XY Challenge

[formulanone]

Alabama 193 at SR 188 in Alabama Port:



US 98 and Florida 80 tag along in Wellington:



Tennessee 81 and SR 93 in Fall Branch:

[wanderer2575]

May 1: We're back to ones digits, and we're switching to a national focus for the daily photo challenges. We start again at zero-zero. I know I said this would require US routes specifically, but I want to see if people will be okay if I broaden the criteria a little bit. I am curious if people would like it better if I allowed junctions between US routes and/or Interstates, but not anything at the state level or lower in profile. So under the new rules I'm proposing, junctions between US-US, Interstate-Interstate, or US-Interstate would qualify. Should we do this, or stick with US Routes only?

Nitpick:  This is already planned for seasons five and six.

[paulthemapguy]

April 23: Post a junction where a route with an 8 in the tens place meets a route with a 9 in the tens place, in your state or province. Qualifying photos will show a route numbered in the eighties meeting a route numbered in the nineties.

IL-84 at IL-92 in East Moline, all the way back in 2008


IL-084-092NWO by Paul Across America, on Flickr

IL-82 at IL-92 east of Joslin


IL-092-082WA by Paul Across America, on Flickr

IL-83's exits from I-290 near Bensenville


IL-I-290X10BW by Paul Across America, on Flickr

April 24: The last day of Season 2. Post a junction of a route with a 9 in the tens place and another route with a 9 in the tens place, in your state or province.

[wanderer2575]

M-188's western terminus at M-99 (and M-50) in Eaton Rapids.  This assembly has since been replaced with a far less unique construct:


BL I-94 eastbound at M-89's eastern terminus in Battle Creek:

[74/171FAN]

April 24: The last day of Season 2. Post a junction of a route with a 9 in the tens place and another route with a 9 in the tens place, in your state or province.

The east end of PA 394 is at PA 94 in Hampton northwest of Hanover.

PA 94 SOUTH NEAR STONEY POINT RD AND PA 394 WEST by Mark Moore, on Flickr

[xonhulu]

April 24: Post a junction where a route with a 9 in the tens place meets another route with a 9 in the tens place, in your state or province. Qualifying photos will show a route numbered in the nineties meeting a different route numbered in the nineties.

OR 99 splits into OR 99W and OR 99E in Junction City:



OR 99 and US 199 in Grants Pass:



US 97 and US 197 near Shaniko:

[wanderer2575]

M-96's western terminus at BS I-94 in Kalamazoo:


M-199's eastern terminus at BL I-94 in Albion:


I-96 eastbound at I-496 on the west side of Lansing (one of Michigan's early APLs with skinny arrows):

[Jim]

New York 96 and New York 96B (which is also Truck New York 96) in Candor.  September 9, 2022.



A terrible picture of New York 298 and New York 598 in Syracuse.  October 7, 2020.



New York is overflowing with interstates with a 9 in the 10's digit, but I want to get a state highway in there.  Here's where I-590 crosses I-490 and becomes New York 590 in Rochester.  April 22, 2007.

[Jim]

I'll use the first day of our break to catch up on a few days I missed earlier this month.  Here's my 4x/4x play.

US 44 and New York 343 in Millbrook.  February 10, 2002.



New York 40 and New York 142 in the Lansingburgh section of Troy.  October 25, 2006.



New York 146 and New York 443 in Gallupville.  May 13, 2013.

[formulanone]

I'm a day behind again.

I can't seem to find any photos with a combination of state routes containing 9s in their tens' places. Mobile does have the US Routes 90 and 98 as a backup plan:



Florida has SRs 693 and 699 at St. Petersburg Beach:



Tennessee has SRs 193 and 194, located east of Collierville:

[Jim]

My other makeup assignment from 4x/5x day.  Hope the late penalty's not too steep.

US 44 and New York 55 at the western end of US 44 in Kerhonkson.  May 20, 2005.



New York 43 and New York 351 in West Sand Lake.  November 2, 2002.  West Sand Lake is also home to a New York 43/New York 150 junction that would qualify.



New York 156 and New York 443 in Berne.  May 13, 2013.

[xonhulu]

Here are some make-up photos for days I missed.

For 40-90 day, OR 42 and OR 99 in Winston,followed by OR 240 and OR 99W in Newberg:




For 50-50 day, OR 153 and OR 154 meet near Hopewell.  There is no signage at the actual intersection indicating straight ahead is the start of 154 -- you have to drive about a mile to see the first confirming OR 154 shield:



So via the magic of GIMP, here's how the junction SHOULD appear:




Oregon has no 50-60 or 50-70 junctions. Here are examples of those from neighboring Idaho:



For 50-80, there is a triple junction of OR 350, OR 351 and  OR 82 in Joseph.  Unfortunately, as of Oct 2023, OR 350 and OR 351 remained unsigned, but here's what that junction looks like:



1st photo is from 351 north, which ends here, looking at the start of 82 straight ahead and 350 to the right. 2nd photo is from the perspective of 350 west showing 82 starting to the right.  3rd photo is from 82 east showing the start of 351 straight ahead, with 350 heading off to the left.

Finally, Oregon has no 60-80 or 70-70 junctions. So I'll turn to Arizona for some examples of those:

[paulthemapguy]

I think I will keep May through August focused on US highways only. It was my original plan for this challenge to only allow junctions of US highways meeting other US highways, but I chose an easier challenge for the first bout of this series of photo challenges, to drum up interest. You don't get people to play your game if you start out on hard mode!

On May 1, we will start at zero and zero, as per usual. But throughout May and June, the ones digit of the highway will have the criteria you must heed. The first 19 days might be slightly easier, as the US highways ending in 0 and 1 are more prominent with more branch routes overall. After that, things might get more difficult. We are searching nationwide for US highway junctions that fit the bill.

As a preview for what to expect for the first several days of May, when Season 3 begins:

May 1: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and another US highway ending in 0, anywhere in the USA.
May 2: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 1, anywhere in the USA.
May 3: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 2, anywhere in the USA.
May 4: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 3, anywhere in the USA.
May 5: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 4, anywhere in the USA.
May 6: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 5, anywhere in the USA.
May 7: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 6, anywhere in the USA.
May 8: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 7, anywhere in the USA.
May 9: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 8, anywhere in the USA.
May 10: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 9, anywhere in the USA.
May 11: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 1 and another US highway ending in 1, anywhere in the USA.

With US highways, if the challenge calls for two highways ending in the same digit, you can look for a junction where a 3-digit US highway meets its parent route. When both digits are odd or both digits are even, the challenges might get very tricky.  I'll save the involvement of Interstates for Seasons 5 and 6 in September through December!

[LilianaUwU]

I think I will keep May through August focused on US highways only.

Fuck all of us who live outside of the US. Tracks with the rest of the country, unfortunately.

[formulanone]

I think I will keep May through August focused on US highways only.

Fuck all of us who live outside of the US. Tracks with the rest of the country, unfortunately.

I don't think Canada and Quebec have a national system other than Autoroutes and a few Trans-Canada highways?

I'd imagine Paul would be okay with a similar format, as long as it's consistent.

[hotdogPi]

I would say that Autoroutes and Ontario 400-series routes would probably belong in seasons 5 and 6, not 3 and 4.

E-routes could probably go in seasons 3 and 4, though.

[kphoger]

Fuck all of us who live outside of the US. Tracks with the rest of the country, unfortunately.

Nothing is stopping you from starting your own, more Canada-friendly, game thread.

[paulthemapguy]

I don't know how to expand this concept to include highways in other countries. If both routes in the photo are part of a nationwide highway system, I think we can allow that. But I don't think that opens a lot of options for Canada in particular.

[paulthemapguy]

As a bit of a cheat sheet for May and June, here are some pairs of routes I can post for the various challenges this month. On the left side you see the pairs of routes when the criteria are based on the ones digits. On the right is the chart for tens digits (July and August).

USxy by Paul Across America, on Flickr

[74/171FAN]

May 1: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and another US highway ending in 0, anywhere in the USA.

US 360 and US 460 intersect their business routes in Burkeville, VA.

US 360 AND US 460 WEST AT US 360 BUS AND US 460 BUS WEST by Mark Moore, on Flickr

[Jim]

I'll start my contributions to the new season with these.  There are a lot of combinations to play but I'll limit to 3.  I'm sure I'll see many of my other candidates represented by others' contributions later today.

US 20 and US 20A in East Bloomfield, New York.  June 29, 2016.



US 50 and US 400 in western Kansas.  April 28, 2004.



US 60 and US 180 near Springerville, Arizona.  October 14, 2018.

[formulanone]

US 190 at US 90 near Slidell, Louisiana:



US 70 and US 30 in Hondo, New Mexico:



US 50 and 150 in Loogootee, Indiana (I didn't stick around long enough to find out how to pronounce it):

[paulthemapguy]

May 1: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and another US highway ending in 0, anywhere in the USA.

It looks like everyone is understanding the assignment very well!

US350 at US160 near Trinidad, CO


CO-US160-US350E by Paul Across America, on Flickr

Looking west toward US310's southern end at US20 at Greybull, WY


WY-US16-US310WA by Paul Across America, on Flickr

US150 and US50 splitting up in Shoals, Indiana


IN-US50-US150EWA by Paul Across America, on Flickr

Looking forward:
May 2: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 1, anywhere in the USA.
May 3: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 2, anywhere in the USA.
May 4: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 3, anywhere in the USA.
May 5: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 4, anywhere in the USA.
May 6: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 5, anywhere in the USA.
May 7: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 6, anywhere in the USA.
May 8: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 7, anywhere in the USA.
May 9: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 8, anywhere in the USA.
May 10: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 0 and a US highway ending in 9, anywhere in the USA.
May 11: Post the junction of a US highway ending in 1 and another US highway ending in 1, anywhere in the USA.

[xonhulu]

Interesting that we've already had a twice-posted pair of routes (50/150).  It stands to reason that we might be stepping on each other's toes since we're all now sharing the same pool.  For example, I also have photos of 50/400, 160/350, 20/310 and 70/380.

I'll start my contributions to the new season with these.  There are a lot of combinations to play but I'll limit to 3.  I'm sure I'll see many of my other candidates represented by others' contributions later today.

I appreciate that restraint of leaving some for others. I'll follow your example, too, since I often post early.

That being said, y'all did leave me a few good ones today.  Here's US 20 and US 30 (along with US 26 and I-84) near Mountain Home, ID:



And here are 2 of my favorite road photos, both involving junctions of my favorite US Route, US 30, with its two remaining "children."

US 30 and US 130 in Camden, NJ:



US 30 and US 730 in Boardman Jct, OR:

[paulthemapguy]

Nothing wrong with posting a combination that's already been posted before! When we get to certain combinations of digits like 2-2 and 8-8, the options will be relatively scant. Things will get more difficult when we pull away from 0 and 1, so I will be floored if we don't see repeats.