California Exit Numbering Progress

[stevashe]

So, recently I noticed that the CALNExUS files had finally been put back up after being in "remediation" due to Caltrans' site upgrade, so I decided to go through a summary spreadsheet I had made about a year ago to determine just how many exits still needed numbers and update it with any new data, and I figured I might as well post it here too! Most of the route files still stated that the last update was from fall 2018 though, so the data is a bit out of date in most cases. Still, I think it provides an interesting picture of the status of Caltrans' efforts.

On the whole, I was quite surprised to see a large majority of exits marked as complete (76.2%), though I believe this is due to the fact that this data tracks exits only achieving "minimum compliance" as complete, which only requires an exit gore or exit direction sign, and one advance sign. I was also surprised (and pleased!) to see that only 339 exits out of over 6000 were completely missing exit numbers, which is much lower than I expected, and much lower than in the past. I certainly noticed a lot of exits around the Bay Area gained numbers during the time I was there for college from 2014 to 2018.

Link to my spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GVmPtrJMZ9jfEBS1Mbiv6MgJDNCczXD0r86wpQ4MmMw/edit?usp=sharing

Caltrans CALNExUS page: https://dot.ca.gov/programs/traffic-operations/exit

California Highways page on California's exit numbering history with an explanation of partial, minimum, and full compliance near the bottom of the page: https://www.cahighways.org/num-exitnum.html

[RZF]

So, what's the difference between complete and partial exit signage? Gore point + BGS before exit = complete exit signage? And just one of those is considered partial?

[cahwyguy]

If you followed the link he gave to my pages, you would have seen:

Initial compliance means that there is at least one number posted for the exit. Minimum compliance means that there is at least one number posted at the exit itself and at least one number posted in advance of the exit. These exits are also considered as being in partial compliance, so there is some overlap in the data. Full compliance means that there is an exit number at the gore (the G84 sign), and at the beginning of the ramp (the G85 sign), and on a distance sign in advance (the G83). An exit that is in full compliance is also considered as being in minimum and partial compliance, so again there is some overlap in the data.

[stevashe]

So, what's the difference between complete and partial exit signage? Gore point + BGS before exit = complete exit signage? And just one of those is considered partial?

That is correct!

If you followed the link he gave to my pages, you would have seen:

Initial compliance means that there is at least one number posted for the exit. Minimum compliance means that there is at least one number posted at the exit itself and at least one number posted in advance of the exit. These exits are also considered as being in partial compliance, so there is some overlap in the data. Full compliance means that there is an exit number at the gore (the G84 sign), and at the beginning of the ramp (the G85 sign), and on a distance sign in advance (the G83). An exit that is in full compliance is also considered as being in minimum and partial compliance, so again there is some overlap in the data.

Indeed, I do wish they would have broken out minimum and full compliance separately, instead of combining them into the "Complete" status. I can assure you there isn't any overlap with exits being counted twice though, as the status of each exit is listed individually in Caltrans' files.



Also, does any route in particular stand out to anyone as being an outlier? There certainly are still some with very low completion rates like CA 2 with only 1 out of 20, and a few that are higher than you might expect, like CA 99 with 92.3% (393/426).