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California Highways

Highway Statistics

The following pages provide some interesting statistics about California highways. This information was derived from information in State Highway Routes, Selected Information. Alas, the most recent copy is dated 1995; Caltrans is currently working on a new edition.

Statistics Information Pages

This Page	The Typical California Highway and Total Information. This page provides information on the typical California highway and totals for the system as a whole.
1 Page 1	The Long and the Short of It. This page looks at the long and short of things: the longest highway, the shortest highway, bridges, and tunnels, etc.
2 Page 2	California is One Big Freeway! This page looks at the planned Freeway and Expressway system of California.
3 Page 3	Oh, the Traffic! This page looks at the traffic numbers.
4 Page 4	By Counties and Districts. This page analyzes the highway system by counties and Caltrans districts traversed.

The Typical California Highway

Based upon an average of the characteristics of the state highways, the typical California State highway has the following characteristics:

Length: 61.28 miles; 55.81 miles traversable, 5.47 miles unconstructed
Average Daily Traffic: 11,520 to 51,773 vehicles per day
Functional Classification: 57.08% principle arterial; 36.83% minor arterial; 5.44% collector; 0.65% rural minor collector/local road.
Freeway: 71.97% of the route (44.10 miles) is defined as part of the Freeway and Expressway system.
Federal Aid: Under the pre-1992 Federal Aid program, 15.33% was FAI (Interstate) funding, 72.50% was FAP, 5.71% was FAU, 6.02% was FAS; and 0.44% was unfunded.
Roadway classification: 74.57% rural, 4.19% sm. urban, 21.24% urban.

Alas, no state highway in California is near the typical.

Total Highway Statistics

The following are the characteristics of the State Highway system as a whole:

Length: 16,662.16 miles; 15,181.36 miles traversable (91.1%), 1480.8 miles unconstructed (8.9%)
Functional Classification: 8,768.60 miles principle arterial; 5,658.10 miles minor arterial; 836.46 miles collector; 99.20 miles rural minor collector/local road.
Freeway: 11,995.50 miles are in the Freeway and Expressway system
Federal Aid: Under the pre-1992 Federal Aid program, 2,327.00 miles were FAI (Interstate) funding, 11,006.50 miles were FAP, 866.90 miles were FAU, 914.36 miles were FAS.
Roadway classification: 12,423.16 miles rural, 698.60 miles sm. urban, 3,538.90 miles urban.

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Statistics 1: The Long and the Short of it