ted
Dum vivimus vivamus
Ahh.... now i know what you mean with Highways and Interstate. I still was confused about that because i still thaught that Highways are the streets with the tolls.
I never stop learning .. thanks for that!!!
You can break it down even further Looking at a map, let's say Wheeling, WV in GoogleMaps:
Interstate Highways - always noted as the number on a Red, White & Blue shield, here we see the 3,000km+ long I-70 and the I-470 bypass around Wheeling.
US Highways - almost always denoted as the number on a white shield, here we see the awesome US 250 and the historic US 40.
State Routes - usually a single or double-digit number in a white circle/oval. These roads are almost always at least two lane double-yellows in good shape with 55mph speed limits outside of towns. These can be slow going at times as they often pass through the middle a lot of small towns in more heavily populated areas.
State/Rural Roads - usually three digits in a white circle/oval, may or may not have a center line and condition can vary greatly from a two-lane with double yellow in decent shape to a two-lane with white dashed, a narrow two-lane with no dividing line, to even a hard packed dirt road. In the map, see Rt.s 147 and 148.
My mapping preferences are to stick to US Highways if I need to make some time but want to see some things along the way, and State Routes/Rural Roads when I want to wander off the beaten path. Spend some time in GoogleMaps Street View, just drag the little yellow guy at the top left of the map to a road - once you start dragging the little yellow guy the streets with streetview will highlight in blue. That will give you a great idea of the conditions of the road and an idea of what you might see on it - I use it constantly in route planning or just coming up with a list of neat looking roads that I have not taken yet but would like to (like that Rt. 148!)