I'm so old that...

[Rothman]

I'm old enough to remember Howard Johnson Restaurants as well as their original motor lodges with the orange roof lobby.

There was a HoJos in my hometown into the early '90s.

[mgk920]

US 41 went in front of Lambeau Field.

'New' City Stadium?

Mike

[KeithE4Phx]

I'm so old that...

In the Chicago area, I-94 was the Chicago Skyway and I-80/90 was the Kingery Highway/Borman Expy.

Again, Chicago:  The Eisenhower Expressway and its extension were I-90.  The Kennedy Expy and NW Tollway between the Edens junction and what is now the 290 was IL 190.

State highway signs in Illinois and Indiana included an outline of the state.

State highway signs in Wisconsin had a rounded rectangle and an upside down triangle behind it, and "WIS" was at the top of the triangle.

US and state highways in Arizona were color coded:  Orange (North), Green (South), Brown (East), and Blue (West).

Arizona had a three-digit Interstate:  I-410, later 510, which is now part of I-10 on the west side of Sky Harbor Airport.

Van Buren St. in Phoenix, Apache Blvd in Tempe, and Main St in Mesa was signed US 60-70-89-89 and AZ 93.

[xonhulu]

I'm almost 60, so this boomer can still remember:

      - when many sections of interstate freeways weren't built yet, so you had to transition to regular roads in
        between. 

      - many of the now decommissioned US highways still existing & signed; most notably, US 99/99E/99W here
        in Oregon, but I also recall US 91 beyond its current extent, US 16 east of Rapid City, US 10 west of
        Fargo, etc. As a kid, I actually thought that interstates were required to have a US highway running
        with them, since so many we drove on did.

      - I-80N (both OR/ID/UT and IA's), I-80S (CO/NE) and I-15W. Also, the US 30N in OR/ID, and the 30N/30S split
        in ID/UT/WY

      - In Oregon, most Interstate & US shields had the state name, and Oregon State Route shields had the state
        name and the Eagle!

      - Portland's Harbor Drive still existed -- we used to take it through Portland on the way to visiting my
        grandparents.

      - when the rural interstate speed limit on I-5/I-80N once you left Portland was 70 mph. 

      - later, when the national 55 mph limit was in place. It made my western OR to eastern WA drives to/from
        college in agonizing!

      - gas stations gave out free maps, compressed air was free, and the attendants offered to check your oil &
        clean the windshield.

[TheStranger]

I was around to see the "480 CLOSED" signs right after Loma Prieta

I remember when traffic reaching 880 south was directed to take 580 to 980 from 80 west, and when the roadmaps of the era (mid-90s) mostly showed 880 just petering out at today's 7th Street ramp complex

I still strongly remember the button-copy internal exit tab at US 101 southbound for Millbrae Avenue, which was only replaced a few years ago.  For that matter, I definitely remember when button copy was everything and retrorflective barely existed in California, and also the early-2000s install of no-exit-number retroreflective signage in San Francisco.

I remember the button copy sign in San Bruno that had a covered-up Route 380 shield at 280 and Sneath Lane, removed in recent years.

I recall the Paul Avenue exit northbound on US 101 being more accurately labeled "Bayshore Boulevard"

I went to LA at least once before the Century Freeway/I-105 was completed

I recall seeing the Route 170 shields on Highland Avenue in Hollywood in person

I got to ride a car along the portion of I-280 in San Francisco that no longer exists (from 6th Street to an offramp at 3rd Street) and along the portion of the Central Freeway that was removed in 2005 (from Market Street to Fell/Laguna).  Before that, I also got to experience seeing the 280 extension marked as CLOSED due to Loma Prieta both on roadmaps and on signs prior to 1995.

There's also that bizarre era where 101 was signed from the Bayshore Freeway and I-80 (but not in the field) for 7th Street instead of the Central Freeway...

I was around for the construction of Skyway near the Makati/Manila border

I still fondly look back at when the 55 MPH NMSL was repealed (and appreciate that every time I go on a freeway or any other highway)

I grew up with Route 84 using Willow Road in Menlo Park, instead of Marsh Road/Bayfront Expressway was a thing

I recall how novel it was when Route 262 first got signed (Kurumi brought a photo of this to a roadgeek meet I organized in the early 2000s)

Three decades ago, my first Vegas trip involved not seeing any sign of I-215 yet, back when that southern part of Vegas was undeveloped. 

I remember driving to the Caldecott Tunnel numerous times where I had to deal with the tunnel bore configurations at rush hour (so, before the fourth bore was a thing)

[Big John]

US 41 went in front of Lambeau Field.

'New' City Stadium?

Mike

Yes, but not old enough to be there when it was called that.

[Sctvhound]

Being a 90s kid in South Carolina:

- The two US 17 bridges in Charleston, the northbound side had a reversible lane for trucks going south because of a weight restriction on the 1929 Grace Bridge
- Nothing was on Daniel Island other than leftover sludge and it was owned by the Guggenheims
- I-26 was 4 lanes past Exit 209 all the way to I-77 (till about 1998 or 99)
- John's Island had two draw bridges
- Going from Charleston to DC meant about 10 different channel changes for whatever music you wanted
- The Charleston metro area basically ended after SC 517 on US 17
- South Carolina had just gotten its 2nd area code, 864 for the Upstate
- I-77 wasn't completed down to I-26 until 1995
- I-26 was still using its original 1950s/60s concrete in many areas
- Going to Florida, the I-95 Fuller-Warren in Jacksonville was still a draw bridge
- You could drive from I-295 in Jacksonville to I-295 in Petersburg and I-95 was entirely 2 lanes each way

[bing101]

I was around to see the "480 CLOSED" signs right after Loma Prieta

I remember when traffic reaching 880 south was directed to take 580 to 980 from 80 west, and when the roadmaps of the era (mid-90s) mostly showed 880 just petering out at today's 7th Street ramp complex

I still strongly remember the button-copy internal exit tab at US 101 southbound for Millbrae Avenue, which was only replaced a few years ago.  For that matter, I definitely remember when button copy was everything and retrorflective barely existed in California, and also the early-2000s install of no-exit-number retroreflective signage in San Francisco.

I remember the button copy sign in San Bruno that had a covered-up Route 380 shield at 280 and Sneath Lane, removed in recent years.

I recall the Paul Avenue exit northbound on US 101 being more accurately labeled "Bayshore Boulevard"

I went to LA at least once before the Century Freeway/I-105 was completed

I recall seeing the Route 170 shields on Highland Avenue in Hollywood in person

I got to ride a car along the portion of I-280 in San Francisco that no longer exists (from 6th Street to an offramp at 3rd Street) and along the portion of the Central Freeway that was removed in 2005 (from Market Street to Fell/Laguna).  Before that, I also got to experience seeing the 280 extension marked as CLOSED due to Loma Prieta both on roadmaps and on signs prior to 1995.

There's also that bizarre era where 101 was signed from the Bayshore Freeway and I-80 (but not in the field) for 7th Street instead of the Central Freeway...

I was around for the construction of Skyway near the Makati/Manila border

I still fondly look back at when the 55 MPH NMSL was repealed (and appreciate that every time I go on a freeway or any other highway)

I grew up with Route 84 using Willow Road in Menlo Park, instead of Marsh Road/Bayfront Expressway was a thing

I recall how novel it was when Route 262 first got signed (Kurumi brought a photo of this to a roadgeek meet I organized in the early 2000s)

Three decades ago, my first Vegas trip involved not seeing any sign of I-215 yet, back when that southern part of Vegas was undeveloped. 

I remember driving to the Caldecott Tunnel numerous times where I had to deal with the tunnel bore configurations at rush hour (so, before the fourth bore was a thing)

Same and I remember when the remains of the Cypress Freeway, Embarcadero Freeway and Central Freeway the rubble from Loma Prieta was dumped in a location we now know as Oracle Park where the San Francisco Giants play. Also I remember the 1927 Carquinez bridge was demolished as soon as the Al Zampa suspension Bridge opened in Vallejo. The Al Zampa Bridge became a test case on how the Bay Bridge should be built back when it was under debates or surveying the bedrock was underway.

[roadman65]

I remember when I-95 wasn't complete in NC. The Fayetteville Bypass was a future thing and US 301 through Fayetteville carried the traffic.  The Goldrock Trumpet was a segment end and barricaded off SB to direct motorists onto today's NC 4 to US 301. At Kenly an At Grade intersection was the junction of I-95 and US 301 when the Kenly- Goldrock section was not a completed freeway. 

I-95 was not built from Emporia, VA to Exit 41 near Petersburg. A four lane US 301 connected the two freeway segments. When I-95 got finally constructed, the NB US 301 lanes became SB I-95 and Route 301 became two lanes again using the former SB lanes.

VA Route 168 crossed the HRBT to concur with I-64 to Williamsburg. Then I-64 defaulted to a four lane rural arterial that was VA 168 to Toano and VA 168 then used VA 30 to south of West Point as the freeway to Richmond began at an at grade where the current east end of VA 30 is currently.  Also in 1976, I-64 was incomplete between today's I-564 and 4th View Street in Norfolk. I-564 was VA 170 and an arterial, but freeway conversion was in progress when my family visited the Naval Base.

I-64 ended at Rockfish Gap and US 250 was the main highway from there to Charlottesville in 1971 and before.

Skyline Drive had a white center line as park roads had a different lane striping requirement before the mid seventies. The MUTCD didn't think park roads needed yellow striping like regular roads.

LAX had only one roadway at each terminal built below the Apron.  A tunnel connected the street to the Satellites with a long speed walk and then up an escalator into the gate areas.  Unlike today with two roadways stacked and a building connecting the landside with the gate areas and tunnels closed off.

In 1988, I-15 was not yet open from CA 60 to I-215's southern terminus. At Devore, I-215 was signed for San Diego on I-15 SB as that was the completed freeway through the Inland Empire area southward.

[gonealookin]

I recall that a few of the old black-on-white California state highway spades, with the bear, hung around into the mid-1960s.

My first childhood home was in Pleasant Hill, CA.  SR 21 ran on Contra Costa Blvd., the main street through town.  Checking CHPW it looks like Pleasant Hill was fully bypassed by Interstate 680 by January 1964, but a few of the old SR 21 spades remained on that surface street for a while.  As a first grader I was already enough of a road and map geek to understand that state highways were marked by green spades with white lettering and numerals and thought it was weird that the ones on that street were the different colors and had the bear (would have looked like this).

[kurumi]

Some Florida Palm Beach area stuff:

I-95 had a long gap, starting at PGA Blvd. in Palm Beach Gardens. PGA Blvd is now SR 786, but back then was signed S-74.

The I-95/FL 704 interchange was a cloverleaf, and the BGSes were pure text IIRC: "FLA 704 EAST" etc.

I-95 was only 6 lanes wide.

SR 811 was signed only as ALT A1A and was 2 lanes

[Rothman]

Heh, forgot a good one:

I remember when "New 80" was under construction from Allen, KY west.  My grandfather took us on an unauthorized tour of one of the construction sites.

[webny99]

- You could drive from I-295 in Jacksonville to I-295 in Petersburg and I-95 was entirely 2 lanes each way

To be fair, there should be a lot more of it that is 6 lanes now. Outside of Florida north of Jacksonville and Georgia, most of it is still 4 lanes.

[Mapmikey]

Being a 90s kid in South Carolina:

- The two US 17 bridges in Charleston, the northbound side had a reversible lane for trucks going south because of a weight restriction on the 1929 Grace Bridge
- Nothing was on Daniel Island other than leftover sludge and it was owned by the Guggenheims
- I-26 was 4 lanes past Exit 209 all the way to I-77 (till about 1998 or 99)
- John's Island had two draw bridges
- Going from Charleston to DC meant about 10 different channel changes for whatever music you wanted
- The Charleston metro area basically ended after SC 517 on US 17
- South Carolina had just gotten its 2nd area code, 864 for the Upstate
- I-77 wasn't completed down to I-26 until 1995
- I-26 was still using its original 1950s/60s concrete in many areas
- Going to Florida, the I-95 Fuller-Warren in Jacksonville was still a draw bridge
- You could drive from I-295 in Jacksonville to I-295 in Petersburg and I-95 was entirely 2 lanes each way

Being a 70s kid from South Carolina

- US 701 being posted in multiple places south of Georgetown, including downtown Charleston
- I-526 didn't exist at all, then was posted as SC 31 when it was first being opened in segments
- There were still a few secondary markers that were black-on-white instead of white-on-black
- There were still a few black and white destination signs at intersections
- More than half of 3 digit routes (US or SC) were in square markers
- The NB Cooper River Bridge wasn't the only road in Charleston with reversible lanes
- cutouts in the upstate
- "S. CAROLINA" and the miniature square state route markers were still plentiful
- The US 15-301 Lake Marion bridge was open
- The Mt Pleasant bypass had nothing along it and civilization all but ended at the current I-526 Bus/SC 703 jct until you got to Georgetown

[akotchi]

I remember when I-95 wasn't complete in NC. The Fayetteville Bypass was a future thing and US 301 through Fayetteville carried the traffic.  The Goldrock Trumpet was a segment end and barricaded off SB to direct motorists onto today's NC 4 to US 301. At Kenly an At Grade intersection was the junction of I-95 and US 301 when the Kenly- Goldrock section was not a completed freeway. 

I-95 was not built from Emporia, VA to Exit 41 near Petersburg. A four lane US 301 connected the two freeway segments. When I-95 got finally constructed, the NB US 301 lanes became SB I-95 and Route 301 became two lanes again using the former SB lanes.

I recall this too from trips between my home and my grandparents' home in south Florida.  Early to mid-1970s, so too young to drive.

Other gaps in I-95 that I recall were
- around the I-26 interchange in S.C. (U.S. 15 was the temporary detour)
- between Hardeeville SC and I-16 west of Savannah, GA
- a section near Brunswick, GA
- the aforementioned gap between Vero Beach and West Palm Beach, FL, where the Turnpike runs very close
- two sections in Broward County that I don't remember a lot of details about.  The Broward Blvd. interchange was built spanning several of my trips down that way.

[mgk920]

Four lane (then) US 41 around Neenah, WI before the concrete median 'Jersey' barrier was installed (and no left shoulders).

The six lane I-94 between Milwaukee, WI and the Illinois state line with the box steel median barrier.

Mike

[Streetman]

...BGS on the Connecticut Turnpike were blue and service plaza signs were green.
...BGS on the Merritt and Wilbur Cross parkways were wooden with ragged edges. (Zigzag design on current Merritt signs pays homage to them.)
...I paid tolls at every toll plaza on those three highways.
...There were still a few, very few, yellow stop signs in the field.
...Traffic signals in NYC had only red and green lights. Red and green would come on together to indicate yellow.

[vdeane]

Not as old as most of you, but a few things I remember that our younger forum members wouldn't:
-When NY expanded its 65 zones from rural areas into more suburban/exurban areas (such as the eastern and western ends of I-490)
-The stub interchange between NY 204 and NY 33A
-The Stutson Street Bridge
-When NY 332 was a two-lane road through farm country
-Using the interchange that used to exist between ON 405 and Niagara River Parkway (since consumed by the expanded border facilities)

[Rothman]

Oh, and I remember when I-95 ended in Freeport, ME...near the only LL Bean store in the country.

[TheStranger]

Not too long ago but...

I recall when unsigned Route 275 (the former eastern segment of the West Sacramento Freeway/former US 40 and 99W) was entirely full freeway from US 50 in West Sacramento to the end of the Tower Bridge; this was still the case in my college years too!  The segment west of Tower Bridge was replaced with a boulevard about 12 years ago, "Tower Bridge Gateway"

I also remember the Watt Avenue/US 50 cloverleaf in eastern Sacramento, since replaced with a six ramp parclo.

[pderocco]

I remember when there were gas lines because of OPEC, and Nixon declared a national speed limit of 50mph so we'd all save gas.

I remember when the Mass Pike logo had an arrow through the pilgrim hat.

I remember when they finished the Southeast Expwy in Boston.

I remember the sign at the Provincetown end of US-6 showing the mileage to Long Beach.

I remember when the new red-white-and-blue Interstate symbols first showed up on my grandfather's road maps.

I remember when they built the Ridge Route Road in Los Angeles County.

No, wait, that last one was a dream.

[SectorZ]

I'm so old that I remember the eastern USA version of I-86 before it was in New York.

But not old enough to remember when it was I-84 before that?

Given it was signed in the late-70's as 86, and I was born in the late-70's, that would be a no.

[gonealookin]

Another one I remember from the 1960s in Pleasant Hill:  there were a couple streets in our neighborhood that today would be signed "No Outlet".  Back then the signs read "BLIND STREET", which is a definite no-no now.

[Dirt Roads]

...I remember I-64 being constructed between the Nitro exit (Exit 45) and the Dunbar exit (Exit 53).  I was amazing watching the huge skid pan trucks up on the future freeway from down below on Fairlawn Avenue (WV-25).

...The only paved state road in my hometown didn't quite make it to the old post office in Scott Depot (hence my handle - Dirt Roads).  That post office has been relocated twice.

[Oldiesmann]

I remember when what's now Ronald Regan Highway in Cincinnati was called Cross County and only existed in two disconnected sections. 126 went over Glendale-Milford Road from I-75 at the time.