Duarte's metric experiment

[djsekani]

https://goo.gl/maps/2t247ouMBty

Sign on Huntington Drive showing a metric speed limit of 64 KM/H. There aren't any other ones, and I've always wondered why this one was here.

[7/8]

https://goo.gl/maps/2t247ouMBty

Sign on Huntington Drive showing a metric speed limit of 64 KM/H. There aren't any other ones, and I've always wondered why this one was here.

I love how precise the conversion is.

[compdude787]

That's interesting. I doubt there's very many metric speed limit signs in the US at all.

[coatimundi]

You see converted signs a lot near the borders, and on roads that are often used by foreign tourists. Though neither seems to be the case here. Maybe Duarte is trying to make a statement.

[Max Rockatansky]

At least they had the decency to put the 40 MPH up there as well.....couldn't bump that up to 65 KPH?    It probably is some sort of statement...for whatever reason, strange that it's on a section of old 66 of all things.

[djsekani]

for whatever reason, strange that it's on a section of old 66 of all things.

Yeah, I was wondering if that had anything to do with it.

[Exit58]

I didn't think 66 would be that big of an attraction for foreign visitors, but if there is one road in the US it would be 66.

Also, djsekani, I like the use of the SR 259 shield as your avatar. I remember when those two wild shields popped up on the freeway out of no where.

[Max Rockatansky]

I didn't think 66 would be that big of an attraction for foreign visitors, but if there is one road in the US it would be 66.

Also, djsekani, I like the use of the SR 259 shield as your avatar. I remember when those two wild shields popped up on the freeway out of no where.

Check out how many Asian tourists make their way up 66 in Arizona on the way to the Grand Canyon.  I'd say that it's one of the few pieces of Americana that most people in general associate with this country almost world wide.

[english si]

I nearly broke down laughing, when walking past and seeing that the penultimate building on '66 before reaching the Ocean is a pseudo-English pub. What a sense of Americana...

Of course foreign tourists do US66, though I'd imagine they wouldn't typically join it until out of the LA Basin (if heading that way). And a bi-unit sign is just going to confuse them, so I have no clue what Duarte was thinking putting that there. If it was at the border, or outside a major airport then maybe it's justified.

[djsekani]

Also, djsekani, I like the use of the SR 259 shield as your avatar. I remember when those two wild shields popped up on the freeway out of no where.

I wanted to pick an obscure highway close to where I lived, this one fit the bill. Although if I can find a CA 206 shield that the forum will accept as my avatar, I'll switch it to that instead.

[TheStranger]

Also, djsekani, I like the use of the SR 259 shield as your avatar. I remember when those two wild shields popped up on the freeway out of no where.

I'd love to see photos of the real life 259 signs!

[formulanone]

From September 2011:



I didn't see any others in the immediate area nor along old Route 66.

[Exit58]

Also, djsekani, I like the use of the SR 259 shield as your avatar. I remember when those two wild shields popped up on the freeway out of no where.

I'd love to see photos of the real life 259 signs!

Here you go!

[doorknob60]

There was a sign on the south end of Brookswood Blvd in Bend with a SPEED 45, with a second sign that looked like an advisory speed sign (but white), that said 45 KM/h on it. No idea why it was there (nothing else like it in the area), but it's gone now, and Google Street View's image is too new...

[Desert Man]

Interstate 19 from Nogales, AZ/Sonora, Mexico to Tucson, AZ has their exit numbers solely in metric (in kilometers not miles), which is helpful for Mexican truckers (and pretty much, international tourists) to go by. Would CalTrans allow this on any stretch of CA road, state highway or interstate freeway? I doubt that much. I thought the western states would have bilingual road signs by now (en espanol por favor), but many have international symbols without need of written words you find in Europe and other multilingual parts of the world.

[Max Rockatansky]

Interstate 19 from Nogales, AZ/Sonora, Mexico to Tucson, AZ has their exit numbers solely in metric (in kilometers not miles), which is helpful for Mexican truckers (and pretty much, international tourists) to go by. Would CalTrans allow this on any stretch of CA road, state highway or interstate freeway? I doubt that much. I thought the western states would have bilingual road signs by now (en espanol por favor), but many have international symbols without need of written words you find in Europe and other multilingual parts of the world.

When I-19 was being built there was a push to convert the U.S. to the metric system that ultimately didn't happen...hence why I-19 is signed as such.

[kkt]

When I-19 was being built there was a push to convert the U.S. to the metric system that ultimately didn't happen has not yet happened...hence why I-19 is signed as such.

Fixed that for you 

[Max Rockatansky]

When I-19 was being built there was a push to convert the U.S. to the metric system that ultimately didn't happen has not yet happened...hence why I-19 is signed as such.

Fixed that for you 

I'm convinced it's never going to at this point. 

[roadfro]

Interstate 19 from Nogales, AZ/Sonora, Mexico to Tucson, AZ has their exit numbers solely in metric (in kilometers not miles), which is helpful for Mexican truckers (and pretty much, international tourists) to go by. Would CalTrans allow this on any stretch of CA road, state highway or interstate freeway? I doubt that much. I thought the western states would have bilingual road signs by now (en espanol por favor), but many have international symbols without need of written words you find in Europe and other multilingual parts of the world.

When I-19 was being built there was a push to convert the U.S. to the metric system that ultimately didn't happen...hence why I-19 is signed as such.

And that conversion ultimately won't happen either...or at least not under current mindsets.

For example, the text of the 2003 MUTCD was written such that metric lengths and dimensions were primary and English conversions in parentheses. [e.g.: "A 600 x 600 mm (24 x 24 in) minimum sign size shall be used for Interstate route numbers with one or two digits, and a 750 x 600 mm (30 x 24 in) minimum sign size shall be used for Interstate route numbers having three digits."] This version also contained the metric speed limit signs. In contrast, the 2009 MUTCD was rewritten to remove metric lengths entirely. [e.g.: "A 24 x 24-inch minimum sign size shall be used for Interstate route numbers with one or two digits, and a 30 x 24-inch minimum sign size shall be used for Interstate route numbers having three digits."] 2009 also saw removal of the metric speed limit signs.

More analogous to this quote above: From other discussion topics on the AARoads board, ADOT has been looking to replace the I-19 signage with mileage-based units for some time now. Opposition from local businesses (who would have to change any exit numbers they advertise) is the main reason it hasn't happened yet.

[coatimundi]

More analogous to this quote above: From other discussion topics on the AARoads board, ADOT has been looking to replace the I-19 signage with mileage-based units for some time now. Opposition from local businesses (who would have to change any exit numbers they advertise) is the main reason it hasn't happened yet.

I remember the local news talking about this years ago when I lived in Tucson. There was also the libertarian (and lord knows there are a lot of libertarians in AZ) argument about the cost of unnecessary sign replacement. I mean, there's no real reason to change it except for the sake of being anal about that kind of inconsistent stuff, which even only drives those who are enough so to just complain about it and not actually do anything.
There is a ton of traffic from Mexico on this road though. Mostly coming up from Sonora to stop at the malls (Tucson Mall may as well be El Mall de Nogales on the weekends) and that Walmart on Valencia. So it makes sense to have the distance and speed limit signs in KM. The milemarkers (or kilomarkers, if you will) are just a sensible byproduct of the other stuff.

[Bickendan]

Speaking of random metric speed limits... I saw one on US 14 east of Miller, South Dakota two days ago. 55 mph/88 kmh. Of all the random places...

[coatimundi]

Speaking of random metric speed limits... I saw one on US 14 east of Miller, South Dakota two days ago. 55 mph/88 kmh. Of all the random places...

A bored yokel bureaucrat? I mean, that's probably the first time Miller, SD has ever been mentioned on the internet. Google the town now, and this thread will now probably be in the top results.

[kphoger]

Interstate 19 from Nogales, AZ/Sonora, Mexico to Tucson, AZ has their exit numbers solely in metric (in kilometers not miles), which is helpful for Mexican truckers (and pretty much, international tourists) to go by. Would CalTrans allow this on any stretch of CA road, state highway or interstate freeway? I doubt that much. I thought the western states would have bilingual road signs by now (en espanol por favor), but many have international symbols without need of written words you find in Europe and other multilingual parts of the world.

I-19 has km-posts rather than mileposts, and distances are given in metric rather than customary units.  However, speed limits are still in mph.  But I question the usefulness of that to Mexican truckers.  Considering that the Cross-border Trucking Program remains in a constant state of political death (despite NAFTA requirements...end rant), the number of Mexican trucks on American highways is far less than it could be.  Besides which, how many of those few Mexican trucks are going anywhere except Tucson or beyond?

[Max Rockatansky]

Speaking of random metric speed limits... I saw one on US 14 east of Miller, South Dakota two days ago. 55 mph/88 kmh. Of all the random places...

A bored yokel bureaucrat? I mean, that's probably the first time Miller, SD has ever been mentioned on the internet. Google the town now, and this thread will now probably be in the top results.

Someone must like it because the Wikipedia page includes a 1892 map and a reference to some TV show it was on in 2002:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller,_South_Dakota