Mile markers on non-interstates - how do different states treat them?

[KCRoadFan]

Hi, so I was wanting to know more about how different states mark mileposts along non-Interstate highways (that is, US and state highways). It seems to vary widely from state to state - here's what I know.

• Many states have mileposts along US and state highways in exactly the same manner as interstates; that is, they sign them every mile, statewide, measuring from the south or west terminus or state line. I know for a fact that Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming do so, using the standard green vertical signs you would see on an interstate, or (on two-lane roads) a smaller variant thereof. I also know that Indiana does similar, but the markers themselves are small blue rectangles instead.


• Some states reset mileage at county lines, such as California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. (I believe that in PA, they use small white squares that increment by 10 every mile. Also, in New York State, they have so-called "reference markers"  which measure tenths of a mile from the start of a "control segment"  (basically a town line); they also have a code for the county you're in, as well as the order the county appears in along the route.
• Other states use conventional mile markers but measure it in some other fashion. In Arizona, the mile markers on one highway start at whatever the marker was on the *other* highway; for example, if Highway 2 starts at mile marker 50 of Highway 1, the markers on Highway 2 begin at 50. Oregon, meanwhile, is truly bizarre: the mile markers are based on unsigned internal "highway"  designations, of which one signed route can have several; thus, a given road in Oregon can have multiple ranges of mile markers, and thus duplicate ones.
• And some other states (such as Missouri) don't even bother to have mile markers along non-interstates at all.

These are the examples I know of. What might the mile markers (or lack thereof) on non-interstates be like in other states?

[Big John]

Wisconsin put those on freeways and expressways.

[ozarkman417]

• And some other states (such as Missouri) don't even bother to have mile markers along non-interstates at all.

These are the examples I know of. What might the mile markers (or lack thereof) on non-interstates be like in other states?

With a couple of exceptions:
- U.S 65 Between AR and Buffalo
-MO 21 between MO 141 and MO B (Jefferson County)
-US 54 through Osage Beach.
I'm probably missing some.

[froggie]

• Vermont uses reference markers not unlike New York's, but measure in hundredths of a mile and they reset at town lines (as opposed to county lines).  There are only three route segments I know of ("Super 7" between Bennington and Manchester, the freeway part of US 4, and VT 289) that utilize more traditional milemarkers in the same manner as the Interstate system.
• Alabama also uses the standard green vertical signs, but with a twist:  along US routes, the milemarkers follow the underlying hidden state route, so you have a few instances (in particular US 45, US 231, and US 431) that have more than one milemarker system because they have more than one underlying hidden state route.
  
• New Hampshire does not milemarker ALL of their non-Interstate highways, but many of them do have milemarkers.  They're also somewhat unique in that, like their Interstates, they are in 0.2 mile increments and include a small route shield at the top of the sign.
• Mississippi, as of 2008 when I left, did not post milemarkers on their non-Interstates.

[ilpt4u]

With Illinois/IDOT Reference Markers, yes they reset at County Lines, but "0"  is not West and South. I'm pretty sure "0"  is East and North, but I could be mistaken.

Also, Reference Markers are used on many, if not most/all IDOT routes, even unsigned state routes or old alignments of state/US routes, so the reference markers are a way to discover "hidden"  route numbers, if you will


An example from Old US 51 in Union County, IL, north of Cobden. Photo sourced from billburmaster.com's page on Illinois State ID Routes
http://www.billburmaster.com/rmsandw/illinois/misc/il900.html

[ethanhopkin14]

Texas uses stupid reference markers that measure from a point in New Mexico for some reason.  0,0 is the most northern and most western edges so east-west highways increase heading east, but north-south increase heading south.  Reference markers start in the west or north depending on where in the grid the route is.  They are signed with a small green marker just under the route shied every 2 miles (they are easy to spot because they are the shields without a cardinal direction, usually).  Good: you get a reassurance shield at least every 2 miles. Bad: you can't read the reference marker as you drive by because they are so tiny. 

New Mexico and Arizona mark theirs like interstates.  Arizona's current system is to mark mile 0 at west or south when the route enters the state or at the beginning.  The old system was for non entering routes to begin their mile markers at routes they terminate into at the west or south.  The ones that did that have been grandfathered in so they still start at arbitrary mile markers. 

[GaryV]

Michigan has mile markers on some non-Interstate freeways (both US and M highways).  Also on US-2 and M-28 in the UP.

[Ben114]

Massachusetts has mile markers on all freeways (except for the Lowell Connector). Hit or miss on non-freeways.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Minnesota posts one double-sided milepost on two-lane roads rather than two separate ones.

[sprjus4]

North Carolina posts mile-markers along most routes in the state, and freeways segments use those for exit numbers.

Virginia rarely uses exit numbers on non-interstates, and when they exist, they're usually based on sequential order or mileage of that particular freeway segment (I.E. Exit 1, 2, etc.). One exception is VA-168 in South Hampton Roads which posts both mile-markers and uses mile-based exit numbers, starting at MM 0 at the North Carolina state line and ending at MM 15 at I-64. The three other non-interstate freeways in the region, VA-164, US-17, and US-58, do not have exit numbers.

[tdindy88]

Indiana has a small blue reference marker on its state highways that can serve as a mile marker sign, though I don't think I see them everywhere on the highways. They are more used for bridges and such. Still, I will pass by signs that just have the mile on it with nothing to reference nearby. The mile markers are set from the state line to the west or south or wherever the highway starts.

The only regular looking mile markers on non-interstates are along the freeway portions of US 31 in Hamilton County, Kokomo and from Plymouth to South Bend and along Evansville roadways (US 41, SR 62, SR 66.)

[epzik8]

In Harford County, Maryland, the Bel Air and Hickory bypasses (U.S. Route 1) have mile markers based on US 1's distance from the Baltimore County line. It goes from about 2.8 to 8.7, at both ends of U.S. 1 Business. There are also mile markers on MD 23 between US 1 and MD 165 and on MD 24 through Rocks State Park, based on the distances from their southern termini.

[jt4]

Ohio's state route mileages reset at the county border (using little white signs). Sections of state/US highways upgraded to freeway are often signed with the blue mile markers in the median (every 0.2 miles) like interstates in metro areas, and are numbered from the state line / beginning of the route like Interstates.

Example of OH-129: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3822054,-84.4607684,3a,75y,125.24h,77.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suMkrXTuLc7jX5YzXY255Qw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[Max Rockatansky]

Caltrans uses Postmile Paddles which are based upon which county the highway segment is located in.  Interestingly the counties tend to do their own thing regarding major roads.  Some counties like Tulare use the Postmile System for major mountain highways.  San Benito County uses Postmile Paddles for everything they maintain.  Monterey County and a couple others actual use mile markers on major rural highways.

[oscar]

Alaska uses mileposts on all numbered state-maintained highways, and many state routes with no signed route numbers. Mileposts are based on route names rather than numbers, so the sequence resets when a numbered route jumps from one named route to another. For example, AK 2's east end is on the Alaska Highway, with MPs ascending east to west; then it switches to the Richardson Highway with an MP reset in Delta Junction; then it switches to the Steese and Elliott Highways, with an MP reset in Fairbanks.

Mile 0 is in some unusual places. For AK 2's Alaska Highway segment, it's in Dawson Creek BC. For the Parks Highway (AK 3), it's in downtown Anchorage, even though AK 3 starts about 35 miles to the northeast. For the Richardson Highway (AK 4 and part of AK 2), mile 0 is where Valdez used to be before it was wiped out in the 1964 Good Friday earthquake and tsunami. That highway was extended west about four miles to where Valdez was rebuilt in a safer location, but those four miles have no MPs, and the MPs on the rest of the highway were never changed.

[csw]

Virginia does not put mile markers along non-interstates.

West Virginia resets mile markers at county lines - the mile markers are small white squares with the mile printed in black. (Somehow in 300+ photos from WV, I don't have a photo with one of these visible. Here's a GSV of a typical marker at a county line.) The exception is ADHS roads (US 48, US 460, US 119, etc.), which have blue blades as mile markers.

[Ned Weasel]

I really hope Kansas doesn't do its "re-route US highways into meaningless oblivion" thing to this one, because I really do think this not-quite-expressway is a very useful highway for connecting major parts of the metropolitan area: https://goo.gl/maps/TJnwZhEVD1Eytcu56

[Bickendan]

Oregon posts their mileposts on their Routes per the underlying Highway, and in a West to East and North to South order.
53 (Warm Springs Highway) shares its 0 with 26 (Mt Hood Highway), and is why Route 35 (Hwy 26) is mileposted South to North.
92/2W Lower Columbia River (US 30 from Portland to Astoria), is the exception, with it running South to North from I-405 then East to West from Rainier.

[noelbotevera]

Massachusetts (I believe) does mile post state highways, as I recall MA 1A near Ipswich has mile markers every 0.2 miles. Even though MA 1A is three segments (RI line to Attleboro (Google signs this wrong as part of US 1A from RI), Plainville to Dedham, Boston to NH) it takes into account hidden multiplexes with US 1. Now I know why MA 1A has a Mile 80, despite the three segments never being that long.

Pennsylvania's county system on state routes and US routes is odd. Every half mile the squares - PennDOT calls them segments - increment by 10, so there's 20 segments in a mile. Interstates use a different rule (I believe 1 segment = 0.1 miles). I think realignments and one-way sections change these segments, which is why some segments are non-zero (i.e. you'll see numbers like 83 instead of 80, reflecting a routing change of some kind). Multiplexes take into account the dominate route, usually that of higher rank or lower number (ex. PA 44's multiplex with PA 144 uses 44's segments, but its multiplex with US 220 uses 220's segments). Finally, there are no county routes in PA. PA has a massive list of state routes numbered from 1000+ and these also get white markers; the most common are state routes in the 2000's and 3000's. In special cases, like PA 61's abandoned Centralia segment, PennDOT seems to resign the route onto the unsigned SR; so you'll see signs saying "End SR 0061" and "Begin SR 2002" (the replacement), then "End SR 2002" and "Begin SR 0061" but its segment numbers aren't interrupted.

The PennDOT videolog helps illustrate my point.

[US 89]

Many states have mileposts along US and state highways in exactly the same manner as interstates; that is, they sign them every mile, statewide, measuring from the south or west terminus or state line. I know for a fact that Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming do so, using the standard green vertical signs you would see on an interstate, or (on two-lane roads) a smaller variant thereof.

Add Utah to that list. Mileage counts from the south or west end of the route and is consistently marked with MUTCD-standard mile markers. While divided highways will have a separate marker for each direction, undivided roads have one double-sided marker posted on the right side in the direction of increasing mileage. I’m pretty sure Colorado is the same way.

Wyoming's standard milepost is actually a unique small marker with individual signs for each number - here's an example on WYO 789. How mileage is counted isn't necessarily consistent - it might not start at zero, or it might increase in the "opposite" direction depending on the route. Interstates mainly use the standard green mile markers instead, but you'll still find plenty of old-style markers on them - mostly at bridges.

Nevada uses a system similar to California, where mileage resets at county lines and is marked with white mileposts containing the 2-letter county abbreviation, route type and number, and mileage. Most mileposts look like this, but a few routes have this newer "enhanced" style. Interstates have standard mile markers in addition to the traditional mileposts.

[I-55]

Ohio's state route mileages reset at the county border (using little white signs). Sections of state/US highways upgraded to freeway are often signed with the blue mile markers in the median (every 0.2 miles) like interstates in metro areas, and are numbered from the state line / beginning of the route like Interstates.

Example of OH-129: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3822054,-84.4607684,3a,75y,125.24h,77.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suMkrXTuLc7jX5YzXY255Qw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

The mile marker situation on US-33 and US-35 can become confusing and inconsistent at times. US-35 in Dayton uses the blue interstate style markers (even on the non-freeway portion near Beavercreek) extending east through Xenia, based off mileage from the state line. Then, it uses the white mile markers based on county mileage east of Xenia, but with exit numbers based off its state mileage. But when you enter Ross county, the exit numbers go away (as of 2018 on my last trip). US-33 has exit numbers on most of its freeway miles east of Columbus and green mile markers on most if not all 70 mph sections (last trip 2017). West of the Columbus metro, the mile markers and exit numbers eventually disappear after Marysville and revert to the white sign county mileage.

The state line mileage and exit numbers on these roads was implemented between 2014-present, except in Dayton where the markers have existed for as long as I've lived.

Virginia does not put mile markers along non-interstates.

West Virginia resets mile markers at county lines - the mile markers are small white squares with the mile printed in black. (Somehow in 300+ photos from WV, I don't have a photo with one of these visible. Here's a GSV of a typical marker at a county line.) The exception is ADHS roads (US 48, US 460, US 119, etc.), which have blue blades as mile markers.

ADHS Corridor mileage is based off the western/southern terminus of the corridor, not the US routes themselves, thus Corridor H mileposts begin at mile 0 in Weston, where no US route had a terminus until US-48 was signed, but the mileposts were in place long beforehand. The mileposts are posted in half mile increments.

[bulldog1979]

Minnesota posts one double-sided milepost on two-lane roads rather than two separate ones.

This is how MDOT did things with US 2 and M-28. If the highway has four lanes at mile post, median or not, then they placed a milepost on each side of the highway, however.

[Crown Victoria]

Pennsylvania's county system on state routes and US routes is odd. Every half mile the squares - PennDOT calls them segments - increment by 10, so there's 20 segments in a mile. Interstates use a different rule (I believe 1 segment = 0.1 miles). I think realignments and one-way sections change these segments, which is why some segments are non-zero (i.e. you'll see numbers like 83 instead of 80, reflecting a routing change of some kind). Multiplexes take into account the dominate route, usually that of higher rank or lower number (ex. PA 44's multiplex with PA 144 uses 44's segments, but its multiplex with US 220 uses 220's segments). Finally, there are no county routes in PA. PA has a massive list of state routes numbered from 1000+ and these also get white markers; the most common are state routes in the 2000's and 3000's. In special cases, like PA 61's abandoned Centralia segment, PennDOT seems to resign the route onto the unsigned SR; so you'll see signs saying "End SR 0061" and "Begin SR 2002" (the replacement), then "End SR 2002" and "Begin SR 0061" but its segment numbers aren't interrupted.

The PennDOT videolog helps illustrate my point.

-In addition to the above examples, you'll also find the Little White Signs on ramps, in rest areas, runaway truck ramps, and others.
-Also, PA uses the standard mile markers commonly found on Interstates on some non-interstate freeways, such as US 222 in Lancaster County, US 22 in the Lehigh Valley, and US 422 between Pottstown and King of Prussia.

In neighboring New Jersey, mile markers can be found on 2-lane roads: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3045498,-74.8189765,3a,75y,340.35h,88.5t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sEBdLNc41JU308xnYu-nXcA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

[Brandon]

With Illinois/IDOT Reference Markers, yes they reset at County Lines, but "0"  is not West and South. I'm pretty sure "0"  is East and North, but I could be mistaken.

Also, Reference Markers are used on many, if not most/all IDOT routes, even unsigned state routes or old alignments of state/US routes, so the reference markers are a way to discover "hidden"  route numbers, if you will


An example from Old US 51 in Union County, IL, north of Cobden. Photo sourced from billburmaster.com's page on Illinois State ID Routes
http://www.billburmaster.com/rmsandw/illinois/misc/il900.html

"0" is indeed at the west and south ends of the county.  In fact, there are only three non-interstate freeways in the state that use proper mile markers and exit numbers: IL-6, IL-255, and IL-390.  And those on IL-390 are every quarter mile due to it being a tollway.  Otherwise, other non-interstate freeways in the state use the reference markers as above (examples: US-20, IL-53, IL-83).

[hotdogPi]

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=23596