Choose a symbol for each Interstate

[empirestate]

Suppose you want to choose a single recognizable symbol to identify each Interstate, in the same way you might pick the Eiffel Tower to represent Paris, or the Statue of Liberty for New York. You can use landmarks like these, or conceptual symbols like the Fleur-de-lis for France or Quebec.

Also, for multi-state routes, try to find a symbol for the Interstate as a whole instead of just each state's segment. Part of the challenge is to figure out how to represent a long, linear feature that spans many regions by using a single symbol.

Bonus points to anyone who actually wants to whip up a graphic showing how these symbols might be used in signage (perhaps like NYC is already doing for its parkways).

To start, I'll throw out an obvious one:

I-190: Niagara Falls

[Roadgeek Adam]

Suppose you want to choose a single recognizable symbol to identify each Interstate, in the same way you might pick the Eiffel Tower to represent Paris, or the Statue of Liberty for New York. You can use landmarks like these, or conceptual symbols like the Fleur-de-lis for France or Quebec.

Also, for multi-state routes, try to find a symbol for the Interstate as a whole instead of just each state's segment. Part of the challenge is to figure out how to represent a long, linear feature that spans many regions by using a single symbol.

Bonus points to anyone who actually wants to whip up a graphic showing how these symbols might be used in signage (perhaps like NYC is already doing for its parkways).

To start, I'll throw out an obvious one:

I-190: Niagara Falls

I-280 (NJ): Newark Skyline
I-676 (NJ): Ben Franklin Bridge

[jp the roadgeek]

I-95: Bumper to bumper traffic (or the ocean)
I-91: Winding river
I-89: Maple tree
I-93: Pair of skis
I-84: The Constitution
I-80: 2 bridges (Bay and GW)
I-4: Mickey Mouse
I-45: Cowboy hat

[Henry]

I-76: Liberty Bell (East) and Rocky Mountains (West)
I-70: Gateway Arch
I-43: Cheese (I would choose a vat of beer, but then it would encourage drunk driving)
I-96: Cars
I-5: Hollywood Hills and Space Needle
I-85: Confederate flag
I-55: Musical notes
I-87: Empire State Building
I-66: US Capitol
I-17: Grand Canyon

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I-84: The Constitution

Which one? The Eastern of the Western?

[yanksfan6129]

I-95: [Insert Eastern Skyline of Choosing Here]
I-287: Generic Affluent Suburbia
I-90: run down factories
I-395 (MD): Camden Yards
I-781: Military Band
I-75: the snow bird (wealthy middle aged people from a suburb of Detroit)

[Henry]

I-84: The Constitution

Which one? The Eastern of the Western?

I think he meant the Eastern I-84, in which case I'd use the Oregon Trail for the other one.

[empirestate]

I-280 (NJ): Newark Skyline
I-676 (NJ): Ben Franklin Bridge

Is the Newark skyline recognizable? Is there maybe a specific building or monument that would represent the city (and by extension, I-280)?

And for I-676, what about Ben Franklin himself?

I-4: Mickey Mouse

I definitely thought of that one too. :-) Is there a symbol that would represent the same thing (Florida's tourism/entertainment industry) that isn't a trademark? Probably nothing that would work as well as Mickey ears... Maybe a rocket instead, then?

I-5: Hollywood Hills and Space Needle

No cheating–gotta pick one!

I-55: Musical notes

I like that. I also thought of a paddle wheel for I-55, to reflect the Mississippi River.

I-95: [Insert Eastern Skyline of Choosing Here]
I-287: Generic Affluent Suburbia
I-90: run down factories
I-395 (MD): Camden Yards
I-781: Military Band
I-75: the snow bird (wealthy middle aged people from a suburb of Detroit)

These are all good ideas, but let's try to be a specific as possible: which city in particular represents I-95 such that it symbolizes the whole road? (Or better yet, a single structure?) What would you display to represent suburbia for I-287? A white picket fence, a cul-de-sac? And which type of industry is (was) seen in the factories along I-90, and is there a way to depict that? Perhaps a cogwheel for industry in general?

Oh, and for I-781, surely just a drum is appropriate. :-)

Good ideas so far, keep 'em coming!

[DandyDan]

I-76: Liberty Bell (East) and Rocky Mountains (West)

The Rocky Mountains wouldn't work for the western I-76.  That one is more appropriately a cattle ranch.

[Takumi]

I-64: a tunnel portal with gridlock
I-564: a Navy ship
I-664: a tunnel portal with no visible traffic
I-195 (VA): a freight train (I think it's CSX that runs in the median)
I-295 (VA): a tractor-trailer hitting a pothole
I-395 (VA/DC): DC skyline
I-495 (VA/MD/DC): Woodrow Wilson Bridge

Can't decide whether I-264 or 464 should get the Norfolk skyline.

[SD Mapman]

I-76: Liberty Bell (East) and Rocky Mountains (West)

The Rocky Mountains wouldn't work for the western I-76.  That one is more appropriately a cattle ranch.

I-25 - Rocky Mountains
I-180 (WY) - Stoplights

[corco]

I-84 west: a Mormon

[Tom958]

For I-95, the iconic towers of the George Washington Bridge.

[Roadgeek Adam]

I-280 (NJ): Newark Skyline
I-676 (NJ): Ben Franklin Bridge

Is the Newark skyline recognizable? Is there maybe a specific building or monument that would represent the city (and by extension, I-280)?

And for I-676, what about Ben Franklin himself?

There's not much to I-280 of notability, maybe other than the Stickel Bridge, that would go on it.

Also, either way. I prefer the bridge.

[dfwmapper]

I-70: some sort of grass. Corn, wheat, hay, etc.. No need for signage along most of the route because just look out to the side of the road.
I-5: a bud. Your choice of whether that represents hops for the beer culture on the west coast, or the other kind of buds that are also popular on the west coast.

[adventurernumber1]

I-285 (GA): Traffic 

[oscar]

Suppose you want to choose a single recognizable symbol to identify each Interstate, in the same way you might pick the Eiffel Tower to represent Paris, or the Statue of Liberty for New York. You can use landmarks like these, or conceptual symbols like the Fleur-de-lis for France or Quebec.

Also, for multi-state routes, try to find a symbol for the Interstate as a whole instead of just each state's segment. Part of the challenge is to figure out how to represent a long, linear feature that spans many regions by using a single symbol.

What's the point of this exercise?  In most instances, the Interstate shield with the route number should be enough to guide travelers, and routinely adding symbols would only increase signage cost and clutter.  The discussion above makes clear there usually there is no intuitive symbol that can be associated with an entire route, especially long routes like I-5 and I-70 serving multiple destinations and regions. 

Maybe in some cases a symbol will help travelers (especially non-English speakers) figure out where a numbered road goes (for example an airport symbol for roads going to an airport, or a beach umbrella for roads going to a beach), but such symbols could be associated with multiple roads and not only Interstates.  Such symbols could differ by direction -- for example, an airport symbol for I-195 (FL) westbound, a beach umbrella for the same highway eastbound (Miami does a lot of this, for the tourists).  And maybe symbols would guide travelers through particularly complicated junctions where the route numbering is confusing or inadequate. 

ISTM that supplementing route markers with symbols is most useful to link multiple numbered routes together into longer themed routes.  Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island provinces do a lot of that, especially to join two or more numbered routes into a themed loop or to guide tourists onto scenic back roads, though there are also symbols for named routes following only a single numbered route such as the Viking Trail/NL 430.  Or Puerto Rico's Ruta Panoramica, linking a bunch of minor secondary routes into a single themed scenic route crossing the island from west to east.  (At least how it used to be signed -- I understand the island has largely abandoned its five themed scenic routes.)  Maybe the widely-signed Oregon Trail or other historic trails, paralleling (or in some spots obliterated by) various highways, not all of them Interstates.

I-676 (NJ): Ben Franklin Bridge

Good one, though add the words to the symbol, for out-of-towners who don't yet know what that bridge looks like or how it differs from all the other nearby river crossings.  It helps that the bridge is the most prominent feature in the middle of a very short route, so it fits as a symbol for pretty much the whole route.

I-55: Musical notes

I like that. I also thought of a paddle wheel for I-55, to reflect the Mississippi River

Musical notes work south of Memphis, not so much to the north.  The paddle wheel would work south of St. Louis, except that symbol is already used for the Great River Road which more closely follows the Mississippi River and like the river diverges a lot from I-55. 

[vdeane]

I-87: Adirondacks
I-11: casino
I-69: maple leaf on a sombrero
I-180 (Wyoming): traffic light 

[1995hoo]

I-495 in New York (the LIE) could have a picture of a middle-finger gesture. For that matter, so could I-495 in Virginia and Maryland (the Capital Beltway).

[cl94]

I-290 (New York): Water tower
I-990: UB logo/seal
I-590: Literal can of worms
I-787: Fort Nassau, Fort Orange, or Albany skyline
I-278: Brooklyn Bridge
I-587: Traffic circle
I-490 (New York): Erie Canal
I-495 (New York): Long Island or Montauk Point lighthouse
I-88: Catskill Mountains
I-86 (eastern one): Test tube/glassware (Corning) crossing a guitar (Woodstock festival, Bethel)
I-890: Lightbulb (General Electric)
I-99: Bud Schuster's face

[DandyDan]

I-180 (NE) Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, or perhaps a football
I-480 (IA-NE) Omaha skyline
I-680 (IA-NE) Mormon Bridge
I-129 Cattle processing plant
I-235 Iowa state capital in Des Moines
I-380 (IA) cornstalk
I-180 (IL) shuttered steel plant
I-88 (IL) Ronald Reagan
I-39 a US 51 shield

I'm trying to determine whether I-41 or I-43 gets the Packer logo.

[SSOWorld]

I-90: Chicago skyline
I-94: Blue Water Bridge OR NORTH and SOUTH banners.
I-69: Pieces of asphalt - because it's fragmented
I-65: Race cars
I-43: Curly Lambeau
I-894: US-45, I-43 and I-41 shields
I-294: Illinois Tollway logo - shared with I-355
I-290(IL): Left-hand exit ramps
I-190(IL): O-Hare Airport
I-355: Illinois Tollway logo - shared with I-294
I-494: Mall of America
I-35: Reunion Tower and the Aerial Lift Bridge
I-19: one kilometer
I-70: Eisenhower Tunnel
I-535: Blatnik Bridge
I-29: flat land
I-80: Toll booth OR Bonneville Salt Flats
I-96: Wolverine
I-75: Mighty Mac and Everglades
I-475 (MI) and I-675 (MI): junk
I-696: Michigan Left
I-275 (MI): very wide double light standards
I-375 (MI): a boulevard
I-496: Michigan State Capitol
I-196: Lake Michigan
I-8: Mexico flag

I-180 (IL) shuttered steel plant
I-39 a US 51 shield

I'm trying to determine whether I-41 or I-43 gets the Packer logo.

I-180 (IL) nothing - no point to it since it's useless
also you beat me with I-39
I-41: neither - instead, a US-41 shield.
I-88 (IL): Speed limit 65 sign

[empirestate]

I-280 (NJ): Newark Skyline
I-676 (NJ): Ben Franklin Bridge

Is the Newark skyline recognizable? Is there maybe a specific building or monument that would represent the city (and by extension, I-280)?

And for I-676, what about Ben Franklin himself?

There's not much to I-280 of notability, maybe other than the Stickel Bridge, that would go on it.

Also, either way. I prefer the bridge.

It doesn't have to be a feature of the road itself. It can be something that represents the area served by the route. For a one-city 3di, that's fairly straightforward, but for a transcontinental route, the challenge is to decide what area(s) reflect the route as a whole, and how to symbolize that. Or alternately, how to reflect all of the areas traversed, using a single symbol.


iPhone

[robbones]

I 540 (AR) a Razorback

[Zeffy]

I-278: Brooklyn Bridge

I think a picture depicting a line of cars is more appropriate at least on Staten Island...