If you remember when your state started posting exit numbers, post it here.
In Michigan, I think the first exit numbers were posted sometime around 1960, but initially only on I-94, then exit numbers were slowly being posted on other freeways throughout the state and is maybe still going on today, since most freeways now have them and only a handful (such as M-8 and I-375) still have none.
How about your state?
New Jersey (former home state): IIRC, the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway have used exit numbers from the beginning -- so the 1950s.
As for Washington, I have no idea. Perhaps worth noting though, it's only been recently that they've been putting exit numbers on the non-interstates, and I-705 has none.
Quote from: Kacie Jane on October 11, 2012, 08:48:43 PM
New Jersey (former home state): IIRC, the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway have used exit numbers from the beginning -- so the 1950s.
As for Washington, I have no idea. Perhaps worth noting though, it's only been recently that they've been putting exit numbers on the non-interstates, and I-705 has none.
California-Spring 2002
Hong Kong-2004
Queensland-2000
Quote from: national highway 1 on October 11, 2012, 08:51:09 PM
California-Spring 2002
Nope - 1971. https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=3442.0
New York: 1938 (NYC-Long Island parkways)
Quote from: MDOTFanFB on October 11, 2012, 08:37:57 PM
In Michigan, I think the first exit numbers were posted sometime around 1960, but initially only on I-94, then exit numbers were slowly being posted on other freeways throughout the state and is maybe still going on today, since most freeways now have them and only a handful (such as M-8 and I-375) still have none.
I have a report from 1965 which mentions that Michigan had mile-based exits on I-75 in that year. this was apparently a novelty to the California people who compiled the report after visiting some other states to see what freeway signage practices were around the country.
could this be the oldest instance of mile-based, as opposed to sequential, exit numbering?
Quote from: agentsteel53 on October 11, 2012, 09:42:35 PM
I have a report from 1965 which mentions that Michigan had mile-based exits on I-75 in that year. this was apparently a novelty to the California people who compiled the report after visiting some other states to see what freeway signage practices were around the country.
could this be the oldest instance of mile-based, as opposed to sequential, exit numbering?
The Garden State Parkway had them by 1960.
Maryland - certainly they were in use on the JFK Highway (I-95) when it opened in 1963.
Capital Beltway had them in Maryland (and Virginia) when it was completed in 1964.
Most of the Baltimore Beltway (I-695) is older than both of the above (except for the segments approaching and crossing the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which did not open until the 1970's), but I am not certain if the exits were numbered from the start, though I believe that they were.
The Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway (I-895 today) may have had numbered exits from the start in 1957, though I am not certain about that (I was not around at that point in time). I do know that the exit numbers on present-day I-895 are different from those on I-895 in the 1960's and 1970's (there were separate sets of exit numbers for northbound (north of the tunnel) and southbound (south of the tunnel)).
Connecticut: 1947, on the Merritt Parkway (and a year before a route number was applied to it): http://www.kurumi.com/roads/ct/exits.html#history
For the most part, prior to my childhood in the 1970s, although I seem to recall that not all signs on the part of I-95 that is now I-395 had exit numbers during the 1970s. I may be mistaken on that, but I don't recall there being exit numbers for at least some of the interchanges.
The District of Columbia didn't use exit numbers until about five or six years ago except on I-295. They now have sequential numbers on I-395 (milepost would be impractical due to the minimal distance and the close spacing).
The Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike opened in the late 1950s. I think (but may be wrong) that the sequential numbers on it were there from the beginning.
This is an interesting question-I've always just assumed that Nebraska had them from the beginning, but I guess that probably isn't true. I don't think they had them when the first section of I-80 was opened between Lincoln and Omaha in 1961-the booklet commemorating the event that was released at the time(available as a PDF from the NDOR website) doesn't make any mention of exit numbers. It's hard to go back and look at old maps for confirmation either because many maps didn't have exit numbers even well after they were marked in the field. I certainly don't remember a time when Nebraska didn't have exit numbers so I'm guessing they have been around since the early 70s at least.
New Mexico first posted exit numbers along I-25 around 1973. It was the first mile-based exit number I had ever seen and didn't understand the derivation of the number at that time as in, why what I knew to be the 8th or 9th exit was numbered 32. Colorado had exit numbers in the 1970s, but they were sequential.
I know Virginia had sequential exit numbers on I-81 in the early 1960's, as well as the RPT, the Capital Beltway, and exits 4-10 on the part of I-64 on the Peninsula (Hampton and Newport News). It wasn't until 1981 that the rest of the interstates in Virginia received their sequential exit numbers, which were changed to milepost exits in 1990-91.
Iowa first used them on four interchanges along I-235* in 1969 as an experiment. In 1971 I-80's exits were numbered sequentially**, but newer segments of I-29, I-35, and I-380 received mileage-based exits when they opened during the early 1970s. Iowa switched to mileage-based exit numbering statewide in 1977.
*Incidentally, Exits 1-4 were the only numbered exits along I-235 for many years, until it was reconstructed between 2002-2007. Now all exits are numbered.
**In case you're wondering why the I-29 and I-35 multiplexes use I-80's exit numbers, this is why: I-80 received exit numbers first.
Not sure when exit numbers were first used on Interstates; however Oregon started applying exit numbers to non-interstate routes (primarily Oregon 217 in Beaverton and Tigard, and Oregon 126 in Springfield) within the last 10-20 years.
One quirk, Oregon also has the strange habit of installing exit numbers on some non-freeway interchanges - notably on Oregon 18 at Oregon 18B (Sheridan), Oregon 22 (Willamina) and Fort Hill Road, but not at the Sheridan city center exit and there are also at-grade interchanges in the mix (nor are there exit numbers at either McMinnville interchange). The interchange of Oregon 22 and 99W has an exit number, but it's the only one on 22 west of Salem - none of the West Salem exits have one. Most of the interchanges east of Salem on 22 have them. And I believe on U.S. 97 there are some interchanges in Bend and Klamath Falls that have exit numbers.
It's odd to be driving down the road and have a single exit have a number...the number really makes no sense because nothing else nearby is numbered. But it is milepost based.
And I-405 brings up the absurdity of using mileage based exit numbers on short routes: There are 10 off-ramps available northbound, and the freeway itself is 4.25 miles long. Thus you have Exit 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 2A, 2B, and 3. What should be Exit 3B and 4 (although they are directly across from each other, 3B being a left exit and 4 being a right exit) are unnumbered. Exit 1D has two separate ramps that are not separately numbered. IMO: If a freeway is less than 10 miles long, just use sequential numbering (which would also apply to Oregon 217 and I-105/Oregon 126).
Quote from: sp_redelectric on October 13, 2012, 11:18:07 AM
And I-405 brings up the absurdity of using mileage based exit numbers on short routes: There are 10 off-ramps available northbound, and the freeway itself is 4.25 miles long. Thus you have Exit 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 2A, 2B, and 3. What should be Exit 3B and 4 (although they are directly across from each other, 3B being a left exit and 4 being a right exit) are unnumbered. Exit 1D has two separate ramps that are not separately numbered. IMO: If a freeway is less than 10 miles long, just use sequential numbering (which would also apply to Oregon 217 and I-105/Oregon 126).
I-270Y (commonly called the I-270 Spur and inconsistently signed as such) in Montgomery County, Maryland has exactly one interchange at Democracy Boulevard, which is signed as Exit 1.
Quote from: sp_redelectric on October 13, 2012, 11:18:07 AM
And I-405 brings up the absurdity of using mileage based exit numbers on short routes: There are 10 off-ramps available northbound, and the freeway itself is 4.25 miles long. Thus you have Exit 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 2A, 2B, and 3. What should be Exit 3B and 4 (although they are directly across from each other, 3B being a left exit and 4 being a right exit) are unnumbered. Exit 1D has two separate ramps that are not separately numbered. IMO: If a freeway is less than 10 miles long, just use sequential numbering (which would also apply to Oregon 217 and I-105/Oregon 126).
On a loop like I-405 that's roughly equal in length to the parent section being bypassed, you can also use the mileage from the beginning of I-5.
Illinois seems to have installed exit numbers (distance-based) in the mid to late 1970s. Before then, I can't find evidence of exit numbering in the state.
New Jersey had them, of course on the three main toll roads since conception, but the interstates did not have them all until 1992 or something around when I-287 was widened in Somerset and Morris Counties from 4 to 6 lanes.
I remember when I-78 did not have any of them, except east of NJ 24. They were added to the system in the early 80s and this was the first NJ interstate to use the current exit tabs placed on top toward the right of the sign. At first all NJ freeways that did have them(and some places still use them today) had them centered on top. I believe that there are still some exits on I-280 located in The Oranges and Newark that still have no posted exit numbers, like the GS Parkway exit in East Orange did not have them (or still does not) for a long time.
In Florida we have only had the number system on I-95 and I-4 from the early 80s. I remember when all the billboards would advertise businesses would have to use the route number as an exit (i.e one located on FL 436 would say use Exit 436 etc). The Turnpike was using increments of 4 or 5 between sequentially based numbers with 1 starting at Golden Glades and the Homestead Extension, I think, had no numbers. It was the FL Turnpike that went to mile based numbers, then the OOCEA did for Orlando area toll roads, and now the whole interstate system is mile post based. Only the Lee Roy Salmon Expressway uses sequential numbering to this day.
Quote from: roadman65 on October 13, 2012, 07:57:03 PM
Only the Lee Roy Salmon Expressway uses sequential numbering to this day.
I spent too much time on this crap.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi50.tinypic.com%2F214b3uu.png&hash=59d23341b32959e921abe4ceeb37c09de51a204c)
In Massachusetts, most likely when the highway segments of Route 128 were built in the late 40s through 1951. Though the exit numbers were different from what's there today along the Peabody-to-Gloucester segment (the one stretch that's still just 128). Example: the MA 114 interchange's original exit numbers were 16 (orignally north/now west) & 17 (originally south/now east) vs. the current 25A (east) & 25B (west).
Quote from: PHLBOS on October 17, 2012, 12:14:55 PM
In Massachusetts, most likely when the highway segments of Route 128 were built in the late 40s through 1951. Though the exit numbers were different from what's there today along the Peabody-to-Gloucester segment (the one stretch that's still just 128). Example: the MA 114 interchange's original exit numbers were 16 (orignally north/now west) & 17 (originally south/now east) vs. the current 25A (east) & 25B (west).
According to the MassDPW press release I have somewhere in my archives, Massachusetts first introduced exit numbers in 1959. However, in the pre I-95 and I-93 overlap days, the numbering along Route 128 was quite different than it is today. First, the numbers ran in ascending order from north to south (which still exists to this day between Gloucester and Peabody). Second, it was a rule (as specifically highlighted in said press release) that when any other controlled-access highway intersected with Route 128, the exit to Route 128 from that highway was always designated as Exit 25 (this is why the freeway portion of US 3 in Burlington begins/ends with Exit 25).
Of course, all that was changed on I-93 during the Somerville to Methuen reconstruction projects in the early 1970s - which also saw Massachusetts' only implementation of the FHWA"s short-lived "EXIT X MILE Y" exit tab experiment (but between Somerville and Woburn only), and on I-95 during the 'end-to end' exit numbering in 1985 (which was also done on I-93 between Canton and Methuen at the same time).
Quote from: NE2 on October 13, 2012, 08:27:09 PM
I spent too much time on this crap.
[img
Your labor does not go unappreciated.
Quote from: roadman on October 17, 2012, 01:08:54 PM
Quote from: PHLBOS on October 17, 2012, 12:14:55 PM
In Massachusetts, most likely when the highway segments of Route 128 were built in the late 40s through 1951. Though the exit numbers were different from what's there today along the Peabody-to-Gloucester segment (the one stretch that's still just 128). Example: the MA 114 interchange's original exit numbers were 16 (orignally north/now west) & 17 (originally south/now east) vs. the current 25A (east) & 25B (west).
According to the MassDPW press release I have somewhere in my archives, Massachusetts first introduced exit numbers in 1959. However, in the pre I-95 and I-93 overlap days, the numbering along Route 128 was quite different than it is today. First, the numbers ran in ascending order from north to south (which still exists to this day between Gloucester and Peabody). Second, it was a rule (as specifically highlighted in said press release) that when any other controlled-access highway intersected with Route 128, the exit to Route 128 from that highway was always designated as Exit 25 (this is why the freeway portion of US 3 in Burlington begins/ends with Exit 25).
Of course, all that was changed on I-93 during the Somerville to Methuen reconstruction projects in the early 1970s - which also saw Massachusetts' only implementation of the FHWA"s short-lived "EXIT X MILE Y" exit tab experiment (but between Somerville and Woburn only), and on I-95 during the 'end-to end' exit numbering in 1985 (which was also done on I-93 between Canton and Methuen at the same time).
The sources from my earlier-posts regarding 128 getting exit number right after it opened, aside from Wiki; were a
1950 1956 USGS quad map (Salem Quadrangle) I saw at the first engineering firm I worked in over in Danvers and one photo from the below-website showing a photo (circa 1949 according to the source) of an original wooden, button-copy BGS at the MA 4/MA 25 (now MA 225) interchange with the Exit number panel posted below (& centered) the BGS.
http://www.bambinomusical.com/128/new128.html (http://www.bambinomusical.com/128/new128.html)
As stated earlier, the
original exit numbering along 128 actually started at or near Exit 1 in Gloucester and increased southward. Many of the cloverleaf interchanges, then had separate (no suffixed) exit numbers and did not skip over to allow for future interchanges (examples: I-93 & I-95). I'm not 100% sure exactly when the DPW changed the exit numbers to start off at Exit 9 in Gloucester but I'm guessing that it was sometime in the late-50s/early 60s. I have a 1966
Boston & Vicinity road map that shows the pre-1987 numbering (9-69, Gloucester-to-Braintree).
If memory serves, Canton-to-Braintree was renumbered circa 1986 (following the reconstruction of the Southeast Expressway) and the Canton-to-Peabody segment was renumbered circa 1987 (in anticipation of the I-95/MA 128 Peabody interchange being completed a year later).
Not sure when the
Exit 25 at 128 first took place, but I'm guessing it was during the late 50s/early 60s when the I-93, US 3, MA 24, MA 3/Southeast Expressway and I-95-Canton interchanges were built. It's interesting that I-90/Mass Pike and MA 2 did not adopt this exit number nomanclature despite their interchanges w/128 existing at the time.
Quote from: PHLBOS on October 17, 2012, 04:20:45 PM
a 1950 USGS quad map (Salem Quadrangle) I saw at the first engineering firm I worked in over in Danvers
http://ims.er.usgs.gov/gda_services/download?item_id=5632307&quad=Salem&state=MA&grid=7.5X7.5&series=Map%20GeoPDF
Quote from: NE2 on October 17, 2012, 04:26:48 PM
Quote from: PHLBOS on October 17, 2012, 04:20:45 PM
a 1950 USGS quad map (Salem Quadrangle) I saw at the first engineering firm I worked in over in Danvers
http://ims.er.usgs.gov/gda_services/download?item_id=5632307&quad=Salem&state=MA&grid=7.5X7.5&series=Map%20GeoPDF
Thanks for the link. Not sure why I thought 1950 rather than 1956 (maybe I was thinking of the date of the original I-95 Topsfield-to-Newburyport layout)
Anyway, listed MA 128 exit numbers:
Old Exit 9/current Exit 19 (Brimbal Ave. (Sohier Road would come later))
Old Exit 10/current Exit 20B (MA 1A North)
Old Exit 11/current Exit 20A (MA 1A South)
Note: No Trask Lane nor Conant St. exit ramps (current Exit 21)
Old Exit 12/current Exit 22 & former 22W (MA 62, MA 62 West from 128 Northbound)*
Old Exit 13/former Exit 22E (MA 62 East from 128 Northbound)*
*Exits 22/22E/22W were recently consolidated into one exit ramp (22 - MA 62) from 128 Northbound)
Old Exit 14/former Exit 23N (MA 35 North)**
Old Exit 15/former Exit 23S (MA 35 South)**
**Exits 23N/23S were recently consolidated into one exit ramp (23 - MA 35).
Old Exit 15A/current Exit 24 (Endicott St.); probably the first time MA used an 'A' suffix for an exit number. Interchange was a then-recent add-on and obviously predates the Liberty Tree Mall (which opened in 1971).
Old Exit 16/current Exit 25B (MA 114 then-North, now West)***
Old Exit 17/current Exit 25A (MA 114 then-South, now East)***
*** Interchange predates the North Shore Shopping Center (now Mall) existence and related alterations/expansions. Note: Lafayette Street south of Loring Ave. & Salem State College (now University) is still listed as MA 129. Back then, MA 114 ended at MA 1A/107 in Salem and was a north-south route.
Old Exit 18/current Exit 26 (Lowell St.)
Also note that the old at-grade intersections of Forrest & Summit Streets have no exit numbers (they would later become Exits 27 & 28). The US 1 interchange (off the quad-sheet) was a much smaller cloverleaf interchange w/no Goodwin's Circle connector from Salem St. (current MA 129 & original MA 128) and was Exits 19 & 20. It would later become Exit 30 (S & N/A & B Northbound only) and then to the current Exit 43 (A & B Northbound only) in 1987.
Nonetheless: my point regarding MA highways having exit numbers when the Yankee Division Highway/MA 128 was first built and
prior to 1959 still stands.
Side bar: note the US 1/MA 62 interchange ramp configuration, pre-I-95; particularly the US 1 North/MA 62 East ramps.
Québec has used them since at least 1964.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GLoEAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_z0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2150%2C4456439
I'm not sure whether or not the Laurentian Autoroute used exit numbers prior to that. If it did, then they were sequential and switched to mileage-based in '64.
All the exits were renumbered following metrication in the '70s.
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on October 17, 2012, 05:20:14 PM
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GLoEAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_z0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2150%2C4456439
on an unrelated topic, scroll over to the right on that newspaper page, and read about a gas war.
googling "gas war" gives a pretty terrible signal-to-noise ratio, but I believe the gist of it was that large chains lower prices to force smaller independent stations to go out of business: either match the price, and lose money, or keep selling at high prices and lose customers.
I think the US made them illegal (anti-competitive business practices) a few decades ago, and I'll bet Canada did the same as well.
Thanks PHLBOS for the clarification regarding exit numbers on Route 128. I was aware that Route 128 was one of the first highways in Massachusetts to have exit numbers, but I had thought it was done concurrent with the 1959 numbering plan, and not before then.
Regarding Route 2 at Route 128, I suspect this was never signed as "EXIT 25" because, although Route 2 had exit numbers assigned to it since the 1960s(?), they didn't appear on the BGS panels in the Lincoln to Cambridge section until the (mostly) ground-mounted signs were replaced with new overhead signs during the 1991 sign replacement project.
As for the Route 128 exit on the MassPike, remember that the road was operated by a separate agency until November of 2009, when the Turnpike Authority was merged with MassHighway. As such, it may not even had occurred to MassDPW to put the request to MTA when they were planning the 1959 exit numbering scheme for their roads.
My earliest recollection of Ohio having exit numbers (outside of the Ohio Turnpike - 1955) was in the late 60's, and that was along I-90 (Used to hear commercials for THOMPSON DRAG RACEWAY mentioning exiting I-90 at the Madison (OH) exit, #61).
Quote from: roadman on October 17, 2012, 01:08:54 PM
According to the MassDPW press release [...] it was a rule (as specifically highlighted in said press release) that when any other controlled-access highway intersected with Route 128, the exit to Route 128 from that highway was always designated as Exit 25
Is there a reason for this...some significance of the number "25" to Route 128? Did this rule place exit 25 out of numerical order on intersecting routes?
I didn't notice Cal. used exit numbers on their freeways until a decade ago (my memory may be right or wrong) :confused:, but the L.A. county sector of I-10 had exit numbers from 1 (the beach at Santa Monica) to 46-something for Indian Hill Avenue on the LA-san Bernardino county line as far as I can remember.
Quote from: roadfro on October 19, 2012, 03:59:48 AM
Quote from: roadman on October 17, 2012, 01:08:54 PM
According to the MassDPW press release [...] it was a rule (as specifically highlighted in said press release) that when any other controlled-access highway intersected with Route 128, the exit to Route 128 from that highway was always designated as Exit 25
Is there a reason for this...some significance of the number "25" to Route 128? Did this rule place exit 25 out of numerical order on intersecting routes?
Numbers were in order, counting down inside 128 and up outside. Presumably they figured no route would have more than 24 exits inside 128.
Quote from: Mike D boy on October 19, 2012, 04:20:33 AM
I didn't notice Cal. used exit numbers on their freeways until a decade ago (my memory may be right or wrong) :confused:, but the L.A. county sector of I-10 had exit numbers from 1 (the beach at Santa Monica) to 46-something for Indian Hill Avenue on the LA-san Bernardino county line as far as I can remember.
about 2002 is when the major exit-numbering project came into play, so that is what you probably started noticing.
before that, there was an experiment in 1971 with exit numbers that resulted in only a few being put up, around the East LA Interchange. a lot of those survive. they are notable for being centered,
mounted externally, made of porcelain, and - did I mention -
mounted externally!
for all of CalTrans's quibbling about how external tabs would never stand up to wind loading ... here's an experiment that was showing 30+ years of success at the time of the new numbering project, and is now at 40+ years and counting.
(certainly there are much windier places in CA than East Los Angeles, but it was a stupid decision for the
entire state to have internal tabs, as opposed to using external tabs and issuing a waiver for San Gorgonio Pass on I-10.)
Quote from: agentsteel53 on October 19, 2012, 10:25:45 AM
Quote from: Mike D boy on October 19, 2012, 04:20:33 AM
I didn't notice Cal. used exit numbers on their freeways until a decade ago (my memory may be right or wrong) :confused:, but the L.A. county sector of I-10 had exit numbers from 1 (the beach at Santa Monica) to 46-something for Indian Hill Avenue on the LA-san Bernardino county line as far as I can remember.
about 2002 is when the major exit-numbering project came into play, so that is what you probably started noticing.
before that, there was an experiment in 1971 with exit numbers that resulted in only a few being put up, around the East LA Interchange. a lot of those survive. they are notable for being centered, mounted externally, made of porcelain, and - did I mention - mounted externally!
I do find it interesting that basically all of I-10 in Los Angeles County had the numbers installed in 1971, yet much less for the other routes (i.e. very short portion of I-5 and US 101, and not much of what was then Route 11). Makes me wonder if they continued with 10 exit-by-exit until the project was cancelled...
Quote from: roadman on October 18, 2012, 04:24:46 PM
Thanks PHLBOS for the clarification regarding exit numbers on Route 128. I was aware that Route 128 was one of the first highways in Massachusetts to have exit numbers, but I had thought it was done concurrent with the 1959 numbering plan, and not before then.
The only thing I wasn't aware of was
when the change from the original exit numbers (which, for obvious reasons, did not take into account future interchanges with other highways) to the Exit 9 at MA 127A and increasing southward took place. I'm guessing that the original numbering scheme likely had Exit 1 at the MA 127/Grant Circle rotary (current Exit 11) and the other 127 intersection (current Exit 10) and 127A intersection (current Exit 9) did not originally have exit numbers. It's worth noting that the Blackburn Circle rotary (located between the two 127 intersections/Exits 10 & 11)
still has no exit number assigned to it.
Quote from: roadman on October 18, 2012, 04:24:46 PMRegarding Route 2 at Route 128, I suspect this was never signed as "EXIT 25" because, although Route 2 had exit numbers assigned to it since the 1960s(?), they didn't appear on the BGS panels in the Lincoln to Cambridge section until the (mostly) ground-mounted signs were replaced with new overhead signs during the 1991 sign replacement project.
The current exit numbering along MA 2 certainly doesn't reflect the 25/128 scheme. Did the early exit numbering scheme have that
on paper then changed over later on before it actually appeared on BGS'?
Quote from: roadman on October 18, 2012, 04:24:46 PMAs for the Route 128 exit on the MassPike, remember that the road was operated by a separate agency until November of 2009, when the Turnpike Authority was merged with MassHighway. As such, it may not even had occurred to MassDPW to put the request to MTA when they were planning the 1959 exit numbering scheme for their roads.
With the Mass Pike, I figured as such. So what you're saying is that the Exit 25 at 128 nomenclature officially began in 1959?
Quote from: NE2 on October 19, 2012, 04:25:30 AM
Quote from: roadfro on October 19, 2012, 03:59:48 AMIs there a reason for this...some significance of the number "25" to Route 128? Did this rule place exit 25 out of numerical order on intersecting routes?
Numbers were in order, counting down inside 128 and up outside. Presumably they figured no route would have more than 24 exits inside 128.
One would have to wonder how the DPW would've handled the exit numbering along I-95 had the Topsfield (US 1) - to - Peabody (MA 128) segment had already built and open back then. MA would've had
2 complete Exit 25+ for both the northern and southern segments of I-95.
While a similar situation indeed existed for US/MA 3; it could be argued that those were 2 separate routes (US vs. MA) that happen to have the same number
plus the fact that the Southeast Expressway originally (prior to 1971) only had the MA 3 designation from Granite Ave. (Exit 11, originally Exit 21) southward.
@PHLBOS
I'll have to dig out the 1959 press release to verify this, but my recollection is that Route 2 at 128 was to be Exit 25 under the 1959 scheme. Also, I can find no reference to the "all exits with 128 are Exit 25" plan prior to 1959.
Quote from: sp_redelectric on October 13, 2012, 11:18:07 AM
And I believe on U.S. 97 there are some interchanges in Bend and Klamath Falls that have exit numbers.
Yeah, most of US 97's grade separated intersections now have exit numbers. All of the ones on the Bend parkway do, there's one at the intersection of OR 422, I'm not sure if the OR-58 interchange is numbered or not, I don't remember, and I think most of the exits in K Falls are numbered.
High Plains Traveler has already answered for Colorado, but recently I have been given sight of a number of construction plans for I-25 in Colorado (covering the length of I-25 which is in CDOT Region 2, from the New Mexico state line north to at least the SH 105/Monument interchange, which is Exit 161), and I can provide additional detail. Unless otherwise stated, all dates given below correspond to the date that the title sheet was signed by the Director of the Colorado Highway Department to indicate his approval to let the contract. (Most plans sets have a later signature from the same official to indicate acceptance of the as-built plans, but I have ignored these. Most of the signatures are from Charles Shumate, who thanks to Tom Lewis' book Divided Highways is notorious as the director who fought and lost a major lawsuit which challenged his department's then policy of not allowing female employees to work in tunnels.)
Colorado did not have numbered exits before 1965, though mileposts (Series D digits, no border or word "MILE") were in use by 1962. The oldest contract for which I have been able to find exit numbers dates from 1969. At that time, exits were numbered sequentially and the tabs were center-mounted with no bottom border. (I suspect they were actually integral with the main sign panel, as was also the case in Pennsylvania and a number of other states.) At cloverleafs where separate ramps corresponded to different directions of travel on the same interchanging route, directional suffixes were used (at a smaller height)--so, for example, there were briefly Exits 70W and 70E at the USAF Academy interchange. Later, these were changed to alphabetical suffixes (same height as the numeric part)--so Exit 70W became Exit 70B and Exit 70E became Exit 70A. I found no instances of inserted interchanges for which alphabetical suffixes might have had to be used in the sequential exit numbering scheme.
Around 1972, Colorado DOT decided to dual-post sequential and mileage-based exit numbers, each having its own tab on advance guide and exit direction signs. The mileage-based tabs were placed on top of the sequential tabs and each type of tab had a bottom border visually separating it from the main sign panel and any tabs above or below. Sequential tabs continued to use the word "EXIT" while mileage-based tabs used the word "MILE" in lieu of "EXIT." Mileage-based tabs had alphabetic suffixes for closely spaced exits, thus leading to odd expressions like "MILE 100A" and "MILE 100B." Brand-new signs had the stacked tabs. Older signs received the stacked tabs together with message revisions (generally to drop the redundant word "EXIT" in the distance expression, so e.g. "EXIT 1/4 MILE" became just "1/4 MILE") only if they had originally been fabricated without exit tabs and so were rectangular in overall format. Older signs with existing sequential numbering tabs were generally either left alone or removed and replaced with new signs having stacked tabs. Gore signs consisted of a main sign panel giving the sequential exit number and a "MILE" tab giving the mileage-based exit number.
Generally, exit tabs of both types were 24" in height.
One bit of trivia: exit direction signs in Colorado at this time, and for at least one or two decades later, had arrows only if they were mounted overhead. Ground-mounted exit direction signs had the legend "RIGHT LANE," systematically changed to "NEXT RIGHT" by mid-1960's retrofits.
Quote from: J N Winkler on October 26, 2012, 03:37:12 PM
One bit of trivia: exit direction signs in Colorado at this time, and for at least one or two decades later, had arrows only if they were mounted overhead. Ground-mounted exit direction signs had the legend "RIGHT LANE," systematically changed to "NEXT RIGHT" by mid-1960's retrofits.
If you drive I-70 through Garfield and Eagle Counties in Western Colorado, the NEXT RIGHT (instead of a turnoff arrows) label has made a BIG comeback, unfortunately. :no:
Quote from: thenetwork on October 27, 2012, 05:19:51 PMIf you drive I-70 through Garfield and Eagle Counties in Western Colorado, the NEXT RIGHT (instead of a turnoff arrows) label has made a BIG comeback, unfortunately. :no:
After going through videologging for these portions of I-70, I see that CDOT is also omitting the arrow on overhead-mounted exit direction signs, which they didn't used to do (at least on the parts of I-25 for which historical plans are available). As an example, here is the Glenwood Springs exit:
SH 82/Glenwood Springs/Aspen (I-70 eastbound Exit 116) (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Glenwood+Springs,+CO&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Glenwood+Springs,+Garfield,+Colorado&ll=39.552877,-107.33288&spn=0.002097,0.004823&t=m&z=18&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=39.552805,-107.332793&panoid=ZPTY9crQvJ_8qYo_eptwkw&cbp=12,142.71,,0,-3.54)
And at minor rural interchanges on I-25 (the kind that receive just one advance guide sign, typically at the half-mile point) CDOT is also omitting the exit direction sign, which means you have to swoop right and hit the brakes as soon as you see the gore sign. (Edit: I checked
MUTCD § 2E.36, which deals with exit direction signs, and it seems that agencies are allowed to omit them at minor interchanges--for major and intermediate interchanges it is a "shall" condition that they be used, while for minor interchanges it is only a "should" condition.)
Quote from: J N Winkler on October 29, 2012, 11:21:40 AM
Quote from: thenetwork on October 27, 2012, 05:19:51 PMIf you drive I-70 through Garfield and Eagle Counties in Western Colorado, the NEXT RIGHT (instead of a turnoff arrows) label has made a BIG comeback, unfortunately. :no:
After going through videologging for these portions of I-70, I see that CDOT is also omitting the arrow on overhead-mounted exit direction signs, which they didn't used to do (at least on the parts of I-25 for which historical plans are available). As an example, here is the Glenwood Springs exit:
SH 82/Glenwood Springs/Aspen (I-70 eastbound Exit 116) (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Glenwood+Springs,+CO&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Glenwood+Springs,+Garfield,+Colorado&ll=39.552877,-107.33288&spn=0.002097,0.004823&t=m&z=18&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=39.552805,-107.332793&panoid=ZPTY9crQvJ_8qYo_eptwkw&cbp=12,142.71,,0,-3.54)
This one is a double whammy signing error, as there is no indication anywhere that the right lane is an EXIT ONLY lane -- either on the overhead or on the shoulder.