Brown number signs

[DSS5]

Can anyone explain these to me? They count from 0-9 and then start over. I noticed them on I-40 Westbound near Canton, NC

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=i-40+asheville&ll=35.551781,-82.87365&spn=0.017248,0.084543&hnear=Interstate+40,+Asheville,+Buncombe,+North+Carolina&gl=us&t=h&z=14&layer=c&cbll=35.551793,-82.873682&panoid=3XyO6QtHt-08x9CkEWkvSQ&cbp=12,265.27,,0,13.51

[rarnold]

They probably measure 1/10ths of a mile.

[agentsteel53]

the last "0" is on the same post as an END CONSTRUCTION sign, so maybe it was some guide to the road workers?

it may or may not be a coincidence that each gap between numbers is three lane stripes long, by my eyeballing.  so, 120 feet?  (unless my knowledge of interstate lane striping is incorrect.  10-30-10-30..., correct?)

[DSS5]

the last "0" is on the same post as an END CONSTRUCTION sign, so maybe it was some guide to the road workers?

it may or may not be a coincidence that each gap between numbers is three lane stripes long, by my eyeballing.  so, 120 feet?  (unless my knowledge of interstate lane striping is incorrect.  10-30-10-30..., correct?)

Nothing to do with the construction. That image is from August 2011. I drove by there last week, the road work and related signs are long gone.

[KEK Inc.]

RPM for a semi?

[Mapmikey]

They are almost certainly related to the rehab of the bridge which looks recent in the 2011 GMSV.  Notice that they also have a set of 0-9 twice facing backward on the same side of I-40 east of the bridge.  They are distance-related points (20 in each direction) from the mid point of the bridge it appears.



Mapmikey

[hbelkins]

Those signs have been up for years and years. Seems like I heard somewhere that they are weather-related, since that area is subject to heavy fog.

[PHLBOS]

Those sort of remind me of the large white-on-black number signs one sees along an airport runway.  The numeral (X) represents X000 feet to the end of the runway.  In the case of the runway, the numbers decrease as a plane travels along a runway (in both take-offs and landings).

[HazMatt]

There's a joke that the signs are to teach us North Carolinians how to count before we get to Tennessee.

[Alps]

Those signs have been up for years and years. Seems like I heard somewhere that they are weather-related, since that area is subject to heavy fog.

Sounds like a maintenance reference, then, or state police - determine visibility based on number of signs you can see ahead. The NJ Turnpike Authority does this with just plain skip lines to decide how low to run the speed limit on a foggy day or whether to close the road entirely.