Control Cities

[Alex]

Here's a useful one:

[SSOWorld]

Another case of abbreviated control cities -

Port of Milw (I-794)

[mightyace]

Here's a useful one:

It's not that unusual to see "Local Traffic" on signs for partially finished highway sections.  (like TN 840 west of I-65)  But, that looks like permanent not temporary signage.

If there's no useful control city, why didn't they have an exit sign with just the route #.

[SSOWorld]

some exits out west (for example I-90 in MT, west of Missoula) have control cities of "Local Access"

[Greybear]

How's this for control cities? This is on I-430 South approaching I-630 East in west Little Rock.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Tarkus]

The ones that annoy me are on I-205 in Oregon.  They seem to switch which direction Portland is depending on where you are on the freeway.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[Alex]

Here's a useful one:

It's not that unusual to see "Local Traffic" on signs for partially finished highway sections.  (like TN 840 west of I-65)  But, that looks like permanent not temporary signage.

If there's no useful control city, why didn't they have an exit sign with just the route #.

The signs for that interchange are permanent, and Exit 22 to U.S. 301 features the same "destination".

[Terry Shea]

I hate the fact when you come off the Mackinaw bridge, the control city for I-75 is Saginaw, when it doesn't even go to it. Instead, it should be Flint.

Well technically speaking, I-75 may not "go to" Saginaw but it looks like it misses the city limits by maybe 1/4 mile or so and the child route I-675 does indeed serve Saginaw.  I can't quite tell by looking at the map whether I-75 actually touches the Flint city limits either, but one way or another it's splitting hairs.  They probably used Saginaw as the control city because it's closer.

[larryao]

Is it normal to use control cities that are over 300 miles away? US 101 uses Eureka in areas even south of Santa Rosa, where it's over 300 miles away. There are many other cities that could be used that are closer.

I-40 in Flaggstaff AZ uses Los Angeles as a control city and i think it's over 300 miles

[mightyace]

These aren't over 300 miles but some of these are close to 200.

The control cities for I-40 in the Nashville area are Memphis and Knoxville.  The ones for I-65 are Louisville, KY and Huntsville, AL.  BTW Huntsville is 20 miles off I-65 via I-565.  When I first moved to TN in '95, Birmingham was the control city but somehow it was changed.  There may be a BGS or two that still says Birmingham instead of Huntsville, but not many.

I-24's control cities are more reasonable.  To the east it is Chattanooga and to the west it is Clarksville.  Clarksville less than an hour from Nashville, the only control city of the bunch that is that close.

[leonontheroad]

Sometimes, I wonder if 85 N in GA will use Charlotte rather than Greenville as a control city. I doubt it though.


I've noticed that US 101 South in San Jose uses Los Angeles as a control city, but LA is at least 350 miles away, and don't most people take CA 152 east via Los Banos to I-5 South?

I think I-10 using Bay St. Louis as a control city is a holdover from when I-10 through Mississippi wasn't complete  at the time. Same reason why Alabama uses Pascagoula as a control city over on I-10 in Mobile.


I hate how Mississippi uses McComb and Grenada as control cities, though Grenada makes a bit more sense than McComb does because Grenada is sort of far from Memphis and makes a decent pit stop. Some signs will say, "Grenada-Memphis, and McComb-New Orleans". I-59 South has previously used Picayune as a control city, which I think is ridiculous, but I'm seeing more New Orleans control city signs.

I always loved I-8 West's control city in San Diego. "Beach Cities," because, well, it reminds me of going to the beach on a hot summer day.

"Other Desert Cites" on I-10 E is funny to me, talk about a snub at Phoenix.

When did I-5 north in LA change its control city from Bakersfield to Sacramento?

[leifvanderwall]

If any subject needs to be discussed more it's this one right here. I've been traveling on freeways for all my life and I take I-94 to work everyday. One of the states I think is worst at setting control cities is Michigan.

For example, the control cities on I-94 in Michigan are Detroit & Chicago. I do agree with this to some extent because the Illinois travelers, who are tired of the Chicago sprawl, come to their weekend home away home in Michigan, but I think it hurts the other cities on the route like Kalamazoo, Jackson, Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor-St. Joesph, and Michigan City, In.; I mean those cities could use some tourism dollars and new industry themselves.

What I would like to see on the I-80/94 east freeway in the Indiana 'burbs is for Kalamazoo-South Bend to be the control cities instead of just Detroit and South Bend should also be the control city on Indiana Toll Rd. eastbound.

I thought about this also : when I-69 and US 131 meet I-94 at the Northbound side, the control cities should be Kalamazoo and St. Joesph (perhaps Battle Creek) because if one wanted to go to Chicago, Indiana Toll Rd. would be route (the cheapskates, I-94).

Another thing I would like to see is perhaps state parks and recreation areas that are at least semi popular be on the green signs and be considered as a control destination. For instance, on I-94 in Berrien County, exit 16's control city is just Bridgman. I think on the westbound side the control destinations should be Bridgman, a line underneath, Warren Dunes State Park. Yes, it would mean a much bigger green sign, but it would get rid of the brown sign and may even attract more visitors to the park.

[froggie]

Problem with the latter is that the brown background is (and has been for a long while) specifically correlated with recreation/cultural points and other points of interest.  I see no reason to get rid of the brown.

Also keep in mind that the goal of signs is to give the driver adequate enough information in the short time he/she has to read the sign.  When you're zooming along at 70 MPH, that time is short indeed, so signs can't be overloaded with destinations.

[agentsteel53]

the only example I know of a park being used as a control "city", and in fact this gantry has two of them.  This is at a completely rural junction just west of Graybull, where US-310 actually begins.  Two two-lane roads with extra turn lanes, but one does have to slow down to make the right turn as there isn't an extra high-speed lane.



US 14 and 16 actually end at Yellowstone, and it is debatable if US-20 does as well (as it officially does not exist within the park, thereby having two separate segments).  I do not know if 310 and 789 end at Big Horn.

(also note the Control City Who Shall Not Be Named!  )

[froggie]

310 continues north into Montana.  789 ends at the WY/MT line while duplexed with 310.

[hm insulators]

Driving from, say Tucson to Los Angeles, the control signs on I-10 westbound point to Phoenix until just before you get to Sky Harbor Airport. That's when you see your first control sign for Los Angeles, nearly 400 miles from L.A. and miles before you even get to downtown Phoenix. Downtown Phoenix gets nary a mention. Same with I-17 southbound through Phoenix: Get on from almost any surface street (Bell Road, Thunderbird Road, Glendale Boulevard or whatever) and the control signs point to Tucson instead of downtown or central Phoenix.

Heading east from Los Angeles on I-10, Phoenix doesn't even get a mention until you're in Indio. Leaving L.A., I can see control signs for San Bernardino making sense. Continuing east from San Bernardino, a control city of Palm Springs makes sense. But the signs should read "San Bernardino/Phoenix" or "Palm Springs/Phoenix."

The scant mentions of Phoenix could be because when I-10 in southern California was being built, Phoenix was much smaller than it is today. Phoenix is now the fifth-largest city in the country.

[SSOWorld]

I've noticed that (and it's partly due the official list) control cities for US or state highways are not far away, while those for Interstates tend to be hundreds of miles (if that)

Example:

I-39 from Wausau, WI has Madison (130 miles+/-) as a control city along with Stevens Point(30 miles).  US 51 North has Merrill (15 miles)

An exception could have been WIS 29 which has far away cities (Chippewa Falls and Green Bay) in addition to local cities/villages(Abbotsford and Weston)

Many freeways in NE Illinois have the State as a control city.  Even I-80 has "Iowa" listed.

I-55 in Chicago forgot about Bloomingtion and Springfield - it has St. Louis.

Don't get started about Pennsylvania's view on Cleveland.  The PA Turnpike lists "Ohio and West"

The Ohio Turnpike (where it wasn't upgraded some 7(?) years ago) uses "THRU TRAFFIC" and "EXIT ONLY" as "control cities"

[TheStranger]

Sacramento tends to be wierd about control cities (partially because of changing suburban growth patterns in the recently booming Elk Grove and Roseville areas) -

Business 80/US 50 eastbound is signed for "Sacramento" even at the "Downtown Sacramento" (former US 40/99W) exit in West Sacramento; the analogous old US 40 interchange near Arden Fair Mall (westbound Business 80 at westbound Route 160) only has signage for "Downtown Sacramento" for Route 160, with Business 80's control city being TO US 50/Route 99.

US 50 west of approximately 65th Street is signed as "TO I-80/San Francisco" up to Exit 6B, at which point it is (accurately, but only partially covering all route designations) signed as Route 99 North TO I-5/TO I-80, with SF still being the control city.  The first westbound Business 80 sign appears at 15th Street, about a mile after it has already merged onto the WX Freeway mainline.

Reno (130 miles from West Sacramento) is the control city for I-80 at the I-80/US 50 split, as well as the control city for Business 80 from Route 99 northeast - despite the fact that the large suburb of Roseville, which actually lent a portion of Business 80 (when it was US 40/99E) its name for a few years, is much closer.  Going south, a similar situation arose recently with Elk Grove now the largest suburb of Sacramento, but not used as a control city from either I-5 (Los Angeles) or Route 99 (Fresno, sometimes Stockton).

Older signs show plenty of evidence that Route 99 was once given the control city of Los Angeles, until I-5 was completed in the area.

[TheStranger]

Hehehe -- I find it nice to have a consistency of the control cities on freeways...

I-80: major WB: San Francisco; major EB: Sacramento
I-280: major NB: San Francisco; major SB: San Jose
I-580: major WB: San Francisco (to WB 80), Oakland, San Rafael; major EB: Hayward, San Jose (to SB 880), Stockton
I-680: major NB: Sacramento; major SB: San Jose
I-880: major NB: San Francisco (to WB 80), Oakland; major SB: San Jose, Hayward
US-101: major NB: San Jose (from Santa Clara County downwards), San Francisco (Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties), Eureka (from Marin County onwards); major SB: San Francisco (from Marin County upwards), San Jose (San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties), Los Angeles (Santa Clara County downwards)

From my observation, the three main cities of the Bay Area (San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose) appear to be consistent for all the freeways, which helps me tell which part of the Bay Area I'm in.

US 101's use of San Francisco as a northbound control city actually begins a full 367 miles south, IIRC, in Ventura.

[Terry Shea]

If any subject needs to be discussed more it's this one right here. I've been traveling on freeways for all my life and I take I-94 to work everyday. One of the states I think is worst at setting control cities is Michigan.

For example, the control cities on I-94 in Michigan are Detroit & Chicago. I do agree with this to some extent because the Illinois travelers, who are tired of the Chicago sprawl, come to their weekend home away home in Michigan, but I think it hurts the other cities on the route like Kalamazoo, Jackson, Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor-St. Joesph, and Michigan City, In.; I mean those cities could use some tourism dollars and new industry themselves.

What I would like to see on the I-80/94 east freeway in the Indiana 'burbs is for Kalamazoo-South Bend to be the control cities instead of just Detroit and South Bend should also be the control city on Indiana Toll Rd. eastbound.

I thought about this also : when I-69 and US 131 meet I-94 at the Northbound side, the control cities should be Kalamazoo and St. Joesph (perhaps Battle Creek) because if one wanted to go to Chicago, Indiana Toll Rd. would be route (the cheapskates, I-94).

Another thing I would like to see is perhaps state parks and recreation areas that are at least semi popular be on the green signs and be considered as a control destination. For instance, on I-94 in Berrien County, exit 16's control city is just Bridgman. I think on the westbound side the control destinations should be Bridgman, a line underneath, Warren Dunes State Park. Yes, it would mean a much bigger green sign, but it would get rid of the brown sign and may even attract more visitors to the park.

I disagree.  Chicago and Detroit are ultimate destinations, easily recognizable to travelers.  Many travelers have probably never heard of Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Marshall, etc.  No traveler ( in their right mind) is going to change his or her travel plans just because a city with a goofy sounding name appears as a control city.

And certainly no one in their right mind is going to take the Indiana Toll Road (I-90) west into Chicago when a free alternative exists!  Anybody who's done it once knows better than to do it again.  Why would anyone pay a small fortune to get several years taken off their life from having to breathe that filthy, stinky, polluted, industrial air Gary, Hammond and East Chicago have to offer?

[agentsteel53]

Why would anyone pay a small fortune to get several years taken off their life from having to breathe that filthy, stinky, polluted, industrial air Gary, Hammond and East Chicago have to offer?

Lots of old signs.  Well, not on the toll road, the surface streets!

[rawmustard]

If any subject needs to be discussed more it's this one right here. I've been traveling on freeways for all my life and I take I-94 to work everyday. One of the states I think is worst at setting control cities is Michigan.

For example, the control cities on I-94 in Michigan are Detroit & Chicago. I do agree with this to some extent because the Illinois travelers, who are tired of the Chicago sprawl, come to their weekend home away home in Michigan, but I think it hurts the other cities on the route like Kalamazoo, Jackson, Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor-St. Joesph, and Michigan City, In.; I mean those cities could use some tourism dollars and new industry themselves.

You would've liked it before the late 80s, because a lot of the signs did have the smaller cities, such as Paw Paw and Battle Creek from Kalamazoo. In fact, signs in the University region still use the control destinations of Marshall, Jackson, and Ann Arbor from most of the non-freeway interchanges. But outside of the University region, MDOT pretty much stuck to AASHTO's guide when it came to listing the control cities along I-94 during the signage replacement of the late 80s.

[mapman]

the only example I know of a park being used as a control "city", and in fact this gantry has two of them.

California has a few, including two within Fresno -- Yosemite (on CA 41) and Kings Canyon (on CA 180), named for the two national parks near the city.

[DBrim]

128 (actually I-95) in the Boston area:


(photo courtesy of Jake).

An entry into the long distance control city discussion: north of Santa Monica, the control city on I-405 is/was Sacramento.  Not sure about I-5 north of LA.  This may have changed recently; I haven't been that way in a few years.

[Roadgeek Adam]

My favorite

A common sight on Interstates:

I-78
Penna

great use of abbreviations :S