Meaningful route numbers

[SP Cook]

In WV:

WV 44 is named the "Jerry West Highway" West having worn #44 at WVU and with the Lakers, however, the road existed long before Mr. West, and is in Logan County, far from either Mr. West's boyhood home in Kanawha County or WVU.  Somebody just decided to put up a sign.

WV 705 is named the "705th Division Highway", the 705th Division having been a tank division in WWII.  The road was constructed in the late 70s, in a then newly developed part of Morgantown, however the 705th has no more or less relationship with Morgantown than any other place in the country.

WV 75 is named the "Marshall Memorial Highway", 75 being the number of people killed in the Marshall airplane disaster which the crash site is just off this route, however this numbering predates the crash by many years.

[empirestate]

I-99 was chosen to match Bud Shuster's IQ

Seeing as how that would make him almost exactly average, this may not be as much of a dig as you meant it to be. Depending, of course, on your opinion of average people.

[Central Avenue]

OH 3 is/was the 3-C Highway, so named because it serves Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland.

[bulldog1979]

M-107 was dedicated in honor of the 107th Engineer Combat Battalion. Since the highway was transferred back to county control, its been named the "107th Engineers Memorial Highway".

[vtk]

Western I-76 was chosen partly relating to Colorado's centennial I think.

I once proposed, as part of a big fictional Interstate rejigger, moving the east end of I-76 to Baltimore Washington DC, creating an orphan spur from my new I-70 into downtown Philly which I would call I-1776.

edited with better-remembered details about the rejigger

[Henry]

US 101 was created as the West Coast equivalent to US 1.

[NE2]

US 101 was created as the West Coast equivalent to US 1.

And US 11 was the Appalachian equivalent to US 1. US 61 was the Mississippi River equivalent. Oh wait, it's Henry.

[hbelkins]

In WV:

WV 44 is named the "Jerry West Highway" West having worn #44 at WVU and with the Lakers, however, the road existed long before Mr. West, and is in Logan County, far from either Mr. West's boyhood home in Kanawha County or WVU.  Somebody just decided to put up a sign.

It should be noted that current WV 44 is the old route of US 119 before the new four-lane between Williamson and Logan was built. Prior to that, wasn't WV 44 somewhere up around the Ohio River or the old US 33 corridor between Ripley and Mason?

A more appropriate old segment of US 119 to have been renumbered WV 44 would have been what is now WV 94 between Racine and Chelyan. At least that's reasonably close to Cabin Creek. (WV 94, of course having been moved off the West Huntington expressway and the Rahall Bridge that now carries US 52 into Ohio).

Ontario should renumber the road that run by Neil Peart's house as 2112.

[kphoger]

US 101 was created as the West Coast equivalent to US 1.

And US 11 was the Appalachian equivalent to US 1. US 61 was the Mississippi River equivalent. Oh wait, it's Henry.

[agentsteel53]

US 400. Because Georgia.

FTFY.

[kj3400]

US 29 in MD is known as the 29th Infantry Division Memorial Highway.

[Alps]

NJ 139 has been mentioned (turn the ampersand to a 3). NJ 324 was chosen because it was formerly US 322. Why not 323? Who knows. (NJ 143 was formerly NJ 43, but that was just a route number change, not a rerouting.) Otherwise, no political numberings, nothing "because it connects these two routes" like VT 279, etc.

[lepidopteran]

For a time, I-70 was significant to St. Louis, when Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs in one season, playing for the Cardinals.

I used to think that KY-1973 was somehow significant, since it was the only 4-digit route I saw in Kentucky with an exit on I-75 – if not on ALL of that interstate.  It's the exit for the Kentucky Horse Farm, so I hypothesized that 1973 was the year the farm opened or something, or when some horse from there won an important race perhaps.  But it appears that there are lots of 4-digit routes in the area, including some in that range.

[roadfro]

Nevada SR 140 was chosen as it was originally considered a potential US 140 (spurring from old US 40) that would have been the "Winnemucca to the Sea Highway".

It was one of only three state routes not renumbered in 1976 (although 291 was proposed to replace the number), each of these routes do not conform to the clustering-by-county route numbering pattern implemented that persists to this day.

[jp the roadgeek]

CT 372 is so numbered because it was the old alignment of CT 72 before the expressway from Plainville to New Britain (and the section of CT 9 from New Britain to East Berlin that used to be CT 72).  CT 272 is so numbered because CT 72 used to extend beyond Harwinton on CT 4, then up CT 272 to the MA line.  CT 172 has no such connection.  CT 99 was the old alignment of CT 9, and the old CT 291 was numbered in anticipation of an upgrade to I-291.

[vtk]

I think routes numbered after other routes is stretching the original concept of this thread.

[Brandon]

I think routes numbered after other routes is stretching the original concept of this thread.

Agreed, unless it is for an odd reason, such as the sound of a route number (i.e. IL-38 being numbered on what was US-30A).  Hence, IL-250 (former US-50) and IL-251 (former US-51) don't really count for this thread, IMHO.

[agentsteel53]

It was one of only three state routes not renumbered in 1976 (although 291 was proposed to replace the number), each of these routes do not conform to the clustering-by-county route numbering pattern implemented that persists to this day.

the other two are NV-28 and NV-88, correct?

NV-28 is interesting because California numbered a road on their side in 1953 as CA-28 to be a continuation of NV-28.  then NV returned the favor in 1976 by not renumbering their road.

CA-266 was designated in 1968, and NV-266 appears to have been numbered to match it in 1976.  a nice coincidence, since 266 fits Nevada's new scheme.

as for NV-8A and NV-34, those are officially off the books then?  I was up in Vya the other day and saw many old, and not-so-old, NV-8A and NV-34 shields, which would require a completely separate post to attempt to document - there are at least five different variants.

[agentsteel53]

NJ 139 has been mentioned (turn the ampersand to a 3). NJ 324 was chosen because it was formerly US 322. Why not 323? Who knows. (NJ 143 was formerly NJ 43, but that was just a route number change, not a rerouting.) Otherwise, no political numberings, nothing "because it connects these two routes" like VT 279, etc.

is there an odd-even parity in NJ that made 324 more logical than 323?

several California interstates seem to be meaningful as connector numbers.  I-805 connects I-8 and I-5, for example.  I-580 connects I-5 to I-80, and may also have been chosen because a lot of it was US-50.  in that vein, I-110 is former CA-11, and I-710 is former CA-7; some clear nods to the previous number which I believe are more interesting than just a state-route renumbering.

[agentsteel53]

Also NM 2001 to the New Mexico Museum of Space History.

any meaning to NM-1113?  that is the only other four-digit that I know of.  it seems to be a continuation of NM-113, with a very short jog along NM-9.  NM does not like multiplexes, so they will sign the two halves with different numbers... but why bump to four digits?

hypotheses include:
1) "1113" fits into a standard three-digit number spacing scheme: Series C on the circle zia blank.
2) it's related to NM-113, and NM-213, 313, etc are taken elsewhere.
3) because Georgia/Alanland/New Mexico.

[The High Plains Traveler]

Also NM 2001 to the New Mexico Museum of Space History.

any meaning to NM-1113?  that is the only other four-digit that I know of.  it seems to be a continuation of NM-113, with a very short jog along NM-9.  NM does not like multiplexes, so they will sign the two halves with different numbers... but why bump to four digits?

hypotheses include:
1) "1113" fits into a standard three-digit number spacing scheme: Series C on the circle zia blank.
2) it's related to NM-113, and NM-213, 313, etc are taken elsewhere.
3) because Georgia/Alanland/New Mexico.

It can't be an extension of 113 because of the no-concurrency rule for New Mexico state highways. Why it couldn't just get another available 1xx number for NMDOT District 1 I don't know, since there are numerous instances throughout the state where almost-but-not-quite continuous roads change number. It's not like it goes anywhere where route number continuity is important. 

[agentsteel53]

It can't be an extension of 113 because of the no-concurrency rule for New Mexico state highways. Why it couldn't just get another available 1xx number for NMDOT District 1 I don't know, since there are numerous instances throughout the state where almost-but-not-quite continuous roads change number. It's not like it goes anywhere where route number continuity is important.

as far as I know, the only violation of the no-concurrency rule is NM-9 jogging a block north-south along NM-338 in Animas.  I wonder why this is an exception.

[kphoger]

because Georgia

[The High Plains Traveler]

It can't be an extension of 113 because of the no-concurrency rule for New Mexico state highways. Why it couldn't just get another available 1xx number for NMDOT District 1 I don't know, since there are numerous instances throughout the state where almost-but-not-quite continuous roads change number. It's not like it goes anywhere where route number continuity is important.

as far as I know, the only violation of the no-concurrency rule is NM-9 jogging a block north-south along NM-338 in Animas.  I wonder why this is an exception.

My guess on that was that the remaining stub of 338 south of Animas was intended to be turned back to the county, and at the time of the 1988 renumbering when this no-concurrency practice began, the state didn't want to assign a new number to this piece of road. At one time, 338 extended well south of Animas. As far as I know, that stub is still a state highway.

[sandwalk]

It's an after-the-fact example, but Illinois Route 173 was designated the 173rd Airborne Brigade Highway in 2008.