Will Travel Backwards as Long as it's Forwards

September 26, 2013 12:34 PM

Which roads in the world travel opposite their lane direction designation for at least a mile or more? In other words, say you are traveling northbound on Interstate 35, but for a short time the road bends so much that you are actually traveling south, even though you are still in what started as the northbound lane.

Additionally, how are these roads signed? I assume that if you take an entrance ramp onto a south-traveling northbound lane, the sign still says "North" at the beginning of the ramp, right? Might seem silly, but I live by a major interstate that is westbound and travels south for a bit, but the locals tell people to head "south" though it is signed "west", and guests get lost and go the wrong way quite frequently.

I know of plenty of roads that are north-south which travel east-west for a while, but I haven't run across any that are north-south but travel south-north for a while. I am not really talking about switchbacks through the mountains, but rather longer stretches that reverse for a good mile or more.

posted by TinWhistle to Travel & Transportation (27 answers total)

Route 3 north in Massachusetts (Burlington, to be specific) is kind of weird, you have to travel for a little while on 95 south, but the signs still say "3 North". And it's definitely physically south. I think it's because the two roads were built at different times, one is considered "U.S. 3" and the other is "Massachusetts 3", and they don't quite meet the way they should.
posted by Melismata at 12:43 PM on September 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

And in addition, until recently in the same region you could be traveling simultaneously on Route 128 South and I-95 North...!
posted by scolbath at 12:45 PM on September 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

I89 in New Hamshire does this for a bit between Lebanon, NH and the VT border. Map.
posted by that's candlepin at 12:45 PM on September 26, 2013

And again around Sharon and Roylaton, VT, apparently.
posted by that's candlepin at 12:46 PM on September 26, 2013

Depending where you are along Cape Cod, Route 6 East goes either east, west, or north, and 6 West goes east, west, or south. It only goes the wrong way for a few miles, but it definitely does.
posted by tchemgrrl at 12:48 PM on September 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

There's lots of roads like this. I-278 in NYC is mostly north-south through Brooklyn and Queens, although it is signed east-west (it is east-west through Staten Island and tiny slice of NJ, where the road starts).
posted by breakin' the law at 12:50 PM on September 26, 2013

Right before you hit the Bay Bridge to San Francisco from Berkeley/Emeryville, you are traveling south on 80-West and 580-East simultaneously. It stays that way for about 4 miles. 580E stays Southbound for another 16 miles.
posted by brainmouse at 12:51 PM on September 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

In the Boston area, route 16 is east-west all the way, and marked as such. Except for one sign in Cambridge which says north-south, presumably made in error. I feel so sorry for the tourists around here.
posted by Melismata at 12:52 PM on September 26, 2013

Just south of Boston, MA you can simultaneously be traveling on 93 south, 1, 128 and 95 north and 24 south. All while actually moving in a Westerly direction. The inverse is also true.
posted by Gungho at 12:53 PM on September 26, 2013

128/95 in Reading MA does this (link). You're supposedly heading North (though it's one of those ring roads so it goes around basically NW-N-NE but at one point you are heading pretty much SE on the northbound lane. I think for the three digit rods this isn't super unusual. And they're signed the normal way. The road you are on is 95N even if for some points it's heading south. I used to live on Route 12 in Bethel VT (link) for the short part of the road where 12N is heading due south and it was always somewhat confusing.
posted by jessamyn at 12:53 PM on September 26, 2013

The part of Interstate 64 East in Chesapeake, Va goes west for quite a while.
posted by Requiax at 12:54 PM on September 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also, building on what tchemgrrl said, the signs for route 6 do indeed change some of the time to the right direction. 6 east says "6 East" but after you turn the elbow at Chatam, at some point it changes to "6 North".
posted by Melismata at 12:56 PM on September 26, 2013

Similarly interesting: Interstate 380 in PA was switched from East-West to North-South. Wikipedia says it was to have the exit numbers start from the south.
posted by dobi at 12:56 PM on September 26, 2013

This is known as a wrong-way concurrency.
posted by DanSachs at 12:59 PM on September 26, 2013 [8 favorites]

Just south of Boston, MA you can simultaneously be traveling on 93 south, 1, 128 and 95 north and 24 south. All while actually moving in a Westerly direction. The inverse is also true. T

This is a result of the long since discontinued Innerbelt which would have taken route 95 through Boston, Cambridge, Brookline and Somerville. Now the connection happens via the route 128 ring, which for most of it's distance is also rt 95.
posted by Gungho at 12:59 PM on September 26, 2013

Interstate 77 North is also Interstate 81 South in Virginia for 8 miles. They are both, however, going west.

Also! This is called a wrong-way concurrency and OF COURSE WIKIPEDIA KNOWS ABOUT IT.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:07 PM on September 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

US321 in East Tennessee, south of Knoxville. You take 321 South to go north into Knoxville from Maryville.
posted by workerant at 1:18 PM on September 26, 2013

More Bay Area fun - Not exactly direct opposite but Southbound 680 becomes Northbound 280 as you travel through San Jose (at the 101 junction). The first couple of miles of 280 N are therefore travelling Southwest before it curves round some more.
posted by TwoWordReview at 2:09 PM on September 26, 2013

To complicate things further, they're sometime labeled as to their own geography. For example, here in Portland, Oregon there's just regular old "highway 99" but it splits to go around/through the metro area and is labeled 99W and 99E, because there's a west one, and an east one. They both run pretty much north/south.
posted by furnace.heart at 3:02 PM on September 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Some of these answers misunderstand the question. It's not about a road whose actual direction is at right angles to its name. It's not about 2 different roads, one labeled S and one labeled N, that run concurrently. It's about one road whose actual direction is the opposite of its name.

Eastbound US 6 goes due west for about 5 miles at the top of Cape Cod. Oops, on preview.
posted by LonnieK at 3:40 PM on September 26, 2013

I-95 north magically becomes I-295 south and vice versa where they intersect US 1 northeast of Trenton. NJ. At that point I-95 north is actually going south-southeast.
posted by mollweide at 3:53 PM on September 26, 2013

I-25 north of south of near Santa Fe, NM does this.

Northbound is still signed as north, and southbound is still signed as south. You can look at the onramp signs on street view.

Some people are terrible at giving directions.
posted by yohko at 4:42 PM on September 26, 2013

I-69 North leaving Indianapolis runs west - east from Fishers to Pendleton, people always get lost when exiting 69 during this stretch.
posted by Hoosier Prospector at 6:43 PM on September 26, 2013

on the bypass 294 in chicagoland. commonly known as the tri-state tollway, the signs all read 'north' and 'south' despite 94 being an east-west highway. this change was made in the 80s from what i remember.
posted by lester's sock puppet at 8:19 PM on September 26, 2013

None in the parts of continental Europe I've been to. Pretty much everything (trains/platforms, roads, bike paths, etc.) is signed according to where you'd end up if you went all the way; no cardinal directions.
posted by wachhundfisch at 1:06 AM on September 27, 2013

Both Interstate 90 and Interstate 94, ostensibly even-numbered east-west highways in the US Interstate system, have to detour around Lake Michigan. As a result they have stretches where they go due north and south, such as right by me and over by the lake.

If you look closely at the first link, you'll also see that the not-really-a-schema but de facto east-west Wisconsin State Highway 11 actually goes northbound (and vice versa) where the Interstate goes southbound. Meanwhile, both of these are co-signed with I-39, which actually is a north-south Interstate.

If you go into street view you can see the signs, such as

SOUTH EAST
...39......90..
...->......->..

and of course the fun

NORTH...WEST...EAST
...39.........90......11..
...<-.........<-......<-..
posted by dhartung at 4:26 AM on September 27, 2013

Yohko beat me to it. I-25 between Santa Fe and Las Vegas, New Mexico either goes southeast or northwest.
posted by mon-ma-tron at 6:44 PM on September 27, 2013