# Which state lines in the U.S. represent the most abrupt borders? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 26, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-lines-in-the-u-s-represent-the-most-abrupt-borders/726232 "2015-07-26T14:49:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-lines-in-the-u-s-represent-the-most-abrupt-borders/726232/41 "2015-07-27T09:22:26Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Ever notice you can enter New Jersey for free, but there’s usually a toll you have to pay if you want to leave. :rolleyes: Now now. You won’t find me indulging in that ridiculous NY/NJ rivalry. I’ve visited New Jersey many times and found it to be a wonderful place full of great people. Unlike those dickheads in Connecticut. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-lines-in-the-u-s-represent-the-most-abrupt-borders/726232/42 "2015-07-27T12:38:42Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Can you tell which side of [this photo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico%E2%80%93United_States_border#/media/File:Border_Mexico_USA.jpg) is Tijuana and which side is San Diego? I knew you could. Of course that doesn’t count since it’s not a state line. But while we’re on the subject, wouldn’t it be a trivial matter to get on surfboard [here,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico%E2%80%93United_States_border#/media/File:Borderbeachtj.jpg) paddle out on the Mexican side, and ride back in on the US side? Why get into a hot truck when you can swim? Back to the topic, I think the most glaring example is the presence of fireworks dealers. You can tell when you’re entering a state with more liberal fireworks laws than the one you left by the number of fireworks stores and the billboards that advertise them. I suppose the most glaring cultural border is between Utah and just about any state it touches, ditto for Nevada. North/south is more gradual. You can’t get to the old confederacy without passing through the border states so it’s like getting one foot in the cold pool at a time. In my neck of the woods, driving from Michigan into Ohio means you slow down, knowing that Ohio police just love to stop cars with Michigan plates. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-lines-in-the-u-s-represent-the-most-abrupt-borders/726232/43 "2015-07-27T15:58:19Z")
Just off I-44 there’s an Indian casino on the [Oklahoma/Kansas/Missouri border.](https://www.google.com/maps/@37.0009248,-94.6247583,1730m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en) Just south of Evansville, Indiana, there’s a small strip of land north of the Ohio River that’s actually a part of Kentucky. On the Kentucky side of the strip there’s a horse track and a tobacco store. On the Indiana side, there’s a year-round fireworks store. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-lines-in-the-u-s-represent-the-most-abrupt-borders/726232/44 "2015-07-27T16:15:01Z")
At one time, when you were crossing from Arizona into Nevada on I-40, you’d encounter a batch of billboards proclaiming “It’s Legal in Nevada”, advertising brothels. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-lines-in-the-u-s-represent-the-most-abrupt-borders/726232/45 "2015-07-27T17:11:34Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Quoted for posterity. I’m not sure how to take that. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-lines-in-the-u-s-represent-the-most-abrupt-borders/726232/46 "2015-07-27T17:57:39Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > At one time, when you were crossing from Arizona into Nevada on I-40, you’d encounter a batch of billboards proclaiming “It’s Legal in Nevada”, advertising brothels. “It’s Legal in Nevada\*” “\*except where prohibited by law and in counties with population in excess of 700,000 as of the last decennial census” Doesn’t quite have the same ring. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-lines-in-the-u-s-represent-the-most-abrupt-borders/726232/47 "2015-07-27T19:21:33Z")
Where Interstate 10 crosses the New Mexico/Texas border, you will feel a bump, and suddenly the pavement will change color. The asphalt on the NM side is a deep black, the asphalt on the TX side has a reddish tinge. Texas repairs their roads more frequently than New Mexico, so their side usually has the smoother ride. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-lines-in-the-u-s-represent-the-most-abrupt-borders/726232/48 "2015-07-27T19:45:23Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > I doubt it’s the most abrupt state boundary in the country, but the Vermont-New Hampshire boundary is pretty noticeable, and it’s not just the billboards. Different subsidies and tax and regulatory systems mean that all the big-box stores are on the NH side of the border and most of the farms are on the VT side. Despite being of similar size, VT has 10 times as many dairy cows as NH, and NH has seven times as many Walmart locations. The MA/NH border is like that too, although possibly less abrupt. The whole “no sales taxes/live free or die” NH attitude means that the big box stores and the fireworks shops are right over the border, especially around Rt. 1 and Nashua. The attitude towards sales tax is also probably reflected in the $2.00 toll they charge to drive the 16 mile length of I-95, those bastards. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-lines-in-the-u-s-represent-the-most-abrupt-borders/726232/49 "2015-07-28T04:38:15Z")
> [@syncrolecyne](#): > > The closest thing to a “north-south border” I have seen was in Florida, from suburban Orlando to some of the small towns. The accents immediately went from New York/New Jersey transplant and Puerto Rican to very deep southern, and the culture changed abruptly as well. > > Would the Cincinnati, Ohio to northern Kentucky border be an example of a sharp north/south border? Some would say the ten miles from the small city of Lawrence, Kansas to the much smaller town of Lecompton, Kansas still bears cultural traces of the North/South divide, from just before the Civil War when Lawrence was the center of activity for those who wanted Kansas to be a free state, and Lecompton briefly a rival capital for the slave-staters. But the Orlando-rural Florida divide is a better example. Maybe where the DC suburbs of Northern Virginia meet the sleepy villages of the Appalachian foothills and (further east) the Tidewater region would be a close second. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-lines-in-the-u-s-represent-the-most-abrupt-borders/726232/50 "2015-07-28T08:37:38Z")
syncrolecyne: > [@](#): > > Would the Cincinnati, Ohio to northern Kentucky border be an example of a sharp north/south border? It’s pretty noticeable, since it’s a bridge over the Ohio River. I’m sorry to report, though, that the grass on the Kentucky side isn’t suddenly all blue. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-lines-in-the-u-s-represent-the-most-abrupt-borders/726232/51 "2015-07-28T13:18:32Z")
While working transect grids in the remote forests along the Alabama and Florida panhandles on small, winding dirt roads there rarely was any posted designation as to which side of the border we were on but the difference was clear to us. At least in that part of the state Alabama had no rural trash collection while Florida did. The secluded houses, farms and ranches we came across with clean yards were on the Florida side while those with large, often ancient piles of debris and burned trash were in Alabama. It was quite a distinction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-lines-in-the-u-s-represent-the-most-abrupt-borders/726232.md?page=2)