California Highways: Route by Route Administrivia,Legislative (LRN),Numbering,Pre-1964,State CARxR 1.07: Highway Numbering: State Highways and Post Miles

CARxR 1.07: Highway Numbering: State Highways and Post Miles

January 16, 2023January 16, 2023| DanielDaniel| 0 Comment| 7:55 am
Categories:

In this episode, we explore numbering systems in state highways. It is the start of a four part miniseries on highway numbers in California. Specifically, this episode explores the rhymes and reason for the assigning of signed route numbers to highways with the state shield. This includes looking at the patterns in those numbers, and how the numbering system stands today after the Great Nenumbering. The subsequent episodes in the miniseries will explore the numbering system of US Highways, the numbering of and the history of California’s Interstates, and the signed county route system.

The episode also explores another numbering system on state highways: Post Miles. As opposed to sequential mileage numbers as is found in other states, California uses a system called post miles that identifies points along a highway using a combination of a county and a mile point from the southern/western county line, possibly with clarifying prefixes or suffixes. We discuss this system is good detail.

Our interview is with Andy Richardson, who retired from Caltrans as a Subject Matter Expert in Geographical Information Systems, Linear Referencing Systems, and Postmiles. Andy worked as a GIS specialist for the State of California since 1988, including Caltrans between 2001 and his retirement in 2021. In his last years at Caltrans, he implemented the Department’s current Linear Referencing System.

Here’s the link to the show:

And here’s the link on Anchor.FM:

Here are some relevant links (I may edit this to add more links in later):

Episode 1.08 will continue the numbering miniseries, and we’ll be looking at numbers on the US Highway system (black and white shields): what are the numbering patterns and algorithms, and how route numbers are approved. We’ll also look at the history of US highways in the state. Looking forward, Episode 1.09 will explore Interstate numbering and all things Interstate; and 1.10, will look at the County Sign Route system. As always, we’re looking for interviews for future episodes. If you have any leads, please contact us:

  • For 1.08: Someone familiar with AASHTO’s role in highway numbering.
  • For 1.10: Someone familiar with the county sign route system, either from the Caltrans office that coordinates the program or the a county Public Works person.

We encourage you to explore our back catalog through this site or our Anchor.FM home.

Related Post

CA RxR 4.12: Route 14, Route 64, LRN 290: The Valley Freeways that Never HappenedCA RxR 4.12: Route 14, Route 64, LRN 290: The Valley Freeways that Never Happened

June 10, 2026June 10, 2026| DanielDaniel| 0 Comment| 7:43 am

Episode 4.12 starts our exploration of the last route of this season: Route 14. Segment (a) of Route 14 is the unbuilt “Reseda to the Sea” freeway, so we take this opportunity to discuss the unbuilt freeways of the San Fernando Valley: the Reseda Freeway (Route 14), the Whitnall Freeway (Route 64), the Laurel Canyon Freeway (Route 170), and the freeway plans for Sunland Tujunga, the Angeles National Forest (Route 118, Route 122, Route 249), and the plan for the Mulholland Expressway (Route 268). We also discuss LRN 14 (part of US 40) and Sign Route 14 (which became Route 91). We’ll discuss the built portion of Route 14 between I-5 and US 395 in the last official season 4 episode. With respect to Tom’s sound quality: It’s better. Daniel’s mic has an occasional “pop” or “thump” problems; we’ll hopefully fix that in Ep 4.13. We’re also working to line up 2-3 bonus episodes during the season break.

Here’s the link to the show:

And here’s the link on Spotify for Creators:

(more…)

Read MoreRead More

CARxR 1.09: Highway Numbering: Interstate HighwaysCARxR 1.09: Highway Numbering: Interstate Highways

March 25, 2023March 25, 2023| DanielDaniel| 0 Comment| 1:04 pm

In this episode, we continue our exploration of numbering of state highways by turning our attention to the Interstate Highway system. This system, started in 1956, uses the red, white, and blue shields. It is the third episode in a four part miniseries on highway numbers in California. In this episode we talk about the history of the Interstate Highway system, how the Interstate Highways are numbered, the history of California’s chargable interstates (i.e., highways that counted towards the federal 42,500 mile limit), the history of California’s non-chargeable interstates, some interstate submissions that were never approved, and we opine about some of the most common questions about California interstates.

There is no interview. We’re going to move the interview segments into separate bonus episodes, owing to the difficulty of obtaining and scheduling the interviews.

The remaining episode in this miniseries will explore the numbering of and the history of California’s signed county route system.

Here’s the link to the show:

And here’s the link on Spotify for Podcasters:

(more…)

Read MoreRead More

CARxR 2.01: Route 1 – Orange CountyCARxR 2.01: Route 1 – Orange County

October 16, 2023October 16, 2023| DanielDaniel| 0 Comment| 4:12 pm

Welcome back to season 2 of California Highways: Route by Route. With Season 2 we return to the original premise of the podcast: Going route by route through every state highway. We start with Route 1 and its segment in Orange County. In this episode, we’ll go over what was the first national highway, the first state highway, the first legislative route, and then explore the history of today’s route 1, looking specifically at the segment from Dana Point to Seal Beach. We hope to pick up the pace a little (after all, we have 34 planned seasons to get through), and the next episode will cover Route 1 in Los Angeles County.

Here’s the link to the show:

 

And here’s the link on Spotify for Podcasters:

(more…)

Read MoreRead More