It's a federal mandate, and they can lose funding if the don't comply.

Bingo. It's to provide consistency from state to state, RI didn't get a choice.

If you’re not familiar with the area, exit numbers that indicate miles give you a lot more information than just an ordinal.

I-95 through Connecticut always throws me off. They seem to follow the mile marker paradigm, right up until they don't.

Also makes it easier to add a new exit in the future, dont have to change any other exit numbers.

It does make sense. Gonna be annoying for a few years. Exit 25 old exit 3

With the one exception being if you add an exit within the same mile as another, then you need to add letters.

But that's also what they did before, like exits 6 and 6a (now 18 and 19).

They needed an easy way to launder money through the state again

If you're not familiar with the area, you're already using a GPS.

required since 2009 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit_numbers_in_the_United_States

MA is finally (mostly? all?) done and there was much complaining.

The part that irritates me about the federal rule is that it was made in 2009 when smartphone ownership was like 15% in America and even those people had to pay extra for GPS capability, but it is pretty hard to not see where that technology was heading.

The scalability of exits makes total sense. This idea that now people know how far until their exit is just federal officials doing a remarkably terrible job at reading the room a little.

Exactly, as a (younger) driver that relies on gps everytime on 95 the exit changes barely registered

The only real way it’s impacted me is when I see an electronic road sign telling me “roadwork at exit <new number>” in Providence.

Signs are union made and union installed. There was no reason to change them

And it means nothing because what the hell is exit 37? I certainly dont know the new exits. Nor do i care to learn. Haha.

And I think RI is last? Or close to last because, of course we are 🤣

It’s a Federal law. New England dragged its feet on complying.

hey, the example of the old sequential style with mile tabs on top is 295! we're relevant!

Except for all of the other federally mandated reasons above that were given before you posted this.

😂

Federal mandate. Easier to call in an exit number based on mile marker in an emergency

Also, if they were to add exits, they don’t need to fuck with the existing exit numbers

Example: Old exit 15 and 16 are miles apart, now they are exits 37 and 47. If they add an exit its based on miles so it could be exit 42 instead of fucking with the lower numbers

Be like Vermont, best of both worlds

Not for me - I'll still be off Exit 1!

I'm waiting for the sign on 95S to change from "No Exit 4" to "No Exit 12 (old No Exit 4)

Not necessarily

Lol. We will all bond over No exit 4. Also i think theres a local band by that name

A GPS still doesn't tell you how many miles you've been in a state nor how many miles until the next exit.

So busy, holy cow. If they're going through the effort of adding all those 'milepoint' signs, why not just change the numbers?

Who the fuck uses exit numbers as a local? I just look at the city/town name or know what exit to take without seeing the number at all

>A GPS still doesn't tell you how many miles you've been in a state nor how many miles until the next exit.

True. The 2nd part is helpful. Unless you've got a special song or celebration for being 69 miles into a state, I don't see why anyone would need to know the first part.

Dude Exit 1 here too. Our exit falls around 0.4 miles. So technically our exit should be Exit 0 if they’re following the rounding rules. 😂

I was hoping they’d make it Exit 0 because that would just be badass.

That is very Rhode Island of you dude.

I'd love to say "take exit zero" when giving directions!

"Here's why the exit numbers on Route 95 are changing"

https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2022/07/14/rhode-island-renumber-route-95-exits-starting-july-31-2022-comply-federal-highway-standards/10046610002/

https://www.reddit.com/r/RhodeIsland/comments/xtx4h6/why_did_the_exit_numbers_have_to_change_on_i95/

Right??? Total missed opportunity for the state.

always think of the route # or the street name of each exit -

That hasn't changed since their inception-

Do you not like understanding your progress in a trip? Counting down miles until your next state line seems like a pretty normal thing to do, doesn't it? Is it just me?

I prefer the "this machine says I'm 45 minutes away, I'm shooting for 42 minutes" beat the clock challenge.

This way makes more sense in the long run, it’s easier math.

If there’s no traffic and I’m at exit 4, and I need to get off exit 28, I’m driving 24 miles.

As long as I’m driving around 60, which most people do, you’ll get to that exit in about 24 minutes

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Growing up in Jersey that was a main way of knowing where someone was from if you’re in another area.

You’re from Linden? I’m not sure where that is. Oh exit 136 off the Parkway? That’s only like 15 miles from me, yeah we should meet up some time

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Most people driving around 60mph?! Clearly you don’t live in Rhode Island 😂🤣

Edit: for clarity

Hah I could take this both ways. Rush hour definitely less. Normal day, sure south of EG you’re doing 75-80, but I’d say it averages out.

Driving from my mother in law’s in Westerly to Cranston when we lived there it was a pretty consistent 45 minutes. 10 on backroads, 30-35 highway (which is right in line with 31 to 33 for the Cranston exit now)

You're going the wrong way.

I’m not sure what you mean

Looking at your GPS is not only an often annoyingly inaccurate but also very dangerous thing, why would the federal rule encourage phone usage over reading the signs they spend so much money on? Not every issue has a tech solution. A sign for exit 4 will always tell me "ok I'm 20 miles from exit 24" instead of wondering and looking through my phone.

Ok how bout this...... You're going the wrong wayyyyyyyyy. It's a reference that didn't hit once, so I doubt it will make sense to you. .

I've lived in Colorado, Texas, and upstate NY - I've never used exit numbers unless it was a road trip.

I don't understand why locals would complain about exit numbers. There are people out there who really memorized "I take exit 6" and if they don't they'll miss their turn?

Assuming it’s from planes trains and automobiles (at least that’s what came up), I haven’t seen that yet unfortunately.

I have seen clips that were pretty good, I probably should give it a watch

Idk what to tell ya about the inaccuracy beyond that you might be due for a phone and/or cell carrier upgrade.

As for looking at the phone? If a person needs to do that, we're talking 1-2 seconds maximum to be able to see it. Probably less if it's just "see how long before their exit is"

Most people would just relying on the lady telling you this information as needing to even see the phone.

Not to mention that for most modern cars, you don't even need to have a phone to have a functioning GPS. It's a rpetty common feature that's going to be more common than having a traditional radio within a decade of now.

&#x200B;

>Not every issue has a tech solution.

Except for every solved problem is the entire history of humanity, sure.

You answered yourself. They did it so the exit numbers match up with the corresponding mile marker .. and to spend our tax dollars on irrelevant things.

Do you program in state lines as destinations?

This is the type of compromise that I don’t get why other states won’t adapt. You keep your old signage and you still comply with new regulations.

I’m too focused on beating the machine’s estimate for that.

So I’m not alone. Measuring distance with distance feels weird. Measuring distance with time feels more natural.

Was in D.C. with friends one time and I said that shop’s about 5-10 minutes away. They were like how far is that? I told 5-10 minutes and they were so confused. I got confused when he told me the distance with mileage and I was like that gives me no context of how far it is.

That’s pretty slow… I think I’ve made it back from Westerly to PVD in 30-35 minutes a few years back. Hell, I made it back from IKEA to PVD in 33 minutes.

Who uses exist numbers? Don't we all say things like "take the Atwood ave exist or take a left were Benny's used to be"? Or even "get off onto Rte 2, pass 2 dunkins and it's on the right "?

So then mile marker exits will add information to your trip

Too much data distracts from the race.

Massachusetts completed all of their exit renumbering in 10 months, from October 2020 to August 2021. Rhode Island, meanwhile, started in 2017 with I-295 and finally completed every highway when they finished I-95 earlier this month.

Nope. New Hampshire and Delaware still are 100% sequential exits. Vermont also “cut corners”, adding small “milepoint exit xx” signs on their highways but predominantly displaying the sequential numbers.

Interesting, thank you for that info! I would have expected us to be dead last for sure!

I’m pretty sure any and all “no exit xx” signs were removed, as they were tied to a sequential system.

They clearly cut corners. MA and RI actually changed their exit numbers but added small “old exit xx” signs for those who resist change.

Exactly, but look at our state government who can’t even fix the roads. My expectations are low

Feel like the Vermont way saves more money plus those yellow signs are too tiny and they will eventually go away

Feel like it’s around the same

The maddening thing about I-95 in Connecticut is that there are actually 93 exits along the 111 miles between Rhode Island and New York. So they seem like milepost exits, but there’s really just that many of them.

Connecticut dosent yet either, well at least their main highways besides 395.

Millions and millions of dollars to change the exit numbers along 95 for state after state after state rather than fix potholes

… by making up the word “milepoint”?

Love how they need to have the signs saying what the exit # used to be... The one saying OLD 25 made me think of Leonardo DiCaprio

Not everybody’s brain works the same way.

You’ll be equally horrified to learn that millions and millions of dollars go to subsidize millionaires in state after state after state rather than fix potholes.

CT and NY are dragging their feet. Each state has converted at least 1 Interstate highway to mile-based exits, but most other highways are still sequential.

NH is like F. U. we like our numbers just fine.

I've gotten to Providence from Newport in 35 minutes. I have chronic lead foot syndrome with a perfect driving record. No tickets, nadaaaa. Got to Narragansett from Pawtucket yesterday in about 25. When you get in the fast lane, I looked down at my odometer, at one point on I-95S, I'm 4th of a train of 6 cars all going the same-ish speed. That speed being 96mph by the exits down by Warwick 😅 WE GO VROOM VROOM and we had a Honda Pilot pass allllll of us while he was chitchatting away on his phone. 😅 #RIDrivingPros

37 will forever be 22 in my heart. My exit is 21 for work and 26 for home. Exit 40?! Ewww, You mean exit 26.

I've lived in RI for almost 9 years now and rarely have to use a GPS, I love the freedom 🥰🥰🥰🥰

As long as you use your indicators I’m perfectly happy. XD

It feels like I’m not even moving when I’m going 50-60. 70 seems normal and 90 feels like I’m moving. I don’t know how people manage to drive so slow AND have no situational awareness. Like you see a fast car coming up behind , you’d think “oh let them go merge over”, but nope they’re like “I’m going to brake right when you get close and there’s nothing in front of me to brake for.”

Lampshade it:

Crash in Front of Nibbles
Good Luck

CT did it half assed on their resignage (a friend is constantly on RT9 and mentioned the conflicting numbering)

As for VT, it seems rather silly along I-89 and I-91 (which are ~130 miles each) when's there only 20 something exits along each highway

The last time I check "No Exit 17" is still up over at RT10

That could confuse drivers, as it’s between exits 33 and 35 now.