Control cities that aren't actually cities

[HighwayStar]

The eastern terminus of I-70 is listed as, "Park and Ride lot in Baltimore, MD"

Anyone that is going to sit on an online forum and argue where a highway ends is beyond insane.

And then to hear, "I-70 doesn't serve Baltimore." How do you figure such a thing?

To be fair this is a road forum, for people with an unhealthy obsession with roads.
The average person would say we are all beyond insane, but that is fine by me.

[hotdogPi]

As I've mentioned before, this isn't even the right thread.

[HighwayStar]

And for what it is worth, if we were to properly sign the road, no, the Baltimore Beltway is not a city in and of itself (my median proposal aside).

You're correct, the properly signed city is "Baltimore". And it is currently used on I-70.

You need to read what I wrote more carefully. "If we were to properly sign the road" implies that it is improperly signed now as is the case.

Baltimore is the city that I-70 is heading towards as it ends. This obsession with Baltimore being a control city on I-70 is ridiculous.

"Heading  towards" does not make something a control city. At the other end I-70 is "heading towards" Los Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego, but none of those are acceptable control cities.
I-70 does not serve Baltimore, and was specifically designed to enter the city and serve it. Until that construction is completed, I-70 needs to be signed as Baltimore Beltway.

Why do you keep going on about this? I-70 ends in the Baltimore metro area. You don't even know what makes a control city in the first place. Good for the other end of I-70, it's nowhere near Las Vegas, Los Angeles or San Diego when it ends but at the other end it is indeed within the Baltimore metro area which means Baltimore makes perfect sense because as I-70 ends the highway it ends into does take you to Baltimore. Yes I-70 does serve Baltimore and I really don't care what you have to say about it. How can you tell me that it doesn't? If you are on I-70 going to Baltimore you are on the right highway, so what if you have to take another highway for the last 5 miles or so? Signing it as Baltimore Beltway is stupid btw.

If you are in Baltimore and want to get anywhere, you will not use I-70 until you have left town. That is not serving Baltimore, that is serving other areas.
Signing it as Baltimore Beltway is far less stupid than signing it as Baltimore when anyone that bothers to follow it ends up in a parking lot in a wooded area that looks nothing like Baltimore.

Like I said, the best fix is to finish the actual road.

Stop trying to nitpick around the fact that I-70 does indeed serve Baltimore. It ends in a park n ride lot on the city limits. Why do we need to keep explaining to you the reason that Baltimore is the control city on EB I-70? Why can you not figure out that control cities don't have to be reached before they are changed? Baltimore is the last city on I-70 EB, should we use Woodlawn as the control city instead? Who's going to know where or what Woodlawn is? Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland and one of the largest cities in the United States, enough with this already.

Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland and one of the largest cities in the United States, enough with this already.

And that is exactly why I-70 should be finished to serve it properly, and in the mean time the absurdity of Woodlawn should be put as a control city as a sort of cone of shame if you will.

[Flint1979]

And for what it is worth, if we were to properly sign the road, no, the Baltimore Beltway is not a city in and of itself (my median proposal aside).

You're correct, the properly signed city is "Baltimore". And it is currently used on I-70.

You need to read what I wrote more carefully. "If we were to properly sign the road" implies that it is improperly signed now as is the case.

Baltimore is the city that I-70 is heading towards as it ends. This obsession with Baltimore being a control city on I-70 is ridiculous.

"Heading  towards" does not make something a control city. At the other end I-70 is "heading towards" Los Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego, but none of those are acceptable control cities.
I-70 does not serve Baltimore, and was specifically designed to enter the city and serve it. Until that construction is completed, I-70 needs to be signed as Baltimore Beltway.

So is "To I-695"  your preferred control city choice for I-70 EB in MD?

I think Baltimore Beltway sounds better honestly, but I-695 would work.
My preferred solution though is to quit searching for short term band-aid solutions and finish the damn road.

I don't and he was just coming up with another idea since you have such a problem with Baltimore being the control city on EB I-70 in Maryland. There are no plans to finish the road into Baltimore it isn't going any further east than the park n ride lot and that is a permanent end to the highway there. There is no such thing as a short term band aid for this.

"There are no plans" so what? Just because there is no plan now does not mean that there cannot be one in the future. That was never supposed to be the end of I-70, and until it is completed as designed the interstate is unfinished. I would really like to see someone run for office on the platform of I-70, To Baltimore and Beyond!

There isn't going to be any plan in the future to finish what was originally suppose to be done, it's not going to happen and doesn't need to happen. Who cares where the end of I-70 was supposed to be? Plans got altered it happens why is this such a big deal to you? The Interstate is indeed finished, you will never see I-70 at any point east of the park n ride lot on the Baltimore city limits ever it's not happening. This isn't even a priority.

[HighwayStar]

As I've mentioned before, this isn't even the right thread.

You are correct, although the original point was that a proper control city of the Beltway would be a non-city "control city"

But in the interest of harmony I will make this the last reply from me on the Baltimore issue in the thread.

[plain]

The Hampton Roads region is full of these control "cities" at exits. Some of these used to be CDPs but this hasn't been the case for decades now.

Adding to the ones listed upthread, there's:

Camp Peary
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
Churchland
Ft Eustis
Ft Monroe (not even military occupied anymore)
Great Bridge
Hampton Coliseum
Hampton University
James River Br
Lee Hall
Naval Base/Station
Ocean View
Princess Anne
Town Center/ Pembroke
Willoughby Spit

[M3100]

California westbound SR 2 near the I-5 interchange; control city is 'Echo Park', which is a neighborhood of Los Angeles.

[US20IL64]

Tysons Corner VA is an unincorporated Census Designated Place [CPD], and used on Capitol Beltway control signs. Part of Fairfax Co.
So, not a "city" 

[TBKS1]

Does this count? I've honestly never seen this before, the name of a road (other than another state highway) being used on a mileage sign. This is at the intersection of AR 25 and 92 in Drasco.

[hbelkins]

Does this count? I've honestly never seen this before, the name of a road (other than another state highway) being used on a mileage sign. This is at the intersection of AR 25 and 92 in Drasco.

I argue that these types of signs don't designate "control cities" or "control anything." They are destinations, or locations served by the road. To me, a "control city" is the long-distance destination posted on freeway-to-freeway junctions. I know Illinois has a habit of putting intermittent destinations on signage on intersecting roads, but a control city is the place that goes on the big overhead signs, such as coming out of St. Louis, where your choices are Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville.



And regarding the concept of "served," especially as it relates to I-70's eastern end and a particular poster who keeps on striking a deceased equine but will never win anyone over to his viewpoint. You will occasionally see references here among the MTR veterans to Carl "Calrog" Rogers, who spammed MTR with crappy videos and references to made-up terms like "viatologists" and "transportologists." He was a laughingstock and no one really took him seriously. But people kept replying to him and it just prompted him to post more nonsense. Someone finally came up with the idea of OSTT -- "Operation Starve The Troll." The idea was to quit responding to him in the hopes that he'd just shut up.

Maybe it's time for OSTT 2.0? Because at this point, it just looks like this "I-70 doesn't serve Baltimore" stuff is nothing but trolling. And the fish keep biting.