Signing major county thouroughfares is not an often used approach nationwide, but it should be. In the 1970's, the federal government created a uniform sign for marking county highways and suggested a uniform system for marking them. The sign is a blue and gold pentagon and the system depends largely on the function, but the intent was clearly to define important routes off of the state highway system. In Alabama, posted county roads are a combination of E-911 signage and marking thoroughfares depending on the county. In New Jersey, they are used to mark the locally-maintained important highways off the state highway system. In Florida, these generally define the primary and former secondary routes returned to local jurisdiction from the late 1970's to present.

Especially in the case of Florida, the benefits of a signed county highway system are profound in navigating the complex and often poorly marked system of county roads. Non-local drivers are often confused by frequent changes in direction, multiple route names on the same road and often difficult to read street name signage. Signing county roads in a highway system fashion promotes better traffic flow as it creates alternate routes from major state-controlled commuter routes and makes travel easier for out-of-town motorists. It also helps define local highways that require one or more directional changes to follow. Additionally, it encourages better maintenance of important county roads because it helps counties to better define which routes are the most important in maintenance priorities.

What is suggested here is to create a signed county highway system based on a defined criteria. These criteria are that only the most important county roads should be signed and marked, and these routes must follow a strict statewide numbering scheme that makes such routes easy to understand and to follow. Following this, I will detail ways to make sure these roads are maximized for best usage. Below I will detail each rule category:

County highways should be limited almost exclusively to roads defined as important roads that are not under state control. This means that these roads should be limited to arterial and collector routes. More specifically, county highways should be signed completely along all forms of arterials, major collectors and rural minor collectors if the road is in condition to sign. Urban minor collectors may also be signed if the route is not in an incorporated city or if it is in a city and ties to a rural minor collector.

County highways are not intended to be marked beyond these roads, so the roadways would be signed in every county and within the city limits of cities and towns. Initial installation should be the work of GDOT, and preferably maintenance of the signs as well in order to insure consistency and reliability in maintenance.

The county highway system will have a very specific set of rules guiding how the routes are signed. Roads will generally carry a three-digit designation for roadways longer than 3 miles in length and a 4 digit designation for roadways that are designated as a exclusively urban collector or are fewer than three miles in length. For the three digit designations, the numbers will be arranged from 600-999 and will be assigned sequentially statewide, repeating up to three times but not in the same county. Routes will be link noded meaning that the number will not change when crossing county lines. For four digit routes, the numbers will range from 1000-1999 and will differ from the three digit designations only in that the numbers will be used only once anywhere statewide. For both systems, designations will be arranged on the odd-even system with east-west routes even and north-south routes odd.

Designations of 2000-2999 may also be used, but only on roads that are functionally local county highways. Generally special extenuating circumstances include industrial roads, access to a major state park, access to public works, an old alignment to a major community or an alternate to an inaccessable roadway that would justify such numbers. Counties or cities would need to obtain permission for such designations from GDOT and likely fund the cost to install the signage themselves. In some cases, an auxiliary (banner) route may be substituted for such signage.

Also, former state route designations will be restored and/or retained in this system. This will only be done, however, if the retained designation will not cause confusion. Additionally, these former state route designations may be extended along roadways that previously did not carry that number or receive an auxiliary designation such as "SPUR", "ALT", "BUSINESS" or "CONN." of the parent.

For one example, consider Brookhaven Circle in Stephens County, which was designated as S.R. 336 until 1982. Since there is no other route designated with that number, it would not cause any confusion to recommission the route as C.R. 336. For a second example, consider East Armuchee Road in Walker County, which could become an extension of S.R. 201 as C.R. 201.

For a prime example of the use of old state route numbers as county highways, consider the lengthy older alignments of S.R. 5 in North Georgia, which could be designated as either C.R. 5 Alternate or simply C.R. 5. The C.R. 5 designation would eliminate the need for an overlap with I-575 and GA 515 and would be effective since the route is still known as such and is completely intact for many miles. It should be noted that former state route designations do not have to follow the odd-even rule.

The county highway system is supposed to work seamlessly with the state highway system and designations are meant to exist as an extension of the state highway system, not in lieu of it. This means that overlaps of county and state highways may be allowed, state highways may be split by county sections and the designations will be dependable in terms of intrastate travel. In all, this concept is very different because aside from having a different sign and generally higher numbering, the two systems are treated as a single unit.

Routes should also be designed so that they are continous and can cover as much length as possible. Some of these roads in southern Georgia could be as much as 50 miles long.

The table below lists each facet of what is described:

	This is a typical county highway designation for roads never part of a state route that are classified as an arterial or major collector route. The three-digit scheme here follows the 600-999 rule and is a roadway over three miles in length. Also, route designations follow the odd-even rule.
	This is a typical county highway designation for urban collectors not tied to rural collectors or routes less than three miles in length. Route designations follow the odd-even rule.
	Lower numbered county routes are generally either former state highways or an extension of either a state route or former state highway that will not be state maintained. Not all former state routes can carry their former route numbers. Some presently overlapped routes may be restored to former alignments by this rule.
	While any county highway can receive an auxiliary designation same as state routes, these are generally reserved for former state auxiliary routes or former parent routes that cannot retain their original designation. These may also be used as auxiliary routes of active state routes. For example, S.R. 52 may have a county-signed business route. An alternate means of assigning auxiliary routes is to assign non-directional letter suffices from A to Z after the route number.
	Occassionally a county may wish for a functionally local road to be signed as a county highway. Such designations will be between 2000 and 2999 if so.

This map provided here demonstrates the structure of the signed county highway system as described.

Considering that a county highway system is likely to shift traffic patterns, several things should take place to accompany such an act. First, counties should be required to meet full state and MUTCD standards on signage on such routes with assistance from the state if necessary. Second, guide signs should be installed along these routes so that motorists can find the nearest town, park or tourist destination.

Quite possibly creating such a system will require a substantial turnback of routes to create adequate funding, but if so a similar proposal regarding these routes is described in the County Primary Highway System proposal also on this site.