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Statistics
Highway Statistics


Statistics I: The Typical California Highway and Total Information


Introduction to the Statistics Section

The following pages provide some interesting statistics about California highways. Note that this information was derived from information in the 1995 edition of State Highway Routes, Selected Information. That means that, as I update this in 2020, we are looking at information that is a quarter-of-a-century old. Certain information will not have changed much, such as high lengths or locations. Other information is horribly outdated as originally constituted -- in particular, the traffic count information. I have put in a request to Caltrans to see if there is an updated version of the original document; Those interested in Traffic Counts should start with the Caltrans Traffic Census page, which provides data from the annual traffic surveys (as a downloadable spreadsheet, even). I am updating the traffic page with 2018 information, best as I can figure out.

The stastics section of California Highways is divided as follows:

The Typical California Highway

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

[Statistics]

From the 1995 document:

  • Length: 61.28 miles; 55.81 miles traversable, 5.47 miles unconstructed
  • Average Daily Traffic: 1995: 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.

Note: These numbers from 1995. Since then, there have been a few additions (notably the toll roads in Orange County), and more subtractions as highways in cities have been relinquished to the local municipality. This would have the net effect of reducing urban milage, and reallocating the functional classification division. In terms of freeway and Federal Aid, the most significant withdrawal was the Route 710 stub from the F&E system, and likely reduction of some FAP and FAU mileage.

In terms of traffic numbers, the 2018 traffic spreadsheet shows the peak monthly Average Daily Traffic (ADT) ranging from 100 to 410,000 (a significant increase from 1995), and the Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) ranging from 70 to 377,600 (the higher number shown in the spreadsheet for the Route 1 to Route 156 junction makes no sense, as the Average Annual cannot be higher than the Peak Monthly number). Note, however, that the 1995 numbers were an average over the entire highway. The 2018 numbers are more discrete, based on specific points along the highway, not the average for the highway as an overall whole (the spreadsheet does not have that information, although it could be calculated with the right sort and Excel magic)

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:

[Statistics]

From the 1995 document:

  • Length: 16,662.16 miles; 15,181.36 miles traversable (91.1%), 1480.8 miles unconstructed (8.9%). According to the 2015 Interregional Transportation Strategic Plan, the California State Highway System (SHS) comprises approximately 51,326 lane-miles (i.e., a one-mile, 4 lane road is 4 lane-miles) of roadway. A vast majority of conventional highways in the State do not restrict access.
  • 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.

Note: These numbers from 1995. Since then, a number of roads have completed construction (notably, new construction to complete Route 210 between San Dimas and San Bernardino), and there have been a few additions (notably the toll roads in Orange County), and more subtractions as highways in cities have been relinquished to the local municipality. This would have the net effect of reducing urban milage, and reallocating the functional classification division. In terms of freeway and Federal Aid, the most significant withdrawal was the Route 710 stub from the F&E system, and likely reduction of some FAP and FAU mileage.


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