Naming Rights For Interstates and Related Bridges

[Grzrd]

Project Manager of the Southern Gateway project was kind enough to respond to an email about the current status of the project .... "Please make a note that we are in the process of changing the name from the Mississippi 3rd River Bridge to the Southern Gateway, Crossing the River/ Connecting America."

I looked for a similar themed previous thread in "GHT" but did not see one.  If I missed it, apologies.

In Atlanta, the former Peach Bowl is now the Chick-fil-A Bowl.  Chick-fil-A is a local company that wanted to both get exposure and "give back" to the city by assisting the then-financially struggling Bowl.  The corporate renaming worked so well that an additional event was created in Atlanta: the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic.  The Kickoff Classic has worked so well that there is serious discussion, since the College Football Hall of Fame is being relocated to Atlanta, of having an expanded Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic Weekend: game on either Thursday or Saturday of Labor Day Weekend; Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, on either Friday,Saturday, or Sunday; second game Saturday, Sunday, or Monday of Labor Day weekend.

In Atlanta, we also have Philips Arena, in which Philips, a multinational based in the Netherlands, bought the naming rights for the new arena, primarily to get their name before the public.

In looking at the above-quoted TDOT comment re the renaming of the bridge project, I instinctively replaced "Southern" with "FedEx" in my mind.

Assume the following: you have been hired as a consultant by a given state DOT to identify the two best choices for pilot corporate renaming of given sections of interstate.  Although you personally despise the notion, you desperately need to make money.  What would be the best pilot project for marketing a section for bidding among local companies and what would be the best pilot project for marketing a section to big-money global companies?

Consider location, traffic counts, traffic jams, or anything else that comes to mind.

Also keep in mind that in Atlanta we also have the situation where Fox News Channel consistently advertises on a billboard that faces CNN Center.

[Alps]

In NJ, the Turnpike makes money as it is, so need to go renaming things.  Unfortunately, all the projects are there because that's where the money is.  NJDOT could really use the money, but there are no flagship projects planned that one could really name.  It's all improving interchanges and removing traffic circles.  The only one that comes to mind is the Missing Moves connecting NJ 42 NB to I-295 SB and vice versa (they meet at 90 degrees, so NB to SB is not unreasonable) - or the FedEx Missing Moves (using your example).