[xzmattzx]

I'm curious as to what kind of large distances are shown on mileage aisngs in your area. What's the farthest places you've ever seen given on signs that indicate how far away you are?

There are a few that I have seen that are interesting to drive past.

One is just west of Baltimore, where I-70 starts. It gives the mileage to Columbus OH, St. Louis MO, Denver CO, and Cove Fort UT.

Another one I've seen is near downtown Richmond, VA. It gives the mileage going southbound, and includes the distance to Miami, which is the southern terminus.

Lastly, US Route 50 is an at-grade road that goes from Ocean City, MD, to San Francisco. In Ocean City, you can see a sign that gives the distance to San Francisco. The sign is so popular, and has been stolen or vandalized so much, that it was taken out of the ground (like a regular stop sign sits in the ground), and placed on an overhang.

So, what long-distance mileage signs are there where you're from?

 

[Alex Von Königsberg]

This sign is located on US-50 (E/B) in West Sacramento (some 140 km East of San Francisco). It is posted right at the fork where I-80 and US-50 split apart. The sign was installed only 3 years ago.

And below is its complementary from the other end of US-50

The second one was installed earlier because I found it online some 4-5 years ago.

These signs obviously have no value in terms of practical application and serve rather as the mere symbol. No one travelling across the country would stay on US-50 for the entire trip.

 

[ChrisZwolle]

 

[x-type]

it's quite a curiosity in Europe such long. this one is right after A-D border. and i remember that i saw in Spain sign to Madrid near Barcelona

 

[ChrisZwolle]

A Dutch lookalike sign in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain

 

[Nikom]

Here is one in Portugal,near the border with Spain

 

[x-type]

Here is one in Portugal,near the border with Spain

khhhm, topic is about long distances. 156 km is not too long.

 

[Verso]

it's quite a curiosity in Europe such long. this one is right after A-D border. and i remember that i saw in Spain sign to Madrid near Barcelona

Soon after the German-Swiss border by Basle (Basel) it says Berlin - 850 km (about 530 mi).

 

[Joshapd]

Leaving Amsterdam on the A1 you see a sign wich gives the distances to Berlin and Copenhagen, don't know the distance.

 

[ChrisZwolle]

Leaving Amsterdam on the A1 you see a sign wich gives the distances to Berlin and Copenhagen, don't know the distance.

Those are one of a kind signs, and not embedded to the signage on those motorways

 

[lpioe]

^^
Aren't most of the signs posted here 'one of a kind signs'?

 

[Aokromes]

Russia:

Vladivostok 2400km
Moscow 7200km

 

[gladisimo]

These signs obviously have no value in terms of practical application and serve rather as the mere symbol. No one travelling across the country would stay on US-50 for the entire trip.

Here's an "incomplete" list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_long-distance_mileage_signs_on_interstates

This is curious. Does anyone know if there's any kind of standardisation in determining what destinations are put into these signs? It seems absurd for someone to put in the terminus of the highway on the sign...and if strangers to the road see it, they might think that there are no major destinations along the route! (What I always thought the signs portrayed)

 

[xzmattzx]

Here's an "incomplete" list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_long-distance_mileage_signs_on_interstates

This is curious. Does anyone know if there's any kind of standardisation in determining what destinations are put into these signs? It seems absurd for someone to put in the terminus of the highway on the sign...and if strangers to the road see it, they might think that there are no major destinations along the route! (What I always thought the signs portrayed)

I think it's just for fun. Termini are put on just to kind of show how far that Interstate or road will take you if you keep using it.

Certainly you don't expect the federal government to list every single large and medium-sized city on one Iterstate from coast to coast? It would be ridiculous to see a sign in Boston at the beginning of I-90 that says:

WORCESTER          x MI
SPRINGFIELD        x MI
ALBANY             x MI
SYRACUSE           x MI
BUFFALO            x MI
ERIE               x MI
CLEVELAND          x MI
SOUTH BEND         x MI
CHICAGO            x MI
MADISON            x MI
LA CROSSE          x MI
SIOUX FALLS        x MI
BILLINGS           x MI
BUTTE              x MI
COUER D'ALENE      x MI
SPOKANE            x MI
SEATTLE            x MI

A typical mileage sign would probably give the distances to Worcester, Springfield, and Albany. Any other cities would show up on distance signs as you went west into Massachusetts and New York. If a super-distance sign was put up, I would expect it to show just the biggest of the cities, like Cleveland, Chicago, and Seattle. There is a bit of a logical explanation for putting far-away cities like that on a sign, because the Interstate goes to those cities for a reason, and commercial trucks or people driving cross-country would be able to use one road to get from Boston to Seattle.

 

[ChrisZwolle]

This is how i like it:

1st: Next exit
2nd: First regional destination
3rd: Control City
4th: Control City or Remote Focal Point (usual in smaller countries).

Near urban areas maybe a 5th; a destination on an intersection interstate, which route should be logical. (like Pittsburgh and New York on the I-80 between Cleveland and Youngstown in Ohio)

 

[Nephasto]

Here in Europe, the farthest away I've seen was in France, where some signs indicate Paris at long distances... even above 800km's in some of the most "remote" places.

 

[Nephasto]

Usually there aren't many destinations indicated from other countries in the signs, which kind of limitate things for Europe.
Although there are certain exceptions... you can see the distance to Barcelona in motorways in southern France at distances of more than 400 km's.

Also, in Spain the same motorway goes from Algeciras to Barcelona, and up to the border with France... so you could have signs indicating Barcelona at a distance of more than 1000 km's from Barcelona (near Algeciras), but I think there aren't any. Just distances to closer cities like Malaga, Valencia, etc.

 

[gladisimo]

I think it's just for fun. Termini are put on just to kind of show how far that Interstate or road will take you if you keep using it.

Certainly you don't expect the federal government to list every single large and medium-sized city on one Iterstate from coast to coast?

No of course not! I would think it would list the three closest cities. From experience I know they list the three closest cities in the urban areas, and in the rural areas they would have one of those signs every 50 miles or so, and then when a smaller town comes up, it would get its own sign.

 

[ChrisZwolle]

Here in Europe, the farthest away I've seen was in France, where some signs indicate Paris at long distances... even above 800km's in some of the most "remote" places.

800kms? I haven't seen that, but then again, i haven't drove the whole French autoroute system.

 

[ChrisZwolle]

Strasbourg 560km near Grenoble