You Know You're A Roadgeek If...

[roadman]

Those exit tabs were installed in 1985 as part of the I-95 and I-93 re-numbering projects.  At the time, it was thought the Big Dig would be completed sooner than it turned out to be, so it was decided to keep the existing signs (most of which dated from 1962).  However, delays in the Big Dig schedule and feedback concerning the poor condition of the signs (which was excerbated with the installation of the new tabs) caused MassDPW to let a project in 1988 to replace all the overhead signs on the elevated portion.

And if memory serves me correctly, the replacement sign with Charlestown was installed prior to the CANA project based on an unrelated request from the City of Boston.

[PHLBOS]

Roadman, Interesting history & reasoning for such but I think some of your dates might be a tad off.  I only know this because I was driving up and down the Artery & Expressway to/from college and during semester breaks during the mid-to-late 80s and remember those signs plus their history all too well.

Those exit tabs were installed in 1985 as part of the I-95 and I-93 re-numbering projects.

I believe those were installed circa 1986, following the completion of the Southeast Expressway overhaul project.  The latter project was when I first started seeing the current I-93 exit numbers being established.

The I-95 renumbering didn't take place until 1987-88 when the interchange w/MA 128 in Peabody was constructed.

At the time, it was thought the Big Dig would be completed sooner than it turned out to be, so it was decided to keep the existing signs (most of which dated from 1962).

While the signs for the Callahan Tunnel exit are likely dated from 1962; many of the old, similar-styled BGS' date back to when the Artery first opened in the mid-to-late 1950s.  The leg north of the Dewey Square/South Station Tunnel opened first (traffic entered/exited from High St./Congress St.), than the rest of the Artery/Expressway opened in 1959.

As far as the Big Dig schedule is concerned; given that Federal funding for the Big Dig (then at $5.5 billion) wasn't secured (via an over-ride of a Presidential veto) until 1987; construction for the whole project didn't start until the early 90s.

However, delays in the Big Dig schedule and feedback concerning the poor condition of the signs (which was excerbated with the installation of the new tabs) caused MassDPW to let a project in 1988 to replace all the overhead signs on the elevated portion.

Makes sense, but ground wasn't even broken for the Big Dig until the early 90s.

And if memory serves me correctly, the replacement sign with Charlestown was installed prior to the CANA project based on an unrelated request from the City of Boston.

Fair enough, good to know.

[Zeffy]

I like the down arrows on those signs - but those exit tabs are nasty.

[msubulldog]

^And the little Stuckey's sign under the Exxon sign.

And the old Hardees sign in the background.

[JoePCool14]

...you think in your head the good and bad about every sign you pass on any road anywhere.

[sammi]

...you think in your head the good and bad about every sign you pass on any road anywhere.

An internal exit tab? We were just in Ontario...
Look at the arrows on that one!
Ugh, Clearview.
Greenout! D:

[Zeffy]

...you think in your head the good and bad about every sign you pass on any road anywhere.

I'm guilty of this. Most recent one: Who the fuck decided it was a good idea to use Arialveticaverstesk on that sign? (Referring to a sign in my township that looks like someone beat it hard with the ugly stick)

Greenout! D:

[US81]

At every intersection that meets a highway at any angle other than 90 degrees, you wonder if it could have been an old alignment....

[JoePCool14]

...you watch car enthusiasm shows such as "Top Gear" for the roads rather than the cars they drive.

[vtk]

At every intersection that meets a highway at any angle other than 90 degrees, you wonder if it could have been an old alignment....

No, that just means you're spoiled by PLSS.

[Alps]

At every intersection that meets a highway at any angle other than 90 degrees, you wonder if it could have been an old alignment....

No, that just means you're spoiled by PLSS.

Hey now, this brings me back to the good old days in 01-04, when SPUI, Shawn and I traced anything that looked remotely like an old alignment on a map, even if it turned into a dirt motherfucking road.

[roadman]

...you think in your head the good and bad about every sign you pass on any road anywhere.

Totally guilty of that one!  Examples from my recent travels:

These signs on the Northway are in worse shape than the ones MassDOT's currently replacing on I-95 between Wellesley and Lexington.
Why does the Thruway use "Toll Booths" instead of "Toll Plaza"?

[hotdogPi]

You hear two or three random numbers (maybe 8, 15, 17) and try to find an intersection of routes with those numbers.

[JoePCool14]

...you post on this thread.

[JoePCool14]

Or, better yet, you liken traffic signal indications to different facial expressions, depending on which face is illuminated . . .   

I still see green lights as , yellow lights as , and red lights as .

My earliest memory of my nascent roadgeeekiness.

GREEN LIGHTS:  "Keep going people you can do it!"
YELLOW LIGHTS:  "Wait wait stop please!"
RED LIGHTS:  "Stop this instant! We must talk!"

[US 41]

... if your 2014 Road Atlas looks like it was eatin' by the dogs.

[sammi]

...you post on this thread forum.

[Alps]

You hear two or three random numbers (maybe 8, 15, 17) and try to find an intersection of routes with those numbers.

Well NY 8 and 17 meet well east of US 15 and NY 17.
CT 8 and 15 meet well west of 17.
MA 15 no longer exists.
I'll have to keep thinking. Good one. (:

[hotdogPi]

You hear two or three random numbers (maybe 8, 15, 17) and try to find an intersection of routes with those numbers.

Well NY 8 and 17 meet well east of US 15 and NY 17.
CT 8 and 15 meet well west of 17.
MA 15 no longer exists.
I'll have to keep thinking. Good one. (:

I actually don't know of three routes that intersect with those numbers. I chose it because it was a Pythagorean triple.

You can still keep searching.

[Alps]

You hear two or three random numbers (maybe 8, 15, 17) and try to find an intersection of routes with those numbers.

Well NY 8 and 17 meet well east of US 15 and NY 17.
CT 8 and 15 meet well west of 17.
MA 15 no longer exists.
I'll have to keep thinking. Good one. (:

I actually don't know of three routes that intersect with those numbers. I chose it because it was a Pythagorean triple.

You can still keep searching.

Okay, found it (:

I-10 is secret FL 8. JUST before it ends at I-95, it interchanges with US 17, which hops on. US 17, by the way, is also carrying FL 15. So for the last half-mile or so, you have a triplex of the three routes you mentioned (plus I-10 and FL 228).

BAM!

[bing101]

-you draw roads on maps from school that have nothing to do with roads
-you notice errors on maps in textbooks about the original interstate system

You Don't complain "Are We there Yet!"

[agentsteel53]

I actually don't know of three routes that intersect with those numbers. I chose it because it was a Pythagorean triple.

You can still keep searching.

can we find any set of three routes, whose numbers form a pythagorean triple, and whose topology is three intersections (one for each pair of roads) which define the vertices of a right triangle?

bonus if the lengths of the segments come anywhere near proportional to the route numbers.

[vtk]

I actually don't know of three routes that intersect with those numbers. I chose it because it was a Pythagorean triple.

You can still keep searching.

can we find any set of three routes, whose numbers form a pythagorean triple, and whose topology is three intersections (one for each pair of roads) which define the vertices of a right triangle?

bonus if the lengths of the segments come anywhere near proportional to the route numbers.

The mileages between I-71's interchanges with OH 97 and OH 13, and the town of Bellville where those state routes intersect, are a Pythagorian triple suggesting OH 13 is the hypotenuse.  Obviously the route numbers don't figure into this at all.

[sammi]

You Don't complain "Are We there Yet!"

When I fall asleep during a car ride (which is why I don't like sitting in the back), the moment I wake up, I ask one of:

Which town are we in?
Which exit did we just pass? (on freeways only)

[1995hoo]

You know you're a roadgeek when....

....you need to go attend a funeral about 60 miles from home in an area you haven't visited and you decide to take one route out and another one back in part because of motivation to use it as an excuse to clinch one of the highways you'll use.


(this is true, I did this last Friday on a trip to a wake in St. Mary's County, Maryland....the clinch was not the sole motivation, as I had asked cpzilliacus for some advice as to traffic in that area of Maryland, but it certainly factored into my taking his advice on which route to use!)