What, in your opinion, is the most boring state when it comes to the interesting road things we like? I haven't given this a lot of thought yet but Oklahoma seems to be one where there are few changes or few things of interest.
North Dakota is a wasteland devoid of old signs. even Texas, Tennessee and Kansas have some buried if you know where to look. in general, North Dakota doesn't seem to have much interesting old infrastructure. the occasional bridge and that's really about it. I remember exploring all of US-10 in North Dakota and getting more and more disappointed about how it compared to Montana.
Oklahoma has plenty of exciting - or just bizarre and malfunctioning - things.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on February 07, 2014, 03:03:25 PM
North Dakota is a wasteland devoid of old signs. even Texas, Tennessee and Kansas have some buried if you know where to look. in general, North Dakota doesn't seem to have much interesting old infrastructure. the occasional bridge and that's really about it. I remember exploring all of US-10 in North Dakota and getting more and more disappointed about how it compared to Montana.
Oklahoma has plenty of exciting - or just bizarre and malfunctioning - things.
Good choice. North Dakota is pretty boring to drive through in any capacity. And what's with the duplex just to have a few miles of US 81?
Wyoming. It has nice signage, but it's very consistent, most of it is well replaced, and there's not a ton of cool old infrastructure.
Ohio.......... :banghead:
Quote from: ski-man on February 07, 2014, 03:24:25 PM
Ohio.......... :banghead:
Huh? There's a shitload of old signs in that state. Add to that more than a few interesting bridges and Cedar Point, and you have one interesting state, even if they do have that horrible U in Columbus and stole the Toledo Strip.
Quote from: corco on February 07, 2014, 03:16:13 PM
Wyoming. It has nice signage, but it's very consistent, most of it is well replaced, and there's not a ton of cool old infrastructure.
I think either Wyoming, SD, or ND are the worst for old signs.
Maine is starting to get boring. In the past few years, MaineDOT has been replacing a majority of their old LeHay font signs, so most signage you see on the state highways are post-2011 made. That being said, there still are a good handful of LeHay signs on town maintained routes across the state.
Also, Delaware.
Quote from: Ian on February 07, 2014, 03:41:52 PM
Also, Delaware.
is there anything of interest outside the worst parts of downtown Wilmington?
Wyoming is okay for old signs. there's a few random 1980s business route markers here and there, and I believe the circle shields for Carbon County still survive.
South Dakota has plenty of old signage - it all seems to be in the western part of the state, though. lots of '61 spec black square US shields, and there's even a Rushmore state route 79 if you know where to look.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on February 07, 2014, 03:51:09 PM
Quote from: Ian on February 07, 2014, 03:41:52 PM
Also, Delaware.
is there anything of interest outside the worst parts of downtown Wilmington?
Wyoming is okay for old signs. there's a few random 1980s business route markers here and there, and I believe the circle shields for Carbon County still survive.
South Dakota has plenty of old signage - it all seems to be in the western part of the state, though. lots of '61 spec black square US shields, and there's even a Rushmore state route 79 if you know where to look.
For a good 20 years, Delaware extensively widened nearly all of their major state roads. But since that's been completed, it seems like it's dwindled down to interchange reconstructions and watching the competition for the worst-looking BGS. In a very heated battle, they do manage to outdo themselves over and over again.
Is this boring highways and or signs or the drive itself.
Oklahoma does have some interesting roads to drive on. They are not just all over like some states.
I would say the most boring to drive in although I found it worth my trip is ND. The far western part is somewhat better. I have found a lot of Kansas not much better.
Mainly for the things we are interested in: old highways to look it, interesting signage, etc. Texas is not the best for that either.
I actually really enjoy driving across Texas- there's some gems, but they're well hidden usually. Definitely a lot of neat older infrastructure, and a lot of neat newer infrastructure.
Mississippi seems very forgettable to me. But then, I didn't really explore at all, I just drove across it via I-20/US 49/I-55/US 98.
Kansas would be boring as hell if I lived there, but I enjoyed seeing it just because it's so different from what I'm used to. I have to explore the plains states more on a future trip.
Although I'm judging all this based on the general scenery in addition to road-related things. Road trips aren't entirely about signs and bridges, you know. :P
Quote from: texaskdog on February 07, 2014, 02:57:51 PM
What, in your opinion, is the most boring state when it comes to the interesting road things we like? I haven't given this a lot of thought yet but Oklahoma seems to be one where there are few changes or few things of interest.
Oklahoma is a FANTASTIC state for the road enthusiast. You have many truss bridges still in service on the state highway system. You have dozens of old alignments of state and US highways. You have the abandoned Will Rogers Turnpike. You have a 75 MPH speed limit on rural turnpikes. You have US 66. You have US 266, a short US route, and US 377, a non-AASHTO-approved route. The Oklahoma City and Tulsa roadmeets were interesting and we got to see lots of cool stuff. Have you ever been here? If not, you should try it before you knock it.
Quote from: texaskdog on February 07, 2014, 03:05:01 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on February 07, 2014, 03:03:25 PM
North Dakota is a wasteland devoid of old signs. even Texas, Tennessee and Kansas have some buried if you know where to look. in general, North Dakota doesn't seem to have much interesting old infrastructure. the occasional bridge and that's really about it. I remember exploring all of US-10 in North Dakota and getting more and more disappointed about how it compared to Montana.
Oklahoma has plenty of exciting - or just bizarre and malfunctioning - things.
Good choice. North Dakota is pretty boring to drive through in any capacity. And what's with the duplex just to have a few miles of US 81?
North Dakota is another great state to visit. Not just because of roads - the scenery and the atmosphere make it an exciting place.
From what I've seen in street view, the entire southeast looks VERY boring. As my cousin described it "they took one tree and photoshopped it down the entire length of I-10".
The pros for Louisiana:
- Many signed state routes
- Many bridges, a fair number of which are historic or superlative in some manner (length, age, importance to state transportation history, etc.)
- Antique 1950s urban freeways in nearly every major city
- Plenty of old US highway alignments, most of which are still state maintained (LA 73, LA 182, LA 964, etc.)
- Old auto trails still exist in places out in the field and are relatively easy to follow (Jefferson Highway, Old Spanish Trail)
The cons:
- Old signage rare and what's left is disappearing fast (especially green state highway shields)
- Clearview sines multiplying like kudzu
- Interstates can be boring in many places
- No "historic" decommissioned US routes if you're into that sort of thing
- Not a lot of variety from place to place within the state in terms of what you might expect to find that is road-related (though standardization plays a role here)
Quote from: vdeane on February 07, 2014, 09:08:12 PM
From what I've seen in street view, the entire southeast looks VERY boring. As my cousin described it "they took one tree and photoshopped it down the entire length of I-10".
The great smoky region of TN/NC (if you consider that "southeast") is anything but. And Chattanooga is one of the more intriguing cities I've been to.
Outside of that, though... yeah, the rural areas can get rather repetitive. But the cities have fun stuff. 75/85 through Atlanta should be on every roadgeek's bucket list. It's best driven when somewhat crowded but not congested, when you can enjoy the experience of weaving around slower drivers across six lanes of traffic.
That was fun!
Quote from: bugo on February 07, 2014, 08:55:27 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 07, 2014, 02:57:51 PM
What, in your opinion, is the most boring state when it comes to the interesting road things we like? I haven't given this a lot of thought yet but Oklahoma seems to be one where there are few changes or few things of interest.
Oklahoma is a FANTASTIC state for the road enthusiast. You have many truss bridges still in service on the state highway system. You have dozens of old alignments of state and US highways. You have the abandoned Will Rogers Turnpike. You have a 75 MPH speed limit on rural turnpikes. You have US 66. You have US 266, a short US route, and US 377, a non-AASHTO-approved route. The Oklahoma City and Tulsa roadmeets were interesting and we got to see lots of cool stuff. Have you ever been here? If not, you should try it before you knock it.
Oklahoma is also the only state that has toll roads that use a receipt/refund system, instead of a "closed" ticket system or an "open" point-tolling system. It's also an interesting state for toll road enthusiasts in general.
Oklahoma east of U.S. 69 is very scenic with some unique drives. But one time I diverged to the west and found an abandoned alignment of U.S. 62/75 paralleling I-40 west of Henryetta. Four-lane divided and everything. Hugely fascinating. Rode it out (it was rough) and followed it all the way into downtown Henryetta.
(On further review, only the 62-75 junction was divided and it's two-lane the rest of the way.)
I-70 from Limon, Co into Kansas has no turnovers around it. Its pretty much the same all the way long.
Quote from: vdeane on February 07, 2014, 09:08:12 PM
From what I've seen in street view, the entire southeast looks VERY boring. As my cousin described it "they took one tree and photoshopped it down the entire length of I-10".
The SE can be hit or miss. I-10 through most of Florida is pretty dull but there are some neat stretches like the super long bridge over the swamp in Louisiana or the bridge and tunnels in Mobile.
How would we rank Alaska here? Certainly, what roads it does have are very interesting by themselves, but the great distance between everything in the state would make it very time-consuming to visit all the interesting bits.
Of course, the time in between would be interesting for other, non-road reasons perhaps; I certainly wouldn't be bored, but is it a boring state strictly from a roads point of view?
Quote from: empirestate on February 08, 2014, 10:57:58 PM
How would we rank Alaska here? Certainly, what roads it does have are very interesting by themselves, but the great distance between everything in the state would make it very time-consuming to visit all the interesting bits.
If you like driving, you can do a lot of it in Alaska, especially if you're willing to go off-pavement to places like Deadhorse and McCarthy. The great distances should be no deterrent.
I don't think Alaska has many boring highways, though the north end of AK 11 (Dalton Highway) north of Atigun Pass can get pretty boring as it crosses mostly featureless tundra. The freeways around Anchorage, and AK 2 between Tok and Fairbanks, are also mostly uninteresting.
Quote from Road hog:
QuoteOklahoma east of U.S. 69 is very scenic with some unique drives. But one time I diverged to the west and found an abandoned alignment of U.S. 62/75 paralleling I-40 west of Henryetta. Four-lane divided and everything. Hugely fascinating. Rode it out (it was rough) and followed it all the way into downtown Henryetta.
(On further review, only the 62-75 junction was divided and it's two-lane the rest of the way.)
That area is very interesting. Not is there only the former US 62 alignment that runs parallel to I-40, there is an even older abandoned alignment with abandoned y-intersection legs at US 75. Very Cool.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Henryetta,+OK&hl=en&ll=35.431092,-96.120758&spn=0.024617,0.049825&sll=33.09461,-97.057838&sspn=0.101244,0.199299&oq=Henryetta.&t=h&hnear=Henryetta,+Okmulgee,+Oklahoma&z=15 (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Henryetta,+OK&hl=en&ll=35.431092,-96.120758&spn=0.024617,0.049825&sll=33.09461,-97.057838&sspn=0.101244,0.199299&oq=Henryetta.&t=h&hnear=Henryetta,+Okmulgee,+Oklahoma&z=15)
Quote from: Brian556 on February 08, 2014, 11:31:57 PM
Quote from Road hog:
QuoteOklahoma east of U.S. 69 is very scenic with some unique drives. But one time I diverged to the west and found an abandoned alignment of U.S. 62/75 paralleling I-40 west of Henryetta. Four-lane divided and everything. Hugely fascinating. Rode it out (it was rough) and followed it all the way into downtown Henryetta.
(On further review, only the 62-75 junction was divided and it's two-lane the rest of the way.)
That area is very interesting. Not is there only the former US 62 alignment that runs parallel to I-40, there is an even older abandoned alignment with abandoned y-intersection legs at US 75. Very Cool.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Henryetta,+OK&hl=en&ll=35.431092,-96.120758&spn=0.024617,0.049825&sll=33.09461,-97.057838&sspn=0.101244,0.199299&oq=Henryetta.&t=h&hnear=Henryetta,+Okmulgee,+Oklahoma&z=15 (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Henryetta,+OK&hl=en&ll=35.431092,-96.120758&spn=0.024617,0.049825&sll=33.09461,-97.057838&sspn=0.101244,0.199299&oq=Henryetta.&t=h&hnear=Henryetta,+Okmulgee,+Oklahoma&z=15)
Is that old US 266? Was it ever US 62?
Quote from: texaskdog on February 07, 2014, 02:57:51 PM
What, in your opinion, is the most boring state when it comes to the interesting road things we like? I haven't given this a lot of thought yet but Oklahoma seems to be one where there are few changes or few things of interest.
Nebraska, outside of the Omaha area they only have 2 interchanges, although some other states might be even worse.
An ex-girlfriend of mine moved from Washington to Michigan in 2000. She said the drive through South Dakota was extremely boring.
damn, I was just in Henryetta and I saw the current 75/old-62 junction, but entirely failed to spot the abandoned high-speed ramps just to the south of the freeway.
agreed on Oklahoma being very interesting. lots of old bridges, and the scenery is excellent as well.
Quote from: golden eagle on February 10, 2014, 12:16:50 PM
An ex-girlfriend of mine moved from Washington to Michigan in 2000. She said the drive through South Dakota was extremely boring.
The drive along I-29 in South Dakota is mostly boring, although there are some hills here and there. I haven't been to any other part of the state.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on February 10, 2014, 12:22:42 PM
damn, I was just in Henryetta and I saw the current 75/old-62 junction, but entirely failed to spot the abandoned high-speed ramps just to the south of the freeway.
I didn't know that was there until it was mentioned on this forum a few days ago. I need to take a day and drive to Henryetta and head west and take what is left of the old alignment to at least Prague.
Quote
agreed on Oklahoma being very interesting. lots of old bridges, and the scenery is excellent as well.
The scenery is excellent in some parts of the state. Some parts are flat and boring. The Ouachita and Ozark mountain ranges in the eastern part of the state are gorgeous. A lot of folks talk about how ugly Oklahoma is but most of them have just been through on I-40 which isn't particularly scenic. They should take a trip down US 259 and it would change their minds.
Quote from: realjd on February 08, 2014, 01:45:21 PM
Quote from: vdeane on February 07, 2014, 09:08:12 PM
From what I've seen in street view, the entire southeast looks VERY boring. As my cousin described it "they took one tree and photoshopped it down the entire length of I-10".
The SE can be hit or miss. I-10 through most of Florida is pretty dull but there are some neat stretches like the super long bridge over the swamp in Louisiana or the bridge and tunnels in Mobile.
Somehow, I-10 manages to be more dull than I-75's Alligator Alley; at least you can see that there's not much in the vast Everglades, where as I-10 manages to be obscured by evergreens and slash pine trees throughout its entire length. Florida's Turnpike also manages to be a snoozer for the same reasons. Florida is flat, and thus the roads rarely have extensively scenic views. There's not a lot of "challenging" roads, either. It's easy as a tourist to be completely bored with the view.
But darned if we don't have a lot of roadgeeks from the Sunshine State; I guess it's because you can pretty much drive all-year-round without much trouble, there's all sorts of architectural styles, a mix of old and new, the state grid makes a lot of logical sense, you're never really too far away from major cities, yet can get to isolated and undisturbed areas easily, old/new/right/wrong/odd signage, and there's a surprising lot of the state and system to discover due to its peninsular geography.
Trouble is, you're in America's cul-de-sac.
What about Rhode Island? It's all urban, so I don't think there would be any interesting or abandoned signage. I may be wrong though.
Quote from: 1 on February 10, 2014, 03:44:53 PM
What about Rhode Island? It's all urban, so I don't think there would be any interesting or abandoned signage. I may be wrong though.
there's some good stuff buried here and there.
Quote from: 1 on February 10, 2014, 03:44:53 PM
What about Rhode Island? It's all urban, so I don't think there would be any interesting or abandoned signage. I may be wrong though.
So, do you like unisigns? If so, then Rhode Island and Wisconsin are for you!
Quote from: bugo on February 10, 2014, 01:05:27 PM
Quote from: golden eagle on February 10, 2014, 12:16:50 PM
An ex-girlfriend of mine moved from Washington to Michigan in 2000. She said the drive through South Dakota was extremely boring.
The drive along I-29 in South Dakota is mostly boring, although there are some hills here and there. I haven't been to any other part of the state.
The only exciting part is in the Black Hills. Everything else is just meh.
Quote from: Brandon on February 10, 2014, 03:49:44 PM
Quote from: 1 on February 10, 2014, 03:44:53 PM
What about Rhode Island? It's all urban, so I don't think there would be any interesting or abandoned signage. I may be wrong though.
So, do you like unisigns? If so, then Rhode Island and Wisconsin are for you!
As a Rhode Island native, I can tell you that RI is filled with tons of anomalies that would make any road geek salivate. RIDOT is so cash-strapped that caution is thrown to the wind when contracting out its signage and quality is never a factor. MUTCD be damned! You'll see mistakes, incorrect fonts & font sizes, aged reassurance shields, reassurance shields retained for former alignments with no signage for the correct alignment, unisigns as Brandon mentions, unreplaced BGSs from the 1960's/70's on abandoned stubs... I definitely wouldn't put RI in this category.
If we were to judge this based solely off of traffic signals, I would say North Carolina is pretty boring. It's great that they've done a good job at maintaining their signals, but now there aren't any unique or interesting signals.
Furthermore, I have never gotten over NC removing the double-red left turn signals that are everywhere in South Carolina.
NC has occasional old signage, especially along the expressways heading out to the Outer Banks.
plus, they're the last state to use white guide signs regularly. that's pretty interesting.
North Carolina has all those future interstates. I don't think that's boring but others may.
Virginia certainly isn't boring.
I-90 from east of Rapid City to the Missouri River is quite boring.
I-70 from Limon, CO to the Kansas State Line is very boring and it is unlike the rest of Colorado with mountains. This is one big flat plain, unlike typical Colorado. Heck even Kansas is less boring from the CO Border to Topeka because you at least have a grain silo or two to look at frequently, east of Limon it is just plain flat with nothing!
I-10 is pretty boring especially in the Florida Panhandle.
I-75 from Macon to the Florida Turnpike is not worthy to write home about.
Then US 19, 98, and ALT US 27 from Cross City, FL to Perry, FL can put you to sleep. Even the US 19 & 27 concurrency is not that bad either considering it is a very straight highway. I guess being amazed at the straight line as far as the horizon goes makes it interesting. South of Perry the road curves with no scenery and just light green.
US 1 & 23 from Waycross, GA to Folkston, GA is boring as you have the Okefenokee to look at.
Quote from: roadman65 on February 10, 2014, 07:53:25 PM
I-90 from east of Rapid City to the Missouri River is quite boring.
It's pretty bad East River, too... but I'm biased.
Quote from: southshore720 on February 10, 2014, 04:07:32 PM
Quote from: Brandon on February 10, 2014, 03:49:44 PM
Quote from: 1 on February 10, 2014, 03:44:53 PM
What about Rhode Island? It's all urban, so I don't think there would be any interesting or abandoned signage. I may be wrong though.
So, do you like unisigns? If so, then Rhode Island and Wisconsin are for you!
As a Rhode Island native, I can tell you that RI is filled with tons of anomalies that would make any road geek salivate. RIDOT is so cash-strapped that caution is thrown to the wind when contracting out its signage and quality is never a factor. MUTCD be damned! You'll see mistakes, incorrect fonts & font sizes, aged reassurance shields, reassurance shields retained for former alignments with no signage for the correct alignment, unisigns as Brandon mentions, unreplaced button copy from the 1960's/70's on abandoned stubs... I definitely wouldn't put RI in this category.
What stubs have ancient button copy? Hopefully going there next weekend
Outside Savannah and Jacksonville, I-95 is pretty boring in the South. But I-95 does offer a great view of the Brunswick Bridge
You are right about I-95 in GA. It gives the rest of the state a bad rap, as it is within the coastal region with mostly swamps, and marshes. My parents hated GA because of it until they both discovered I-75 and the Appalachian Region in NW GA.
Apparently, how many others judge a state by one road sadly enough. Like an old boss of mine once said you must travel the off interstate highways to get the feel of the region. Interstates do take away from it all, as he also implied. To me that is only correct only up to a point as you have the PA Turnpike that represents Pennsylvania real well. Now with I-10 in Florida it is nothing like US 98 or other such roads around it. US 98 tells a different story in the Panhandle than I-10 does for sure. US 98 is the less boring of the two, but I-10 of course is faster.
It's well known that people judge NJ by the Turnpike. I wonder how many people judge NY by the Thruway.
Why don't we rename AARoads to AAOldButtonCopySigns? Seriously, a state isn't bad if it's devoid of ancient signage that were damaged by the dinosaurs. Button copy is cool, but Jesus... I consider a state interesting on the basis of the standards of road hardware and frequency of interesting flyovers.
GA has some old infrastructure here and there, but their absolutely garish post-90s-or-so signage ruins it for me.
also, pure Hell for county clinching. at least Virginia's independent cities have interesting things to see. Georgia is just Mississippi, without the concrete or the charm.
Quote from: doofy103 on February 10, 2014, 11:56:17 PM
Quote from: southshore720 on February 10, 2014, 04:07:32 PM
Quote from: Brandon on February 10, 2014, 03:49:44 PM
Quote from: 1 on February 10, 2014, 03:44:53 PM
What about Rhode Island? It's all urban, so I don't think there would be any interesting or abandoned signage. I may be wrong though.
So, do you like unisigns? If so, then Rhode Island and Wisconsin are for you!
As a Rhode Island native, I can tell you that RI is filled with tons of anomalies that would make any road geek salivate. RIDOT is so cash-strapped that caution is thrown to the wind when contracting out its signage and quality is never a factor. MUTCD be damned! You'll see mistakes, incorrect fonts & font sizes, aged reassurance shields, reassurance shields retained for former alignments with no signage for the correct alignment, unisigns as Brandon mentions, unreplaced BGSs from the 1960's/70's on abandoned stubs... I definitely wouldn't put RI in this category.
What stubs have ancient button copy? Hopefully going there next weekend
Doofy, I made an edit to state "unreplaced BGSs" as I am not sure if the signs contain button copy or not (it's been a while since I've seen them), but I do know that signage on the Henderson Bridge in Providence and RI 138 in Newport after the Newport Bridge have not been replaced if you're interested in seeing some oldies.
I'm late to this thread, but this is based on my own experiences in our 50 states:
NC - Very boring. Old signs disappear rapidly. Button copy's gone AFAIK. Very few old highways - all of the freeways get upgraded with few exceptions. NC 147 through Durham and US 220 in Greensboro stick out. Most of my photos from NC are embossed white historical signs and the very occasional older, cracked shield.
VA - Mostly boring. Never used button copy, at least that I've seen. Also very few old highways. The saving grace in VA is the independent cities. Just like in VT, when cities maintain their own roads, you get a lot of treasures by poking around. VA has cutouts and/or non-cutouts in various states of ancientness. There are also a fair number of interesting old alignments in hilly areas, but most of them don't yield fruit.
MD - Somewhat boring. Although I enjoy driving in the state, I realize that most of the routes are well signed with modern signs, well designed with few old stubs. Baltimore is the notable exception, but it takes up a significant percentage of the entire state, so it helps weight the average. Also, all of the old alignments are retained as state highways, giving the roadgeek something interesting to do to get off the boring main highways.
There are many states between the Rockies and {the row of states just west of the Mississippi} that I can't rate, having only explored a few roads, but given the long distances between just about anything, I'd have to say they're all boring for the most part. The scenery is beautiful, but the roadgeekery just doesn't present itself.
Kentucky's big attraction, to me, is the difference in signing practices for route markers between the 12 highway districts.
Most of the old signage is gone and I really can't think of anything in the state that stands out otherwise.
Quote from: Alps on February 11, 2014, 10:10:57 PMAlso, all of the old alignments are retained as state highways, giving the roadgeek something interesting to do to get off the boring main highways.
I would claim the exact opposite. old state highways that are demoted to town/county control are the best for finding decrepit matter that just was never replaced.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on February 12, 2014, 06:19:53 PM
Quote from: Alps on February 11, 2014, 10:10:57 PMAlso, all of the old alignments are retained as state highways, giving the roadgeek something interesting to do to get off the boring main highways.
I would claim the exact opposite. old state highways that are demoted to town/county control are the best for finding decrepit matter that just was never replaced.
Maryland has fine examples of both.
I wouldn't call Maryland boring at all as far as roadgeeking goes. Baltimore, like you said, is a treasure chest. Button copy, old signs, route weirdness, stubs, highways to nowhere. Delmarva has a lot of what I call "quintessential Maryland roads" with old pavement, stubs, bridges, almost ghost towns, and unusual signage (not old, just unusual). Western Maryland has covered bridges, awesome old national road switchbacks, old signs in some of the towns, the Sideling Hill cutout. Statewide, there are weird indeterminate points for state/county maintenance, plus lots of state routes that "dead end" into the bay.
Also, lol at "well signed with modern signs". Some sections are signed obsessively while others are hardly, if signed at all.