Freeway exits whose signs have changed, even when the things they access haven't

[KCRoadFan]

I was in St. Louis this past weekend, and I noticed that at some point over the past few years, MoDOT had replaced the sign for the main airport exit on I-70 (Exit 236), which previously read "Lambert - St. Louis Airport", to simply say "STL Airport" instead.

Throughout the country, where else have you seen such "cosmetic" changes, for lack of a better term, to freeway signs - in which the text on the sign is altered for whatever reason, even though no substantive changes have occurred to the local infrastructure associated with the exit (such as a realignment of the ramps, a street changing names, or the designation, realignment, or decommissioning of a highway) to warrant such a modification to the signage?

[hotdogPi]

The exit for MA 213 on I-495 started saying "to I-93 north" a few years ago. It makes no sense northbound, where anyone wanting to take I-93 north would have done so earlier at the actual I-93 exit.

[hbelkins]

The Mountain Parkway, Exit 57. Originally said "Lee City/West Liberty" eastbound and "Lee City/Jackson" westbound. Now it says "West Liberty/Jackson" in both directions.

[jp the roadgeek]

A relatively new couple mentioned in another thread: I-691 East Exit 2B (Old 7) changed from "Downtown Meriden"  to just Meriden, while Exit 2A (Former 8) changed from US 5 Broad St//TO CT 15 North to US 5 Downtown Meriden.  The westbound signage has yet to be changed as part of the signing project, but current 2A is US 5 Broad St (since there is an exit for CT 15 North in that direction), and 2B was changed in kind and still says Downtown Meriden.  Westbound will probably remain as-is because the eastbound ramp is directly across from Camp St, which leads toward downtown; while westbound requires a couple of turns and passing under the highway.

[Rothman]

Ugh.  Too many to mention.

[Dough4872]

Just one example I can think of, the US 40 exit along DE 1 originally had Elkton, MD and State Road as the control cities, but was later changed to Bear and Glasgow

[TheStranger]

The ramp from US 101 north to Bayshore Boulevard in San Francisco was renamed "Paul Avenue" about a decade ago, while the ramp from US 101 to another section of Bayshore in Brisbane went from being "Cow Palace" to "Cow Palace/Bayshore Boulevard".

[sprjus4]

VDOT changing most signs in the Hampton Roads area around 10-15 years ago that previously said "Nags Head"  and "Manteo"  (the previous control city for VA-168 South) and replaced them with "Outer Banks" .

[zachary_amaryllis]

VDOT changing most signs in the Hampton Roads area around 10-15 years ago that previously said "Nags Head"  and "Manteo"  (the previous control city for VA-168 South) and replaced them with "Outer Banks" .

Someone told me that the opening scene in 'Maximum Overdrive', where the drawbridge is freaking out, was filmed, or based, on on of the bridges in that area.

I look at that area sometimes via Google Earth, since I used to live near Smithfield in the late 80's. Just blows me away at how much what I remember as a sorta oystery, crabby, peanutty area has blown up.

Used to be able to give directions like 'turn right at the first light south of the JRB'. Now there's 2 or 3 of them.

[jp the roadgeek]

The exit for MA 213 on I-495 started saying "to I-93 north" a few years ago. It makes no sense northbound, where anyone wanting to take I-93 north would have done so earlier at the actual I-93 exit.

There's a similar thing on CT 8 in Naugatuck.  There are 2 exits in a row for Cross St and CT 63.  The signage northbound is normal enough: Cross St and CT 63/South Main St.  But southbound, you get CT 63/South Main St, then Cross St/TO CT 63 South.  Wouldn't it have made more sense to put the TO CT 63 South on northbound signage?  The TO CT 63 South was just added in the last sign replacement project.

[epzik8]

MD 295 in south Baltimore had an exit sign for decades "Westport" that was finally replaced a couple of years ago with "Manokin St|Westport". The old signs were long overdue for replacement.

[Vaulter]

The exit on the Mass Pike for I-495 used to give Cape Cod and NH/Maine as their destinations, but it was changed sometime in 2018-19 to say Portsmouth and Taunton. (the secondary signage wasn't changed) See https://goo.gl/maps/DWjoAemrDjhTUxKm8

[Vaulter]

Another one I know is on NH-16 as it approaches I-95. The northbound control cities used to be Portsmouth and Portland, but now it says Portsmouth and Maine Points. (Maybe it was confusing have two "Port- cities" on the same sign?) https://goo.gl/maps/ow1BGmr993wW2Mkd8

[amroad17]

VDOT changing most signs in the Hampton Roads area around 10-15 years ago that previously said "Nags Head"  and "Manteo"  (the previous control city for VA-168 South) and replaced them with "Outer Banks" .

Someone told me that the opening scene in 'Maximum Overdrive', where the drawbridge is freaking out, was filmed, or based, on on of the bridges in that area.

I look at that area sometimes via Google Earth, since I used to live near Smithfield in the late 80's. Just blows me away at how much what I remember as a sorta oystery, crabby, peanutty area has blown up.

Used to be able to give directions like 'turn right at the first light south of the JRB'. Now there's 2 or 3 of them.

The drawbridge scene was filmed on the Isabel Holmes Bridge in Wilmington which is where US 74 crosses the Cape Fear River a bit northwest of downtown Wilmington.
https://goo.gl/maps/iugxWKks32haiC9M8

Plus, I read that the Dixie Boy Truck Stop used in the film was "purpose built" , which means it was built for use in the film only, and not a soon-to-be closed truck stop–which I had mentioned in the I-40 in North Carolina thread.

[Henry]

For years, prior to the Jane Byrne Interchange reconstruction, there were two signs on I-90/I-94 that read "I-290 WEST/Eisenhower Expy/West Suburbs" and "Congress Pkwy/Chicago Loop", and both were attached to the Roosevelt Road overpass. Now on the same overpass, there's a single large sign that has "I-290/Eisenhower Expwy/Aurora/Ida B Wells Dr" for the exit, and "I-90/I-94 WEST/Kennedy Expwy/Wisconsin" for the through movement.

BEFORE: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8669117,-87.644503,3a,75y,1.37h,101.7t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGaq4ovtIU5HciOBoFw4E9w!2e0!5s20121001T000000!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
AFTER: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8669056,-87.6444671,3a,75y,1.37h,101.7t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSeno5Metzv3SSj7Bfbff6g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

[ilpt4u]

For years, prior to the Jane Byrne Interchange reconstruction, there were two signs on I-90/I-94 that read "I-290 WEST/Eisenhower Expy/West Suburbs" and "Congress Pkwy/Chicago Loop", and both were attached to the Roosevelt Road overpass. Now on the same overpass, there's a single large sign that has "I-290/Eisenhower Expwy/Aurora/Ida B Wells Dr" for the exit, and "I-90/I-94 WEST/Kennedy Expwy/Wisconsin" for the through movement.

BEFORE: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8669117,-87.644503,3a,75y,1.37h,101.7t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGaq4ovtIU5HciOBoFw4E9w!2e0!5s20121001T000000!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
AFTER: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8669056,-87.6444671,3a,75y,1.37h,101.7t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSeno5Metzv3SSj7Bfbff6g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

Should have went ahead and changed the Ike's #designation, also. Picking a Control along I-88 is certainly interesting, so just run 88 to the Circle!

And I still call it Congress Parkway. Nothing against Ida Wells

[kramie13]

The exit for MA 213 on I-495 started saying "to I-93 north" a few years ago. It makes no sense northbound, where anyone wanting to take I-93 north would have done so earlier at the actual I-93 exit.

And the exit for MA 213 on I-93 says "to I-495" even though it also makes no sense going north.

[hotdogPi]

I initially held off on destination city changes because they're extremely common, but I know of two recently, both on I-495:

MA 114 eastbound (exit 100A): previously said Middleton, now says North Andover. I oppose the change, as MA 114 is pretty much the only way to get to Middleton northbound and the most obvious way (and best unless 114 is backed up) to get to it southbound, while North Andover is served by three consecutive exits (100, 101, 102).

I-93 north from I-495 (exit 97B): Previously said Concord NH, now says Salem NH likely because the name of the sign determines sign width (the other name used being Boston for southbound traffic) and they want to use less metal. I would prefer Manchester NH, but that would use even more metal than Concord or Salem.

[MATraveler128]

Before the sign replacement on I-95 between Newton and Lexington, Exit 45A for MA 2 eastbound used to be signed for Cambridge with no mention of Boston. Signage now says Boston with Cambridge being used for auxiliary signage. Fitchburg has always been used for westbound though.

[Dirt Roads]

Not exactly what the OP wanted, but the one exit that comes to mind is Exit 20 on I-64 in West Virginia.  Originally, the eastbound exit was signed for US-60 / Ona.  When the Huntington Mall was being constructed in the early 1980s, the signage changed to US-60 / Barboursville (matching the westbound exit).  Most folks in West Virginia had a hard time understanding the change, since we were wired not to backtrack.  But by that time, using US-60 from Exit 15 (East Huntington) to get to Barboursville really didn't make sense anymore as there were more stoplights along that stretch of US-60.  That exit has undergone a bunch of changes since then, including the labels "Mall Road" and now "East Mall Road" (all of which are disqualifiers for this thread).

Which brings me to a different point about the same exit.  Now that there is a new Exit 18 that actually provides direct access to Barboursville, it seems weird that Exit 20 is still posted for Barboursville.  Nobody cares about Ona anymore, but it is the closest placename and has a very interesting history (home of the West Virginia International Raceway NASCAR dirt track and Firefox campground resort, which used to host frequent hot air balloon rides).

[hbelkins]

Here's another West Virginia example, but with the route number, not a destination.

The Big Chimney exit on I-79 was always WV 114. It still is the northern terminus of WV 114. Yet during a sign replacement project several years ago, the route number was changed from WV 114 to US 119. I emailed the WVDOT spokesperson to ask why the route number was changed, but never got an answer back.

I don't understand why the route number was changed.

[Dirt Roads]

Here's another West Virginia example, but with the route number, not a destination.

The Big Chimney exit on I-79 was always WV 114. It still is the northern terminus of WV 114. Yet during a sign replacement project several years ago, the route number was changed from WV 114 to US 119. I emailed the WVDOT spokesperson to ask why the route number was changed, but never got an answer back.

I don't understand why the route number was changed.

Moreso, Exit 5 (Big Chimney) was marked for WV-114 for a short time before that route was officially extended to meet the Interstate. 

My guess is that too many commercial vehicles were being routed onto WV-114 as an unintended "bypass" of downtown Charleston for those who have their GPS flipped to "Shortest Route".  (Which, by the way, the number of vehicles getting mis-routed hardly ever changes because of new signage).  It is about 9 miles to the State Capitol via I-79 and I-77/I-64, but only about 7.5 miles via WV-114.  But I would only go that way if you want to stop to picnic at Coonskin Park.

[roadman65]

I-4 Exit 38 near Lakeland had no control cities for several decades. Just recently Polk City was added both directions. However WB to exit there for Polk City is backtracking as Polk City is 6 miles back on the connecting state route.

[rlb2024]

Exit 100 on I-20/I-59 just southwest of Birmingham, AL used to read "Abernant/Bucksville".  Now it just reads "Lake View".

[elsmere241]

Southbound on I-95 in Delaware, the exit for DE 273 recently changed from "Newark/Dover" to "Christiana/Newark".