Best and worst Control City

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

My newest nomination would be "Plymouth Meeting" on I-476 northbound in the Philadelphia area. Why not "Allentown?"

And what the heck kind of town name is Plymouth Meeting, anyway?

It's where the Plymouths met. Is it any worse than Rabbit Hash, Kentucky? Or Head of Grassy?

[pianocello]

Worst: In the Iowa City (IA) area, the signs say Davenport and Des Moines (roughly 50 and 100 miles away), but one sign ignores Davenport and posts the mileage for Chicago (200 miles or so).

disclaimer: I'm from Iowa and have never been west of Des Moines, so there's not much of a variety for me when it comes to control cities

[Interstate Trav]

How about in Utah there being no real control city for I-70 westbound.  It switches from small Utah town to small Utah town, or just "I-15".  Why not sign Las Vegas or Salt Lake City.  Or even Los Angeles.

[roadfro]

How about in Utah there being no real control city for I-70 westbound.  It switches from small Utah town to small Utah town, or just "I-15".  Why not sign Las Vegas or Salt Lake City.  Or even Los Angeles.

I don't know if I would use control cities for another interstate on a mainline interstate. That seems a bit misleading to me.

In any event, Los Angeles wouldn't make sense cause Las Vegas is about 230 miles closer and is the next designated control city along I-15 south.

[Interstate Trav]

How about in Utah there being no real control city for I-70 westbound.  It switches from small Utah town to small Utah town, or just "I-15".  Why not sign Las Vegas or Salt Lake City.  Or even Los Angeles.

I don't know if I would use control cities for another interstate on a mainline interstate. That seems a bit misleading to me.

In any event, Los Angeles wouldn't make sense cause Las Vegas is about 230 miles closer and is the next designated control city along I-15 south.

but they do that on I-20 westbound when they sign El Paso, I-20 ends a long ways before and you have to take I-10 west.  Since the majority of the traffic is headed towards I-15 south i figure sign it the same as the 15.

I do agree, don't sign Los Angeles that far away, i was mainly being metphorical in picking any city.  I think Las Vegas should be the control point.

[roadman65]

Best control city I must say is Orlando on FL 112 EB in Miami.  At least it was there in the 90s and it was to direct motorists to Central Florida from the Miami Airport!

Worst is Memphis for I-57 in Illinois along with El Paso in the San Antonio area on I-10.  Both are 500 miles away and could use many intermediate points!

[Brandon]

Best control city I must say is Orlando on FL 112 EB in Miami.  At least it was there in the 90s and it was to direct motorists to Central Florida from the Miami Airport!

Worst is Memphis for I-57 in Illinois along with El Paso in the San Antonio area on I-10.  Both are 500 miles away and could use many intermediate points!

Memphis is used in order to bypass St Louis.  Name a city of consequence between El Paso and San Antonio in Texas on I-10.

[national highway 1]

Fort Stockton, maybe? I-10 junctions both US 285 & US 385 there and US 67 on either side of town.

[elsmere241]

My newest nomination would be "Plymouth Meeting" on I-476 northbound in the Philadelphia area. Why not "Allentown?"

And what the heck kind of town name is Plymouth Meeting, anyway?

Plymouth Meeting is the burg where I-476 ended (at I-76) before it was connected to, and extended along, the Northeast Extension.

I agree, Allentown or Scranton would make more sense now.

[tdindy88]

Best control city I must say is Orlando on FL 112 EB in Miami.  At least it was there in the 90s and it was to direct motorists to Central Florida from the Miami Airport!

Worst is Memphis for I-57 in Illinois along with El Paso in the San Antonio area on I-10.  Both are 500 miles away and could use many intermediate points!

Well...technically I-57 does have Kankakee, Champaign, Effingham, and Mt. Carmel as control cities, they just aren't listed at major freeway junctions.

[roadman65]

Best control city I must say is Orlando on FL 112 EB in Miami.  At least it was there in the 90s and it was to direct motorists to Central Florida from the Miami Airport!

Worst is Memphis for I-57 in Illinois along with El Paso in the San Antonio area on I-10.  Both are 500 miles away and could use many intermediate points!

Well...technically I-57 does have Kankakee, Champaign, Effingham, and Mt. Carmel as control cities, they just aren't listed at major freeway junctions.

Best control city I must say is Orlando on FL 112 EB in Miami.  At least it was there in the 90s and it was to direct motorists to Central Florida from the Miami Airport!

Worst is Memphis for I-57 in Illinois along with El Paso in the San Antonio area on I-10.  Both are 500 miles away and could use many intermediate points!

Well...technically I-57 does have Kankakee, Champaign, Effingham, and Mt. Carmel as control cities, they just aren't listed at major freeway junctions.

Illinois has that practice where local roads use next sequential cities while freeway junctions use the next major US City! The mileage signs for cities uses both next sequential and US cities after the next exit's control point>

[mightyace]

^^^

That method could make I-80 in PA better!

[tollboothrob]

Regarding the West Virginia examples:

I-64/77 split: This is a perfect example to use dual control cities. Why not Lewisburg/Lexington VA, or even Richmond if you want?

I-79: I don't agree with omitting Clarksburg completely, as it is an important city to North Central West Virginia. I should know, I grew up 30 miles away, and Clarksburg was the closest mall, etc. It's also the first city at all along 79 NB. Similar to my last example, I wouldn't mind seeing Morgantown listed as well. Another option would be Morgantown/Pittsburgh with Clarksburg on a seperate LGS. I-79 Exit 99 uses the control cities of Buckhannon/Weston, and another LGS mentioning Elkins for this same exit. I always thought Elkins should be of some more significance, considering Exit 99 is the only route that's anywhere near direct to get there.

[SP Cook]

64/77 uses a second BGS for Richmond and Charlotte in addition to the standard Lewisburg and Bluefield.  Lexington, even signed with VA, is problematical, as it is easily confused with the much larger Kentucky city which is along the same interstate in the opposite direction.  WV is careful with "VA" on towns to the east in southern WV, because the majority of through traffic is wanting to go counterintuitivativly south in to Virginia, rather than east.

When (if) ever finished, Exit 99 on 79 will be interesting.  While not an interstate, WV uses the same control city system for "corridor" highways.  My preference would be for "Elkins" and then "Front Royal, VA / I-66" but Petersburg and Moorefield will probably bubble up in there as well.  Clearly, exit 99 itself should already be signed "Elkins".

[LeftyJR]

64/77 uses a second BGS for Richmond and Charlotte in addition to the standard Lewisburg and Bluefield.  Lexington, even signed with VA, is problematical, as it is easily confused with the much larger Kentucky city which is along the same interstate in the opposite direction.  WV is careful with "VA" on towns to the east in southern WV, because the majority of through traffic is wanting to go counterintuitivativly south in to Virginia, rather than east.

When (if) ever finished, Exit 99 on 79 will be interesting.  While not an interstate, WV uses the same control city system for "corridor" highways.  My preference would be for "Elkins" and then "Front Royal, VA / I-66" but Petersburg and Moorefield will probably bubble up in there as well.  Clearly, exit 99 itself should already be signed "Elkins".

How it it signed now?  "Weston/Phillippi"  or is it "Buckhannon/Phillippi"?  I can't remember!

[hbelkins]

Weston/Buckhannon.

[huskeroadgeek]

Best control city I must say is Orlando on FL 112 EB in Miami.  At least it was there in the 90s and it was to direct motorists to Central Florida from the Miami Airport!

Worst is Memphis for I-57 in Illinois along with El Paso in the San Antonio area on I-10.  Both are 500 miles away and could use many intermediate points!

Well...technically I-57 does have Kankakee, Champaign, Effingham, and Mt. Carmel as control cities, they just aren't listed at major freeway junctions.

Best control city I must say is Orlando on FL 112 EB in Miami.  At least it was there in the 90s and it was to direct motorists to Central Florida from the Miami Airport!

Worst is Memphis for I-57 in Illinois along with El Paso in the San Antonio area on I-10.  Both are 500 miles away and could use many intermediate points!

Well...technically I-57 does have Kankakee, Champaign, Effingham, and Mt. Carmel as control cities, they just aren't listed at major freeway junctions.

Illinois has that practice where local roads use next sequential cities while freeway junctions use the next major US City! The mileage signs for cities uses both next sequential and US cities after the next exit's control point>

I like the way Illinois does it-more states should do it that way. I do think using East St. Louis as an intermediate destination is a little overkill though.

[tollboothrob]

How it it signed now?  "Weston/Phillippi"  or is it "Buckhannon/Phillippi"?  I can't remember!

As far as I can remember, Philippi is only signed on I-79 on an LGS for Exit 115, via WV 20 south to WV 57 east.

You don't see it mentioned on Corridor H until US 119 splits at Buckhannon to head north toward Philippi, where it joins WV 20 to just north of Hodgesville.

[hbelkins]

I like the way Illinois does it-more states should do it that way. I do think using East St. Louis as an intermediate destination is a little overkill though.

Can using any word with "kill" in it and East St. Louis in the same sentence be considered a freudian slip?

[agentsteel53]

Can using any word with "kill" in it and East St. Louis in the same sentence be considered a freudian slip?

oddly, I've never thought of East St. Louis as being all that bad.  the last time I drove through that area, it was in the middle of the night and I drove some pretty shady streets, looking for old signs and what have you.

I did, at one point, encounter a drug dealer sitting in a lawn chair in the middle of the road, prominently advertising his wares with absolutely no fear of police action.  I also had a guy run a four-way stop doing what must've been 95mph.  He was on a beeline for that very same drug dealer, so I figured he needed his fix, and soon.

but those were both in regular St. Louis, not East.

[oscar]

Best:  Aiea, on westbound Interstate H-201.  Four letters, no consonants.

[agentsteel53]

Best:  Aiea, on westbound Interstate H-201.  Four letters, no consonants.

in that case, you should not get off on the side street from highway 104 in Croatia, at which junction there is ostensibly a sign showing the distances to Vrh and Krk.

[Michael in Philly]

My newest nomination would be "Plymouth Meeting" on I-476 northbound in the Philadelphia area. Why not "Allentown?"

And what the heck kind of town name is Plymouth Meeting, anyway?

"Meeting" would refer to a Quaker meeting-house.  "Plymouth" would be the name of the township it's in.  Both of them going back to a century before Kentucky was a glimmer in Virginia's eye.  The meetinghouse may still be there.  It's not the only Quaker meetinghouse in suburban Philadelphia, but the only one I can think of that serves as a place name.

It's got an Ikea, a mall, and such, which I suppose is the rationale for it being the "control city."  That and the fact that until the mid-'90s 476 ended there (the Northeast Extension was Pa. 9).  But I've said plenty, on other threads, and presumably will again, about control city practices.

[agentsteel53]

It's got an Ikea, a mall, and such, which I suppose is the rationale for it being the "control city." 

that's the absolute worst rationale ever for being a "control city".  a place like that deserves the "it's the only way to be sure" treatment.

[Interstate Trav]

It's got an Ikea, a mall, and such, which I suppose is the rationale for it being the "control city."

that's the absolute worst rationale ever for being a "control city".  a place like that deserves the "it's the only way to be sure" treatment.

Well to be fair if the mall has a Starbucks, then it should be a Control City.  lol