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Milepost signs

Started by cpzilliacus, February 25, 2018, 11:17:46 PM

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myosh_tino

Quote from: cpzilliacus on February 28, 2018, 02:22:08 PM
Quote from: roadfro on February 28, 2018, 01:48:15 AM
I think mileposts serve a more important purpose as a locating tool rather than a navigational aid.

I agree. Especially for reporting emergencies and other incidents (property damage crashes and disabled vehicles) to the appropriate authority.

Me too but if there's already a system in place (i.e. California's postmile system), is it worth the expense to install mileposts along every stretch of highway?
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cpzilliacus

Quote from: myosh_tino on February 28, 2018, 10:07:05 PM
Quote from: cpzilliacus on February 28, 2018, 02:22:08 PM
Quote from: roadfro on February 28, 2018, 01:48:15 AM
I think mileposts serve a more important purpose as a locating tool rather than a navigational aid.

I agree. Especially for reporting emergencies and other incidents (property damage crashes and disabled vehicles) to the appropriate authority.

Me too but if there's already a system in place (i.e. California's postmile system), is it worth the expense to install mileposts along every stretch of highway?

IMO yes.  The postmile system is (I believe) unique to California, and as such not a good thing. 

There are many things that Caltrans does that are unique to California, and most of them I have no issue with (an example being obsessive use of FREEWAY ENTRANCE assemblies, which I wish  all states would adopt).

But California's freeways and arterial highways should have mileposts that are consistent with other states, so they are useful to someone reporting a crash, fire or disabled motorist.  Especially if the person reporting it is from someplace outside of California.
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

cjk374

Louisiana puts mileposts on all state maintained highways. The only problem is that DOTD poorly maintains the state & US highway mileposts. They post the (state & US highway) mileposts on small posts...1.8 pound-per-foot u-channel posts. These small posts make the signs easy to knock over, steal, or mow down. Interstates are posted on 2.2 pound u-channel. The interstates are maintained regularly while state & US highways are replaced approximately every 10 years.
Runnin' roads and polishin' rails.

oscar

#28
Quote from: cpzilliacus on March 04, 2018, 07:59:09 AM
But California's freeways and arterial highways should have mileposts that are consistent with other states, so they are useful to someone reporting a crash, fire or disabled motorist.  Especially if the person reporting it is from someplace outside of California.

Postmiles serve that purpose, too, so long as the caller can provide the county in which the incident occurred (or county abbreviation on the postmile) to distinguish between identical postmile numbers in different counties. On non-Interstates, some states reset their milemarkers at county lines, so that issue is not unique to California.

Alaska uses standard mileposts. On some highways (especially the Alaska Highway part of AK 2), they are supplemented with "historic mileposts" where the regular mileposts were recalibrated but people still need the old mileposts such as for street addresses. Historic mileposts seem more common on the Canadian part of the highway, where the regular mileposts were replaced with km-posts, which also get recalibrated more often than in Alaska (its milepost 1422 -- mile 0 is in Dawson Creek BC -- is a monument in Delta Junction, so recalibration would be awkward).

The km-posts are in one continuous sequence from Dawson Creek BC (where BC 97's km-posts reset to zero) to the Alaska border. The highest km-post I saw in the Yukon was 1902, which I saw in 2012. In 2001, it was 1962, so the Canadian part of the highway was shortened in that decade due to realignments, curve straightenings, etc.

Hawaii uses standard milemarkers, occasionally with (imprecise) metric equivalents alongside the milemarker.

Puerto Rico uses km-markers, often in 0.2 km intervals. But speed limits are in mph, weird for an otherwise thoroughly metric jurisdiction.
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roadfro

Quote from: cpzilliacus on March 04, 2018, 07:59:09 AM
The postmile system is (I believe) unique to California, and as such not a good thing. 

There are many things that Caltrans does that are unique to California, and most of them I have no issue with (an example being obsessive use of FREEWAY ENTRANCE assemblies, which I wish  all states would adopt).

But California's freeways and arterial highways should have mileposts that are consistent with other states, so they are useful to someone reporting a crash, fire or disabled motorist.  Especially if the person reporting it is from someplace outside of California.
Quote from: oscar on March 04, 2018, 10:30:40 AM
Postmiles serve that purpose, too, so long as the caller can provide the county in which the incident occurred (or county abbreviation on the postmile) to distinguish between identical postmile numbers in different counties. On non-Interstates, some states reset their milemarkers at county lines, so that issue is not unique to California.

For the record, California and Nevada share several similar practices. Freeway entrance sign assemblies is one. County-based mileposting is another.

Nevada has also historically used the same exact style of milepost as California (CalTrans calls it a postmile, NDOT calls it a milepost): county abbreviation and distance on a small white paddle, with distance resetting at county lines. The only difference is that in recent years NDOT has made a concerted effort to remeasure roads and replace mileposts, thus no "R24.45" style notations for realignments and such as seen in California. (As mentioned previously, NDOT began implementing a new style of milepost a couple years ago that is larger and more visible to motorists, but still retains the features of the county-based system.)
Roadfro - AARoads Pacific Southwest moderator since 2010, Nevada roadgeek since 1983.

Revive 755

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=19755.0



Outside of Chicagoland, on non-interstate roads Illinois has custom markers that reset at the county lines and are good for finding otherwise secret routes:
Example on IL 160




Missouri has (had?) a quarter mile variant in the St. Louis area which used to be used on all of the major freeways, but now seems to be used only for MO 370 and MO 364:  Example on MO 364.  The freeway section of MO 21 in Jefferson County however received the markers typical of interstates in Missouri.

IIRC, Missouri used to occasionally just have the mile vertically on a green sign every now and then on interstates, similar to a typical non-expressway mile marker in Iowa.


Nebraska has/had multiple types:

* Enhanced mile marker with decimal:  Link

* A marker with just four three green squares with numbers arranged vertically used on I-80, an example of which I'm not finding so far tonight.

GaryV

Quote from: cpzilliacus on February 26, 2018, 02:59:20 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on February 26, 2018, 01:23:08 PM
Yeah, I meant 143-6/10 is a mixed number.

If you work with computers and program in FORTRAN, that would be a real number.  ;-)

Maybe.

MS SQL Server would treat it as written as integer math.  Even if it was assigned into a decimal field or variable.
:-D

Eth

Quote from: roadguy2 on March 04, 2018, 02:27:29 PM
Quote from: GaryV on March 04, 2018, 02:25:25 PM
Quote from: cpzilliacus on February 26, 2018, 02:59:20 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on February 26, 2018, 01:23:08 PM
Yeah, I meant 143-6/10 is a mixed number.

If you work with computers and program in FORTRAN, that would be a real number.  ;-)

Maybe.

MS SQL Server would treat it as written as integer math.  Even if it was assigned into a decimal field or variable.
:-D

In which case, it would work out to 142.4 (or 13.7 if you don't follow order of operations).

Not if it's integer math. 6/10 would be rounded down to 0, so you'd just get 143.

MASTERNC

West Virginia seems to post every half mile on Interstates.

mapman1071

AZ uses Standard mile Markers every 1 mile on all Interstate, US and State Highways except I-19 has KM posts every 1km with mile markers every mile facing the freeway lanes instead of being visible to oncoming traffic

Flint1979

Michigan has them every 1/10th of a mile too. I like it better that way so I at least know what mile I'm in. With a GPS system though I know how much farther I have to go wherever I'm at though. I know I can do a quarter of a mile in 11 1/4 seconds though going 80 mph.

mrsman

Quote from: Eth on March 04, 2018, 03:03:58 PM
Quote from: roadguy2 on March 04, 2018, 02:27:29 PM
Quote from: GaryV on March 04, 2018, 02:25:25 PM
Quote from: cpzilliacus on February 26, 2018, 02:59:20 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on February 26, 2018, 01:23:08 PM
Yeah, I meant 143-6/10 is a mixed number.

If you work with computers and program in FORTRAN, that would be a real number.  ;-)



Maybe.

MS SQL Server would treat it as written as integer math.  Even if it was assigned into a decimal field or variable.
:-D

In which case, it would work out to 142.4 (or 13.7 if you don't follow order of operations).

Not if it's integer math. 6/10 would be rounded down to 0, so you'd just get 143.


There are different ways of writing a decimal notation.  142.4 can also be written as 1424.

It isn't standard, but sometimes it is easier to see than the decimal point.  Plus, it explains calling the decimal as 142 over 4, even though not technically correct.

TheHighwayMan3561

WI has 1/5 posts in several places.

I-90 from Wisconsin Dells to the IL border. I can't remember if I-94 gets them all the way to Milwaukee and beyond or not but I'm assuming it does. Interestingly, the 1/5 posts from the Dells to Portage show both I-90 and I-94 shields, but along the triplex they only have I-90 shields on them.

Madison Beltline and US 18/151 southwest of Madison are two other stretches that use them. I'm sure there are others.
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running



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