2026 Is a big year for Roadgeeks in America

[Max Rockatansky]

Anyways, here is an example of what I was talking about with Dale's USends page hitting commemorative dates with the US Route System.  Today's post was about the planned terminus of US 30 switching from Salt Lake City to Astoria. 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid025rUbgUYLKNdeQFtX2itE7QaVNoym3ekePt3g92NXGkycsA7Ybr3tG5BxBGpf2uVel&id=100063566439769&mibextid=wwXIfr

If I was going to offer a thought on something I was planning on Gribblenation I might just pull the list of original US Routes for a couple west coast states.  We have a stronger following out west than we do in the rest of the country.

[Quillz]

I think that I'm missing what is being taken as mocking?  I don't think that anything I said conveys that I don't care about the history of US Route System. 

Perhaps it was my pointing out that I don't see a centennial as any more special than recognizing something as 99 years old, or 101 years old. Right now I'm seeing Disneyland ads celebrating 70 years. I wonder if they did ads about 65 years? But my original post wasn't intended to "shit" or mock anyone. It was just my thoughts.

I guess as an aside, I just kind of find the specific interest our society has with 100 as interesting. I remember Snope did an article about the famous Lincoln-Kennedy connections, and how so many of them were based on things happening 100 years apart. But as they pointed out, it ignores all the things they didn't have in common, and it ignored all the things that didn't happen 100 years apart. Their point was we get very obsessed with "clean" numbers and specific milestones, when there in truth isn't anything special about 100 years compared to 97 years or 112 years. Which was kind of my larger point, that I don't see AASHTO doing anything special for the century milestone because in of itself, I don't think it's any more or less significant than any other year.

I think there's also a difference between finding meaning in numbers within a particular system, and recognizing that the actual age of that system isn't as significant.

[pderocco]

Perhaps it was my pointing out that I don't see a centennial as any more special than recognizing something as 99 years old, or 101 years old. Right now I'm seeing Disneyland ads celebrating 70 years. I wonder if they did ads about 65 years? But my original post wasn't intended to "shit" or mock anyone. It was just my thoughts.

I guess as an aside, I just kind of find the specific interest our society has with 100 as interesting. I remember Snope did an article about the famous Lincoln-Kennedy connections, and how so many of them were based on things happening 100 years apart. But as they pointed out, it ignores all the things they didn't have in common, and it ignored all the things that didn't happen 100 years apart. Their point was we get very obsessed with "clean" numbers and specific milestones, when there in truth isn't anything special about 100 years compared to 97 years or 112 years. Which was kind of my larger point, that I don't see AASHTO doing anything special for the century milestone because in of itself, I don't think it's any more or less significant than any other year.

People naturally want to commemorate things with celebrations, often annually like birthdays. But some things aren't significant enough to celebrate every year, so they get celebrated less often. We represent numbers in base ten, ultimately because we have ten fingers, so all powers of ten are significant to us in that they are our "roundest" numbers, making them easy to remember. (Powers of a thousand, even more, as in kilometers, megawatts, gigabytes, teraflops.) That doesn't mean they have some magical meaning outside of the number system. But if you want a series of numbers that are spread apart, in order to celebrate something less often than every year, it makes sense to pick multiples of some power of ten.

So if AASHTO isn't celebrating the centennial of the US highway system, it's not because there's nothing special about 100 years, it's because they don't think that's anything worth celebrating at all.

[Quillz]

So if AASHTO isn't celebrating the centennial of the US highway system, it's not because there's nothing special about 100 years, it's because they don't think that's anything worth celebrating at all.

This is where I'd probably agree with them. I don't think there's a lot to celebrate. I think the interstate system might be worth celebrating a centennial if only because it has specific design standards, it was championed by Eisenhower, is one of the largest public works projects in history, and had a huge impact on the transportation. By contrast, the US highways are just standard roads for the most part, and even state highways have supplanted them in many cases.

[Max Rockatansky]

Considering the AASHTO Facebook account seems to be going out of their way to not mention American roadways I'm guessing they don't think the US Route System is worth celebrating.  You can see such jems though such ocean liners being launched in Italy though:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0pbL3V645iheS2hiGKay3oAsRzjC5MYNZobJG46ckSsT42zHmvvNcVAhGKTg1yXG5l&id=100064604687317&mibextid=wwXIfr

[formulanone]

I guess the Centennial Thing just shows that something spanned a few generations, so for some people, it's a chance to look back with any personal introspection. We're still allowed to do that? Not just buy stuff endlessly and bullshit each other to feed others' ideals?

In the case of the U.S. Numbered Route system, it was for a standardization of (mostly) inter-state routes to facilitate travel for agriculture, goods, services, and later, tourism. There were auto routes before that but usually by committees which had more local representation.

Looking back, we see that it wasn't always a perfect ideal; lots of politics, string-pulling, backscratching (and perhaps some light backstabbing). The were comparatively limited standards at the time but somehow it seemed to work out so as long as map publishing and a few signs let the public know where to go hither and dither.

This eventually led to the Interstate system which has more support and yet more flaws, a sometimes ignominious past, but is somewhere between a massive shiny example to the world or exposes and feeds the worst of all our habits. For us, it's a big launching point into our hobbies, even if our scope is vast and varied, and find interest in the deep obscurity as well as the publicly obvious.

So while we look at these things frequently, there's the scope of the greater public which doesn't think about these things (if much at all after passing their state's driving exam), letting such trivia lay transparent and dwell into the unconscious. But that expands the pool of roadgeekery in some small way, even if it doesn't quite match the initial tireless effort to get that route system prepared in the first place.

That's why it's okay to have celebrations, however muted or attenuated. These celebrations are the epitome of culture; it does not come from a box nor an application but comes from the environment, the shared joy and awe that we get from these kinds of mammoth works which cause us to tremble with amazement, impel us to behold the great works, and spur us to think of our own future deeds. 

[kphoger]

the Federal U.S. Highway Numbering System (i.e. US 31, US 90, US 41)

Only those three?

[kphoger]

No number is particularly special outside of cultural attitudes. It's like how 40 was a significant number in the Bible, a lot of ancient civilizations used 60 as an important number. Modern society likes 100 but there's nothing special about it beyond it just being a number.

I'd argue that some numbers are objectively special, whereas others are only culturally special, and that the distinction comes down to math.

I think it stands to reason that so many civilizations—particularly the Babylonians and Sumerians—used base-60 because it's so incredibly useful for doing math.  It has twelve factors, including all numbers from 1 through 6, which means it's great for conducting business in an ancient context.  The smallest number that has factors including all of 1 through 5 is...also 60.  The smallest number that has factors including all of 1 through 4 is the number 12, which is also a special number in many cultures (for example, it's the cutoff point for our own language's list of unique number names before we just start adding -teen to the end of things).

When I'm at the gym, I almost always do reps on either 12, 16, or 24, because it's easy for me to know how far through the set I am at any given point.  If I'm doing a set of 24, then...

4:  one-sixth of the way done
6:  one-quarter of the way done
8:  one-third of the way done
12:  halfway done
16:  one-third left to go
18:  one-quarter left to go
20:  one-sixth left to go

Sure, I could do sets of 23 instead, but 23 is less special of a number in this regard.  (Of course, its being a prime number makes it special in its own way instead.)

[formulanone]

the Federal U.S. Highway Numbering System (i.e. US 31, US 90, US 41)

Only those three?

Yes, says the Floribamian. I'll give 27 some consideration but US 47 can get lost.

[pderocco]

When I'm at the gym, I almost always do reps on either 12, 16, or 24, because it's easy for me to know how far through the set I am at any given point.  If I'm doing a set of 24, then...

4:  one-sixth of the way done
6:  one-quarter of the way done
8:  one-third of the way done
12:  halfway done
16:  one-third left to go
18:  one-quarter left to go
20:  one-sixth left to go

Don't worry, we'll get you the best doctors.

[akt85]

Are there any official plans for the 100th anniversary of Route 66? That is probably the most popular of the U.S. Federal Highways amongst the general public and that highway has been decommissioned for over 40 years.

[kphoger]

Are there any official plans for the 100th anniversary of Route 66? That is probably the most popular of the U.S. Federal Highways amongst the general public and that highway has been decommissioned for over 40 years.

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^

Yeah, I was going to say something about that but figured someone else would hit on "Federal Highways." 

Are there any official plans for the 100th anniversary of Route 66? That is probably the most popular of the U.S. Federal Highways amongst the general public and that highway has been decommissioned for over 40 years.

You'd probably have to go look up some US 66 fandom groups or societies for that.  Be warned, they are more about catering Americana/nostalgia than actual history. 

[vdeane]

U.S. Federal Highways

Hello viatologists!

[akt85]

Off topic, but while on the subject of numbers, is 6 7 still a big deal on social media or has that died down with the new year?

[Max Rockatansky]

Off topic, but while on the subject of numbers, is 6 7 still a big deal on social media or has that died down with the new year?

Here you go:

https://www.facebook.com/100063655972258/posts/pfbid03dW4N41xs4Xptw1vGJEVaGk8LNRKM5guMu2tr6Phz3kvcFbUVocPybd44VLGLF5Fl/?mibextid=wwXIfr

We do themed posts but don't expect things like Skibidi toilet and other things like that.  I just happened to have a photo of a shield that was perfect for 6-7.

[bulldog1979]

Off topic, but while on the subject of numbers, is 6 7 still a big deal on social media or has that died down with the new year?

That was banished for misuse, overuse and general uselessness this year.