Roadgeek Strengths and Weaknesses

[Duke87]

It's tough for me to categorize where I do and don't know about since it's patchy, not regional. The roads I know best are, of course, the roads I have clinched. As I clinch a lot of roads in an area I will start to remember the names of towns in that area and where they are relative to each other.

Realistically, though, I'm the sort of person who's a lot better at knowing what's where in the field than sitting in my apartment. I have clinched the entire CT state highway system and naturally I can navigate around Connecticut quite well. But if you mention the number of a CT state highway out of context there's a 50/50 chance I won't know where it is. Often I have to either be looking at the road in person or looking at a map in order to recognize it. I'm very visual that way. For example I know there is a road which makes a U-shaped loop directly north of Waterbury, CT. I can picture what it is shaped like on a map in my head, and I can picture what several spots on the road look like in my head. But what is the number of this route, or the name of any of the streets it runs along? I haven't a damned clue without looking it up, or physically being there and seeing signs for it.


It is also worth noting that I might not have much or any memorization of what state highways go where for a given state, but I might still have a good theoretical understanding of how that state's highway system works and how they do things. West Virginia would be a good example of this.

Indeed, I tend to focus more on understanding how the system works than on memorizing the system. The former can be useful for on the fly compensation for gaps in the latter.

[jakeroot]

Memorizing routes gives me a headache...my specialty is traffic flow more than anything else.

The geographic areas that I am most familiar with are Washington, British Columbia, and the United Kingdom.

Regarding signing practices, I am strongest with British Columbia, then Washington, followed by the United Kingdom.

Regarding route numbering, all three confuse me greatly.

[Bruce]

Strongest: Washington, Oregon, California, British Columbia

Weakest: Everywhere else

[okc1]

Strongest - Western NY (where I grew up), rest of upstate NY W of I-81, Mohawk Valley, Adirondacks

Somewhat strong - Central PA & S Ontario, Oklahoma, N Texas

[vtk]

Rather than break this down by state, I'll break it down by highway importance:

2-digit Interstates: I know most of them over most of the US, though my knowledge tends to be vague in areas far from the Midwest.

3-digit Interstates: Aside from a few notable ones in large cities, I don't really know the 3dIs outside of Ohio.

US routes: Mostly in and around Ohio.

State routes: I'm aware of a few notable state routes around the country, many of the major Ohio state routes (plus a few in Indiana and Michigan), most state routes near the places I drive to for work (mostly radiating from Columbus towards Portsmouth, Cincinnati, Dayton, Sandusky, Mansfield, Athens) and nearly all of them in the Columbus vicinity.

County roads: I have a working knowledge of some of the more useful county highways in rural west-central Ohio, and most of the county roads immediately northwest, west, southwest of Columbus.

I guess, to summarize, I know what I need to know considering where I go, perhaps with a little extra breadth and depth so I can come up with sensible alternate routes on the fly.

[ronaldlee11]

Favorite Areas to Make Road Sign Pics: Kentucky includes Lexington, Ashland, Maysville, Pikeville, Richmond, London, Corbin, Williamsburg, Ohio (Portsmouth, Jackson, Ironton, Chillicothe, Gallipolis), Central  Western and Southern West Virginia (Huntington, Charleston, Beckley, Bluefield), Southwestern Virginia (Wytheville, Bristol, Roanoke, Wise), Western North Carolina (Asheville) and Piedmont which includes Charlotte, Winston-Salem, and Mount Airy, Eastern Tennessee includes Knoxville, Kingsport, Bristol, and Johnson City.

[kurumi]

For example I know there is a road which makes a U-shaped loop directly north of Waterbury, CT. I can picture what it is shaped like on a map in my head, and I can picture what several spots on the road look like in my head. But what is the number of this route, or the name of any of the streets it runs along?

CT 262.

That's crowding out other arguably more useful information, like the credentials to the View Composer database I set up myself a couple days earlier

Oh, and Frost Bridge Road is one of the streets, and there's a newer 3-lane section which is just "Route 262", and the U has this weird notch because the bridge is too far north, and for a while 262 extended south into Waterbury, and... a lot of other trivia.

[freebrickproductions]

I'm pretty good at navigating around Huntsville, AL and I'm somewhat good at getting around Madison, AL and Triana, AL, but I'm not very good elsewhere.