{"id":2188,"date":"2002-02-21T15:21:03","date_gmt":"2002-02-21T20:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=2188"},"modified":"2002-02-21T15:21:03","modified_gmt":"2002-02-21T20:21:03","slug":"telling_drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/02\/21\/telling_drivers.html","title":{"rendered":"Telling drivers where to get off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Huzzah and hey-nonny-nonny. California has decided to start numbering freeway exits<\/a>, that last state in the union to do so.<\/p>\n

Growing up in California, I never realized this lack. Exits were by street name, period. Oh, yeah, there was the old San Bernadino Freeway (Californians call their freeways and interstates by name, not number — and when they call interstates by number, they just use the number, e.g., “We drove to LA on the 10”), which had exit numbers, and that was kinda cool, but hardly necessary.<\/p>\n

(It is, though, the genesis of 47 being identified as the Universal Number by members of the Claremont Colleges, as Exit 47 is Indian Hill Blvd., the exit for the Claremont Colleges. But I digress.)<\/p>\n

It was only when I moved to Colorado that I realized this amazing technique. Imagine … you’re driving somewhere, and you know you have to take Exit 121 (because that’s what you were told, or what’s in the AAA book) … and you’re just passing Exit 110, so you know you have 11 miles to go. Such magic! Directions can be given by exit number, too, saving space and ambiguity. No longer dependent on mileage signs (“Santa Carla 23 mi.), you can use your maps to know how far to the next town … or state.<\/p>\n

It’s remarkably simple and elegant … and California, home of the automobile suburbs and the commuting culture, has just never gotten around to implementing it, like every other state did in 1950<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Until now. Wow.<\/p>\n

Numbering will start with 0 at Mexico (for north-south freeways) and at 0 at the Pacific Ocean (for east-west ones).<\/p>\n

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” says my Michigan-born wife, who notes the state has enough Santas (Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Santa Clarita, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara) to befuddle a tour bus full of cartographers and GTS (Global Tracking System) executives.
\n“Now I can tell my friends, you get off at exit number thus-and-so and there’s no chance of a screw up,” she says.
\nSuch a system also helps when more than one freeway exits into the same community: the “El Camino Real” exit from Interstate 5 in San Clemente, for instance, as distinguished from “El Camino Real” exit from nearby route 91.
\nOr the bewilderment of travelers reading notices such as, “San Diego, next 12 exits.”<\/p>\n

Of course, some Californians are oddly terrified that all their exit names will be replaced <\/i>by numbers, not supplemented by them, and thus residents of Claremont will feel like they’ve blurred into Montclair, with only a number distinguishing them. Well, they’re right, in that if you’re driving long the 10 there’s pretty much no other sign that you’ve crossed from one to the other — but city and street names will continue to be posted — it’s just that there will be exit numbers as well.<\/p>\n

Believe me. It works. You’ll like it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Huzzah and hey-nonny-nonny. California has decided to start numbering freeway exits, that last state in the union to do so. Growing up in California, I never realized this lack. Exits…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fourth-estate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":128734,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/10\/take-the-101-to-the-110-to-the-10.html","url_meta":{"origin":2188,"position":0},"title":""Take the 101 to the 110 to the 10 …"","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 10-Nov-15 11:28pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Interesting article here on the Southern California linguistic tradition of including a definite article in front of freeway identifiers, whether it's a descriptive name (\"the San Diego Freeway\") or a number (\"the 405\").It was certainly a change that I had to get used to when I moved from SoCal to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1009,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/10\/26\/and_there_shall.html","url_meta":{"origin":2188,"position":1},"title":"And there shall be an opening …","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 26-Oct-01 6:29am","format":false,"excerpt":"And there shall be an opening ... Huzzah! And hey nonny-nonny! The massive roadwork on the arterial near my house is complete. Ugly as sin, but complete....","rel":"","context":"In "Personal"","block_context":{"text":"Personal","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6834,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/12\/21\/broadband.html","url_meta":{"origin":2188,"position":2},"title":"Broadband","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 21-Dec-04 3:58pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Huzzah and hey-nonny-nonny! Residential broadband access to the Web has finally exceeded dial-up. Certainly, of the hotels I stay in, over half have some sort of broadband (increasingly wireless). And...","rel":"","context":"In "Hi-Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Hi-Tech","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/hi-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4713,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/07\/15\/opening_the_tap.html","url_meta":{"origin":2188,"position":3},"title":"Opening the tap a bit","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 15-Jul-03 10:03am","format":false,"excerpt":"Huzzah and hey-nonny-nonny! Denver Water is giving us a third day of watering each week. Folks in my address cohort will be able to water Wednesday, Saturday, and now Monday...","rel":"","context":"In "Weather (mine)"","block_context":{"text":"Weather (mine)","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/weather-and-seasons"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40283,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/01\/04\/arrived-and-ensconced-in-lovel.html","url_meta":{"origin":2188,"position":4},"title":"Arrived and ensconced in lovel…","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 4-Jan-14 11:42pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Arrived and ensconced in lovely Santa Fe. Huzzah. Also, hey-nonny-nonny. #OutOfFaerie","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135684,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/17\/go-west.html","url_meta":{"origin":2188,"position":5},"title":"Go West!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 17-Dec-17 2:18pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Most of the family and immediate friends should have heard by this time, so this is more for the record. +Kay Hill has been accepted at Scripps College, one of the Claremont Colleges group in California, for the 2018-19 school year, having gotten back her Early Admission thingie by email\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Scripps%2BCollege%2Bseal.pngimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Scripps%2BCollege%2Bseal.pngimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Scripps%2BCollege%2Bseal.pngimgmax%3D660.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}