Streets and highways with similar names confusingly close to each other

[DSS5]

Also worth a mention is the entire city of Hickory, NC, which has wonders like "4th Avenue Drive" and "2nd Street Place." Here's a news report on the subject.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/neighborhood-news/hickory/Hickory-street-signs-confusing-to-residents-visitors-115931844.html

[cpzilliacus]

We just came home from Nationals Park. The sign has been fixed. Your colleague got the job done. Behold the power of the AARoads Forum!

The new sign is one of the new mixed-case signs. I didn't get a picture because we were on the far side of the street and my iPhone would have taken too grainy an image.

That is great. 

Not so long ago (under the administration of former Mayor-for-Life Marion Shepilov Barry, Jr.) corrections to traffic control devices (except parking and NO  PARKING signs, related to the one thing his administrations did well - write parking tickets) was a very low priority for DCDPW (it was not DDOT until the administration of Tony Williams).

[cpzilliacus]

The quadrants in Portland could lend to some confusion, especially to newcomers and tourists. The Willamette divides the eastern and western halves (as well as the northwest and north quadrants), and most of the N/S streets are numbered. So you have NE 1st Ave (there is no SE 1st Ave) and NW/SW 1st Ave on either side of the river.

The District of Columbia may have been the first municipality in the U.S. to use a quadrant system.

Unlike Portland, the quadrant on D.C. streets is always a suffix, and is supposed to be used for all street names and addresses, without exception.

Even the Capitol streets (North, East and South), which divide the quadrants along with the National Mall (no West Capitol Street) always have a quadrant associated with them - if you are going north on North Capitol Street, you are on North Capitol Street, N.E.  If you are headed south, you are on North Capitol Street, N.W.

[roadman65]

The quadrants in Portland could lend to some confusion, especially to newcomers and tourists. The Willamette divides the eastern and western halves (as well as the northwest and north quadrants), and most of the N/S streets are numbered. So you have NE 1st Ave (there is no SE 1st Ave) and NW/SW 1st Ave on either side of the river.

The District of Columbia may have been the first municipality in the U.S. to use a quadrant system.

Unlike Portland, the quadrant on D.C. streets is always a suffix, and is supposed to be used for all street names and addresses, without exception.

Even the Capitol streets (North, East and South), which divide the quadrants along with the National Mall (no West Capitol Street) always have a quadrant associated with them - if you are going north on North Capitol Street, you are on North Capitol Street, N.E.  If you are headed south, you are on North Capitol Street, N.W.

How come there is no Constitution Avenue N. W. or N. E. depending on what side of North Capitol Street?  Ditto for Independence Avenue as well.

[andrewkbrown]

There is. Constitution Avenue west of North Capitol Street is Constitution Avenue NW, and east of it is Constitution Avenue NE. Likewise, Independence Avenue can be found as Independence Avenue SW and Independence Avenue SE, depending on if it is west or east of South Capitol Street.

[kphoger]

Throughout Washington County in Oregon, there are numerous N-S numbered avenues, however, if you have a street in-between the gridded roads, they will be the same as the more eastern number, then followed by Place or Drive, instead of Avenue.

Isn't this more or less what Kansas City does for east-west streets?

[hm insulators]

Also worth a mention is the entire city of Hickory, NC, which has wonders like "4th Avenue Drive" and "2nd Street Place." Here's a news report on the subject.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/neighborhood-news/hickory/Hickory-street-signs-confusing-to-residents-visitors-115931844.html

"So who's on first?"

"That's right."

"What's the guy's name on first?"

"No, What's the guy's name on second."

"I'm not asking you who's on second!"

"Who's on first."

[TEG24601]

I've remembered another couple...

In Everett Washington, there is the SR-526 Freeway, which was originally called the Casino Freeway, because it supplanted Casino Rd.  Today, it is usually called the Boeing freeway, but many long-time residents, like myself still call it Casino Freeway.  However, Casino Rd. still parallels the freeway for a large portion of the route.

Also, Washington has a large number of city streets called HWY 99, the former route of US-99/SR-99.  One of the most egregious uses of the name is in Vancouver, WA, which wouldn't be a problem, if many people didn't call OR-99E, Highway 99 as well, or that there were so many of the discontinuous HWY 99s, it is quite confusing.

[CentralCAroadgeek]

Price Road and Price Canyon Road in Pismo Beach, CA.

[roadman65]

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Bennington,+VT&hl=en&ll=42.907036,-73.219714&spn=0.005045,0.012274&sll=27.698638,-83.804601&sspn=12.394025,25.136719&oq=bennin&t=h&hnear=Bennington,+Vermont&z=17&layer=c&cbll=42.906878,-73.219605&panoid=fpTamgkFAPFECT5y4USbdg&cbp=12,179.92,,0,-0.09
Here is the way the State of Vermont prevents confusion between US 7 and NY Route 7 that are very close to each other and both major arteries for the region.

[Thing 342]

Near my house, realignment has caused there to be a Menchville Rd, another Menchville Rd, an Old Menchville Rd, and a Menchville Ct, all within about a mile of each other. It doesn't help that there is also a Melville Rd close by, either.

[1995hoo]

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Bennington,+VT&hl=en&ll=42.907036,-73.219714&spn=0.005045,0.012274&sll=27.698638,-83.804601&sspn=12.394025,25.136719&oq=bennin&t=h&hnear=Bennington,+Vermont&z=17&layer=c&cbll=42.906878,-73.219605&panoid=fpTamgkFAPFECT5y4USbdg&cbp=12,179.92,,0,-0.09
Here is the way the State of Vermont prevents confusion between US 7 and NY Route 7 that are very close to each other and both major arteries for the region.

Your comment reminds me of the sign on westbound I-70 near the exit for Clear Spring, Maryland, which is served by MD-68. I-68 begins about 17 miles to the west. Evidently a lot of drivers must have gotten lost at Clear Spring when someone told them to take "68." (This sort of thing causes me to be very precise in always using a prefix prior to any route number when giving directions, along with trying to give additional detail as well such as "I-68 west towards Cumberland" or the like).

I can't help but think, though, that the people who get confused by this kind of thing might not be helped all that much by this sign, and I wonder if the sign would be clearer if it said "to Cumberland and Morgantown" next to the I-68 shield instead of using the gratuitous "National Freeway" (a name I've never heard anyone use in reference to that road).

[Mr_Northside]

I can't help but think, though, that the people who get confused by this kind of thing might not be helped all that much by this sign, and I wonder if the sign would be clearer if it said "to Cumberland and Morgantown" next to the I-68 shield instead of using the gratuitous "National Freeway" (a name I've never heard anyone use in reference to that road).

I agree that this might be the case for people who are not road-savvy. (Don't really know the difference between a state shield & Interstate shield).... and I also completely agree that actual destinations would be much more useful than "National Freeway" on those signs.

[DSS5]

Statesboro, GA has two stretches of road called Main Street. One signed as East/West Main, and another marked as North/South Main. The intersection between the two Mains is the center where the directions change.

[bzakharin]

South Jersey has its fair share. Church Road and Church Street intersect in Marlton. Both cross NJ 38 not far from each other. Church Street goes on to be renamed to Church Road once it enters Cinnaminson. There are two Fellowship Roads crossing NJ 73 less than two miles from each other (Maple Shade and Mount Laurel). Ones is a handy shortcut to Church Road (not Street), which I use quite a bit, while the other is... not. Then there's Haddonfield-Berlin Road which loses that name in Haddonfield and splits into two roads, one of which eventually becomes Haddonfield Road, while the other eventually becomes Haddon Avenue. The Townships of Barrington and Haddon Heights have their own independent grids. They are separated by I 295, but one road connects them - 3rd ave. (Barrington) which becomes 9th ave. (Haddon Heights).

[dgolub]

Long Island has both Merrick Road (Nassau CR 27) and Merrick Avenue (Nassau CR 4).  All of the county routes in Nassau are unsigned, so you can't use the route numbers to disambiguate.

Out in Suffolk County, where the county route numbers are signed, there's both CR 111 and NY 111.  A lot of people headed out to Montauk get off the expressway at the wrong exit because of this.

There's also two different streets called New Highway.  There's also Straight Path (Suffolk CR 2) and Carll's Straight Path.

[bugo]

In Tulsa, there are often streets, places, courts, etc with the same name that parallel each other and sometimes intersect. 

There's also the situation of AR 59 and US 59 paralleling each other with just a few miles and a state line separating the two.  GA 27 and US 27 intersect, as do US 70 and TX 70.  US 25 ends at GA 25.  Not to mention the whole I-74/US 74 batshit insane clusterfuck.

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

In Baton Rouge the most obvious example of this would be North Street and North Boulevard, which are major arterial streets that begin in downtown and cross Mid-City, parallel to each other but separated by merely 5 blocks. This duplication doesn't confuse me anymore but I can imagine how someone unfamiliar with the area might fare.

There is an intersection of Canal Street and Carrollton Avenue in both New Orleans and Metairie.

Something I find irritating is when a subdivision developer creates a cul-de-sac off of another, well established street and gives the new street the same name (with a different suffix). Suffice it to say that the planning department will always require the developer to choose a new name before final plat approval...

[Ned Weasel]

Here's one that I always found a bit odd but not terribly confusing: Olathe, Kansas and Overland Park, Kansas--two cities that border each other and are in the same county--both have a Santa Fe.  Olathe's is Santa Fe Street (although "Street" is often dropped from road signs), and Overland Park's is Santa Fe Drive.  To make things more interesting, both cities have their City Halls on their respective Santa Fe streets.  They don't intersect each other or any of the same streets, however.

Also:

Throughout Washington County in Oregon, there are numerous N-S numbered avenues, however, if you have a street in-between the gridded roads, they will be the same as the more eastern number, then followed by Place or Drive, instead of Avenue.

Isn't this more or less what Kansas City does for east-west streets?

In case you were expecting an answer (I didn't notice this post until now, but I see no one has answered it here): most of the Kansas City, Missouri grid system uses numbered Streets for east-west streets at eighth-mile intervals, and then it repeats the number as a Terrace, usually at a 16th-mile interval.  When a third iteration is needed, it's a Place.  There is one major exception, though: the street numbers are actually at 16th-mile intervals from 1st Street south through 23rd Street, and they then change to eighth-mile intervals at 24th Street.  It's also interesting to note that, not only does the Kansas City, MO grid system cover most of the area of the four counties in which the city lies (Jackson, Cass, Platte, and Clay), but Johnson and Miami Counties in Kansas also use a continuation of the same grid system.  Wyandotte County and Leavenworth Counties in Kansas, however, use a separate, distinct grid system (and Wyandotte County, KS is the county in which Kansas City, KS lies).

The Wyandotte and Leavenworth County, Lawrence, and Topeka/Shawnee County grid systems (all in Kansas) each use a similar Street and Terrace configuration, but the Wyandotte County and Topeka grid systems both have a similar situation to that of Kansas City, MO's grid system, in that the eighth-mile spacing of numbers doesn't start until several numbers away from the origin point.

(I had always assumed Wichita also used Terraces this way, simply because it has a rigid grid system with numbers for east-west Streets at eighth-mile intervals, but now that I look at a map, I see that Wichita seems to have named all of its inter-number streets.)

[PHLBOS]

Although I-68 and MD-68 aren't exactly within close proximity to eachother, MDOT Md. SHA saw fit to place this supplemental BGS along I-70 Westbound approaching Exit 18 (for MD 68).

http://goo.gl/maps/6YQ5s

[briantroutman]

Although I-68 and MD-68 aren't exactly within close proximity to eachother, MDOT saw fit to place this supplemental BGS along I-70 Westbound approaching Exit 18 (for MD 68).

http://goo.gl/maps/6YQ5s

I think that results not so much from the proximity of I-68 and MD 68 but because Md. SHA "advertises" I-68 as an alternate (and incidentally, toll-free vs. the PA Turnpike) nearly 60 miles east in Frederick. http://bit.ly/1dJnAd9

It comes across to me as one of the most overtly sales-y displays I've ever seen from a state DOT (on official guide signage).

[PHLBOS]

Although I-68 and MD-68 aren't exactly within close proximity to eachother, MDOT Md. SHA saw fit to place this supplemental BGS along I-70 Westbound approaching Exit 18 (for MD 68).

http://goo.gl/maps/6YQ5s

I think that results not so much from the proximity of I-68 and MD 68 but because Md. SHA "advertises" I-68 as an alternate (and incidentally, toll-free vs. the PA Turnpike) nearly 60 miles east in Frederick. http://bit.ly/1dJnAd9

Yes, but if that was the case, then why is there a NEXT EXIT IS 68 (MD) on the BGS above the I-68/National Freeway listing? 

It's there because those unfamiliar with the area and only see a Route 68 exit sign, regardless of the shield shape, may inadvertently exit off I-70 West prematurely.

As far as the other BGS advertisements for I-68 signage is concerned (like the one you posted), that's on Md. SHA and not relevant to the thread topic at hand. 

[briantroutman]

I think that results not so much from the proximity of I-68 and MD 68 but because Md. SHA "advertises" I-68 as an alternate (and incidentally, toll-free vs. the PA Turnpike) nearly 60 miles east in Frederick. http://bit.ly/1dJnAd9

Yes, but if that was the case, then why is there a NEXT EXIT IS 68 (MD) on the BGS above the I-68/National Freeway listing? 

It's there because those unfamiliar with the area and only see a Route 68 exit sign, regardless of the shield shape, may inadvertently exit off I-70 West prematurely.

What I was trying to say is that I believe Md. SHA posted the "NEXT EXIT IS [68]" sign because they had already promoted "68" earlier, and–I agree with you–the general public might confuse one "68" with the other, regardless of the shield shape.

But the larger point I was trying to make was that, if they hadn't posted those "advertisement" signs further to the east, I suspect they probably wouldn't have posted the other sign at MD 68.

[hotdogPi]

Near Danvers MA, there are two streets called Endicott Street about a mile from each other. Both are relatively important streets.

[PHLBOS]

Near Danvers MA, there are two streets called Endicott Street about a mile from each other. Both are relatively important streets.

To clarify; if it's the two Endicott Streets that I'm thinking of; it's worth noting that one's in Danvers and the other is in Peabody.

The more familiar (to those outside the area) Endicott St. is Danvers one; Exit 24 off MA 128 & where the Liberty Tree Mall is located. 

The Peabody Endicott St. is a much shorter stretch of road that runs between MA 114 (Andover St.) and Lowell St.  It's worth noting that north of Andover St., road continues as Pulaski St. & MA 114; and south of Lowell St., the road continues as King St.

Truth be told, unless one's either from or familiar with the area; they're likely not to even know that that Endicott St. in Peabody even exists or is called that.