What do you Count/Not Count When Clinching?

[Rothman]

I recall catching a lot of heat on this forum for not driving to the MCBH military gate and turning around on I-H3.  I could see it plain as day approaching the last exit.  I definitely wasn't missing anything by actually going up to it. 

I've done that at the Mexican or Canadian border quite a few times. If I can clearly see the booth where the customs guy sits, that's close enough.

Well, if one is concentrating on clinching an entire route, I've found that the majority, but not all times involve a trip through customs due to where the Interstate actually ends.  Had a really fun trip to Tijuana a few months ago clinching the southern end of I-5 that way...met some fun people.  Of course, it's much easier to cross into Canada than Mexico with one's personal car...

[Max Rockatansky]

Which makes me question the value of numbered highway clinches.  Having to re-drive segments of freeway because a number changed seems super lame.

If you want to clinch the route, you have to clinch the route.  If you want to settle for clinching pavement and be lazy that way, then that's okay, too -- it's kind of super lame, but it's okay.

Well, I think if there is a paving project on something you've clinched, you should have to reclinch it too.

Now, 'clinch' all of the pre-WWII routings on US 41 here in Wisconsin.   

Mike

Heh, I more or did something like that for several US Routes in Arizona and California.  Turns out there is a crap ton of weird old highway relics and fun driving segments. Problem is that it often requires one do some high clearance driving or hiking to get to the best stuff.

[vdeane]

Well, if one is concentrating on clinching an entire route, I've found that the majority, but not all times involve a trip through customs due to where the Interstate actually ends.  Had a really fun trip to Tijuana a few months ago clinching the southern end of I-5 that way...met some fun people.  Of course, it's much easier to cross into Canada than Mexico with one's personal car...

I would say whether a sight clinch is possible depends on the interstate (ie, where customs is, how the ramps are, how the road curves, etc.).  I-91?  Go for it, looping around the interchange will even get you north of US customs!  I-89?  It's more of a stretch, but still possible.  I-81?  I know people have, but please don't.  I-190?  No way.

Mexico does have the advantage that not many interstates actually end at the border.  Just I-5, in fact, though I-110 may as well, since it ends at US customs.  I-69W is the only other one that comes close, but fortunately it ends here, as the World Trade Bridge is truck-only.  I-19, I-35, and I-69E end at at-grades a couple blocks away from the border; I-69C ends at I-2 relatively far away.

[74/171FAN]

For I-190, my temporary solution was to view the bridge by parking along NY 104 and walking up the hill to view the roadway and the bridge.  Hopefully, I will rectify the situation eventually.

[Rothman]

For I-190, my temporary solution was to view the bridge by parking along NY 104 and walking up the hill to view the roadway and the bridge.  Hopefully, I will rectify the situation eventually.

Yeah, for years I didn't get that little itty-bitty part between Exit 25B and Canada.  And hey, with Canadians being valued at 70-75% of Americans, traveling through Canada is pretty sweet with that discount, anyway.  Toronto's worth a visit or two.

[DenverBrian]

Tough crowd.

To try to drag this back on topic: We have a somewhat rare situation with I-11. No new pavement, just new signing, along with a decommissioning of a previously signed spur route.

At some point (who knows when), as the route northwest of town has its at-grade intersections removed, we'll once again have a "new" section of I-11.

At this point, I'm very glad I'm not into clinching.

[74/171FAN]

For I-190, my temporary solution was to view the bridge by parking along NY 104 and walking up the hill to view the roadway and the bridge.  Hopefully, I will rectify the situation eventually.

Yeah, for years I didn't get that little itty-bitty part between Exit 25B and Canada.  And hey, with Canadians being valued at 70-75% of Americans, traveling through Canada is pretty sweet with that discount, anyway.  Toronto's worth a visit or two.

Yeah, probably when I finally decide to clinch I-94 in Michigan.

[oscar]

Mexico does have the advantage that not many interstates actually end at the border. Just I-5, in fact, though I-110 may as well, since it ends at US customs.

I clinched the south end of I-5 in the early 1970s, in a school bus, on a field trip for my high school Spanish class to visit the English class at a Tijuana high school. Border controls were pretty meaningless back then. That kind of trip would be totally unthinkable nowadays.

Many decades later, I drove into Mexico and back from the south end of I-110 in El Paso (normal border hassles in both directions). I'm not sure that was necessary to clinch I-110. That trip took me to the monuments to the Chamizal border dispute, on both sides of the border (a messy dispute, resolved mainly by putting that part of the Rio Grande in a concrete trench, to make sure the river would never shift course again).

[cl94]

Re: Mexico, I-5 doesn't technically end at the border. Ends at the "return to US" U-turn just before export control, and it is supported by the Caltrans definition of the route. Of the CA border crossings, this and 7 are the two that are very clear in "no crossing required" because the route ends north of the last U-turn. The others are iffier, but definitely easy sight clinches.

International borders and military installations are the two places I am willing to accept questionable sight clinches, because the stakes are much higher than elsewhere. Basically, "if you can see the border, I'll accept it". This means that I-89 and I-81 are good as far as I'm concerned, US 11 is not. But I have asterisks for a couple of crossings I have not personally used.

But back to the topic at hand: there is exactly nothing in Nevada that even warrants a sight clinch because there are zero international borders and zero routes that end at/inside a military gate. NV 720 comes the closest.

[Rothman]

Meh.  Qualitative definitions of routes are always a little vague.

Note the on-ramp that extends just past the off-ramp for the U-turn on I-5 SB.

Makes me wonder where their maintenance jurisdiction ends...hm...then again, nothing stops the border agencies from maintaining Interstate mileage.  Hmmm...

[Max Rockatansky]

Looking at the Caltrans Postmile Tool the following routes currently end at the Mexican border:

- CA 905
- CA 188
- CA 111
- CA 186

However...

-  The CTC authorized the relinquishment of CA 186 away from the border station in 2019.

[hbelkins]

On a trip back in 1991, I made the connection from I-29 south to I-80 east in Iowa via the eastern segment of I-680. That's the only segment of I-680 I've ever been on. When that portion of 680 was redesignated as 880, I scored a clinch of I-880.

On that same trip, I was on US 666 from Shiprock to Gallup. Earlier this year, I was on US 491 from Shiprock to Monticello. Therefore, I consider US 491/US 666 to be clinched.

I have been on all of I-81 from Tennessee to the last exit in New York before crossing the border into Canada. Since I don't have a passport, I could not legally enter Canada. I got off at the last exit, drove as far north as I could, and got back on I-81 going south. I consider I-81 to be clinched.

[Rothman]

On a trip back in 1991, I made the connection from I-29 south to I-80 east in Iowa via the eastern segment of I-680. That's the only segment of I-680 I've ever been on. When that portion of 680 was redesignated as 880, I scored a clinch of I-880.

On that same trip, I was on US 666 from Shiprock to Gallup. Earlier this year, I was on US 491 from Shiprock to Monticello. Therefore, I consider US 491/US 666 to be clinched.

I have been on all of I-81 from Tennessee to the last exit in New York before crossing the border into Canada. Since I don't have a passport, I could not legally enter Canada. I got off at the last exit, drove as far north as I could, and got back on I-81 going south. I consider I-81 to be clinched.

Cheapskate.

[JayhawkCO]

On a trip back in 1991, I made the connection from I-29 south to I-80 east in Iowa via the eastern segment of I-680. That's the only segment of I-680 I've ever been on. When that portion of 680 was redesignated as 880, I scored a clinch of I-880.

On that same trip, I was on US 666 from Shiprock to Gallup. Earlier this year, I was on US 491 from Shiprock to Monticello. Therefore, I consider US 491/US 666 to be clinched.

I have been on all of I-81 from Tennessee to the last exit in New York before crossing the border into Canada. Since I don't have a passport, I could not legally enter Canada. I got off at the last exit, drove as far north as I could, and got back on I-81 going south. I consider I-81 to be clinched.

Cheapskate.

I'm with you H.B..

[Rothman]

On a trip back in 1991, I made the connection from I-29 south to I-80 east in Iowa via the eastern segment of I-680. That's the only segment of I-680 I've ever been on. When that portion of 680 was redesignated as 880, I scored a clinch of I-880.

On that same trip, I was on US 666 from Shiprock to Gallup. Earlier this year, I was on US 491 from Shiprock to Monticello. Therefore, I consider US 491/US 666 to be clinched.

I have been on all of I-81 from Tennessee to the last exit in New York before crossing the border into Canada. Since I don't have a passport, I could not legally enter Canada. I got off at the last exit, drove as far north as I could, and got back on I-81 going south. I consider I-81 to be clinched.

Cheapskate.

I'm with you H.B..

Two road clinchers rather than route clinchers.

[Sub-Urbanite]

I've driven US 95 I-11 hundreds of times through Las Vegas since the 1980s. There's no way I'm going to say "I don't have it clinched" just because they changed the route shield since I moved away.

Same for US 95 northwest of town, if that ever gets upgraded, or US 93 in Arizona. Adding a bridge to a road does not change the road, or the clinch.

Tough crowd.

To try to drag this back on topic: We have a somewhat rare situation with I-11. No new pavement, just new signing, along with a decommissioning of a previously signed spur route.

At some point (who knows when), as the route northwest of town has its at-grade intersections removed, we'll once again have a "new" section of I-11.

At this point, I'm very glad I'm not into clinching.

[JayhawkCO]

On a trip back in 1991, I made the connection from I-29 south to I-80 east in Iowa via the eastern segment of I-680. That's the only segment of I-680 I've ever been on. When that portion of 680 was redesignated as 880, I scored a clinch of I-880.

On that same trip, I was on US 666 from Shiprock to Gallup. Earlier this year, I was on US 491 from Shiprock to Monticello. Therefore, I consider US 491/US 666 to be clinched.

I have been on all of I-81 from Tennessee to the last exit in New York before crossing the border into Canada. Since I don't have a passport, I could not legally enter Canada. I got off at the last exit, drove as far north as I could, and got back on I-81 going south. I consider I-81 to be clinched.

Cheapskate.

I'm with you H.B..

Two road clinchers rather than route clinchers.

Mine is a "was I there" thing. I clinch roads not for numbers but for the experiences of seeing the things that that road allows me to see. Other than a sign, not much will have changed from the last time I was on I-515 (in the I-11 example).

[DenverBrian]

Fascinating. We apparently have road clinchers vs. route clinchers.

The religious fervor on both sides is rollicking.

[Rothman]

On a trip back in 1991, I made the connection from I-29 south to I-80 east in Iowa via the eastern segment of I-680. That's the only segment of I-680 I've ever been on. When that portion of 680 was redesignated as 880, I scored a clinch of I-880.

On that same trip, I was on US 666 from Shiprock to Gallup. Earlier this year, I was on US 491 from Shiprock to Monticello. Therefore, I consider US 491/US 666 to be clinched.

I have been on all of I-81 from Tennessee to the last exit in New York before crossing the border into Canada. Since I don't have a passport, I could not legally enter Canada. I got off at the last exit, drove as far north as I could, and got back on I-81 going south. I consider I-81 to be clinched.

Cheapskate.

I'm with you H.B..

Two road clinchers rather than route clinchers.

Mine is a "was I there" thing. I clinch roads not for numbers but for the experiences of seeing the things that that road allows me to see. Other than a sign, not much will have changed from the last time I was on I-515 (in the I-11 example).

Exactly.  You clinch the road, not the route.

[epzik8]

I did a bit of cheating with my dad and brothers in 2009 when we left and re-entered I-70 at exit 201 in Breckenridge without crossing over the intersecting route on 70, but we counted it as a clinch of the complete highway nonetheless. We also debated whether it would count without driving it from 695 to the park-and-ride in Baltimore, but did that just to be safe.

[Max Rockatansky]

Fascinating. We apparently have road clinchers vs. route clinchers.

The religious fervor on both sides is rollicking.

And you got people in the crowd who really don't keep tabs on this kind of thing.  Sticking to prioritizing interesting sections of road be there a Sign Route or not has rarely led me astray. 

Aside from Arizona I wasn't really keeping a running tally on Sign Route clinches until I encountered this forum.

[roadman65]

If I clinched a route with a previous number that is now either changed or added concurrency, I consider it done once and for all hence US 83 in Rio Grande Valley. Done it in 1997 way before I-2 was even a thought. So I-2 is clinched minus that new bypass at the current west end.

[Rothman]

If I clinched a route with a previous number that is now either changed or added concurrency, I consider it done once and for all hence US 83 in Rio Grande Valley. Done it in 1997 way before I-2 was even a thought. So I-2 is clinched minus that new bypass at the current west end.

Definition of road clinching.

[roadman65]

If I clinched a route with a previous number that is now either changed or added concurrency, I consider it done once and for all hence US 83 in Rio Grande Valley. Done it in 1997 way before I-2 was even a thought. So I-2 is clinched minus that new bypass at the current west end.

I think so, but some on here may not. This is AA Roads remember. 

Definition of road clinching.

[NWI_Irish96]

If I clinched a route with a previous number that is now either changed or added concurrency, I consider it done once and for all hence US 83 in Rio Grande Valley. Done it in 1997 way before I-2 was even a thought. So I-2 is clinched minus that new bypass at the current west end.

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