Which State signs the best Control Cities?

[Interstate Trav]

Another spinoff of the Control Cities, thread.  Basically, which State's do you think are better with Control Cities and which ones are worse?

[Alps]

PA is inconsistent with any of the states around them. Then again, Ohio ignores every town in Pennsylvania along I-80, while NJ only signs Delaware Water Gap. NJ has the problem that there are several different agencies, each making its own decisions on control cities, so what you see on the Turnpike won't match the Parkway or any of the bridges, or any of the other roads.

[hobsini2]

I personally think Wisconsin does a good job with control cities.  They use both primary on the mainline and  primary & secondary at regular interchanges.  The bigger interchanges use the primary only.
For example on I-90 from La Crosse, the primary cities are La Crosse, Wisconsin Dells, Madison, Chicago. The secondary are Tomah, Portage, Janesville, Beloit.

[ftballfan]

I think Michigan does a good job with control cities as well.

[hbelkins]

Kentucky does a good job. So, too, does Tennessee.

West Virginia, on the other hand...

[CL]

I love Utah's (surprise, surprise), simply because for out-of-state cities no postal abbreviations are used. Instead of "Las Vegas NV," it's just "Las Vegas." Same with Reno, Cheyenne, Pocatello, et al. At the same time, I wish control cities in Salt Lake were closer. Provo, instead of Las Vegas. Elko, instead of Reno. Park City, instead of Cheyenne. You get the idea.

[agentsteel53]

I love Utah's (surprise, surprise), simply because for out-of-state cities no postal abbreviations are used. Instead of "Las Vegas NV," it's just "Las Vegas." Same with Reno, Cheyenne, Pocatello, et al. At the same time, I wish control cities in Salt Lake were closer. Provo, instead of Las Vegas. Elko, instead of Reno. Park City, instead of Cheyenne. You get the idea.

for larger cities, omitting the state name makes sense - but for smaller towns I would include it.  for interstate routes this isn't too big a deal, but if I am on a two-laner and maybe 10-15 miles from the state line (and I couldn't tell you exactly how much), I would appreciate if a town, say, 12 miles away has the state suffix if it is past the state line.  Just to help me orient myself.

[corco]

I like Wyoming- they take advantage of the fact that there are no towns in Wyoming by making every town that is directly off the interstates but Wamsutter, Sinclair, Ranchester, Chugwater, and Kaycee a control city

[Interstate Trav]

Arizona seems to use long distance control cities as well.  like El Paso on I-10 East in Tucson, Los Angeles on I-40 West.  Ect.  New Mexico seems to use closer cities.  Same with many parts of Southern California.

[Henry]

As strange as this may sound, I actually loved seeing Chicagoland expressways signed in their own unique way, like I-355/Suburbs, I-94/Wisconsin-Indiana, and so on. However, other states are pretty good at signing their own control cities, like North Carolina. For example, if you are traveling on I-77 north from Charlotte or I-40 west from Winston-Salem, more often than not you'll see Statesville as the control city, as that's where they meet.

[Brandon]

^^ I hate the "Suburbs" ones, but like the states around Chicagoland.  IMHO, the actual suburbs should be used (Joliet, Aurora, Schaumburg, etc), but that's content for another thread.

[huskeroadgeek]

I like Illinois' way(at least downstate) of using distant and nearby control cties-distant ones at freeway junctions and on pull through signage and nearer ones on directional signs at intersecting road junctions with interstates. Missouri does this to some extent as well-which makes for some interesting control cities. I-29 in NW Missouri goes through a pretty sparsely populated area, so at some of the intersecting road junctions you have the small towns of Hamburg Ia and Mound City as control cities for I-29 North and I-29 South respectively(Council Bluffs and St. Joseph are used on the mainline).

[ftballfan]

Good examples for Michigan (I'm not familiar with the Detroit area):
Grand Rapids/Lansing for I-96 from SB US-31
Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo for SB US-131 from EB I-96
Big Rapids/Cadillac for NB US-131 from EB I-96
Muskegon/Ludington for NB US-31 from WB I-96

Some bad ones:
New Era for M-20 from US-31 (what about Fremont, Hesperia, or White Cloud, which are all larger than New Era?)
Fremont for M-120 from SB US-31 (at this point, US-31 is 20+ miles southwest of Fremont and traffic heading to Fremont from the north should have gotten off at M-20)
Eastmanville for 68th Ave from M-45 and I-96 (for I-96, Allendale, home to a major state college, should be used in addition to Coopersville and from M-45, Coopersville and/or Muskegon should be used)

Inconsistent control cities:
At the end of the NB US-31 freeway, the control cities for the US-10 east/US-31 exit (Exit 170A) are Clare and Traverse City. For a while until the last sign upgrade, the control cities switched to Reed City and Manistee at the exit.

[architect77]

As strange as this may sound, I actually loved seeing Chicagoland expressways signed in their own unique way, like I-355/Suburbs, I-94/Wisconsin-Indiana, and so on. However, other states are pretty good at signing their own control cities, like North Carolina. For example, if you are traveling on I-77 north from Charlotte or I-40 west from Winston-Salem, more often than not you'll see Statesville as the control city, as that's where they meet.

I also like Chicago's use of "Wisconsin", "Indiana", and "Suburbs" on its signage. Within the city, these descriptions are more useful to motorists than Atlanta's use of "Tampa", which is a long ways away.

North Carolina is so high on itself that it will use an NC control city all the way to the edges of the state before it finally will briefly mention Petersburg, VA or Spartanburg, SC.

Conversely, Virginia seems to not have enough pride in it's own cities. I-95's signage through the state is loaded with "Washington", "Durham", "Miami", and about 5 mentions of "Rocky Mt, NC".

[Revive 755]

^ I am still unconvinced on the use of states around Chicagoland, especially when a lower quality route uses more specific cities, as is the case on EB IL 120 with signs for I-94 and US 41.

I would consider Illinois the best if it wasn't for that and the following:
1) Use of East St. Louis instead of St. Louis or Troy on I-55 and I-70
2) Use of Interstate 57 on I-24 instead of Marion
3) Use of Interstate 270 on I-255 still; with IL 255 it would be better to switch to an actual city

Missouri would also be a top pick if it wasn't for the following
1) Inconsistency on I-55:  Perryville only appears as a secondary control for NB traffic
2) Excessive use of Chicago on I-270 around St. Louis instead of sticking with Kansas City on NB I-270 until US 40 and then switching.
3) No control city for EB MO 370
4) Poor use of control cities on a few exits such as Route Z at I-55 in Jefferson County (Hillsboro should have stayed in use here).  There's a couple places on I-44 where more distant cities should have been used instead of the town adjacent to the interstate.
5) Tempted to add the use of Chesterfield for EB I-64 at the I-70 interchange in Wentzville while I-70 lists St. Louis; seems like this would be a good spot for the first appearance of Indianapolis as a control city for EB traffic

Maybe when I get to travel more again I can say one state is the best.

[Scott5114]

5) Tempted to add the use of Chesterfield for EB I-64 at the I-70 interchange in Wentzville while I-70 lists St. Louis; seems like this would be a good spot for the first appearance of Indianapolis as a control city for EB traffic

Is I-64 really much better of a route than I-70 for the purposes of getting to Indianapolis? The two routes end up at the same spot, the PSB, after all.

[Revive 755]

Is I-64 really much better of a route than I-70 for the purposes of getting to Indianapolis? The two routes end up at the same spot, the PSB, after all.

Should have been clearer here; I was thinking of Indianapolis being used for EB I-70.  Although I-64 does have the better connections for traffic to/from the PSB.

[Alps]

Is I-64 really much better of a route than I-70 for the purposes of getting to Indianapolis? The two routes end up at the same spot, the PSB, after all.

Should have been clearer here; I was thinking of Indianapolis being used for EB I-70.  Although I-64 does have the better connections for traffic to/from the PSB.

Google Maps respectfully asks if you wouldn't prefer using the MLK Bridge to connect I-70 to I-70.

[ftballfan]

Is I-64 really much better of a route than I-70 for the purposes of getting to Indianapolis? The two routes end up at the same spot, the PSB, after all.

Should have been clearer here; I was thinking of Indianapolis being used for EB I-70.  Although I-64 does have the better connections for traffic to/from the PSB.

Google Maps respectfully asks if you wouldn't prefer using the MLK Bridge to connect I-70 to I-70.

From Columbia, I-270 would make more sense going through St. Louis than I-70 when heading to Indianapolis. Same goes heading from Indianapolis to Columbia.

[roadman65]

Illinois does on its interstates.  Larger cities at interstate junctions and the smaller ones at entrance ramps from state, county, and local roads.  The mileage signs have the next exit, the next small city, and then the next big city on them located post interchange.

[hobsini2]

Illinois does on its interstates.  Larger cities at interstate junctions and the smaller ones at entrance ramps from state, county, and local roads.  The mileage signs have the next exit, the next small city, and then the next big city on them located post interchange.

For the most part, you are correct.  However for some reason, the milage signs on I-88 don't follow that rule.  On 88, the first mileage sign you see heading west (which is fine) says DeKalb and Iowa.  The next 4 do not mention Iowa or any of the Quad Cities. In this rule, ISTHA fails.

[Brandon]

Illinois does on its interstates.  Larger cities at interstate junctions and the smaller ones at entrance ramps from state, county, and local roads.  The mileage signs have the next exit, the next small city, and then the next big city on them located post interchange.

For the most part, you are correct.  However for some reason, the milage signs on I-88 don't follow that rule.  On 88, the first mileage sign you see heading west (which is fine) says DeKalb and Iowa.  The next 4 do not mention Iowa or any of the Quad Cities. In this rule, ISTHA fails.

ISTHA, as usual, follows its own rules.  Hell, they make their own signs in Naperville.

[rschen7754]

On the West Coast Oregon does a decent job. Parts of Southern California aren't too bad (in Orange County and San Diego), but not so much in the counties where the reflective signs haven't appeared.

[SP Cook]

...simply because for out-of-state cities no postal abbreviations are used.

Personally I only think the state is needed if it helps the motorist, whether it be the postal abbreviation or the state spelled out or whatever.  For example, in New England, every state seems to have the same town names, so the state name seems important.  Closer to my home, at the 77N-81S split, Virginia uses "Charleston W Va".  There are people so geographically challenged as to become confused between the two Charlestons.  WV uses "Washington Pa" at the 79-68 split, which is appropriate (if one wants to use Washington in the first place, rather than Pittsburgh) because Washington alone would mean Washington DC, which would be the other route.  However some states just use it all the time.  For example Ohio labels its bridges to WV with the state name, ex "Huntington W Va", "Wheeling W Va", etc.  If you don't know Huntington is in West Virginia and you are in South Point, Ohio, you should not be driving.

[agentsteel53]

If you don't know Huntington is in West Virginia and you are in South Point, Ohio, you should not be driving.

I don't even know where South Point, OH is, and have just a vague idea that WV features a Huntington.  and I'd like to think I'm a pretty good driver.

in general, I appreciate state abbreviations for out-of-state destinations for that very reason.  there are travelers who are from literally the other side of the country who do not know the mid-sized cities of the state they are currently in.