"They'll just slap a number on anything these days"

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^

I'd change the sign to read, "If you're too stupid to recognize the difference between an interstate route marker and a state route marker, you're too stupid to be driving."

Maryland duplicates state and interstate route numbers, but I suppose this is the only location where one might get confused. But still... Wonder if anyone has ever entered Maryland from the west on I-68 and then gotten off at MD 495, expecting to enter the Beltway?

There's a similar dynamic at work in West Virginia, where except for an exit near Morgantown, they refuse to sign US 19 on southbound I-79 exits, with the thinking being that someone who plans to use Corridor L to get to Beckley would exit too soon. Surely, people aren't that dumb.

Arizona has done route duplications and I've never heard anything about it being an issue before. US 95 and AZ 95 even meet in Quartzite, signage is generally good enough to allow anyone who can properly read to figure out where they need to go.  Even AZ 89 and AZ 89A are signed clearly enough for drivers to understand which highway they want.

The problem is greater for regions that use just the number when mentioning routes. Here, it's "Route 2" for single digits (or possibly single syllables; I don't live near anything numbered 7, 10, or 12) and just the number ("495") for the rest. Places that use different terms for Interstates and/or US routes in common usage would have less confusion.

Speaking as someone who lived in Arizona as long as they did there generally is a delineation in conversation between; County Route, US Route, State Highway, and Interstate.  Since I've been working in Californian on the other hand the slang tends to be "The insert route number"  no matter what highway type.  I suspect that it played a somewhat significant role in the 1964 State Highway renumbering which sought to eliminate number duplications and ultimately did so by defining all state maintained routes as the same thing. 

[thefraze_1020]

Most of the newer interstates annoy me (I-2; I-11; I-14; I-41; I-73, I-74, and I-87 in NC; I-99), even though some are longer than the older ones.  I really can't give a rational explanation, but it's along the lines of a feeling that the older designations were decided by merit (passing over the issue of whether one agrees said merit is warranted) and in line with an overall national plan, whereas the newer designations feel like the clubhouse door is wide open for anyone who pays off the right people.

I feel (and i think many others here agree with me) that the same thing has happened to US highways in the past 25-30 years (I'm looking  at you, US 400!)

[thefraze_1020]

Most of the newer interstates annoy me (I-2; I-11; I-14; I-41; I-73, I-74, and I-87 in NC; I-99), even though some are longer than the older ones.  I really can't give a rational explanation, but it's along the lines of a feeling that the older designations were decided by merit (passing over the issue of whether one agrees said merit is warranted) and in line with an overall national plan, whereas the newer designations feel like the clubhouse door is wide open for anyone who pays off the right people.

I get that feeling too.  Also, seriously, why did they choose I-87 for NC?  I'd think it's too close to I-87 in NY....

Speaking of that, I feel slightly annoyed by 3dis which are assigned to routes under, say, 5 miles (e.g. I-395 in Baltimore, I-381 in Bristol VA, I-579 in Pittsburgh, I-705 in Tacoma, etc).  I get that they're supposed to "promote connection to the interstate highway system," but it just seems excessive.  Likewise, why bother assigning I-595 to US-50/US-301 in Maryland?  They don't even bother signing it!

I get that it has to do with the massive amount of federal highway dollars that are granted to states which are only given for interstate projects, but still...I feel like an interstate should be a major route with some length to it (speaking of, honest question here, does anybody know of extremely short 3 digit US routes?).

I agree completely. I-705 in Tacoma is a glorified on/off-ramp to I-5, WA 7, and WA 509. They should've signed it as an extension of WA 7 and been done with it. This is about comparable to signing the US 30 freeway stub off the Fremont Bridge in Portland as I-505 (like it was supposed to be originally). Yes, technically it is Interstate-standard, but it is so short that ODOT didn't bother, after the I-505 proposal was nixed. I-705 in Tacoma technically isn't even completely Interstate-standard, as it has only one northbound through lane briefly.

[ipeters61]

I like the sign in principle but in practice I think it ought to be better worded. Instead of the useless "National Freeway" reference, it ought to say something like "to Cumberland and Morgantown" or "to Cumberland and Points West" or some such. Cumberland is a no-brainer as the only significant population center in Maryland on that highway. The rest of it would depend on what Maryland wants to promote. There are other signs elsewhere noting I-68 as a route to Ohio and points west, so I have in mind some variation on that.

There are two reasons why I feel that way about the sign. The first is that nobody calls I-68 the "National Freeway." Everybody calls it I-68 or plain old 68. Referring to where the road goes would be more useful than a silly name nobody uses. The second is that I think underscoring where it goes would help people whose directions don't distinguish between types of roads, which is something I think is fairly common. That is, if I gave you directions to Rocky Gap State Park I'd tell you to take I-70 west to Hancock, then I-68 west towards Cumberland, and then look for the brown sign for the park, but a lot of people would simply tell you to take "70 to 68." Those are the people for whom the BGS seen in the photo above is important, but it doesn't necessarily help them if they weren't told to look for Interstate 68. It always surprises me how some people will e-mail directions that use just numbers without saying "US" or "I-" or whatever.

I agree.  I've never been to Western Maryland but I figured that nobody would know I-68 as the "National Freeway" (frankly, when I first saw the name I was pretty confused).

I remember one time my grandparents (from PA) rented a beach house in Cape May NJ and they mentioned taking NJ-55 to NJ-47, and not to take NJ-47 at any exit off NJ-55 (it's the parallel route) because "it's just to trick you."  Because, you know, NJDOT definitely wants long-distance traffic clogging a local road when an expressway immediately parallel exists, and also, you know, nobody who lives in Millville or Vineland would be interested in an exit serving NJ-47.

[texaskdog]

Texas, with 4 digit state highways that seem more like county roads

[DJ Particle]

Most of the newer interstates annoy me (I-2; I-11; I-14; I-41; I-73, I-74, and I-87 in NC; I-99), even though some are longer than the older ones.  I really can't give a rational explanation, but it's along the lines of a feeling that the older designations were decided by merit (passing over the issue of whether one agrees said merit is warranted) and in line with an overall national plan, whereas the newer designations feel like the clubhouse door is wide open for anyone who pays off the right people.

Not to mention the return (in Texas) of lettered Interstates (I-69E, I-69C...the former even has its own I-169)

[cjk374]

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmtvVhct

In the above album are pictures of LA 3239. The road is dirt...and signed & maintained...on both ends by LaDOTD. It is paved in the middle. I don't know how long this has been a state road, but it seems like a waste.

[kphoger]

Texas, with 4 digit state highways that seem more like county roads

But there are hardly any state routes in Texas that aren't two-lane paved highways, and almost all of them connect the primary network to a community of some sort.  The truly minor roads in Texas truly are county roads, not state routes.

My interpretation of the OP is to find places that will slap a route number on roads that really just don't matter very much.  And, in that, I'd say West Virginia fits the bill, where neighborhood streets sometimes end up with route shields.

[cjk374]

Apparently Louisiana has a new state road: LA 3271

wwwapps.dotd.la.gov/administration/announcements/announcement.aspx?key=18060

What it looks like courtesy GSV:

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7439624,-92.4281308,3a,75y,312.12h,93.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1su5pQ1j2Z2WcdEH78SXZJeA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en


A new quarter-mile paved state road that will become dirt and Union Parish maintained that goes to Tech Landing...a boat ramp on Lake D'Arbonne. Why? 

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Apparently Louisiana has a new state road: LA 3271

wwwapps.dotd.la.gov/administration/announcements/announcement.aspx?key=18060

What it looks like courtesy GSV:

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7439624,-92.4281308,3a,75y,312.12h,93.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1su5pQ1j2Z2WcdEH78SXZJeA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en


A new quarter-mile paved state road that will become dirt and Union Parish maintained that goes to Tech Landing...a boat ramp on Lake D'Arbonne. Why? 

Well, they don't call it Bad Eye Rd for nothing.

[cjk374]

Apparently Louisiana has a new state road: LA 3271

wwwapps.dotd.la.gov/administration/announcements/announcement.aspx?key=18060

What it looks like courtesy GSV:

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7439624,-92.4281308,3a,75y,312.12h,93.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1su5pQ1j2Z2WcdEH78SXZJeA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en


A new quarter-mile paved state road that will become dirt and Union Parish maintained that goes to Tech Landing...a boat ramp on Lake D'Arbonne. Why? 

Well, they don't call it Bad Eye Rd for nothing.

This is very true.