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Comment by Ididntdothis | Hacker News Reader

I always wonder what system the LA area is using for their signage. They seem to have a rule to mark exits as late or confusingly as possible. This leads to people suddenly swerving across all six lanes. It requires a certain skill to mark that badly....

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Socal freeways usually have center signs every couple of miles letting you know what named exits are coming up in how many miles, then the named exit sign maybe half a mile before the exit, then the sign that just says exit with an arrow. Highway interchanges have overhead signs with lane indicators (although this particular one was deficient untill guerrila fixed).

It's pretty good as long as you're expected named exits. California built their highways before federal standards on numbering, so they were exempted from numbering exits until about 2000. In 2000, they decided to add exit numbers when replacing signs, and signs have a planned lifetime of 10 years, so anytime now everything should have exit numbers ;). It's gotten better, but there was a while where all the map software would tell you to take exits by number, but the numbers weren't posted (yet), a mix of better databases and more posted numbers and me moving out of CA means I don't recall seeing that in a while.

As Californian, I hate exit numbers. I typically know vaguely where I'm trying to go, but navigation apps nowadays often favor the exit numbers. Exit numbers are still poorly marked in a lot of places, and are typically harder to spot.

Missed an exit one time because Google Maps said "take exit 34C" and the exit number was only posted far down the offramp, after it was too late. Best part was Maps neglecting to say "for highway XXX", pretty much the most important highway for the area, which would have made navigating incredibly easy.

It’s not that the signs are bad insofar as the roads are old and weren’t designed for the speeds that people are driving and the volume of traffic that they handle. Cutting over four lanes over the course of a mile when everybody is going 50 and there’s plenty of room is significantly easier than how it is now.

The original freeway system was designed for 70mph... Dunno how old these roads are though.

The U.S. Interstate system was designed for 70mph. California's freeway system is older. IIRC, California built the first "freeway" in the U.S.[1] It wasn't until I moved to California that I ever even heard the term, freeway, used regularly; elsewhere in the U.S. most people use the term, highway, as a general word for a fast artery. Some east coast locales often have their own terminology (e.g. turnpike) for the same reason California does--they were the first to build such infrastructure, and to do so long before the interstate system.

FWIW, the U.S. Highway system predates the U.S. Interstate system, and is still primarily composed of a patchwork of pre-existing state roads, "freeways", etc. At the time the interstate system was created highways weren't limited access--and still aren't necessarily, though most people don't understand or obey the technical distinctions in the terminology, or what type of road they're driving on.

[1] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arroyo_Seco_Parkway. It was designed for 45mph.

Huh - I never realized there was a 'real' distinction. I always thought it was just regional slang. Thanks!

edit: spelling

This results in lots of confusion. For example, California Vehicle Code defines "highway" as "a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Highway includes street." This is much wider understanding of what "highway" is than that of the rest of the country.

Hmm? Highway means "public road" (and sometimes private) pretty much everywhere, legally, since before the US existed.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/highways_and_motor_vehicles

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway

"Freeway" is the term for the kind of road that has "highway" in its official name. Also "parkway", from the era when there was more landscaping around freeways.

I enjoy amateur etymology. I'm also from the east coast. Turnpikes are a specific thing dating back to original tolls. I think what most mean by "highway" is actually a freeway. There are plenty of real "highway" roads as well, but I don't think anybody I've known refers to them as that. (Learned something today!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnpike

https://www.diffen.com/difference/Freeway_vs_Highway

That's funny because after moving to SoCal from the DC area, I was impressed by how good the signage is. I used to joke that in DC "Next right" means "you already passed the exit"

Maybe it's improved since I moved away (early '00s), but it was terrible when I last lived there.

Is that still an issue today with modern GPS systems, which tell you which lane to be in (and when to exit)? I know that in the Chicago area I barely pay attention to the signage anymore.

As the article notes, the MUTCD defines the right way to mark roadways, and generally most states follow it, or something based on it. Of course, in particularly... unique... roadways, the guidelines may need a bit of a tweak to handle it well. And of course, sometimes mistakes are made.

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