There are rumors on the interstates

January 7, 2005 11:40 PM

There are rumors on the interstates. CoolGov explains why I-90 is I-90. Information scraped from the Department of Transportation.
posted by NickDouglas (33 comments total)

Incidentally, the most confusing highway numbering I have ever seen is in Oakland, CA just over the Bay Bridge from San Francisco. At one point you can be driving north on a road that is labelled as both I-80 East and I-880 West.

It's always tough to give people directions around that area... "get on 80 eastbound, which will also be labelled as 880 west, but you'll be going north"
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 12:16 AM on January 8, 2005

I had no idea this was considered obscure information. I got it in school (probably in Driver's Ed.).
posted by hattifattener at 12:22 AM on January 8, 2005

You know a discussion site is in trouble when... it starts to sound like misc.transport.road.
posted by sbutler at 2:28 AM on January 8, 2005

"Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything." -- Charles Kuralt
posted by zach4000 at 2:30 AM on January 8, 2005

Santa Barbara faces south (which was a huge let down to me when I first moved there, thinking I'd get to see the sun set into the Pacific Ocean. WRONG!!). So, even though you're driving on 101 North, in the evening, the sun will be in your eye because you're actually driving west.

There's also 3 consecutive exits named Carrillo, Castillo, and Cabrillo.
posted by WolfDaddy at 4:24 AM on January 8, 2005

eyeS (unless you're a cyclops)
posted by WolfDaddy at 4:25 AM on January 8, 2005

I also did not consider this all that obscure. One can look at a map of the U.S. and figure out that I-5 is west and I-95 is east, or that odds go N-S and evens go E-W. It is those rings or beltways where things get confusing.
posted by fixedgear at 4:58 AM on January 8, 2005

Here's a more complete version of this information and a list of known violations.
posted by grouse at 5:00 AM on January 8, 2005

More map & highway geekery at Map & Road Geek including the end of Highway 666.

Now how about an explaination as to why distance signs in the US are so inaccurate ;-)

I wish that the milepost exit system was used here in the UK. Easier to judge distances and not such a problem adding new junctions (as opposed to using 16, 16A, 16B etc.)
posted by i_cola at 5:34 AM on January 8, 2005

Random road stuff:

Route 20 is the Route 66 of the north. It has an amazing history -- it's basically the old Oregon Trail, but before the colonials came, it was an Indian trail. It starts on Beacon Street at the Boston Common, becomes the Old Boston Post Road, and just keeps going all the way to Newport, Oregon. It's the nation's longest continuous stretch of highway.

Route 6 starts out in Provincetown, MA (on the Cape) and used to end up in Long Beach, CA, but they changed the numbering and now it's #2.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:36 AM on January 8, 2005

WolfDaddy: You were let down by the sunsets in SB??
*boggles*
posted by languagehat at 6:56 AM on January 8, 2005

Then there's Hawaii ... three "interstates" (considered part of the federal interstate highway system but obviously there's no bridge to the mainland). They're numbered H-1, H-2 and H-3 (as opposed to I-1, I-2, I-3) and in order of construction, not by the North-South/East-West rules.
posted by zanni at 7:07 AM on January 8, 2005

Alaska has interstates too, at least for federal funding and administration purposes, but they are not signed on the highway.

Please be sure to bookmark the US Highway Ends page on Geocities and return to it later if Mefi kills it temporarily. It's one of the most fascinating resources on the Internet, and I mean that sincerely.

When we were driving north from the Outer Banks last week, I took the Mrs. on a detour to see the end of US 50, in Ocean City MD. It never gets old.

Also, there are people who take numbering violations very seriously. The I-99 debacle is important not just for anal numbering geeks who can't deal with an I-99 sitting between I-79 and I-81, but anti-pork types who rail against the fact that the number (and the road itself) was a congressional mandate under the leadership of Bud Shuster, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, whose district contained the highway.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 7:36 AM on January 8, 2005

I seem to recall that somewhere west of the GWB in New Jersey on I-80 there was a sign that said "San Francisco" (no, it didn't have a milage figure). Does anyone remember that?
posted by ParisParamus at 8:26 AM on January 8, 2005

Route 20 is the Route 66 of the north. It has an amazing history -- it's basically the old Oregon Trail, but before the colonials came, it was an Indian trail. It starts on Beacon Street at the Boston Common, becomes the Old Boston Post Road, and just keeps going all the way to Newport, Oregon. It's the nation's longest continuous stretch of highway.

I've actually taken 20 from MA (I wanna say we picked it up in Worcester, but I could be mistaken) to Buffalo, NY. It took us about 16 hours or so, but is still marked as one of the best times I've ever had on a long drive. Sure, taking I90 would have been faster, but nowhere near as interesting.
posted by chickygrrl at 9:00 AM on January 8, 2005

I seem to recall that somewhere west of the GWB in New Jersey on I-80 there was a sign that said "San Francisco"

Never saw that one... How long ago?
posted by LouReedsSon at 9:26 AM on January 8, 2005

That list of violations doesn't include I-280--all signs refer to it as North/South, but if it's an even number, shouldn't it run East/West? The same is true for 680 and 880. What's up with that?

Also, why do Southern Californians add "The" to highway and freeway names--as in "Take the 5 to the 110 to the 101" while Northern Californians eliminate "the": "Take 80 over the bridge to 280 and on down to 17" Why? Why? Why?
posted by fandango_matt at 9:59 AM on January 8, 2005

I've actually taken 20 from MA (I wanna say we picked it up in Worcester, but I could be mistaken) to Buffalo, NY.

I always wanted to take Route 20 out to Oregon, but this...

...It took us about 16 hours or so...

...is why I didn't. There's got to be thousands of stoplights between here and there. The roadside attractions must be wonderful, though.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:24 AM on January 8, 2005

I've actually taken 20 from MA (I wanna say we picked it up in Worcester, but I could be mistaken) to Buffalo, NY. It took us about 16 hours or so, but is still marked as one of the best times I've ever had on a long drive. Sure, taking I90 would have been faster, but nowhere near as interesting.

Me too. It had so many hills, and gave me an entirely different sense of New York than I had ever had before . When my car is working fine again, I'll probably take another trip like that.
posted by drezdn at 10:25 AM on January 8, 2005

LouReedsSon: probably late '60s or early '70's. I suppose I could have imagined it, or confused it with my dad telling me that's where the road ended (which sounded amazing, at the time), but I don't think so.
posted by ParisParamus at 11:04 AM on January 8, 2005

Here's a list of "novelty" destination signs I've found:

- US 50 in Ocean City, MD: Sacramento, CA 3,073
- US 50 in Sacramento, CA: Ocean City, MD 3,037 (figure that one out)
- I-40 in Barstow, CA: Wilmington NC 2,554
- US 41 in Copper Harbor, MI: Miami, FL 1,990
- US 1 in Fort Kent, ME: Key West, FL 2,209
- US 6 in Bishop, CA: Provincetown, MA 3,205
posted by Saucy Intruder at 1:45 PM on January 8, 2005

It's entertaining to search alt.folklore.urban for "Highway Numbering Thread"... apparently one of those topics that can take over a newsgroup.
posted by kurumi at 2:07 PM on January 8, 2005

ParisParamus, when travelling on I-10, just after you cross the Louisiana border into Texas, there is a sign that reads "El Paso 857 miles".
posted by samuelad at 3:59 PM on January 8, 2005

- US 6 in Bishop, CA: Provincetown, MA 3,205

US 6 actually starts in Bishop and and finishes in Provincetown (or vice versa, depending on your perspective).

I grew up in Bishop (population ~3,500) and always found it amusing that one of the longest highways in the country started (or finished) in our tiny town. Imagine coming all the way from the East Coast, thousands of miles to finish here, just a few hundred miles from the coast.

(Actually, here's an article that explains that US 6 used to extend all the way to Long Beach).
posted by zanni at 4:37 PM on January 8, 2005

That list of violations doesn't include I-280--all signs refer to it as North/South, but if it's an even number, shouldn't it run East/West?

Not if it's a three-digit even number. The rules only apply to the two-digit numbers.
posted by grouse at 5:59 PM on January 8, 2005

If you think that interstate numbering can be boggling try the town I live in. We have two Main Streets. N&S and the E&W, try giving directions with that. Good luck.
posted by monkeyhead at 8:07 PM on January 8, 2005

At one point you can be driving north on a road that is labelled as both I-80 East and I-880 West.

I-580 West. The reason for this numbering is that I-580 snakes from the Central Valley to Marin County, in order to get federal funding for the freeway that connects the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to I-80. I-80 is the dominant highway and I-580 comes along for the ride. they also ran out of spur numbers (180 is a state highway and there is no number duplication, and 380, 580, 780, and 980 were all taken).


Also, why do Southern Californians add "The" to highway and freeway names--as in "Take the 5 to the 110 to the 101" while Northern Californians eliminate "the": "Take 80 over the bridge to 280 and on down to 17" Why? Why? Why?

Southern Californians have used freeway names for longer than Northern Californians. Freeway numbers have changed since the freeways were built. For instance, the San Bernardino Freeway was triple-signed as 60/70/99 and the Pasadena Freeway was signed as US 66 and SR 11. Since the highways have proper names, you use "the" in front of them. Northern California's freeway system was completed later and was completed during the Interstate era, so no massive number changes were required (101 was not changed, 40 became 80 and 50 became 580). The naming system also never caught on. Bay Area freeways have names that designate either the former road or the geographic feature it parallels (i.e. Warren Freeway (former Warren Bl. / SR-13), Eastshore Freeway for the east shore of San Francisco Bay/I-80) while Southern California freeways have destination names (Pomona/SR-60, Long Beach/I-710, Terminal Island/SR-47). The notable exceptions in Southern California are the Foothill, San Gabriel River, and Golden State Freeways while in the Bay Area the exceptions are the freeways named after people, like the Lick and the Nimitz.
posted by calwatch at 10:20 PM on January 8, 2005

Ok, as far as I understand there are two I-84's. One runs from western MA off of I-90 (the Mass Pike) and runs south west for a while, then stops. The other runs from Seattle to somewhere in Texas. Can anyone explain?
posted by Hactar at 11:03 PM on January 8, 2005

Close but no cigar. The western I-84 actually runs from Portland, Oregon to Salt Lake City, Utah. More here.
posted by kindall at 11:36 PM on January 8, 2005

If you think that interstate numbering can be boggling try the town I live in. We have two Main Streets. N&S and the E&W, try giving directions with that. Good luck.

That's not as bad as Seattle. Seattle has numbered avenues, like any other normal big city, but the city is divided into four quadrants, and the different avenues don't correspond with each other. In other words, 24th Ave. S. doesn't intersect with 24th Ave. N.

This. Is. Maddening.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:56 AM on January 9, 2005

I-40 in Barstow, CA: Wilmington NC 2,554

Its counterpart was there in Wilmington when last I was there in the mid 90's.

Freeway numbers have changed since the freeways were built. For instance, the San Bernardino Freeway was triple-signed as 60/70/99 and the Pasadena Freeway was signed as US 66 and SR 11. Since the highways have proper names, you use "the" in front of them.

I still don't get it, or get why those things would lead people to say "the." Do people in LA say "Take a left on the Elm Street and then turn right at the 123rd Blvd and then it's on the corner of the Jefferson Ave"?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:15 AM on January 9, 2005

I still don't get it, or get why those things would lead people to say "the."

When somebody in California says "take the 5,", they're really saying "take the 5 freeway," with the "freeway" part being dropped/understood. At least that's the way I always thought about it.
posted by Opposite George at 1:13 PM on January 9, 2005

interstate-guide.com

There is no sign in I-80 in NJ pointing to SF. I live at one end of the highway (right off the last exit before it merges with 95, honest) and I have taken it all the way to the Delaware Water Gap many times.

According to my father, there is a sign outside LA, however, that says how many miles it is to Jacksonville, FL on I-10. He asked me to check if there was a corresponding sign in the opposite direction last year when I was down visiting friends in Gainesville on my way to Mardi Gras in Nawlins. I have not personally seen the sign in LA.
posted by Eideteker at 7:39 PM on January 9, 2005