Choose a symbol for each Interstate

[Doctor Whom]

• I-95: An 18th-century ship
• I-495 (MD/VA/DC): A ring around the Capitol (simplified version of what was once used)
• I-395 (VA/DC): A road leading directly to the Capitol
• I-295 (VA): A cardinal sitting on a branch of a dogwood in flower
  
• The former I-170 (MD): William Donald Schaefer

[corco]

I-180 (WY) - Stoplights

I-180 (Wyoming): traffic light 

Hey!

I-84 west: a Mormon

No, that'd be more like I-86 west or I-215 Utah

I'm sticking with I-84 (pretty much straight Mormon from Echo all the way to Baker besides Nampa-Caldwell, even going through the most Mormon parts of Boise), hardly any Mormons live inside I-215 at this point, and I-86 has hardly any people. Portland->Pendleton is the questionable part for I-84.

I-15 is also a good candidate if it weren't for Vegas and LA, and decidedly not-Mormon Butte/Helena/Great Falls.

[Billy F 1988]

I-90 (MT) - Hellgate Canyon, Mount Sentinel and Mount Jumbo

[texaskdog]

I-75 the Mackinac Bridge
I-35 the Alamo
I-90 Mount Rushmore (too far off the beaten path?)

[codyg1985]

I-22: Elvis
I-565 (AL): A rocket
I-440 (TN): A guitar and music notes
I-640 (TN): Tennessee Volunteers T
I-359 (AL): University of Alabama A with a guy next to it with a pick axe
I-459 (AL): A plantation house next to a bunch of dollar signs
I-165 (AL): A boat dock with a big freighter coming into it
I-110 (MS): A slot machine
I-759 (AL): A tire with a line through it
I-180 (IL): An industrial plant with the word "CANCELLED" at the top of it
I-465 (IN): A racetrack with blank US shields encircling it.

[texaskdog]

I-85 albino kid with a banjo

[Scott5114]

I-35: wheat and corn stalks
I-44: a tornado silhouette, or if that is too insensitive a cloud with a thunderbolt
I-240 OK: a military jet
I-235 OK/I-244: OKC and Tulsa skylines respectively
I-444: a bunch of US and state highway shields

I-238: a question mark

[Jim]

I-87: tractor trailer with Quebec license plate

[cl94]

I-87: tractor trailer with Quebec license plate

No, that's the Cross Island Parkway. Just have to use a picture of a truck with Quebec plates that ran into a bridge.

[SD Mapman]

I-180 (WY) - Stoplights

I-180 (Wyoming): traffic light 

Hey!

I-84 west: a Mormon

No, that'd be more like I-86 west or I-215 Utah

I'm sticking with I-84 (pretty much straight Mormon from Echo all the way to Baker besides Nampa-Caldwell, even going through the most Mormon parts of Boise), hardly any Mormons live inside I-215 at this point, and I-86 has hardly any people. Portland->Pendleton is the questionable part for I-84.

I-15 is also a good candidate if it weren't for Vegas and LA, and decidedly not-Mormon Butte/Helena/Great Falls.

Oh, now it makes more sense.

[jp the roadgeek]

I-90: Safeco Field and Fenway Park
I

[BamaZeus]

359: an elephant (UA Mascot Big Al)
20/59: an overturned 18-wheeler

[signalman]

I-99: Bud Schuster's face

That would get expensive for PennDOT to maintain the shields.  They would become riddled with bullet holes constantly.

For I-80 in NJ, 3 lanes of traffic could be used.  With the left lane loaded with NY and PA plates 

[SteveG1988]

I-99: A jumbled mess of red tape

[roadman]

I-90  a lobster (representing the Boston end) and a salmon (representing the Seattle end).

[clong]

I-75 Alligator eating a tire
I-55 Blues brothers shadow
I-565 (AL) Rocket

[NE2]

I-99: A jumbled mess of red tape

Actually I-99 is an example of cutting through the red tape of AASHTO and FHWA to get an Interstate designated.

[SteveG1988]

I-99: A jumbled mess of red tape

Actually I-99 is an example of cutting through the red tape of AASHTO and FHWA to get an Interstate designated.

I-99: A pair of Scissors with a Red Ribbon

[empirestate]

What's the point of this exercise?

Oh heck, I don't know; what's the point of half the random conversations in here? I guess I'm just trying to look at our Interstates beyond just the pavements, structures, and signage that they comprise; trying to take a system that is both logical and arbitrary, and trying to correlate it to the socio-cultural environment in which it exists.

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.

Sure, this is definitely not an exercise about navigation or signage, so you don't have to factor that into your brainstorming. That said, it may help in choosing a symbol to consider how it might be displayed as a single, graphical character on a trailblazer-type shield (the way a country's symbol might be displayed on its flag), but there's no need to account for how such signage might actually be deployed and how useful it would be for wayfinding.

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.

Indeed, and to me that challenge is precisely what's interesting here: can we find any unifying theme that pertains to this whole route to which we've somewhat arbitrarily assigned a number? Or again, taking national symbols as a cue, how have we designated the eagle as the American bird of choice, although they're not commonly found in much of the country?

But if you find it too restrictive to consider whole Interstates, you can certainly consider just the segment within one state (and maybe we'll find some common themes among the symbols assigned to each state).

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.

They could, maybe, but that's not what we're looking for. Symbols in this exercise are meant to represent the Interstate overall, not to guide us to destinations. (So there shouldn't be different symbols for different directions of a route.) However, the symbol might well refer to a prominent landmark that the Interstate serves, if it seems to be a major part of the route's identity, but that approach probably won't work for a route that serves several important cities.

And no need to worry about duplicating symbols used by other systems (like the Great River Road); just try to keep them unique within the Interstate system. In short, if you're worried about how useful this would be to the motoring public, don't be! That's why we're discussing it in here instead of actually doing it out there. :-)

[Pete from Boston]

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).

I'll meet you halfway for the LIE–a duck giving the middle finger.

[roadman]

I-99: A jumbled mess of red tape

Actually I-99 is an example of cutting through the red tape of AASHTO and FHWA to get an Interstate designated.

Actually I-99 is an example of overriding AASHTO and FHWA rules for purely political reasons.

[NE2]

I-99: A jumbled mess of red tape

Actually I-99 is an example of cutting through the red tape of AASHTO and FHWA to get an Interstate designated.

Actually I-99 is an example of overriding AASHTO and FHWA rules for purely political reasons.

Cutting through red tape to get an Interstate designated for political reasons.

[sandwalk]

I-90: Safeco Field and Fenway Park
I

Interestingly enough, there are 2 other Major League Baseball stadiums right next to I-90....Progressive Field (Cleveland Indians) and US Cellular Field (Chicago White Sox).  Not too far off of I-90 is the Baseball Hall of Fame (Cooperstown NY) and Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs).  Maybe there should be a ball & bat symbol for I-90.

[sandwalk]

I-277 (OH) - Goodyear Blimp
I-280 (OH) - Glass City Skyway Bridge Spire
I-490 (OH) - something industrial
I-675 (OH) - Airplane

[hotdogPi]

I-675 (OH) - Airplane

Surely you forgot the exclamation point at the end of the word.