Four different types of highway signs. (Photo provided — Dave Werner)

Highways in the United States are designated into at least four different types of systems: interstate highways, U.S. highways, state highways and county roads. Each system has its own unique shield design that will allow for quick identification.

In the picture accompanying this column, the I-87 sign is a typical interstate highway sign, the Route 11 sign is a U.S. highway sign, the route 30 sign is a New York state highway sign, and the route 5 sign is a county road sign. For the Route 11 and Route 30 signs, note the difference in the shields. State highway shields may differ from state to state, but the U.S. highway shield is the same nationwide.

The Interstate Highway System, created in the 1950s, is federally funded and administered but a state-maintained system of freeways or toll roads that form the transportation backbone of the United States. Millions of Americans rely on it for commutes, long-distance travel, and freight transport daily. Interstate highways are all constructed to precise standards, designed to maximize high-speed travel safely and efficiently.

Although there are no interstate highways in Franklin and St. Lawrence counties, I-87 in Clinton County is a 333.5-mile-long north-south Interstate Highway located entirely within the state of New York. It’s the main highway connecting New York City and Montreal, with the portion in Quebec designated as AutoRoute 15. To our southwest in Jefferson County, I-81 is an 855 mile north-south Interstate Highway. Its southern terminus is at I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee; its northern terminus is on Wellesley Island in Jefferson County, connecting with Canada’s AutoRoute 401.

The older and original U.S. numbered Highway System is coordinated by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and maintained by state and local governments. In Franklin County, the only such highway is U.S. Route 11, running 1,696 miles through 10 states from Rouses Point in Clinton County to New Orleans, Louisiana.

Each state also has a state highway system of varying standards, capacity, and quality. Some state highways become so heavily traveled they are built to interstate standards. Others are more lightly traveled and have a lower capacity.

Many state highway markers are designed to suggest the geographic shape of the state or some other state symbol such as its flag. Most of the others are generically rectangular or some other neutral shape. The default design for state highway markers is a circular highway shield.

Some examples of state routes in Franklin County include Routes 11B, 30, 122, 37, 3, 86, 186, 374, 95, and Route 458. State routes are mainly within one state. However, there are many state highways that cross state lines, but keep their numbers (but not state names). An example is NJ 17 that crosses into New York state to become NY 17.

The fourth type of numbered highways are county routes. These are maintained by each county and are relatively major routes within a county that are not U.S. or state routes. Franklin County has 53 such county routes. An example in the northern part of the county, and likely the busiest route, is CR-24, the Brainairdsville Road. An example in the southern part of the county is CR-18, the Forest Home Road.

Other than the above four types of highways would be town roads and city and village streets, but they are generally not numbered.