Whats the background of your interest in all this? How’d you develop it?

[interstatefan990]

I've always been interested in transportation. Trains, planes, boats, you name it, I have been interested in it at some point in my life. But I've also always been a car person, so when you combine these two, well there you have it: an undying interest in roads. This probably explains why I like talking about the actual road design itself and the logistics of vehicles being transported on them, as opposed to topographical stuff like concurrencies, alignments, multiplexing, numbering, extensions, etc. I much prefer the Traffic Control board over, say, something like "Why hasn't (insert road name here) been signed as (insert road name here) north of (insert place name here)?"

[cpzilliacus]

Watching the construction of the final parts of I-495 (Capital Beltway) in Maryland in 1962, 1963 and 1964 (the road was completed 1964).  Especially the phalanxes of bulldozers, scrapers and earthmovers working 24/7 as long as it was not raining or snowing.

I should have been a civil engineer and not the IT engineer I ended up being.  Though I changed careers and became a transportation engineer anyway.

[TheDon102]

I've always loved looking at maps so that where my interested stems from, but also taking various road trips with my family throughout my childhood helped influence my passion for roads.

Also driving is awesome.

[jdbx]

My assumption is that I probably have some (undiagnosed) flavor of autism or aspergers.  I first really got into it and interested when I was 10 and took a road trip from the Bay Area up to Washington State and back to pick up a family member.  It was just me and my mom, and she handed me the Rand McNally atlas and asked me to help navigate to get there.  I remember being intrigued by the fact that US-97 had a different shield than I-5, seeing the different control cities listed on the signs as we went, and all of the interesting and unusual place names along the way.

On that same trip, I also noticed that things looked "different" in Oregon...  the bridges looked different, the state highway signs looked different, the terrain.  Same thing in Washington.

Through middle school and high school, I started drawing pictures of BGS I had seen, invented imaginary ones, and this progressed to drawing maps of imaginary places, and then drawing diagrams of imaginary highways and interchanges, complete with lane markings.  All tied together in some vast imaginary universe.  Any time we traveled to other states, I noticed the differences in construction style of roads, pavement markings, signage, etc.

This was all long before the internet or digital photography, so all of my images were mental and I had no idea that anybody else had the same interest.  In fact, I thought that my interest and fascination made me weird and I hid it from everybody.  I still remember having a teacher pick up one of my doodled maps in 5th grade, hold it up, and say "What is this, a treasure map?" and the whole class laughing at me.

I was already an adult when I got access to the internet for the first time, discovered misc.transport.roads on usenet and discovered that there were so many people out there who were just like me.

Even now, I hide this interest from my wife, kids, and friends because I just don't think they would understand.  But I do have a couple of signs hanging in my garage and a decent sized license plate collection.

[Rick Powell]

My dad's side of the family are all railroad people so I was around trains from day one. But my parents also liked to go on road trips. I used to draw pictures of trains and cars when I was little, and I would have a photographic memory of the little details I'd see on all those trips, including those "your tax dollars at work" signs along interstate highway construction in the early 60s. We also took a fair amount of train trips when I was a kid, and I would watch all the intersecting and parallel roads from the train window, a little different perspective than seeing them out of the car. I still love seeing a railroad grade crossing in my highway travels. As it turned out, I found work in both modes of transport, and had worked on both the construction of a legacy interstate (I-55) as well as an extension of a rail commuter line (what is now Metra Electric) before I had turned 21. Ad I'm still at it as a consulting engineer on both highway and rail projects.

[US 89]

I was in the car a lot as a kid. We lived maybe 30 minutes north of Salt Lake City, but my mom worked in SLC and I wound up going to school there, so I found myself on all kinds of errands around the greater Salt Lake area. So from a very early age I was paying attention to the roads and signs out the window. I also loved numbers... so a drive along an interstate with all kinds of route shields, exit numbers, mile markers, and whatever other numbers are out there was clearly enough to maintain the interest of my 5 year old brain. By the time I was 6 years old I'd made a list of every exit number along I-15 and I-80 for the ~30 mile stretches of those routes I was most familiar with.

I also spent a hell of a lot of time with this one laminated fold-out Rand McNally map of the Wasatch Front that my parents had. I doubt it still exists but I'm really hoping it's hiding in some box someplace.

As I got older my family started going on more road trips across a lot of the mountain west which definitely kept that interest alive. When I was 10 I was basically the main navigator on our big trip from Salt Lake to Seattle. That consisted of reading off MapQuest directions printed from home and matching those to a road atlas (ah, the pre-smartphone days).

[skluth]

TL:DR I'm a geography geek

Slightly longer version. I collected maps as a kid back when you could get them free at gas stations. I'd design new highways on the older ones. Started buying road atlases annually somewhere around 15. I doodled entire fictional cities, typically ending up on 8-20 taped-together pieces of 8½"X11" paper, when I was bored in high school classes. Majored in Geography with a Regional Planning minor. Worked as a cartographer for the DoD until I retired four years ago.

I've doodled some highway stuff on Google Earth (originally developed by my old agency who funded Keyhole) but I mostly plan fictional mass transit systems. I like mass transit, but it's mostly because there are far more gaps to fill on a local/regional basis than our highway system. I have no illusions of any being built, but it's a fun waste of time like Sim City once was.

[Roadgeekteen]

Looking at random road atlases and maps owned by my parents and grandparents at age 5-6.

I would also like to point out that my mom printed out Wikipedia articles of MA states routes because she didn't want me browsing Wikipedia.

[Takumi]

My dad worked for the local public works department when I was very young. Some of the earliest things he showed me about his job were maps and street signs.

[machias]

For me it's simple: Autism

I have often wondered how many of us roadgeeks are on the spectrum.

I know my interest started when I was very young. Some of my earliest memories are road related. I barely remember the first generation of guide signs on I-81 in New York State north of Syracuse (they had cutout state shields and no exit tabs) but more vividly remember when they were replaced. I've always been fascinated with maps. I've always kept exit lists, since I was around age 10 or so.

I went back to college for civil engineering, but when I interviewed at NYSDOT, I realized I had a stronger interest in roads and transportation in general than the folks interviewing me did, which is fine.

[Max Rockatansky]

For me it's simple: Autism

I have often wondered how many of us roadgeeks are on the spectrum.

I didn't even realize it was a thing before I was on this forum.  What really got me was how many road community people don't enjoy driving.

[formulanone]

I would also like to point out that my mom printed out Wikipedia articles of MA states routes because she didn't want me browsing Wikipedia.

That was wholesome.

[jdbx]

For me it's simple: Autism

I have often wondered how many of us roadgeeks are on the spectrum.

I didn't even realize it was a thing before I was on this forum.  What really got me was how many road community people don't enjoy driving.

That has really thrown me off also.  The only thing I like about being a passenger is that I can focus more on details of the signage and highway fixtures, look for traces of old right-of-way, that sort of thing.  But I always prefer to drive, given the chance, and often will take the long way to get to a destination just to cover a new or more interesting route.  If my wife and kids actually enjoyed road trips, I'd be driving far more places far more frequently.

[Rothman]

I fall asleep when I am a passenger.

[achilles765]

I fall asleep when I'm a passenger too unless I'm very interested in the road we are on. I would drive much more if I could and once we get a car in a month or two I will be driving a lot again. My husband isn't a big road trip person sadly.

I'm really enjoying seeing you guys' answers. It's an interesting mix. A lot of us have many things in common im noticing when it comes to our history with this.

[Max Rockatansky]

I don't mind being the passenger per se on something like a freeway.  I notice though that I tend to have a habit of critiquing the driving of others (namely they are too slow) get bored easily.  If its a mountain road or a two lane I can't recall the last time I haven't been the driver.

[allniter89]

I've always loved looking at maps so that where my interested stems from, but also taking various road trips with my family throughout my childhood helped influence my passion for roads.

Also driving is awesome.

I totally agree that driving is awesome! The majority of jobs involved driving. I started driving taxis from 6pm to 6am in the early 70s. I also drove a 10 wheel produce truck whenever something was harvested. I made trips to nearby PA, NJ, MD & VA from Dover, DE. I'd help load the truck b4 dawn drive to delivery, go back empty & do it again. I'd make as many runs as I could then do it again the next day. I also drove(?) a huge bean picker for Green Giant a few summers. Then I had a 20 yr career as an otr truck driver. Drove 100,000 miles a yr so thats about 2 million miles for my entire career. Without an injury accident, jus a couple of fender benders. Even after retiring in 2009 I still go off on aimless drives & make regular roadtrips to south IL to see my sister & friends.
My interest in roads is not so much how they are designed but the routing they follow as well as  mileage. I enjoy seeing how individual states word their welcome signs as well as the design of their traffic control signs. I was surprised to see WA, UT, CA, CO & others(?) use an image for their state routes that isnt a square, circle or other drab image. When eating a meal in my truck I would look at my atlas & most everytime I'd find something I had'nt noticed b4.

[Henry]

From riding the streets to a Cubs game at Wrigley to long road trips on Route 66, I developed my love for roadgeeking at a very young age. I had barely made it to high school when they decommissioned that beloved Chicago-to-L.A. route, but I give it all my credit. This was also passed down to my brother Jeff, who is six years younger than me and lives in Denver.

[OracleUsr]

We moved to Greensboro in 1975 after living in ND (I was 4).  Many of my dad's family was in Knoxville, TN, and we used to visit them once a quarter.  At first, I didn't take note of the signs, but eventually I started noticing highway signs, and NC DOT was starting to number their exits at that time, specifically in the Asheville area.  I could memorize the highway/road at each of the numbered exits.

We travelled quite a bit when I was growing up, even not counting the Knoxville trips, and I became fascinated with the road signs.  It truly was a matter of "getting there is half the fun."

I can't count the many highway sign drawings I used to make as a kid.  I got teased a lot for it, too, but hey, you have your "art" interests I have mine.

Also of note was the grain pattern that school desks used to have.  They almost always had a "highway" feel to them so I would trace them with my finger and imagine naming the "roads".

For a long time, I wouldn't take pictures because I couldn't imagine justifying a roll of 110 film on just road signs.  Plus, I sometimes went on long day trips alone.  The trips in South Georgia we took (I went to Clemson, played in the marching band) and we made many a trip down I-75 south of Macon en route to Tallahassee) could have filled a whole roll alone.

When I got my first DSLR camera,  at the recommendation of one of my fellow roadgeeks, I invested in a 75-300mm lens with a polarizing filter.  My wife loves to tease me about my road sign photographs, but even now with the more uniform standard for highway signs, there is a certain character to each state's designs. 

Even when I was a kid, my parents usually deferred to my discretion on highway choices in unfamiliar areas.  My dad told me about the time we were on the Outer Banks and were returning home.  We got to Mann's Harbor, where normally you would turn right on to US 64 westbound, but instead they headed straight on to US 264 westbound.  I told them they were going in the wrong direction and, of course, I turned out to be right (US 264 is a pretty drive to Raleigh, but it is super long; I've done it twice myself).

When we went on away trips with Tiger Band, the director usually asked me in cases where we were in the Triangle or Triad area for a game.