Modest, Surprising, or Otherwise Indistinguishable Borders

[AlexandriaVA]

Only interested in North America here - I'm well aware that much of Western Europe is in the Schengen Agreement and hence you can cross from one country into another and not even know it.

Any boundaries - national, state, or municipal - that if you didn't know they were there, you'd have no idea you were crossing into one jurisdiction or another. So any welcome signs, flags, or other markings would disqualify it. Also, noticeable changes in the layout/landscape would qualify (i.e. development suddenly stops and it becomes rural), along with major geographical features (for instance, crossing the Hudson River from Manhattan would be a reasonable guess that you're leaving NYC even if you didn't know that for a fact).

***

Near where I live comes to mind. The Fairlington neighborhood possesses part of the boundary between the City of Alexandria and Arlington County. The boundary runs in part along the north side of Columbus St.

If you look closely at the linked GSV, you'll see a modest seam in the pavement right at the edge of the traffic circle. On the near side of that seam, you're in Arlington County. On the other side of that seam, you're in Alexandria. You literally need to look at the tax maps of the two municipalities to know where the boundary is.

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8372119,-77.1000063,3a,75y,260.74h,56.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8hZVxuhDGl2Syq_8vwtOyg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[Max Rockatansky]

A lot of the border near El Camino Del Diablo in Arizona and Sonora isn't very distinctive.  About the only thing that kind of gives it away that something is up is the occasional presence of Border Patrol trucks or helicopters.  I still can't believe after how long it took to cross out four wheeling that anyone realistically things a physical barrier could just be slapped up like it was nothing. 

[1995hoo]

Traditionally, the District of Columbia didn't post any sort of welcome signs or other such things along most of the surface connections from Maryland. The main tipoff was that DC's street signs used a different style from Maryland's and included the quadrant (NW/NE/SE/SW) and a block number. You could sometimes tell where the line was from a noticeable pavement change, too, such as on MacArthur Boulevard: https://goo.gl/maps/gv5jERVcMR8EPF3D8  (Note that spot has an outbound "Welcome to Montgomery County" sign, though not a "Welcome to Maryland" sign, and has no DC sign.)

Back when Marion Barry was mayor, there were welcome signs on some (but not all) of the entries from Virginia, though they weren't always at the actual entry point. Those are gone now. The National Park Service has, to my recollection, always had signs on what is now the Clara Barton Parkway marking the DC/Maryland line–I guess you'd call those "LBSs" (for "Little Brown Signs"). The current sign entering DC there appears to have a line of all-caps Clearview: https://goo.gl/maps/abxUGB1AnbAhojQL6

DC does now have markers in some locations when you cross over from Maryland, though certainly not anywhere close to all of them. Here's the first such one I remember seeing, on Sheriff Road NE (look to the left): https://goo.gl/maps/JPojQ3ahwhqU5Z4i6

[vdeane]

The Village of Colonie technically extends a short distance across the Northway, ending at Wolf Road.  Good luck noticing that one side of the street is in a different jurisdiction than the other*.  There are welcome signs on nearby Central Avenue, but only once you cross the Northway.

*In NY, Villages exist within towns, not separately from them, so it is technically the Town of Colonie on both sides, but the Village is only one side.

[hbelkins]

VA/WV 102 winds across the border of the two states several times, and not all crossings are marked. There is usually a pavement seam, though.

Lots of county roads cross boundaries in Kentucky with no notation.

My hometown recently installed "city limits" signs on the state routes. In most of those cases, you'd have no idea you were entering the municipality from the county.

[AlexandriaVA]

@Hoo-

Virginia into DC is a case of a geographic feature being a plausible boundary crossing, since a major river is involved.

I also gave the DC-MD boundaries some thought, and I think between the use of the geographic names (e.g. Southern Ave and the others), plus the fact that the development changes on either side of the avenues, it's a decent guess about a boundary.

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9055387,-76.9255407,3a,75y,133.19h,81.75t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sfH3XmcP2IuFz7-mc36pXmQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

For instance, notice the setback differences on the DC side vs the MD side.

ADDED: Down your way, at Farrington Ave and Van Dorn, all you get is a pavement seam with no signage (https://www.google.com/maps/@38.7986731,-77.1345693,3a,30y,190.51h,79.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJ64BYu4kpJEhZ_09DhV4CQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192). Additionally, you have light industrial on both the Fairfax and Alexandria sides of the boundary.

[AlexandriaVA]

VA/WV 102 winds across the border of the two states several times, and not all crossings are marked. There is usually a pavement seam, though.

Lots of county roads cross boundaries in Kentucky with no notation.

My hometown recently installed "city limits" signs on the state routes. In most of those cases, you'd have no idea you were entering the municipality from the county.

Does the consistent pavement imply that a single state DOT does all the maintenance (I have to assume it does). Definitely a good idea for a follow-on question (roads in which another state or jurisdiction does the maintenance).

[Konza]

Along State Line Road south of downtown Kansas City.

[1995hoo]

@Hoo-

Virginia into DC is a case of a geographic feature being a plausible boundary crossing, since a major river is involved.

....

Yeah, I know; the reason I mentioned that there used to be some signs there was primarily to distinguish it from the DC/Maryland side. I seem to recall once upon a time there was a "Welcome to Washington–A Capital City" sign at the east end of either the Roosevelt Bridge or Memorial Bridge (I forget which, though Memorial Bridge seems implausible due to NPS jurisdiction). But there is one area where the river is not really a "plausible geographic" thing–the crossings between Virginia and Columbia Island. None of those are marked as to DC/Virginia and for a couple of them you don't even notice you're crossing a waterway (Boundary Channel).

[AlexandriaVA]

@Hoo-

Virginia into DC is a case of a geographic feature being a plausible boundary crossing, since a major river is involved.

....

But there is one area where the river is not really a "plausible geographic" thing–the crossings between Virginia and Columbia Island. None of those are marked as to DC/Virginia and for a couple of them you don't even notice you're crossing a waterway (Boundary Channel).

That's a real good one actually. You can tell from my previous post that I sort-of overlooked it myself (and I'm a lifer).

At least on the Key Bride, the signage is correct, insofar as the "Welcome to DC" sign is on the Rosslyn side of the bridge, not Georgetown.

[AlexandriaVA]

Along State Line Road south of downtown Kansas City.

Modest, Surprising, or Otherwise Indistinguishable Borders

Given that the name of the road literally has "state line" in the title, it fails the test.

[jp the roadgeek]

Apparently, the two trucks in this GSV are either straddling the state line or are parked inches into PA

[dlsterner]

Having travelled the access road to Clingman's Dome from US 441 in the Smoky Mountains, I was unaware that it crossed the NC/TN border several times on its way to the end.  I only found that out it did when setting up my Travel Mapping file.

Also, in either direction of PA 896 - MD 896 - DE 896, there is no indication of entering Maryland - just entering Delaware (SE bound) or entering Pennsylvania (NW bound).  Granted, it only runs about 0.2 miles in Maryland.

Likewise, there is no mention of crossing into Washington DC on I-495 (Woodrow Wilson Bridge) - the distance is only 300 feet or so.

I'm sure there are a number of cases like the above two where a road just clips a state.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Only interested in North America here - I'm well aware that much of Western Europe is in the Schengen Agreement and hence you can cross from one country into another and not even know it.

We still sign country borders anyway, so most of the times you know you're switching countries (that and most of the times the language suddenly changes ).

However why limit this to North America? Europe has subdivisions as well. Spain is divided into autonomous communities, and in turn they are divided into provinces (which long predate the communities). Catalonia uses an own division called comarques (Comarcas in Spanish), and they sign their limits. However they refuse to sign provincial borders, as they want to move away from that. Most of the times, the comarques match the provincial borders, but not always, and there is at least one instance where a provincial border goes totally unsigned: On the C-25 freeway. Here you just have entered Barcelona province from Girona, but since both sides belong to the same comarca (Osona), the provincial border is unmarked.

Another example involves N-113, a national highway which goes through 4 communities in less than 10 miles. It dips into Aragon twice, but none are signed: One is here by the tripoint with Navarre and Rioja (The sign is wrong, it claims you are entering Rioja when you actually are entering Aragon, you only enter Rioja at the curve in the background) and another here (notice the different street signs). This last segment is even recognized in the log as entering Aragon.

[jp the roadgeek]

The little green signs on I-684 that tell you that you are "Entering Greenwich"  and "Leaving Greenwich"  when you cross in and out of CT briefly.  CTDOT typically uses them to indicate that you're entering the center of a town or a village or boro.  Also, the sign where I-86 temporarily ends at US 220 that just says "State Border" . 

[Rothman]

The Village of Colonie technically extends a short distance across the Northway, ending at Wolf Road.  Good luck noticing that one side of the street is in a different jurisdiction than the other*.  There are welcome signs on nearby Central Avenue, but only once you cross the Northway.

*In NY, Villages exist within towns, not separately from them, so it is technically the Town of Colonie on both sides, but the Village is only one side.

I don't see how villages exist within towns.  Village of Colonie has its own leadership and taxes than the Town of Colonie, for example.  They seem like separate entities, as opposed to hamlets, which are just named places within other municipalities.

[vdeane]

The Village of Colonie technically extends a short distance across the Northway, ending at Wolf Road.  Good luck noticing that one side of the street is in a different jurisdiction than the other*.  There are welcome signs on nearby Central Avenue, but only once you cross the Northway.

*In NY, Villages exist within towns, not separately from them, so it is technically the Town of Colonie on both sides, but the Village is only one side.

I don't see how villages exist within towns.  Village of Colonie has its own leadership and taxes than the Town of Colonie, for example.  They seem like separate entities, as opposed to hamlets, which are just named places within other municipalities.

Villages are weird.  They're not like towns and cities, which both exist under counties at the same level... areas in a village are also in a town, and all parts of the state are in a town or city.  Then there are strange examples like the Village/Town of Green Island (it's incorporated as both).  There are also villages that cross county lines, like Saranac Lake.  That's also how village dissolutions work... they revert to being just the town and become a hamlet area.

[webny99]

Living in a place quite far from a state line, I've always thought the NY/NJ line in Rockland County was weirdly undistinguished. It's dense suburbia on both sides of the line, and sometimes when neighborhood streets cross the line there's no indication at all - not even so much as a welcome sign or a change in the pavement. Here, for example.

[Roadgeekteen]

The little green signs on I-684 that tell you that you are "Entering Greenwich"  and "Leaving Greenwich"  when you cross in and out of CT briefly.  CTDOT typically uses them to indicate that you're entering the center of a town or a village or boro.  Also, the sign where I-86 temporarily ends at US 220 that just says "State Border" .

I think that's because NY maintains I-684 in CT, I think.

[Rothman]

The Village of Colonie technically extends a short distance across the Northway, ending at Wolf Road.  Good luck noticing that one side of the street is in a different jurisdiction than the other*.  There are welcome signs on nearby Central Avenue, but only once you cross the Northway.

*In NY, Villages exist within towns, not separately from them, so it is technically the Town of Colonie on both sides, but the Village is only one side.

I don't see how villages exist within towns.  Village of Colonie has its own leadership and taxes than the Town of Colonie, for example.  They seem like separate entities, as opposed to hamlets, which are just named places within other municipalities.

Villages are weird.  They're not like towns and cities, which both exist under counties at the same level... areas in a village are also in a town, and all parts of the state are in a town or city.  Then there are strange examples like the Village/Town of Green Island (it's incorporated as both).  There are also villages that cross county lines, like Saranac Lake.  That's also how village dissolutions work... they revert to being just the town and become a hamlet area.

Villages have their own boundaries and governments separate from towns.  Not sure what it means for them to actually be part of towns when that's the case.  Colonie's Town Supervisor doesn't have jurisdiction over the village, for example.

[kurumi]

The Carter Lake, Iowa section of Abbott Dr leading from Omaha to the airport is IA 165. In each direction is a large "Hi diddly ho there, welcome to Iowa!" sign and IA 165 marker. But crossing back into Nebraska... nothing.

The Iowa part has to be surprising as well to travelers ("wait, when the family circus did we cross the Missouri River?")

[jp the roadgeek]

The little green signs on I-684 that tell you that you are "Entering Greenwich"  and "Leaving Greenwich"  when you cross in and out of CT briefly.  CTDOT typically uses them to indicate that you're entering the center of a town or a village or boro.  Also, the sign where I-86 temporarily ends at US 220 that just says "State Border" .

I think that's because NY maintains I-684 in CT, I think.

They've actually been replaced by NYSDOT standard signs (you can tell the last time I was on that stretch) but I remember the old signs that used to have the outline of the state of CT that looked like the signs you'd see approaching a town center or a village on a state road.

[Verlanka]

The Carter Lake, Iowa section of Abbott Dr leading from Omaha to the airport is IA 165. In each direction is a large "Hi diddly ho there, welcome to Iowa!" sign and IA 165 marker. But crossing back into Nebraska... nothing.

Makes people think they're still in Iowa when they're not.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Most Twin Cities suburbs you have to tell by the change in street blades whether you've crossed lines. Minneapolis does have city limit signs on major arterials like France and Xerxes, but most cities don't even on major roads.

The MN 23 dip into Wisconsin is unmarked, and there are no connections to anywhere else in Wisconsin from it.

[NWI_Irish96]

Along State Line Road south of downtown Kansas City.

Modest, Surprising, or Otherwise Indistinguishable Borders

Given that the name of the road literally has "state line" in the title, it fails the test.

I'm 300 feet from a state line, and similarly have a State Line Ave that marks an otherwise indistinguishable boundary.  However, a bit farther south, State Line Ave ends and there are streets that cross the state line, with the only distinguishing features being a change in the style of street signs and house numbering, which are indicative of a change in municipalities but not necessarily states.