I-19 is in midst of metric muddle

[The Straight Story]

I-19 is in midst of metric muddle

Signs along I-71 in Ohio were installed in 1973, when the nation flirted with the metric system.

ON INTERSTATE 19, Ariz. — Expect drivers new to this 63-mile interstate that connects Tucson and the Mexican border to do a double take every time they pass a highway distance and exit sign: They are in kilometers.

The speed limit signs aren't. Nor are the mile posts. But all of the 400 distance and exit signs along both sides of the interstate are.

I-19 may be the only interstate in the USA to use kilometers on such signs along its entire length. The U.S. Metric Association, a group that supports U.S. adoption of the metric system, says other border areas, north and south, often add metric signs on segments of their roads to accommodate visitors.

Long sections of I-89 in Vermont near the Canadian border, for example, use kilometers. Signs on sections of highway in California, Tennessee, Connecticut and other states have used miles and kilometers.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-06-07-kilometers_N.htm

[izquierdista]

1. Give it time...

Catching up with the 18th century is hard!

[Sebastian Doyle]

2. I'm surprised Beelzebrewer hasn't demanded these signs be changed already.

If we ain't supposed to have them goddamn brown forriners here, then why do we want their forrin numbers on our highway signs?2??2??

:sarcasm:

[Bill McBlueState]

3. I bet the anti-government-spending element

wants to pour a big pile of tax money into changing the signs.

[Hosnon]

4. Why would the "mile" posts be metric?

Especially since there are also "kilometer" posts (I'm assuming that's what a "highway distance" sign is)?

ETA: It seems that the sign pictured is an example of a "highway distance" sign. But it still doesn't make sense to have a "mile" post in anything other than miles.

[dsc]

7. the mile markers are the little signs that say a number and nothing else

the distance signs are signs which say city A is 50 km, city B is 75km etc. You could have km markers instead of mile markers.

[Hosnon]

9. I edited once I saw what a distance sign is.

But the article makes it sound like it's odd that the mile markers are in ... miles. It might just be poor phrasing (the author could have noted that it is odd that the distance unit markers are in miles).

[MineralMan]

5. I want speed limit signs that read:

Speed Limit
88 ft/sec

Now that makes sense! Damn this metric nonsense! :sarcasm:

[Statistical]

6. Not universal enough. I want 0.0000000969257 c

Or maybe 9.69E-08 c

:)

[MineralMan]

12. Too many numbers for the speedometer, I think.

We must consider the drivers, I believe. Feet/second -- now that's easy to understand, I think. I mean, who needs measurements based on multiple of 10 anyhow. The metric system is way overrated. We should go back to the days of feet, inches, yards, cubits, and rods. Those are human measurements we can all understand. No messing about with millis and decis and other foreign concepts for me! :rofl:

[awoke_in_2003]

26. Famous Sammy Hagar song

"I can't drive 80.67 ft/sec"

[obxhead]

8. I've wanted us to convert to the metric system for 25 years

it's long overdue for us to convert to the same system used by our military and the rest of the planet.

[Statistical]

14. I agree. It is so much easier to use.

Instead of trying to remember all these conversion

feet in a mile?
ounces in pound?
ounces in a cup?
cups in a gallon?
gallons in a barrel?
pounds in a ton? (trick question is it a long ton or short ton)

So stupid and antiquated.

[One_Life_To_Give]

10. Had to use both English and Metric Steam tables

in Thermodynamics. Since misery loves company the rest of you should have to put up with half the nations signs in English and the rest in Metric.

[FarCenter]

15. Actually, the English call the "imperial units"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6988521.stm

EU gives up on 'metric Britain'

However, they have mostly converted to metric, as have Canada and various other Commonwealth countries.

[NutmegYankee]

23. In US Engineering, it's "US Customary Units". NT

[Blues Heron]

11. about that metric thing.... fahrenheit is better for weather reporting

cuz it's more fine grained :hide:

[MineralMan]

13. I have one of those digital indoor/outdoor thermometer

and atomic clock dealies. It measures temperature in tenth of degree intervals. To what end, I wonder?

I have it set on fahrenheit, but I'm thinking about switching over to C. Then, when it gets to -40 degrees, it will read the same in either system.

[Blues Heron]

16. That's the common ground! -40 degrees

Everybody's happy!

I love my indoor outdoor thermometer - most usefull x-mas present ever!!

[MineralMan]

17. Yup. Everything's the same at -40 degrees.

I hope never to see it on mine. I got mine for Christmas, too. It's an atomic clock, weather predictor, and show humidity indoors and out, too. What a deal.

It replaced one that also had a projector clock. Sadly the projector portion of that one quit working, to my dismay. I love gadgetry!

[Blues Heron]

18. freezing point of mercury too

If I'm not mistaken - got to have the digital for anything lower than that!

I love our humidity gauge - it was pegged at 24% all winter, now it's 50-60% (East coast major metropolitan area)

[Posteritatis]

20. Decimals. (nt)

[CreekDog]

19. It's been like this for decades, nobody cares

It's an hour drive on I-19 from Tucson to the border.

Hell, thanks to Barry Goldwater's legacy, for years there was hardly a speed limit sign from Phoenix to Flagstaff! (I think they were probably ripped out regularly)

[Sebastian Doyle]

24. Does there really need to be a speed limit between Phoenix and Flagstaff?

Not really any reason to stop in between. At least not on I - 17. 89a is a much better drive, if you want to take it slow anyhow.

[CreekDog]

27. Sedona and those deserts to the west during a purple sunset --they beckon

:D

I did I-17 tons of times and the images of driving it south to Phoenix at sunset are burned into my memory.

I used to do the Grand Canyon eastern side to Phoenix drive in 2 1/2 hours (well, to Cave Creek).

On my two day weekends, I'd do a mad dash to civilization. With my windows open, leaving 7500 ft at somewhere in the 70's, I'd head downwards. A little beyond Bumble Bee, where you spot the first Saguaro (3000-4000 ft) there was a spot where you just hit what felt like a blast furnace as you entered the layer of hot air in the valley (Phoenix and surroundings).

Pulling into Phoenix at 10 or 11 pm in July, it was usually in the mid-90's. It actually felt pretty good, unless it was humid (yes, Phoenix gets humid a handful of times during the summer).

[Sebastian Doyle]

28. Good ol' monsoon season

Sometimes its better just to get all the rain and humidity over and done with in a couple of days and then get back to normal. As opposed to Washington state, where rain IS the normal. In fact this year, it's been so goddamn rainy that I'm missing the desert worse than usual. Unfortunately, an empty wallet and political assbackwardness of Arizona have made it unlikely that I'm heading south any time soon. :evilfrown:

[fleabert]

21. i hate the metric system...

i know it's easier and more logical but unless you have a frame of reference for the measurement, it doesn't mean shit.

living here (dubai) it's all metric road signs and temp is in Celcius. It has taken me two years to get used to the temp. scale, and I still convert to get a better idea of just how hellishly hot it is. (I think F is much better, more precise imho). and i still have no idea how long I have time-wise to get the heck to my exit when I see a sign that says 800m to exit, or 4km to exit- only that the 4km one is further away than the 800m one (a little more than 4X's futher- that's the easy part, but how fucking long is a meter? I can't get that to stick in my nearly 40 year old head)

I was made fun of by a group of expats for, as an American, not being able to multiply by 10 or 100, until i explained to them that that had nothing to do with it. I asked them how big an inch was- no one knew. I said there's 12 of them in a foot, how long is a foot? No one could tell me and they said 'if we don't know how big an inch is, how are we supposed to know how big a foot is?!?!?'

aha i said. I have no idea how big a centimeter is. I know it's tiny, but i couldn't show you with my index and thumb what one is. I can show you and inch and a foot.

light bulbs went off. they stopped making fun of me.

the only way it will happen in the states is a massive educational campaign, not just for kids but for adults too. PSA's all over the TV, billboards, etc...

[obxhead]

22. If we converted to Metric, within 5 years a majority

would have the reference side of it down. Within a decade we would be laughing silly at our dumb asses for waiting so long to catch up with the rest of the world on a logical measuring system.

As for how to do it, just convert. The kids will bring it home, much like foreign children bring home English to their parents. We've made much harder conversions during times when searching for answers to questions was a long trip to the library instead of a quick search in our pajamas sitting on the couch.

[yella_dawg]

25. Interesting thing about metric vs english standards.

Metric measurements have two factors, 2 and 5. The twelve unit foot can be evenly divided by 2, 3, 4, and 6. Similar factors apply for gallons, etc. This means nothing but confusion in laboratories, but for a carpenter, plumber, farmer, etc. who is trying to calculate in his head while sweaty and dirty, the ancient standards make a great deal of sense. You know, like a quarter dollar, eight bits, and so forth.

[FarCenter]

29. Base 60 systems are even better

The 60 minutes in an hour can be evenly divided into 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 parts.