Indirect control cities

[agentsteel53]

good to see that the new replacement sign has the state name!

[citrus]

Pretty sure I saw "San Diego" at the start of CA 74 in Palm Desert. Getting to SD requires taking 74 -> 371 ->  79 -> 15.

"New York" on the free portion of I-95 around Trenton. Have to take either US 1 or backtrack along 295 and 195.
"Cape Cod" for RI 138 north out of Newport. At one point, Cape Cod was even signed at the south end of the multiplex for RI 138 and US 1. Getting there uses RI 138, RI 114, RI/MA 24, I-195, MA 25 just to get to the canal.
"New York" for US 1 south from on RI 138 west....debatable whether this means 138 -> 95 or US 1 -> RI/CT 78 -> I-95.
"Boston, Ma." (with that capitalization and punctuation) for I-295 north, coming from RI 146 south. That one requires taking 295 -> 95 -> 93.
T.F. Green Airport south of Providence is signed for I-295 south from I-95 exit 4 in MA. The signs point you to RI 37 east, then presumably I-95 south one exit to the airport connector.

[vdeane]

I-490 in Rochester uses Buffalo and Victor as control cities.  It doesn't go to either.

[mightyace]

^^^

Similarly, I-440 in Nashville uses Knoxville, Memphis and Chattanooga though you need I-40 for the first two and I-24 for the last one.

TN 840 has Knoxville for it's eastern control city and probably will have Memphis signed when it is complete.

I think that this is common for loop and bypass highways.

[TheStranger]

^^^

Similarly, I-440 in Nashville uses Knoxville, Memphis and Chattanooga though you need I-40 for the first two and I-24 for the last one.

TN 840 has Knoxville for it's eastern control city and probably will have Memphis signed when it is complete.

I think that this is common for loop and bypass highways.

IIRC, I-285's control cities are always for the routes it intersects, in similar vein.  Most of these movements are one-hop transitions though, similar to the control cities for I-405 in Los Angeles:

Sacramento (reached via I-5 north)
Santa Monica (reached via I-10 west)
Long Beach (via I-710 south)
San Diego (I-5 south)

[huskeroadgeek]

^^^

Similarly, I-440 in Nashville uses Knoxville, Memphis and Chattanooga though you need I-40 for the first two and I-24 for the last one.

TN 840 has Knoxville for it's eastern control city and probably will have Memphis signed when it is complete.

I think that this is common for loop and bypass highways.

Most control cities on loop highways around a city do this. I-435 in Missouri is signed for St. Louis, Des Moines and Wichita at various points. I-270 in Missouri is signed for Chicago, Kansas City and Memphis at various points. I-285 in Atlanta is signed for Chattanooga, Greenville, Augusta, Macon(or Tampa), Montgomery and Birmingham at various points. But all of those only require 1 change of highway. A change of 2 highways or more is much more rare, which is what the original post was about.

[tdindy88]

Driving on I-72 between Decatur and Champaign in Illinois yesterday, Indianapolis was marked on one of the mileage signs even though 72 does go there, a quick trip up 57 over to 74 however makes it possible.

[deathtopumpkins]

One notable one from Hampton Roads: I-664 SB from I-64 EB lists Nags Head, which can be reached VIA 664 SB to 64 WB to VA 168 SB to NC 168 SB to US 158 EB.

[TheStranger]

Another California example, though it only requires one mainline switch:

238 being signed for Stockton from I-880; it requires one to change numeric designations 3 times:

238 > 580 > 205 > 5

Southbound on 880, 238 is signed for Fresno as well, which leads to either:

1. 238 > 580 > 205 > 5 > 120 > 99, for a total of 5 numeric hops!  (Effectively only 1.5-2 mainline switches though)
2. 238 > 580 > 132 > 99
3. 238 > 580 > 5 > 152 > 99

[huskeroadgeek]

Driving on I-72 between Decatur and Champaign in Illinois yesterday, Indianapolis was marked on one of the mileage signs even though 72 does go there, a quick trip up 57 over to 74 however makes it possible.

With the 4 laning of US 36 through Missouri, I-72 will become a useful route to Indianapolis from the west.

[ctsignguy]

Kind of an obvious one is the I-70 signs headed out of Columbus showing Dayton as a control city since I-70 passes 5 miles north (They were changed due to political pressure from Dayton politicians....if you look at the older ones heading west, you can see the green strip with Dayton was applied as an after-the-fact addition....underneath is the next major city ACTUALLY on I-70....Indianapolis.....

Politicians....gotta love them.....NOT

[Ian]

There are plenty of examples of this.

-I-87 north of Albany has Montreal as a northbound control city, but you'd have to get onto A-15 at the Quebec border to go to Montreal

-Exit 7 off I-87/Adirondack Northway lists NY 7 to Cohoes, but you'd have to take NY 787 to get into Cohoes

-Exit 23 going southbound on I-87/NY Thruway lists Rennselaer as a control city, but you'd have to take US 9/US 20 over the Dunn Memorial Bridge to get to Rennselaer.

-The Everett Turnpike in New Hampshire lists Concord as a northbound control city, but you'd have to take I-93 to get to Concord.

-I-89 at its south end at I-93 list NH Seacoast as a northbound I-93 city and I-393 has Portsmouth as an eastbound control city, but you'd have to take I-393 to US 4 to the Spaulding Turnpike to get to the Seacoast and Portsmouth.

-I-495 south of I-290 in Massachusetts lists Cape Cod as a southbound control city, but you'd have to take MA 25 at the south end of I-495 to get to the Cape.

[golden eagle]

I-310 has Houma as a control city. However. 310 ends at U.S. 90 at Boutte. Even then, you still have to turn off U.S. 90 to get to Houma proper.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

MN 210 has Duluth signed going east out of Brainerd, even though you have to use (primarily) I-35 or (alternatively) MN 23 to go the rest of the way to Duluth. I vaguely remember MN 200 having signs for Duluth too even though that route ends at US 2 which you must take to finish the trip.

MN 610 has Minneapolis signed on it coming off of US 10 in Coon Rapids, but from there you have to take MN 252 to I-94 to finish the trip to Minneapolis.

US 212 has Minneapolis signed even as far east as the Flying Cloud Drive exit, even though 212 ends at MN 62 and traffic from there must take either US 169 or MN 100 north to I-394 or follow 62 to I-35W to get to Minneapolis.

MN 7 East used to have a sign for Minneapolis at the I-494 interchange. Not sure if the sign predated MN 7's truncation from Minneapolis back to MN 100 in St. Louis Park, but either way the sign was taken down when the MN 7/I-494 interchange was reconstructed.

[tdindy88]

Kind of an obvious one is the I-70 signs headed out of Columbus showing Dayton as a control city since I-70 passes 5 miles north (They were changed due to political pressure from Dayton politicians....if you look at the older ones heading west, you can see the green strip with Dayton was applied as an after-the-fact addition....underneath is the next major city ACTUALLY on I-70....Indianapolis.....

Politicians....gotta love them.....NOT

That's fine, Indy changed most of their signs (with the exception of a few around Downtown) from Columbus to Dayton. At least I-70 goes through the Dayton METRO area, better than nothing. Speaking of indirect control cities, Huntsville, Alabama being mentioned on I-65 between Nashville and Birmingham despite being what looks like at least 10 miles east of the actual highway, I wonder if it was the same thing as the Dayton case.

[CL]

Oh yeah. I was trying hard to think of an example in Utah and here it is: at I-215 eastbound at I-15 in Murray, the pull-through sign reads Cheyenne. Of course, to go to Cheyenne one must ultimately connect to I-80.

[SSOWorld]

Kind of an obvious one is the I-70 signs headed out of Columbus showing Dayton as a control city since I-70 passes 5 miles north (They were changed due to political pressure from Dayton politicians....if you look at the older ones heading west, you can see the green strip with Dayton was applied as an after-the-fact addition....underneath is the next major city ACTUALLY on I-70....Indianapolis.....

Politicians....gotta love them.....NOT

Portage, WI pulled off that shit with I-39 north on I-90-94 (which used Wausau and Merrimac (for WIS 78 south))  all they got was a piece on sign bridges leading to the exit which led to the stem of the arrow pointing down to the lane being erased (idiots).  They also got an extra sign and Stevens Point as a partner saying use exit 108 otherwise.  I-39 goes around Portage to the west and north.

The only things I can think of for indirects are the ones on I-894, using Chicago (SB) and Fond du Lac (NB - why not Appleton - it's more important )  The former is reached by I-94, the latter by US-45 to US 41.  I-43 SB from The Hale Interchange (Milwaukee) could qualify for using Beloit - but it reaches the metro area.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I-480 in Ohio uses Toledo and (I believe) Youngstown, though in both cases travelers have to take I-80 to get to either city.

[thenetwork]

I-480 in Ohio uses Toledo and (I believe) Youngstown, though in both cases travelers have to take I-80 to get to either city.

I-80 does pass through the Toledo city limits near Exit 59, but to my recollection, I-80 completely skirts around Youngstown. You would have to add I-680 to reach Y-Town.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

This is more playing technicalities, but I-35E and I-35W in Minnesota use Albert Lea as a southbound control city and Duluth as a northbound control city. I say "technically" since both routes have their own end signage when they rejoin as I-35, so "technically" they end long before they reach either Duluth or Albert Lea.       

[jdb1234]

Kind of an obvious one is the I-70 signs headed out of Columbus showing Dayton as a control city since I-70 passes 5 miles north (They were changed due to political pressure from Dayton politicians....if you look at the older ones heading west, you can see the green strip with Dayton was applied as an after-the-fact addition....underneath is the next major city ACTUALLY on I-70....Indianapolis.....

Politicians....gotta love them.....NOT

That's fine, Indy changed most of their signs (with the exception of a few around Downtown) from Columbus to Dayton. At least I-70 goes through the Dayton METRO area, better than nothing. Speaking of indirect control cities, Huntsville, Alabama being mentioned on I-65 between Nashville and Birmingham despite being what looks like at least 10 miles east of the actual highway, I wonder if it was the same thing as the Dayton case.

However, once one gets to Cullman, the control cities switches inconsistently between Huntsville and Nashville.  I-65 does clip the city limits of Huntsville at the I-565 interchange.

[mightyace]

^^^
Huntsville city limits actually go that far west?  WOW! 

[Ian]

-A few signs at a few exits along US 30/Coatsville-Downingtown By-Pass have King of Prussia as an eastbound control city, but you'd have to merge onto US 202 northbound in Malvern to get to King of Prussia.

-In New Jersey, On I-76, the eastbound control city lists Atlantic City, but you'd have to take NJ 42 southbound to the Atlantic City Expressway eastbound to get to Atlantic City.

-A few signs along the New Jersey Turnpike list Camden as a control city, yet you'd have to take either exits 4 or 3 to get to Camden.

-Along the NY Thruway at exit 18, it says NY 299 goes to Poughkeepsie, but you'd have to go to US 9W to US 44/NY 55 over the Mid Hudson Bridge to get to Poughkeepsie.

-I-84 in both Pennsylvania and New York list Scranton as a westbound control city, but you'd have to get onto I-81 southbound first before you get into the limits of Scranton.

[TheStranger]

Here's one that I went through tonight that's existed since the 1970s, yet I had never realized how indirect it was until now:



With the cancellation of the 280 connector right to I-80 in the 1980s, what was planned to be a one-hop movement now requires two movements to get from Daly City to the Bay Bridge:

280 > 101 > 80

[jgb191]

Wow I guess we're pretty organized here in Texas, compared to elsewhere outside our state, as far as signs guiding us to exactly where we are going.  Of our 80,000 miles of highways, I can't think of any indirections except one or maybe two minor off-bases (as far as major routes go).

The one and probably only (albeit really minor) instance is in Victoria, Texas, while traveling southbound on US 59, when you get to the interchange junction with US 77.  When the southbound roads split up, the US 59 South sign is right on the money with Laredo being the next control city, however US 77 South sign reads Corpus Christi, which is technically incorrect, as US 77 does clip the corner of the Corpus Christi metro area, it passes a good 14 miles west of the actual city, so I can understand why that was signed as the control city.  

Going back to the southbound US 77 & US 59 signs, they originally had it correct with Brownsville being the true control city for US 77 South back in the 1980's, but for some reason changed it in the 1990's to Corpus Christi which you miss by miles before continuing.  But yet, in the ensuing mileage sign on 77 south, they still kept the original mileage sign with Brownsville listed (at 224 miles), which is still there today.  The Brownsville control sign later appears when you get to the junction at I-37.

-----------------------------

Despite being practically spotless of indirect control cities, a pet peeve of mine, if anything, is that many instances we're too specifically direct in listing the next small town as the control city instead of the next actual city.

Real Examples (just to name a few):

-- US 59 North through Houston lists the town of Cleveland (less than an hour north of city's downtown); better choice cities would be Lufkin or Longview.  

-- US 183 South in Austin lists Lockhart which is the next town only 18 miles away, while the highway ultimately leads you close to Corpus Christi, which could have been listed.

-- US 287 North in Fort Worth lists the town of Decatur instead of the more reasonable city of Wichita Falls (or Amarillo).

-- US 281 South, upon splitting from its multiplex with I-37 South, lists the nearby town of Three Rivers as the control city which is just three miles ahead!!  They couldn't list McAllen or Brownsville since those are more recognizable names???

All those examples mentioned are major four-lane highways mind you, they directly serve those cities, but don't mention them even from a reasonable distance away.