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An official alternate route is a
An official alternate route is a special route
In road transportation in the United States, a special route is a road in a numbered highway system that diverts a specific segment of related traffic away from another road. They are featured in many highway systems; most are found in the Inte ...
in the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
that provides an alternate alignment for a highway
A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...
. They are loop roads and found in many road systems in the United States including the U.S. Highway system
The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) 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 h ...
and various state
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
and county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
route systems. Alternate routes were created as a means of connecting a town (or towns) desired to be on a route that had been routed differently to put another important town or city on the route, or, in the case of the U.S. Highway system, as a means to eliminate divided routes.
The term "optional route" has also been used. In some cases, an additional business route
A business route (or business loop, business spur, or city route) in the United States is a short special route that branches off a parent numbered highway at its beginning, continues through the central business district of a nearby city or to ...
exists as a third alignment, as with former U.S. Route 71 Alternate, which bypassed Joplin, Missouri
Joplin is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, Jasper and Newton County, Missouri, Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. J ...
.
AASHTO defines and specifies that alternate routes of the US Route system shall have the following behavior:
An "Alternate Route" shall be considered a route which starts at a point where it branches off from the main numbered route, may pass through certain cities and towns, and then connect back with the regular route some miles distant. Since it is the purpose of the U.S. numbered system to mark the best and shortest route available, an alternate route should be designated only where both routes are needed to accommodate the traffic demand, and when the alternate route has substantially the same geometric and structural design standards of the main marked routing. It is recommended that in case an alternate route is marked, that the shorter and better constructed route be given the regular number and the other section designated as the "Alternate Route". It is further recommended that the Highway Department erect signs at the junction points of the regular and alternate routes giving the distance between the cities or points concerned... In no instance should an alternate routing be used for the purpose of keeping an obsolete section on the U.S. numbered system after a new routing has been constructed and available to traffic.Special Route DefinitionsIn at least one case, the banner "Optional Route" was retained when a second alternate route existed. One example occurred in
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Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...
, with U.S. Route 40
U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America (a nickname shared with U.S. Route 66), is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid- ...
, which had an alternate and an optional route simultaneously.
In some US states, an alternate route will be designated by adding an "A" after the number instead of a sign marked "Alternate" above it: "US 69A" means "US 69 Alternate".
See also
* *List of business routes of the Interstate Highway System
The Interstate Highway System of the United States, in addition to being a network of freeways, also includes a number of business routes assigned by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). These routes co ...
* Bypass (road)
A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce Traffic congestion, congestion in the built-up area, to improve road safety ...
* List of special routes of the United States Numbered Highway System
A special route of the United States Numbered Highway System is a route that branches off a U.S. Highway in order to divert traffic from the main highway. Special routes are distinguished from main routes by, in most cases, the addition of ...
References
External links
{{US route types Roads in the United States Types of roads