A Unique "Divided" Highway

[english si]

Ha. I've frequently heard complaints that the roadgeek/road enthusiast/Roads Scholar community is predominantly conservative.

But the Internet has a different centre. Moderate liberals can be massive conservatives in the eyes of the Internet.

roadgeeks tend to like more roads, driving, etc and don't want the dense urban clusters, public transport/Internet driven utopia of the future that many on the Internet want, so must clearly be conservative as they don't like the vision of the future, and also as conservative is an insult...

As for border straddling houses, I take it you've heard of Baarle-Nassua
and Baarle-Hertog, though I think they have it that the houses don't straddle the border, just buildings (where there's semi-detached houses, one in each country, for instance). I believe there might be houses that cross the border, but there's some law that where the front door is is the country the whole house is in, or they reworked the border so that houses are completely on one side.

[mgk920]

As for border straddling houses, I take it you've heard of Baarle-Nassua
and Baarle-Hertog, though I think they have it that the houses don't straddle the border, just buildings (where there's semi-detached houses, one in each country, for instance). I believe there might be houses that cross the border, but there's some law that where the front door is is the country the whole house is in, or they reworked the border so that houses are completely on one side.

There, yes houses, shops and so forth straddle that border, which dates back to wheeling and dealing between royal families during the middle ages and snakes all over that town, and which country the resident lives in is determined by which side of the border the main door is on.  If the door straddles the line (it is well marked on the ground), and some do, the resident can pick which country.  It is also known that residents have moved their front doors from one side of the line to the other based on which country has the better tax and regulatory climate at various times.



All that I can say is that the locals should be very, very happy that the two countries (Belgium and Nederlands) are at peace!



Mike

[vdeane]

And that the EU exits.

[mightyace]

I'm going to try and stay out of the policy fray.  (I know not normally me.  )

But on situations like Derby Line, Vt./Rock Island, Quebec, I have a possible solution:

How about making the towns a "free city" as far as border control is concerned?  You have border checkpoints when leaving the towns but free movement within the two.

But, with the national differences in law and policy discussed earlier it probably wouldn't happen.

[averill]

You're probably thinking (when you mention the library) of Derby Line, Vt./Rock Island, Quebec.

that place is a crock of fascist pigshit.  do not do the casual and completely expected activity of walking two feet into the other country.  upon your return, you will get interrogated heavily.

It's one of the many reasons customs needs to be done away with on the US/Canada border.

Truer words were never spoken!  At least there is someone out there who feels like I do and understands the folly of the Canada/US border, and the "knee-jerk" actions to protect this world's longest "undefended" border.

[roadman65]

In Highland Falls, NY there is a wide street (Main Street) with a median filled with parking spaces, but two ways on both sides almost like two streets side by side.

[kkt]

I grew up along the CAN/US Border. Most of the time no ID was even requested....neither a driver license or birth certificate....let alone a passport.

The border was there and you tolerated it but it didn't interfere with your life.......you might be back and forth a couple of time a day.  The community on the US side had a McDonalds before we did and it was quite common to load us kids in the car and head over for a McHappy Meal or for a treat in the evening. We had the hockey rink on our side and our minor hockey team was about a 50/50 split of US/Canadian players. When we had practice at 7am on a Saturday morning they were here too except it was 6am to them........the Atlantic/Eastern Time Zone ran down the middle of the river. Even municipal services such as fire protection and the water supply were shared.

Yes... I live in Seattle and visit family in Bellingham pretty often.  It used to be a fun day trip to go to Vancouver for lunch and some shopping, different selections of goods, etc.  Back then, crossing the border was 15 minutes, maybe half an hour on a bad day, and no ID was required.  It was so civilized.

Last time we did that crossing into Canada was fine, but coming back we waited three and a half hours.  No idea what they were doing that was taking so long; we just showed passports and went right through.  The electronic system that was supposed to say how long the wait is wasn't working, and of course they couldn't send a worker up to post a handwritten sign "Forget it, go to Sumas" near the end of the line.  I don't feel any more secure, and now that the Canadian dollar is stronger than ours our businesses are losing a lot from it.

[KEVIN_224]

I found this shot along the same road, looking to the west. Note a certain gray obelisk at the left edge of the picture! 

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=0+Avenue,+Langley,+BC,+Canada&hl=en&ll=49.002252,-122.620833&spn=0.007503,0.017531&sll=37.09024,-112.5&sspn=37.052328,105.292969&oq=0+Avenue&hnear=0+Ave,+Langley,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia+V2Z+1S2,+Canada&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=49.002256,-122.625023&panoid=5S4GD2XA521BJ0NySyDoag&cbp=12,277.21,,0,16.68

[roadman65]

Correct me if I am wrong cause I have never traveled this roadway before, but does I-84 have a place where there is over two miles between between the EB and WB in Oregon?  I know that I-24 at Monteagle Grade in TN has a mile wide median with a mountain and private property in the middle.

I also know that I-5, I-8, I-65, I-77, I-85, I -275 (FL), and FL 112 have places in which the carrigeways switch sides for a short spell as well as I-95 and I-695 near Baltimore used to at one time at their formerly configured interchange.

[xonhulu]

Correct me if I am wrong cause I have never traveled this roadway before, but does I-84 have a place where there is over two miles between between the EB and WB in Oregon?  I know that I-24 at Monteagle Grade in TN has a mile wide median with a mountain and private property in the middle.

Where I-84 ascends into the Blue Mountains east of Pendleton, the carriageways separate, and there is one point where the separation looks like it's close to 2 miles.  See for yourself:

http://maps.google.com/?ll=45.588335,-118.621445&spn=0.031714,0.084543&t=m&z=14

The two lanes also have an appreciable difference in elevation through here.

[Kacie Jane]

I found this shot along the same road, looking to the west. Note a certain gray obelisk at the left edge of the picture! 

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=0+Avenue,+Langley,+BC,+Canada&hl=en&ll=49.002252,-122.620833&spn=0.007503,0.017531&sll=37.09024,-112.5&sspn=37.052328,105.292969&oq=0+Avenue&hnear=0+Ave,+Langley,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia+V2Z+1S2,+Canada&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=49.002256,-122.625023&panoid=5S4GD2XA521BJ0NySyDoag&cbp=12,277.21,,0,16.68

When you hover over the Street View image, and the address appears in the upper left corner, it reads "21613 0 Avenue, Washington, Canada".  Add that to the list of Google FAILs.

[KEVIN_224]

Similar things happen if an image is right at a state line as well. Weird, I know!

[deathtopumpkins]

Probably just a result of Google's data for different levels of geographically division (i.e. state and national) not lining up perfectly.

[Takumi]

Works fine for me whenever I try it.

[agentsteel53]

Correct me if I am wrong cause I have never traveled this roadway before, but does I-84 have a place where there is over two miles between between the EB and WB in Oregon?

that is a psychotic nutter of a road.  when they say "advisory 45mph", they do not mean what they mean in California, which is "70-75 for most cars".  Oh no, they mean 45mph.

nearly ran off that road two weeks ago doing 61.

[Kacie Jane]

The gods of the Internet (or perhaps just the moderators of this forum) may smite me for bumping this thread with something a tad off-topic, but this story was just too good not to share.  From the "Fuzz Buzz" of the local weekly:

"On Sept. 28, a Canadian on the Surrey side of Zero Avenue called Blaine Police when he spotted two men lifting a woman up on to the back balcony across the street from his home, in another country. Police and Border Patrol agents soon arrived and learned "the episode was the final act of a saga involving a lady locking herself out of her house,"  police reported. "No crime had occurred and folks were appreciative of the international neighborhood watch."  "