Highways / Signs in Movies, TV Shows, and Videos

[Brandon]

This is from Transformers 3, during the Highway Fight. It is supposedly set in Washington DC, but poor camera positions by Michael Bay clearly show that this is not in DC. Now where is this actually located??? , because I do not believe US 20 ever crosses I-88 (And this is the I-88 in Illinois, as it's marked with Aurora and as a Tollway

The I-88 sign is from the I-355 northbound exit for I-88.  This sign has been replaced with a Clearview one.

The US-20 sign is obviously from I-39/90 south/eastbound near Rockford, at the Riverside Drive exit.  That too has been replaced with a Clearview one.  Note that the US-20 sign is in button copy.

My guess is that the producers bought the old signs from ISTHA.

[ET21]

This is from Transformers 3, during the Highway Fight. It is supposedly set in Washington DC, but poor camera positions by Michael Bay clearly show that this is not in DC. Now where is this actually located??? , because I do not believe US 20 ever crosses I-88 (And this is the I-88 in Illinois, as it's marked with Aurora and as a Tollway

The I-88 sign is from the I-355 northbound exit for I-88.  This sign has been replaced with a Clearview one.

The US-20 sign is obviously from I-39/90 south/eastbound near Rockford, at the Riverside Drive exit.  That too has been replaced with a Clearview one.  Note that the US-20 sign is in button copy.

My guess is that the producers bought the old signs from ISTHA.

Illinois signs for a Washington freeway hahaha

[Stephane Dumas]

At 4:17 in this clip, from the Italian movie "Why did you pick on me?" with Bud Spencer, it show a view of an interchange when the main character (Spencer) in his pick-up truck goes, anyone recognize that interchange? Most of that film was filmed around Atlanta and Monroe.

[talfonso]

Not exactly a movie, but I have to note Glenn Medeiros's (You know, the man who covered "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You?") music video of "Long and Lasting Love (Once in A Lifetime)" from about 1987. He is seen driving towards the NY State Thruway (the I-90 portion) from I-490 South.

Here's a recent photo of the interchange.



Very special thanks to Doug Kerr for this pic!

[bzakharin]

Where would that sign be? Here?:
http://goo.gl/maps/0asab

or maybe http://goo.gl/maps/Ilwik

On a different vein, the highway scenes at the beginning of Groundhog Day (before they got to "Punxatawney") are authentic.

The only authentic part was the opening shot of their leaving Pittsburgh, except they were going the wrong direction.  I'm surprised they actually got the US 119 shield on the fake BGS correct but not the control cities.

[vtk]

Chuck Lorre expresses frustration at slow progress on the 405 at the end of this week's Big Bang Theory:

CHUCK LORRE PRODUCTIONS, #429

Dear Guys Working on the 405 Freeway,
How's it going? I only ask because you started work over five years ago to add more lanes and, well... there aren't any. I've also noticed that on most days you're not actually doing anything. Is it possible you've grown bored with the project? I certainly would understand that. I've got more than a few half- finished scripts sitting in my desk. Of course, when I blow off my job millions of commuters aren't, how shall we say... fornicated. (Hey, maybe we should call it the 4-nication-05 freeway!) Regardless, I just want you to know that I'm rooting for you to complete your Herculean task and cut the ribbon on what will undoubtedly be a meaningless effort to ease traffic. I'd also like to offer up a few suggestions. From my untrained eye, you appear to be understaffed. Perhaps you might consider hiring a few thousand more guys and work in 'round the clock shifts, instead of, you know, just when you feel like it. Also, to avoid angry commuters flipping you off, how about giving them a heads up when you close an off ramp for no apparent reason? (Maybe a few miles in advance instead of a hundred yards.) And finally, I need to ask a small favor. Several times a week I crawl along the ol' 4-nication-05 with a bladder that is near to bursting. How about we work out a system where I, and other urinary-challenged drivers, get to pull over and share your port-a-potties? Maybe we can repay your hospitality by bringing you fresh magazines to read while you're in there working.

Sincerely,
Chuck Lorre

[hm insulators]

Chuck Lorre expresses frustration at slow progress on the 405 at the end of this week's Big Bang Theory:

CHUCK LORRE PRODUCTIONS, #429

Dear Guys Working on the 405 Freeway,
How's it going? I only ask because you started work over five years ago to add more lanes and, well... there aren't any. I've also noticed that on most days you're not actually doing anything. Is it possible you've grown bored with the project? I certainly would understand that. I've got more than a few half- finished scripts sitting in my desk. Of course, when I blow off my job millions of commuters aren't, how shall we say... fornicated. (Hey, maybe we should call it the 4-nication-05 freeway!) Regardless, I just want you to know that I'm rooting for you to complete your Herculean task and cut the ribbon on what will undoubtedly be a meaningless effort to ease traffic. I'd also like to offer up a few suggestions. From my untrained eye, you appear to be understaffed. Perhaps you might consider hiring a few thousand more guys and work in 'round the clock shifts, instead of, you know, just when you feel like it. Also, to avoid angry commuters flipping you off, how about giving them a heads up when you close an off ramp for no apparent reason? (Maybe a few miles in advance instead of a hundred yards.) And finally, I need to ask a small favor. Several times a week I crawl along the ol' 4-nication-05 with a bladder that is near to bursting. How about we work out a system where I, and other urinary-challenged drivers, get to pull over and share your port-a-potties? Maybe we can repay your hospitality by bringing you fresh magazines to read while you're in there working.

Sincerely,
Chuck Lorre

[hm insulators]

This isn't really movie related, but does anybody remember the Bad Company album Desolation Angels which came out in 1979? It has some pictures of distant highways out in a desert region and I've always wanted to know where those pictures were taken.

[sdmichael]

Chuck Lorre expresses frustration at slow progress on the 405 at the end of this week's Big Bang Theory:

CHUCK LORRE PRODUCTIONS, #429

Dear Guys Working on the 405 Freeway,
How's it going? I only ask because you started work over five years ago to add more lanes and, well... there aren't any. I've also noticed that on most days you're not actually doing anything. Is it possible you've grown bored with the project? I certainly would understand that. I've got more than a few half- finished scripts sitting in my desk. Of course, when I blow off my job millions of commuters aren't, how shall we say... fornicated. (Hey, maybe we should call it the 4-nication-05 freeway!) Regardless, I just want you to know that I'm rooting for you to complete your Herculean task and cut the ribbon on what will undoubtedly be a meaningless effort to ease traffic. I'd also like to offer up a few suggestions. From my untrained eye, you appear to be understaffed. Perhaps you might consider hiring a few thousand more guys and work in 'round the clock shifts, instead of, you know, just when you feel like it. Also, to avoid angry commuters flipping you off, how about giving them a heads up when you close an off ramp for no apparent reason? (Maybe a few miles in advance instead of a hundred yards.) And finally, I need to ask a small favor. Several times a week I crawl along the ol' 4-nication-05 with a bladder that is near to bursting. How about we work out a system where I, and other urinary-challenged drivers, get to pull over and share your port-a-potties? Maybe we can repay your hospitality by bringing you fresh magazines to read while you're in there working.

Sincerely,
Chuck Lorre

If it were only adding a lane, it would be done now. Adding a lane there has required roadways to be relocated, utilities to be relocated (some of which they didn't know about), bridges to be replaced, whole interchanges to be replaced... all while one of the busiest freeways in the world in a very dense urban environment is still mostly fully functioning. IOW, Chuck Lorre needs to do more research before just complaining.

[formulanone]

Five years is an exceptionally long time for a route that should be renamed "How Much Do You Hate Yourself Freeway" until it's finished.

[sammi]

This scene didn't make sense to me, seeing as I-76 and I-180 are 300 miles apart, and the sign is obviously fabricated for this purpose.

[tdindy88]

Five years is an exceptionally long time for a route that should be renamed "How Much Do You Hate Yourself Freeway" until it's finished.

Shouldn't that be "THE How Much Do You Hate Yourself Freeway."

[kurumi]

"This Means War" with the Star Trek guy and Blonde with the Chin: climax is a standoff atop an incomplete flyover ramp on "the 310 freeway" in Los Angeles. Like many freeways in movies, the interchange is completely built except for a 200-foot gap in one of the ramps. ("Dammit, who signed off on this?")

More info about how the 105/110 interchange was transformed into the "310": http://www.artofvfx.com/?p=2414

[SD Mapman]

Captain America 2 was filmed in Cleveland, Ohio. They didn't even TRY to hide it. (I-90/OH 2 duplex BGS, US 6/322 duplex shield...)
Thanks to Usends.com
This is clearly visible in the Fury car chase scene in the beginning.
(I didn't want to start a new thread when this one was readily available)

[odditude]

Captain America 2 was filmed in Cleveland, Ohio. They didn't even TRY to hide it. (I-90/OH 2 duplex BGS, US 6/322 duplex shield...)
Thanks to Usends.com
This is clearly visible in the Fury car chase scene in the beginning.
(I didn't want to start a new thread when this one was readily available)

i noticed that too, in the theater... I actually thought the Triskelion was supposed to be in Cleveland thanks to the signage, and got a little confused when they started talking about DC.

[D-Dey65]

Yellow stop sign in a TD Ameritrade ad:

(0:14 in, with cat-eyes.)

That video is private and can't be played, but speaking of old Stop signs on screen, I still vaguely remember an old Gumby cartoon containing a driving scene with a toy Stop sign that was unusual. It was red only in the center, and had a yellow top and bottom for some supplemental message.

[roadman]

That video is private and can't be played, but speaking of old Stop signs on screen, I still vaguely remember an old Gumby cartoon containing a driving scene with a toy Stop sign that was unusual. It was red only in the center, and had a yellow top and bottom for some supplemental message.

Probably copied the sign from a mid-1950s book on traffic control practices that I read in grade school.  At the end of one chapter, the author advocated for a new Stop sign design that had the (then) traditional black border on a yellow background, but with the word STOP in a white on red banner in the center of the octagon.  IIRC, the author didn't intend that the yellow portion of the sign be used for supplemental messages.

[hbelkins]

I remember seeing the I-471 markers and the "Bellevue-Dayton-Cincinnati" sign in this one when it was first released. There are a few other signs, from the readily identifiable (I-15 Nevada) to a few overheads that are hard to discern. I think one is an I-77 button copy overhead from Ohio.

Also the Son Volt "Drown" video formerly viewable here: http://music.aol.com/video/drown/son-volt/1362304 (I can't find this video anywhere on You Tube.)

There were a bunch of signs for US 41A and a Tennessee secondary route that I can't remember the number of in this one.

[Zeffy]

CA 187 sign is visible at around 3:42 in Snoop Dogg's Gin and Juice.

[roadman65]

John Cougar Mellencamp, or at least that is what he was calling himself when he made the video, for Pink Houses features a large Interstate 65 shield somewhere in the middle of the video.

[bing101]

Somebody mentioned a Kpop group music video featuring the I-110 Harbor Freeway shield in Downtown LA in another thread.

[Brian556]

Brad Paisley's "Old Alabama" features an erroneous INTERSTATE ALABAMA 40 shield.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDRfrVMrV6Q

[route17fan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jne9t8sHpUc

Alanis Morissette and "Ironic" features a Canadian road - I've heard it was in Ontario, is that correct?

[Alex]

John Cougar Mellencamp, or at least that is what he was calling himself when he made the video, for Pink Houses features a large Interstate 65 shield somewhere in the middle of the video.

Posted about that in 2011:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=368.msg123431#msg123431

[Roadrunner75]

Cincinnati freeway shots in the opening theme to WKRP (original full opening).

Yes, it's not exactly a music video, but close enough.