The United States Numbered Highway System is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these highways were coordinated among the states, they are sometimes called Federal Highways, but the roadways were built and have always been maintained by state or local governments since their initial designation in 1926.
U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs 2,370 miles (3,810 km), from Key West, Florida north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making it the longest north–south road in the United States. US 1 is generally paralleled by Interstate 95 (I-95), though the former is significantly farther west (inland) between Jacksonville, Florida, and Petersburg, Virginia. The highway connects most of the major cities of the East Coast—including Miami, Jacksonville, Raleigh, Richmond, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston passing from the Southeastern United States to New England.
U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west U.S. Highway spanning 2,571 miles (4,138 km) across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern Canada. Unlike some routes, which are disconnected into segments because of encroaching Interstate Highways, the two portions of US 2 were designed to be separate in the original 1926 highway plan.
State Route 5 runs between the independent cities of Richmond and Williamsburg in the U.S. state of Virginia. Between Charles City County and James City County, it crosses the Chickahominy River via the Judith Stewart Dresser Bridge, a fixed-span bridge which replaced historic Barrett's Ferry and the former drawbridge.
The New England road marking system was a regional system of marked numbered routes in the six-state region of New England in the United States. The routes were marked by a yellow rectangular sign with black numbers and border. Many signs were painted on telephone poles. The routes were approved by the highway departments of the six New England states in April 1922.
The Arrowhead Trail or Arrowhead Highway was the first all-weather road in the Western United States that connected Los Angeles, California to Salt Lake City, Utah by way of Las Vegas, Nevada. Built primarily during the auto trails period of the 1910s, prior to the establishment of the U.S. numbered highway system, the road was replaced in 1926 by U.S. Route 91 (US 91) and subsequently Interstate 15 (I‑15). Small portions of the route in California and Las Vegas, Las Vegas Boulevard, are sometimes still referred to by the name, or as Arrow Highway.
State Route 11 (SR 11) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maine. It is a major interregional route which runs nearly the entire length of the state from south to north. The southern terminus of SR 11 is at the New Hampshire state line in Lebanon, where it connects to New Hampshire Route 11. The northern terminus is at U.S. Route 1 (US 1) and SR 161 in Fort Kent, near the Canada–US border. The highway travels through York, Cumberland, Androscoggin, Kennebec, Somerset, Waldo, Penobscot, Piscataquis and Aroostook counties. At 400.93 miles (645.23 km) in length, SR 11 is the longest state highway in Maine by a wide margin. However, it is not the longest numbered route in Maine, as US 1 runs for over 526 miles (847 km) in the state.
U.S. Route 2 (US 2) is a part of the U.S. Highway System that is split into two segments. Its eastern segment runs from Rouses Point, New York, to Houlton, Maine. In Vermont, US 2 extends 151.604 miles (243.983 km) from the New York state line in Alburgh to the New Hampshire state line in Guildhall. West of Vermont, US 2 continues into New York for another 0.87 miles (1.40 km) to an intersection with US 11 in Rouses Point. US 2 passes through the cities of Burlington and Montpelier as it traverses the state. The Burlington to Montpelier route was first laid out as a toll road in the early 19th century. It was later incorporated into the transcontinental auto trail known as the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway in 1919 before being designated as part of US 2 in 1926.
State Route 75 is a primary state highway in the southwest part of the U.S. state of Virginia, running southwest from U.S. Route 11 and U.S. Route 58 Alternate in Abingdon to Tennessee's State Route 44.
In the U.S. state of Virginia, U.S. Route 220 (US 220) is a major north-south state highway that extends from the North Carolina state line through Roanoke to the West Virginia state line. South of Roanoke, US 220 is a four-lane highway within the proposed Interstate 73 (I-73) corridor. US 220 narrows to two lanes north of Roanoke, connecting to I-64 near Clifton Forge and then paralleling the Appalachian Mountains north-northeasterly in the direction of Cumberland, Maryland.
State Route 13 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known as Old Buckingham Road, the state highway runs 24.08 miles (38.75 km) from U.S. Route 60 and SR 45 in Cumberland east to US 60 in Plain View. SR 13 parallels US 60 to the south through eastern Cumberland County and western Powhatan County and passes through the latter county's seat of Powhatan. The state highway is the only state-numbered highway in Virginia that shares a number with a U.S. Highway but does not form a state-numbered extension of that U.S. Highway. SR 13's number comes from being a segment of the original cross-state SR 13 in 1918; that highway included portions of modern US 60. In 1933, US 60 was shifted to its present corridor between Buena Vista and Richmond, replacing SR 13. Two years later, SR 13 was assigned to Old Buckingham Road when US 60 was moved to its present alignment from Cumberland to east of Powhatan.
U.S. Route 1 in the U.S. state of Maine is a major north–south state highway serving the eastern part of the state. It parallels the Atlantic Ocean from New Hampshire north through Portland, Brunswick, and Belfast to Calais, and then the St. Croix River and the rest of the Canada–US border via Houlton to Fort Kent. The portion along the ocean, known as the Coastal Route, provides a scenic alternate to Interstate 95 (I-95).
The state highway system in the U.S. state of California dates back to 1896, when the state took over maintenance of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road. Before then, roads and streets were managed exclusively by local governments. Construction of a statewide highway system began in 1912, after the state's voters approved an $18 million bond issue for over 3,000 miles (4900 km) of highways. The last large addition was made by the California State Assembly in 1959, after which only minor changes have been made.
The primary highway system makes up over 9,000 miles (14,000 km), approximately 8 percent of the U.S. state of Iowa's public road system. The Iowa Department of Transportation is responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of the primary highway system, which consists of Interstate Highways, United States Highways, and Iowa state highways. Currently, the longest primary highway is U.S. Highway 30 at 332 miles (534 km). The shortest highway is Interstate 129 at 0.27 miles (430 m).
State Route 119 is part of Maine's system of numbered state highways, located in the southwestern part of the state. It runs for 15.2 miles (24.5 km) from Minot to Paris. Its southern terminus in Minot is at State Route 11 and State Route 121, and its northern terminus in South Paris is at State Routes 26 and 117. Its northernmost 0.4 miles (0.6 km) are cosigned with SR 117 in a wrong-way concurrency.
In late 1925, the Iowa State Highway Commission, now known as the Iowa Department of Transportation, announced plans to renumber several state highways. The changes to the highway system were a result of the creation of the United States Numbered Highway System. The new U.S. Highways replaced several of the state's primary roads and other routes were renumbered in order to eliminate driver confusion between the two systems. As the new highways were being signed, Iowa's state highways were given a new circular route marker. Previously, the primary road number was stenciled in black onto a telegraph pole over a band of yellow paint.
