Unnecessary control cities

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Fort Collins on I-25 in Denver always bothered me as you have Cheyenne just a little further.

Fort Collins is a major college town as well as being nearly three times as large as Cheyenne.

[dvferyance]

Fort Collins on I-25 in Denver always bothered me as you have Cheyenne just a little further.

Fort Collins is a major college town as well as being nearly three times as large as Cheyenne.

I have no problem with using it for the NB direction. However I didn't like Wyoming replacing Denver with Fort Collins for the SB direction.

[dvferyance]

West Virginia's have always bugged me. Huntington, Charleston, Beckley and Morgantown all make plenty of sense, as they are either large cities or interstate junctions (or both). But Parkersburg, Clarksburg, Fairmont, Lewisburg and Bluefield are, to me, nonsensical in the bigger scheme of things. I-77 north at Charleston should be Cambridge, Oh. (intersection of I-70) and south at Bluefield should be Wytheville, Va. (intersection of I-81). I-64 east at Beckley should be Lexington, Va. (intersection of I-81) if not Richmond, which is listed as a supplemental (as is Charlotte for I-77 where the routes split). I-79 north at Charleston should be Morgantown (intersection of I-68).

Parkersburg is a lot bigger than Cambridge. Everything else though I agree with.

[peperodriguez2710]

In big Spanish cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville... sometimes, freeway signs don't show control cities; but the words "Todas direcciones" which means "all directions". This happens specially in Madrid, where you can find redundant signs because of that.

Who needs control cities when you can drive everywhere?

[hbelkins]

West Virginia's have always bugged me. Huntington, Charleston, Beckley and Morgantown all make plenty of sense, as they are either large cities or interstate junctions (or both). But Parkersburg, Clarksburg, Fairmont, Lewisburg and Bluefield are, to me, nonsensical in the bigger scheme of things. I-77 north at Charleston should be Cambridge, Oh. (intersection of I-70) and south at Bluefield should be Wytheville, Va. (intersection of I-81). I-64 east at Beckley should be Lexington, Va. (intersection of I-81) if not Richmond, which is listed as a supplemental (as is Charlotte for I-77 where the routes split). I-79 north at Charleston should be Morgantown (intersection of I-68).

Parkersburg is a lot bigger than Cambridge. Everything else though I agree with.

So are Bluefield, Clarksburg, Fairmont and (I believe) Lewisburg. The reason I picked Cambridge is because it's an interstate crossroads, like Wytheville or Washington, Pa. If not for the presence of I-70 making Washington an interstate junction, I'd sign Pittsburgh on I-79 north of Morgantown.

[RobbieL2415]

Is it common to list (non-roadway accessible) islands as a control city?

[PHLBOS]

Is it common to list (non-roadway accessible) islands as a control city?

I'm more curious as towards why this signage completely ignores listing MA 28; 28 northbound is accessible via Exit 3 and 28 southbound becomes the through-highway just south of this interchange.

[RobbieL2415]

Is it common to list (non-roadway accessible) islands as a control city?

I'm more curious as towards why this signage completely ignores listing MA 28; 28 northbound is accessible via Exit 3 and 28 southbound becomes the through-highway just south of this interchange.

US 6 and MA 28 are co-signed through eastern Wareham, though.  Exit 2 is signed for both MA 28 and US 6.  Honestly though, who in their right mind is going to get off at exit 3 on 25 South to get onto 28 North?  25 was built to bypass 28 and 6.  So I'm guessing 28 is not listed on exit 3 so that vacation traffic doesn't start using it to get to Wareham.

[tckma]

Poland signs the remote focal point on its highways. In case of highways reaching a border, they sign the border town along the entire length of a route. So that means Jędrzychowice, a village with a population of 670, is signed across the country from hundreds of miles away...

Why not just use the Polish language words for "International Border," or even just the PL/D Euroband Ovals they already have up there?  That's kind of like "State Line" used as a "control city" on mileage signs here in the US.

[AMLNet49]

Is it common to list (non-roadway accessible) islands as a control city?

I'm more curious as towards why this signage completely ignores listing MA 28; 28 northbound is accessible via Exit 3 and 28 southbound becomes the through-highway just south of this interchange.

US 6 and MA 28 are co-signed through eastern Wareham, though.  Exit 2 is signed for both MA 28 and US 6.  Honestly though, who in their right mind is going to get off at exit 3 on 25 South to get onto 28 North?  25 was built to bypass 28 and 6.  So I'm guessing 28 is not listed on exit 3 so that vacation traffic doesn't start using it to get to Wareham.

That and as far as the pull through, the general public likely assumes that the Bridge is 25 so signing 28 only could be confusing. Early in my roadgeeking days I was not even aware that 25 did not cross the bridge, I assumed that 25 and 28 were at least concurrent over the bridge, and I assume most of the general population believes this.

[RobbieL2415]

Is it common to list (non-roadway accessible) islands as a control city?

I'm more curious as towards why this signage completely ignores listing MA 28; 28 northbound is accessible via Exit 3 and 28 southbound becomes the through-highway just south of this interchange.

US 6 and MA 28 are co-signed through eastern Wareham, though.  Exit 2 is signed for both MA 28 and US 6.  Honestly though, who in their right mind is going to get off at exit 3 on 25 South to get onto 28 North?  25 was built to bypass 28 and 6.  So I'm guessing 28 is not listed on exit 3 so that vacation traffic doesn't start using it to get to Wareham.

That and as far as the pull through, the general public likely assumes that the Bridge is 25 so signing 28 only could be confusing. Early in my roadgeeking days I was not even aware that 25 did not cross the bridge, I assumed that 25 and 28 were at least concurrent over the bridge, and I assume most of the general population believes this.

I think it ends/begins at the 28 ramps on/off the Bourne Bridge.  Mileage counts up from the end of I-495 so I can't say for sure.  The best thing to do would be to re-number MA 25 as MA 495.

When I was little I actually thought MA 25 went all the way down MacArthur Blvd.

[Brandon]

Poland signs the remote focal point on its highways. In case of highways reaching a border, they sign the border town along the entire length of a route. So that means Jędrzychowice, a village with a population of 670, is signed across the country from hundreds of miles away...

Why not just use the Polish language words for "International Border," or even just the PL/D Euroband Ovals they already have up there?  That's kind of like "State Line" used as a "control city" on mileage signs here in the US.

For example, "Indiana" shows up around here often as one of these lines.  It's the distance to the Illinois/Indiana state line.  Poland could simply use the "D" or Polish for "Germany".

[CNGL-Leudimin]

And if they wanted to sign the last town before the border, why they sign Jedrzychowice or whatever is written (And pronounced, Polish language is weird, they have a city that is written Lodz but pronounced 'Woodge') when they could sign the nearby, larger Zgorzelec?

[PHLBOS]

Is it common to list (non-roadway accessible) islands as a control city?

I'm more curious as towards why this signage completely ignores listing MA 28; 28 northbound is accessible via Exit 3 and 28 southbound becomes the through-highway just south of this interchange.

US 6 and MA 28 are co-signed through eastern Wareham, though.  Exit 2 is signed for both MA 28 and US 6.  Honestly though, who in their right mind is going to get off at exit 3 on 25 South to get onto 28 North?  25 was built to bypass 28 and 6.  So I'm guessing 28 is not listed on exit 3 so that vacation traffic doesn't start using it to get to Wareham.

That and as far as the pull through, the general public likely assumes that the Bridge is 25 so signing 28 only could be confusing. Early in my roadgeeking days I was not even aware that 25 did not cross the bridge, I assumed that 25 and 28 were at least concurrent over the bridge, and I assume most of the general population believes this.

I think it ends/begins at the 28 ramps on/off the Bourne Bridge.  Mileage counts up from the end of I-495 so I can't say for sure.  The best thing to do would be to re-number MA 25 as MA 495.

When I was little I actually thought MA 25 went all the way down MacArthur Blvd.

The above-interchange and the blending into the Bourne Bridge has only existed for about 27-28 years.  Previously, MA 25 used to end at US 6/MA 28 (current Exit 2) just east of I-195/495.  Once upon a time, MA 25 was planned to go as far as Plymouth and end at MA 3.

While signing Exit 3 as 28 NORTH (along w/US 6) could cause some confusion; not signing it as 28 at all, IMHO, is misleading... especially since 28 becomes the highway itself leading to the Bourne Bridge.

I would've definitely added a 28 SOUTH for the pull-through BGS but just added a MA 28 shield to the Exit 3 BGS w/no direction cardinal.  So what if US 6 & MA 28 are already signed at Exit 2; both interchanges are about 7 miles away from each other.

BTW, here's how the interchange is signed from the opposite direction.

Here's how Exit 2 is signed from 25 westbound.

Exit 2 from 25 eastbound

[shadyjay]

This one on I-95 NB in CT has always grinded my gears.... why didn't they use Worcester instead of Plainfield for I-395 NB?    Once you get past Norwich on I-395, the control city becomes Worcester (except from CT 2 EB to I-395 NB, where Providence is used).  There's no Plainfield control city mentioned at all, until you see the BGSs for the Plainfield exits.  The old signs at this location also featured Plainfield, with "Mass Tpke/Worcester" on a secondary sign.  That secondary sign was not replaced when this area got new signage in 2000. 

95NB-Exit76 by Jay Hogan, on Flickr

[RobbieL2415]

This one on I-95 NB in CT has always grinded my gears.... why didn't they use Worcester instead of Plainfield for I-395 NB?    Once you get past Norwich on I-395, the control city becomes Worcester (except from CT 2 EB to I-395 NB, where Providence is used).  There's no Plainfield control city mentioned at all, until you see the BGSs for the Plainfield exits.  The old signs at this location also featured Plainfield, with "Mass Tpke/Worcester" on a secondary sign.  That secondary sign was not replaced when this area got new signage in 2000. 

95NB-Exit76 by Jay Hogan, on Flickr

Well, technically I-395 ends in Auburn at I-290.

[opspe]

I, for one, have never figured out why I-84 westbound from Portland uses Ontario as a far-off control city (after more reasonable ones like The Dalles and Pendleton).  Boise's another 50 miles, sure, but it's also 20 times bigger, not to mention a state capital, and a lot of the long haul traffic ends up there.  Or Salt Lake, but that's unreasonably far.

Another one that irks me is I-5 southbound from Portland uses Salem as a control city, rather than Eugene, but I-5 northbound from Eugene skips Salem and uses Portland.  I can understand why you'd use Salem or why you'd skip it, but not why you'd do both.

[The Nature Boy]

This one on I-95 NB in CT has always grinded my gears.... why didn't they use Worcester instead of Plainfield for I-395 NB?    Once you get past Norwich on I-395, the control city becomes Worcester (except from CT 2 EB to I-395 NB, where Providence is used).  There's no Plainfield control city mentioned at all, until you see the BGSs for the Plainfield exits.  The old signs at this location also featured Plainfield, with "Mass Tpke/Worcester" on a secondary sign.  That secondary sign was not replaced when this area got new signage in 2000. 

95NB-Exit76 by Jay Hogan, on Flickr

Well, technically I-395 ends in Auburn at I-290.

And I-84 ends well short of Boston but that doesn't stop the CT DOT from signing Boston as a control city on I-84

[hobsini2]

The ultimate..

I-180, Hennepin IL

Where else does it go?  You could use Peoria, but I-180 makes that annoying turn to the east to cross the Illinois River and end in.....Hennepin.

And there are signs on 80 that say use 180 to Peoria. Just saying. Hennepin is fine.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

In big Spanish cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville... sometimes, freeway signs don't show control cities; but the words "Todas direcciones" which means "all directions". This happens specially in Madrid, where you can find redundant signs because of that.

Who needs control cities when you can drive everywhere?

At least is better than when they write the same city twice.

[Brandon]

The ultimate..

I-180, Hennepin IL

Where else does it go?  You could use Peoria, but I-180 makes that annoying turn to the east to cross the Illinois River and end in.....Hennepin.

And there are signs on 80 that say use 180 to Peoria. Just saying. Hennepin is fine.

Yes...

https://goo.gl/maps/9e9W4RAdLpw

[SteveG1988]

For some reason i find signing "Camden" on 295 south in Trenton is a bit of a misnomer. 295 does not actually enter Camden, nor does it enter Trenton. But Trenton makes sense to me, Camden doesn't. I'd sign it as either Delaware, or  Wilmington DE, or Deptford NJ. Switching to the Delaware ones once you get past I76.

[dvferyance]

I, for one, have never figured out why I-84 westbound from Portland uses Ontario as a far-off control city (after more reasonable ones like The Dalles and Pendleton).  Boise's another 50 miles, sure, but it's also 20 times bigger, not to mention a state capital, and a lot of the long haul traffic ends up there.  Or Salt Lake, but that's unreasonably far.

Another one that irks me is I-5 southbound from Portland uses Salem as a control city, rather than Eugene, but I-5 northbound from Eugene skips Salem and uses Portland.  I can understand why you'd use Salem or why you'd skip it, but not why you'd do both.

That must have changed because when I was there in 2007 the control city was The Dalles. I have no problem with using Salem after all it's the state capitol. I believe Portland is used as the NB control city as far south as Redding CA while Oregon never uses that. Only Yreka is used in Oregon just before California which doesn't make sense. I would use Redding after Medford and not use Ashland either. I would probably not use Roseburg as well.

[US 41]

At the MEX 57 / MEX 40D interchange in Coahuila they use Ramos Arizpe as the control city for southbound 57. What's wrong with using Saltillo or even Matehuala as the control city? I had never even heard of Ramos Arizpe before and it's not even listed in my road atlas.

https://goo.gl/maps/agjdccVdovQ2

Same deal a few hundred feet south on MEX 57.

https://goo.gl/maps/7HK47x2RkJK2

[OCGuy81]

I-505 uses Winters (population about 6000) as a control city, where I feel it'd make more sense to simply use San Francisco, as most drivers heading south on I-5 and exiting onto I-505 are SF bound.