Highest sequential exit number remaining

[Duke87]

But then it resets to 1 on Linden Boulevard.

Can't confirm about that sign specifically, but almost all of the signs with exit numbers on Linden Boulevard are gone. Probably all will be soon if they aren't already.

[NE2]

They've been almost all gone for more than 10 years. Here's one that was still standing in May 2011: https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.654132,-73.914162&spn=0.006259,0.014173&gl=us&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.654132,-73.914162&panoid=5W1TVyBfUKgFsnqoYwBo5Q&cbp=12,278.9,,0,2.54

[Duke87]

I realize that. Even still, my impression has been (from traveling Linden Blvd in random segments for work, not end to end for roadgeeking - i.e., anecdotal viewing, not thorough inspection) that most of the ones Google caught in 2011 and that I remember being there when I drove it end to end in 2011 are gone now.

[Alps]

I-278, NY (54)  First Numbered Exit 3 Western Avenue, Staten Island

I would speculate that the implication is that exits 1 and 2 are in New Jersey, for I-95/NJTP and NJ 439 (these exits do not have signed numbers).

I had always thought US 1 was Exit 1, I-95 was Exit 2 and NJ 439 was Exit 3 (or possible vice-versa on those), but I have no photos of exit numbering, so I guess not.

[Alps]

For that matter, I-495 LIE WTF?

And this bit of speculation I think I'm most likely correct on out of the three: I-495's exit numbers assumed the Midtown Manhattan Expressway would be built and numbered continuously with what's now NJ 495. You'd then have exits 1-7 in New Jersey and 8-12 in Manhattan.

Turnpike interchange ought to be unnumbered, but let's call it 1.
NJ 3 would be 2, US 1/9 would be 3, JFK would be 4, Weehawken would be 5 - unless you're counting each of the two WB exits at the top of the ramp as separate numbers, I can't get to 7, and those ramps are so close together I just don't see it.

[NE2]

I had always thought US 1 was Exit 1, I-95 was Exit 2 and NJ 439 was Exit 3 (or possible vice-versa on those), but I have no photos of exit numbering, so I guess not.

Vice-versa per the SLD: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000278__-.pdf

[Duke87]

I had always thought US 1 was Exit 1, I-95 was Exit 2 and NJ 439 was Exit 3 (or possible vice-versa on those), but I have no photos of exit numbering, so I guess not.

You have no photos because I-278 has no signed exit numbers in NJ. Interesting, though, that they do in fact exist internally.

Turnpike interchange ought to be unnumbered, but let's call it 1.
NJ 3 would be 2, US 1/9 would be 3, JFK would be 4, Weehawken would be 5 - unless you're counting each of the two WB exits at the top of the ramp as separate numbers, I can't get to 7, and those ramps are so close together I just don't see it.

Yeah, I'm counting those two ramps as different numbers since they do not go to the same street.

I did miscount, though, in a way that gave me seven exits without the terminus. I think I had JFK as two exit numbers due to the eastbound ramp being set back/having an alternate destination. Which is iffy.

Regardless of the particulars, though, this is the only logical explanation I can come up with for why I-495's exit numbers start at 13, and it just seems to make sense given the history we know.

[hubcity]

For that matter, I-495 LIE WTF?

And this bit of speculation I think I'm most likely correct on out of the three: I-495's exit numbers assumed the Midtown Manhattan Expressway would be built and numbered continuously with what's now NJ 495. You'd then have exits 1-7 in New Jersey and 8-12 in Manhattan.

Turnpike interchange ought to be unnumbered, but let's call it 1.
NJ 3 would be 2, US 1/9 would be 3, JFK would be 4, Weehawken would be 5 - unless you're counting each of the two WB exits at the top of the ramp as separate numbers, I can't get to 7, and those ramps are so close together I just don't see it.

This is the best answer I can come up with, given that the exit numbering starts with 13 on the east side of the East River: maybe each crossed street and/or tunnel ramp in Manhattan (Lincoln Tunnel exit/entrance -> Dyer Ave. -> 34th St. -> Queens-Midtown Tunnel entrance/exit) counts as a numbered exit? There's easily 12 of those...

Let's see:

Exit 1: Dyer Av. North to 40/41/42 St. (Ramp intersection)
Exit 2: West 36th St. (Surface intersection)
Exit 3: West 35th St. (surface intersection)
Route continues eastward onto West 34th St. (I'm ignoring the ability to turn westward on West 34th toward 10th Av.)
Exit 4: 9th Av. (surface intersection)
Exit 5: 8th Av. (surface intersection)
Exit 6: 7th Av. (surface intersection)
Exit 7: 6th Av./Broadway/Herald Square (surface intersection)
Exit 8: 5th Av. (surface intersection) Route contunes eastward on East 34th St.
Exit 9: Madison Av. (surface intersection)
Exit 10: Park Av. (surface intersection, grade-separated from Park Av. express tunnel)
Exit 11: Lexington Av. (surface intersection)
Exit 12: 3rd. Av. (surface intersection)
Route continues northward from East 34th St. onto Tunnel Exit St./Tunnel Entrance St.  (I'm ignoring the ability to turn eastward on East 34th toward 1st Av.)

This ignores an intersection between East 495 and 2nd Av., though it could be argued that if East 495 follows 2nd Av. to a ramp into the Queens Midtown, it wouldn't be necessary to count it. It also ignores an opportunity to turn onto eastbound East 35th St.  Also, regardless of whether the route follows 2nd Av. or the Tunnel Entrance, there's a final chance to turn off the route at East 36th St. and stay in Manhattan that I'm not counting. I suppose you could double-up nothrbound/southbound avenues to conserve exit numbers.

All of this assumes I'm interpreting Google Street Views correctly.  Of course, if you're the DOT, you could sign whichever you'd want however you'd want to make it work.

[vdeane]

Except it can't be the streets, because I-495 was to be routed on the mid-Manhattan expressway.  The tunnels only exit to the streets because the expressway wasn't built.

[hubcity]

You'd think that, but I can't see any other way to get 12 interchanges into about a mile of highway...

[roadman65]

They might count New Jersey's exits in it like NYSDOT did with I-278.  They included the two ramps in NJ for the NJ Turnpike and the city streets of Elizabeth to be part of their scheme.

It wouldn't be the first time exit numbers continue across state lines, as the original scheme for the Capital Beltway between MD and VA had one clockwise set of numbers from 1 to 38.   Then you still have the Palisades Interstate Parkway having one scheme from its southern terminus in Fort Lee, NJ to its northern terminus at Bear Mountain going from 4 at the NJ-NY Line for US 9W in NJ and then  continuing for NY's first exit for NY 303 as Exit 5.

Route 495 would have:
Exit 1 NJ 3
Exit 2- US 1 & 9
Exit 3- JFK Blvd.
Exit 4- Pleasant Avenue
Exit 5- Park Avenue/ Blvd. E.
Exit 6- Hoboken

That would leave 7 numbers for Manhattan if NYC allowed the Mid Manhattan to be built.

[akotchi]

I had always thought US 1 was Exit 1, I-95 was Exit 2 and NJ 439 was Exit 3 (or possible vice-versa on those), but I have no photos of exit numbering, so I guess not.

Vice-versa per the SLD: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000278__-.pdf

If you want to get picky . . . Exit 1 is WB only to U.S. 1&9; Exit 2 is New Brunswick Ave., to/from the west only; Exit 3 is Turnpike (to/from both directions) and NJ 439 (to/from east only).  Of further interest, is that there is also an Exit 3 in Staten Island westbound at Western Ave.  The first eastbound exit in Staten Island is 4.

[NE2]

If you want to get picky . . . Exit 1 is WB only to U.S. 1&9; Exit 2 is New Brunswick Ave., to/from the west only; Exit 3 is Turnpike (to/from both directions) and NJ 439 (to/from east only).

We can't know for sure, since the numbers aren't signed, but presumably NJDOT would sign the westbound exit for NJ 439 as exit 2.

[roadman65]

Actually Exit 1 would be for both NJ 439 and New Brunswick Avenue and the NJT would be Exit 2.   The western terminus at US 1 & 9 does not need and exit number.

[vdeane]

Actually Exit 1 would be for both NJ 439 and New Brunswick Avenue and the NJT would be Exit 2.   The western terminus at US 1 & 9 does not need and exit number.

I'm starting to wonder if NYSDOT likes to leave an extra exit number if continuing from another state.  NY 17 starts at 4, which is an obvious continuation from PA, but 3 was missing until PA switched to mileage based numbers.

[Alps]

Okay, so, New York numbered I-278 exits before NJ killed the I-278 extension, so you are all wrong about that 1-2-3 hypothesis.

[WNYroadgeek]

12) I-278, NY (54)  First Numbered Exit 3 Western Avenue, Staten Island
I - 278 also skips exits 37, 38 & 39

Odd, Saw Mill River Parkway also begins at Exit 3 and skips random numbers. Was there something about Exits 1 and 2? For that matter, I-495 LIE WTF?

NY 17 starts at 4 and skips a ton too.

In NY 17/I-86's case, it's likely because NYSDOT elected to continue numbering the exits from where they left off in Pennsylvania.

[NE2]

Okay, so, New York numbered I-278 exits before NJ killed the I-278 extension, so you are all wrong about that 1-2-3 hypothesis.

I have a 1973 General Drafting with no exit numbers on I-278; nycroads says the extension died in the late 1960s. When's your source that shows them from?

[Alps]

Okay, so, New York numbered I-278 exits before NJ killed the I-278 extension, so you are all wrong about that 1-2-3 hypothesis.

I have a 1973 General Drafting with no exit numbers on I-278; nycroads says the extension died in the late 1960s. When's your source that shows them from?

My sources don't show exit numbers on other roads, including I-80 in NJ, that I know had them...

[NE2]

Huh?

[hubcity]

Route 495 would have:
Exit 1 NJ 3
Exit 2- US 1 & 9
Exit 3- JFK Blvd.
Exit 4- Pleasant Avenue
Exit 5- Park Avenue/ Blvd. E.
Exit 6- Hoboken

That would leave 7 numbers for Manhattan if NYC allowed the Mid Manhattan to be built.

According to Wikipedia, the Mid-Manhattan was to have only two exits (West-Side Highway and FDR Drive)...so I *really* don't know where they get Exit 13 at the first exit in Queens from...

[Alps]

Huh?

In other words, no, I have no source that shows that exit numbers were posted in the 1960s, but I also thought that I-278 was alive into the 1980s; didn't realize it was killed off that long ago, so that would change my answer.

[Duke87]

The Gowanus Expressway, at least, did not have exit numbers in 1965:

[NE2]

Interestingly, the Gowanus is one of two parts of I-278 (the other is the GCP overlap) that did have exit numbers before the Interstates, under the Belt Parkway numbering that began with 1 at the Battery Tunnel exit.

[vdeane]

12) I-278, NY (54)  First Numbered Exit 3 Western Avenue, Staten Island
I - 278 also skips exits 37, 38 & 39

Odd, Saw Mill River Parkway also begins at Exit 3 and skips random numbers. Was there something about Exits 1 and 2? For that matter, I-495 LIE WTF?

NY 17 starts at 4 and skips a ton too.

In NY 17/I-86's case, it's likely because NYSDOT elected to continue numbering the exits from where they left off in Pennsylvania.

True, but that isn't the full story here.  PA had exits 1 and 2 before converting to mileage-based.  NY starts at 4.  In addition to 3, the numbers 5, 22, 55, 88, 91, 95, and 117 were also skipped.