Arizona Looking to Dump Metric Signage on I-19

[kphoger]

I was wondering why the word filter didn't get that, but apparently you have to leave out the space to get mezzanine.

I forgot there was even a filter.

[vdeane]

I was wondering why the word filter didn't get that, but apparently you have to leave out the space to get mezzanine.

I forgot there was even a filter.

Is it even still operational?  I remember at one point after a major forum downtime seeing a name I didn't recognize in the context of P13 where I would have expected Sault Saint John Madden.

[TheCatalyst31]

I was wondering why the word filter didn't get that, but apparently you have to leave out the space to get mezzanine.

I forgot there was even a filter.

Is it even still operational?  I remember at one point after a major forum downtime seeing a name I didn't recognize in the context of P13 where I would have expected Sault Saint John Madden.

It's still operational, because I didn't type mezzanine in my original post just to make sure it was still working. I don't know if the P13 filter is still around, but I also don't know the original name so I can't test that one out. The only other filter I remember is the hep cat one, and while I assume it's still working, the original word for that one is a racial slur so I'm not testing that.

[hotdogPi]

By using the preview button, all the filters, including the Poiponen13 filter and the filter that replaces "Sent frοm my [device] using Τapatalk" with color/size formatting, are still active.

[Max Rockatansky]

Sault Sainte John Madden

Nope, the famous P13 filter is still active.

[vdeane]

Sault Sainte John Madden

Nope, the famous P13 filter is still active.

Wish I remembered where the post I saw was, then.  It was very soon after the downtime that removed things like the like button - perhaps it was gone at the time and since came back.

[JKRhodes]

I see historical value in preserving the metric signage, to illustrate how the conversion act of the 1970s ultimately won less than 100 miles out of a 50k mile system in efforts to align the USA  with the rest of the world.

[The Ghostbuster]

I understand Interstate 19 having metric signage and kilometer-based exit numbers, given that 19 nearly makes it to the Mexican border. Still, I would rather it had mileage-based distances and exit numbers (Highway 1 in Delaware, on the other hand, should not have kilometer-based exit numbers; nor should it have those goofy exit numbers that are neither mileage-based or kilometer-based).

[vdeane]

Highway 1 in Delaware, on the other hand, should not have kilometer-based exit numbers; nor should it have those goofy exit numbers that are neither mileage-based or kilometer-based

Indeed.  If a road wants to be metric, it should commit and have both distances and exit numbers in metric.  Using km-based exit numbers while all distances are in miles is about as useful for navigation and using sequential exit numbers.

[kphoger]

If a road wants to be metric, it should commit and have both distances and exit numbers in metric.  Using km-based exit numbers while all distances are in miles is about as useful for navigation and using sequential exit numbers.

Then there's Puerto Rico, with speed limits in miles/hour but distance signs in kilometers.  Easy math, right?  If you're driving 45 mph, and your destination is 45 km away, then it will take you exactly 37.26 minutes to reach your destination.

[vdeane]

If a road wants to be metric, it should commit and have both distances and exit numbers in metric.  Using km-based exit numbers while all distances are in miles is about as useful for navigation and using sequential exit numbers.

Then there's Puerto Rico, with speed limits in miles/hour but distance signs in kilometers.  Easy math, right?  If you're driving 45 mph, and your destination is 45 km away, then it will take you exactly 37.26 minutes to reach your destination.

At least you can still say "I'm going to exit 42 and at km 62, so it's 20 km to go".  Of course, that might have somewhat reduced utility if their cars still have odometers in miles (which they probably do, since my car just has a single button to toggle between metric and US customary and can't change them separately), but that's still better than "I'm going to exit 142 (based on km) and am at mile 102, so I still have who the f*** can do that math in their head to go".

[pderocco]

I understand Interstate 19 having metric signage and kilometer-based exit numbers, given that 19 nearly makes it to the Mexican border.

Does Mexico have sixty miles of mile-based signage?

[kphoger]

Does Mexico have sixty miles of mile-based signage?

No.

The closest I've seen are dual km/h & mph speed limit signs between the Colombia border bridge and highway 2.

[kkt]

I understand Interstate 19 having metric signage and kilometer-based exit numbers, given that 19 nearly makes it to the Mexican border.

Does Mexico have sixty miles of mile-based signage?

Does anyplace in the world outside the United States have sixty miles of mile-based signage?

(Hm.  There might be 60 miles with some mileposts remaining along Roman roads in Italy.)

[kphoger]

Does anyplace in the world outside the United States have sixty miles of mile-based signage?

Of course, silly:  https://maps.app.goo.gl/xpfUZpi19FVjQFQc8

[hotdogPi]

Does anyplace in the world outside the United States have sixty miles of mile-based signage?

Of course, silly:  https://maps.app.goo.gl/xpfUZpi19FVjQFQc8

I was going to mention the UK, since their exit signs say "1m" (meaning mile, not meter), but I wasn't sure if it applied to all signs or just the exit signs like this "1/2 m" sign. Size reduced because it is extremely blurry.



For your link, Perth really threw me off into thinking it was Australia, by the way.

[kphoger]

For your link, Perth really threw me off into thinking it was Australia, by the way.

Yes, and I intended to link to one with a non-Perth destination more than 60 miles away but, after poking around GSV for only a little bit, I just gave up and figured people would get a good chuckle out of it.  I'm glad you did.

(Edit:  Here's one.)

[machias]

I don't understand what difference it makes the I-19 is posted in kilometers or miles. The exit numbers have been in place for decades, the speed limit signs are in MPH, and ADOT has done a great job of making sure folks know there's an exit coming up. Plus, I-19 is short and not once have I ever seen a car go flying off the road because they didn't know how far it was to the next exit.

If folks want to get rid of the metric signs and renumber everything simply because it's metric and some sort of "it's anti-U.S.!" rhetoric, well that's just a waste of money. The signs work as they are today.

[kphoger]

If folks want to get rid of the metric signs and renumber everything simply because it's metric and some sort of "it's anti-U.S.!" rhetoric, well that's just a waste of money. The signs work as they are today.

Do you also think that sequential-to-mileage exit number conversions are a waste of money?

[The Ghostbuster]

The sequential-to-milepost exit conversions are the opposite of a waste of money in my opinion. As for machias' second paragraph, all I have to say is Ouch!

[Max Rockatansky]

Amazing how consistently this thread has been active since Tucker Carlson's sexy M&M fetish came up.

[pderocco]

I don't know how many people look at mileposts, but exit numbers are certainly more important. There are a couple hundred kilometer markers, and you can't just patch them because mile-based ones have to be in different locations. However, in GSV I see some existing mile markers interspersed in some places.

Since there are 24 interchanges, there are probably a comparable number of exit numbers, but they could be patched, so I don't think that would be very expensive, especially compared to the cost of the road itself.

BTW, while I was driving around in GSV, I saw this:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/2q8fkx1kBcmL5YXf6

I've never seen anything quite like that. It first appears in the 2013 imagery, and the 2011 imagery show the taggers got to the sign, but I would have thought they'd put up a chain link fence instead, like they do on every other overpass.

[Scott5114]

I've never seen anything quite like that. It first appears in the 2013 imagery, and the 2011 imagery show the taggers got to the sign, but I would have thought they'd put up a chain link fence instead, like they do on every other overpass.

We have those in Las Vegas.

[kphoger]

I don't know how many people look at mileposts, but exit numbers are certainly more important.

Anecdotally, my wife and sons look at mile markers all the time, and specifically to see how far it is until we reach our next stop.  If I know we're getting off at Exit 192 for a pit stop, and they want to know far till we get there, then they look at the mile markers and do subtraction.