Only in this state....

[Big John]

I must have not been thinking straight when I posted. I realize that Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia and many other states do the same thing as Washington. What I should have said is "Only in Washington do you get major highways crossing lakes and waterways on the world's largest floating bridges."

Remove Wisconsin from that as they have extensive use of county highways.  A bit of confusion is that WI and MO uses lettered highways in addition to numbered highways, but WI lettered routes are county highways and MO lettered routes are secondary state highways.

[707]

I must have not been thinking straight when I posted. I realize that Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia and many other states do the same thing as Washington. What I should have said is "Only in Washington do you get major highways crossing lakes and waterways on the world's largest floating bridges."

Remove Wisconsin from that as they have extensive use of county highways.  A bit of confusion is that WI and MO uses lettered highways in addition to numbered highways, but WI lettered routes are county highways and MO lettered routes are secondary state highways.

My mistake. Sorry about that.

[corco]

Wait, getting back to the main point can you please provide examples of where Washington uses state routes in lieu of county roads?

[Kacie Jane]

Wait, getting back to the main point can you please provide examples of where Washington uses state routes in lieu of county roads?

What he said.  I'm baffled by the claim that Washington would be anywhere near the same category as Kentucky or Virginia, which have routes numbered into the thousands.

[jeffandnicole]

Only in Washington do you have state routes taking the place of county roads...

what

ONLY IN WASHINGTON DO YOU HAVE STATE ROUTES TAKING THE PLACE OF COUNTY ROADS...

Turn up your hearing aid next time!!!

But seriously, was this post necessary? I realize I goofed up and triggered a non-specific response, but still, there's no reason to scream as if a meteor is about to hit the earth.

I was actually joking with NE2, who responded with "What", as if he didn't hear the post.

[kphoger]

I was actually joking with NE2, who responded with "What", as if he didn't hear the post.

Yeah, no kidding.  I think we got that.  But the point still stands that using 36-point bold text is Not Cool.

Wait, getting back to the main point can you please provide examples of where Washington uses state routes in lieu of county roads?

What he said.  I'm baffled by the claim that Washington would be anywhere near the same category as Kentucky or Virginia, which have routes numbered into the thousands.

707?  Are you there give your answer?

[Alps]

I was actually joking with NE2, who responded with "What", as if he didn't hear the post.

Yeah, no kidding.  I think we got that.  But the point still stands that using 36-point bold text is Not Cool.

Wait, getting back to the main point can you please provide examples of where Washington uses state routes in lieu of county roads?

What he said.  I'm baffled by the claim that Washington would be anywhere near the same category as Kentucky or Virginia, which have routes numbered into the thousands.

707?  Are you there give your answer?

How about 35 point italic?

[hbelkins]

Kentucky most definitely has county routes that are not state-maintained. They generally are signed by name, not by number. Only once can I ever recall a Kentucky county route being signed with a numbered route marker. That was in Barren County and I was a very young lad when I saw it.

[Kacie Jane]

Kentucky most definitely has county routes that are not state-maintained. They generally are signed by name, not by number. Only once can I ever recall a Kentucky county route being signed with a numbered route marker. That was in Barren County and I was a very young lad when I saw it.

Similar in Washington.  No shortage of county-maintained roads.  In fact, if I had to guess, I'd say the (perhaps vast) majority of roads in the state are county-maintained.  But no county-numbered highways that I know of.  I've heard rumors that they exist, but I've never seen them signed in the field.

[Eth]

Kentucky most definitely has county routes that are not state-maintained. They generally are signed by name, not by number. Only once can I ever recall a Kentucky county route being signed with a numbered route marker. That was in Barren County and I was a very young lad when I saw it.

Similar in Washington.  No shortage of county-maintained roads.  In fact, if I had to guess, I'd say the (perhaps vast) majority of roads in the state are county-maintained.  But no county-numbered highways that I know of.  I've heard rumors that they exist, but I've never seen them signed in the field.

I'm pretty sure every county road in Georgia has a number (in larger urban counties, numbering well into the thousands). Signage practices vary by county (in the counties where they are signed, they're usually on street blades), but I've never seen a traditional county route shield anywhere in the state. Traditional practice used to be with vertical green signs (not unlike mile markers) mounted on the backs of stop signs, but I don't think that's been done for at least 15 years.

Though hey, that actually fits the topic! Only in Georgia do you (occasionally) see numbered green signs mounted on the back of a stop sign.

[roadman65]

I think when that someone mentioned about in other states county roads would be the same as Washington State's state roads, he meant to say that some states have more state numbered designations than others.

Look at Georgia, has many state routes per square mile than, lets say, New Jersey.  In the Garden State many of the 500 series county routes would be all state numbered, so not only if the Peach State had control of New Jersey roads, but others as well; you would have CR 539 a state highway as well as CR 513, CR 510 etc.

Also while bringing up Georgia, only in Georgia do you have US routes all signed with a separate state route designation.  Other states do have secret state routes assigned like Alabama and Florida, but they are not signed in the field.  I know Tennessee has secret routes to, but I cannot remember if they were signed or not.  If they are then Georgia is not alone, but still almost.

Florida has a unique thing as well.  It has concrete signal poles as well as power poles.  Puerto Rico has the same, but it is not a State yet.

The Carolinas, seem to the only two states that use wooden telephone poles as a norm for their signal poles, in that others use it as temporary set up and use metal poles for span wire assemblies.

[kphoger]

How much time do you have, buddy?

I recently acquired six hours and nine minutes from the (POTGDC) Pfafpff Oblast Time Distribution Center.

[mgk920]

I must have not been thinking straight when I posted. I realize that Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia and many other states do the same thing as Washington. What I should have said is "Only in Washington do you get major highways crossing lakes and waterways on the world's largest floating bridges."

Remove Wisconsin from that as they have extensive use of county highways.  A bit of confusion is that WI and MO uses lettered highways in addition to numbered highways, but WI lettered routes are county highways and MO lettered routes are secondary state highways.

In fact, a lot of county highways in Wisconsin that never were state highways are very important regional routes and would be state highways in many other states.  And it is amazing that much of the Wisconsin's county highway network is better engineered and maintained than state highways in many other states.

Mike

[corco]

Similar in Washington.  No shortage of county-maintained roads.  In fact, if I had to guess, I'd say the (perhaps vast) majority of roads in the state are county-maintained.  But no county-numbered highways that I know of.  I've heard rumors that they exist, but I've never seen them signed in the field.

Kitsap County has a unique shield that's sporadically posted that's the number superimposed over a county outline. I know there's a few posted on roads leading off SR 307. It looks like it was a one time round of sign posting that wasn't actively maintained and I haven't been up there since 2008, so they could all be gone by now (I only remember seeing two). I've never seen a pentagon in Washington though.

[707]

I'm right here and there is no need to use big letters. The reason why I compared Washington to Kentucky and Virginia was due to the many state roads around the Seattle Area. WA 513, WA 519 and WA 523 would all be better suited by numbered county roads. On Long Island, roads such as those three are used as numbered county roads. That's why I made the connection.

[Bruce]

I'm right here and there is no need to use big letters. The reason why I compared Washington to Kentucky and Virginia was due to the many state roads around the Seattle Area. WA 513, WA 519 and WA 523 would all be better suited by numbered county roads. On Long Island, roads such as those three are used as numbered county roads. That's why I made the connection.

WA 513 is in the system because it keeps the Montlake Bridge under state maintenance, which will be joined by a second bridge soon.

WA 519 connects I-90 to Colman Dock, which handles ferry traffic from Bremerton and Bainbridge Island (SR 304 and 305, respectively) and (until 2006ish) handled Vashon Island passenger traffic (via SR 339).

[kkt]

I'm right here and there is no need to use big letters. The reason why I compared Washington to Kentucky and Virginia was due to the many state roads around the Seattle Area. WA 513, WA 519 and WA 523 would all be better suited by numbered county roads. On Long Island, roads such as those three are used as numbered county roads. That's why I made the connection.

And WA-523 is a major arterial, that forms the border between two cities.

Do you think there should be any state highways that happen to be within urban areas, or that they should only be state highways if they're freeways?

[Bruce]

I'm right here and there is no need to use big letters. The reason why I compared Washington to Kentucky and Virginia was due to the many state roads around the Seattle Area. WA 513, WA 519 and WA 523 would all be better suited by numbered county roads. On Long Island, roads such as those three are used as numbered county roads. That's why I made the connection.

And WA-523 is a major arterial, that forms the border between two cities.

Do you think there should be any state highways that happen to be within urban areas, or that they should only be state highways if they're freeways?

Too bad the West Seattle Freeway/route to Fauntleroy terminal never became WA-517 in 1992.

[exit322]

I've seen mixtures of 8" and 12" signal heads in Ohio before.  One particularly common example is functionally the common doghouse, but the two arrow indications are on 12" heads next to the three 8" circular indications, so the five signal heads are in two columns of nearly-equal height.



Ohio's reference markers are found at bridges and culverts.  Sometimes they're wide like blade signs (bent around a bridge support pier) and sometimes they're squares, but neither type has a border.  Black text on white.  The information on them looks a bit like this:

ABC 67 1234

ABC is the three-letter ODOT-standard abbreviation for the county.  67 is the route number.  1234 is the in-county mileage in centimiles.  Or maybe millimiles; I can't remember for sure.  Interstates might use whole-state mileage, but again I'm not certain.

These are different from the little blue reference markers attached to ground-mounted BGS, and also different from the little green and white reference markers attached to light poles (in Columbus, anyway).

I believe on those little reference markers, even the interstates are done by the county line as well.  But I can't remember fully.

[PurdueBill]

I believe on those little reference markers, even the interstates are done by the county line as well.  But I can't remember fully.

The white postmiles do use the county mileage (since they include the county abbrev) on Interstates.  Green (and blue) mile markers use the mileage from the state line, even on non-Interstates now.  For example, US 35 got some blue 2/10 mile markers that reflect the distance from the Indiana line, which is another county over.  Other state and US routes have been getting such markers as well (e.g., OH 8, 176, 315 among many).  The new exit numbers and the mile markers on the OH 176 Jennings Freeway reflect the entire route mileage, including the non-freeway part, so the freeway ends at exit 16 iIrc, but the postmiles at bridges reflect the mileage from the county line. 

The little blue signs attached to larger signs' posts/gantries also reflect the mileage overall, not by county, to the tenth of a mile generally--although I know that I have seen exceptions with hundredths.  Not every area uses them; Columbus area has them and they can extend a ways out (there used to be ones as far north as the Richland County line sign northbound) but there aren't any in Akron.  It may be a district-by-district thing.

[amroad17]

I believe on those little reference markers, even the interstates are done by the county line as well.  But I can't remember fully.

The white postmiles do use the county mileage (since they include the county abbrev) on Interstates.  Green (and blue) mile markers use the mileage from the state line, even on non-Interstates now.  For example, US 35 got some blue 2/10 mile markers that reflect the distance from the Indiana line, which is another county over.  Other state and US routes have been getting such markers as well (e.g., OH 8, 176, 315 among many).  The new exit numbers and the mile markers on the OH 176 Jennings Freeway reflect the entire route mileage, including the non-freeway part, so the freeway ends at exit 16 iIrc, but the postmiles at bridges reflect the mileage from the county line. 

The little blue signs attached to larger signs' posts/gantries also reflect the mileage overall, not by county, to the tenth of a mile generally--although I know that I have seen exceptions with hundredths.  Not every area uses them; Columbus area has them and they can extend a ways out (there used to be ones as far north as the Richland County line sign northbound) but there aren't any in Akron.  It may be a district-by-district thing.

The Cincinnati and Dayton areas also use the little blue milemarkers, usually in hundredths.

[Kacie Jane]

 

I think when that someone mentioned about in other states county roads would be the same as Washington State's state roads, he meant to say that some states have more state numbered designations than others.

But Washington is not one of those states.  I'd say the state highway system here is fairly sparse.

I'm right here and there is no need to use big letters. The reason why I compared Washington to Kentucky and Virginia was due to the many state roads around the Seattle Area. WA 513, WA 519 and WA 523 would all be better suited by numbered county roads. On Long Island, roads such as those three are used as numbered county roads. That's why I made the connection.

It's true that Nassau and Suffolk Counties have no shortage of county routes crossing the island -- though Nassau's are no longer posted, correct?  But there is also no shortage of state routes on Long Island either.  I still fail to see the analogy.

[roadman65]

Actually, I think I found one that is unique to only one state.  Texas, seems to be the only state that uses two different shields for their own state designations on road signs.

Both State and Farm-to-Market highways have one way of signing stand alone shields and another method on on freeway guide signs.  The regular state designations use the state name "TEXAS" underneath the number on standard shields, but on large freeway signs the name appears on top even though both in squares.  Then the other Farm-to-Market roads use the Texas outline on stand alone assemblies, but use a square with "F.M" on freeway guide sign panels.

[NE2]

Actually, I think I found one that is unique to only one state.  Texas, seems to be the only state that uses two different shields for their own state designations on road signs.

Montana:


from http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-315_mt.html

[spmkam]

Connecticut does the same as well. New York's shields all seem to look different on the BGS.