"Next ___ Exits" signs

[bassoon1986]

What is the official name for signs like this one?



And what is the largest number of exits you've seen for a destination?

I know around DFW there is a Mesquite next 11 exits on I-635 south and Lewisville shows "next 9 exits" on I-35E southbound

[agentsteel53]

somewhere in CA there is a "next 12 exits".  Fresno on US-99?

[Kacie Jane]

Tee hee.  He called it US-99.  What a silly mistake. </facetious>

Obviously 7 is a smaller number than the ones just mentioned, but I've always been intrigued by the signs on I-5 for Bellingham.  It includes 250-257, but not 258, despite the fact that exit 258 serves the airport and the big shopping mall on the north end of town.  It wasn't until just know that I looked at the city limits on Google, and they're drawn so that the entire interchange is just outside city limits (i.e. if you turn right onto Bakerview from the northbound off-ramp, you cross the line virtually immediately, but no part of the interchange or freeway is within the city limits).

[myosh_tino]

What is the official name for signs like this one?

The G87(CA) sign is California's version of the sign the OP is referring to.  Caltrans refers to these signs as "NEXT X EXITS" signs.  What's interesting is there is no corresponding MUTCD sign code equivalent so the design of these signs is up to each state (although the Texas sign seems to mirror the California version).

[The High Plains Traveler]

NEXT 19 EXITS entering Albuquerque from the north on I-25. About the most useless piece of information I could be given.

[agentsteel53]

from what I can tell about Bellingham culture, they'd rather not acknowledge that the big box mall is within their city limits.

[PHLBOS]

MUTCD just simply calls those NEXT XX EXITS signs.

[roadman65]

In Florida on I-95 there is a sign southbound approaching US 1 near Ormond Beach that states "Holly Hill Next 2 Exits" when in fact the third exit as well serves Holly Hill and is the only exit with a guide that uses that city as a control point.

The sign was actually before the LPGA Boulevard exit was opened when southbound I-95 had to use those first two exits and was never updated even when I-95 was widened to six lanes long after the new interchange was added.

What really interests me the most is further to the west in Ocala there was a sign that read "Ocala Silver Springs Next 3 Exits" and now the Ocala was removed with a new sign with just Silver Springs exclusively and an added Pennsylvania type of exit guide sign for Ocala with the road names with distances to it.  Either way is fine by me, but why have two completely different signing practices for two places that use the same exact exits?

[Big John]

from what I can tell about Bellingham culture, they'd rather not acknowledge that the big box mall is within their city limits.

That explains it as the number of exits shown are supposed to represent how many exits serve the city, regardless if the exits themselves are physically outside city limits.

[kkt]

Obviously 7 is a smaller number than the ones just mentioned, but I've always been intrigued by the signs on I-5 for Bellingham.  It includes 250-257, but not 258, despite the fact that exit 258 serves the airport and the big shopping mall on the north end of town.  It wasn't until just know that I looked at the city limits on Google, and they're drawn so that the entire interchange is just outside city limits (i.e. if you turn right onto Bakerview from the northbound off-ramp, you cross the line virtually immediately, but no part of the interchange or freeway is within the city limits).

I'm pretty sure that Bellingham, Next 7 Exits sign has been there since Bellis Fair Mall was just a gleam in the developer's eye.  It's not an accident that the mall is outside the city limits, of course; that way it's in the lower property tax area of the county.

[roadman65]

In New Jersey along the Garden State Parkway you have multiple exits for some cities, but only one exit gets signed. 
Clifton has 2 southbound Exits (154 & 153) and northbound has (153 both A & B, 154, and 155) yet only Exit 154 is signed for Clifton.  All exits respectively are in the city limits with almost all of Clifton being urban. 

The same for Irvington where both Exits 143 A & 143 B are also for Irvington, but not signed.

Bloomfield used to have a sign SB approaching Exit 151 that read "BLOOMFIELD NEXT 3 Exits" that has been removed and no exit guide even uses the name for all three exits going southbound.  Bloomfield Avenue does not have anything but Bloomfield Avenue.  Belleville Avenue is signed for Belleville and Glen Ridge, and Watchung Avenue is for Nutley and Montclair.

Typically the Garden State Parkway, never signs cities to their business district.  Exit 135 for Clark has no signs on the ramp that point towards Clark's Business District.  Exit 114 for Holmdel shows Holmdel in both directions on Red Hill Road instead of just westbound as Holmdel's Business District is at the intersection of NJ 34 and CR 520.  It seems odd that Clifton only uses Exit 154 considering that SB the exit is for US 46 WB and NB it is for US 46 EB where directed Clifton is in two separate directions from the GSP on US 46.

[bassoon1986]

somewhere in CA there is a "next 12 exits".  Fresno on US-99?

Google search found one for Santa Barbara on US 101

[Road Hog]

US 75 northbound in Texas has "Sherman Next 12 Exits." Which is probably six exits too many, but that's another topic.

[WillWeaverRVA]

"Next 4 Exits" would've worked just fine here...

[amroad17]

"Next 4 Exits" would've worked just fine here...

I was just thinking of that one!

[Alps]

I-87 SB has a Manhattan Next... I think 9 Exits. Could be a bit higher. Too bad I-278 doesn't have "New York City Next..."

[hbelkins]

North Carolina uses the word "Interchanges" instead of "Exits." Never really knew why...

[Big John]

North Carolina uses the word "Interchanges" instead of "Exits." Never really knew why...

Could account for interchanges which have more than 1 exit ramp per direction in it, such as a cloverleaf.  An NC language thing to make it more clear as other states call the whole interchange 1 exit for this purpose.

[empirestate]

Yo mama's so fat, she has her own "Next XX Exits" sign.

(Sorry, little roadgeek joke I made up a while ago that fits here. Or doesn't.)

[PHLBOS]

"Next 4 Exits" would've worked just fine here...

If the exit numbers are mile-marker-based and/or there's not an exit located between the listed ones; yes.

On a road that (still) has sequential-based exit numbers; not necessarily.  Along MA 128 west of the MA 133 interchange (Exit 14); there's a ground-mounted BGS that states Gloucester USE EXITS 14-11-10-9, Exits 13 & 12 (which do exist) are deliberately not included because those roads don't directly serve downtown Gloucester.  In that case, using NEXT XX EXITS BGS would not be appropriate.

[agentsteel53]

there's not an exit located between the listed ones

that would be some very strange gerrymandering... even if, literally, an intermediate exit is not placed within city limits, it seems plausible that it could serve the city.

the only exception I would think of is another freeway... but I am pretty sure that in the "next 19 exits" of Albuquerque, one of them is I-40, which does not let you access Albuquerque directly.  so I believe the spirit of the "next N exits" sign includes intervening freeway-to-freeway connections.

(I believe Vermont does not - or, at least, at one time did not - count freeway-to-freeway connections in their sequential exit scheme.  literally correct, but what a cluster.)

[Brandon]

North Carolina uses the word "Interchanges" instead of "Exits." Never really knew why...

Illinois tends to as well, but it isn't consistent, even within IDOT.  Here's a bit of an oddity though,
Westbound on I-80, just past I-355 is the following:
Joliet
NEXT 7 INTERCHANGES

However, just past I-55 on eastbound I-80 is the following:
Joliet
NEXT 8 INTERCHANGES

The interchanges are as follows:
127 - Houbolt Rd / Hollywood Rd
130 A-B - Larkin Ave (IL-7)
131 - Center St (EB) Center St / Meadow Ave (WB)
132 A-B (EB) - Chicago St (US-52/IL-52) 132 (WB) - Chicago St (US-52/IL-53)
133 - Richards St
134 - Briggs St
137 - Maple St (US-30)

For a total of 7 interchanges.

[PHLBOS]

there's not an exit located between the listed ones

that would be some very strange gerrymandering... even if, literally, an intermediate exit is not placed within city limits, it seems plausible that it could serve the city.

While one can get to downtown Gloucester via Concord Street (Exit 13), one clearly can not get there by way of Crafts Road (Exit 12) very easily.  The former exit (at least along 128 northbound) includes Wingaersheek Beach in BGS and the latter exit also includes Rust Island in the BGS.

That particular BGS (& its predecessor(s)) listing the 4 exits to the center of Gloucester has been there since at least 1976.

[bassoon1986]

I-87 SB has a Manhattan Next... I think 9 Exits. Could be a bit higher. Too bad I-278 doesn't have "New York City Next..."

I also wondered that as well. Most large cities aren't listed as having X amount of exits because they are so large. Dallas and Fort Worth would never have a sign like that on I-30, but many of the suburbs do. Manhattan is a pretty populated area, but there are many places with a sign for more than 9. Albuquerque's 19 verges on the ridiculous. That's a lot of coverage.

the only exception I would think of is another freeway... but I am pretty sure that in the "next 19 exits" of Albuquerque, one of them is I-40, which does not let you access Albuquerque directly.  so I believe the spirit of the "next N exits" sign includes intervening freeway-to-freeway connections.

(I believe Vermont does not - or, at least, at one time did not - count freeway-to-freeway connections in their sequential exit scheme.  literally correct, but what a cluster.)

I thought of my own town when I read this. South on I-35 it says Denton next 11 exits. That includes the I-35W interchange to Fort Worth, which has no exits serving Denton once you leave 35. Also different in that the interstate splits right after that sign. I guess if you really didn't know the area, you wouldn't know that only 35E south and not 35W serves Denton for the remainder of the 7 exits. But the mileage follows 35E as well.

[nwi_navigator_1181]

Indiana used to go back and forth.

Before the Borman (I-80/94) Reconstruction began, there was a sign on the westbound side just east of I-65 that said, "Gary, Next 5 Interchanges." That sign has since been removed.

Everywhere else in my area uses the word exits in lieu of interchanges. The Indiana Toll Road still has a sign that says, "Gary, Next 4 Exits," just east of I-65.