When visiting a new state, what surprised you the most about the roads there?

[index]

Title...When visiting a new state for the 1st time, what surprised you the most about the roads there?
I haven't been to a new state or province in quite a while as an active roadgeek so I don't really have much to say.

[kphoger]

I was surprised in Minnesota to see paved county highways with hard shoulders.

[Rothman]

Utah:  I was surprised they had paved roads.

[1995hoo]

I was impressed by the very nice Interstate-grade state highways in the area immediately west of St. Louis (e.g., MO-364 and MO-370) when we visited there in October 2017.

While I've been to Ohio several times before, this past weekend I was pleasantly surprised to find a 70-mph speed limit on a road with at-grade intersections east of the Mississippi River, specifically, US-30 in Ohio, which we travelled from I-75 all the way to where it turns off Trump Avenue in Canton (we were headed to Gervasi Vineyard and Trump Avenue was a logical route to use...dare I say a positive way to go?). US-30 was a very nice road, very little traffic for the most part. The only previous time I recall encountering a 70-mph speed limit on a road with at-grade intersections was in New Mexico five years ago.

On the flip side, I was mildly annoyed to discover that the "Eastgate" toll plaza on the Ohio Turnpike doesn't have any ORT E-ZPass lanes.

[Max Rockatansky]

Jalisco State surprised the hell out of me given it's own highway numbers take priority and are better signed than the Federal Highways. 

[kphoger]

Jalisco State surprised the hell out of me given it's own highway numbers take priority and are better signed than the Federal Highways. 

As far as I remember, I've only driven on one Jalisco state highway:  what is unnumbered on the SCT log and map but is labeled as JAL-544 on Google Maps.  At that time, the bridge over Río San Sebastián was in the process of being replaced, and the construction detour involved driving down into the river valley on a single-lane temporary road, fording the water, then driving up the other side.  In a rented Chevrolet Chevy with a five-speed, that was fun!



Edited to add:  I found the construction detour on Google Maps.  And you can even see remnants of it on GSV.  Cool!

[Max Rockatansky]

Jalisco State surprised the hell out of me given it's own highway numbers take priority and are better signed than the Federal Highways. 

As far as I remember, I've only driven on one Jalisco state highway:  what is unnumbered on the SCT log and map but is labeled as JAL-544 on Google Maps.  At that time, the bridge over Río San Sebastián was in the process of being replaced, and the construction detour involved driving down into the river valley on a single-lane temporary road, fording the water, then driving up the other side.  In a rented Chevrolet Chevy with a five-speed, that was fun!

Heh, if you look at the State Department website travel on JAL 544 is banned for Federal Employees.  Apparently it doesn't have so much to do with crime but rather that the road is apparently infamous for fatal accidents.  That must have been pretty wild getting over that detour in a Chevy Chevy.  It's just amusing to see those bounding over cobblestone (no wonder there are so many Comfort trims) roads much less an actual ford with water. 

[SeriesE]

Nevada: wow the roads there are so much smoother than California's!
Traffic light equipment - long mast arms like CA
State named Interstate shields.

[kphoger]

Heh, if you look at the State Department website travel on JAL 544 is banned for Federal Employees.  Apparently it doesn't have so much to do with crime but rather that the road is apparently infamous for fatal accidents.  That must have been pretty wild getting over that detour in a Chevy Chevy.  It's just amusing to see those bounding over cobblestone (no wonder there are so many Comfort trims) roads much less an actual ford with water. 

Check out my edit to see the detour route.

Not only was there a low water ford, but the road to San Sebas was part cobblestone and part dirt.  At the turnoff from apparently-JAL-544, there was a police officer who told us something I didn't quite understand.  I didn't know the word 'carreta'.  As it turns out, that word means 'race'.  We found ourselves in the middle of a dune buggy race!

I wasn't too worried about the rental car, considering that the man who rented it to us was the one who recommended we go there in the first place.  I did, however, bottom out on a large speed bump in Sayulita.  Considering that rental agreements specifically exclude damage to the undercarriage, I was slightly worried about that one.  When we turned in the car after our honeymoon, all he said was, "Looks like you had some fun!" ... because the car was covered in dust and dirt.

[Max Rockatansky]

Heh, if you look at the State Department website travel on JAL 544 is banned for Federal Employees.  Apparently it doesn't have so much to do with crime but rather that the road is apparently infamous for fatal accidents.  That must have been pretty wild getting over that detour in a Chevy Chevy.  It's just amusing to see those bounding over cobblestone (no wonder there are so many Comfort trims) roads much less an actual ford with water. 

Check out my edit to see the detour route.

Not only was there a low water ford, but the road to San Sebas was part cobblestone and part dirt.  At the turnoff from apparently-JAL-544, there was a police officer who told us something I didn't quite understand.  I didn't know the word 'carreta'.  As it turns out, that word means 'race'.  We found ourselves in the middle of a dune buggy race!

I wasn't too worried about the rental car, considering that the man who rented it to us was the one who recommended we go there in the first place.  I did, however, bottom out on a large speed bump in Sayulita.  Considering that rental agreements specifically exclude damage to the undercarriage, I was slightly worried about that one.  When we turned in the car after our honeymoon, all he said was, "Looks like you had some fun!" ... because the car was covered in dust and dirt.

Really I don't think anyone at a rental agency would even notice much less care.  Doing things like going onto a ungraded dirt road or things of the like kind of are expected as normal travel.  Just getting to the family ranch for us basically requires some traversing a high clearance mountain pass.  I have no idea how so many cars make it through things like that so regularly.  I feel lucky in a way we have access to a extended cab F-150 down there, even it takes some effort to keep road worthy. 

That said it is tempting to buy a brand new Chevy Beat and part it at the house my Wife's Aunt owns.  They have a couple garage stalls and two spots are already occupied by SUVs.  $170,000 Pesos seemed like a bargain for basically what is a last gen Chevy Spark.  COVID really screwed up some of the ideas we had of doing more things down there. 

[I-55]

That roads in the south (especially Mississippi and Memphis) have such a strong element of red clay.

Like here and here and even here

[STLmapboy]

That roads in the south (especially Mississippi and Memphis) have such a strong element of red clay.

Like here and here and even here

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Others: Bott's Dots in Washington, the black paint in between the yellow lines on CA roads, and all of the supports on the signs in MN.

[CoreySamson]

When I first moved to Texas, the horizontal traffic lights surprised me.

That roads in the south (especially Mississippi and Memphis) have such a strong element of red clay.

Like here and here and even here

Yeah, that surprised me too. I remember parts of I-40 in Memphis on the north side have a really strong tint, if I remember correctly.

[STLmapboy]

When I first moved to Texas, the horizontal traffic lights surprised me.

That roads in the south (especially Mississippi and Memphis) have such a strong element of red clay.

Like here and here and even here

Yeah, that surprised me too. I remember parts of I-40 in Memphis on the north side have a really strong tint, if I remember correctly.

As do 55 and 240. In fact, much of TN has very strong red pavement (KY, by contrast, has little of this). I remember the first time I went to TN, driving from STL to Huntsville AL for a school camp. We drove 155 to Dyersburg, 412 to Jackson, and 45 down near Selmer (we stopped at Shiloh National Park and Pickwick Dam, getting to the former via TN-199/224/142 and the latter via TN-22/142/57). I remember we'd play a game on the bus, counting the Confederate flags; I racked up six on TN-199 in Finger (including this house with a traffic light out front). Anyway, all of these roads had strong red pavement.

[sparker]

With Oregon, the quality of the pavement -- particularly in contrast with CA (just cross the state line on either I-5 or US 97 and the difference is striking!).  Exception -- some of the state-maintained street mileage in the Portland area -- particularly Bypass US 30. 

[STLmapboy]

With Oregon, the quality of the pavement -- particularly in contrast with CA (just cross the state line on either I-5 or US 97 and the difference is striking!).  Exception -- some of the state-maintained street mileage in the Portland area -- particularly Bypass US 30.

Better or worse.

[hbelkins]

Some county highways in Iowa being better quality than lots of state highways in other states.

[Flint1979]

That roads in the south (especially Mississippi and Memphis) have such a strong element of red clay.

Like here and here and even here

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Others: Bott's Dots in Washington, the black paint in between the yellow lines on CA roads, and all of the supports on the signs in MN.

That Minnesota reference makes me laugh since I live in Saginaw, Michigan and there aren't too many Saginaw's, the one I live in being the largest one.

[hobsini2]

Tennessee, I was surprised how nice the state highway system roads were compared to when they get into Kentucky.  US 431 and US 51 come to mind.

[kphoger]

I was surprised in Minnesota to see paved county highways with hard shoulders.

Some county highways in Iowa being better quality than lots of state highways in other states.

Yeah, both states do a great job with their county highways.

But Iowa also surprised me at its lack of paved shoulders on even major state and US Routes.

For example, this highway in many other Midwestern states would not have gravel shoulders.

And here is US-30.  Sure, it's a divided highway, but it has zero left shoulder and gravel immediately to the right of the edge line.

[STLmapboy]

I was surprised in Minnesota to see paved county highways with hard shoulders.

Some county highways in Iowa being better quality than lots of state highways in other states.

Yeah, both states do a great job with their county highways.

But Iowa also surprised me at its lack of paved shoulders on even major state and US Routes.

For example, this highway in many other Midwestern states would not have gravel shoulders.

And here is US-30.  Sure, it's a divided highway, but it has zero left shoulder and gravel immediately to the right of the edge line.

I also find IA pavement to be not as good as MO or MN. US-218 between Iowa City and Keokuk, for example, has some pretty raggedy concrete in places, and this is true for some other roadways around the state (parts of 380 have pretty poor asphalt). There is some good concrete, though, like 218 north of Waterloo or 18 around Mason City (the latter suffering from the same shoulder problem described by kphoger).

[STLmapboy]

That roads in the south (especially Mississippi and Memphis) have such a strong element of red clay.

Like here and here and even here

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Others: Bott's Dots in Washington, the black paint in between the yellow lines on CA roads, and all of the supports on the signs in MN.

Also for CA: constantly painting SIGNAL AHEAD, STOP AHEAD, KEEP CLEAR, and PED XING on the road surface.

[mrcmc888]

Tubular gantries in Utah.

Maryland's massive east/west placard exit signs.

Seeing interstate exit arrows that point directly right in most of the Northeast.

[STLmapboy]

Maryland's massive east/west placard exit signs.

Reminds me; the large interstate shields and sometimes off-center directional banners on reassurance shields in Massachusetts.

Unrelated NE thing: the small manufacturer's text on most MA and NH BGSes.

[hbelkins]

Before Jim Lin posted his compendium of state route markers on the WWW, it was always a surprise to enter a new state and see what their state route markers looked like.

One early memory I have of a trip to West Virginia and the way the W1-1 signs looked there. They were -- "different" -- than what I was used to in Kentucky and Tennessee. They were more angular with a wider arrowhead and narrower stroke than this, which has been the standard in Kentucky for as long as I can remember.

(Image from Richard Moeur's trafficsign.us site.)

I remember calling them "crude West Virginia curve signs" and if I ever did see one somewhere else, that was the descriptive term that floated through my mind.

"End" signs in West Virginia surprised me as well, since Kentucky doesn't typically use them.