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A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States that is designated and/or maintained by the county highway department. Route numbering can be determined by each county alone, by mutual agreement among counties, or by a statewide pattern. County highway shields are usually a yellow-on-blue pentagon (the MUTCD standard pattern), a black-on-white rectangle, or black text on a white rectangle (largely older signs). The majority of states have county highways, as they have unincorporated areas that are not part of any municipality. Some states, like Virginia and North Carolina, have no county highways in most of their counties; the state government maintains all roads in unincorporated areas. Alaska and Louisiana do not have counties. In addition, any county-maintained road, whether or not it is given a signed number, can be called a county road. Depending on the state and county, these roads can be named after local geographic features, communities, or people and/or be assigned a name determined be a standardized grid reference; for example: “East 2000 Road” would be a north-south road running 20 blocks/miles/km east of the designated zero point. Many other systems are also used; some counties rather arbitrarily assign numbers to all maintained roads, but do not sign them at all or only sign them on standard street sign blades. County roads and highways vary greatly in design standards, funding and regularity of maintenance. Some county highways in urban areas are freeways or expressways. County roads that link communities or serve residential areas are often indistinguishable from state highways or residential streets. In rural areas, many county roads carry very little traffic; these roads are maintained less frequently. They may be in poor condition (if they are paved) or not paved at all. In remote areas, county roads are made of sand, gravel, or graded earth, seeing only occasional foot, equestrian, and four wheel drive traffic. Some states, such as Wisconsin, use county highways in great numbers, linking major highways and cities or towns to eachother. In Minnesota, some county roads are known as County state-aid highways. These roads are constructed and maintained by counties, but they are eligible for funding from the County State Aid Highway Fund. Differences in signage between CSAH routes and other county roads depends on the county. Some counties, such as Stearns County, delineate between the two by using the "standard" blue pentagon shield for CSAH routes and Minnesota's normal white square shield for other county routes. • Most county roads in Minnesota are designated with numbers, although a few in Dodge County utilize letters instead. It should be noted that the "County Road B, County Road C, etc etc" system used in Ramsey County is not a route system, but instead is Ramsey County's way of naming east-west section roads north of the St. Paul city limits. A few roads that cross county borders are also signed with an "Intercounty" designation and a letter, but this system is not shown on most maps.• In the United States, county highways are denoted in various ways, differing by state. In states like Wisconsin, county highways are marked with letters--in Wisconsin with 1 to 3 letter combinations (ie: C, CC, or CCC). Wisconsin's county highways are frequently and clearly marked at most intersections. In states like Illinois, county highways are marked either with a number (usually 1 or 2 digits) or with a single letter followed by a 1 or 2 digit number (ie: V-34, A-29). These highways are usually marked at the beginning of the highway and marked occasionally throughout the route, but are not majorly relied on as geographic directions the way more major highways (state or federal and interstate) are. In Canada, numbered county roads are only found in Ontario, where they are similar to American county highways. Ontario county or regional roads are marked with trapezoid-shaped signs, usually (but not necessarily) with a white or blue background, and normally identifying the country or region responsible for the road's maintenance. Many Ontario county roads are built to provincial highway standards, as thousands of kilometres of highways were downloaded from the province to counties and regional municipalities. See: List of Ontario County Numbered Roads.
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