Use of control cities on Mileage or BGS for roads that do not travel there.

[Mapmikey]

Some non-interstate examples:

Mileage for Atlanta appears at the US 378-SC 391 traffic circle
Mileage for Charlotte appears on US 52 in Florence
Mileage for Orange appears on VA 3 leaving I-95
Mileage for Bowling Green appears along VA 14 north from US 17 to US 360
Mileage for Harrisonburg appears on VA 33 west of VA 14
Mileage for Deltaville appears on US 33 in many places
Mileage for Washington DC still appears on US 211 in many places
Mileage for Fredericksburg appears on VA 205 leaving VA 205Y
Mileage for Baltimore appears in many locations on US 301 starting in Richmond
On the only mileage sign along VA 127 WB there is mileage for both Romney WV and Cumberland MD
I'm pretty sure Bluefield still appears on US 21 mileage signs north of Independence
Mileage for Lynchburg appears all along VA 151
Mileage for Stuart appears on VA 103
Mileage for Orangeburg SC appears at the US 52/S-8-6 jct near St Stephen SC
Mileage for Walterboro SC appears along both SC 7 and US 17 in the Charleston area
Mileage for Myrtle Beach appears on US 378 and US 521 in locations east of I-95

Mapmikey

[Revive 755]

I-72 in Illinois has Quincy on many mileage signs west of Springfield, though I-172 is used to access Quincy.  Even then I-172 may enter the city limits, but misses much of the city.

[bugo]

The control city for SB US 169 on WB I-44 is Broken Arrow.  To reach Broken Arrow, you would have to take 169 south to OK 51 east.  169 does not enter Broken Arrow. 

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Some non-interstate examples:

Up until last month, the control cities for Oh 61 @ I-71 NB were Mt. Gilead & Cardington.  Oh 61 goes about 5 miles east of Cardington.
I say until last month.  ODOT came through and updated the signage on I-71 in Delaware & Morrow Counties to Clearview and the control cities for Oh 61 @ I-71 NB are now Mt. Gilead & Galion (which Oh 61 goes directly through).

[The Premier]

The stub freeway in Alliance has SR 225 NB in Ravenna as a control city when SR 225 actually terminates at SR 5 near the old Ravenna Arsenal.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=40.899833,-81.172807&spn=0,0.006899&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.900044,-81.172514&panoid=vZX5XBt8dkeF-S4oX5s2WA&cbp=12,46.65,,0,3.88

[OracleUsr]

The I-87 to Buffalo and I-90 to NYC kind of makes sense because I'm guessing the signs are referring to the NYS Thruway, rather than either interstate by themselves.

[roadman65]

Why is Nags Head a control city on I-664 in Hampton?  It does not even enter NC at all and no other interstate goes there, yet.

[Interstate Trav]

Use of control cities on Mileage or BGS for roads that do not travel there.

These cities should not be on signs.
Los Angeles I-15, I-40
Tucson I-8 I-17
San Diego, Yuma (BGS Exit 112 I-10) AZ 85

Are there other examples?

Las Vegas I-70 West
Los Angeles on Ca 86 North
Los Angeles on Ca 14 South
Los Angeles on I-215 South
Los Angeles on Ca 91 West
Los Angeles on Ca 118 East
Sacramento on I-405 North
Sacramento On Ca 170 North
Bishop on Ca 14 North
Barstow on I-215 North
San Diego on I-215 South
Indio on Ca 60 East

[hbelkins]

Why is Nags Head a control city on I-664 in Hampton?  It does not even enter NC at all and no other interstate goes there, yet.

Probably trying to keep Outer Banks-bound traffic out of downtown Norfolk.

[agentsteel53]

Sacramento shows up on 210 west as well.  San Francisco shows up on distance signs on I-5, usually listed below Sacramento despite being one mile fewer, but it is never a control city in the traditional sense.

there is the famous guide sign in Klamath Falls for US-97, with destinations of Weed and San Francisco (ya know, in case you didn't know where to find it  ) 

Alberta 43 near Edmonton has the control state of Alaska, which requires a whole lot of route changes and, oh yeah, isn't even the same country!

[TheStranger]

Use of control cities on Mileage or BGS for roads that do not travel there.

These cities should not be on signs.
Los Angeles I-15, I-40
Tucson I-8 I-17
San Diego, Yuma (BGS Exit 112 I-10) AZ 85

Are there other examples?

Las Vegas I-70 West
Los Angeles on Ca 86 North
Los Angeles on Ca 14 South
Los Angeles on I-215 South
Los Angeles on Ca 91 West
Los Angeles on Ca 118 East
Sacramento on I-405 North
Sacramento On Ca 170 North
Bishop on Ca 14 North
Barstow on I-215 North
San Diego on I-215 South
Indio on Ca 60 East

Almost all those examples listed are vestiges of when previous routes on those highways (i.e. US 66) DID travel to the destination in question, with the exception of I-70 West being signed for Los Angeles; in any case, the usual idea is that the terminus of the road in question will lead to another road going to said destination (i.e. 405/170/210 for "Sacramento").

The idea isn't too dissimilar to the concept of signing a beltway for its connecting roads' control cities, rather than its own suburban destinations.

[D-Dey65]

Northbound signs along the Suncoast Parkway claim Crystal River as the control city, although Florida's Turnpike Enterprise wants to extend it to Red Level, which is north of Crystal River. Right now it only goes to US 98 just west of Stafford, which is along the Hernando-Citrus County Line.

[wytout]

The obvious in CT:
Control cities.
I-384 in CT EB control City -> Providence
I-84 EB control City -> Boston.

[JCinSummerfield]

The most obvious in Michigan is US-127 being signed for "Mackinac Bridge", and ends 80 or 90 miles short of the bridge. There are others, but I have to think about it for a while.

[hbelkins]

Hadn't really thought about this one, but on I-64 in Kentucky, Ashland is used for the eastbound route out of Lexington, but I don't think the interstate ever enters the city limits of Ashland.

[ftballfan]

The most obvious in Michigan is US-127 being signed for "Mackinac Bridge", and ends 80 or 90 miles short of the bridge. There are others, but I have to think about it for a while.

Chicago appears on a mileage sign on WB I-196 just west of the M-6 merge. From I-196, you have to use I-94 for nearly 100 miles to get to Chicago. I also think Grand Rapids is signed along WB I-69 on the north side of Lansing. Speaking of Lansing, I don't think I-69 ever enters Lansing city limits.

[tdindy88]

The most obvious in Michigan is US-127 being signed for "Mackinac Bridge", and ends 80 or 90 miles short of the bridge. There are others, but I have to think about it for a while.

Chicago appears on a mileage sign on WB I-196 just west of the M-6 merge. From I-196, you have to use I-94 for nearly 100 miles to get to Chicago. I also think Grand Rapids is signed along WB I-69 on the north side of Lansing. Speaking of Lansing, I don't think I-69 ever enters Lansing city limits.

Well...my Rand McNally map does show a small piece of the city in the southwestern part of Lansing that does border the highway, but it is an isolated part from the rest of the city, not sure what that means but as I had mentioned in another post or this one, I forget, even if the highway misses the city by a few miles, if you are still well within the metro area for that city I say it should be signed.

[InterstateNG]

Plenty of traffic uses I-69 bound for Lansing.  It isn't indirect.

[Henry]

I may be wrong, but I-82 is signed for Seattle westbound (via I-90) and Boise eastbound (via I-84). It's been a while since I went that way.

[Dr Frankenstein]

A-20 never actually goes through Quebec City, but it is listed as a control city on it.
I-87 ends before Montreal, but uses it as a control city after Albany.
ON-417 uses Montreal as a control city too.

[ftballfan]

The most obvious in Michigan is US-127 being signed for "Mackinac Bridge", and ends 80 or 90 miles short of the bridge. There are others, but I have to think about it for a while.

Chicago appears on a mileage sign on WB I-196 just west of the M-6 merge. From I-196, you have to use I-94 for nearly 100 miles to get to Chicago. I also think Grand Rapids is signed along WB I-69 on the north side of Lansing. Speaking of Lansing, I don't think I-69 ever enters Lansing city limits.

Well...my Rand McNally map does show a small piece of the city in the southwestern part of Lansing that does border the highway, but it is an isolated part from the rest of the city, not sure what that means but as I had mentioned in another post or this one, I forget, even if the highway misses the city by a few miles, if you are still well within the metro area for that city I say it should be signed.

The routes I-69 replaced in this area (US-27 and M-78) both went through downtown Lansing. And according to my Michigan state atlas, I-69 does not enter Lansing city unless the State Government Secondary Complex is part of the City of Lansing.

[US71]

I-40 Arkansas has mileage to Fort Smith and Little Rock, but enters neither one.

[InterstateNG]

Only in a pedant's world does I-69 not travel to Lansing.

[roadman65]

New York appears on a US 206 guide sign on  a traffic circle near Red Lion, NJ where the US routes meets NJ 70.  As you all may know that US 206 cuts on a diagonal across New Jersey where NB on 206 goes to NW Jersey that is the opposite way of NYC as that is close to NE Jersey.

Shore Points is used on NJ 28 in Westfield, NJ for EB Central Avenue.  Of course, Central Avenue leads to the Garden State Parkway, but a commercial vehicle cannot go on the Parkway.  Central Avenue ends at the Garden State Parkway where there are no straight through roads leading to US 9 the truck alternative for the Parkway without making many turns.

For many years Trenton was used as a control city on NJ 35 for NJ 37 WB in Seaside Heights, NJ where NJ 37 ends at NJ 70 at Lakehurst and no continuing road to the State Capital.   Since then Toms River replaced Trenton as someone in NJDOT figured out that something was wrong.

[formulanone]

I-295 North around Jacksonville/Orange Park, Florida shows Savannah as a control city.

I don't know if this is the right place to say so, but in short, I feel the concept of the control city is quite pointless, in my opinion. But I suppose it helps somewhat for those totally unfamiliar with the area.