What's bugging you? (2015)

[NeedMoreFans]

I was listening to sports radio yesterday, and someone was giving a wrap up of the John Deere Classic. It went something like this...

 

"Jordan Spieth won the John Deere Classic yesterday, and today, he is heading to England for the British Open."

 

Sigh...

[Patrick425]

Soccer in Miller Park the same night of the baseball All Star game.

[nate82]

Anyone else disappointed in Amazon Prime Day?

 

I thought there would be some good deals but I just didn't see many and the ones that were good deals sold out in less than a few minutes.

[Invader3K]

Anyone else disappointed in Amazon Prime Day?

 

I thought there would be some good deals but I just didn't see many and the ones that were good deals sold out in less than a few minutes.

 

I heard it was really lame. I didn't get a chance to check it out, but sounds like I didn't miss out on anything.

[stoutdude04]

Godaddy commercial. Awful.

[1992casey]

Concurrent route numbers on the freeways.

 

You enter Wisconsin from Illinois on I-41/I-94/US-41.

 

North of the airport, you can head downtown on I-43/I-94. Or you can head west toward Hales Corners on I-41/I-43/I-894/US-41. This one is especially lovely because it's a "wrong way" concurrency: North I-41 & US-41 along with South I-43, not to mention West I-894.

 

Then you head up toward the zoo on I-41/I-894/US-41/US-45. North of the zoo, it's just I-41/US-41/US-45 until you hit Silver Spring, where it becomess I-41/US-41/US-45/WI-100. WI-100 splits off at Main Street in Menomonee Falls, then eventually, US-45 splits off toward West Bend, and we're back to relative sanity heading to Fond du Lac on I-41/US-41.

 

The worst part of this is that people identify highways with the number that's most relevant to them. A couple of years ago, I was giving a friend directions over the phone. I told him to take I-94 south out of downtown. To him, it was I-43. I could shift gears easily enough and call the road I-43, but that could easily be confusing to some.

 

Chicago gets around this by putting names on its freeways. Milwaukee's freeways have names too, but they've fallen into relative disuse over the past couple of decades. And unlike Chicago, the names never appeared on freeway signs.

 

What's really bugging me is that I can't think of anything that could be better than the status quo. You could leave US-41 unsigned, but since it's concurrent with all of I-41 and shares the highway number, that's not really a source of confusion. You could drop I-894 entirely, but that's the number most identified with its route.

 

I guess we just have to live with this.

[rickh150]

[CheezWizHed]

Chicago gets around this by putting names on its freeways. Milwaukee's freeways have names too, but they've fallen into relative disuse over the past couple of decades. And unlike Chicago, the names never appeared on freeway signs.

 

Maybe I'm a clueless driver, but I've never seen the names on the highways (used to work in Libertyville, IL 10+ years ago anyway). And as someone that drove through Chicago far too often for his liking, but not enough to figure out what name was what, hearing those names used always confused me far more than the number confusion in Milwaukee.

 

Maps never had them. I suppose I did see them on signs, but not until you were on them, which doesn't help in giving directions. I'm glad for my GPS and the fact that I don't drive through Chicagoland very often anymore.

 

Signed,

Dan-Ryan ignorant-CWH

[Baldkin]

Concurrent route numbers on the freeways.

 

You enter Wisconsin from Illinois on I-41/I-94/US-41.

 

North of the airport, you can head downtown on I-43/I-94. Or you can head west toward Hales Corners on I-41/I-43/I-894/US-41. This one is especially lovely because it's a "wrong way" concurrency: North I-41 & US-41 along with South I-43, not to mention West I-894.

 

Then you head up toward the zoo on I-41/I-894/US-41/US-45. North of the zoo, it's just I-41/US-41/US-45 until you hit Silver Spring, where it becomess I-41/US-41/US-45/WI-100. WI-100 splits off at Main Street in Menomonee Falls, then eventually, US-45 splits off toward West Bend, and we're back to relative sanity heading to Fond du Lac on I-41/US-41.

 

The worst part of this is that people identify highways with the number that's most relevant to them. A couple of years ago, I was giving a friend directions over the phone. I told him to take I-94 south out of downtown. To him, it was I-43. I could shift gears easily enough and call the road I-43, but that could easily be confusing to some.

 

Chicago gets around this by putting names on its freeways. Milwaukee's freeways have names too, but they've fallen into relative disuse over the past couple of decades. And unlike Chicago, the names never appeared on freeway signs.

 

What's really bugging me is that I can't think of anything that could be better than the status quo. You could leave US-41 unsigned, but since it's concurrent with all of I-41 and shares the highway number, that's not really a source of confusion. You could drop I-894 entirely, but that's the number most identified with its route.

 

I guess we just have to live with this.

 

Personally, I love the number system, it's easy to tell what numbers do what -- even interstates are east/west, Odds are North/South. For prefixes, even's are bypasses of areas and odd prefixes are spurs into areas.

 

As someone who drives through Chicago twice a year, I have no idea what the names of their highways are, and would have no idea where I was traveling on that mass of concrete without the numbers system.

[1992casey]

even interstates are east/west, Odds are North/South

 

Except when they aren't on a given stretch. I-90 (Boston to Seattle) runs mostly north and south in WI. I-94 (Port Huron, MI to Billings, MT), also has more north-south miles in WI.

 

I try to pay attention to both the names and numbers in Illinois. Maps tend to eliminate the names, and sometimes they skip over some of the concurrencies. But informational signs, especially the digital ones, tend to refer to names. And I've found that if I talk to people who live in the Chicago area, there's a tendency to be unfamiliar with the highway numbers.

 

Just like numbers, names have a tendency to change. I saw a sign that said I was 10 minutes away from the Jane Byrne Interchange. Not knowing what the Jane Byrne interchange was, the sign didn't benefit me.

[LouisEly]

Technically there is no I-41, only US-41. The only interstates are I-43 and I-94 (894 bypass - all three number interstates are technically bypasses). What is confusing is that north of Milwaukee US-41 is like a freeway in that it is 3/2 lanes each way and 65 mph. Through Milwaukee US-41 is... not the best part of town. Missed that split once coming from the north.

[1992casey]

I-41 became official in April. The new signs will be up by September. The road is already signed in Kenosha and Racine Counties.

[NeedMoreFans]

I don't understand why they took the route of I-41 all the way down to Illinois when it doesn't extend into Illinois. They should have terminated it at the zoo interchange or requested an extension of I-55 from Illinois to Green Bay. This also begs the question...was it absolutely necessary to designate that freeway as an interstate?

[1992casey]

It extends barely into Illinois. It begins at the interchange where US-41 joins I-94 just south of the state line.

 

Interstate designations are all about money as these are the roads where federal funding is the most readily available. They also assure travelers that a road is built to interstate standards.

 

I think it would have made some sense to start the new interstate designation at the Zoo Interchange as that highway wasn't previously part of the Interstate system. But that still would have required a rerouting of US-41. It would have been confusing to have I-41 and US-41 following different routes. Given that, I guess the starting point isn't all that relevant. Except for the additional concurrent highway numbers, the one that was chosen makes sense too.

 

Another option considered was the number 243. I think that if 243 were chosen, it likely would have started at the Hale Interchange. Three digit interstates beginning with even numbers are supposed to connect to their parent routes at both ends. In the end, I think it was decided that it would be advantageous to give this route a primary number rather than an auxiliary number.

 

Some in Green Bay wanted I-55 as that would have made the road part of a long nationally known route. Illinois wasn't interested in re-signing, and I don't think they wanted the additional concurrencies. I don't blame them. Also, I-55 would have been "out of order." Interstate highways have low numbers in the west and high numbers in the east. I-55 wouldn't have been a "fit" between I-39 and I-43, while I-41 fits the numbering scheme perfectly.

 

Interestingly, this is one of only two instances where a similarly numbered interstate and US highway follow the same route. The other is a stretch where I-74 and US-74 run concurrently in North Carolina.

[bani1717]

One of the things that's weird to me in Milwaukee with the concurrent numbering is if you want to travel between the Hale interchange and downtown (in either direction), there are two main freeway routes, but both could be described the same way. For example, traveling from the Hale to downtown, I would take "894 to 94". That could easily mean either north on 894 and east on 94, or east on 894 and then north on 94. I usually get around the issue by calling the latter route "43"

[FVBrewerFan]

This bugs me for some reason also. It seems to me this would simplify things:

 

Border- Mitchell Interchange- I- 94

Mitchell Interchange - Green Bay I- 41

 

That's it. No need for I 894 anymore. No need to post US 41 for a couple hundred miles. US 41 starts north of Green Bay, so start that signage in GB, no need to have it the whole distance.

[pitchleague]

I'm no expert, but I thought an "interstate highway" had to go into at least 2 states to get that classification. Otherwise, wouldn't it be an "intrastate highway?"

[jerichoholicninja]

I'm no expert, but I thought an "interstate highway" had to go into at least 2 states to get that classification. Otherwise, wouldn't it be an "intrastate highway?"

 

I would think so too but it probably has to do with who pays for the upkeep. Hawaii has 3 interstate highways.

[FVBrewerFan]

Makes sense, but no, plenty of interstate highways are intrastate. I 4 in FL comes to mind.

[homer]

Felt this was warranted given the recent subject matter in this thread.

 

[1992casey]

Being designated as an interstate simply means that the road is part of the system. I-43 in Wisconsin is an example of a primary (one or two digit) interstate that doesn't cross state lines. I-97, located entirely in Maryland, is under 18 miles long.

 

All states plus Puerto Rico have interstate highways. In Alaska and Puerto Rico, interstate highway numbers are assigned for administrative purposes, however, the roads themselves are marked with state/commonwealth numbers. Alaskan and Puerto Rican interstates aren't required to conform to interstate highway standards. Few Alaskan interstates conform, while those in Puerto Rico tend to.

[Baldkin]

That the argument, "He's hitting .270" somehow is the trump card and means Jean Segura is a good hitter to my friends.

[PeaveyFury]

Waiting for trade news is really bugging me. I'm checking the site practically every 15 minutes, and have been for the past 5 days....

[NeedMoreFans]

I drove on 41 from Fond du Lac to Green Bay today. The signs are mostly done. It seems really stupid to have one road signed twice with the same number.

 

On a somewhat related note, today was the first time I have been on the freeways since the speed limit was raised to 70. People need to learn how to drive again it seems. Many people were still cruising at 68 or so, often in the left lane. So infuriating.

[JimH5]

I'm bothered by the guy in the US Cellular/iPhone commercial who has a beautiful wife and adorable kids at home, but he is off rock climbing, waking up in a suspended tent , facetiming with them as they all wake up.

 

Dude, you've got young kids who depend on you to be their dad. You should be home, cooking breakfast for them, not risking your life on a worthless pursuit.