Changing the signed direction-of-travel

[cpzilliacus]

U.S. 340 in Maryland is signed E-W from its northern (eastern) terminus at U.S. 40 in Frederick to the crossing of the Potomac River into Virginia. 

In Virginia and West Virginia is it signed N-S which (IMO) make much more sense, and if it were up to me, Maryland would also sign it N-S.

[SP Cook]

Two US routes change between Ohio and WV.  35 (which is also N-S in Indiana) switches from E-W in Ohio to N-S in WV.  IMHO, this makes little sense, since 35 ends just 40 inside WV, and is as much E-W as it is N-S, as it runs diagonally.  No reason not to be consistent with Ohio.  52 does likewise.  IMHO, this one makes sense, as 52 turns 90 degrees and remains N-S for the rest of its run to SC, while it clearly is E-W in Ohio. 

[PurdueBill]

Two US routes change between Ohio and WV.  35 (which is also N-S in Indiana) switches from E-W in Ohio to N-S in WV.  IMHO, this makes little sense, since 35 ends just 40 inside WV, and is as much E-W as it is N-S, as it runs diagonally.  No reason not to be consistent with Ohio.  52 does likewise.  IMHO, this one makes sense, as 52 turns 90 degrees and remains N-S for the rest of its run to SC, while it clearly is E-W in Ohio. 

US 35 changes back to N-S when it reaches Indiana as well, further muddling things. 
Ohio likes its US routes that are 90 degrees off (33, 35, 42, 68, occasionally 62)...all of them that could have been NW-SE or NE-SW wound up going with the "wrong" directions when they had to pick just one. 

[Bitmapped]

Two US routes change between Ohio and WV.  35 (which is also N-S in Indiana) switches from E-W in Ohio to N-S in WV.  IMHO, this makes little sense, since 35 ends just 40 inside WV, and is as much E-W as it is N-S, as it runs diagonally.  No reason not to be consistent with Ohio.  52 does likewise.  IMHO, this one makes sense, as 52 turns 90 degrees and remains N-S for the rest of its run to SC, while it clearly is E-W in Ohio. 

US 250 also changes directions.  It is north/south in WV but east/west in Ohio and Virginia.  The road goes about 60 miles east/west versus 100 miles north/south.

[Charles2]

I don't think it is anymore, but at one time, US 78 was signed N-S once it crossed into Tennessee from Mississippi.

[Jim]

When a route does change signed direction, I think it would be nice to make it clear to the traveler.  Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, does this nicely with Highway 17.  Signs for Highway 17 North pretty consistently have a parenthesized "West" from what I saw.  For example:

[mwb1848]

TN 155 apparently goes from N/S to E/W at it's junction with TN 12 in Nashville.

Do any Tennessee experts know why one of the shields appears as a standard Tennessee Primary State Highway Shield while the other one doesn't? According to GSV, it's signed this way in both directions on TN 12.

[Big John]

M-5

[Revive 755]

If a different direction is signed for every time a highway changes general direction for a period of time, why have directional trailblazers at all then?

Maybe the directional banners should be dropped in more cases and control city banners, that were once used for US 66 in Illinois and kind of used at the I-55/I-155 split in Illinois (Streetview, used to be a banner with "Chicago under the I-55 shield at this interchange as well).


I'm surprised I-94 in Illinois and Wisconsin has not appeared in this thread yet, as it used to have a couple signs on the side roads that used south instead of east:  Streetview at Deerfield Road;, 2007 Streetview at IL 120; 2007 Streetview at IL 137.

[doogie1303]

What's nuts about US 1 in Connecticut is that is parallels 95 the whole way, and 95 is signed North-South.

Yes, good point.  So by signing I-95 north-south, can we infer that CT was admitting they made a mistake in signing US 1 as east-west? 
Or is the FHWA perhaps more restrictive about signed directions on interstates than AASHTO is about signed directions on US routes?

The main thing you have to remember is that I-95 was routed onto the Connecticut Turnpike which predates the interstate system. The Conn Tpke was signed as an east/west route and I-95 as a north/south, but before I-95 both the Conn Tpke and Route 1 were both signed the same way (East/West).  To make things even more confusing, at one time the on-ramps to the Conn Tpke were signed "TURNPIKE EAST" or "TURNPIKE WEST" (the old blue buttoncopy signs) with an I-95 north/south trailblazer signed next to it. When Connecticut dropped the Conn. Tpke designator, Route 1 admittedly looked odd being signed east/west in parts of the state next to I-95. This has been corrected in most areas but there are supposedly a few stragglers still signed east/west.