traveler]

I've always found the disclaimer on the official Indiana maps interesting: "US Routes are indicated in red but they are not always the best or shortest routes between points."  I guess it depends which points one is talking about.

Interesting admission. I've always felt it was lazy cartography to mark roads by classification, rather than function.

Rand McNally virtually always shows U.S. routes with a heavy red line, even when they are virtually interstate frontage roads. I'd like to see the ADT for these routes, compared to other state routes shown as lower priority routes.