3DIs - The final frontier

April 27, 2004 9:33 AM

3-digit Interstate Highways - Everything you (n)ever wanted to know about the offshoots of the U.S. Interstate system, including naming conventions and the evil I-238. [via Fark]
posted by falconred (20 comments total)

All right, this has nothing to do with Interstates, but did anyone notice that Route 666 (which I drove last year when it was still 666, through the awesome Monument Valley) was changed recently? I guess the devil gotta drive somewheres else now.
posted by kozad at 9:42 AM on April 27, 2004

I declare my time at metafilter productive when i learn something new, as i just did from this link.
posted by Recockulous at 9:45 AM on April 27, 2004

It always amazes me the level of people's wonderful obsessions.
posted by plemeljr at 9:58 AM on April 27, 2004

In the Washington DC area, and I'm sure other areas, there needs to be 4-digit numbering. I-270, where it connects to I-495, splits for several miles, so there is both I-270 and I-270 Spur for several miles making a fork. I suppose the latter should be I-2270, following the numbering rules. :)
posted by skynxnex at 9:58 AM on April 27, 2004

I drive 476 all the time, and never knew it was the longest 3di! Thanks.
posted by drinkcoffee at 9:59 AM on April 27, 2004

From my own personal highway weirdness department:

There is a wonderful moment on my drive to Cornell that takes place in Binghamton, NY, where I am simultaneously driving West on NY Rt. 17, East on I-88, and North on I-81. It only is about a 1-mile stretch of interchange, but it always makes me smile. There is even an overhead sign that lists all 3 highways invovled in this time space anomoly - and their contradictory vectors - to prove it

Just thought I'd share.
posted by ChasFile at 10:17 AM on April 27, 2004

I went to IC, ChasFile, and I was just now thinking about that stretch! It's bizarre, and I'm glad you posted about it. ('cause I couldn't remember I-88's number).
posted by Vidiot at 10:32 AM on April 27, 2004

Woohoo! I was hoping this would get posted here.

Roadgeeking, as it's called, is a wonderful obsession, but not unusual. The newsgroup misc.transport.road has been extremely active on Usenet for almost a decade. Here's a good index to other roadgeek sites. My favorite is the US Highways Ends Page with pictures of the termini of federal highways. (last link geocities, tread lightly)

Kurumi is a mefite. He also hosts Connecticut Roads (full disclosure: I'm a one-time "guest columnist" and occasionally cited source) and my favorite, the SignMaker, a java applet that lets you create your own custom highway signs.

Those who are slightly less geeky and interested in the cultural and historical impact of the interstate highway system should check out NYCRoads.com (which I posted here last year), which is a really well-detailed and well-researched source of information about the NY/NJ/CT tristate and other urban highway networks.
posted by PrinceValium at 10:32 AM on April 27, 2004

No 3DI can touch the Magic Roundabout.
posted by Vidiot at 10:42 AM on April 27, 2004

Not as good as Chasfile's example, but here's Kansas East 56 and West 31 ...
posted by dmd at 10:43 AM on April 27, 2004

The internet must be built like Boston, because Fark Street and Metafilter Way meet again. ;)
posted by LinemanBear at 11:37 AM on April 27, 2004

There's an area in SW Virginia where several roads join to feed through a mountain pass, so you'll be on I-77-N, I-81-S, somethingelse-W, and yetanotherroad-E, all in the same direction (MOL W).
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:56 AM on April 27, 2004

In the Washington DC area, and I'm sure other areas, there needs to be 4-digit numbering. I-270, where it connects to I-495, splits for several miles, so there is both I-270 and I-270 Spur for several miles making a fork.

Something vaguely like that was true of I-465 in Indianapolis for many years. Just a few years ago the "spur" part was renumbered as I-865.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:51 PM on April 27, 2004

Vidiot - I can only imagine the chaos that would cause if implemented in the U.S.
posted by falconred at 1:13 PM on April 27, 2004

Attention Philly Mefites!

I once was stopped at what I could swear was a stoplight on Interstate 676 before you cross the Delaware. Of course this was 10 years ago, so I might be wrong. Can anyone verify this?
posted by internal at 1:28 PM on April 27, 2004

I have nothing of import to contribute to this thread other than to say: ChasFile and Vidiot, I went to Cornell and lived in Ithaca for 9 years and have driven along that particular stretch of road many times. I would also like to add that Ithaca is Gorges. That is all, sorry, carry on.
posted by purplemonkie at 1:45 PM on April 27, 2004

NY Rt. 17 moment, from a Syracuse Alum:

Roscoe Diner.
posted by msacheson at 4:08 PM on April 27, 2004

Hey, I didn't know the Sunshine Skyway fishing pier was the longest in the world! Now I get to not-wow my friends with that factoid! (I'm not being snarky, that actually got me excited. Great post.)
posted by logovisual at 4:26 PM on April 27, 2004

I635 around Dallas does not connect with I35W, it connects with I35E. I35W is in Fort Worth. Don't want yall gettin lost!
posted by hockeyman at 7:39 PM on April 27, 2004

This is wonderful, thanks falconred; as a road geek I love stuff like this. (Here's the Roads of Maine, from my neck of the woods.)

Didn't eat at the Roscoe Diner, but did stay at the Roscoe Motel — nice trout stream out back of the place — with my son a few years ago on our way to once again drive that famous stretch of road simultaneously driving West on NY Rt. 17, East on I-88, and North on I-81. On our way to Ithaca, in fact, to visit my sister and her family.

The loneliest Interstates must be the ones in Hawaii.
posted by LeLiLo at 12:52 AM on April 28, 2004