Interchanges with many Control Cities posted

[jgb191]

Conventional wisdom would suggest that a four-way interchange would have four different control cities posted; an example would be the I-45/I-10 interchange in Houston that is one Control City each way:  I-10 West to San Antonio, I-45 South to Galveston, I-10 East to Beaumont, and I-45 West to Dallas. Although regarding that, I would have liked to see Pt. Arthur included alongside Beaumont and Ft. Worth included with Dallas.

But then there are interchanges that have more than four Control Cities posted.  San Antonio is the best example that I can think of off the top of my head.  The I-10/I-35/US-90/US-87 interchange has several posted control cities:  I-10 East to Houston/Victoria, I-35 South to Laredo, US-90 to Del Rio, and I-35 North/I-10 West to Austin, San Angelo, and El Paso.  That's seven control cities posted around that single interchange. 

The one next to that I-10/I-37 interchange also has seven posted Control Cities: Corpus Christi, Del Rio, El Paso, Houston, Johnson City, Rio Grande Valley, and Victoria (used to have eight posted decades ago included Austin).

It's worth mentioning that the I-37/I-69E interchange in Calallen is technically only three way (it is really a split four-way), but six control cities are listed:  Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Kingsville, Robstown, San Antonio, and Victoria are listed.  Corpus Christi is also necessarily listed due the interchange being 10-14 miles west from the main city.

I think I remember seeing Oklahoma City's downtown interchange also has seven Control Cities that includes:  Amarillo, Dallas, Edmond, Ft. Smith, Ft. Worth, Tulsa, and Wichita listed.

It's been a decade ago, but if I remember correctly the I-35/I-80 interchange at Des Moines (IA) also has seven posted: Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Omaha, and St. Paul listed.

The I-75/I-285 north Atlanta interchange also has seven listed: Atlanta, Augusta, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Greenville, Marrietta, and Montgomery.

So I think seven is about the most I've seen in person.

[webny99]

These are tough to find in NY, since they usually, but not always, use only one control per direction. You can get to 7 at free I-90 Exit 1 west of Albany...

-Albany
-New York
-Boston
-Buffalo
-Montreal
-Saratoga
-Albany Intl Airport

... but only if that last one counts.

[Scott5114]

I think I remember seeing Oklahoma City's downtown interchange also has seven Control Cities that includes:  Amarillo, Dallas, Edmond, Ft. Smith, Ft. Worth, Tulsa, and Wichita listed.

No Tulsa or Ft. Worth at that interchange (Ft. Worth is not signed anywhere in Oklahoma, just Dallas), but northbound I-235 has control points of State Capitol and Okla. Health Center as well, so that's still seven if you count those.

[jgb191]

^ I might have been wrong about Ft. Worth, but I could have sworn I thought I saw Wichita and Tulsa posted on the I-35 North signs (even though I-35 doesn't actually go to Tulsa).

[kphoger]

I think I remember seeing Oklahoma City's downtown interchange also has seven Control Cities that includes:  Amarillo, Dallas, Edmond, Ft. Smith, Ft. Worth, Tulsa, and Wichita listed.

No Tulsa or Ft. Worth at that interchange (Ft. Worth is not signed anywhere in Oklahoma, just Dallas), but northbound I-235 has control points of State Capitol and Okla. Health Center as well, so that's still seven if you count those.

Tulsa is signed on I-40 EB:  https://goo.gl/maps/YjbpfGqs8gvZLW1r9

Maybe you don't count that as part of the same interchange, because it's 100 yards past the EB→NB loop ramp, but whatever.

I might have been wrong about Ft. Worth

Maybe you saw 'Ft Smith' and misremembered it as 'Ft Worth' ???

[1995hoo]

I can think of six control "cities"–a couple are not really cities and are more neighborhoods or business districts–at the Springfield Interchange in Virginia. I'm including both Exits 169 and 170 on I-95 as part of the Springfield Interchange consistent with how VDOT treated it all as one massive interchange during the reconstruction project.

–Washington (posted in all directions except southbound I-395)
–Richmond (posted in all directions except northbound I-95)
–Baltimore (posted in all directions except southbound I-95/I-495 Inner Loop)
–Tysons Corner (posted in all directions except I-495 Outer Loop)
–Franconia (posted in all directions except southbound I-95/I-495 Inner Loop, although it's named on the southbound I-95 C/D road that doesn't re-enter the highway)
–Springfield

Oddly, Alexandria is nowhere to be found as a control city despite being used on guide signs leading to the Beltway to the west of that interchange. There are also two auxiliary overhead little green signs on the Beltway advising which exit to use for Arlington (e.g., on the Outer Loop it says, "Arlington USE EXIT 57B"), so if you want to count that as a control city, that makes seven. I'm not inclined to count it because it's a separate sign. There is also an advance sign on northbound I-95 that lists Dulles Airport and I'm not inclined to count it for the same reason.

[plain]

Most I can come up with in VA is seven*.


At the northern I-95 and I-295 junction:

Richmond
Charlottesville
Williamsburg
Norfolk
Virginia Beach
Rocky Mount NC
Ashland (on I-295 for US 1, which shares the Exit 43 C/D lanes with I-95)

*Petersburg still appears on at least one APL on 95 SB approaching the interchange, which would bring the count to eight if it counts.



At the northern junction of I-64 & I-664:

Downtown Newport News
Suffolk
Chesapeake
Norfolk
Virginia Beach
Williamsburg
Richmond

*Outer Banks and Portsmouth are listed on a BGS prior to the interchange on 64 EB, which would bring the count to nine if it counts.

[XamotCGC]

Spaghetti Junction in Louisville.

I71 to Cincinnati.
I 64 East to Lexington
I 64 West to St. Louis
I 65 North to Indianapolis/Chicago.
I 65 South  to Nashville

[iowahighways]

It's been a decade ago, but if I remember correctly the I-35/I-80 interchange at Des Moines (IA) also has seven posted: Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Omaha, and St. Paul listed.

If you're referring to the West Mixmaster, you're mostly right:
-I-80 west: Council Bluffs and/or Omaha
-I-80 east: Davenport or Chicago
-I-35 north: Minneapolis
-I-35 south: Kansas City
-I-235 east: Des Moines, with West Des Moines joining it on some older signs on southbound I-35

So that would make it eight control cities.

The first five cities you listed are signed at the East Mixmaster.

[Scott5114]

I think I remember seeing Oklahoma City's downtown interchange also has seven Control Cities that includes:  Amarillo, Dallas, Edmond, Ft. Smith, Ft. Worth, Tulsa, and Wichita listed.

No Tulsa or Ft. Worth at that interchange (Ft. Worth is not signed anywhere in Oklahoma, just Dallas), but northbound I-235 has control points of State Capitol and Okla. Health Center as well, so that's still seven if you count those.

Tulsa is signed on I-40 EB:  https://goo.gl/maps/YjbpfGqs8gvZLW1r9

Maybe you don't count that as part of the same interchange, because it's 100 yards past the EB→NB loop ramp, but whatever.

Oklahoma City vernacular counts the eastern I-35/I-40 diverge as a separate interchange (the "Fort Smith Junction") from the western one (the "Dallas Junction"). Which makes sense, as there's a totally unrelated service interchange (MLK/Eastern) in between the two. That sign is intended (as much as ODOT can really intend anything) as a lane assignment sign for the Fort Smith Junction split, not a post-Dallas-Junction pullthrough, so I wouldn't call it a control city for the Dallas Junction.

If there was no Fort Smith Junction and this was merely a pullthrough I'd happily call it a control city for the Dallas Junction, however.