How well do you know america's roads?

[Roadgeekteen]

How far could you drive from your home with just the whole us map in the rand mcnally atlas? The 2 pages, not the whole atlas. Signs will still be there. Could you drive to all the mid-sized cities in the lower 48?

[ilpt4u]

How far could you drive from your home with just the whole us map in the rand mcnally atlas? The 2 pages, not the whole atlas. Signs will still be there. Could you drive to all the mid-sized cities in the lower 48?

Whats your population level for "Mid-Size" cities?

[Roadgeekteen]

How far could you drive from your home with just the whole us map in the rand mcnally atlas? The 2 pages, not the whole atlas. Signs will still be there. Could you drive to all the mid-sized cities in the lower 48?

Whats your population level for "Mid-Size" cities?

How about any city with a more detailed map in the rand mcnally atlas?

[paulthemapguy]

I know all the 2di's by heart.  I can get to any city with a 3di without looking at a map.  My one friend will ask me to find a route between two American cities when he's drunk, and I will give him my route so he can compare it to what Google says.  Google doesn't always agree with me lol.  That's my parlor trick I suppose.  I also know the Illinois state highway system by heart.

[Roadgeekteen]

I know all the 2di's by heart.  I can get to any city with a 3di without looking at a map.  My one friend will ask me to find a route between two American cities when he's drunk, and I will give him my route so he can compare it to what Google says.  Google doesn't always agree with me lol.  That's my parlor trick I suppose.  I also know the Illinois state highway system by heart.

Could you get to alaska?

[index]

Well, let's see...

I know all the 2dis and most cities along them of mid to large size, and I know a few 3dis. I could definitely navigate the country via interstate only, maybe some US routes.

I don't know the Federal Route system nearly as well. Ask me a US route away from the coasts and I wouldn't know it. I've memorized my state highway system pretty well, (most roads in the state, including US and Interstate) so I can definitely tell where I am in North Carolina just from the route.

[kurumi]

Al Franken can draw all 50 states on the map freehand (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0-FYyuvrRk). I wouldn't do so well with that, but I could draw in all the 2di's and most of the 3di's. Not perfect by location, but within 100 miles or so.

If you printed a map of Connecticut with all highway shields blanked out, I could fill them in.

[US 89]

I don't know the Federal Route system nearly as well. Ask me a US route away from the coasts and I wouldn't know it.

I thought Calrog was banned here!

[1995hoo]

There was a similar thread early last year that was somewhat more draconian than this one because it hypothesized an absence of road signs, mileposts, etc., and banned the use of maps and navigational aids (sat-navs, private signs like mall signs, or billboards).

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=17241.0

[Roadgeekteen]

I don't know the Federal Route system nearly as well. Ask me a US route away from the coasts and I wouldn't know it.

I thought Calrog was banned here!

us kinda equals federal.

[Takumi]

National would be a better term than federal.

[kkt]

Could you get to alaska?

I could drive to the ferry terminal in Bellingham and say "Take me to Alaska, please." 

Seriously, driving north on US/BC 97 and then staying on the Alaska Highway would not be that tough.

[Roadgeekteen]

Al Franken can draw all 50 states on the map freehand (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0-FYyuvrRk). I wouldn't do so well with that, but I could draw in all the 2di's and most of the 3di's. Not perfect by location, but within 100 miles or so.

If you printed a map of Connecticut with all highway shields blanked out, I could fill them in.

I could fill out highway shields of most of the northeast.

[csw]

In the same vein as Al Franken, I can draw a map of the 92 counties of Indiana freehand.

[epzik8]

Well, I would know most of the mainline Interstates.

[Henry]

I can name all the Interstate and US routes from memory.

[NWI_Irish96]

I live 100 feet from I-80/94 and just < 20 miles from I-90, I-65, I-57 and I-55, so I have a good starting point.  I feel pretty confident I could get to just about every major US city in the lower 48 without an atlas or map app on my phone.  Not sure I could make it to Alaska though.

[jeffandnicole]

How far could you drive from your home with just the whole us map in the rand mcnally atlas? The 2 pages, not the whole atlas. Signs will still be there. Could you drive to all the mid-sized cities in the lower 48?

Everywhere?  Seems easily doable.

[kphoger]

I don't know the Federal Route system nearly as well. Ask me a US route away from the coasts and I wouldn't know it.

I thought Calrog was banned here!

us kinda equals federal.

National would be a better term than federal.

Just for the sake of spelling it out, US Routes and Interstates are state highways.

But, out of curiosity, would National Park roads count as federal highways?

[kkt]

I don't know the Federal Route system nearly as well. Ask me a US route away from the coasts and I wouldn't know it.

I thought Calrog was banned here!

us kinda equals federal.

National would be a better term than federal.

Just for the sake of spelling it out, US Routes and Interstates are state highways.

But, out of curiosity, would National Park roads count as federal highways?

Yes, because the Park Service owns them and does all the maintenance, but the state they're in has some influence in where the routes were established as well.

[US 89]

Locally, I honestly don't think I could get lost if I tried. Even if I'm just out for a drive, I know I will always eventually come across a street name I recognize, and once I see signs for a freeway, or get to a road that I know will take me to one, I'm good to go. I can't not know how to get home, it's just instinctive, I guess, after studying area maps all my life.

In the SLC metro area it's pretty hard to get lost even for non-roadgeeks. Within SL County almost all the streets are numbered, with an origin at the Mormon temple at the center of downtown (kind of like the coordinate grid in math)*. Throughout the Wasatch Front area, if you are ever close to being lost, you get on a road that looks like it goes awhile in the right direction, and you'll most likely encounter a freeway or another road that you know at some point. And of course there are mountains to help with direction: the bigger mountains are in the east.

* within SL County, everything is on one grid. The grids can become a problem if you go further north or south, where each city has its own grid, and they all blend into each other. For example, the road numbered 1100 West in Bountiful becomes Main St in North Salt Lake when you cross a road which is numbered 2600 South on one side and 1100 North on the other.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

As long as I'm using interstates I can get anywhere without really thinking about it, though it may not always be the fastest route between two points if I'm not as familiar with the US or state routes that may be involved in a typical fastest route.

[Rothman]

I don't know the Federal Route system nearly as well. Ask me a US route away from the coasts and I wouldn't know it.

I thought Calrog was banned here!

us kinda equals federal.

National would be a better term than federal.

Just for the sake of spelling it out, US Routes and Interstates are state highways.

But, out of curiosity, would National Park roads count as federal highways?

Yes, because the Park Service owns them and does all the maintenance, but the state they're in has some influence in where the routes were established as well.

Makes me wonder if the NPS has any access to FHWA funding.  They did get a pittance when granted through the Public Lands Highway Development program (or whatever they call it now).  Haven't head anything about that in a while, though (might have gone the way of the dodo with FAST).

[Brandon]

How far could you drive from your home with just the whole us map in the rand mcnally atlas? The 2 pages, not the whole atlas. Signs will still be there. Could you drive to all the mid-sized cities in the lower 48?

Easily.  Who even needs the map for that?

[kkt]

Makes me wonder if the NPS has any access to FHWA funding.  They did get a pittance when granted through the Public Lands Highway Development program (or whatever they call it now).  Haven't head anything about that in a while, though (might have gone the way of the dodo with FAST).

https://www.nps.gov/transportation/funding_sources.html

NPS Transportation Funding

Funding
Funds are allocated to the Federal Lands Highway Program (FLHP) annually from the federal Highway Trust Fund, supported by the federal motor vehicle gas tax and certain excise taxes. These funds may be used only on roads and transportation facilities open to the public (as opposed to administrative and residential roads). As well, these funds may not be used for routine maintenance activities such as snow plowing, patching, and re-striping. All operational and routine maintenance costs remain the responsibility of each agency.

Under the auspices of the Federal Lands Transportation Program (FLTP), the two agencies maintain and improve the quality and condition of some 9,600 miles of public roads (paved and unpaved) and 1,505 bridges and tunnels. Since 1999, alternative transportation projects, such as transit services, also have been supported with FLTP funds.

Prior to 1983, all NPS infrastructure improvement projects—ranging from roads to sewage treatment plants—competed annually for appropriated NPS construction funds. As park visitation increased, there were greater demands for spending on all types of infrastructure. Support for transportation projects was unreliable and the condition of the NPS transportation system was deteriorating. The Federal Lands Highway Program was established with the hope that a dedicated and reliable funding source for park roads from the Highway Trust Fund would reverse this trend.

In 1987, financial support for the program was substantially cut, and remained low until 1998. This decade of reduced funding resulted in a substantial decline in the condition of park system roads and bridges. Circumstances improved in 1998 when federal legislation doubled the annual dollars available. At the same time, however, the FHWA placed controls on spending—these are called "obligation limits." This limitation has reduced the funding available to the FLTP each year by 8% to 16% below the authorized levels.

The result of this funding situation is that funds have been adequate to arrest the steep decline in road pavement conditions, but the overall condition of NPS transportation facilities remains at a much lower level than desirable.

Rest of the page, including a graph of NPS road authorized funding by year, deleted.