[USA] United States Non-Interstate Roads and Highways

[mgk920]

With the creation of thread #2 for the interstates, I thought that this would be a good time to start a thread to discuss all of those other great roads in the USofA that just happen to not carry the snazzy red, white and blue signs.

To start it off, later today I will be checking out a public information meeting being held by the State of Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) regarding a planned WI 26 bypass freeway/motorway (likely to be mostly built to full interstate standards) of Watertown, WI. This project will remove significant amounts of traffic running between northeastern Wisconsin and the I-39 corridor in Illinois and far southern Wisconsin from the city's fairly narrow streets.



Mike

[DanielFigFoz]

Very good idea for a thead, hopefully I will be going to WI this summer so I might be able to check that out.

[ChrisZwolle]

Yeah, a lot of US Highways were decomissioned in the past. Most numbers are still alive, but now as State Routes.

US 6
US 50
US 95
US 97
US 101
US 199
US 395

However, only the US 101 and 395 travel significant distances in California.

[xzmattzx]

Good idea for a thread. I was going to start one for non-Interstate expressways, but this will do.

[xzmattzx]

Some projects in Delaware that we discuss off-and-on in the Delaware Development News thread:

US Route 113 could be upgraded to an expressway from Milford south to the state line. If this is done, US 113/DE 1 from Milford north to Dover AFB could be upgraded into an expressway as well. This would provide quick access to much of the state in the north-south directions. The biggest benefit would be that it would encourage drivers heading to the southern beach towns, like Bethany Beach or Fenwick Island, to take the new expressway all the way down to Selbyville, then head east. This would reduce the massive congestion along Delaware Route 1 in the Five Points, Rehoboth Beach, and Dewey Beach areas (named the second-most-congested getaway area in the nation).

US Route 301 from the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal to the state line will be relpaced with an expressway that will bypass Middletown, the fastest-growing city in Delaware. As the expressway is being rebuilt, it will be rerouted eastward just south of the C&D Canal, and will terminate at DE Route 1. This will allow for a continuous expressway from the Maryland line to I-95. A spur route expressway will connect the expressway to the Summit Bridge (DE Route 896) and to the Glasgow area.

[ChrisZwolle]

Strange, i see some posts are lost. 2 of mine, and one of FM 2258.

[FM 2258]

Originally Posted by Chriszwolle

Strange, i see some posts are lost. 2 of mine, and one of FM 2258.

Yeah I saw that too. I noticed you answered my question but didn't see my post with the question.

It looks like when Interstates were popping up people were still "loyal" to the U.S highways. I kinda wish they things stayed that way today but I think most people who don't care about highways wouldn't care or notice that although you're driving on Interstate 70, you're also on US 85 and US 6. U.S. 6 seems to be one of those US Highways that spend a lot of time in the back country only to seemingly pop up onto a major Interstate for a while or in a big city then jump back off into the wild again. I remember driving on IH 84 in Connecticut and seeing that it was also paired with US 6 for a while.



Here are some old pictures I found from this website with U.S. Highways in California at the beginning of the Interstate boom:

http://www.kriske.com/highway/signs/signs.html

[Alex Von Königsberg]

Hmm, interesting. The second picture from the bottom shows two signs on the right (Lake Tahoe and Truckee) that are almost identical to those you can see now. Also, a long time ago, CA-99 used to be US-99. I wonder why they changed designation in California while leaving it US-99 in Oregon?

[mojaBL]

Interesting.
I don´t know a lot about this topic can someone explain what are the differnces between IS and US Highways? Quality? Traffric? How old etc.

[ChrisZwolle]

US Highways are national roads without minimum design standards like an Interstate, which requires freeway standards. An US Highway can be any kind of road, from remote rural road to full interstate standard freeway.

[FM 2258]

Originally Posted by Chriszwolle

US Highways are national roads without minimum design standards like an Interstate, which requires freeway standards. An US Highway can be any kind of road, from remote rural road to full interstate standard freeway.

I remember going on a camping trip in west Texas a while back and noticed that we were on U.S. 377 and crossing a very low and extremely narrow two lane bridge and then I remembered that the same highway in Fort Worth is a massive freeway with Interstate 30 and then 35W. So you're right, U.S. Highways can be anything. I'm not sure though if there are any gravel or dirt road U.S. Highways.

[mgk920]

There are oodles and oodles of state and local roads and highways in the USA, ranging from the lowliest dirt track up to MASSIVE freeways and tollways built to full interstate standards, too.

'Interstates' in the USA are built to design standards set forth by the Federal Highway Administration and AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials http://www.transportation.org) and they will not allow the signs (which they hold federal trademark rights to) to be posted on any road that they do not approve. There ARE 'substandard' roads that do have the signs, but they are either 'grandfathered' in under old standards or received specific design exceptions from either AASHTO or the US Congress (ie, I-70 in the Glenwood Canyon in Colorado received a Congressional design exception of an 80 km/h maximum speed and other 'tweaks' in order to be built at all). 'Grandfathered' substandard interstates will also have to be brought up to full modern standards whenever they are substantially rebuilt.

Mike

[mgk920]

Originally Posted by FM 2258

I remember going on a camping trip in west Texas a while back and noticed that we were on U.S. 377 and crossing a very low and extremely narrow two lane bridge and then I remembered that the same highway in Fort Worth is a massive freeway with Interstate 30 and then 35W. So you're right, U.S. Highways can be anything. I'm not sure though if there are any gravel or dirt road U.S. Highways.

US 41 is prohibited to trucks/lorries in much of Chicago (Lake Shore Drive), too, as are US 441 through Great Smoky Mountains N.P. and US 209 through the Delaware Water Gap.

Mike

[ADCS]

Oh, and US Highways/Routes are exactly the same as State Highways/Routes/Roads, just with a fancy numbering scheme. The funding mechanisms are equivalent.

[Xusein]

Here in Connecticut, a large percentage of the expressways are non-Interstate.

The main non-interstate expressways here, in black. They generally are the same as the Interstate Highways, except that they are narrower and for the most part, not built for interstate standards.

[ChrisZwolle]

I just love this kind of bridges:

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


I haven't seen that anywhere else in Europe.

[Xusein]

They truly are beautiful...postcard potential.

However, they are rare. Living in the capital of Covered Bridges (New England), I have never seen one, and I've lived here for almost 10 years. They're mostly in the isolated parts of the area.

[Timon91]

I thought there were a lot of these bridges in east Canada (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Newfoundland etc.) I haven't ever seen one in Massachusetts, New Hampshire or Maine, but I've been there a lot.

[xzmattzx]

Covered bridges are found in rural areas, like 10ROT mentioned.

I might be wrong, but I think the covered bridge capital of the U.S. is Indiana, not New England.

Covered bridges are pretty rare, as was also mentioned. We only have 4 in Delaware. One of those four was washed away from the one-two punch of Tropical Storm Henri and Hurricane Isabel in 2003, so we are really down to three now, it looks like.

Here are my pictures of two of the covered bridges in Delaware:


Smith's Bridge, on Smiths Bridge Road north of Rockland, and less than a quarter-mile from the Pennsylvania border. The original bridge burned down in the 1960s, and this current bridge was built in its place, but with no cover. The bridge was replaced again about 10 years ago, and the cover was added in around 2002 to make it a covered bridge like it was in the 1800s.



Ashland Covered Bridge, on Barley Mill Road in Ashland. The bridge was almost torn down recently, since it was becoming unsafe, but it was renovated instead.

[Muttie]

I would poo my pants crossing those bridges...they look kinda fragile.