Youthful Misconceptions

[ATLRedSoxFan]

Even though it wasn't on the open road, I ALWAYS got an evil grin or snicker whenever I saw a sign saying: SLOW CHILDREN... still, until this day...were the children REALLY slow or... a warning nonetheless...

[kphoger]

That police officers actually know what the laws say.

That street and highway departments actually know which signs to erect in different situations.

That Rand McNally actually cares that the entire state of Chihuahua, Mexico, is shown in the wrong time zone or that, after my contacting them about it three times, they might actually make a correction.

That cars would actually yield to pedestrians in crosswalks (even unmarked crosswalks.....and yes, there is such a thing).

[machias]

I used to think that states had the option to choose from two sign manuals - one that included "ribbed" signs with square corners and the other included "flat" signs with round corners.

And I was mighty perplexed the first time I crossed into Ohio and came across Exit 241. I couldn't believe that Ohio had 241 exits on I-90.

[rickmastfan67]

I used to think I was so special to live right near a US Highway.

[agentsteel53]

And I was mighty perplexed the first time I crossed into Ohio and came across Exit 241. I couldn't believe that Ohio had 241 exits on I-90.

I definitely remember feeling something similar in 1986, but I do not recall which state had mile-based exits that early.  Tennessee or Virginia, on I-81?

[6a]

This goes beyond actual roads, but has to do with road trips.  Growing up, neither of my parents tended to listen to the radio in the car.  When we left Columbus, they would appease us until the signal dropped and usually no more.  For us, that was WNCI and its 175,000 watt monster full of 80's joy, so we made it 90 miles or so before static set in.  Imagine my shock when we pulled into Savannah one day and...get this...the radio station there played the same music as back home!  I really couldn't understand how it was possible for our pop music to follow us around the country, and/or why Savannah didn't have its own music?!?

More embarrassing than that is being 20 or so on 85 S, hitting the SC/GA border at exit 59...check the map...exit I need is 26 in Atlanta...that's only 30 miles, plenty of gas, no problem!

[allniter89]

And I was mighty perplexed the first time I crossed into Ohio and came across Exit 241. I couldn't believe that Ohio had 241 exits on I-90.

I definitely remember feeling something similar in 1986, but I do not recall which state had mile-based exits that early.  Tennessee or Virginia, on I-81?

Tennessee IIRC

[hbelkins]

And I was mighty perplexed the first time I crossed into Ohio and came across Exit 241. I couldn't believe that Ohio had 241 exits on I-90.

I definitely remember feeling something similar in 1986, but I do not recall which state had mile-based exits that early.  Tennessee or Virginia, on I-81?

Tennessee IIRC

Virginia was a late adopter to mileage-based exits, IIRC. You can still see patches on a lot of the exit signs where the old sequential numbers were replaced.

Kentucky didn't have exit numbers, except on I-75 in the Lexington area, until mileage-based exit numbers were implemented in the early to mid 1970s.

[jwolfer]

i remember thinking that JCT was someone playing a joke and putting up the wrong route sign.

When I was about 4 or 5 I remember watching the Orange Bowl parade on TV and my mom saying it was in Miami.  I kept asking my mom" if thats your ami where is my ami"  it was frustrating and confusing

[Takumi]

Virginia was a late adopter to mileage-based exits, IIRC. You can still see patches on a lot of the exit signs where the old sequential numbers were replaced.

Yes, it was around 1990. I remember seeing "old exit" signs on parts of the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike as a child.

[agentsteel53]

Tennessee IIRC

then it might have been I-40 that gave me the odd feeling, as when we got into Tenn on I-81, the exits must've been starting at 74, and since I knew it was "a long way" to Nashville, it wouldn't have struck me as unusual to have to go 74 more exits 'til then.  (I remember vaguely thinking we'd be taking 81 the rest of the way ... then again I also remember thinking that the most direct route from Boston to Nashville went through North Carolina, so that just shows the shoddiness of my geography skills.)

[1995hoo]

Virginia was a late adopter to mileage-based exits, IIRC. You can still see patches on a lot of the exit signs where the old sequential numbers were replaced.

Yes, it was around 1990. I remember seeing "old exit" signs on parts of the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike as a child.

Yup. I grew up in Virginia and the first time I remember seeing distance-based exit numbers was on a family vacation to Ontario and Quebec in 1984 when we noticed the non-sequential kilometre-based exit numbers on 401. At first we wondered why the numbers were non-sequential and then my mother noticed one of the kilometre-posts. At first we thought it was weird, but after a short time we found we liked the idea a lot. Now when I drive in a state with sequential numbers on anything other than urban routes it drives me nuts (except for the New Jersey Turnpike, simply because I know the road so well that the exit numbers do not really factor into my having a sense for how far I have to go, and I imagine that's true for a lot of people using that road).

I believe Maryland may have switched over sometime prior to then, so I have no idea why none of us made the connection there. I surmise it was probably because we usually went around the western portion of the Beltway between the American Legion Bridge and I-95 and there are only two "missing" numbers on that stretch, whereas the portion through PG County had some larger gaps (especially prior to the construction of the Ritchie-Marlboro Road interchange).

I definitely seem to remember Virginia posting the rural 65-mph speed limit (at the time, with a 55-mph limit for trucks and buses) prior to the mileage-based exit numbers. The Beltway was an exception to the changeover, of course. Quite frankly I thought the Beltway could have been left the way it was without causing any problems, but apparently some people found it "confusing" that some exit numbers appeared in both Virginia and Maryland.

[thenetwork]

More embarrassing than that is being 20 or so on 85 S, hitting the SC/GA border at exit 59...check the map...exit I need is 26 in Atlanta...that's only 30 miles, plenty of gas, no problem!

I can recall a family trip to Florida in 1980 when we traveled the Florida Turnpike.  I was wondering who was the Einstein there that numbered the exits since, at that time, they were neither mileage-based nor consecutively sequential.   

[Henry]

I used to think that all the highways shown in dotted lines were going to get built eventually; you can imagine my shock when some of these routes disappeared in later versions of the family road atlas!

I also thought that tolls were not allowed on freeways (but on expressways, they could be).

And I once believed that a 2di had to cross at least one state line; back then, all 2di's through Chicago went to other states, and I-88 did not exist until after I had graduated high school.

[BamaZeus]

Even though it wasn't on the open road, I ALWAYS got an evil grin or snicker whenever I saw a sign saying: SLOW CHILDREN... still, until this day...were the children REALLY slow or... a warning nonetheless...

Ha!  Me too.  Whenever I saw "SLOW CHILDREN PLAYING" I always figured the kids were running along the road in slow-motion, or it was a polite way of saying that the local kids weren't too bright, so they might randomly run out in the road because they didn't know any better

[prenatt1166]

When I was a little boy I had east and west backwards because US 6 East turned northwest to leave Meadville, PA with US 19 North.

I also thought JCT was actually a word pronounced "jikt" 

[thenetwork]

I used to think that a 3-di US highway had to connect between the routes within the number:

ie: US-301 had to connect US-30 and US-1...US-422 had to connect US-42 and US-22.

[1995hoo]

....

I also thought JCT was actually a word pronounced "jikt" 

My grandfather got my brother and me started on reading the BGSs on the Belt Parkway the way they were spelled (e.g., pronounce "Coney Is Ave" exactly as it looks when it's spelled like that). We did it for years when we were on car trips and I'm sure our parents wanted to smack us silly many times.

[D-Dey65]

I used to think that all the highways shown in dotted lines were going to get built eventually; you can imagine my shock when some of these routes disappeared in later versions of the family road atlas!

Oh, you are not the only one. Not only that, there were times when I was a kid when I used to burst into tears when I was on a highway ended abruptly. Among these incident were a family road trip to Florida down I-95 which ended abruptly at US 17 in South Carolina, and a trip back from Montauk with a neighbor, back when the eastern Sunrise Highway still ended temporarily at NY 24 in Hampton Bays. There was a huge gap between Suffolk CR 55 and NY 24 back then.


I also started crying on a school bus once, when I suddenly remembered those road trips to Westchester County with one or both of my parents before I entered school. The route included Sprain Brook Parkway, which the last I remembered still terminated at Jackson Avenue. I not only feared I'd never see the road again, but that the road and the area surrounding it would completley disappear!

Years later, I went on another family trip to upstate New York, and kept asking my father if we were still in New York. I just found it so hard to believe.

As for other misconceptions, I used to think that local surface streets never had more lanes than limited-access highways(aside from Super-2's). I found out otherwise when I moved to Florida, and I was in my 30's back then.

I also used to think the only two-lane roads that has speed limits of 55 mph or more were Super-2's. The move to Florida made me realize this wasn't true as well.

[msubulldog]

Years ago I wondered why all the Interstate 95 signs were missing from the New Jersey Turnpike 

[OracleUsr]

Virginia went distance-based in 1991

[Henry]

I used to think that all the highways shown in dotted lines were going to get built eventually; you can imagine my shock when some of these routes disappeared in later versions of the family road atlas!

Oh, you are not the only one. Not only that, there were times when I was a kid when I used to burst into tears when I was on a highway ended abruptly. Among these incident were a family road trip to Florida down I-95 which ended abruptly at US 17 in South Carolina, and a trip back from Montauk with a neighbor, back when the eastern Sunrise Highway still ended temporarily at NY 24 in Hampton Bays.


I also started crying on a school bus once, when I suddenly remembered those road trips to Westchester County with one or both of my parents before I entered school. The route included Sprain Brook Parkway, which the last I remembered still terminated at Jackson Avenue. I not only feared I'd never see the road again, but that the road and the area surrounding it would completley disappear!

Years later, I went on another family trip to upstate New York, and kept asking my father if we were still in New York. I just fount it so hard to believe.

As for other misconceptions, I used to think that local surface streets never had more lanes than limited-access highways(aside from Super-2's). I found out otherwise when I moved to Florida, and I was in my 30's back then.

I also used to think the only two-lane roads that has speed limits of 55 mph or more were Super-2's. The move to Florida made me realize this wasn't true as well.

That makes me feel a lot better! I'm still waiting on that I-494 Crosstown Expressway to get built

[mightyace]

Gee, where do I start...
Remember, I grew up in PA and sequential exits...

• I thought only toll roads could have tunnels. - The only tunnels I went through were those on the PA Turnpike (Mainline and NE Ext.)  Imagine my surprise when we visited Colorado in 1976!  Or was it the Wheeling tunnels on I-70 a little earlier?
• I thought that ticket-based toll systems were the norm. - As a youth we took the PA Turnpike a lot and, going to my grandparents in WI, we sometimes took the Ohio Turnpike and (Northern) Indiana E-W Toll Road.  The only barrier systems I'd been on were in Delaware and the Illinois systems around Chicago.
• I thought it was strange for states like Wisconsin to not have toll roads.  All the states around PA have toll roads!
• Very early, I thought all freeways had to have a number. - I was surprised the first time we got on the Northeast Extension and it had no number!  It was numbered PA 9 sometime in the 70s and is now I-476.
• I also thought that 2di's had to cross state lines.
• I thought it was normal to have two cross country highways less that 2 miles from my house. - I-80 (NY metro to SF) and US 11 (Quebec border to near New Orleans)
• I thought if a road had Turnpike in the name, it had to be a toll road.
• I think I understood sequential vs. mileage early on but was baffled that Ohio and Indiana had mixed systems. (Sequential on turnpikes, mileage elsewhere.) - their turnpikes now have mileage based exits as well.

[vtk]

Very early, I thought all freeways had to have a number.

Some OpenStreetMap validators seem to think this. 

[empirestate]

I thought if a road had Turnpike in the name, it had to be a toll road.

Well, that wasn't a misconception. A turnpike by definition is a toll road; just maybe no longer at that moment. :-)