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Why are some roads in the midwest named with letters instead of numbers or proper names? ex. Rt. J, Rt. BB. Is there a reason? In the northeast we always use regular names or a number; you can tell a bit about the road by the number (for example, even numbers go east to west, odd numbers north to south; in NJ a number in the 500s designates a county route). Just curious.
I can't answer your question, but I'm betting it's easier than what we have for newcomers anyway. Try telling someone that there's a business at the intersection of South 25th East and East 25th South
I'm from the midwest, but can't answer your question either. We're relatively new at even having street addys in some of the smaller towns here. I remember the confusion my parents had when I was a little girl growing up on the farm and we got an address. With it came a zip code and everyone thought it was so much to remember. ( RR2 Box such and such, city, state, and zip.LOL Then my parents moved to a small town and they didn't have street names until the 1990s. LOL I'm not joking either. Everyone just knew where everyone else lived or if it was someone who was passing through town, you'd give him instructions from the Chevy Dealer or from the Bowling Alley. We've usually been a bit behind in time.
lol I went to junior high and high school in a rural section of PA; we also had RR (rural route) mailing addresses. They only switched to street addresses 2 years ago, because the county implemented 9-1-1.
Why are some roads in the midwest named with letters instead of numbers or proper names? ex. Rt. J, Rt. BB. Is there a reason? In the northeast we always use regular names or a number; you can tell a bit about the road by the number (for example, even numbers go east to west, odd numbers north to south; in NJ a number in the 500s designates a county route). Just curious.
In southwest Missouri, we have roads labeled both by number and by letters, and each county is responsible for its own system, which leads to GREAT confusion to those who don't know their way around. I live off a Farm Road (a very common designation here) that has a number for the road. Yet down the road, there's a WW highway, that leads to H highway, which turns into K highway if you go north, or remains H until you get to town when it then becomes a proper name! And you can have a Road AA here that leads south, cross the county line and find yourself on another Road AA that has nothing to do with the one in the other county Even realtors here get lost unless they know the area very well. I don't know why each county does its own thing, but it's based on historical reasons I believe. For instance, the town I actually have my address designated to, isn't even in the county I live in!!
Isn't most of the grid in Washington DC letter-based? Like the Judiciary Square Metro station is at 4th and E St/
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Originally Posted by cleosmom
I can't answer your question, but I'm betting it's easier than what we have for newcomers anyway. Try telling someone that there's a business at the intersection of South 25th East and East 25th South
This is the case in Minneapolis actually. N/S 5th St, NE/SE 5th St, 5th Ave NE, 5th Ave SE, 5th Ave N, and 5th Ave S are all totally different streets in a pretty small area of the city. And then there's another E/W 5th St in St. Paul. One of my favorite brunch places in Minneapolis is at E 25th St and 33rd Ave S, and my favorite coffee shop is at 3rd Ave S and E 19th St. And to make it worse, "Ave" streets are east-west and "St" streets are north-south in North and Northeast Minneapolis and it's the other way around in South Minneapolis. And the numbered "Ave" streets designated "S" are actually in the eastern half of South Minneapolis, while all the streets designated "SE" are in Northeast Minneapolis.
Why are some roads in the midwest named with letters instead of numbers or proper names? ex. Rt. J, Rt. BB. Is there a reason? In the northeast we always use regular names or a number; you can tell a bit about the road by the number (for example, even numbers go east to west, odd numbers north to south; in NJ a number in the 500s designates a county route). Just curious.
Where all do you see this?
In looking around the Midwest, I can only find the counties using letters in Missouri, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
If you look at Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois they all use numbers or names.
Iowa uses a combo, for instance "county road F5".
In Missouri, the single letter highways are through highways, things like "A" or "J". A double letter is a smaller highway that takes you to the more main highway "DD" or "JJ". Routes with "R" go to recreational or state parks. Lettered county roads may cross county lines, but they change letters when they hit a major highway.
In Wisconsin it's up to the counties to name the roads, and it may be single, double or tripple lettered "A" "AA" or "AAA". They're normally in sequence, or the letters represent the road in some way "KR" highway is on the Kenosa/Racine county line. The letters are not to cross from county to county, and normally change letters - hence you're leaving your county.
In Iowa the county roads are letters and numbers. East/West highways start with A through J and then a number "D4" and North/South highways use K through Z and a number "X3".
Why are some roads in the midwest named with letters instead of numbers or proper names? ex. Rt. J, Rt. BB. Is there a reason? In the northeast we always use regular names or a number; you can tell a bit about the road by the number (for example, even numbers go east to west, odd numbers north to south; in NJ a number in the 500s designates a county route). Just curious.
It all depends on the state or municipality. Your question is less about the Midwest, and more about Missouri and/or your specific town.
Besides, why is it worse to code them with letters versus numbers anyway? Does it make a difference? Sure, you could be more creative and name every state and county road, but then you would end up with about fifty Abe Lincoln Memorial Expressways in every state in America...
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Everyone just knew where everyone else lived or if it was someone who was passing through town, you'd give him instructions from the Chevy Dealer or from the Bowling Alley. We've usually been a bit behind in time.
I can speak a bit for Missouri...
Even realtors here get lost unless they know the area very well. I don't know why each county does its own thing, but it's based on historical reasons I believe. For instance, the town I actually have my address designated to, isn't even in the county I live in!! 
