I was wrong about how 73/73 would end at Myrtle Beach. 73 would end at Georgetown and 74 at Myrtle Beach, with 74 entering via US17 from NC 130 and US74 in NC and 73 will enter SC via US1 untill it gets to SC9 and will follow that to it’s end at the Myrtle Beach area. Now here’s the dumbest thing. 74 is an east-west freeway but will go southWEST along the coast once it enters SC.
To Omniscient,
They are allowed to do that because they are not in the same state. Each state gets 9 spurs per interstate.
Are there any more interesting bits on the disorganization of the interstate planners?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by AWB *
**OK, more interstate trivia than you probably wanted to know:
[ul]
[li]All other 3-digit interstates are numbered based on a connecting 2-digit interstate.[/li][li]The shortest interstate is I-395 in Maryland. It’s 0.72 miles long, and runs from I-95 to Russell St. in Baltimore, near Camden Yards.[/ul] **[/li][/QUOTE]
I-370, here in Montgomery County, MD, which is probably the second shortest interstate, is about 30 miles from its namesake, I-70. I-370 is a spur of I-270, which connects the Capital Beltway to I-70 in Frederick, MD.
And, was I-395 in Balmer the start of another project that never got finished (like how I-370 is part of a proposed outer beltway of DC and the ICC)?
More interstate trivia. Every possible three digit spoke of I-95 is used in Maryland except I-595 and I-995:
I-195: Connects 95 to BWI airport
I-295: The Anacostia Freeway in DC
I-395: At the southern end of the Capital Beltway, connecting the bottom of the Beltway to Arlington, VA
I-495: The Capital Beltway
I-695: The Baltimore Beltway
I-795: Connects I-695 to Reistertown, MD
I-895: Harbor Tunnel Thruway in Baltimore
Hey Bob, does it have to be contained in a metro area? Cuz I thought of a possibility almost as soon as I heard your challenge, but it’ll take ya some distance. If you live in central Illinois and want to get to Chicago, it’s quite possible that you’d take I-39 to I-55 to I-94. Do the math. Does mine count or did you mean just in a metro area?
BobT—Hey, I’ve got one. If you’re in my home town of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, you would take US 62 to PA 18 to get to I-80. (Of course, you could also follow 62 for another ten miles and run right into I-80 in Warren, Ohio, but that skews the math.) US 62 runs from Buffalo, New York to El Paso, Texas. PA 18 runs from Erie to the West Virginia.
Is 395 in MD the shortest? Here in my 1998 Rand McNally road map it shows I-375 and 175 coming off of 275 in St. Petersburg going on each side of Tropicana Field and appear to be a few thousand feet long. Have these been decommisioned and the fact that my map is out of date that I don’t know?
Another interesting thing about the two segments of Interstate 76 is the significance of the number 76 in U.S. history. It is quite fitting that the honor of having I-76 came to Pennsylvania, home of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, and Colorado, the “Centennial State” that was admitted to the Union in 1876. Of course, the numbers also happen to fit in nicely with the overall numbering system of the 2-digit interstates (even numbers running generally east-west with higher numbers in the north, and odd numbers running generally north-south with higher numbers in the east.) AWB– I couldn’t believe there could be an I-238 until I saw the picture of the sign at the site you referenced. What an abomination! I have driven near Hayward a couple of times and never noticed it on my map… I’ll have to check my road atlas when I get home!
dtilque– Are you referring to the (also abominable) I-99 in central PA? The Bud Schuster Expressway? I passed by there in 1996 and saw the signs for it and thought I was hallucinating. (I had always thought tiny, little I-97 in Maryland was the highest numbered 2-digit Interstate.) As for why it was numbered that way, my guess would be that the decision to give it a 2-digit number was political, and once they decided to do that, all the odd 2-digit numbers from 75 to 97 were taken. Maybe a Doper from the Keystone State can explain this sordid tale to the rest of us.
I wish they would turn 99 into a spur or decommision it. There are places that need a 99 more than Altoona. Is it really such a happening place that they needed an interstate? They could at least extend it up to Buffalo or Rochester to make it a little more legitimate.
Well, it’s not THAT weird, but here in the DFW area I-35 splits into two highways temporarily, I-35 East and I-35 West. This is in addition to I-635, that crosses each twice.
I guess I was mistaken in there being only one out-of-order 2-digit Interstate. What I was thinking of was I-82 in OR-WA, which is completely north of I-84.
The explanation for I-82 is straightforward. When they named I-82, what is now I-84 was known as I-80N. Someone decided to get rid of the N and S designations for I-80, so they renumbered the northern branch. Since no one had had the foresight to name I-82 as a higher number (or even an odd number since it runs as much north-south as east-west), they were perforce required to break the numbering scheme. Of course, they could have renumbered the southern branch, but that would have offended the powerful California freeway lobby. The renumbering to I-84 means there’s also two I-84s.
BTW, what happened to the numbers in the middle? Why are there no freeways with even numbers between I-44 and I-64? Where’s I-50 and I-60 when you need them?
All 3-digit spokes of I-80 except for 180 and 480 are used in just the San Francisco Bay area. That’s in addition to the already discussed I-238. The reason is that unlike other large metropolitan areas, only one 1- or 2-digit Interstate goes to the Bay area.
There is a lobby going (actually one guy) to get I-70 extended to the bay area so there can be more spurs in case there is ever a shortage of them and so 80 doesn’t have to carry all the load.
It’s unofficial and is not recognized by the freeway guys that control all this stuff http://www.aaroads.com/future/i-70.html
J. Noble, around that area of NJ around Newark: I-95 is the NJ Expressway. It extends north until it merges with I-80 and U.S. 1 at Fort Lee. Funny thing is that upon going over the George Washington Bridge into northern Manhattan, I-80 disappears, and we just have I-95/US 1 concurrent road til The Bronx…