Changing direction

[papaT10932]

How common are highways that change direction? I only know of two off-hand. NY17 East-West becomes NY17 North-South at the Thruway interchange and I-287 North-South becomes I-287 East-West at the NY-NJ border in Ramapo. It's very confusing to those who aren't familiar with the roads. Are there any federal regulations that discourage this?

[mightyace]

Many beltways are this way.

Here are the ones I can think of off the top of my head:
I-270 Columbus, OH
I-465 Indianapolis, IN
I-275 Cincinnati, OH
I-265 Louisville, KY
I-285 Atlanta, GA

Another one of a completely different ilk is in Elizabethton, TN.  There US 321 changes direction 180 degrees when it meets/leaves US 19E.  Either way on 321, you are going North headed toward the intersection and south leaving it.  Not surprisingly, the US 321 signs at the intersection lack directional markers.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Elizabethton,+TN&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.839416,78.134766&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Elizabethton,+Carter,+Tennessee&ll=36.34872,-82.210688&spn=0.031592,0.076303&t=h&z=14

[agentsteel53]

Maine route 3 goes down to the Bar Harbor peninsula and then spirals inward upon itself, with every physical direction being represented along the route. 

the signs have a "ROUTE" banner instead of a direction.  I think an "IN" or "OUT" set of designations would be adequate for here.

another beltway example: I-435 in Kansas City.

[corco]

US-101 in Washington State (N-W-S), I-69 in Michigan (N-E),

[TheStranger]

California has a handful of examples that come to mind:

Route 70 (from north-south between Catlett and Oroville to east-west rest of the way)
Route 18 (different east-west segments around Big Bear Lake, plus a north-south segment to San Bernardino, resulting in a question-mark shaped route)

I saw today a "Route 183 West" sign in Salinas off of US 101 as well, even though at that point 183 runs south-north before continuing north-south in a different direction towards Castroville.

Though I haven't seen it personally, I've read that the Ventura Freeway segment of US 101 is sometimes signed east-west on surface streets (though always north-south on the freeway itself).

[agentsteel53]

Though I haven't seen it personally, I've read that the Ventura Freeway segment of US 101 is sometimes signed east-west on surface streets (though always north-south on the freeway itself).

correct.  Ventura Boulevard (old 101) has a lot of east/west 101 trailblazer signs, especially just west of the 405 junction.

[Duke87]

Well, not technically the same route, but NY 35 (E-W) and CT 35 (N-S) are continuous with each other (there are no doubt many other examples of this).

The signing of beltways with cardinal directions always gets me. In my mind, I'll be thinking "I need to get on 695 counterclockwise"... but of course the signs don't say that, and I end up having to do a bit of mental coordinate substitution to figure out which direction is correct.

While switching from N-S to E-W midroute is mostly harmless, switching twice on a route that makes a 180 degree turn is awful and should never be done, because it will inevitably cause confusion as to which direction is the one you want to go in. Let's say you leave Olympia driving "north" on US 101. You turn off at some point, wander around doing things, and eventually find yourself back at 101 near the coast. You might, logically, assume that by turning onto 101 south, you can get back to Olympia. But that's the wrong way!

[agentsteel53]

The signing of beltways with cardinal directions always gets me.

me too, but to me it is not as bad as a wrong-way multiplex going perpendicular to the signed directions.  

To this day, the only time I have had to stop at the base of an on-ramp and review a map to decide if I am really going in my intended direction: I-80 and I-580 in the Oakland area.  "Okay, so I want to go north - is that signed east/west or west/east??"

that said, the beltways are in my opinion signed well when they say "inner" and "outer" but it's a shame of the English language that the words "clockwise" and "counterclockwise" are too awkwardly long to be banners.  If we had equivalents that are five or six letters long, we could sign those.  Even "inner" and "outer" take a pause to figure out what direction they go in.  Maybe "CW" and "CCW" would work but even those two are too similar to each other, especially when a letter invariably peels off the tab...

I'd say "CLOCK" and "COUNTER" but those are so unintuitive that the driving public may very well end up driving the wrong way up an off-ramp because they got confused.

[corco]

The bright side with the Olympia routing is that for through travelers it is never fastest to directly take both sides of US-101. If you're south of Sappho Junction, the fastest route to Olympia is 101-12-8-101. If you're east of Sappho Junction, the fastest route is 101. For the majority of travelers, 101 is almost two separate routes, so that's cool

[Bryant5493]

Georgia State Route 139 is signed north-south between S.R. 85 and the Chattahoochee River (the Cobb-Fulton border), and is east-west from that point to its northern/western terminus at U.S. 78/278/S.R. 5/8 (Veterans Memorial Highway) in Mableton.

I-285, of course, changes direction: it's north-south from I-85 to I-75 on the Westside; east-west between I-75 and I-85 on the Top End; north-south from I-85 to I-20 on the Eastside; and east-west from I-20 to I-85 on the Southside, near the Atlanta Airport. This causes confusion, even though, if you looked at 285 on a map, the cardinal directions are correct.


Be well,

Bryant

[thenetwork]

US 24 is North/South in all of Michigan, while somewhere in Toledo, OH, US 24 becomes East-West all the way to Minturn, CO.

US 42 is North/South in all of Ohio, while across the river in Kentucky, US 42 becomes East-West.

[TheStranger]

US 42 is North/South in all of Ohio, while across the river in Kentucky, US 42 becomes East-West.

IIRC, US 68 does the same exact switch as well in the same two states.

[Bryant5493]

I think I-75 in South Florida is signed east-west and U.S. 92 is north-south in Florida as well, not surely exactly where, though. Might be near Tampa.


Be well,

Bryant

[Michael]

NY 3 is signed east-west for most of its routing.  It's signed north-south between NY 264 in Palermo and the Oswego/Jefferson County line.

NY 326 is signed east-west except for a mile at the north (east) end.  It turns onto a north-south boulevard to connect to NY 5/US 20, and is signed accordingly.

[hbelkins]

This is not unusual. Another interstate to consider is I-469 in Indiana. This really should be a north-south road for its entire length, but instead it is E-W, N-S and back to E-W again.

A number of US highways change direction at the state line.

KY-VA 160 is a bit unusual. In Virginia, the route starts out signed as heading west as it climbs Black Mountain into Kentucky. Directional signage is very spotty in Harlan County but I think it changes direction to east. Further into Kentucky (Knott County) it becomes a N-S route.

[jdb1234]

US 41 is signed East and West in Miami-Dade County.

[Ian]

I know along US 202, there are several direction changes. In Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, it is signed north-south and in New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine, it is signed east-west.

In Connecticut, US 1 is signed east-west. I am not sure if it still is or was though.

[jdb1234]

US 31 changes directions in Birmingham. 

[okroads]

U.S. 83 changes direction to E-W in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

[Terry Shea]

US-101 in Washington State (N-W-S), I-69 in Michigan (N-E),

Also I-196 and several state routes in Michigan.  I-196 is a long spur off from I-96 and goes more or less due west thru Grand Rapids, then goes nearly due south thru the suburbs (but is still signed as an E/W route).  Upon entering Ottawa County it ventures somewhat southwesterly toward Holland and then just west of exit 49 it is signed as a N/S route.  Shortly thereafter it duplexes with US-31 and heads basically due south where it ends at I-94 in the Benton Harbor/St Joseph area.

[Bryant5493]

US 31 changes directions in Birmingham. 

Wow!


Be well,

Bryant

[bugo]

OK 165 in Muskogee, which is basically a half-loop, changes directions.  So does the weird OK 10, which is an L shaped route.

[Duke87]

In Connecticut, US 1 is signed east-west. I am not sure if it still is or was though.

There definitely used to be places it was signed east/west. One I can personally vouch for was at the bottom of CT 27 in Mystic (but that was a good 15 years ago, I don't have any pictures). All newer signs properly indicate north/south... dunno if any E/W signs still exist.

[AZDude]

Loop 101 in Arizona starts out with North/South then turns due East/West, then curves and goes North/South again.  The Loop 202 does this as well, I believe.  Starts out East/West then turns North/South, then East/West Again.  The Loop 303 may someday be signed as such in the future. 

[kurumi]

Interstate 820, South or West from TX 183, Fort Worth