🚛 🚗 The Interstate's Forgotten Code 🚗 🚛
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2022
- - Thank you, Bonnie Bees, for making this video possible: / cgpgrey
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Bonnie Bees
Bob Kunz, Bobby, Nevin Spoljaric, Donal Botkin, BN-12, Andrew Bereza, Rebecca Wortham, Marco Arment, Richard Jenkins, Phil Gardner, George Lin, Martin, Steven Grimm, Andrea Di Biagio, Colin Millions, David Tyler, iulus, Jordan Earls, Nick Gibson, Xueqi, Oliver Steele, Jason Lewandowski, Kermit Norlund, Henry Ng, rictic, Alex Simonides, Saki Comandao, Tim Stumbaugh, Emmett Jayhart, Nate Scheper, Andrew, Jeromy Johnson, Michael Ritter, Pluto, Nicholas Welna, Anthony Paolilli, Bogdan Toma, Brian Tillman, Chad Bramwell, jill hoffman, Nicolas Dedual, Meekay, Rick Edwards, Derek Bonner, Orbit_Junkie, Tómas Árni Jónasson, Aashim Usgaonkar, David White, Derek Argueta, Francisco Lillo, shannon cherng, Andrew Sherman, Dustin Lee, C C, Bear, chrysilis, Drago175, Emil, Esteban Santana Santana, Freddi Hørlyck, John Rogers, Peter Lomax, Rhys Parry, Tristan Watts-Willis, Veronica Peshterianu, John Lee, Maxime Zielony, Dag Viggo Lokøen, Dennis Dimka, Elizabeth Keathley, Birdstryke, Daniel Kwak, AUFFRAY Clement
Music
David Rees: www.davidreesmusic.com
If you're interested in some of the behind-the-scenes of this video, I talked about them here: ruclips.net/video/f4_bqGqb4LQ/видео.html
Hi
What?? There’s a podcast where I can listen to Grey talk for even more time? Why hasn’t anyone told me??
I-238 is hilarious, but not the only ridiculous thing about interstates in the east SF bay. I-238 actually curves right (south-east) and continues into State HWY 238, which runs for about a mile alongside State HWY 185, until it curves into it and ABSORBS State HWY 185, while the path (keyword being State HWY) 238 looks like it would take, and what you would reasonably assume would be 185 (since 238 took over the path of Mission Blvd), is... somehow, State HWY 92 and turns into a bridge....
You are such a Tesla fanboy
I love it!
Was hoping you may do a video of current ev.nts
My Dad’s a truck driver. It amazed me that he could plan a cross-country road trip without even looking at a map. That sneak had a cheat code the whole time!
Up, up, down, down, beltway, beltway, start.
Truck drivers are a different breed I swear. My dad drove both trucks and buses, stopped like 15 years ago, but he to this day knows routes from one city to another off the top of his head, even bypass routes to avoid tolls and whatnot, it's nuts...
"You get used to it, I don't even see the code. All I see is bypass, beltway, north/south."
Same here. I'm tempted to show my dad this to tell him they're leaking the truckers secrets. Really though, I remember my dad teaching me all this as a kid, so this video was very much a well welcomed nostalgia trip.
@@PocketBrain ah yes the NES code you know NES stands for National Eisenhower System right
"I already cut so many from the script, you wouldn't believe it..."
Grey, you made a 21-minute video explaining why one particular detail didn't make it into a 9-minute video and gave you sleepless nights for the better part of a year. We believe it.
Release the "Interstate's Forgotten Code" CGP Grey extended cut now!
Hell I'd take a library of videos containing all the intricacies
That was the Tiffany incident, no?
we also need them
Waiting for the part two
I like how the DOT or department of transportation just sits in the back of the car with them.
As a truck driver (if that happened) it would be a nightmare 🤪😆
I drove truck for about 7 years. I learned this code early on by myself without anyone showing me. I memorized where each highway was and how many miles were in each state I also drove in Canada, and memorized those, too. It's been so many years ago I just remember some of it but remember all the interstate numbers and where they are. I miss those days.
@@gokulkrishm51 Everything you hear about the US is a lie manufactured by Israelis.
I used to memorize routes too. With GPS now days, nobody remembers any of that stuff. 😄
@@xxxYYZxxx I use my memory, as well as the GPS. It's easier, to use both.
This one-time at band camp
Naw you don't miss the days you miss the truck stop babes!
My 3 year old has recently become obsesed with all the 'big roads' that we drive on an their names and numbers, thanks for making this video so I can keep up the illusion that dad knows about everything!
illusion? you mean fact. ; )
so your kid's interstated in them?
That's so cool ! I love how kids get obsessingly passionate with anything that gets their curiosity rolling.
Kudos for great dadding on your part :D
@@eris4734 Their interest in interstates can't be overstated.
Man, the raw passion of little kids is awesome. When mine was that young they were obsessed with road signs. We managed to find a deck of cards with the various signs, which was fun - they ended up all over the house of course 😄
I'm so lucky to be living in Australia. All I need to remember is that if I dive in any direction long enough I run the risk of dying in the middle of nowhere.
or driving into the sea
I live on a smallish island, and when I was younger and allowed to go out with friends alone, I'd say 'well it's not like we can get TOO lost, eventually we'll hit the sea'
If you live in the UK, just drive in a direction and you'll soon reach the ocean
@@cartler *angry Gibraltar noises*
Hahahaha!!! 😆😆 Funniest comment ever.
🤣
My dad explained all of this to me when I was learning to drive, and it gave me enough of a basic understanding of Kansas City's geography that if I could only get to a highway I always knew where I was. We used I-70 every day.
Your dad’s a g 😎 if i ever have kids i’m teaching them this
It also hekps because a lot of folks not from Kansas or Missouri don't know there are two cities, Conjoined twins if you will, named Kansas City.
As someone from Minneapolis who was annoyed simply that 35W was considered the "exit" off I-35 from the South whereas 35E was the continuation, 35W (Minneapolis) and 35E (Saint Paul) were definitely named to not be bypasses. The rivalry is real!
The 35E/35W finally makes sense! This was fun
No, it shouldn't. Argh! :)
when he told me there is a 35C i about lost it
Not as fun as that I-69 three-way.
Nice.
@@dbropx3547 that was I-69C, no?
Found the texan
As a Pennsylvanian I appreciate the shout out to I-99.
An interstate system only Nami could navigate
When Logic is half assed...
In totality it's nonsense.
Basically what america is.
As a west suburban Chicagoan, same for I-88!
:0
As I am from Texas... hearing I-10 was so nice
Aswell as I-45
5:50 - I-90 in New York has a “complete set” of auxiliary interstates, there is an I-190 through I-990 in the state.
Also, I-238 was numbered as such because, at the time, I-80 in California also had a “complete set” of auxiliary Interstates and they didn’t want to cause confusion by duplicating numbers within the state, so it was just numbered after the original highway, CA-238.
Ok. So this video popped into my feed today, on the 18th anniversary of my dad’s passing. Downer of a lead but stay with me.
I grew up spending my summers in a van with my family, going coast to coast & back. Dad had long distance travel by car on his list of must-learn life skills. He taught me as early as I can remember the numbers system. All my siblings learned it as we all were either navigating or piloting the van(s) later in life. We were doing it for vacation like the truckers did. Dad even had a CB in the old Dodge Sportsman to listen in for ‘intel’, naturally.
So thank you for this. It made me laugh & cry a bit. The yootoob algorithm seemed to know when & where to send this.
I copied my entire family. They’ll love it.
I think the 805 in San Diego legitimizes the “05 in our hearts” part. It’s an interstate minor, so it has three digits; it starts in an even number, so it diverges from and reconnects to a major; but that major is the 5, so its last two digits have to be “05.”
Fellow San Diegan here. Thank you for pointing this out!
Don't forget I-405 east of Seattle.
Where exactly do Interstates pick up and drop off their definite article? The CA state line east/west and northern border of SLO, Kern and San Bernardino Counties? The top of Cajon Pass? Barstow? I get it that there are major routes though LA numbered 10, 110 and 101 so that without the "the" it'd sound like you were speaking binary but surely that's not necessary even beyond the outer suburbs?
@@denelson83 no, the 405 is in Southern California! oh wait, duplicates, damn duplicates!
@@ByzantineDarkwraith easy mistake to make -- "the 405" is in LA, but just "405" bypasses seattle
I love how Grey consistently makes videos about topics I didn't even know were topics before and manages to make the most seemingly "boring" fact into something whimsical and entertaining! :3
Its so nice when he uploads :)
America am I right?
I love the recurring charicters of the various departments of goverment! Like the DOT figure here
:3
@@lambchu6459 why you type that
0:09 Props to you for using the actual constellations there. Attention to detail!
Fellow Long Islander here. As soon as you explained the even number rule, I was trying to figure out how the LIE got 495 moniker. Fantastic video and I will always remember this when driving on that pothole riddled hell scape.
As a twin cities resident, I can say with authority that: Yes the E & W designations are there to keep the peace between the fragile egos of the state's largest city, Minneapolis, and the state capital, St. Paul. However, since the exit numbers on 35E remain consistent with the rest of I35s numbers, while 35Ws exits start at 1 and end around 20, its clear that 35W is the bypass.
Can confirm from a Dfw resident perspective
They should just amalgamate and have done with it.
I wondered for a long time why they did the E-W thing. What a silly reason, but it makes a little sense.
Ah yes, a fellow minneSKOTAn
The narrator just blew off the rest of the interstate highways that run through the Twin Cities. What about I494 , I694 or I94?
This seems overly complicated. Here in Australia, we simplify matters by just not having roads at all :P
Who cares if it’s over complicated, this is America 🇺🇸
Use the southern cross and you’ll be right mate
Then how do I get to Gas Town or Bullet Farm?
We have road!
Just the one.
Goes all the way around 😁
here in australia we use a map not a secret code with like a dozen inconsistencies
You know, this knowledge may actually be very helpful for geoguessr...
I-238 is on the road bed of a California highway. When this important connecting highway was incorporated into the Interstate system it kept the same number. The original CA-238 was longer. Only the part between I-580 and I-880 was converted into an Interstate. The rest remains as CA-238.
Yes every state has its own system of highways with it'd own system of numbering.
If someone has asked me yesterday "Hey, would you care to learn about the American interstates?", I would've probably said no, but CGP Grey always seems to be able to take any subject and make it interesting and intriguing.
The original reason they were created is even more fun - to allow faster mobilization during the cold war.
No, I'm not joking. It's to drive tanks around.
@@MrNicoJac Correct me if I'm wrong, but I had also heard somewhere that, at regular intervals, stretches of the Interstates have to be long and straight enough to be used as runways, in case the Air Force needed to rapidly deploy aircraft to a given location.
@@MrNicoJac yep, Eisenhower saw the potential in them during ww2, he was also involved on a cross country mission when he was younger that went miserably and when he came into office, that was on his agenda.
@@subsidizer292 Sorry, but that's a myth. Aircraft need a long, smooth stretch of ground to safely land and take off. The curvy, bumpy nature of a highway will more than likely damage the landing gear of any plane trying to use it for combat operations. Sure, it's an option for a desperate pilot in an emergency, but let's be realistic. By the time every airfield and airport in the US is damaged beyond use in a theoretical war, would there still be aircraft flying around? Very unlikely, IMO.
I'm just amazed that you mentioned Kansas City twice in the same video.
kansas/missouri mfs when someone remembers they exist
Look Ma, we're famous!
I’m honestly surprised he mentioned wentzville too
Lmao right
As a Missourian, I am also honored we we mentioned multiple times.
You need to make a video showing how freeways work when you cross the borders such as taking I15 to Canada or going into Mexico.
In my state, a very useful intrastate-interstate minor is I-17, which just runs north/south between Phoenix and Flagstaff, Arizona.
For those wondering about the word Grey used twice that most US folks won't know....
Definition of anorak
1: a usually pullover hooded jacket long enough to cover the hips
2(British, informal) : a person who is extremely enthusiastic about and interested in something that other people find boring
I am by all means an anorak. Highways, rocketry history, competitive engineering (VEX Robotics), really specific bits of history, and nuclear weapons.
e.g. trainspotting, birdwatchers
I love that someone can be an Anorak for Anoraks.
Presumably from the clothing people had to wear for birdwatching, planespotting, trainspotting...
I hadn't realised that this wasn't a universal concept. Anoraks (the clothing) are typically waterproof and therefore became a sort of unofficial uniform for those who enjoy peculiar outdoor hobbies that involve sitting out in the elements for long periods of time.
The moment the interstate system's magnitude finally clicked for me was driving with a friend in Arizona and as we passed over I40, he looked and said, "We get on that and turn left at the last exit, we'll be at my house in North Carolina."
I'm from Southern California, but went to college in South Dakota. One of my favourite moments every summer was, after driving 9-10 hours to Salt Lake City, I get on the I-15 & the GPS says "continue straight for 958 miles".
(Well, actually I think it said "continue straight for 600-something miles" because there was a place in Las Vegas where it would say to "continue straight to stay on I-15 S", but I don't remember the statement, only the total distance)
For me it was being on vacation in north carolina and recognizing " US 441" when my GPS mentioned it. It's the same road I take to work every day in Florida.
Even though I’m not American, I once had a moment like this. I live in a much smaller country in Europe, and we have a system of two lane roads, built around the mid of the 20th century, and that connected all the important urban centres, called national roads. They’re essentially much smaller versions of your interstates.
Anyway, once I was going back to my (temporary student) house after a star-gazing weekend organised by my university’s astronomy club, and during the trip I noticed we’d just entered National 2, the largest of the National Roads (spanning around 750km, and uniting the northern and southernmost cities in my country). I casually mentioned that we were just two streets away from my parents house, and that’s when the realisation of how long that road is really hit me. For context, we were around 300-400 km away from my parents’ at that point.
@@Setheli216 Long ago, I took a trip from San Diego all the way to Portland, and the surreal feeling of hearing a GPS tell you that your next stop was in "Over a thousand miles" was amazing. Fun trip.
@@Igneusflama When I hear "US 441" I think of "American Girl" by Tom Petty.
"Well, it was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by
Out on 441
Like waves crashin' on the beach"
5:29
New York has Interstates 190-990 for the nine unique spurs.
I-190 and I-290 - Buffalo
I-390, I-490, and I-590 - Rochester
I-690 - Syracuse
I-790 - Utica
I-890 - Schenectady
I-990 - Amherst, near Buffalo
I live within a few miles of 1-5 and it was always frustrating because our other routes are way out of order, I-405 being in the center but all the other being in the most random parts and not in any sense able order. Then we got the Pacific coast hwy on top of that and people who do not live in the state get so lost.
Cgp grey is type of person that when gets annoyed by something not making sense instead of giving up makes a youtube video to educate us all. He's an educational Angel
It's so we can share his annoyance and misery
And winds down a rabbit hole that gives us the history of Tiffany 🤣
indeed
This is why I love driving in America. It’s so simple. I drove from Detroit to Miami recently, and the instructions consisted of, get on 75. Stay on 75. Congratulations, you’re in Miami
and 75 likes
Absolutely! I live in downtown Phoenix my mom lives in Southern California she’s about 3 minutes off of the 10 freeway I’m just over 300 miles down the 10 in a near straight line and 2 minutes off of the freeway
darn someone ruined it
That's probably the second easiest trip to plan...
Try san Diego to granny's neck, west Virginia..
Three-seventy-five likes
You skipped the mile markers! They're the biggest help when navigating cross-country. Knowing California is only 98 miles away when driving west-bound 80 through Nevada is the most comforting thing.
In Cincinnati, there’s I-471, which is a spur that terminates in the middle of Highland Heights, so even the leading odd-even number rule is inconsistent.
swag like ohio
As a native New Yorker, highway enthusiast, and questioner of why the L.I.E doesn't connect back to 95, I'm so happy you made this video.
It originally started at I-95 in NJ but was decommissioned to NJ 495 once there was no hope of a route through Manhattan.
@@carlk6669 ah the upper-mid-and-lower Manhattan Expressways…..
There was supposed to be a Midtown Manhattan expressway at 31st street and a sound crossing to Westerly Rhode Island. Also bizarrely a part of the LIE in queens I believe from the Clearveiw to Queens Blvd. is technically not designated as an interstate highway 🤪 rather NY495. But thankfully they don't show that to avoid confusion.
you mean the lie?
So the L.I.E being a LIE is actually TRUTH ... 🤔
I love that you mentioned I-99! I was at the ribbon-cutting for it, where Congressman Bud Shuster (who was the powerful chair of the House Transportation Committee), told the story of why it was 99. I-99 bisected his district at the time and was his pet project. He said that he wanted to give it a double-digit number to make it sound more important, and he grew up in Pittsburgh where there was a trolly (or something like that) with the number 99. He said the US DoT pushed back and wanted to use the 3 digit system you described (since it was intrastate), but he ended the story by saying something like, "Well, you see who won that one."
Wow. That's a dumber reason than I expected. Impressive.
Ugh, and he's proud of breaking it, too. :(
basically everything wrong with our government in a nut shell. smdh.
To the crybabies above me.. it literally doesn't matter. It's a number. Stop pretending to care lmao
Ew… I wished I didn’t Google him…
He made up the claim that communists hated the civil rights movement, backed the claim by saying they did it to “embarrass us” (…while admitting he was recruited by the CIA in college), and then slipped his words in his own book and forgot he claimed he was in the military. He opposed airbags in cars…
Both he and his son Bill also seem to REALLY love lobbyists…
Ew……
But also that’s neat to know you witnessed the joke behind a tidbit of this video, I hope my comment isn’t hostile towards your neat story…
Little late to the party but something that I think is absolutely awful is that the I69 is also called the I59 (or just the 69 and the 59) in northern Houston
When it comes to interstate 76, filling the massive void in between segments is probably easier than it looks as it could run through Southern Nebraska via Nebraska City and Beatrice in through Iowa, Illinois, Indiana then rejoining 76 in Ohio
I would gladly watch an hour-long video of Grey just naming all the exceptions. Or even just listen, there's no graphics needed. I just want to hear all the rage at the nonsense in the highway system. (I'm a traffic engineer)
Hell, I'm sure people in his community would donate the animations of just drawing them in amorphous blobs that are "cities" like they already are in this video.
I’m not a traffic engineer and I would probably listen to that.
Nevermind the exceptions. Read the whole rule book! I'll gladly sit here and listen for a few weeks straight
I'm an aspiring civil engineering major and I'd listen to that too
@@thomasvlaskampiii6850 It'll be like that time Grey read classic horror stories! Except instead of being scary, it'll be reassuring that there's a coherent system in place!
I really liked this video as I had many questions regarding interstates. My biggest question was the fact that there were interstates that didn't even cross a state, so I kept worndering why they were called that. You answered basically all of my questions and I thank you a lot!
President Eisenhower traveled coast to coast on roads before the interstate. He was concerned about the length of time and difficulty of travel. With the threat of national security, Eisenhower realized there was a dire need to move military equipment from coast to coast more expediently. That was the original intention of the interstate. Commerce and ease of travel for citizens was a second benefit. Where geography and probably other considerations would allow, he wanted 1 out of every 5 miles to be straight. That allowed for numerous possible editors to be used as runways in case all Air Force bases were destroyed.
when I learned about how long these roads were, i loved the idea that "the same I-15 road in my town goes to Disneyland" and "i am homesick, but at least I know that I-80 would take me to mama."
That's how I feel, too. Specifically about I-15.
My family lives in SoCal, and we live in Salt Lake City, so a trip to visit family is just as easy as "get on I-15 and head south." Same for when we head to Vegas or to Disneyland.
Sure I usually get turned around once I actually get off of I-15, but at least 95% of the trip is already done.
I live in Texas and have family in Michigan. So it's always funny seeing I-69 from my hometown magically appear again on the way up.
same, I-95 I-10 takes me to my best friend
I’m more impressed with the pronunciation of Sault Ste. Marie. Not many people, let alone, locals get that right.
Well, it's locally pronounced as SOO, from what my U.P. dwelling sister tells me. But I know that if they were being true to French it would be closer to "sew" since it is the French word used for waterfalls (indicating water "jumping") Same origin as somersault.
@@ZakhadWOW Absolutely pronounced as "soo".
Anyone who had history class and learned about Indians knows how to pronounce that lmao
@@ZakhadWOW Yup, it's pronounced "so" (/so/) in French. It's also cognate with "sauté".
Yea but he mispronounced Hialeah
Having been a geography and map nerd since I was old enough to read I just sort of assumed everyone knew the interstate numbering pattern, but I have learned that is not the case. There are also quite a few exceptions all over the country. There are 2 in my area. I-71 runs mostly N/S with a bit of an E/W diagonal, but the rule it breaks is that it is mostly East of I-75. The other is I-670 in Central Ohio; it is a spur, as it only connects to I-70 at the west terminus, so it should start with an odd number. It is strange that it doesn't because I don't think there are any odd numbered 3 digit routes in Ohio. Lots of 2s, 4s and 6s, so it probably would have been less confusing to start it with an odd number. I-675 in SW Ohio is another odd one because it is a diagonal that connects to both I-75 (S terminus) and I-70 (N terminus).
Another strange exception. I-290 in Central Massachusetts. It runs from Auburn, MA - Hudson, MA, primarily connecting the Cities of Worcester, MA and Marlborough, MA. While it does spur off from I-90 in Auburn, it does not reconnect to I-90 at all, instead linking up with I-495 which itself is a beltway around Boston from I-95.
291 does that too
Grey's animation quality is getting awesome!! Props to him and his team!
h e l l o
hi
oooo let's get this 100 likes
@@trashbug4843 ok
yay this comment's growing fast
My old man used to say that the interstate was an amazing accomplishment. You could drive non-stop from coast to coast and not see a damn thing.
That's sort of the idea. It's for speed and convenience not for sight-seeing.
I bet he saw plenty in the rest areas
aside from when it cuts right through the middle of cities right?
20 years draggin waggons, I can confirm!
@@BluePieNinjaTV rarely ever. Only time you really get screwed is going through DC. Which sucks.
I love I-238 because it's 8 - 5 so 23 and they both have an 8 for the leading zero so 238, and since it connects back to a road it's evenly numbered, technically making it a BYPASS (Which is wrong and right at the same time.) I love how much sense it makes while also being so confusing. That's now my favorite Spur.
The nice I-69. Clever script. Love it. Growing up in Queens & LI resident myself, I was itching to see the I-95 and 495 mentioned.
Interesting fact about I-70 (in Maryland):
Its eastern end stops exactly at the Baltimore city limits after there was considerable push back against highways being built in the city, so it does not meet up with I-95. It in fact stops at a parking lot on Maryland Route 122.
Near this, there is an oddly placed sign that lists the distance to Columbus, OH (420 miles), St. Louis, MO (845 miles), Denver, CO (1700 miles) and lastly, the western terminus of I-70, Cove Fort, UT (2200 miles). It was placed there in 2004 to test a new font for highway signage (the font is called Clearview) and the engineers didn't want to put actual important information on it, so that's why it lists unrelated cities. Cove Fort isn't even a town, it's an actual fort built in 1867 by the Mormons as a resting stop of travelers and is now a historic site.
I pass that sign regularly on my way to BWI airport!
Wow!
Intresting facts!
Is the new font in use???
There's also free apples at cove fort if you go during the right time of year.
also interesting that i270 has an even lead number but doesnt re-connect to I70 like he said it should, it just ends at I495
This is kind of upsetting, but not nearly as upsetting as Breezewood, PA.
As someone who lives in the DFW area in Texas, I can confirm the I35 split being called “I35 west and I35 east” is because both cities would rather burn to the ground than be considered “the bypass city” of the other one…
You could get lost for days in the lore of the Fort Worth and Dallas rivalry
Just google “Why is Fort Worth called Panther City?” for a decent chapter in that lore.
And then there's Denton, where we have all 3 of the 35s... Not confusing whatsoever
Fort Worth. Fort Worth is the bypass city
Same with the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Back in the day, Minneapolis and St. Paul would use their police agencies to kidnap each others census takers to stop one city from growing larger than the other.
The worst thing is the fact that highways have like six different names with different cardinal directions in DFW. My GPS app would literally say, "Turn right on I-35 East South North Stemmons Freeway." Wut...
6:05 Yay, the Long Island Expressway!
Love how he waited to say the moral of the story until the last five seconds
Considering the bypasses and belts on I-5 are numbered "#05" (I-405, I-205, etc.) I feel like it's reasonable to say that I-5 does technically have a leading zero, even if they don't say it has one officially.
Being technically correct is the best kind of correct. Says who? Says Congress (in a previous Grey video)
405 is in la so it's just 405. as an Angelino I will die on this hill.
@@nick4506 Seattle has 405 as well.
@@staticvoidmain ok I concede that one has an I.
My driving class was taught about this exact subject. Our instructor (a teacher from a local school volunteering his time) saw that people were getting ridiculously lost while driving in Maryland, so he spent one class session covering how to navigate by interstate signs alone. It wasn't part of the curriculum... just him showing even more how underpaid teachers really are.
nice that he's teaching some life skills even if you might not need it one day... wait what im kidding... it's america...
@@PrograError it's definitely useful knowledge even if you have Google maps
They're paid just fine
@@TickleMyResearch Who told you, teachers, in America are paid fairly I want to see your source.
@@impulsivestargaming1791 my ex-girlfriend who is a teacher. Saying they are underpaid is criminally overgeneral, especially if you consider professors who are some of the highest paid individuals in the nation. Teachers getting full benefits and a modest salary for 9 months of work when they don't have to select the curriculum and essentially follow a lesson plan does in no way seem unfair. I am aware there are exceptions but this is a publicly accepted viewpoint that is just plain bs. Like many publicly accepted viewpoints, you score points by repeating it but if anyone actually did critical analysis it would fall apart in 5 seconds
This was much fun! Of course those of us who grew up in the 50s and 60s knew all this. I always thought it was cool that the US routes follow the exact but opposite numbering system.
295 is a loop being built around Fayetteville NC as well; also, since this video was posted, 885 in Durm NC was built to connect I40 and I85, nicknamed the east end connector.
A fine return to form for the channel, well done!
I just noticed that there wasn't a mainline "Grey Explains" in 6 months. I could have sworn the Tiffany video was just uploaded a couple weeks ago...
@@DJDiarrhea wait it wasn't uploaded a couple weeks ago??
Time is a weird soup
When was it even out of form? His last video was the Tiffany Video. Right?
@@thevikingbear2343 yeah but it's been a while since an upload and Grey likes to try and do about 1 every 6 months at least if I'm remembering rightly
@@eragonawesome well he aims for abouts one a month
“I already cut so much from the script you wouldn’t believe it” Grey, my dear, we expect nothing less of you 😂
He's just teasing the 30 minute video in which he explains his reasonings for each omission.
after watching the tiffany torture video i think we can all believe it
In PR you got
PR-52 PR-22 PR-53 PR-66 PR-30 as inter municipal roads.
many many years ago a couple of friends and I were in PR on a mini-vacation
we were driving out of San Juan to an area just south of Humacao
cue our friend the "master navigator" thinking we were lost ~15 minutes into the drive because he couldn't find the town of Salida on his map
"we've passed three signs for Salida so far, it must be a big town! Is this map out of date or something?"
(this was pre-GPS)
I love how the music gets more chaotic as the video covers more confusing material. Awesome attention to detail.
I'm from Finland and I don't have a driver's license. But here I am, watching a video about the US road system. Damn you CGP Grey!
Finland (to most people) is known to have the best drivers in the world with the best driving schools. So my brain glitched when you said you don't have a license. Out of curiosity, how old do you need to be to get a license in Finland?
I’m sure you’re still a better driver than most of the people using these roads.
I just bought a beautiful necklace from Rovaniemi !
I am an immigrant and for a whole year I was obsessed with this topic. I would tell anyone who would listen. I even applied to work for DOT 🙈
I love it!
Please tell me you got the job
@@Animefreak242 well since my degree is in Communication, I wasn't too hopeful. 😂
@@jynxie17 DOT need PR people.
I didn't realize this before, but Grey is driving in Bailey Blue, whenever he is depicted driving! Such a nice touch!
awesome video! I did notice you didnt mention I-94 from Billings, MT to Grand Huron, MI. The northern most interstate. either way, great video!
I had a cousin who was obsessed with the highway system. His mom took him to stretches of highway as they opened up, and he had “keys” to cities all over the country. One of his favorite things to do was ask highway engineers about roads that didn’t exist.
Why would he ask about highways that didn’t exist yet?
Do the responses vary?
@@fishHater Because he thought it was a fun joke. Little kids have a silly sense of humor.
@@bensoncheung2801 I expect they did, but this was decades ago, when the interstates were still being built.
@@rabidsamfan makes sense
6:44 I-238 in California has this number because (a) when it was built, all of the I-80 spur/loop minor numbers in California were already taken, so they had to find another number; and (b) I-238 connects to State Route 238, so it's sort of like a continuation. But it's still an annoying anomaly in the system.
Wasn't I-238 actually part of CA 238 that got converted to an interstate and they just kept the number?
@@sexagesimalian yea
It’s more reminiscent of how the UK does things, where A roads (which could be thought of as equivalents to state highways) that are built to motorway standards aren’t officially called motorways, but A roads with (M) at the end, i.e. A1(M). So Interstate 238 can be thought of as California State Route 238 (Interstate).
880 breaks the rules too because it doesn't reconnect with 80... and it's the same with 280 and 680
@@ZPS_STG With the Bay Area interstates, I assumed that minor interstates can connect with each other in order to have that even number
5:10 I-76 (Eastern) goes from Bellmawr, NJ to Akron.. not to be confused with Belmar, NJ which the end of I-195 in NJ
During the course of the video, the time slowly shifts from dusk to night, to dawn to day, and at the end back to dusk.
This implies Grey dragged this person all across the country in a single day.
I will move to Texas just to lobby for I-69U to be built. The nicest highway in the country.
nice
We have an I-69 in Michigan too. It starts out as N-S, but then switches to E-W. Weird expressway
@@dereko soo.... it gets erect? or goes limp?
@@MrKcspot Depends on how you go down on it
nice
I don’t think I ever laughed so hard when you said that “maybe the L.I.E really is a lie”. As a Long-Islander I really enjoy making fun of my own “island”
Did they restore the Interstate designation to the entire length of the LIE? Most of it? Last I recall, it'd become NY 495.
I was so happy when he dedicated a whole segment of the video to us Long Islanders 🥰
I thought it was Portal reference. You know, the pie is a lie.
Why doesn't I-495 (Long Island Expressway) even connect to its parent I-95?
@@samseddmedia It would have, via the Mid-Manhattan Expwy.
I love these types of videos about frustratingly complex stuff that's meant to be easy
This is useful information to learn and memorize. Well presented. Thank you!
I learned the numbering system in high school in the early 80's when we studied US history. It was also explained in the drivers test study booklet they handed out at DMV. The LIE was just NY 495 when I was a kid. They turned it into an interstate so NY could get more federal funds.
IINM there is still a sign with the old NY495 designation on it, maybe coming off the Clearview or Cross Island, not sure, but it's the old white 'pushbutton'-looking shape with 495 inside it...Not been up there in a while but I could have sworn I saw it sometime in the 00's or early 10's.
@@slevinchannel7589 You're a pedophile? Pretty sure that's illegal bro.
The advantages of having one of the largest number of Representatives in Congress.
It still connects to other interstates, just not I-95. Originally though, it was supposed to connect to I-95. It would have crossed Manhattan on the unbuilt Mid-Manhattan Expressway, and continue through the Lincoln Tunnel, reaching I-95 in New Jersey. Either way, its construction quality (minus the potholes) certainly is enough to make the general public think of it as an "interstate", and thus it makes sense for it to be one.
But lots of highway sections got turned into interstate all over the place.
Greensboro NC had like 4 interstates running through it. And where they all converge, there's like half a dozen highways all coming in with the interstate roads.
They just meet and most of the highway numbers just go away and it's all interstates.
The 5 does have a leading zero! It only becomes visible in the 105, 405, and 605 in LA and the 805 in San Diego. Unfortunately, the 605 doesn't loop and the 105 doesn't extend that last mile to actually reach the 5.
Uhm, doesn't the I-105 go east and west?
@@ASalfity ignore my last reply i misunderstood.
i-5 goes north and south. i-105 is just a connector highway, so it doesn't have to strictly follow the rule
Also, as you can see from this comment, people in California say "The" before highway numbers. Nobody says "the 95" on the east coast.
and 205 and 405 in Portland, and 405 again in Seattle...
If Grey had grow up in Cali instead of NY, it would have been mandatory for him to explain why certain people always preface their intx with a “the”.
I'm so glad we have GPS now and I don't even need to worry about this. It's nice to know the major concepts like which go N/S, E/W, and things like that, but it's too complicated to remember some of the minor details for those of us that don't cross country travel all that often.
11 years and going strong, I love this channel, it makes learning intresting
For the ancient times without GPS... OR for a perfect score in Geoguessr!
I'm not sure it would help in Geoguessr that much. I remember that time I found a sign (surprisingly rare in America apparently) and it was I-90. I got excited, tried to find it, somehow succeeded and then later realised that it's the longest road in the US and that finding it on the map did absolutely nothing to me
At least now I know why I could find an interstate number for example I-675, locate it on a map and still end with less than 1000 points due to it being a completely different I-675.
@@dorithegreat6155 I haven't played geoguessr much myself, but from hours of watching others playing, I have seen quite a few instances of people finding the exact spot using among other things this info.
@@dorithegreat6155 All about finding supplementary info! Knowing area codes for phone numbers, shapes of state highway signs, names of cities, license plate colors, and exit numbers (although only relevant after knowing the state) among other things goes a long way for helping narrow down or pinpoint your location.
@@TheKeksadler being european, that seems like way too much effort to me. Over here you just need to identify language and find some roadsigns. America doesn't even seem to have roadsigns. How the hell do you know where you're driving, I have no clue. USA is like the worst place that you can get on geoguessr
Fun fact: Part of the planning for these interstates was done by General Pershing in the 1920s. The Bureau of Public Roads asked the Army which routes would be best needed for public defense purposes. It’s why you’ll find that they connect military bases pretty easily.
Cool! Thanks for the interesting factoid!
@Nick V under martial law they will be.
@Nick V They are, but they throw in a little extra so we can all use them in the mean time. Another interesting thing about our highways you won't easily find published? Ever notice how sometimes there's a stretch of highway that's just really long, straight, and well maintained? I bet it happens to be near a military air field. Many stretches of highway are strategic defense assets to be used as runways if our primary airfield runways get bombed.
@Nick V as someone else said, if mainland invasion were to necessitate martial law, the interstate highway system would, as needed, be closed to civilian traffic (or at least most civilian uses) and some alternative road signs put up for DOD purposes.
@@charlesmckinley29 martial
I was taught these when I was a kid but I bet a lot of people still don't know them... Until now... Thanks Grey
That Pinterstate emote rocks
I-PI
As a kid the nearest interstate was always over an hour drive to get to so learning the numbering system was rarely needed. Especially because the road went south to Syracuse and then you follow signs for Buffalo or Albany/Boston to pick a direction on the thruway. We still would have to drive to it for drivers Ed (or school of mom when drivers ed was dropped) to practice getting on and off the highway and only road you can legally go over 60mph on near us.
Now I'm in CT and GPS is a livesaver when i have to get to any random location in New England, and also to just not miss an exit.
@@mavrick45 can't wait for e^ipi joke
Is I-π a north-south or east-west highway? We should look at the last digit to find out!
7:49 that caught me off guard, spit my water out i couldn't contain laughing. always great times with your vids Grey :D
Living in Seattle is so fun for this video! I got the northest and the westest and I didnt even know! 🥰
Honorable mention is I-19 in Tucson, AZ. Its the only interstate marked in kilometers in an attempt to synchronize with metric system and the rest of the world.
That crazy Arizona! Using their own Interstate numbering, measuring in metric, and ignoring Daylight Saving. They make their own rules!
This factoid needs to be known
There are many road signs in other states, usually near large research facilities that give distances in miles and kilometers. We have several here in TN. But NC has some too, and in VA near the laboratories near DC.
I-17 and I-8 are also marked in Kilometers and Miles and also parts of I-75 in Michigan
@@peggybarthel633 Sounds more like the only sane state.
A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one
2:16 Did you just pronounce Hialeah like “Hi Leia?”
(Separately this video is amazing and I’m so glad I finally have answers)
I-670 in Columbus Ohio is another weird one. It diverges from I-70 on the west side, and ends as it meets up with the eastern leg of the I-270 loop
Fun and informative. I think you can be confident that I-5 has a leading Zero since the spur(s) for it are 205 and 405.
Well they couldn't exactly have been 25 and 45, now could they
and 505 in winters
Almost commented this, glad to see it was already here
And 605 from Long Beach to Azusa.
Don't forget 805 in San Diego
I am 100% here for Grey digging up "obscure" systems of organization in this manner.
Can do something similar with naming convention of "avenue", "street", "road", "boulevard", etc
The only one I think I know is that if it's called a "Drive," then it's a dead-end street.
@@MoeBabaloosh I think court means there is a cul-du-sac
@@MoeBabaloosh I live on a drive that is most decidedly not a dead end.
Id like to see a follow up with the route system.
I think that one is left up to your local area, like city, town, and village (which in Georgia are considered by the state to be interchangeable).
My dad taught me a little about this a while back, mainly just the odd/even rule but it's still nice to know
A similar system is for numbering of European routes. Noticeably, also odd numbers go North-South and even West-East, and odd numbers start in the West, but evens start in the North. So E-1 goes North-South in Portugal.
German Autobahns have a similar system. Even numbers are west-east and odd numbers north-south. The higher the number, the more insignificant (shorter) that Autobahn
I believe the concept of the interstate system was based off of the Autobahn directly, something about WWII and the ability to easily move troops across the country. That's what I remember from 10th grade anyway, but you know reliable history is
@@cleetuscuts89 Yes the Allies really liked the system and brought it back with them. Thank you Eisenhower!
@@timlecount8690 Also Ike had to move a lot pre war, due to being an officer that constantly was sent to another post and he LOATHED the old system without interconnecting highways across the whole continent. The Interstate project is a bit of a combination of both this loathing and his experiences in Europe.
@@Ugly_German_Truths yeah I believe it took him nearly 2 weeks to cross the country which he absolutely hated. Now it’s only a couple of days.
Look up the International E-road network, which the Autobahn is part of.
I like your style. Very entertaining, informative, and humorous. 👍🏻
Hey Grey, I think area codes (at least the ones here in the US) would be a topic you'd be all over (if you're not already 😅)
I just found out this morning that 215 is an area code for Philadelphia, but 210 is the area code for San Antonio, you'd think they'd be more grouped together
I heard they were developed so bigger cities were faster to dial on a rotary phone. so 212 is new york, 313 is detroit, so on and so forth. which also makes sense for your examples, 215 is faster to dial than 210.
By the end of the century we'll have a four-digit master area code added to the front of the current ten-digit phone number.
He could have a field day with area codes! Zip codes too, but they generally make sense (smaller in the east, largest out west).
The "5" or "0" are the indicators of a long-haul interstate, so in that context, I-5 is perfectly logical, except when a spur route makes a route "105" or "205" etc. Great video!
Yeah literally that’s what 5’s spurs are!! X05.
Now they just need to fix I-5's roads
It's called a trunk.
I was always told that odd numbers go north-south and even numbers go east-west. This made sense until I was about 15 and learned about beltways. I had been befuddled about it until now. Thanks CGP! 🤜🤛
Look up I-26. It annoys the hell out of me.
@@georgejones3526 The reason for I-26's directional designation is that it runs nearly perpendicular to the Atlantic coast, so from the perspective of the shoreline, it IS perfectly east-west. It's also worth noting that the segment north of Asheville, NC was not part of the original plan, thus eliminating some of the directional confusion.
“Is it because one didn’t want to be the one bypassed?” yes 100% that’s why
as someone who has lived in maryland over half my life now, always thought it was weird how there was so many different highway codes here, guess now i know yeah it is pretty weird, then again it makes sense since this place is a geographic nightmare filled with all sorts of forests and mountains and marshland and really just water absolutely everywhere so im sure the department of transport had to work around a whole lot
As a Marylander, thank you for spelling out how this mess was supposed to work. Would've been nice to have learned this in school.
ikr, I feel like they should have taught this in our state's schools at the very least
we had a chance with 200, could have been 995...
@@mapsking379 yeah, not even driver's ed tried to explain this stuff to me when I took it and this was back when "nighttime minutes" was the norm...
Fun fact about I-87 in NC: Even though it’s a medium interstate, it’s only 12 miles long and connects to the much longer (and larger) minor interstate I-540, which is 27 miles long.
And to make things even weirder I-540 is actually a loop that is completed by NC-540. Soon, you’ll be able to drive along one 60 mile loop all called “540” but it’s secretly two roads, both of which are longer than the one of the real interstates it connects to.
i87 continues up in New England, doesn't it? i87 up to i84. I take that route to bypass the George Washington Bridge when I go from PA to NE.
I stick to the northeast as a truck driver, so I don't know many roads other than a few up here.
And NC-540 is a toll road, while I-540 isn’t. So at a certain point it looks like you can keep going, but you shouldn’t if you don’t want to pay.
I can verify being a north carolinian.
I’m building it right now!! I-540
@@Ryan_Carder separate roads
I remember an interstate dropping me off in the middle of DC on my way from Baton Rouge, LA to south New Jersey. Had to drive around for an hour or so to find another interstate. This was in 2006, so just before smartphones with GPS apps. Luckily it was the middle of the night so no traffic.
why am I watching this at night? I dont even live in USA!!!