I was just curious as to what you guys think is the generally agreed upon definition of actually "clinching" a road. What criteria must be met for you to consider a road clinched?
For me, I have the criteria that there isn't one full mile straight of that road which you haven't been on. I don't count it if you get off an exit to get fuel, eat, etc and get back on. For roads which end at the Canadian or Mexican border in the U.S., I consider them clinched as long as you covered up until the final U.S. exit before customs, since sometimes it might not be possible to turn around just before or after customs (the Bluewater Bridge near Port Huron, MI would be a good example of this).
So what are your criteria for clinching? I'm interested in hearing what others consider to be clinched or not clinched.
I always thought it meant having travelled the full length. Anthony and I fudged the definition a little bit with NJ 68, since there's a small piece that's inside a military base that isn't open to the public.
When it comes to these sorts of things, there are as many definitions as road geeks, none necessarily better than another. As for me, I consider "clinch" to mean to "drive the entire length of." When it comes to exits for gas and the like, I double back to an earlier exit, or I don't consider the route clinched. Same thing goes for borders and whatnot. Needless to say, this isn't always feasible, but I'm okay with the asterisks that come up now and again.
I consider it clinched by driving end to end. However, I allow the exits for gas, etc. as long as I get back on at the same exit.
Quote from: dgolub on December 17, 2015, 06:49:06 PM
I always thought it meant having travelled the full length.
Of course, but there are lots of details that one may or may not consider to be part of the "full length" definition. Does that require having traveled in both directions? What about driving on separate express, local, or truck carriageways if a road has them? Are you allowed to exit and reenter at the same interchange–therefore never having traveled the through lanes under the overpass (or vice versa)? And so on.
Among roadgeeks, I probably have one of the looser definitions. For example, I-80 is the longest route I've "clinched" , although since I don't think I've ever passed Walcott without stopping at Iowa 80, I've never driven the segment between the on and off ramps of Exit 284. Still clinched in my book.
I'd even allow exiting on Texas freeway frontage road and reentering at the next on-ramp. I have precious little time for roadgeeking as it is, so I can't be pedantic about circling back and covering every inch of pavement. If I've seen basically every mile by car, I've clinched it as far as I'm concerned.
Quote from: briantroutman on December 17, 2015, 07:25:15 PM
Quote from: dgolub on December 17, 2015, 06:49:06 PM
I always thought it meant having travelled the full length.
Of course, but there are lots of details that one may or may not consider to be part of the "full length" definition. Does that require having traveled in both directions? What about driving on separate express, local, or truck carriageways if a road has them? Are you allowed to exit and reenter at the same interchange–therefore never having traveled the through lanes under the overpass (or vice versa)? And so on.
Among roadgeeks, I probably have one of the looser definitions. For example, I-80 is the longest route I've "clinched" , although since I don't think I've ever passed Walcott without stopping at Iowa 80, I've never driven the segment between the on and off ramps of Exit 284. Still clinched in my book.
I'd even allow exiting on Texas freeway frontage road and reentering at the next on-ramp. I have precious little time for roadgeeking as it is, so I can't be pedantic about circling back and covering every inch of pavement. If I've seen basically every mile by car, I've clinched it as far as I'm concerned.
But "pedantry" is what this concept is all about. Not to mention OCD. :)
We've had this discussion elsewhere on this forum, which went into many angles not already covered here (such as highways ending at international borders or military bases). Do a search for that, and if people have something to add to past discussions, add it to an existing thread just so we don't end up repeating ourselves.
Interstate 680 (Iowa and Nebraska) is the only interstate I have traveled end to end both ways, have gotten on and off all exits and entrances, and have nevertheless driven on the all the pavement between the ramps too.
I've driven all of Illinois Interstate 88 end to end, but in at least 6-8 stints. Haven't done all the ramps though.
I've ridden on I-29 both ways KC to over the line in Canada, but my dad drove quite a bit of it, and we didn't do all the ramps.
As for an official 'clinched' definition, I guess I'd give a nod to the anal retentive among us who've done a given road end to end both ways, and done all the ramps, and the pavement between the ramps too.
(Yeah, I know, I left out end to end both ways on all lanes, sue me)
:-D
Since I don't have a passport, I consider a road leading to Canada customs to be clinched if you took that road to the last possible exit in the U.S. I think relaxing the rule is acceptable in these situations, since turning around right before customs is sometimes not possible. I want to clinch as many roads as possible, but I don't think going into customs without a passport or a military base without proper clearance is worth the trouble just to say you've been on every possible inch of pavement. Like I said before, if I go to clinch I-69/I-94 in Michigan and get off just before the bridge which goes to customs with no way of getting turned around without entering into another country, I would consider that clinched for the reasons I stated above. Besides, it's just under 1 mile from that exit to the border, so it still fits my definition of "no more than one continuous mile uncovered".
That's what makes it interesting though, is to hear the slight differences in everyone's definition of what they consider to be clinched.
When I feel reasonably satisfied that what I've seen of it rounds up to the whole thing. I never drove the area west of the first exit or so of I-70. I also got off somewhere along the way and one exit and got on again at another. I'm not going to cry about it. I've driven the whole road as far as I'm concerned. You only get so much time in life and you can't waste too much of it on being upset that you skipped a few miles somewhere in Missouri. There are other roads to see.
Perhaps this is a bit of a circular definition, but I go by cmap/TravelMapping segments, counting the segments I've been on from end to end. If it's a gas stop, it's fine as long as it's the same interchange and same point in cmap/TravelMapping (i.e. opposite sides of the Baker, CA frontage road off I-15 through town would not be okay).
Sometimes I don't remember if I've been on one state highway or another, so I only count it if I had to have gone that way without a reasonable doubt, or if there is a photo I took or handwritten note I made backing that up.
Quote from: rschen7754 on December 18, 2015, 12:45:25 AM
Sometimes I don't remember if I've been on one state highway or another, so I only count it if I had to have gone that way without a reasonable doubt, or if there is a photo I took or handwritten note I made backing that up.
Reconstructing your travels can be the hard part, especially if they were done a long time ago when your record-keeping wasn't very good. Figuring out where I drove in California a quarter-century or more ago (including when I lived there through 1978) is particularly troublesome for me. For example, I know I went to Yosemite in 1991, and took lots of photos from Glacier Point within the park. But unless I dig through my shoeboxes of old film-camera photos, I can only take wild guesses how I got to or from Yosemite on that trip.
Quote from: jbnati27 on December 17, 2015, 07:07:17 PM
I consider it clinched by driving end to end. However, I allow the exits for gas, etc. as long as I get back on at the same exit.
I count this as well, especially since for a lot of the roads I have clinched, I did so before ever really thinking about the concept of clinching, and I'm not likely to ever get back to those roads just to pick up the stray 1/4 mile here or there that I missed due to exit/entrance ramps.
My definition is pretty loose as well, as I consider it simply driving from end to end of a route in any combination at any points in time. I'm still sort of undecided how I feel about considering a route I could not drive to customs as being clinched (the only example of this I have is I-95 in Maine, where we were unable to continue past US 2 due to lack of documents). The more I think about it the more I'm willing to fudge it and count it clinched.
I'm surprised we haven't heard yet from those with stricter rules (such as those who only count a route clinched if they drive it from end to end in the same direction).
Regarding military and border endpoints, I'm a bit of a purist. But I'm a retired servicemember (military ID card) and I have both a passport and an EDL, so those types of endpoints don't bother me as much as others here.
In fact, on some roadtrips and at a few road meets, I've been known to bring those riding with me onto a military base.
I agree with some others who will consider a stretch of route clinched if they get off at an exit but later get back on at that exit.
I only consider a route to be "clinched" if I have driven it from end to end. It doesn't matter if it was all in one trip or not though.
The routes I've clinched according to my rule have been I-565, AL 255, AL 35, AL 34, I-359, Alt US 72, and maybe AL 279 as well (I can't remember if I have or not though).
Quote from: jbnati27 on December 17, 2015, 07:07:17 PM
I consider it clinched by driving end to end. However, I allow the exits for gas, etc. as long as I get back on at the same exit.
Agreed. When I did my first "long" clinch of I-70, I did not turn around and go back an interchange to make sure I drove it all. Though because I drove most of it in both directions (except the miserable section in southwest Pennsylvania), I can say that I have "gotten" all of it.
I only count routes where I am driving when considering "clinching". I don't even keep track of being a passenger for non-interstates.
They absolutely can be cumulative; no need to grab it all in one go.
Only one direction of travel is needed.
Interchanges are treated as part of the routes that intersect. So a right turn onto a freeway from a lesser road that I am clinching counts. No need to go all the way to the other ramp terminal. Therefore exiting and re-entering at the same interchange is not considered a gap either.
If a route that I have clinched is moved to a new-terrain alignment (existing roads or new construction) then the route is no longer considered clinched by me and that part must be driven again. On-location widenings and curve smoothings don't apply.
Routes that are created out of existing highways; they must be driven after they are signed to be counted. Example: I've driven US 41 tons of times, but never since I-41 was signed this summer. So I must drive it again to consider any portion of I-41 to be clinched.
I share the consensus on military entrances. Although there only a few places where that happens that I would want to keep track of. (interstates)
International borders; I want to drive through to count it. But I understand that is not always reasonable. Hasn't been an issue yet in my clinching since I'm not keeping track of state highways outside of Wisconsin.
Quote from: froggie on December 18, 2015, 10:27:28 AM
Regarding military and border endpoints, I'm a bit of a purist. But I'm a retired servicemember (military ID card) and I have both a passport and an EDL, so those types of endpoints don't bother me as much as others here.
So am I, though my dependent military ID expired about four decades ago. I usually manage to get on base when absolutely necessary some other way, though don't try that during heightened security, or at sensitive or high-security installations such as Fort Knox or Area 51 (fortunately, no roads worth clinching to either place).
I have a passport and use it a lot at the Canadian border. The Mexican border raises additional issues, such as border violence risks, and the need to spend $ on a Mexican insurance policy if you drive there. Next time I feel I need to cross that border to clinch something, I'll look for ways to do it as a pedestrian (if the road has a sidewalk next to it on at least one side of the road where it crosses the border, that would work for me).
Quote from: oscar on December 18, 2015, 01:00:46 AM
Quote from: rschen7754 on December 18, 2015, 12:45:25 AM
Sometimes I don't remember if I've been on one state highway or another, so I only count it if I had to have gone that way without a reasonable doubt, or if there is a photo I took or handwritten note I made backing that up.
Reconstructing your travels can be the hard part, especially if they were done a long time ago when your record-keeping wasn't very good. Figuring out where I drove in California a quarter-century or more ago (including when I lived there through 1978) is particularly troublesome for me. For example, I know I went to Yosemite in 1991, and took lots of photos from Glacier Point within the park. But unless I dig through my shoeboxes of old film-camera photos, I can only take wild guesses how I got to or from Yosemite on that trip.
For me this is a particular issue from when I lived in Texas as a baby. I rode on various highways there, but I have no idea what they were other than a few that I had to have been on due to where we lived. I ultimately figure that since I was so young and had no idea what a road was, much less a "clinch," those travels are irrelevant. But I do count travel as a kid when I was old enough to know about roads because I always liked maps and roads. I see no reason not to count travel as a passenger. If I get tired and ask my wife to drive and I tell her where she needs to go, why wouldn't that count? Or earlier this fall when we were in Arizona riding with my brother-in-law.
I don't need indisputable evidence to satisfy myself on some roads where I'm not 100% sure I used them but it's extremely likely, typically in Virginia or Maryland where it's almost inconceivable I'd have gone from Point A to Point B via any route other than a particular one.
I've always thought clinching meant travelling literally all of the highway's length in one direction; if it's been done both ways, I consider it a bonus.
Quote from: Henry on December 18, 2015, 12:16:31 PM
I've always thought clinching meant travelling literally all of the highway's length in one direction; if it's been done both ways, I consider it a bonus.
Some roadgeeks have a term for that, which they call a "certified" clinch. For me though I generally don't apply that term for my own personal uses except in a fun-to-think-about way.
I fudge military bases and borders if on land or ferries; not so willing to do it with bridges. While I have a passport/EDL, I'm not spending an hour trying to teach border guards about roadgeeking and getting my car searched and possibly denied entry just to clinch a random state highway.
I consider the length of a route clinched with the exception that if I get off and on at the same, small diamond interchange, I don't consider that tiny mileage in-between ramps not clinched. For all larger interchanges, I go through the effort of going down to the next exit and turning around and whatnot to get that mileage.
I'm getting pickier as I get older, it seems, though. Those tiny little bits annoy me more and more. :D
Quote from: oscar on December 18, 2015, 11:20:55 AM
Quote from: froggie on December 18, 2015, 10:27:28 AM
Regarding military and border endpoints, I'm a bit of a purist. But I'm a retired servicemember (military ID card) and I have both a passport and an EDL, so those types of endpoints don't bother me as much as others here.
I have a passport and use it a lot at the Canadian border. The Mexican border raises additional issues, such as border violence risks, and the need to spend $ on a Mexican insurance policy if you drive there. Next time I feel I need to cross that border to clinch something, I'll look for ways to do it as a pedestrian (if the road has a sidewalk next to it on at least one side of the road where it crosses the border, that would work for me).
The San Diego-Tijuana border is particularly scary as there's a confusing maze of ramps once you cross the border. If you're not paying attention, you can get diverted to the freeway to Ensenada. If you're trying to turn around, you have to exit into downtown Tijuana, and then find the ramp that will take you back to the US.
I remember coming back from Mexico 10 years ago, trying to go through at San Ysidro, and somehow winding up at Otay Mesa after several U-turns. Thankfully, I clinched the border-facing portions of I-5 and CA 905 at that time and don't have to do it again.
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 18, 2015, 11:30:07 AM
For me this is a particular issue from when I lived in Texas as a baby. I rode on various highways there, but I have no idea what they were other than a few that I had to have been on due to where we lived. I ultimately figure that since I was so young and had no idea what a road was, much less a "clinch," those travels are irrelevant. But I do count travel as a kid when I was old enough to know about roads because I always liked maps and roads. I see no reason not to count travel as a passenger. If I get tired and ask my wife to drive and I tell her where she needs to go, why wouldn't that count? Or earlier this fall when we were in Arizona riding with my brother-in-law.
My litmus test is generally "
could I have been the driver?" Meaning a) not commercial transport of some kind, i.e. Greyhound or the like and b) the travel occurred after I got my license (which I didn't do until I was almost 21). That part is rather arbitrary, but it saves a lot of grief and head-scratching over trying to remember routes I may have ridden as a kid during family trips or whatnot. This is how I've constructed and continue to add to my CHM/TravelMapping database.
I always think of a road as clinched if I have been in a vehicle for every mile of pavement for a road. That means I didn't necessarily have to be the driver. It also means I only had to travel one direction for it to be clinched. I figure if we drove a road in both directions, it is "clinched both ways". As for exits on freeways, I always have to reenter at the same interchange for it to be clinched. I don't know how Missouri outer roads would work, though. I've never had to deal with international border crossings, but I would think going to the last possible turn is acceptable there.
Quote from: wphiii on December 18, 2015, 05:07:54 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 18, 2015, 11:30:07 AM
For me this is a particular issue from when I lived in Texas as a baby. I rode on various highways there, but I have no idea what they were other than a few that I had to have been on due to where we lived. I ultimately figure that since I was so young and had no idea what a road was, much less a "clinch," those travels are irrelevant. But I do count travel as a kid when I was old enough to know about roads because I always liked maps and roads. I see no reason not to count travel as a passenger. If I get tired and ask my wife to drive and I tell her where she needs to go, why wouldn't that count? Or earlier this fall when we were in Arizona riding with my brother-in-law.
My litmus test is generally "could I have been the driver?" Meaning a) not commercial transport of some kind, i.e. Greyhound or the like and b) the travel occurred after I got my license (which I didn't do until I was almost 21). That part is rather arbitrary, but it saves a lot of grief and head-scratching over trying to remember routes I may have ridden as a kid during family trips or whatnot. This is how I've constructed and continue to add to my CHM/TravelMapping database.
The reason I don't carry it that far is that I figure my being in the vehicle and being aware of the routing and interested in where we're going is enough to satisfy me. When I was growing up, my parents or other adults often asked me for directions or relied on me to tell them where to turn (example: on a Boy Scout trip to Prince Edward Island in 1989, I was riding with another kid's father and we didn't have any maps in the car because I knew where all the turns were). So once I allow that, it seems a bit silly to disallow, say, a school trip to Atlanta via Myrtle Beach in August 1990 via charter bus simply because I was a passenger on the bus rather than the driver. Of course it does mean I was much less focused on the road than I would be if I were driving (we probably played Hearts most of the way across I-20), but if you use "I could have been the driver" as the standard, it means you count segments where you may have been the passenger but dozed off, or where you had someone else drive because you were too drunk to drive, or the like, all of which are situations where you aren't paying attention to the road. That's why in my view it becomes unworkable if I try to draw the line in that manner.
Doesn't mean anyone else's method is right or wrong, of course. It just goes to the question of whether it's a question of "travel" or a question of "driving."
Are my CHM/Travel Mapping records missing some roads from trips when I was a kid? Almost certainly, and there are a few situations where I know I was in an area but I can't remember which of two possible routes we used. That's life, but it's not a reason for me to discount all the other roads I do know I travelled, especially in areas I'm not likely to visit again any time soon, if ever (the Island of Newfoundland and northern Ontario up near Cochrane and Timmins being two prime examples of that).
For those few roads I have claimed as clinched, I have driven from the beginning to the end, save for rest areas (although I have driven each of them enough to have driven past the rest areas). Of course roads with gaps, don't count the gap, like I-90 in Washington. For those with split ends, then ending ramps would be considered part of the freeway to which they are connecting.
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 19, 2015, 12:57:27 PMDoesn't mean anyone else's method is right or wrong, of course. It just goes to the question of whether it's a question of "travel" or a question of "driving."
These discussions always raise for me the question of why the criteria even matter, something I tried to get to the bottom of inthis thread (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=12631.0), in which there were about as many answers as respondents.
I think this concept last really interested me long before I ever knew of any of this online road discussion world, when I was younger and things like having driven all of a given highway somehow added to my checklist of experience in the world. Nowadays I'm just happy to see where a road goes and what it looks like there, so yes, my criteria for this sort of thing are extremely loose.
If I'm paying attention to the road and can see a "reasonable" amount, I count it clinched. Doesn't matter if I'm driving or not. I count some mileage from most (but not all) school trips (I don't count mileage from the school trip to DC that was at night because I was towards the back of the bus and they showed movies, so I couldn't see a thing; also, I was asleep for part of it on the way down, but aside from a bit of US 11/15 near Harrisburg and PA 147, I got all that mileage back when my family took a vacation to DC). I'll also use this standard to fudge routes, but only to a point. For example, if a freeway and a service road have separate designations, I won't count both unless I've ridden on both. I will fudge routes that end at borders (state and international) on land and ferries but not with bridges.
My definition of clinched is very loose, since I don't have a car of my own: any highway I've been physically on in any vehicle during daylight counts. As long as it's on the same right-of-way, I also count walking and cycling (e.g. the I-90 floating bridges, where I've used multiple modes for clinching). Trains running parallel to a highway don't count unless it's physically sharing right-of-way with it (e.g. light rail in Seattle's Rainier Valley along former SR 900).
If I restricted it to the "driven from end-to-end" definition, I've only cinched a single highway (I-405). That would make a very sad-looking clinch map.
I consider clinching to have being on every part of a highway, as a driver or passenger. As some have said, I give exception to international border crossings and roads restricted from the public. It also doesn't have to be done one entire trip or even in the same direction.
Quote from: dgolub on December 17, 2015, 06:49:06 PMAnthony and I fudged the definition a little bit with NJ 68, since there's a small piece that's inside a military base that isn't open to the public.
Quote from: froggie on December 18, 2015, 10:27:28 AM
Regarding military and border endpoints, I'm a bit of a purist. But I'm a retired servicemember (military ID card) and I have both a passport and an EDL, so those types of endpoints don't bother me as much as others here.
NJ 68 bugged me for years, but eventually I surrendered to the reality that I have no reasonable means of legally reaching the end of it. Should that ever change I would definitely jump at the opportunity to go to the end more legitimately, but in the meantime I've done the best I can.
This situation is unusual, though - generally, when a road ends at a gate to a military base, it is perfectly possible to U-turn right in front of the gate and thus clinch the road legitimately without clearing security. NJ 68 ends beyond the gate inside of the base, due to a historical quirk that pre-9/11 Fort Dix had no gates and the public was permitted to drive through. So, this doesn't concern me so much for other roads that end at military bases.
As for borders, well, my willingness to call a U-turn or turn-off good depends on how close to the actual border the U-turn point is. On US 5, for example, I drove past US customs and then made a right turn onto Caswell Avenue. Did not enter Canada but turned off less than a football field's length from the physical location of the border. I consider US 5 clinched. But I would not, for example, consider getting off at the last exit before the border to be good enough for an interstate because:
1) the missed distance is generally less trivial, can easily be half a mile or more.
2) I have a passport and can legally cross the border, so I can't plead inability to do better in these situations.
That said I do know better than to pull up to customs and be like "yeah, I'm just out for a joyride, not entering your country for any particular reason". I snag opportunities to clinch border-end roads when I am traveling to Canada for some more substantial purpose.
Heh. Regarding forgetting portions of travels as a kid: Despite the fact that I was the navigator for many of my family's trips, there were only two situations I came across where I had a frustrating lack of memory:
1) We traveled across country from east-to-west on US 30 and US 24 to...at least I-57. For years, I couldn't remember how we got from that point over to Nauvoo, IL, other than the fact we somehow dropped to US 136. I didn't know if we went all the way to Peoria or dropped down I-57 or I-55. Very frustrating. However, with the advent of GSV and what was a miserable amount of time, I was able to pinpoint the route. This was due to one clear memory I had of a very straight portion of US 136 and my father making the joke that he could see the curvature of the Earth. Somewhere around here (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3117558,-88.2045913,3a,75y,260.16h,93.72t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s_plSYW6e4xDUa0ChZkp3mw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D_plSYW6e4xDUa0ChZkp3mw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D179.02371%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656).
2) The other one just hasn't been resolved yet: We traveled across Alligator Alley before it was I-75 and somehow made our way north from Fort Lauderdale to some point on I-95...to somewhere...mmph...whatever. I don't guess or speculate without evidence, so my map shows only what I'm certain of (i.e., strange stubs of I-75 and I-95) in southern Florida.
I don't have too many where I don't remember the route well. The major one I can think of (other than everything in California, seeing as I was an infant when my family took that vacation; I don't count myself as having visited the state at all for that reason) is the Main trip I took with some people in college, as one leg was done at night on rural local roads. I ended up just using an endpoint that was as far west as could be possible and turned out to be right when I found the house we stayed at on street view years later.
My family never went on any terribly aggressive trips when I was young and I was paying attention to where we were going since as long as I can remember. So, my list of assumed clinches is fairly short and one item on it (FL 60 from Clearwater Beach to FL 589) lacks any equally reasonable alternative given the known endpoints.
But yes, I do count the assumptions. I'd rather have a few educated guesses than a list I factually know to be non-exhaustive.
I'm not overly anal about it. I have to travel the length of the route, one direction is enough, and having to exit to get gas and food is a part of life, as long as I use the same interchange to get back on again its in the books.
Like 1995who and a few others I count family trips from when I was a child, too. I was a "crewmember", if you will, for many long trips back in the day as the official navigator for the trip. So no, I wasn't physically on control of the car, but I certainly was "driving" if you get my meaning. In many instances I was probably paying closer attention than my dad who was actually doing the driving, LOL.
I wouldn't count any mileage spent on a bus though. Chances are I wouldn't even be able to see out of the front window, anyway.
Not sure how old you are Rothman, but I do remember that, at least according to the Rand McNalley atlases of the day, that Alligator Alley was I-75 even way back in the 70's when it was just a two lane road through the Everglades. I am trying to remember if I saw I-75 assurance markers on it during my one and only crossing of it during the winter of 1979-1980. I do remember growing growing up believing that it was a part of the Interstate system during that time, anyway. It's because of that crossing and subsequent visits to south Florida as an adult that I consider I-75 clinched end to end (although there is some question as to exactly how much of it I got in Sault St Marie as a 4 year child-I know I have been to the locks and watched the big ore ships pass through, I am just not 100% certain we got there via the northern terminus of I-75 or if we had exited just previous too that. My dad passed away several years ago and my mom just doesn't remember).
Quote from: slorydn1 on December 24, 2015, 05:04:39 PM
Not sure how old you are Rothman, but I do remember that, at least according to the Rand McNalley atlases of the day, that Alligator Alley was I-75 even way back in the 70's when it was just a two lane road through the Everglades.
Eh, I doubt that. It had a state route number when I was kid (late '70s), early '80s. In fact, I remember when I-75 ended north of North Port, FL, since my grandparents had a summer home there. It had to be much later when I-75 was officially extended across Alligator Alley.
If I have been on the entire length of the road in any veichle, passenger or driver, (not old enough for license), it is clinched. Exceptions can be made for international borders. Being in a car while sleeping counts.
For me, given that I do not drive, a clinch means the following:
1) I have to have been on the route from one end to the other.
2) It need not have been in one sitting. Example, I had traveled sections of I-71 from Louisville to Columbus well before I ever ventured past Columbus to Mansfield, and didn't fully clinch the interstate until my return trip from Providence, RI last October when I went through Cleveland and thus clinched it.
3) Exits for fuel, food, etc. count as long as I re-enter from the same exit. Example, stopping along I-68 at the Maryland welcome center counts because I re-entered at the same interchange. However, when I exited I-95 in RI on a trip several years ago, I didn't re-enter at the same location = no clinch. Of course, I still have a ton of 95 left to go anyway, so no clinch yet.
4) It must be since the age of 7.
Quote from: JMoses24 on April 25, 2017, 01:43:09 PM
For me, given that I do not drive, a clinch means the following:
1) I have to have been on the route from one end to the other.
2) It need not have been in one sitting. Example, I had traveled sections of I-71 from Louisville to Columbus well before I ever ventured past Columbus to Mansfield, and didn't fully clinch the interstate until my return trip from Providence, RI last October when I went through Cleveland and thus clinched it.
3) Exits for fuel, food, etc. count as long as I re-enter from the same exit. Example, stopping along I-68 at the Maryland welcome center counts because I re-entered at the same interchange. However, when I exited I-95 in RI on a trip several years ago, I didn't re-enter at the same location = no clinch. Of course, I still have a ton of 95 left to go anyway, so no clinch yet.
4) It must be since the age of 7.
I feel the same way, minus the age 7 part. As long as I can remember being on all of it (even in parts), it counts for me. It does not have to be both ways (even though there are a couple roads that count as clinched for me in that sense), though it does need to be consistent in direction. (E.G. I would not consider taking I-70 westbound from Baltimore to Topeka and eastbound from I-15 to Topeka as being clinched.)
I used to think it was simply traveling a segment of a highway. Now I consider it to be traveling the entire length.
For a while, I used to keep track of what Minnesota highways I'd clinched (this was back around 2010-2012 when I did a lot of in-state driving–then I moved to Iowa...)
My definition was a little weird in that I based it upon the records in MnDOT's logpoint record (http://www.dot.state.mn.us/roadway/data/reports/logpt/statelpt.pdf) (PDF warning). If I traveled a majority of the distance (>75%, subjectively) between two entries, it counted. That way I could pull off for gas and still consider that section cliched, even if I didn't drive myself over the 50 feet of pavement between driveways.
Then, sometime around late 2013 and 2014 I quit updating the spreadsheet I used to keep track of it all, and now I have no idea precisely what I do and do not have clinched. Never have I really kept any sort of precise record of what I have and haven't driven in Iowa, although I have a pretty good general idea.
My definition of clinched is:
To have traveled the entire portion of a numbered highway in both directions in one or more sessions.
Quote from: TravelingBethelite on April 26, 2017, 11:42:29 AM
I feel the same way, minus the age 7 part. As long as I can remember being on all of it (even in parts), it counts for me. It does not have to be both ways (even though there are a couple roads that count as clinched for me in that sense), though it does need to be consistent in direction. (E.G. I would not consider taking I-70 westbound from Baltimore to Topeka and eastbound from I-15 to Topeka as being clinched.)
We differ on the last part. I consider routes clinched by taking the full route with no distinction made as to what direction it has been done in. My I-71 example comes to mind. I've done both sides of 71 from Louisville to as far as Mansfield...but only southbound north of that point. I still consider it clinched because I have been ON 71 from Cleveland to Louisville.
Of course, there are routes I clinched that I HAVE done both directions (I-68 is the main example).
I consider a route clinched when I have travelled all of its length. I doesn't have to be with a vehicle, I have a local road clinched on the grounds I have run all of its length.
In today's world if you didn't record it, it didn't happen.
For me, I just have to travel the full length of the route. I don't care about direction, time of day, who was driving, how old I was, whether I was sleeping, etc. as long as I know I have physically been on the route's full length. It is fine to get off the interstate and get back on at the same exit. Texas style frontage roads count as part of the route. And it doesn't have to be by car--walking or biking is fine.
For military bases and international borders, I can take the last exit before the gate and still call it a clinch. Of course, if I were actually driving across the border for another reason, I'd make sure to do it on a road that I had already clinched the rest of.
Quote from: tradephoric on June 01, 2017, 07:21:43 AM
In today's world if you didn't record it, it didn't happen.
Like, if you don't record it, higher powers will wipe it from exsistance?
My definition is loose since I don't drive due to anxiety issues (among a few other reasons), so basically as long as I've covered the length of the road, I consider it clinched. Direction, time of day, etc doesn't matter to me.
Quote from: JMoses24 on May 31, 2017, 11:48:44 PM
Quote from: TravelingBethelite on April 26, 2017, 11:42:29 AM
I feel the same way, minus the age 7 part. As long as I can remember being on all of it (even in parts), it counts for me. It does not have to be both ways (even though there are a couple roads that count as clinched for me in that sense), though it does need to be consistent in direction. (E.G. I would not consider taking I-70 westbound from Baltimore to Topeka and eastbound from I-15 to Topeka as being clinched.)
We differ on the last part. I consider routes clinched by taking the full route with no distinction made as to what direction it has been done in. My I-71 example comes to mind. I've done both sides of 71 from Louisville to as far as Mansfield...but only southbound north of that point. I still consider it clinched because I have been ON 71 from Cleveland to Louisville.
US71 ["I-49 MO clinched"] for me is kind of like that... I have never taken it from Bella Vista to KC, but I have driven every mile of pavement NB/SB in several trips. NB to Joplin (MO249), SB to Bella Vista (US71), SB to Neosho (MO59) NB to KC (MO59), then EB/WB to and from Springfield/Carthage