🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <2oi2dd$bg2@news.hal.COM>, awong@hal.COM (Anthony Wong (or LM)) writes:
>And more interesting, a lot of interstate highways do not even go
>beyond the limits of one city.  Apparently they are called interstate
>because they are funded by the federal government, which is an "interstate"
>agency.

Hit 'n' now if you don't care about interstate numbering trivia.

Factoid #1 - Interstate highways, the main routes, are numbered even for
east-west, and odd for north-south, e.g. I-80 from NYC to SFO, and I-95 from
New Hampshire to Florida.

Factoid #2 - The main routes are numbered from the south-west.  The lowest-
numbered even main route is I-4 in Florida, the highest is either I-96 or
I-98 in the Northeast.  The lowest-number odd main route is I-5 on the West
Coast, the highest either I-95 on the East Coast, or possibly there's an I-97
in New England; I forget.

Factoid #3 - the three-digit Interstates were originally called 'spur' or
'loop' routes; the spur routes ran from a main route, such as I-80, into a
city center, such as I-280 into Newark, NJ.  The 'loop' routes bypassed a
city, making a loop around the city center.  Originally, the initial digit
told you whether it was a loop or spur route, but that's since been discarded
because there are too many subroutes.  However, the 2nd and 3rd digit still
tell you what main route the highway is associated with, e.g. here in the
SF Bay area 280, 380, (480), 580, 680, 780, 880 and 980 are all asssociated
with main route I-80.  (480) is a former interstate stub, since reverted to
state highway status and now demolished.

Factoid #4 - I-4, H-1, H-2, and H-3 are the only interstate main routes to not
cross a state border.  I-4 is in Florida, H-1 through H-3 are all in Hawaii.

Factoid #5 - the full name of the system is "The National System of Interstate
and Defense Highways", and the justification Eisenhower had for building it
was to be able to move military convoys across the country in a reasonable
amount of time.  There is a rest stop in the middle of Nevada on I-80 with a
wall plaque describing this.


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