US Ends .com

Wikipedia hosts an interesting article (or at least it's interesting to geography nerds like me) which lists the extreme points in the United States (e.g. the northernmost points in the US, the southernmost points, and so on).  This blog post could be considered a subset of that article, as I am discussing the extreme points on the US highway system.  (Since the US route network exists only in the 48 contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii are outside the scope of this post, not to mention all US territories.)  We will start with the most obvious, and from there it will get more complicated. Easternmost points Most map projections make it rather clear that Maine is the easternmost state (although it is even farther east than many people realize).  The easternmost US route terminus is where US 2  almost reaches the Canada border, about three miles east of its junction with US 1 in Houlton ME: Historically (before I-95 was built) US 2 actually did reach the Canad...

^ date reposted to this blog Aug. 29, 2021: originally posted to my old blog Currently the longest single-state mileage of any US route is 893 miles ( US 83 in Texas). Historically, before US 101 was truncated to Los Angeles, that route was undoubtedly the record-holder: the California segment of US 101 was about 941 miles (give or take a few, depending on which year, since the alignment changed many times and in many places). Historic US 99 in California was the second-longest route through a single state, although its mileage is even more difficult to measure, since it was replaced by I-5 in many areas, and as a result some segments of the original route have been vacated. The Historic Highway 99 Association of California offers a length of 917 miles . Although that page does not specify a year, I am sure that figure is reliable, since my own back-of-the-envelope calculation yielded a similar distance. (Note that drivers choosing US 99E between Sacramento and Red Bluff had to...

^ date reposted to this blog Jul. 21, 2021: originally posted to my old blog The focal point of Blaine, Washington, is the Peace Arch international park and border crossing. Lots of interesting things to see there, including the north terminus of I-5 and the north terminus of historic US 99 . The photo below was taken looking east along the international boundary between Canada (to the left) and the U.S. (right). The large structure (with the flags on top) is the Peace Arch, which straddles the border. (It is not square to the boundary line; rather it is situated at a slight diagonal that roughly matches the angle of the roads that run through here.) If you look closely, you can see three boundary obelisks in the foreground:   Note the nearest obelisk (the one with a stone marker on its base) and the middle obelisk (the one that has "TREATY 1925" engraved on it). In the photo below, my camera was resting on top of that middle obelisk, but looking the opposite direction...