Virginia governor proposes selling naming rights for roads

[NE2]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/23/bob-mcdonnell-virginia-governor-naming-rights_n_1224623.html
(If one of our resident repub-a-dub-dubs wants to provide a more fair and balanced link, go ahead.)

That ultimate expression of Federal totalitarianism, the MUTCD, would restrict interchange and minor bridge names to small signs, but could even it keep signs from exercising their right to speak the name of the road?

To use a concrete example, say they renamed the Fairfax County Parkway to Ron Paul 2016 Expressway (thanks to one of those dangerous 'moneybombs'). Would VDOT be allowed to post this name on signs on I-66? If Cal Rogers bought namiing rights to the James River Bridge (from his book proceeds, obviously), could VDOT post that name everywhere on roads that lead to the bridge, even where James River Bridge isn't currently signed?

[Beltway]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/23/bob-mcdonnell-virginia-governor-naming-rights_n_1224623.html
(If one of our resident repub-a-dub-dubs wants to provide a more fair and balanced link, go ahead.)

That ultimate expression of Federal totalitarianism, the MUTCD, would restrict interchange and minor bridge names to small signs, but could even it keep signs from exercising their right to speak the name of the road?
To use a concrete example, say they renamed the Fairfax County Parkway to Ron Paul 2016 Expressway (thanks to one of those dangerous 'moneybombs'). Would VDOT be allowed to post this name on signs on I-66? If Cal Rogers bought namiing rights to the James River Bridge (from his book proceeds, obviously), could VDOT post that name everywhere on roads that lead to the bridge, even where James River Bridge isn't currently signed?

This is a dumb idea.  A highway needs a name that is as permanent as possible, so that motorists don't have to learn a new name every year or every few years.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Completely ridiculous and idiotic idea...

[qguy]

If one of our resident repub-a-dub-dubs...

Can't we do better than this? If I wanted to discuss things like a 12-year-old, I'd log on to my son's Ben 10 wiki.

[InterstateNG]

If one of our resident repub-a-dub-dubs...

Can't we do better than this? If I wanted to discuss things like a 12-year-old, I'd log on to my son's Ben 10 wiki.

Internet = serious business

[1995hoo]

As a theoretical matter, I wouldn't mind it terribly much except for the point "Beltway" raises. Look at how often stadium names have been changing since the corporate naming became routine (the Miami Dolphins' stadium being the most frequently changed, though far from the only one). As a result, many people ignore the corporate names (Candlestick Park was always Candlestick Park to most fans even when the official name was Monster Park, for example). One reason why some of the college bowl games dropped the "traditional" names (such as the Peach Bowl becoming the Chik-Fil-A Bowl) is that when the sponsor name is part of the bowl title (Mazda Gator Bowl) nobody uses the sponsor's name (everyone continued to call it the Gator Bowl. But when the sponsor keeps changing, the bowl doesn't really establish an identity–look at the one in Charlotte, which in ten years has been the Continental Tire Bowl, then the Meineke Car Care Bowl, and is now the Belk Bowl.

There is no reason to presume the same would not and could not happen to roads. While you can establish a contract, suppose companies merge and the "sponsor" name is dropped (as happened with MCI Center in DC, which is now Verizon Center). Or they go broke or get caught up in scandal (both apply in the case of Enron Field in Houston, which was the Astros' home and is now named Minute Maid Park). You can't go renaming a road all the time like that. This is one of the same reasons why most jurisdictions do not name roads after living people–imagine if Windermere, Florida, had named a street "Tiger Woods Avenue."

On the other hand, there are some roads that NOBODY refers to by name even if the road has a "formal" name (the Dulles Toll Road, for example, is officially the Hirst—Brault Expressway, and I-66 inside the Beltway is the Custis Memorial Parkway). In theory–and again, I'm saying this solely as a theoretical matter, and I'm also premising this point on ignoring the "renaming" problem mentioned above–I wouldn't consider the sale of the naming rights for those sorts of roads to be much of a problem because I don't think it would make a difference for practical purposes. I-66 is and will always be I-66, regardless of whether it suddenly becomes the Coca-Cola Highway or some such. But even there you get into two practical problems: (a) Where do you draw the line on what roads are and are not eligible for this sort of naming? (b) What about in other parts of the country where people insist on using names instead of numbers to refer to roads (New York City being the first example that pops to mind)? Regarding point (a), there are some roads that some people refer to by name and other people by number (US-50 in Northern Virginia, aka Arlington Boulevard, would be an example; so would NC-751, aka Academy Road, in Durham, NC). Do you say "Arlington Boulevard is too commonly-used a name to allow the sale"? If so, what's the standard for determining whether a name is "commonly-used"?

Incidentally, NE2's example of the Fairfax County Parkway is an example of a road that already has another name: In addition to the Fairfax County Parkway designation, it's also named the Jack Herrity Parkway for the former chairman of the Board of Supervisors who pushed hard to get the road built. I've never heard anyone, including the politicians who named it, refer to it by the Herrity designation. Everyone calls it the Fairfax County Parkway except for the radio traffic reporters, who call it "7100." Why would anyone assume that adding a THIRD (sponsor's) name would cause the public or the traffic reporters to use that name? If I were a sponsor, I'd be reluctant to pay my money if I knew nobody would call the road by that name, and if I knew that not even the traffic reporters would use it, I'd be even less likely to do this.

(Certainly giving directions wouldn't be made any easier if the radio called it "7100," the person giving directions said "the Fairfax County Parkway," and the sign said "AOL Expressway" or whatever.)

[bugo]

Terrible, terrible idea.  I'm sick of this country selling out to the highest corporate bidder.  I'm tired of sports arenas changing their names every 5 years.  If this ever happens to highways, I will NEVER use the corporate name to refer to them.  It was bad enough when Kentucky renamed their parkways after two-bit politicians who nobody outside of KY has even heard of.

[kphoger]

[agentsteel53]

[ne2]I still call it White Sox Park[/ne2]

[NE2]

I don't call it shit. Fuck baseball.

[Takumi]

[trolling]Well I for one won't vote for him next year if this passes.[/trolling]

[agentsteel53]

[trolling]Well I for one won't vote for him next year if this passes.[/trolling]

meh, voting is for those who lack know-how and fissionable materials.

[Alps]

I'm not opposed to the idea with one condition: that enough money is obtained up front (in trust) both to pay for the initial outlay of signage and to remove the signage at the end of the contract (or in the middle, should the entity cease to exist. The contract will explicitly stipulate that whoever funds the road will be responsible for upkeep of the signs (repair damaged signs, posts, etc.), and that the DOT will take down a damaged sign if it is not repaired within a week of being reported - at the expense of the money in the trust. If the funder wants more signs or replacement signs, those have to again be paid for up front, along with establishing a trust for future removal costs.

Basically, my tax dollars must be protected from anything related to such a scheme.

[qguy]

If one of our resident repub-a-dub-dubs...

Can't we do better than this? If I wanted to discuss things like a 12-year-old, I'd log on to my son's Ben 10 wiki.

Internet = serious business

Nah, it's just that politics is one thing and political insults are another. Tired of it. Been there, done that.

But before anyone replies that I don't have to read the thread... I really don't care *that* much about it. Was jes' sayin'.

Carry on...

Wait, the topic of the the thread: Put me down in the "that's idiotic" column.

[1995hoo]

[trolling]Well I for one won't vote for him next year if this passes.[/trolling]

meh, voting is for those who lack know-how and fissionable materials.

He was being snarky. Under Virginia law a governor cannot be elected to consecutive terms, though a former governor can be elected again to a non-consecutive later term (like Grover Cleveland). Last time that happened was Mills Godwin, who served four years as a Democrat in the 1960s, left office due to the term limit, and then was elected again four years later in the mid-1970s as a Republican.

[bugo]

If one of our resident repub-a-dub-dubs...

Can't we do better than this? If I wanted to discuss things like a 12-year-old, I'd log on to my son's Ben 10 wiki.

If you can't handle "repub-a-dub-dubs" then maybe you should leave the internet.

[Alps]

If one of our resident repub-a-dub-dubs...

Can't we do better than this? If I wanted to discuss things like a 12-year-old, I'd log on to my son's Ben 10 wiki.

If you can't handle "repub-a-dub-dubs" then maybe you should leave the internet.

Okay, that's enough of that guys... take it to a political forum.

[formulanone]

If this does happen, the uproar about businesses changing their promotional materials will probably drown it out. I'm not crazy about the idea, although I think it's going to reach new lows if say, the roadway by the Coca-Cola plant is renamed for Pepsi.

I sense a pissing contest that has nothing to do with politics, if this happens.

[Henry]

Remember, this would be nothing new. They can thank Michigan for starting this whole thing, with virtually all of its freeways named for the Detroit automotive industry: the Chevrolet-Buick Freeway in Flint, the Ransom E. Olds Freeway in Lansing, and the Walter P. Chrysler, Fisher and Edsel Ford Freeways in Metro Detroit. So it's been done before. However, there must be idiots running Virginia to want that kind of thing to happen.

[hbelkins]

I think the only place you would see these names would be on the signs. Mailing addresses wouldn't change. Local governments control those. For instance, in my town we have KY 11 as "Veterans Memorial Highway" as decreed by the state, but the mailing addresses are Highway 11 North and Highway 11 South, and they are generally known by the locals as "The New Road" and "Booneville Road."

And I doubt, too, that there would be problems with maps and GPSes since they generally use route numbers, not names.

[qguy]

If you can't handle "repub-a-dub-dubs" then maybe you should leave the internet.

Who said anything about not being able to handle it? Sheesh. The Air Force flag to your left isn't just for show. As a former officer, I think I've proven my thick-skin bona fides as much as necessary. I really don't care as much as I guess I sounded like I did.

Anyway (before I get my hand admini-slapped), how would the naming work in practice? IOW, will there be a minimum length requirement? I can see it now: a different name (and attendant signs) every three or four exits. Some drivers won't know which way is up.

As we all well know, good highway design (including signage) is intended to minimize driver confusion. This seems custom-designed in the third circle of Hell to increase it.

[agentsteel53]

I get the idea that no one will refer to anything by its name.  Does anyone call that brief stretch of I-10 in Indio the Dr. June McCarroll Memorial Freeway?  I thought not.

[Scott5114]

Hell, there are still people in St Louis that insist on calling I-64 "Highway Farty", and the designation was applied, what, forty years ago? Good luck getting anyone to keep up with the constant name changes.

[Duke87]

No corporate name has any business on any road unless said road is principally home to said company's headquarters.

And never under any circumstance should a road be renamed.

[hbelkins]

And never under any circumstance should a road be renamed.

Why do you hate Martin Luther King Jr.? Are you a racist?