What are your criteria for clinching a highway?

[A.J. Bertin]

I just posted a response in the "Highways You Have Clinched" thread, and then I got to thinking... how does everyone define what counts for them as "clinching" a highway?

For me, being a passenger does not count. I must be the one behind the wheel. That makes me feel more as if I "own" the road, so to speak.

Another thought is... do you have to travel the highway from end to end in both directions, or does one direction suffice? A term I've heard float around is "certifying" a highway if you've clinched it in both directions. I thought that was a pretty neat term. I don't have many highways "certified" (and don't really keep track of that either), but it's kind of a neat concept.

So... what does everyone think? What are your criteria?

[corco]

I'm fairly strict- I need to have been behind the wheel during daylight hours for me to count as clinching. And I'm only really comfortable saying I've clinched if I have a camera in hand to take pictures of the signs and put them on my website.

One direction is sufficient- it just becomes too much to try and do both, though in my efforts to drive the entire mileage of these western state systems, particularly Wyoming, you have to drive most of it both directions anyway.

[A.J. Bertin]

I'm fairly strict- I need to have been behind the wheel during daylight hours for me to count as clinching.

I really like the "daylight hours" part of your definition. I hate driving on new roads (for me) at night, because I can't see the scenery. I still count it as clinching, but it's kind of weak. (I actually just had the happen a couple weeks ago when I was driving from Michigan to Ashland, Kentucky, for a road meet. I was staying overnight in Wapakoneta, Ohio, and drove a section of U.S. 30 that I had never driven before. Unfortunately, it was dark along that entire stretch. Bummer.)

[oscar]

I count a few highways I have traveled only as a passenger (the ones that come to mind are Italian autostrada around Milan, where I didn't rent a car but did take a taxi from one airport and a bus to the other).  I also count highways I have walked, such as a segment of the I-80 business loop through Elko NV that was temporarily closed to vehicle traffic but not pedestrians, and also M-185 on Michigan's Mackinac Island which is closed to almost all motor traffic but I did the loop around the island on bike or on foot.

While I don't like driving at night, when forced to do so I'll take credit for the resulting mileage.

One direction is good enough for me, especially on roads far from home that I probably will never travel again.

Another issue that comes up is if you leave the highway at an interchange, and get back on at the same interchange.  I try to minimize that (such as by not taking the same exit twice, if I re-travel a road), but I'm sure there are such instances in my count.  FWIW, the Clinched Highway Mapping project, where I track my travels, doesn't recognize that distinction -- for example, if you "claim" a segment from the beginning to exit 48, then another on a separate trip from exit 48 to the end, you get credit for the entire highway, even if you skipped the pavement between the off-ramp and the on-ramp. 

We've also discussed here at some length, in various places (and with a variety of opinions), what to do about highways ending at international borders, or entrances to military bases, where traveling that last mile can be a big hassle or worse. 

[AsphaltPlanet]

I count front seat passenger for highway clinching purposes.  I sometimes carpool with other roadgeeks while doing highway stuff, and I count new roads if either one of us is driving since the purpose of the trip was to go out and clinch new roads.

That said, I don't count roads as clinched when I was riding with my parents as a kid irrespective if I was traveling in the front seat or not.

[1995hoo]

I have no problem counting nighttime travel towards a clinch. I also don't feel that I have to have a camera handy. If I were starting out now, with the ease of taking photos with a mobile phone, I might feel differently, but I've never been comfortable using an SLR when driving because my first SLR was a fully-manual camera and the idea of setting the exposure and the like while driving struck me as unsafe. (My current DSLR has fully automatic modes, but I still just don't feel comfortable using it behind the wheel except in stopped traffic.)

I also feel that one direction is sufficient. I feel fairly strongly about that one, actually, because I think a "one-direction" principle makes it more realistic to explore multiple roads in a new area you may not visit all that often. For example, if I were to drive up to Prince Edward Island, I'd probably take I-95 up to Houlton in one direction to knock off that segment north of Bangor, but coming back I might take NB-1 down to St. Stephen so that I could visit the Fairmont Algonquin to play golf and so that I could re-clinch NB-1 (it's been extended to a new border crossing since the last time I was in the area). I'd rather explore more and see more, and if I felt that a "clinch" required travel in both directions I'd be less likely to do that.

Under the same principle, I don't consider it necessary to travel in all carriageways. I'm thinking of a road like the Garden State Parkway near Red Bank where it has "express" and "local" lanes. I'd consider one trip on either to be sufficient to check off that segment.

On the "passenger" issue, I have no problem with the idea of clinching as a passenger in a car or equivalent vehicle. I normally drive, but if I get tired or my back starts to hurt or the like I may ask Ms1995hoo to drive (that hasn't happened recently, however–the only time I asked her to drive my car in the past nine years came because I drank too much and felt I should not drive). In that situation I would be driving had I not asked her to do so. I don't know if I'd count it towards a clinch in the "too drunk to drive" scenario, but it's never been an issue.

Travel on a common carrier, such as a bus, would be a tougher call. I haven't had reason to consider it because I've never travelled on a common carrier like Greyhound, and I've never gone the complete length of a highway on a charter bus except for Green I-20 in Florence, South Carolina, on a high school trip. I think I might be more likely to count things like charter buses if I were abroad. For example, we visited St. Petersburg, Russia, on a Baltic Sea cruise a few years ago, and due to the very restrictive Russian visa policies we stuck to the shore excursions offered by the cruise line, the vast majority of which used charter buses (the cruise ship dock at the time was in an industrial area far from any sort of public transportation). Had the buses driven the full length of any highway, I'd probably have counted those as "clinches" simply because there was no realistic alternative.

I do not consider it a clinch if it's a situation where you were unaware of the concept. For example, I was born in Texas when my father was stationed there and we moved to Virginia when I was one year old because he was transferred to the Pentagon (and then discharged from the service a year later). I know from my parents telling me and from pictures they took that I made the trip from Texas to Virginia by car in the back seat of their Volvo, and I can easily figure out what route they took. But I would not count any segments travelled in that trip towards any clinches because I have no memory at all of the trip and because I was too young to have any concept of a road at all (much less a clinch). In the same vein, I know I've travelled I-35 between the Fort Hood area and San Antonio, but I would not count it because I have not been back there since we moved. (I might consider counting a part of I-35E near Denton that I travelled in 1990 on a high school trip, but again, that would depend on whether I'm inclined to allow for travel on a charter bus. The sticking point I have about a charter bus in domestic travel is that you have no control over the route. That is, if you're driving, you decide how to go; if you're a passenger in a car, you can suggest a route to the driver. On a bus, you can do neither.) I'm willing to count certain highways from when I was a kid once I was old enough to be interested in roads. I usually wanted to know what route Dad wanted to take, and he'd often ask me for directions. So I'll count that under the theory that I was involved in the routing–otherwise, there are some roads I'm unlikely ever to travel again that I wouldn't be able to count (primarily our 1986 trip around Ontario on which we ventured all the way up to Cochrane....can't ever see myself going up there again).

[formulanone]

Drive/walk/bike it from one end to another end, or at least, be a passenger. I'm not all that picky about the criteria, because the experience is relative. Being one-tenth of a mile from the terminus is close enough. If you can see the end, the limit...good enough. No need to be pedantic, unless you want to.

[signalman]

Another interesting question...Do you count it as a clinch if a segment is detoured for construction or an accident? 

Last August I was attempting to clinch I-81 in VA.  A bad truck fire closed the south bound lanes at exit 156 and was detoured on ti US 11.  Traffic was allowed to re-enter at the next interchange; 150.  Even though I missed 6 miles I am still counting it as a clinch since my leaving I-81 was beyond my control.  Next time I'm down that way regardless of what road I'm traveling, I'll make sure to pick up those six miles.  But for now, I'm counting it as a clinch.

[oscar]

I do not consider it a clinch if it's a situation where you were unaware of the concept. For example, I was born in Texas when my father was stationed there and we moved to Virginia when I was one year old because he was transferred to the Pentagon (and then discharged from the service a year later). I know from my parents telling me and from pictures they took that I made the trip from Texas to Virginia by car in the back seat of their Volvo, and I can easily figure out what route they took. But I would not count any segments travelled in that trip towards any clinches because I have no memory at all of the trip and because I was too young to have any concept of a road at all (much less a clinch). In the same vein, I know I've travelled I-35 between the Fort Hood area and San Antonio, but I would not count it because I have not been back there since we moved. (I might consider counting a part of I-35E near Denton that I travelled in 1990 on a high school trip, but again, that would depend on whether I'm inclined to allow for travel on a charter bus. The sticking point I have about a charter bus in domestic travel is that you have no control over the route. That is, if you're driving, you decide how to go; if you're a passenger in a car, you can suggest a route to the driver. On a bus, you can do neither.) I'm willing to count certain highways from when I was a kid once I was old enough to be interested in roads. I usually wanted to know what route Dad wanted to take, and he'd often ask me for directions. So I'll count that under the theory that I was involved in the routing—otherwise, there are some roads I'm unlikely ever to travel again that I wouldn't be able to count (primarily our 1986 trip around Ontario on which we ventured all the way up to Cochrane....can't ever see myself going up there again).

While I can be "pedantic" on crossing international borders (less so about military bases), I'm not that fussy about kiddie travel.  I've long claimed the old US 66 west of Oklahoma City (much of it incorporated into modern-day business Interstates), based on being driven by my father on our family's pre-Interstates move from North Carolina to southern California when I was only about eight years old, even though I don't remember much of the trip other than being stuck in Oklahoma City for a few days when the old station wagon broke down.  (I re-drove the route myself many years later.)  But both of my parents passed away before I had a chance to ask them exactly how we got from North Carolina to Oklahoma.  Ditto US 52 in Minnesota between Fergus Falls and Minneapolis, since I know we made the drive when I was less than five years old between home in Fergus Falls and my aunt in the Minneapolis area, and we had to have taken US 52 since that part of I-94 hadn't yet been completed and there were no other good alternate routes. 

[1995hoo]

I'd count it if I were eight years old. I guess I kind of draw a line along the lines of "capable of awareness." At age one there's simply no way you're aware of it; at age eight, you can be (though maybe you weren't interested at the time). I was certainly aware of the "Cars Only/Cars-Trucks-Buses" split at Exit 9 on the New Jersey Turnpike by the time I was five years old, for example.

After I posted I grabbed the atlas where I mark off North American roads I've travelled. I have the roads from our move north from Texas marked in there. I simply wouldn't count them for "clinch" purposes, even if I know I travelled on them at some point.

[roadman65]

This could have multiple definitions as it could mean travel the whole interstates in one shot in one direction.  It could also mean in segments at different times, and it could mean shotgun in someone else's car.  As long as you have seen the whole thing or experienced it, I would say count it.

Also, if you do not pass completely through an interchange, like food, gas, lodging etc. that counts as traveling through it.  However, if you lets say exit I-81 at Pulaski, NY where there are two interchanges to make one whole one as to and from the north, and to and from the south are at two completely different locations.  If you left I-81 there to continue, I would say that you did not clinch it.

I almost covered all of I-45 in Texas last September except for one small segment near Hobby Airport.  However, I did cover all of I-37 Southbound in 97 as I only left it at Navigation Boulevard to check into my motel, but resumed from that particular exit so only a few hundred yards of pavement were lost.  So I clinched the latter myself, but did not the former.

[1995hoo]

This could have multiple definitions as it could mean travel the whole interstates in one shot in one direction.  It could also mean in segments at different times, and it could mean shotgun in someone else's car.  As long as you have seen the whole thing or experienced it, I would say count it.

....

I took it as a given that travel at different times gets aggregated into a clinch. I just assumed everyone follows that principle. Otherwise it's simply not reasonable in real life, as very few people have the time or ability (or desire!) to devote a single trip to, say, driving I-90 from Boston all the way to Seattle. Sure, there are some roads you'd easily clinch in a straight shot in part of a day (I-4 and I-66 are the first two that come to mind, though there are many, many others), but I think there has to be some rule of reasonableness.

[agentsteel53]

I took it as a given that travel at different times gets aggregated into a clinch. I just assumed everyone follows that principle. Otherwise it's simply not reasonable in real life, as very few people have the time or ability (or desire!) to devote a single trip to, say, driving I-90 from Boston all the way to Seattle. Sure, there are some roads you'd easily clinch in a straight shot in part of a day (I-4 and I-66 are the first two that come to mind, though there are many, many others), but I think there has to be some rule of reasonableness.

3200 miles without stopping for food, gas, or the bathroom.  that sounds doable, but you'd basically need an RV that is stacked to the gills with food, gas cans, and toilets.

the closest I've ever done to a straight-shot clinch is I-40.  Wilmington to Barstow in 2 1/2 days; the farthest away I got from the highway is maybe 3 miles.  I slept in Little Rock (side street) and Flagstaff (motel).

[agentsteel53]

Also, if you do not pass completely through an interchange, like food, gas, lodging etc. that counts as traveling through it.  However, if you lets say exit I-81 at Pulaski, NY where there are two interchanges to make one whole one as to and from the north, and to and from the south are at two completely different locations.  If you left I-81 there to continue, I would say that you did not clinch it.

at one point, all I had left of I-80 was between I-15 and I-215 in Salt Lake City.  oops, given that I have never lived particularly close to there.

[agentsteel53]

Another interesting question...Do you count it as a clinch if a segment is detoured for construction or an accident? 

yep.  that's the legal alignment at the time you are driving it.  I had a detour of I-10 down US-61 near New Orleans once.  counted just fine for me.

[english si]

No need to be pedantic, unless you want to.

Indeed.

If I've traveled (conscience or not) along a road (regardless of method, be it bus*, car, bike, shanks pony, goat, etc) then it counts. It's a 'where have I been' thing for me, not a 'what have I seen/driven on' thing.

Seeing doesn't count in my book - literal travel only. Else I'd just watch a dashcam movie or go on streetview and count that. That's as pedantic as I want to be.

Reroutes and diversions count double - physical roadway and designations clinched separately. The roadway counts no matter what it was numbered when I did it, and the designation counts even if it deviates from the route I took when I traveled it. Every little helps!

*I'm struggling to think of 'clinchable' roads that I've traveled in a bus/coach, but not by other modes (I think there's a couple of miles in inner London), but I don't see how that is any lesser than the back of a car. Bicycle is similarly low, due to re-clinching stuff later in the car and/or using minor roads. Walking clinches come into their own in Central London - I have a good few miles there.

[The High Plains Traveler]

I take the least anal approach, since in many cases I won't pass that way again. For an interstate, if I exit for fuel and return at the same interchange, it counts. (I backtracked several miles on I-25 in Casper WY so I would be able to clinch that route). Anything I drove since my days of independent travel (about age 20) counts. Not the trip east with my parents when I was 4. If a route was improved along the same general alignment after I drove it, it counts. I can clinch a route decades after driving other portions of it. If it changes number during that time, it still counts. So, part of what I drove as U.S. 666 counts toward my clinch of U.S. 491.

[corco]

For an interstate, if I exit for fuel and return at the same interchange, it counts

I'm fairly liberal on that front- as long as I get on and off at the same interchange I count it. It gets a bit dicey in frontage road situations, and in that case I try to find the ramp behind the ramp I exited from.

As far as international borders or other major barriers, I'm okay with a sight clinch.

[agentsteel53]

I can clinch a route decades after driving other portions of it. If it changes number during that time, it still counts. So, part of what I drove as U.S. 666 counts toward my clinch of U.S. 491.

I'm okay with counting old alignments.  I have not done most of the modern US-6 in Iowa and several other places, instead having traced several old alignments, and I consider myself to have clinched US-6.

[Takumi]

If I'm not driving, I consider it clinched with an asterisk; some of these (VA 44 & NC 6) have been decommissioned and thus I can never drive them as active routes. If a route is extended after I clinch it (NC 615, for example, was extended last week and I clinched it in July 2012) or partially closed (VA 156 & 33) I make a note of such but consider the route clinched at the time/as it was drivable. I'm not picky about directional clinching; if I've driven the entire route in general I count it clinched.

[pianocello]

I'm pretty lenient. If I'm consciously aware that I was on the road, then it's clinched. When my orchestra took a 24-hour trip to Florida via charter bus, I was awake at the right times to know exactly what road we were on. If I go off an interstate and reenter it at the same interchange, no problem.

[deathtopumpkins]

I'm fairly liberal when it comes to clinches.

Night driving still counts, as you can still see the road (hopefully) perfectly well, just maybe not the scenery. The vast majority of my clinches have been during daylight though, as part of day trips places.

I count being a passenger, because I feel if anything you get a better look at the road, because you can look around and watch things, without having to worry about other traffic or driving.

I definitely count buses and taxis and whatnot (though the only roads I have clinched under these criteria are a few in the Philadelphia area and DC when I took a bus down to DC last summer that also stopped in Philly. It was a double-decker bus and I was in the front row up top, glued to the front window the whole time.) because I can't help but be glued to the window when riding.

I don't care about opposing directions when it comes to official clinches - though I do like to drive highways in both directions to see different signs and experience different setups.

Finally, getting off and back on at the same interchange, or taking only one of split carriageways is close enough, because the mainline doesn't really get out of your view for a significant length. As mentioned up thread though, frontage roads would be a bit questionable, and partial interchanges definitely so.

[hbelkins]

If I have been on the road, it counts. Driving, as a passenger as an adult, as a passenger during a family vacation when I was a kid, on a band trip when I was in high school student, day or night, asleep or awake.

Only one direction of travel is needed for me to consider a road clinched. For I-64, I have driven every mile in both directions in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia. But I have only driven one direction in most of Missouri, and my mileage in Virginia varies. I've driven all of both ways from the WV state line to Richmond, but only eastbound from Richmond on to the terminus.

As for exits, if I get off and back on at the same interchange, it counts. If it's a partial exit and I have to go to another exit to re-enter, it does not count. This happened to me on I-70 in Ohio. I was traveling westbound and exited at Gratiot to go grab a county that was south of the interstate. I could not re-enter at that exit and had to go farther west to get back on. So I had to drive that missing segment in order to get a clinch.

I have to be on the route to clinch it. Detours don't count. I was on I-88 a couple of years ago and two segments (at Binghamton and near Oneonta) were closed due to flooding. I had to redrive those two segments I-88 to consider it clinched.

As for border crossings, military bases, etc., I consider it clinched if I drive as far as I legally can. Since I do not have a passport, I can't enter Canada. So when I was in Watertown a couple of years ago, I drove up I-81 all the way to the last exit before the border. When I finish I-81 between the Thruway and Binghamton, I will consider myself to have clinched it even though I didn't go all the way to the border.

If a road is re-routed, I don't consider it un-clenched. What counts for me is if I drive the road as it exists at the time I'm on it. For example, US 68 in Kentucky. Even though a new segment is now open, I don't consider that this event un-clinched it for me. However, if a road is extended, I need to drive the new segment to re-clinch it unless I have already been on that road before. I have US 48 clinched, but will have to drive the segment that is now under construction, once it's opened, or else I'll lose my clinch. However it will not be necessary for me to drive the portion of US 219 and US 33 that's already open once US 48 signs go up, since I've already driven that route.

[WillWeaverRVA]

My only definition is that I have seen the entire length of the aforementioned highway, which allows me to clinch state highways that aren't open to public vehicle traffic, such as VA 318 (Capitol Square in Richmond). It doesn't matter whether it's in one direction or both. I still have to experience the entire route somehow (whether I walk, drive, or ride in another vehicle such as a bus), so this definition tends to satisfy most people.

Case in point: If I get on a bus to Wilmington, Delaware from Richmond and it takes I-95 the entire way (that is, it actually uses the I-95 side of the Beltway and then I-95 through Baltimore, which I typically advise no one to do), and I stay awake for the entire trip, then I consider myself to have clinched I-95 in Maryland in the process. If I fall asleep before getting to Maryland and wake up in Delaware, then I haven't clinched or seen I-95 in that state. This is hypothetical, I clinched I-95 in Maryland a long time ago.

[bugo]

I took it as a given that travel at different times gets aggregated into a clinch. I just assumed everyone follows that principle. Otherwise it's simply not reasonable in real life, as very few people have the time or ability (or desire!) to devote a single trip to, say, driving I-90 from Boston all the way to Seattle. Sure, there are some roads you'd easily clinch in a straight shot in part of a day (I-4 and I-66 are the first two that come to mind, though there are many, many others), but I think there has to be some rule of reasonableness.

3200 miles without stopping for food, gas, or the bathroom.  that sounds doable, but you'd basically need an RV that is stacked to the gills with food, gas cans, and toilets.

the closest I've ever done to a straight-shot clinch is I-40.  Wilmington to Barstow in 2 1/2 days; the farthest away I got from the highway is maybe 3 miles.  I slept in Little Rock (side street) and Flagstaff (motel).

If you stayed in Little Rock then you got more than 3 miles off the freeway.