Forest Highways or Forest Routes are a category of
road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types o ...
s within
United States National Forest
In the United States, national forest is a classification of protected and managed federal lands. National forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned collectively by the American people through the federal government, and managed b ...
s. They are built to connect the national forests to the existing state highway systems, and to provide improved access to recreational and logging areas.
Description
United States federal law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as ...
defines the term ''Forest Highway'' as "a forest road under the jurisdiction of, and maintained by, a public authority and open to public travel."
Forest highways are designated by the
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Nationa ...
and funded by the
federal government
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...
, but are generally owned and maintained by the
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
s or
counties
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
in which they are located. The forest highway system comprises approximately of roads.
Forest highways are usually marked with markers in the shape of an
isosceles trapezoid
In Euclidean geometry, an isosceles trapezoid (isosceles trapezium in British English) is a convex quadrilateral with a line of symmetry bisecting one pair of opposite sides. It is a special case of a trapezoid. Alternatively, it can be defin ...
, wider at the top and narrower at the base. The shields are brown with a white border and divided by a horizontal white line. In the majority of the space (above the line), the number of the route appears in white
Highway Gothic
Highway Gothic (formally known as the FHWA Series fonts or the Standard Alphabets for Highway Signs) is a sans-serif typeface developed by the United States Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and used for road signage in the Americas, includin ...
numbers, while in the smaller space below the line is written "National Forest" in the cursive
Forest Service logo
A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...
type used to write "National Forest" on national forest gateway signs. To qualify for inclusion in the system, a roadway must "be wholly or partially within, or adjacent to, and serving the National Forest System" among other criteria.
History
In the 1920s, forest highway was a class of
federal aid, and could be used outside forests, as long as the projects improved access to the forests.
Gallery
File:Michigan,_Federal_Forest_Highway_13_in_the_snow,_2001.jpg, Federal Forest Highway 13 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by ...
File:Puerto Rico Highway 191 - 3.jpg, Forest Highway 191 in El Yunque National Forest
El Yunque National Forest ( es, Bosque Nacional El Yunque), formerly known as the Caribbean National Forest (or ''Bosque Nacional del Caribe''), is a forest located in northeastern Puerto Rico. It is the only tropical rainforest in the United S ...
See also
*
Forest road
Forest tracks or forest roads are roads or tracks intended to carry motorised vehicles or horse-drawn wagons being used mainly or exclusively for forestry purposes, such as conservation or logging. Forest tracks may be open to ramblers or mountain ...
References
External links
Forest Highways at Federal Lands Highway Division
at California Highways
{{Authority control
Highways
A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...
Types of roads