Nevada mile markers on State and US highways

[cl94]

Nevada's counties are bigger than many states, so I don't really see why mileage resetting at county lines is necessarily a problem unless you want it to be.

This. Where resetting mileage is a "problem", you often have 100+ miles in a county. The same applies for parts of California. Counties out here are massive in terms of area. It's not like mileage is resetting every 20-30 miles like you sometimes get out east. You have several counties in both Nevada and California that are larger than New England states. Elko County, for example, is larger than 9 states. US 93 spends over 500 miles in Nevada and only enters 4 counties, each of which is the same area as or larger than a typical New England state. Over 170 of those miles are in Lincoln County, which is only the third-largest in the state.

[ethanhopkin14]

Nevada's counties are bigger than many states, so I don't really see why mileage resetting at county lines is necessarily a problem unless you want it to be.

This. Where resetting mileage is a "problem", you often have 100+ miles in a county. The same applies for parts of California. Counties out here are massive in terms of area. It's not like mileage is resetting every 20-30 miles like you sometimes get out east. You have several counties in both Nevada and California that are larger than New England states. Elko County, for example, is larger than 9 states. US 93 spends over 500 miles in Nevada and only enters 4 counties, each of which is the same area as or larger than a typical New England state. Over 170 of those miles are in Lincoln County, which is only the third-largest in the state.

I guess it's because I come from a reference marker state.  FM, State and US Highways, you're on your own, but interstates were the only roads with mileposts (with some exceptions), so I got used to navigating by mile post.  Downtown Austin is at mile 235 on I-35, San Antonio at mile 154 and Dallas at mile 429ish.  For I-10, El Paso is mile 20, Van Horn is mile 134, th I-10/I-20 split is mile 187, Ft. Stockton is mile 254, Ozona is mile 354, Sonora is mile 400ish, the US-290/I-10 split is mile 477, San Antonio is mile 573, Columbus is mile 696, Houston is mile 768 and Beaumont is mile 857.  Going west, I-10 is 164 miles across New Mexico, putting Las Cruces around mile 144ish, Demming at mile 83 and Lordsburg at mile 23.  I know I-37 is 147 miles long and goes between San Antonio and Corpus, so both ways I know where I am in relation to both cities.  I-45 is 282 miles long and is 45 miles from Houston to Galveston so I always knew about how far I was away from the ferry landing.  I-27 is 123 miles long and goes from Lubbock to Amarillo, see I-37.  I-20 leaves the state at mile 635, so I knew when Louisiana was coming.  On I-30, it starts west of Ft. Worth and is in the 50s in Dallas and is at mile 223 in Texakana and it's another 143 miles to Little Rock. 

All this to say, this is how I drive.  If a town of significance is on an interstate, I memorize what mile the town is on, so I know where it is and how far I am from it at any given time.  I preferer doing it that way instead of waiting for the next distance sign.  All I have to do is wait for the next mile post and I can calculate how far I am from the next town with hotels, restaurants or a rest area.  I know the postmiles are not for navigation, but if they are state based, they can be used for navigation as well.  When they are county based, they get more confusing than anything.  We were driving northbound so I couldn't even use the postmiles for navigation if I tried because I had no idea how big these counties were.

Thats why I don't like the California system.  I feel like it's a lot of work and effort in a system and it's useless to anyone who isn't extremely familiar with the counties of the state, and in the process, they don't have MUTCD mile posts most drivers are used to if they are in a wreck or have car trouble, they don't know where they are. 

I don't care if the county is 700 miles long.  If it's not the end of the state, it makes it more challenging to keep up where in the state you are, especially if you don't know how many more counties you have to go through until you are in the last one.  I know everyone here is smarter than me and knows exactly where they are all the time, but I need a bit more help than "you are 20 miles is Rando County Nevada.  I can see where they are very similar, but I can memorize the width and length of states much easier than the width and length of every county in that state.  This is all my opinion on how I navigate myself when I am driving and not looking at a map at the moment. 

[roadfro]

Thats why I don't like the California system.  I feel like it's a lot of work and effort in a system and it's useless to anyone who isn't extremely familiar with the counties of the state, and in the process, they don't have MUTCD mile posts most drivers are used to if they are in a wreck or have car trouble, they don't know where they are. 

Perhaps already known, but worth mentioning that NDOT's county milepost system, and California's postmile system on which it is based, was primarily meant for maintenance purposes and not really intended to be a reference locator system for the motoring public. (Neither state has had widespread use of traditional MUTCD statewide reference locations–Nevada only using on interstates, and California only using in a couple one-off trials.)

With the new enhanced mileposts, NDOT is taking an existing system that wasn't meant for public reference location and making it more visible for that purpose–primarily for the exact scenario of being able to locate where you are in the case of emergency–without a whole bunch of extra effort and expense of measuring/surveying and setting new statewide mileposts. It's something to go by if you're stranded and got the cell service to call for help with...as opposed to the virtually nothing that was there before, given how many older mileposts were much less visible to motorists (and missing in several cases).

It's also worth noting that county-based vs statewide mileage system only really affects Nevada's US highways and the couple handfuls of state routes that cross county lines. The vast majority of state routes in NDOT's inventory, even when counting non-urban routes, stay within one county.

[ethanhopkin14]

Thats why I don't like the California system.  I feel like it's a lot of work and effort in a system and it's useless to anyone who isn't extremely familiar with the counties of the state, and in the process, they don't have MUTCD mile posts most drivers are used to if they are in a wreck or have car trouble, they don't know where they are. 

Perhaps already known, but worth mentioning that NDOT's county milepost system, and California's postmile system on which it is based, was primarily meant for maintenance purposes and not really intended to be a reference locator system for the motoring public.

I know the postmiles are not for navigation

I thought I covered that in the previous post.

I will add that I didn't know Nevada had nothing at all before this.  I thought they abandoned the statewide milage for county based milage on non-interstates. 

[N9JIG]

As the OP on this thread I have mixed feelings on these signs. The new ones are a lot better than the old ones, much easier to read. I agree that they were not intended for public navigation, at least the old ones. With the new ones being much clearer to view I imagine they are better suited for public navigation but that is not the primary audience for sure.

I do think however they should stick with statewide mileposts. When the public sees something and grabs a milepost they will likely not know or care about the county designation so there could be several choices. While the distances involved might minimize this there are bound to be places where a highway cuts a corner of a county or something.

If they insist on county designations perhaps add the abbreviation to a standard green milepost discretely somehow. Keep the mileage on a statewide basis though.

[roadfro]

As the OP on this thread I have mixed feelings on these signs. The new ones are a lot better than the old ones, much easier to read. I agree that they were not intended for public navigation, at least the old ones. With the new ones being much clearer to view I imagine they are better suited for public navigation but that is not the primary audience for sure.

I do think however they should stick with statewide mileposts. When the public sees something and grabs a milepost they will likely not know or care about the county designation so there could be several choices. While the distances involved might minimize this there are bound to be places where a highway cuts a corner of a county or something.

If they insist on county designations perhaps add the abbreviation to a standard green milepost discretely somehow. Keep the mileage on a statewide basis though.

Can't stick with statewide mileage if it was never used to begin with... But again, I don't disagree that statewide mileage could be beneficial, at least for state routes.

There are a couple places where a route leaves a county and returns to the same county later. The most notable is US 95, which spends many miles in Nye County, leaves into Esmeralda County for over 40 miles, then comes back into Nye County just outside of Tonopah–the couple miles between the second entry into Nye County and the junction with US 6 in Tonopah are mileposted as if the route never left Nye County, so there are no duplicate mileposts but there's a big gap due to the Esmeralda County mileage. Leaving Tonopah, US 6 & 95 are multiplexed and go into Esmeralda County until Coaldale Junction, and US 95 resumes alone–and again, takes up mileposts as if it never left Esmeralda County (or had a multiplex with US 6, which carries the milepost priority along the multiplex). The other example I know of is SR 361, which starts in Mineral County, crosses into Nye County for a bit, then clips an odd corner of Mineral again for just under 3 miles before moving into Churchill County–in this case, NDOT just mileposted the second Mineral County section as if it were still in Nye County.

[cl94]

As the OP on this thread I have mixed feelings on these signs. The new ones are a lot better than the old ones, much easier to read. I agree that they were not intended for public navigation, at least the old ones. With the new ones being much clearer to view I imagine they are better suited for public navigation but that is not the primary audience for sure.

I do think however they should stick with statewide mileposts. When the public sees something and grabs a milepost they will likely not know or care about the county designation so there could be several choices. While the distances involved might minimize this there are bound to be places where a highway cuts a corner of a county or something.

If they insist on county designations perhaps add the abbreviation to a standard green milepost discretely somehow. Keep the mileage on a statewide basis though.

Can't stick with statewide mileage if it was never used to begin with... But again, I don't disagree that statewide mileage could be beneficial, at least for state routes.

There are a couple places where a route leaves a county and returns to the same county later. The most notable is US 95, which spends many miles in Nye County, leaves into Esmeralda County for over 40 miles, then comes back into Nye County just outside of Tonopah–the couple miles between the second entry into Nye County and the junction with US 6 in Tonopah are mileposted as if the route never left Nye County, so there are no duplicate mileposts but there's a big gap due to the Esmeralda County mileage. Leaving Tonopah, US 6 & 95 are multiplexed and go into Esmeralda County until Coaldale Junction, and US 95 resumes alone–and again, takes up mileposts as if it never left Esmeralda County (or had a multiplex with US 6, which carries the milepost priority along the multiplex). The other example I know of is SR 361, which starts in Mineral County, crosses into Nye County for a bit, then clips an odd corner of Mineral again for just under 3 miles before moving into Churchill County–in this case, NDOT just mileposted the second Mineral County section as if it were still in Nye County.

In many cases where a route clips a county, NDOT just continues mileage from the previous county. See also: I-80 in Storey County, NV 447 in Pershing County, and US 50's eastern foray into Douglas County. The 95 cases are exceptions more than the rule from what I can tell. Though US 95 also has Humboldt Mile 0 in downtown Winnemucca as a holdover from the US 40 days, so the entire route is just weird.

California is known to do the same in some cases. See how CA 88 is mileposted as if it never enters El Dorado County and CA 108 is mileposted as if it never enters Alpine County.

[Max Rockatansky]

Usually the way California does it makes sense at least.  In the case 108 passing through Alpine County, an observer would never know they were there unless they had a map open.  Sonora Pass might as well be in the moon compared to the rest of Alpine County. 

[roadfro]

There are a couple places where a route leaves a county and returns to the same county later. The most notable is US 95, which spends many miles in Nye County, leaves into Esmeralda County for over 40 miles, then comes back into Nye County just outside of Tonopah–the couple miles between the second entry into Nye County and the junction with US 6 in Tonopah are mileposted as if the route never left Nye County, so there are no duplicate mileposts but there's a big gap due to the Esmeralda County mileage. Leaving Tonopah, US 6 & 95 are multiplexed and go into Esmeralda County until Coaldale Junction, and US 95 resumes alone–and again, takes up mileposts as if it never left Esmeralda County (or had a multiplex with US 6, which carries the milepost priority along the multiplex). The other example I know of is SR 361, which starts in Mineral County, crosses into Nye County for a bit, then clips an odd corner of Mineral again for just under 3 miles before moving into Churchill County–in this case, NDOT just mileposted the second Mineral County section as if it were still in Nye County.

In many cases where a route clips a county, NDOT just continues mileage from the previous county. See also: I-80 in Storey County, NV 447 in Pershing County, and US 50's eastern foray into Douglas County. The 95 cases are exceptions more than the rule from what I can tell. Though US 95 also has Humboldt Mile 0 in downtown Winnemucca as a holdover from the US 40 days, so the entire route is just weird.

California is known to do the same in some cases. See how CA 88 is mileposted as if it never enters El Dorado County and CA 108 is mileposted as if it never enters Alpine County.

Thanks for providing more examples. I knew I was forgetting a few of the county clips but couldn't think of them off the top of my head.

The I-80 and US 50 examples are county clips that are extremely short, i.e. less than a mile–and for I-80 in Storey County, it's actually two clips for less than a mile total. NDOT doesn't even sign the county lines on the US 50 and westernmost I-80 example, so not resetting mileposts there makes sense.

For SR 447, it's a clip of just under 11.5 miles (according to the latest SMH log), but the highway is basically straddling just inside the county line the whole time. If the WA/PE county line didn't have that minimal westward jog, SR 447 would never enter Pershing County.

[ClassicHasClass]

Usually the way California does it makes sense at least.  In the case 108 passing through Alpine County, an observer would never know they were there unless they had a map open.  Sonora Pass might as well be in the moon compared to the rest of Alpine County.

CA 108 passes through Alpine county? I know it's not far, but I didn't think it actually got there. Between what PMs?

[Max Rockatansky]

Usually the way California does it makes sense at least.  In the case 108 passing through Alpine County, an observer would never know they were there unless they had a map open.  Sonora Pass might as well be in the moon compared to the rest of Alpine County.

CA 108 passes through Alpine county? I know it's not far, but I didn't think it actually got there. Between what PMs?

Indeed it does, modern USGS maps show Sonora Pass at the boundary of Mono County and Alpine County.  The Postmiles you are looking for are roughly TUO 66.97-65.68.

[Scott5114]

Thats why I don't like the California system.  I feel like it's a lot of work and effort in a system and it's useless to anyone who isn't extremely familiar with the counties of the state...

Okay, but how is it any different from what mile-based mileposting would be like in the Northeast? What is the practical difference between, say, memorizing that I-95 at the CT/RI line resets at 111 miles, and I-95 at the RI/MA line resets at 42 miles, as opposed to knowing that US-95 at the Clark/Nye line resets at 132 miles, and US-95 at the Nye/Esmeralda line resets at 107 miles?

The only real difference I see is that you are already familiar with the names "Connecticut", "Rhode Island", and "Massachusetts". But Nevada only has 17 counties*, so it's not like it's a big ask to familiarize yourself with their names before going.


*Well, 16 and one independent city, but Carson City is treated like a county for mileposting purposes (and in the '60s, it was called Ormsby County, anyway).