USA Map Facts


Interstate Design
● The interstates were originally designed to be able to run military equipment from coast to coast on flatbed trailers at sustained speeds of 75 mph.
● Did you know that if you're on interstate 5, you have 5% of the U.S. left to the west of you? If you are on interstate 95, you have 95% left to the west of you?
● If you are on interstate 20, you have 20% of the U.S. left to the south of you? If you are on interstate 90, you have 90% left to the south of you?
● ALL [or mostly all] interstates going east or west have EVEN numbers. ALL interstates going north or south have ODD numbers.
● If a city bypass has an even number it loops [called a LOOP] back to the same interstate. i.e. I-440 ends back up on I-40.
● If a city bypass has an odd number it does NOT loop [called a SPUR] back to the same interstate. i.e. I-540 does not come back to I-40.

Mile Markers
● Did you know that ALL mile markers go down as you head south and go up as you head north?
● ALL mile markers go down as you head west and up as you head east?
● If you are in Tennessee at the 300 mile marker on I-40 heading west, you have 300 miles to the Arkansas border.
● If a mile marker looks like this: 195|5 what does it mean? It means you are at the 195 and 5 tenths mile marker. The use of the tenths in a mile marker can be very helpful if you are broke down to allow police or other help pinpoint your exact location.
Interstate Signs
● Did you know that if the exit number on an interstate sign is on the top right of the sign that you will exit to the right no matter if it says exit only or not? See the illustration:
pic #1
pic #2
● The same rule applies if it was on the left side!

Comments

I find these fascinating, and didn't know this!

● Did you know that if you're on interstate 5, you have 5% of the U.S. left to the west of you? If you are on interstate 95, you have 95% left to the west of you?
● If you are on interstate 20, you have 20% of the U.S. left to the south of you? If you are on interstate 90, you have 90% left to the south of you?


I did know that interstates with odd numbers ran north-south and those with even numbers run east-west, though.

Another interesting little fact... where I used to live there was a street called Rangeline Rd. What I didn't find out until later was that on the county level, township and range is similar to latitude and longitude!
 
You learn the darndest things when you travel with a trucker. Seriously though, they should include stuff like this in drivers education courses.
 
One more thing about the interstates: every so often, a certain length has to be perfectly straight. This was done so they could serve as airstrips if needed.

I learned that from 8th grader at a Social Studies fair.
 
Good topic, njqt.

Popular legend says it was President Eisenhower who first proposed an Interstate highway system for the US after he'd seen the German autobahns duing WWII.

The history of the Interstate highway system always interested me but not nearly as much as the building of the transcontinental railroad in 1865-69. In my opinion that was an even more noteworthy and significant event in US history. There are several magnificent books about that. PM me if you want more.
 
I had heard about the interstates needing to be straight to serve as runways thing, but didn't know about the exit signs being on the left/right and denoting that you'd be exiting that way... that's definitely helpful!
 

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