This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)

This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)

In the USA, the two-digit interstate highways start at even numbers
of the 10 in the south, then 20 further north, then 30, 40.... 80, and
finally 90 when you get to the northernmost route (not all of which
actually exist but all that do exist are unique).

Notice all interstate mile markers increment similarly south-to-north on
odd-numbered two-digit interstates (and the exit numbers follow suit).

Likewise, the odd two-digit interstates start at the 5 on the west coast,
and move to 15, 25, 35 ... to 95 (not all of which exist but all that do
exist are unique) as you move east.

Similarly, all Interstate mile markers increment in the same direction,
west-to-east, on the even-numbered two-digit interstates (and the exit
numbers follow suit).

When it comes to three-digit interstates, a *different* numbering
system is used, which makes them not always unique and which makes
the general direction not always clear.

Also, the three-digit (secondary) interstate system is vastly
less complete than the two-digit (primary) interstate system.

Essentially, the second two digits of the three-digit secondary
interstate indicates which primary two-digit interstate it
connects to; hence, 280, 380, 480, 580, 680, 780, 880, & 980
all connect to "80" in some way, fashion or form (or, will
connect to, someday, or, were planned to connect, at one
point, etc.).

Given that, there could be, say, a 280 in every state, because
all it has to do to comply with the number system is connect
to 80.

The significance of the first digit in the three-digit system
varies, and I forget the details, but the lower the number,
the closer it is to the city center. So, for example, a
480 would be a circle that is closer around a city than an
880, and a 280 would be a spur that is closer to a city
center than a 980 spur (although, all bets are off when
plans change).

Everyone gets confused because they don't understand this
system; once you know the system, about 80 to 90% of the
roads follow it faithfully (although there are always
exceptions that people love to call out).

The beauty is that, without GPS, in just one mile, you always
know what direction you're going if you know the road number
(in the east coast, you know what direction you're going usually
in 1/10th of a mile because of the closer-spaced mile-marker
culture compared to the west, which just barely started
numbering the exits just a few years ago).

BTW, you also know the exit number, because they have (mostly)
been correlated with the mile markers (with a, b, c, etc. used
with closely spaced exits).

This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)

On 09/03/2015 23:57, Adair Bordon wrote:

> This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)

[ snip USA Interstate explanation ]

> This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)

The basic Great Britain (not UK) all-purpose road-numbering system
(originating during the 1920s) works on the basis of six routes
radiating from London plus three in Scotland. The original routing was:

A1 London-Edinburgh via Newcastle
A2 London-Dover via Canterbury
A3 London-Portsmouth via Guildford
A4 London-Avonmouth via Reading, Bath and Bristol
A5 London-Holyhead via St Albans, Luton, Tamworth and Shrewsbury
A6 London-Carlisle via a branch of the A1 at Barnet then St Albans,
Luton, Leicester, Derby, Buxton, Stockport, Manchester, Preston and
Lancaster.
A7 Carlisle-Edinburgh
A8 Greenock-Glasgow-Edinburgh
A9 Edinburgh-John O'Groats.

[This applies only to Great Britain including the isle of Wight,
Anglesey, etc. Ireland, north and south, has two more numbering systems.]

The routes divide up the island into zones and other roads take their
numbers from the zone in which they start.

Between A1/A2 - Zone 1
Between A2/A3 - Zone 2
etc...

Many of the above routes and other important roads have become
moth-eaten by the addition of motorways or other high-quality roads
which have supplanted part of their line(s). For that reason, there are
numerous examples of roads which are now discontinuous. One such would
be A5, which is no longer numbered as such as it passes through St
Albans (where it is A5183). The signed route takes traffic via the M1
from south of St Albans to some way north of it. The same is true of the
A6, also passing through St Albans as A1081. Both A5183 and A1081 are
now regarded and treated as minor routes. But they used to be the major
routes from London to the West Midlands and the North West of England,
right through the middle of St Albans.

Similarly, the A34 - a major long-distance route from Winchester to
North Lancashire via Newbury, Oxford, Stratford, Birmingham, Stafford,
Stoke, Manchester and Bury) has missing stretches where the route is
superseded by the M40 motorway.

Motorways are numbered largely on the basis of the all-purpose routes,
but with a few significant departures.

M1 = London Edinburgh via Leeds and a connection to the A1 for the NE
and eastern Scotland
M2 = London-Dover (more strictly, a motorway-standard bypass functioning
as a part of the A2 route)
M3 = London Southampton (duplicating the AP route A30)
M4 = London South Wales via Bristol
M5 = Birmingham - Exeter (a departure - it neither starts nor finishes
in Zone 5)
M6 - London-Carlisle via M1 to Northamptonshire then via Birmingham,
Stoke, Warrington, Preston, lancaster.
M7 = there is no M7
M8 = duplication of parts of route A8
M9 = Edinburgh to Dunblane, bypassing part of A9
M10 = was a short spur off M1 to St Albans, but now downgraded into part
of an all-purpose route.

Other motorways tend to follow the normal zone-based numbering criteria,
with the obvious exception, for instance, of M62, which whilst it did
follow that convention when the first stretch was opened in the early
1960s (and was a short route near Manchester in the "6" zone), was
subsequently extended west to Liverpool (in the "5" zone). As a result,
the M62 neither starts nor ends in the "6" zone.

On Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 11:11:35 AM UTC-5, The Peeler wrote:
> On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 06:21:39 -0700, The Rectum, the resident psychopath of
> sci and scj and Usenet's famous sexual cripple, FAKING his time zone again,
> farted:
>
> > On 3/9/2015 4:57 PM, Adair Bordon wrote:
> >> This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)
> >
> > In the Ukraine, road numbering is random. You can tell where you are by
> > the mortar fire (or lack of).
> >
> > Hope that helps.
>
> WE can tell where you are by the stench you keep emanating wherever you are,
> The Rectum!
>
> --
> The top 5 truths about our colostomy bag wearing resident psychopath, aka
> "The Rectum":
>
> the desperate psycho can't SLEEP anymore,
> he can't get out of the house anymore,
> he got NOBODY to talk to anymore,
> he can't **** anymore,
> he got no life outside Usenet AT ALL!

There is an 1 220 almost a stones throw from doggy's couch.

JNugent wrote:
> On 09/03/2015 23:57, Adair Bordon wrote:
>
>> This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)
>
> [ snip USA Interstate explanation ]
>
>> This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)
>
> The basic Great Britain (not UK) all-purpose road-numbering system
> (originating during the 1920s) works on the basis of six routes
> radiating from London plus three in Scotland.
>
>[snip explanation]

An important difference - I've seen many roads signed with two numbers
in the USA, but none in the UK. I believe that's because in the USA they
number routes, rather than roads, and two routes can share the same road.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

On 10/03/2015 19:08, Mike Barnes wrote:
> JNugent wrote:
>> On 09/03/2015 23:57, Adair Bordon wrote:
>>
>>> This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)
>>
>> [ snip USA Interstate explanation ]
>>
>>> This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)
>>
>> The basic Great Britain (not UK) all-purpose road-numbering system
>> (originating during the 1920s) works on the basis of six routes
>> radiating from London plus three in Scotland.
> >
> >[snip explanation]
>
> An important difference - I've seen many roads signed with two numbers in
> the USA, but none in the UK. I believe that's because in the USA they
> number routes, rather than roads, and two routes can share the same road.

It happens in the UK occasionally; possibly Watford Way is A1 and A41.

On Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 4:03:55 PM UTC-5, Nick Finnigan wrote:
> On 10/03/2015 19:08, Mike Barnes wrote:
> > JNugent wrote:
> >> On 09/03/2015 23:57, Adair Bordon wrote:
> >>
> >>> This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)
> >>
> >> [ snip USA Interstate explanation ]
> >>
> >>> This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)
> >>
> >> The basic Great Britain (not UK) all-purpose road-numbering system
> >> (originating during the 1920s) works on the basis of six routes
> >> radiating from London plus three in Scotland.
> > >
> > >[snip explanation]
> >
> > An important difference - I've seen many roads signed with two numbers in
> > the USA, but none in the UK. I believe that's because in the USA they
> > number routes, rather than roads, and two routes can share the same road.
>
> It happens in the UK occasionally; possibly Watford Way is A1 and A41.

Former U.S. President Dwight David Eisenhower saw the German Autobahn when he was over there in World War Two. That is how America's Interstates began.

On 3/10/2015 4:18 PM, JR wrote:
> On Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 4:03:55 PM UTC-5, Nick Finnigan wrote:
>> On 10/03/2015 19:08, Mike Barnes wrote:
>>> JNugent wrote:
>>>> On 09/03/2015 23:57, Adair Bordon wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)
>>>>
>>>> [ snip USA Interstate explanation ]
>>>>
>>>>> This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)
>>>>
>>>> The basic Great Britain (not UK) all-purpose road-numbering system
>>>> (originating during the 1920s) works on the basis of six routes
>>>> radiating from London plus three in Scotland.
>>> >
>>> >[snip explanation]
>>>
>>> An important difference - I've seen many roads signed with two numbers in
>>> the USA, but none in the UK. I believe that's because in the USA they
>>> number routes, rather than roads, and two routes can share the same road.
>>
>> It happens in the UK occasionally; possibly Watford Way is A1 and A41.
>
> Former U.S. President Dwight David Eisenhower saw the German Autobahn when he was over there in World War Two. That is how America's Interstates began.
>

That's true.
But also, as a Lt Col in 1919, he led a convoy of Army
vehicles form Washington DC to San Francisco on the dismal
roads of that era. That's why he felt the Interstate System
was a defense priority, not just another public works
project. I bet he also read Clausewitz regarding the
importance of interior lines.

--
Andrew Muzi
<www.yellowjersey.org/>
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

In message >, Nick
Finnigan > writes
>On 10/03/2015 19:08, Mike Barnes wrote:
>> JNugent wrote:
>>> On 09/03/2015 23:57, Adair Bordon wrote:
>>>
>>>> This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)
>>>
>>> [ snip USA Interstate explanation ]
>>>
>>>> This is the USA interstate system (how does the UK system work?)
>>>
>>> The basic Great Britain (not UK) all-purpose road-numbering system
>>> (originating during the 1920s) works on the basis of six routes
>>> radiating from London plus three in Scotland.
>> >
>> >[snip explanation]
>>
>> An important difference - I've seen many roads signed with two numbers in
>> the USA, but none in the UK. I believe that's because in the USA they
>> number routes, rather than roads, and two routes can share the same road.
>
> It happens in the UK occasionally; possibly Watford Way is A1 and A41.
>
Does this really happen? More likely is that the A41 joins the A1, and a
short distance further on, leaves the A1 (or vice versa). The bit
between the joining and the leaving will be officially be one or the
other - but not both. This can be confusing if the signs appear to
indicate that you're on the wrong road.

There is certainly such a situation if you leave the M40 at the Warwick
junction, and head north-eastwards for the M1 at the Leicester Forest
junction. You first travel from Warwick to Coventry on the A46 -
intending to continue around the east side of Coventry on the A46, which
then becomes the M69 until you reach the M1. However, at Coventry the
A46 intersects with the A45, and you suddenly find that you're
unexpectedly on the A45 for a mile or so. I think that the only
reassurance that you're still on the right road is that one of the signs
- if you spot it - includes "(M69 M1)".
--
Ian

On 10/03/2015 23:17, Ian Jackson wrote:
> In message >, Nick
> Finnigan > writes
>> On 10/03/2015 19:08, Mike Barnes wrote:
>>>
>>> An important difference - I've seen many roads signed with two numbers in
>>> the USA, but none in the UK. I believe that's because in the USA they
>>> number routes, rather than roads, and two routes can share the same road.
>>
>> It happens in the UK occasionally; possibly Watford Way is A1 and A41.
>>
> Does this really happen?

Yes, but Streetview suggests that is signed as A1 (A41).

In message >, Nick
Finnigan > writes
>On 10/03/2015 23:17, Ian Jackson wrote:
>> In message >, Nick
>> Finnigan > writes
>>> On 10/03/2015 19:08, Mike Barnes wrote:
>>>>
>>>> An important difference - I've seen many roads signed with two numbers in
>>>> the USA, but none in the UK. I believe that's because in the USA they
>>>> number routes, rather than roads, and two routes can share the same road.
>>>
>>> It happens in the UK occasionally; possibly Watford Way is A1 and A41.
>>>
>> Does this really happen?
>
> Yes, but Streetview suggests that is signed as A1 (A41).

Which would be the correct way of signing it. It indicates that you're
on the A1, which will take you to (or towards) the A41. It's not that
you're on the A1 merged with the A41.
--
Ian