A business route in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 is a short special route connected to a parent numbered highway at its beginning, then routed through the central business district

Central business district

A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

 of a nearby city or town, and finally reconnecting with the same parent numbered highway again at its end.

Naming

Business routes always have the same number as the routes they parallel. For example, U.S. 1 Business is a loop off, and paralleling, U.S. Route 1

U.S. Route 1

U.S. Route 1 is a major north–south U.S. Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs 2,377 miles from Fort Kent, Maine at the Canadian border south to Key West, Florida. U.S. 1 generally parallels Interstate 95, though it is significantly farther west between...

, and Interstate 40 Business

Interstate 40 Business (North Carolina)

In the U.S. state of North Carolina, Interstate 40 Business is a business loop of Interstate 40; which serves the cities of Winston-Salem and Kernersville.-Route description:...

 is a loop off, and paralleling, Interstate 40

Interstate 40

Interstate 40 is the third-longest major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States, after I-90 and I-80. Its western end is at Interstate 15 in Barstow, California; its eastern end is at a concurrency of U.S. Route 117 and North Carolina Highway 132 in Wilmington, North Carolina...

.

In some states, a business route is designated by adding the letter "B" after the number instead of placing a "Business" sign above it. For example, Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

 signs US business route 71 as "US 71B". On some route shields and road signs, the word "business" is shortened to just "BUS". This abbreviation is rare and usually avoided to prevent confusion with bus routes.

Marking

Signage of business routes varies, depending on the type of route it is derived from. Business routes paralleling U.S. and state highways usually have exactly the same shield shapes and nearly the same overall appearance as the routes they parallel, with a rectangular plate reading "BUSINESS" placed above the shield (either supplementing or replacing the directional plate, depending on the preference of the road agency). In order to better identify and differentiate alternate routes from the routes they parallel, some states such as Maryland are beginning to use green shields for business routes off U.S. highways. In addition, Maryland uses a green shield for business routes off state highways with the word "BUSINESS" in place of "MARYLAND" is used for a state route.

Business Interstate highways use the same four-pointed shield design as regular Interstate highways, but substitute the normal red and blue layout with an all-green color scheme. Also, BUSINESS appears at the top of the shield instead of INTERSTATE, and either LOOP or SPUR may appear above the number.

On maps, business routes are typically denoted with a standard marker containing the route number and the abbreviation "BUS" (e.g. "BUS 81" inside a U.S. route shield for Business US 81). For Interstate business routes, an indication of whether the route is a business loop or business spur may be included (such as printing "LOOP 44" inside an interstate marker). MDOT

Michigan Department of Transportation

The Michigan Department of Transportation is a constitutional government agency in the US state of Michigan. The primary purpose of MDOT is to maintain the Michigan State Trunkline Highway System which includes all Interstate, US and state highways in Michigan with the exception of the Mackinac...

's official Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

 maps denote business Interstate routes with green shields similar to business interstate signage.

Maintenance

Business routes are maintained by different levels of government in different states. Many states incorporate business routes into their state-maintained highway systems; others, such as Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

 and Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

, let local governments maintain them.

The formation of business routes

Business routes typically follow the original routing of the numbered route through a city or town, and were largely created during the era of the large-scale highway construction in the U.S. from the 1930s through to the 1970s. As U.S. Highways and Interstates were built, they would typically begin in the first phase of their development with the numbered route carrying traffic directly through the center of a given city or town. In the second phase of their development, bypasses would be constructed around the central business districts of the towns they had once passed directly through. As these bypasses were built, the original sections of these routes that had once passed directly through a given city or town would often be designated as “business routes”.

In many cases prior to the construction of such bypasses, local business would attempt to exert legal and/or legislative pressure for these bypasses to be routed so as to maximize access between their businesses and the proposed bypass loops, while federal planners might attempt to route such bypasses with less concern for the welfare of the businesses being bypassed.

City routes

City routes are most commonly found in the Midwest United States, although there are exceptions. These routes serve the same purpose as business routes, but they feature "CITY" signs instead of "BUSINESS" signs above or below route shields. Many of these city routes are being phased out in favor of the business route designation.

Another definition of a "city route" is similar to a county route, where a particular city forms its own highway system, usually of beltways. The city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, for instance, has a colored belt road system

Pittsburgh/Allegheny County Belt System

The Allegheny County Belt System color codes miscellaneous county roads to form a unique system of routes in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and around the city of Pittsburgh....

. Officials in Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...

 created Charlotte Route 4

Charlotte Route 4

Route 4 is an 18.6-mile partial ring road around Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, marked along four-lane state-maintained secondary roads; it is sometimes considered to use Interstate 85 to complete the loop, though this part is not signed...

, a loop of surface streets around uptown

Downtown

Downtown is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's core or central business district ....

. A route in Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 71,148 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth largest city in the state.-History:...

 known as the Downtown Circulator was created by the city to help travelers navigate the downtown area.

See also

• Alternate route
• Auxiliary route
  Auxiliary route
  In road transportation, a special route is a prefixed and/or suffixed numbered road that forms a loop or spur of a more dominant route of the same route number and system. The dominant route is generally referred to as the "parent" or "mainline", while special routes are also unofficially or...
  
  
• Bypass route
• List of Business Routes of the Interstate Highway System
• List of auxiliary U.S. Routes