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Does your state sign mileposts on non-freeways/Interstates?

Started by freebrickproductions, September 06, 2018, 04:05:36 AM

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vdeane

Quote from: bulldog1979 on September 07, 2018, 05:49:26 PM
Quote from: GaryV on September 07, 2018, 04:35:45 PM
Michigan, on US 2.


And M-28
All of them?  Or just parts?  I tried to search for some, since I was curious what the highest one was, but couldn't find any save for MP 1 on US 2 (which is posted backwards).
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.


bulldog1979

Quote from: vdeane on September 07, 2018, 08:29:52 PM
Quote from: bulldog1979 on September 07, 2018, 05:49:26 PM
Quote from: GaryV on September 07, 2018, 04:35:45 PM
Michigan, on US 2.


And M-28
All of them?  Or just parts?  I tried to search for some, since I was curious what the highest one was, but couldn't find any save for MP 1 on US 2 (which is posted backwards).

MDOT added mileposts to both highways last year. The situation with US 2 was odd in that the western portion had smaller MPs for many years, but that scheme stopped between Iron Mountain and Escanaba (I think it was at the Dickinson—Menominee county line.) Local officials in Mackinac County had started adding mileposts running backwards from the eastern terminus. Those have been removed and replaced by the MDOT standard mileposts counting up from the state line at Ironwood. M-28 never had them, but it has a full set now, the full length from Wakefield to Dafter. If MDOT ever expands the concept to other highways, they'll need to replace the mileposts around here on US 41 to correct the direction of counting.

fillup420

In North Carolina, freeways and interstates are generally the only milepost'ed roads. Although NC 181 has some, and that is a curvy two-lane mountain road. US 421 also has them on the way up towards Boone, but they stop around the top of the main incline.

Bruce

Washington signs mileposts on all state-maintained highways, like so:


SR 531 westbound at milepost 6 by SounderBruce, on Flickr

DJ Particle

Quote from: PHLBOS on September 06, 2018, 01:33:04 PM
Prior to MassDOT adopting the MUTCD-style for its 0.2 mile markers; such used to be marked with very small grey or yellow diamonds that had the numbers in black with the whole mile number placed above the decimal number.

Example for MM 21.2

2 1
2

You forgot about the fiberglass/lollipop stick version they experimented with in the 1980s before briefly going back to the diamonds in the 1990s.  *heh*

sparker

CA mileposts all state-inventoried highways, but these are done with small white paddles which reset at county lines.  Generally these start at the southern/western terminus and proceed from there.  Caltrans has never been convinced that a prominent display of statewide mileposts does much to improve navigation of state highway routes -- remember that they were quite late (the last 20 years or so) to post exit numbers on freeways, both Interstate and otherwise. 

DJ Particle

#31
More about Massachusetts...

The diamonds date back to the 1960s originally AFAIK.  They were rather small, and couldn't easily be read from a car (think the size of those little side reflectors on short posts on the side of freeways...in fact, they were designed to blend in with those).

In the mid 1970s, they tried something new...on divided highways, instead of posting the markers on the right shoulder, they decided to post them on the left shoulder of each direction, resulting in yellow diamond markers.  This left-posting would be standard practice until the MUTCD conversion.

In the mid-1980s, they decided to make the "lollipop stick" versions, which were small reflective sheets posted on (first) fiberglass posts that were at first flat (with three-digit miles displayed in a diagonal pattern), then cylindrical (though wider at the top) with a cap on the top.  The left-posting on divided highways continued (except, for some reason, on US-6 in Provincetown, which always struck me as weird...they didn't get left-posting until the next phase)

In the early 1990s, they went back to the diamonds, and around the turn of the millennium, they finally started using the MUTCD standard we see today.

During all that time, before the MUTCD era, they also painted the markers on the shoulders using traffic yellow paint.  It was a yellow square divided in half with the whole mile on top and the fraction on the bottom (except for the .0, which said "MILE" on top and the whole number on bottom).  Usually if it was just one lane each direction, they'd paint it on the North or Eastbound side facing perpendicular to the road, to be read from both sides.  If it was 4 lanes or more, they'd paint it on both sides of the road facing the flow of traffic on each side.  There were some exceptions (like MA-14), but the painting generally followed this rule until they went all-perpendicular in the 1980s.

And that's MA's weird history with mile markers

Roadsguy

AFAIK the only non-freeway in Pennsylvania with mile markers is US 6 with its fancy mile markers:

Mileage-based exit numbering implies the existence of mileage-cringe exit numbering.

Ian

The only non-freeway road I know of in Maine that uses mile markers is the segment of ME 9 east of the Bangor/Brewer area out toward Calais. There isn't much along that portion, plus it's relatively well traveled, so it makes sense as to why MaineDOT chose to post them there.
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Bickendan

ODOT does, but they're based on the Highways, not signed Routes. Routes like 140 will see several Mile 1 mileposts.

Two exceptions: Highway 53 (US 26) continues Highway 26's mileposts from where OR 35 splits off US 26, and Highway 6 (I-84) continues on with Highway 2's where US 730 splits off.

jp the roadgeek

CT: Yeah, right.  The Land of Steady Habits had to be dragged in kicking and screaming in the 90's to add mileposts to limited access highways, including state routes.  Only roads with mileposts are I-84, I-91, I-95, I-395, I-684 (by NYSDOT) the Norwalk portion of US 7, CT 2, the standalone portion of CT 2A, CT 8, CT 9, CT 11 (!  And based on unbuilt mileage), CT 15 Parkway portion only, and CT 25.  No other non-limited access routes have mileposts, nor does I-291, I-384, I-691 or any limited access portions of other US and state routes.  Areas without sign updates still have the original mileposts, and many are either illegible or missing.
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PHLBOS

Quote from: DJ Particle on September 12, 2018, 06:16:33 AMIn the mid-1980s, they decided to make the "lollipop stick" versions, which were small reflective sheets posted on (first) fiberglass posts that were at first flat (with three-digit miles displayed in a diagonal pattern), then cylindrical (though wider at the top) with a cap on the top.  The left-posting on divided highways continued (except, for some reason, on US-6 in Provincetown, which always struck me as weird...they didn't get left-posting until the next phase)
Having grown up in eastern Massachusetts (North Shore area) & getting my driver's license in 1982; I do not recall seeing any of those lollipop-stick mile markers on any of the roads I drove on.  Was such only done in certain DPW districts on a trial basis?

Quote from: DJ Particle on September 12, 2018, 06:16:33 AM
During all that time, before the MUTCD era, they also painted the markers on the shoulders using traffic yellow paint.  It was a yellow square divided in half with the whole mile on top and the fraction on the bottom (except for the .0, which said "MILE" on top and the whole number on bottom).  Usually if it was just one lane each direction, they'd paint it on the North or Eastbound side facing perpendicular to the road, to be read from both sides.  If it was 4 lanes or more, they'd paint it on both sides of the road facing the flow of traffic on each side.  There were some exceptions (like MA-14), but the painting generally followed this rule until they went all-perpendicular in the 1980s.
I don't recall seeing any of those at all.
GPS does NOT equal GOD

roadfro

Nevada mileposts all state highways using a style and method similar to California's postmile system. Posting of mileposts is much more consistent in rural areas; in urban areas, mileposts tend to be placed at signalized intersections but not at mile locations.

Here's a thread on the Pacific Southwest board about Nevada's new milepost style from circa 2015.

Roadfro - AARoads Pacific Southwest moderator since 2010, Nevada roadgeek since 1983.

DJ Particle

Quote from: PHLBOS on September 13, 2018, 04:02:46 PM
Having grown up in eastern Massachusetts (North Shore area) & getting my driver's license in 1982; I do not recall seeing any of those lollipop-stick mile markers on any of the roads I drove on.  Was such only done in certain DPW districts on a trial basis?

...

I don't recall seeing any of those at all.

Hmm...maybe it was just a SE MA thing?  I know the lollipop sticks were on I-195, I-495, MA-25, MA-28, US-6, and MA-3.... and the painted markers I saw on just about every piece of state highway (even the unnumbered ones at the time), including the southern approach to the old South Shore Tunnel.

SSOWorld

IL 2-lane roads are mileposted in a way similar to freeways, but reset at the county line. 

WI does not milepost 2-lane roads.  They do have select non-freeway 4-lane roads mileposted, but not all:

*US 53's mileposts do not go north of CTH V north of Rice Lake
*US 151's mileposts end just a few miles short of Hwy 41.
*US 45 toward West Bend is is not mileposted.

https://wisconsindot.gov/Documents/travel/road/hwy-exits/exit-numbers.pdf
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DJ Particle

Quote from: PHLBOS on September 13, 2018, 04:02:46 PM
Having grown up in eastern Massachusetts (North Shore area) & getting my driver's license in 1982; I do not recall seeing any of those lollipop-stick mile markers on any of the roads I drove on.  Was such only done in certain DPW districts on a trial basis?

http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/mid-cape/img10.gif

In the median...those are 'lollipop sticks'.  I remember seeing them also used as mile markers in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

PHLBOS

Quote from: DJ Particle on September 17, 2018, 03:13:44 AMHmm...maybe it was just a SE MA thing?  I know the lollipop sticks were on I-195, I-495, MA-25, MA-28, US-6, and MA-3.... and the painted markers I saw on just about every piece of state highway (even the unnumbered ones at the time), including the southern approach to the old South Shore Tunnel.
Where is/was this old South Shore Tunnel that you speak of?

Quote from: DJ Particle on September 17, 2018, 07:46:22 AM

http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/mid-cape/img10.gif

In the median...those are 'lollipop sticks'.  I remember seeing them also used as mile markers in the late 1980s/early 1990s.
While I've see those used (& still used) as reflectors/delineators; the only place I've seen such used as (decimal) mile markers was along the PA Turnpike several years ago.
GPS does NOT equal GOD

TXtoNJ


myosh_tino

Quote from: sparker on September 11, 2018, 05:56:24 AM
CA mileposts all state-inventoried highways, but these are done with small white paddles which reset at county lines.  Generally these start at the southern/western terminus and proceed from there.

The white paddles sparker is referring to are called "postmiles" and they include a county name abbreviation ("SCL" = Santa Clara County) and the route number in addition to the mileage from the county line.  As far as I know, all numbered highways have postmiles.


Quote from: sparker on September 11, 2018, 05:56:24 AM
Caltrans has never been convinced that a prominent display of statewide mileposts does much to improve navigation of state highway routes -- remember that they were quite late (the last 20 years or so) to post exit numbers on freeways, both Interstate and otherwise.

While this is true, Caltrans did dabble in posting mileposts (or Reference Location signs) on a portion of CA-58 between Bakersfield and Mojave and on US 6 between Bishop and the Nevada stateline.  However, they were all removed a few years ago.  I recall hearing one of the reasons why they were removed was because they caused confusion when it came to reporting incidents like accidents or debris in the roadway.
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roadman

Quote from: DJ Particle on September 17, 2018, 07:46:22 AM
Quote from: PHLBOS on September 13, 2018, 04:02:46 PM
Having grown up in eastern Massachusetts (North Shore area) & getting my driver's license in 1982; I do not recall seeing any of those lollipop-stick mile markers on any of the roads I drove on.  Was such only done in certain DPW districts on a trial basis?

http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/mid-cape/img10.gif

In the median...those are 'lollipop sticks'.  I remember seeing them also used as mile markers in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

That is correct.  On certain roads where flexible delineators were provided, the milepost was printed on the delineator as well.  This was tried on a few projects in what is now District 5, but was never expanded to the rest of the state.  Remember that this was the era where intermediate mileposts (the diamonds) were provided for planning and maintenance purposes, and were never intended to be viewed by drivers.
"And ninety-five is the route you were on.  It was not the speed limit sign."  - Jim Croce (from Speedball Tucker)

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Of years of roads and highway signs" (with apologies to Carole King and Tom Rush)

hbelkins

Why does California call them "postmiles" and not "mileposts?" I have never seen a logical definitive answer for this.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

fillup420

NC 12 has some mileposts, though not very consistently. I have yet to see any in South Carolina

J N Winkler

Answering for states around me:

KS:  all signed state-maintained routes have mileposts counting up from origin or south/west state border; MUTCD milepost design is used on expressways/freeways, while a KDOT "numbers on stick" design is used on conventional roads

MO:  only Interstates have milemarking and enhanced location reference markers at 0.2-mile spacing are typically used in lieu of MUTCD mileposts

CO:  all state-maintained routes have mileposts to the MUTCD design

NE:  similar to KS, except "numbers on a stick" are used on non-Interstate expressways/freeways

OK:  Milemarking provided only on Interstates and turnpikes (MUTCD design for both)
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myosh_tino

Quote from: hbelkins on September 18, 2018, 01:12:48 PM
Why does California call them "postmiles" and not "mileposts?" I have never seen a logical definitive answer for this.

I think it's to avoid confusing the black-on-white postmiles with the MUTCD-standard white-on-green mileposts used by the rest of the country.
Quote from: golden eagle
If I owned a dam and decided to donate it to charity, would I be giving a dam? I'm sure that might be a first because no one really gives a dam.

paulthemapguy

Quote from: SSOWorld on September 17, 2018, 04:53:45 AM
IL 2-lane roads are mileposted in a way similar to freeways, but reset at the county line. 

No they aren't???
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