Weird or unusual Highway signs

[Patrick425]

These are from engrish.com. If you are not familiar with that site, check it out. It's hilarious.

 

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/31a25ee9f47cffc19021813953da5efe023afe9.pjpg

 

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/23f258594f753f24971114f250ab49850a9c296.pjpg

 

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/11425f1950727f149901bbd108f520a48fc4946.pjpg

[palmettoscott]

Last week I was outside of Houston TX and there is a city called Texas City, TX. There was a state sign, you know green with white reflector lettering that said:

 

"Texas City Dike Recreation Park".

 

Okay I know what it really means, but I could just see a bunch of pervs playing Indigo Girls CD's seeing if they could catch a glimpse of some sorta lesbian fun park.

[Fatter than Joey]

I know Highway 20US runs from Newport OR to RI. -- I think it is the longest.

[1992casey]

According to Wikipedia's U.S. Route 20 page, you're right about it being the longest. At 3,365 miles, it'd be longer that I-90. There's a caveat about the road not existing in Yellowstone Park, but it's not explained very clearly.

 

A couple other tidbits:

 

Once improvements are completed to bring it up to full interstate standards, US 41 between Milwaukee and Green Bay is tentatively scheduled to be designated as I-41 in 2009. If it retains its US highway designation (which would seem likely, given the length of US 41), it'll be the second roadway in the country to have the same US and Interstate route number. The other would be I-74 and US-74 in North Carolina. Also, a major expansion of US 41 (I-41?) in the Oshkosh area is planned for 2010.

 

Also, Miller Park Way is WI Hwy 341. That doesn't show up on maps or signs.

 

And getting back to jaybird's question above (Interstate 97 just spans ONE county? Why don't they just call it a state Hwy or something?)... that route would have been connected to other interstates, considered a vital part of the system, and considered worthy of interstate highway funding. Apparently, it doesn't have a more typical three-digit designation because there wasn't an appropriate one to assign to it.

[Jimbo]

1. Exit 0 exists. There is one on I-90 at the MT-ID border. I have it on videotape.

1a. In most states exits are number by the mile marker, except in PA and I believe ME where they are enumerated starting with one.

2. I have driven past the Zzyzx Rd. exit. In CA I believe. Didn't know it existed until I saw it, didn't know how infamous it was. Didn't have a camera with me, wished I did, but now it's posted anyhow. Anyone know how it's pronounced?

3. 27th street used to be the main raod between Milwaukee and Chicago, therefore the (no longer) US 41 desigantion. Lok at all the rickety old motels along 27th street down towards Oak Creek.

4. Low Flying Airplanes signs used to be (maybe still do) exist at Madison's Traux Field. Just something in the paper the other day how shortly after WWII a low flying plane struck two cars and killed somebody. As a kid those signs feaked me out. I would crouch down and look out for any low flyers.

5. OK, my highway sign. I don't have a photo. I don't recall the details, I will look up later. In Pasadena, CA there is an entrance ramp to a dual-numbered freeway. Only for this freeway one number is "eastbound" and the other number is "westbound" even though they go in the same direction. I was confused for a moment attempting to figure this situation out until the guy behind me honked and I just drove (blindly).

[And That]

2. I have driven past the Zzyzx Rd. exit. In CA I believe. Didn't know it existed until I saw it, didn't know how infamous it was. Didn't have a camera with me, wished I did, but now it's posted anyhow. Anyone know how it's pronounced?

zie-zix (like pie-six)

 

[1992casey]

4. Low Flying Airplanes signs used to be (maybe still do) exist at Madison's Traux Field.

Of course, Truax Field is now the Dane County Regional Airport. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

There's another low flying airplanes sign on I-39, south of Stevens Point.

[NeedMoreFans]

There is an Interstate 238 (I think) near Oakland, CA. The wierd thing is, there is no Interstate 38 in the country, so how could it have a loop? It's really short, I want to say less than 2 miles.

 

Also, I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but I think I-94 across Wisconsin is the Veterans Memorial Highway, but none of the signage through out the freeway is the same. Some signs have the highway as I-94 at Illinois to I-90 at Minnesota. Some have both I-94 and I-90 throughout the state as designated, and some have just I-90 designated. They can't make up their mind.

 

Lastly, up until a few years ago, there were two milage signs on WI 33 between Beaver Dam and West Bend that were the same, but they were 9 miles apart. Both said something like Allenton 12 West Bend 23. They finally fixed it and the milage is now correct.

[MHgb]

Interstate 43 runs just in the state of Wisconsin. It ends in Beloit I believe, unless for some reason or another... I-43 runs into Michigan that I don't even know of.

 

I-43 North ends in Green Bay at Hwy. 41. 41 North then makes it's way to the UP.

[1992casey]

Also, I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but I think I-94 across Wisconsin is the Veterans Memorial Highway, but none of the signage through out the freeway is the same. Some signs have the highway as I-94 at Illinois to I-90 at Minnesota. Some have both I-94 and I-90 throughout the state as designated, and some have just I-90 designated. They can't make up their mind.

Something tells me that the Veterans Memorial Highway is supposed to run from Milwaukee to LaCrosse. That would make it partly on I-94, partly on I-90-94, and partly on I-90. However, I can't find a clear listing of these highways anywhere.

 

This link, which is vague, comes from a site that would be near and dear to hawing...

 

Wisconsin History Explorer: Special Roads

[uecker9]

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x296/uecker9/ontario.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x296/uecker9/hitch.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x296/uecker9/falling_cow.jpg

 

 

[And That]

That last one made me spit out my water when I laughed at it. Congrats!

[brewcrewman17]

I'm really glad I'm not the only one who is absolutely fascinated by the Interstate Highway System. I thought I was really wierd until reading this thread. The interchange reconstruction has been like a voyeur experience for me.

 

Eisenhower gets mad props from me for the interstate system.

[Mike Felder]

Of course, my brother could be full of it too.

He'd be right. There were several uncompleted freeways. Among them would have been the Bay Freeway, which would have run near Hampton Avenue and joined Highway 16 in Waukesha County.

The Stadium Freeway was planned to run to the south and merge with I-894. You can still see part of that construction; there's a Park and Ride lot that can be accessed via a pretty fancy freeway ramp. There were a couple different plans to run the Stadium Freeway to the north. One plan would have taken it into the Cedarburg area. A second scaled-down plan would have blended it into the Fond du Lac Freeway in northwest Milwaukee County.

 

There was also a full downtown bypass planned. Part of it would have been the now torn down Park East Freeway. The Park East would have been connected to the East-West Freeway (I-794) with a segment along the lake. Several of those ramps were actually built, and they can be seen in the Blues Brothers movie.

Another scrapped freeway would have bypassed Milwaukee County, leaving I-94 in Racine County and running north through Waukesha and Washington Counties, eventually connecting to US 41.

 

Yeah, I have a weird fascination with the freeway history of Milwaukee. There was really a lot of things that were planned, and it's interesting to read about the battles that went on and how we ended up with all these little "freeways to nowhere." It's interesting to think about how the metropolitan area would be different (for better and for worse) if all the proposed freeways had been built.

This site is a great resource for freeways in Wisconsin, especially all the unfinished ones in Milwaukee.

http://www.wisconsinhighways.org/milwaukee/system_map.html

[Crazyk1294]

Here's one for ya. The Airport exit in Milwaukee (WI-119) was unsigned until this past April. I didn't even know it was WI-119 until I saw the sign in the spring.

[Mike Felder]

Yeah, about the time the Airport Spur became signed, the Stadium Freeway (now 341, I believe) became unsigned. Odd.

[1992casey]

wisconsinhighways.org is a great site. There's cool stuff on the WI DOT site, too.

 

By the way, Mike Felder, I fixed your link. Something got lost in the translation. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[2hoophead]

Last Thursday night, my older son and I (the passenger) were traveling west on I94 near Delafield coming back from the Brewers game and they were doing paving and as we were crawling along, not aware what was causing our delay yet, I told him I saw a sign to the right, RIGHT LANE CLOSED AHEAD, figuring that was the reason for the slowdown. At the same time he tells me there was a sign on the other side of the road, LEFT LANE CLOSED AHEAD. http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/eek.gif

 

I told him at that time we should've had a digital camera with us...

[Crazyk1294]

Yeah, I have a weird fascination with the freeway history of Milwaukee. There was really a lot of things that were planned, and it's interesting to read about the battles that went on and how we ended up with all these little "freeways to nowhere." It's interesting to think about how the metropolitan area would be different (for better and for worse) if all the proposed freeways had been built.

Mee too. I could (an probably will now due to this thread) spend hours looking up stuff on the freeway system, especially in Milwaukee.

[Mike Felder]

I remember the first time I found that site, at one of my summer jobs during college. There wasn't a lot of work getting done at my desk that day.

 

And yeah, I realize that last sentence makes me sound like a ginormous dork, I don't care.

[uecker9]

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x296/uecker9/01-new_cuyama.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x296/uecker9/nothing.jpg

 

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x296/uecker9/bong.jpg

 

 

[Mike Felder]

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/d/d8/250px-Intercourse_Pennsylvania_Welcome_Sign_2000px.jpg

http://www.larsi.org/pictures/Miscellaneous/InterestingPlaces/s/Hell001.jpg

 

 

[TheCrew07]

In college I was a package sorter in one the hubs at UPS... my job was to send the package to proper color belt to get it to it's destination. At any rate for some reason all us late teen/early 20 guys thought Intercourse Pennsylvia was hilarious. We pull every package to that destination and send it up and down the sort isle. Maybe it was the whole idea that we all thought people from Penn were all quakers... who knows what we were thinking...

 

Anyway, no picture, and not a highway sign, but a sign that makes no sense to me is the one on the back of the Transit Bus, "It's Illegal to make a right turn in front of this bus". Why? And shouldn't that be printed backwards on the front of the bus so you can read it in the rear view mirror?

[And That]

Anyway, no picture, and not a highway sign, but a sign that makes no sense to me is the one on the back of the Transit Bus, "It's Illegal to make a right turn in front of this bus". Why? And shouldn't that be printed backwards on the front of the bus so you can read it in the rear view mirror?

What this means is that, since buses make wide right turns, it is illegal to pull "underneath" a bus (between it and the curb) while it is making a right turn, and try to sneak by it.

 

[TheCrew07]

Someone has been to traffic school one too many times.... or something.