Okay, I am a long-time lurker but a first-time poster. Let me try using hobsini2's 'tier list' for I-95 (closest primary interstate to me) and using the AASHTO control city list. In addition, I'll post my own opinion at the end (not sure what other thread or forum to):
-AASHTO List-
Miami (P)
West Palm Beach (S)
Daytona Beach (S)
Jacksonville (P)
Savannah (S)
Florence (S)
Fayetteville (S)
Benson (L)
Rocky Mount (L or S, due to the city straddling two counties)
Petersburg (L)
Richmond (P)
Washington, DC (P)
Baltimore (P)
Wilmington (S)
Chester (S)
Philidelphia (P)
Trenton (P)
New York City (P)
New Haven (P)
New London (S)
Providence (P)
Boston (P)
Portsmouth (S)
Kittery (S)
Portland, ME (P)
Augusta (P)
Bangor (L)
Houlton (S)
Personally, I think that this is a rather bad list, especially in the Carolinas, where the counties are large and yet the cities really are not that important for navigation purposes. Similarly, Portsmouth and Kittery are far too small to be signed between Portland and Boston and only get secondary status due to being in large counties. Here's my list assuming mostly long-distance traffic unfamiliar with the route. This has some rather wild picks, and it uses two control cities for much of the route. I'm pretty sure that this would disqualify me from working in a Chamber of Commerce anywhere between Richmond and Savannah, but further ado:
-Northbound-
West Palm Beach
Jacksonville
Savannah
Florence/Washington, DC
Fayetteville/Washington, DC
Richmond/Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Baltimore
Philidelpha
New York City
New Haven
Providence
Boston
Peabody
Portland, ME
Augusta
Bangor
Houlton
-Southbound-
Bangor
Augusta
Portland, ME
Boston
Canton
Providence
New Haven/New York City
New York City
Philidelphia
Baltimore/Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Richmond
Fayetteville/Florida
Florence/Florida
Savannah/Florida
Jacksonville
Orlando/Miami
Miami
You will notice that I do not have much affection for the Carolinas, and I put a lot of emphasis on Maine. In both cases, there really isn't much to sign. In the case of the Carolinas, I felt that that since it was mostly tourists along that stretch of road, I should put their likely destination going southbound and a large city that they passed going southbound going northbound. This is also why I mentioned Orlando out of Jacksonville. As for Maine there really isn't anything noteworthy to sign in that state so I had to let in some smaller places. Thoughts?