2015 RandMcNally Road Atlas

[The High Plains Traveler]

I've had a chance to look through it and do some quick comparisons to my 2013 (not 2014) version, so things I identify as new may not be new this year.

For Texas they have the I-69E/C and I-2 changes marked on the main map. Previously the stretch of freeway south from Corpus Christi to Robstown was I-69 on the map and was marked as such when I went through there last year; now it's shown as I-69E. Also I-69 on the Houston inset only, not the main map, and I-369 on the Texarkana inset only. Pieces of I-69 or its loops under construction south of Memphis and in Indiana.

For New Mexico, they finally have U.S. 64-87 shown as divided from Raton to the Texas line.

In Colorado, the large Metropolitan Districts have reappeared (they came back last year), so my little village is once again on the map. They continue to show CO-47 on the Pueblo inset as a two-lane road, though the west half is freeway and nearly all the rest divided highway.

In Minnesota, they show the realignment of U.S. 63 north of Rochester, and at Pine City they show a red line route, not marked, through Pine City that corresponds to the newly posted I-35 business loop (which probably isn't a state trunk highway). The Boise City, OK bypass is shown.

As also reported by others, the U.S. 89 Temporary detour is shown on the Arizona map.

Finally, they show the state of Chihuahua as being in what in the U.S. is called the Mountain Time Zone. (I think in Mexico it's their Central Zone). That change actually dates back to 1996 but few maps show it.

A nice feature for each state and province gives the length therein of major interstates, some U.S. highways, and even a few state routes. So, for Colorado they give the length of I-25, I-70, I-76 and U.S. 50.

Canada still gets short shrift, Mexico even less. They still have the crappy city inset maps for Calgary and Edmonton, which given the size of those places really ought to go out to the circumferential roads for each city. They do this for Winnipeg.

[bandit957]

Have they finally given Louisiana the scale it needs?

[bob7374]

I spotted the new 2015 Atlas at the Harvard Coop Bookstore this afternoon. As far as NC is concerned, they have increased the number of I-73 and I-74 shields, especially on the Triad area inset. I-74 now is signed along US 311 from I-40 east to I-73 and I-73 is signed north of there along US 220 to the Greensboro Loop and they've added the new exit numbers (not along I-74 though). Meanwhile, they still have I-74 signed along the US 74 Rockingham Bypass. As for other NC interstates, I-485 is shown as a complete loop around Charlotte and there is an I-495 shield on the short portion of the Knightdale Bypass shown on the Raleigh-Durham inset (not on the state map).

[oscar]

I've seen the 2015 paper edition at a local Barnes and Noble's, but am waiting for the Wal-Mart version (costs less, store directory sometimes comes in handy on the road).  I didn't see any at a few southern Maryland Wal-Marts I checked last weekend.  Have others seen 2015 editions at their Wal-Marts?

[bugo]

I've seen the 2015 paper edition at a local Barnes and Noble's, but am waiting for the Wal-Mart version (costs less, store directory sometimes comes in handy on the road).  I didn't see any at a few southern Maryland Wal-Marts I checked last weekend.  Have others seen 2015 editions at their Wal-Marts?

I'll have to check Barnes and Noble tomorrow.  Thanks for the info.  They're not much more expensive than Walmart.

[rschen7754]

No atlases at the one I checked in California.

[bugo]

It ended up being a little more than a few dollars more than the Walmart version, but at least I got my copy.

[Roadrunner75]

On the "Fort Smith" inset for Arkansas, they show a section of future I-49 (through Fort Chaffee) with the freeway actually labeled as such in text. It also shows on the main state map with no label due to scale.

[US 41]

Just got mine
Changes I've noticed by state (nation)

US
more 2 lane roads shown on the national page. I-2 and the I-69's shown along with bypasses of cities.

AL
I-22 labeled and shown as complete to I-65. (I-22 is not labeled in MS.)

AZ
Shows new toll road bypass around Nogales, Mexico (not in AZ, but still new)

AR
New freewway in Fort Smith inset labeled Future I-49. SR 530 shown in gray. I-369 in Texarkana inset.

IN
SR 25 shown as complete.

IA
Some of US 20 just west of Dubuque shown in blue. More of SR 27 shown in blue south of IA City.

LA
New dashed line to Shreveport showing I-49 as new road not opened yet .

MI
2 mile US 31 dashed line removed from I-196/I-94 interchange to the 2 lane US 31 (just east of St. Joseph if i lost anyone).

MO
Shows new I-70 bridge in St. Louis.

MS
Shows dashed line for the future I-269 Memphis Bypass

NY
I-86 shown as complete to Binghampton, although I86 is not labeled in the Binghampton inset.

NC
I-73 labeled all the way north to its concurrency with 840. Sanford bypass complete. Charlotte Bypass complete.

OR
Part of US 97 shown as interstate quality in / south of Bend.

PA
US 219 shown in blue dashed line from Somerset to Myersdale.

TX
I-69 E / C shown with I-2. I-69 shown in Houston. I-69 in Robstown now shown as I-69E. In MX toll roads now have exit boxes. They've fixed various mistakes in MX. They changed MX180 to MX101 (it's now correct). MX101 shown as multilane.

UT
SR 7 shown as interstate quality spur to the St. George Mun. Airport.

Mexico
MX101 now labeled correctly. Shown as multilane from MAtamoros to MX97. Other small various errors corrected.

[lamsalfl]

I guess we'll never see US 165 in Louisiana shown as the 4-lane that it is.

[andy3175]

I picked up a copy today and noted what I'm sure is an error: an I-278E shield posted on the New Jersey map over the Grand Central parkway between I-278 at the Triboro (RFK) Bridge and I-678. This shield is not posted on the New York City inset map, nor on the southern New York and Long Island inset map.

[triplemultiplex]

UT
SR 7 shown as interstate quality spur to the St. George Mun. Airport.

Great, yet another place where RandMac implies a system interchange where none exists.

[US 41]

I found an error. Mexican Federal Route 57 is shown as 2 lane from Monterrey to San Luis Potosi. It is actually a 4 lane divided highway. I found that out when researching my trip to Panama. I am going to go that direction, rather than FR 180. FR 57 appears to be the safer and probably the faster option.

[oscar]

I got the Wal-Mart edition (with store directory added) of the 2015 RMcN atlas, earlier today at the Wal-Mart in Parkesburg, PA. 

I'll take a closer look once I get back home in a few days.  In recent years, I've found the updates to Wal-Mart's store directory more useful than the updates to the mapping, so I'm in no hurry.

[oscar]

Canada still gets short shrift, Mexico even less. They still have the crappy city inset maps for Calgary and Edmonton, which given the size of those places really ought to go out to the circumferential roads for each city. They do this for Winnipeg.

Regina could go out a little more as well, with a new western bypass being built.  But at least a little of the new bypass is shown (perhaps jumping the gun a little on its opening to traffic), as is the completion of Saskatoon's Circle Drive freeway.

The short shrift given to Mexico is further aggravated by the change from the 2014 edition, to show topography as well as roads, with the roads harder to pick out from the topography.  That's consistent with how the national-level maps for the U.S. and Canada are handled, but for those countries there are state/province-level maps that don't have the topography getting in the way of showing the roads.  Mexico should get a few more pages, both to show the highway network without the distracting topography, as well as provide a better scale to show more detail.  One page per estado would be overdoing it, but maybe most of Mexico on two additional pages without topography, the Yucatan Peninsula on a third page, and additional city insets (including at least Acapulco, Tijuana, and Monterrey) on a fourth page.  Or two extra pages covering all of Mexico without topography, a third with more insets, and the fourth to cover Puerto Rico (an eighth of a page just doesn't cut it, and in particular has no room for a San Juan inset). 

[1995hoo]

I spotted the 2015 Rand McNally this morning at a Staples in Springfield, Virginia, though I didn't buy a copy.

[Brandon]

Mexico should have a few pages of its own, and Puerto Rico should be treated as a state and placed by Pennsylvania.  I'd also like to see a page for the USVI as well.

[elsmere241]

I picked up a copy today and noted what I'm sure is an error: an I-278E shield posted on the New Jersey map over the Grand Central parkway between I-278 at the Triboro (RFK) Bridge and I-678. This shield is not posted on the New York City inset map, nor on the southern New York and Long Island inset map.

That same error is in the 2013 edition.

[US 41]

I am actually surprised that Rand McNally even puts Puerto Rico in the atlas. More should be done for Mexico though.

[kkt]

Mexico should have a few pages of its own, and Puerto Rico should be treated as a state and placed by Pennsylvania.  I'd also like to see a page for the USVI as well.

But why?  Puerto Rico is not a state.  It's the United States-Canada-Mexico road atlas, not the "and random bits of territory that belong to them at the moment" road atlas.

[oscar]

Mexico should have a few pages of its own, and Puerto Rico should be treated as a state and placed by Pennsylvania.  I'd also like to see a page for the USVI as well.

But why?  Puerto Rico is not a state.  It's the United States-Canada-Mexico road atlas, not the "and random bits of territory that belong to them at the moment" road atlas.

Puerto Rico is part of the U.S. (even if not as permanent as the 50 states), getting a decent amount of visitation from the U.S. mainland, and probably more than the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, etc.  But I'd wouldn't insert it after Pennsylvania, before or after Mexico is fine by me.

True, you can't drive there from the mainland, but same goes for Hawaii.

[tdindy88]

At least the AAA Atlas seems to care more about more than the 50 states in their coverage. Canadian provinces are covered thoroughly with four pages for just city insets (including downtown insets for Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec.) Their Mexico page, while featuring only two pages for the country, at least features a few city insets and Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are covered on their own page with a city inset for San Juan plus a downtown inset. Of course, it does also feature Puerto Rico's well-known interstate highway system too...PR2?

[GaryV]

To the question on car model years, I don't remember if it's from the Clean Air Act or a NHTSA regulation.  A model year must contain January 1 of the calendar year, and cannot include any other January 1.  Thus, the 2015 model year can stretch from Jan 2, 2014 to Dec 31, 2015.

From time to time, a model year is skipped.  The manufacturer continues MY later than normal, say to October, then has an extended plant shutdown for a changeover/re-freshening.  They bring the plant back up in Feb or Mar as MY+2.

[vdeane]

Why should Puerto Rico being a territory affect its placement in an atlas at all?  Just because it's a territory doesn't mean it's not as much a part of the US.  It just means the residents there can't vote (or pay federal taxes).

[Brandon]

Why should Puerto Rico being a territory affect its placement in an atlas at all?  Just because it's a territory doesn't mean it's not as much a part of the US.  It just means the residents there can't vote (or pay federal taxes).

Hell, they're thisclose to being a state as it is.  The last vote had statehood winning easily over independence.