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I thought it was amusing how the signs for I-80 east in the Reno area used Elko as their control city --- a city of 20,000 people, four hours away. Really just goes to show how much nothing there is in Nevada.
Within Albuquerque, I-25 north is Santa Fe, I-25 south is Las Cruces, I-40 east is Santa Rosa, I-40 west is Gallup. I-40 west used to be Grants up until the early 2000s. All of those cities are in New Mexico. I-25 north should've also been changed to Raton instead of Santa Fe and I-40 east to Tucumcari, so that each direction would have the last notable town within New Mexico on those interstate directions from Albuquerque.
Also, the southbound control city on I-25 in Albuquerque before the reconstruction of the Big-I was Belen. The reasons that I-40 west and I-25 south were changed to Gallup and Las Cruces, respectively, after the reconstruction was because they have larger populations than Grants, Los Lunas, Belen, or Socorro. Santa Rosa is bigger than Tucumcari population-wise, and Santa Fe is the state capital of New Mexico as well as a major tourist destination; that is why NMDOT retained Santa Rosa and Santa Fe as the respective control cities on I-40 east and I-25 north.
This is a fascinating thread. It seems to be a trend that control signs tend to prioritize relatively insignificant INTRAstate cities when it’s the INTERstate system.
In Birmingham, the worst example is Gadsden on I-59 N, a pretty small metro that’s just a stop on the interstate an hour up the road. It should be Chattanooga—a much bigger metro and regionally important city, which also is at the cross roads to several other interstates.
On I-59 S (which is also I-20 W) it’s Tuscaloosa, which is more defensible as a bigger city and home to the most famous institution in the state (U of Alabama). Could arguably be Jackson/New Orleans.
I-65 N points to Huntsville. It’s an important city regionally, but it’s also not actually on I-65. You have to take I-565 for like 20-30 mins off 65. It should arguably be Nashville but 65 technically goes through the greater Huntsville area.
I-65 S is Montgomery, which makes sense. 65 terminates in Mobile.
I-20 E is rightly ATL, and I-22 W is rightly Memphis.
I-65 N points to Huntsville. It’s an important city regionally, but it’s also not actually on I-65. You have to take I-565 for like 20-30 mins off 65. It should arguably be Nashville but 65 technically goes through the greater Huntsville area.
it used to say nashville over 20 years ago.
huntsville actually does sprawl all the way out to the northeast corner of i-65/i-565 i believe.
D/FW
I-35W south bound Waco, TX
I-35W & E both lead to Denton, TX
I-20E Shreveport, LO
I-45S Houston, TX
I-30E Texarkana
I-30W & I-20W Abilene, TX
75N Sherman, TX
I-35N past Denton Oklahoma City
There used to be a sign for Miami in Petersburg, VA, where I-85 splits off from I-95. But those killjoys at VDOT changed it to say Rocky Mount, NC.
North of Richmond there used to be one too. I think it advised 295 south to get around Richmond to Miami. There is still a sign around the same area telling people to use 95 south to get 85 south to Durham NC and Atlanta.
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