Sunday, June 18, 2006

 Interstates 

50 years ago today President Eisenhower signed a bill that created the U.S. Interstate highway system. This network of stopless highways is now over 46,000 miles long, and I got to wondering this morning just how many of these highways I've been on. It's not easy remembering which roads I've traveled, and I'm sure I've forgotten a few incidental short segments. I also don't know which interstates if any our family drove on during our long road trip to Georgia way back in the late 70s. But with the help of a road atlas I've pieced together the following list:

4,5,8,10,15,17,19,20,25,29,35,43,44,70,75,76,80,90,93,94,95,210,238,270,275,280,285,
380,405,435,470,505,515,580,635,670,680,710,780,880,980

The most mileage traversed on any interstate for me is probably I-80, with over 1300 miles covered between San Francisco and the Wyoming-Nebraska border. Next is likely I-10, from Santa Monica near LA to central Texas near Fredericksburg, which is about 1250 miles. After that mileage traversed on any given highway drops off quickly, and I think the shortest full segments of interstate I've been on are I-238 and I-780 in the Bay Area, each only a few miles in total length.

Wow, isn't that fascinating.


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Comments:
I'm an I-70 buff, having driven on it from Frederick Maryland to Salina Kansas - 1080 miles! But if I were to extend that to Denver CO I could add another 370 miles! Hmmmm. . .
 
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