Pretty regularly I drive from New Haven, CT to the area around D.C. I’ve settled into a nice, roundabout way of getting there, which involves taking 287 pretty much its entire length. Towards the end there’s a split for about two miles, roughly between mile markers 20 and 18. I’ve driven both and paid close attention to the signs. There’s only one or two exits, and each one has an exit from each branch of the roadway. Neither of them have an HOV restriction or anything of the sort to distinguish them.
So the upshot is that for two miles there are two practically identical copies of I-287 S. Has the highway been undergoing mitosis for the last few years?
It’s been that way for many years, possibly since that section was originally opened. I think they give different access to Rte 78, if anything. Otherwise you’re right – for your purposes they are identical.
What I find weird is that around my section, the road claims to be north/south but it’s really east/west.
LOL! Sections of road that run in a different compass direction from the main thrust of the highway aren’t unusual; I’m a few miles from a section of Interstate 40 that allegedly is running east-west but in fact is within a couple of degrees of being due north-south.
What’s really amusing is a stretch of interstate highway near Wytheville, Virginia, with a general trend of northeast/southwest (but with curves due to the terrain) that is simultaneously Interstate 81 north and Interstate 77 south (or the reverse going the opposite direction). When you see it on a map, it makes sense, but it must give drivers not familiar with what the two highways actually do a real doubletake!
95N most of the way through CT is east, and for a short while as it passes through New Haven it’s actually south.
As for providing different access to 78, there’s absolutely no signage that indicates any difference between the two. In fact, there’s not even a warning of a split.
For anyone who’s curious and hasn’t seen it in person, it’s visible on Google maps when zoomed all the way in. This is the top of the split, southbound on the left.
The three lines in of the left-hand bunch are the entrance from 78E, 287S itself, and the entrance from 78W. 287 splits, then traffic from each direction of 78 joins one side of the split. The split continues for 2 miles, at which point each side has an exit ramp. The two sides of the split merge back into 287S, while the exit ramps merge into a single entrance ramp for US206. The only difference I can see is what seems to be an official-use access road from the left side (to the driver, not on the map) of the 287S split over to 287N.
There’s a section of interstate I-94 that runs from Downtown Milwaukee to I have no idea how far past Chicago. It runs North and South but it’s says East and West. If you grew up in anywhere north of Chicago, I’d imagine you learned when you started driving, that to go South you get on I-94 East and to go North you get on I-94 West. Of course that may not make sense down there. But (and I’m guess it’s the same for that interstate somewhere) in Wisconsini from Downtown Milwaukee to I don’t know how far past Madison, it does actually run East and West. It’s just that in Milwaukee it takes a 90 degree turn at the Marquette Interchange and the name doesn’t change. And actually I43 does the same thing for a few miles when it connects up with I894. What I find strange is that 911 dispatchers don’t seem to understand this. I called 911 from the freeway for one reason or another and when I told them where I was they were very confused and not very happy with me…
911 - What’s your emergency
Me - car accident on I-94
911 - Where is it on 94
Me - About a 100 yards south of the College Ave exit
911 - Which direction are you heading sir
Me - I’m on I-94 East
911 - I’m sorry sir, the freeway doesn’t run in that direction at that location
Me - I know that, it’s called I-94 East
911 - No it’s not sir, it doesn’t go that way, which side are you on
Me - I’m looking at the sign, it says I-94 East
911 - …???
Me - I’m Southbound, I - 94 south
911 - Ok we’ll have someone out there right away.
I was really surprised she didn’t get it. Especially since we have another freeway that runs through the county that 's called I-43 South/North and actually runs in those directions (for the most part anyways).