Bannered highway

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Types of bannered routes in the United States

A bannered highway is an auxiliary route (alternate route, loop, or spur) designated with a banner plate above (or occasionally below) the route shield, or a suffix after the number in the shield of U.S. Highways and state highways.^{[citation needed]} Originally, the terms used were "City", "Truck", and "Optional". In 1959-1960, the terms were changed to "Business", "Bypass", and "Alternate", respectively; however, the "Truck" banner is still used today on many routes, especially those where trucks are prohibited on the mainline (for example, Truck Route 1-9 in Jersey City, New Jersey, which routes trucks around the Pulaski Skyway which bans them). The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has called for the removal of "alternate" routes, though some still exist. In addition, "spur" routes exist (roads which leave the main route, but do not reconnect with it), and two "scenic" routes also exist (for US 40 and US 412). In the case of state routes, this is generally restricted to primary state routes, not secondary state routes, though Missouri has three supplemental routes which have short spur routes. At least one "temporary" route still exists, on US 191, through an enormous open pit copper mine north of Clifton, Arizona.

Former U.S. Highway 66 in Springfield, Missouri had the only "double bannered" highway in existence: Alternate Business US 66, an alternate alignment for the business route. Business US 1A has the only "double bannered" highway currently in existence. It goes through downtown Bangor which US 1A bypasses.

There are numerous examples of these routes. For a list (incomplete) see List of bannered U.S. Highways.