Longest Stretch of Highway Where You've Used Every Exit

[US 89]

Sequential numbers also get messy when you build a new interchange between two pre-existing ones spaced far apart. The usual solution is to use a letter suffix (that is, if you build something between exit 3 and 4, it becomes 3A). It is not at all intuitive that 3
and 3A should be entirely separate exits that one would pass going the same direction.

Also, what happens if existing 3 already has letter suffixes in use because it's a cloverleaf or something? Or what if another new interchange later gets built between 3 and 3A? Or worse yet, between an already existing 3A and 3B? All sorts of rabbit holes one could go down here.

[kirbykart]

Note: These are sequential exit numbers, which I infinitely prefer to mileage-based ones, and I don't get why everyone likes the mileage based ones so much. 

Oh no, don't get us started. 

There are a bunch of reasons why mileage-based numbers are the consensus (but by no means universal) preference of users on this board. One is that mileage-based numbers can be used as a reference for any variety of reasons, such as calculating the distance to your exit or distance between exits. Sequential numbers don't really have any function besides just counting up from zero.

It just seems so much more logical to me to have the first exit be Exit 1, the second exit be Exit 2, etc.

[webny99]

Sequential numbers also get messy when you build a new interchange between two pre-existing ones spaced far apart. The usual solution is to use a letter suffix (that is, if you build something between exit 3 and 4, it becomes 3A). It is not at all intuitive that 3
and 3A should be entirely separate exits that one would pass going the same direction.

Also, what happens if existing 3 already has letter suffixes in use because it's a cloverleaf or something? Or what if another new interchange later gets built between 3 and 3A? Or worse yet, between an already existing 3A and 3B? All sorts of rabbit holes one could go down here.

Yes, and look no further than the NY Thruway just south of Albany for an example, where the sequence is 20-21-21B-21A-22; and to make things even more confusing, 21 and 21A are 20 miles apart while 21A and 22 are just 1 mile apart.

Using 110-122-133-142-144 would provide a lot more useful information than the current sequence, and it's worth noting that such exit numbers could be used as a location reference in lieu of mile markers, as they're often more visible and easier to spot.

[kirbykart]

Also, what happens if existing 3 already has letter suffixes in use because it's a cloverleaf or something? Or what if another new interchange later gets built between 3 and 3A? Or worse yet, between an already existing 3A and 3B? All sorts of rabbit holes one could go down here.

Well then you have two options:
1) Make the new exit 3C.
2) Re-suffix the cloverleaf exits as 3N-S or 3E-W (obviously depending on the direction of the crossing road), then the new exit can be 3A.
I will say that even when the exit numbers have recently changed to mileage-based, I like the "Old Exit #" yellow plaques that tell you what the sequential exit was. These are up in Massachusetts and I love them.
As for interchanges built between lettered interchanges, I doubt that would happen very often, in the very rare case it did, shift the letter suffixes down to make room for the new interchange. It would be very confusing at first, but some "Old Exit #" plaques could work wonders here.

[kirbykart]

/quote]
Obviously some error was made because 21B should not be coming before 21A in that sequence.

[Rothman]

/quote]
Obviously some error was made because 21B should not be coming before 21A in that sequence.

Take some time to think about it and you can figure how this came to be.

[webny99]

Obviously some error was made because 21B should not be coming before 21A in that sequence.

Take some time to think about it and you can figure how this came to be.

That may be true of the exit sequence, but it's definitely not true of this quote string.

[kirbykart]

webny99 Yeah, I have no idea how that weirdness in the quote string happened.

[WillWeaverRVA]

I-95 between VA 150 (exit 67) and I-495 (exit 170), including the Quantico Marine Corps Base exit (exit 148) to Russell Rd, which is a good connector to US 1 in northeastern Stafford County that doesn't require entering the base. It's also unsigned VA 90500.

[ET21]

The entire tollway section of I-88 IL from Exit 54 to Exit 138

Updated: I-94/294 from Exit 4 I-80/294 to Exit 24 Deerfield Rd. 50 miles

[mrose]

For me it woulda been I-39/90 south of Madison between the US 51 Stoughton exit, and the I-39 south exit in Rockford, except it doesn't count anymore because it all happened before the IL-173 interchange opened. So I guess it's now every exit from Stoughton to Rockton Rd.

[US 89]

If you start in SLC and go south on I-15, the first exit I have never used any entrance or exit ramp at is 202 (Yuba State Park). Going north, that’s 346 (400 North near Ogden). That works out to about 144.5 miles.

Update: I used exit 346 yesterday to take advantage of the cheaper gas at the Maverik at that exit (yeah, it was $4.95 per gallon, but that's about as low as it gets in the Wasatch Front for now plus I get a 2 cent discount on their gas). So now I've used every exit north to 372 near Honeyville, which adds up to 170.5 miles.

[fwydriver405]

Do rest areas, welcome centers, truck weigh stations, and in the case of Saco ME, Old Exit 5 which is now a ramp to a Ramada hotel only (no connection to ME 112)*?

If the above isn't true, I-95 between Exit 88 in Amesbury MA to Exit 113 in Augusta ME is my longest contender, spanning 202 km (131 miles) continously, excluding:

- I-95 SB Weigh Station in York
- Old Exit 5 in Saco (to Ramada hotel)
- Gray Service Plaza (NB) on Maine Turnpike NB

*This exit could be reconfigured/reinstated into Exit 35 in the near future, per this page.

[michravera]

I was driving west on I-70 this weekend and I realized that I was in a stretch where I had either exited from or joined the highway at every single exit I was passing.  I was curious what everyone else's longest stretch was.

Mine is 124 miles from Exit 171 (US6/US24) in Minturn to Exit 295 (BL70) in Watkins.

Chris

It's going to be VERY close to all of I-880 plus all of CASR-17 in Alameda, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties in California. The fact that approximately 50% of the exits are state-maintained highways or numbered county roads makes this a bit easier than it seems. I may be short a couple of southbound exits in the numbers in Oakland. The fact that I have lived or worked or played at various places along the route for the last 31 years have added to the saturation. My first mapping of this shows a distance of just around 80 miles.

I am sure that there are a couple exits along I-80 between San Francisco and Fernley that I have never taken in either direction, but only a few. This is just short of 250 miles.

Although I know, and at one point could recite, all of the exits on I-5 between roughly Sacramento International Airport and CASR-41 and have taken almost all of the exits from CASR-41 down at least to I-210 (for a distance of 365 miles), there are several exits in the northern half that I have never taken in either direction, mostly because they are at the wrong distance from where I usually start or finish to have required my exiting (Peltier Rd comes to mind). If I am correct about actually taking every exit between Kettleman City and Santa Clarita, that distance is about 145 miles.

Of course, anyone who travels I-80 in Western Utah, can claim a fairly long stretch simply by being on any part of the stretch that has no exits for almost 80 miles. Yes, that's chickenshit, but it would beat or get close to my I-880/CASR-17 stretch.

[clong]

I-59 - AL exit 113 to exit 239 - 126 miles
I-20 - AL exit 113 (the same one as above) to exit 210 - 97 miles
Both of these are the last exit before crossing into GA.

[michravera]

Sequential numbers also get messy when you build a new interchange between two pre-existing ones spaced far apart. The usual solution is to use a letter suffix (that is, if you build something between exit 3 and 4, it becomes 3A). It is not at all intuitive that 3
and 3A should be entirely separate exits that one would pass going the same direction.

Also, what happens if existing 3 already has letter suffixes in use because it's a cloverleaf or something? Or what if another new interchange later gets built between 3 and 3A? Or worse yet, between an already existing 3A and 3B? All sorts of rabbit holes one could go down here.

Yes, and look no further than the NY Thruway just south of Albany for an example, where the sequence is 20-21-21B-21A-22; and to make things even more confusing, 21 and 21A are 20 miles apart while 21A and 22 are just 1 mile apart.

Using 110-122-133-142-144 would provide a lot more useful information than the current sequence, and it's worth noting that such exit numbers could be used as a location reference in lieu of mile markers, as they're often more visible and easier to spot.

I've had the idea for years that, distance-based exits could go to decimal fractions, if the exits were closer than the unit distance and couldn't be reasonably fudged to the whole unit. If you need to interpose an exit between 400 and 401, the old 400 could become 400.2 and the new one 400.6 or such. If the exits were REALLY close, use two decimal digits. It would be VERY unusual that two exits would be any closer than 10 meters (for km-based) or 53ft (for mile-based), but, in a rare case where they were, it would be easy and acceptable to fudge it (as is sometimes done with distance-based exits at the unit distance). Three-digit decimal exit would imply a precision not necessarily available in the original measurement!

[Scott5114]

I've had the idea for years that, distance-based exits could go to decimal fractions, if the exits were closer than the unit distance and couldn't be reasonably fudged to the whole unit. If you need to interpose an exit between 400 and 401, the old 400 could become 400.2 and the new one 400.6 or such. If the exits were REALLY close, use two decimal digits. It would be VERY unusual that two exits would be any closer than 10 meters (for km-based) or 53ft (for mile-based), but, in a rare case where they were, it would be easy and acceptable to fudge it (as is sometimes done with distance-based exits at the unit distance). Three-digit decimal exit would imply a precision not necessarily available in the original measurement!

This is how the Kansas Turnpike Authority inventories their bridges. (Note that if there is a double bridge, like there is here, the second one gets an A suffix rather than incrementing the decimal by ten feet or whatever.)

[michravera]

I've had the idea for years that, distance-based exits could go to decimal fractions, if the exits were closer than the unit distance and couldn't be reasonably fudged to the whole unit. If you need to interpose an exit between 400 and 401, the old 400 could become 400.2 and the new one 400.6 or such. If the exits were REALLY close, use two decimal digits. It would be VERY unusual that two exits would be any closer than 10 meters (for km-based) or 53ft (for mile-based), but, in a rare case where they were, it would be easy and acceptable to fudge it (as is sometimes done with distance-based exits at the unit distance). Three-digit decimal exit would imply a precision not necessarily available in the original measurement!

This is how the Kansas Turnpike Authority inventories their bridges. (Note that if there is a double bridge, like there is here, the second one gets an A suffix rather than incrementing the decimal by ten feet or whatever.)

Yeah, the Right Of Way alone for most exits is more than 10 meters. You could certainly fudge it to indicate that they were 10 meter apart. In any case, it would be well nigh impossible to have THREE exits close enough together that you couldn't fudge them each to a different 2-decimal exit number. I know some slow-speed exits to super-2s that are only about twice the width of the roadway apart, but even THAT is more than 10 meters and probably more than 53 feet. As you contemplate, to get anywhere close, you'd have to have two very nearly parallel lanes (like a double bridge) that diverge at nearly the same point.

Some DOTs may record 1 meter or 5.3 ft accuracy on some structures ALONG a roadway, but none, so far as I know even try to track the divergence from the centerline anywhere near as accurately as that.

[averageroadgeek]

I believe I've been off/on every exit and rest area on the Massachusetts Turnpike except for exit 1/3 in West Stockbridge- that would put me at a little over 135 miles along Interstate 90.
After 20 years of taking trips back and forth to Boston from western MA, it racks up quickly.

[cl94]

I've used every exit and rest area along the 496-mile New York State Thruway. Actually every exit along I-90 in Pennsylvania and as far west as (and including) SR 306 in Lake County, Ohio. Connecting all of these, that's 593 miles. It helps that the Thruway has relatively few exits to deal with.

If we want to keep it to a single route designation instead of continuous roadway distance along I-90 is about 20 miles shorter thanks to not having used Mass Pike Exits 10A or 11...er, 94 and 96. I'd have east to 128...er, I-95 if I wasn't missing those, which would be 608 miles.

[formulanone]

Sequential numbers also get messy when you build a new interchange between two pre-existing ones spaced far apart. The usual solution is to use a letter suffix (that is, if you build something between exit 3 and 4, it becomes 3A). It is not at all intuitive that 3
and 3A should be entirely separate exits that one would pass going the same direction.

Also, what happens if existing 3 already has letter suffixes in use because it's a cloverleaf or something? Or what if another new interchange later gets built between 3 and 3A? Or worse yet, between an already existing 3A and 3B? All sorts of rabbit holes one could go down here.

Florida used to jump to C for the first new exit, and I recall one example where they used E for the subsequent newer one between two others. This way there was room for an existing exit to get A and B, C and D, et cetera.

[Ted$8roadFan]

I've used every exit on the Mass. Pike (I-90).

[Scott5114]

Sequential numbers also get messy when you build a new interchange between two pre-existing ones spaced far apart. The usual solution is to use a letter suffix (that is, if you build something between exit 3 and 4, it becomes 3A). It is not at all intuitive that 3
and 3A should be entirely separate exits that one would pass going the same direction.

Also, what happens if existing 3 already has letter suffixes in use because it's a cloverleaf or something? Or what if another new interchange later gets built between 3 and 3A? Or worse yet, between an already existing 3A and 3B? All sorts of rabbit holes one could go down here.

Florida used to jump to C for the first new exit, and I recall one example where they used E for the subsequent newer one between two others. This way there was room for an existing exit to get A and B, C and D, et cetera.

If you really had to do sequential numbering for some reason, I feel like the best way to do what casinos do with their slot machines and only use the odd numbers. It would make it a lot easier to just be able to add a new exit 6 between existing exits 5 and 7. That would mean you'd only have to resort to letter suffixes after multiple interchanges were added.

But really, mileage based numbering is so much easier than any sort of arbitrary sequential system that there's not really much reason to contemplate doing it any other way.

[amroad17]

I-75 from Exit 104 (Athens, KY) to Exit 38 (Franklin, OH)--126 miles.