# The farthest city on a highway exit sign that you have seen
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 9, 2023, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912 "2023-03-09T07:21:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/1 "2023-03-09T07:21:59Z")
If you are driving in downtown San Antonio, there is an intersection where the big green highway signs tell you you can go this way down I-35 to get to Austin (80 miles), this way down I-37 to get to Corpus Christi (144 miles), or this way down I-10 to get to El Paso which is 550 miles or an 8 to 9 hour drive away. Your Google app says, “Take Exit 156 to I-10 El Paso.” Other than joke signs, what is the farthest city on a highway exit sign that you have seen?
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### Author:  [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/2 "2023-03-09T09:46:26Z")
I passed by a sign in Barstow California that said LAS VEGAS 180 MILES, SALT LAKE CITY 575 MILES
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/3 "2023-03-09T09:48:35Z")
When travelling north along I-5 from San Diego to Olympia when I moved here 20 years ago, I first saw a sign for Portland somewhere around Sacramento. The distance was somewhere in the 700 mile range.
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### Author:  [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/4 "2023-03-09T10:03:14Z")
These are no joke.
Probably more extreme examples out there:
[ ](https://i.ibb.co/X3G4j9s/eyre-highway-1b.jpg)
Helps to refuel regularly.
[ ](https://i.ibb.co/hKwsRRn/burke-road-FNQ.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/5 "2023-03-09T12:01:10Z")
Both sides of US 50 has a sign saying it’s [3073 miles to Ocean City/Sacramento](https://www.capradio.org/articles/2016/05/06/two-coasts-two-cities-two-signs-the-story-behind-the-ocean-city-md-3073-sign/).
And here’s one near Baltimore on I-70 saying [Denver is 1700 and Cove Fort is 2200.](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:I-70_mileage_sign_near_eastern_terminus_in_Maryland.jpg)
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/6 "2023-03-09T12:14:39Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#):
>
> And here’s one near Baltimore on I-70 saying [Denver is 1700 and Cove Fort is 2200.](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:I-70_mileage_sign_near_eastern_terminus_in_Maryland.jpg)
I was going to post this one. I lived near it for the first 55 years of my life, and after driving on the eastern end of I-70 for decades, in 2018 my wife and I drove the western end for the first and only time when we were moving back east after living in Las Vegas for five years. (Unfortunately, we weren’t able to drive the entire length of the highway.)
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### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/7 "2023-03-09T12:28:29Z")
Holy cow! That’s amazing!
I’m from Massachusetts originally and, out east, distances are very truncated, especially in New England. Pittsfield to Boston, a trip across the entire width of MA, is only 137 miles. That’s “long” for us.
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### Author:  [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/8 "2023-03-09T13:42:25Z")
> [@Jasmine](#):
>
> I’m from Massachusetts originally and, out east, distances are very truncated, especially in New England. Pittsfield to Boston, a trip across the entire width of MA, is only 137 miles. That’s “long” for us.
Pittsfield to Provincetown is more like 240 miles. But, yeah.
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### Author:  [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/9 "2023-03-09T14:01:59Z")
Route 20 in Kenmore Square in Boston:
[ ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Route-20-Sign-Kenmore-Square-December-8-2016.jpg)
Its twin is in Oregon:
[ ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/20East.jpg)
Not sure if you can get much longer than that in the US.
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/10 "2023-03-09T14:32:16Z")
Yeah, that beats the one for Denver that I’ve seen on I-70 heading west out of Topeka, which is 510 miles IIRC.
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### Author:  [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/11 "2023-03-09T15:02:17Z")
In southern NY state going north in I-87 where the name changes from The Major Deegan Expressway when to The NY State Thruway crossing from the Bronx into Westchester County. Within a mile or so north of that point I remember a sign with about 3 cities distant, and one of them was Buffalo at about 420 miles.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/12 "2023-03-09T16:16:36Z")
I’m thinking “Pan American Highway”…
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### Author:  [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/13 "2023-03-09T16:36:39Z")
I believe that this is the longest highway in the US, so you won’t find a longer highway exit/distance sign. However, there are cities between Boston and Newport, Oregon that they decided to skip that would be a little bit closer (Worcester, Springfield, Albany, Chicago). It’s not like it is a vaste wasteland between Boston and Oregon! 🙂
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/14 "2023-03-09T18:01:20Z")
Wanna bet? 😛
The one I see all the time was in Post #2.
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### Author:  [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/15 "2023-03-09T18:13:47Z")
Sign in Copper Harbor, MI (nearstrong text the end of US 42)
Eagle Harbor (ahead)
Houghton (left)
Miami Fla 1990
I know in Bishop, CA there is a sign for the other end of US 6
[ ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_6#/media/File:P-town.jpg)
(click on broken pic – Provincetown 3205)
Brian
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/16 "2023-03-09T18:20:48Z")
[ ](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/roncesvalles-begin-way-sain-james-biking-sign-km-to-santiago-61356472.jpg)
Seen it. Walked it. Road sign at Roncesvalles for Santiago de Compostela.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/17 "2023-03-09T18:29:23Z")
I don’t think these fit the OP’s definition of an exit sign but are rather furthest away you’ve seen a control city. Correct me if I’m wrong @Mesquite-oh but you are looking for a sign like “Bupkis Exit 102” and that’s 130 miles away. Right?
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### Author:  [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/18 "2023-03-09T20:12:32Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#):
>
> Both sides of US 50 has a sign saying it’s [3073 miles to Ocean City/Sacramento](https://www.capradio.org/articles/2016/05/06/two-coasts-two-cities-two-signs-the-story-behind-the-ocean-city-md-3073-sign/).
I was just thinking about having seen the Sacramento end of this, but couldn’t remember if it was I-80 or US-50, so thanks for the article.
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/19 "2023-03-09T20:19:30Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#):
>
> Both sides of US 50 has a sign saying it’s [3073 miles to Ocean City/Sacramento](https://www.capradio.org/articles/2016/05/06/two-coasts-two-cities-two-signs-the-story-behind-the-ocean-city-md-3073-sign/).
In the mid-1960s, there was a sign on US 40 in Atlantic City that listed the 3000+ mileage to San Francisco.
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2023, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-farthest-city-on-a-highway-exit-sign-that-you-have-seen/980912/20 "2023-03-09T20:34:53Z")
Several websites I looked at say that Interstate 90, Boston to Seattle, is the longest in the US (3101 miles). Anyone have any signs from that?
Edit: Oops, looks like U.S. Route 20, already mentioned, beats it.
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