Now that we are on the road again, we remembered this great video that helped us understand the great American interstate system. If you are planning an interstate trip and haven’t seen this video, take a look.
It was especially useful to learn how to identify a highway that will circle back to the highway you are on, bypassing a city. It’s especially useful if you are using a GPS and not a paper map. With the GPS, you can only see a smaller section of the road and zooming in and out can sometimes take valuable decision time.
Anyway, take a look and tell us what you think. do you have any special tip to help you navigate the interstate highway system? We’d love to hear what they are. Our best tip is to get off it every now and then and explore the back roads.
Still, it’s nice to see that there is some reason behind the seemingly-random numbers!
Drive safe out there!
Great information! I think there may be more fun on the back roads 😉
Absolutely!
I find driving in the US intimidating. Thank goodness for turning the GPS on and turning off the brain. 😆🙏😂 Thankful for the helpful video. It may help me be less reliant on technology in case it buggers up.
I like the east-west highways, but I don’t like driving the north-south highways along the east coast. I’ll take all the help I can get 😊
Of course you’d suggest getting off the highway every so often to explore the back roads! It is a good suggestion though. That’s one of my favourite things about taking a road trip is being about to make random detours and stops at whatever seems interesting along the way.
It’s usually the source for the best stories! It does help to have some guidance when you need to get somewhere in time and need to take one of them highways.
I love veering off and checking out back roads at times )
Me too!
Interesting video and I think I had seen something like this way back when. I must admit we have not made it a habit to do long drives in the U.S.A. (our longest would be on the I5 from near Portland, Oregon to the Canadian border. When we saw the interstate signs in Hawaii, we wondered how that worked….a tunnel perhaps. Thanks for sharing. Allan
Yeah, the Hawaii and Puerto Rico part made me laugh 😊 We do a lot of long hauls and this is helpful information.
If it’s about the journey, and not just the destination, I usually use interstates only to avoid city driving. There is so much else to see – and the highways are boring!
I agree! We try to avoid the bigger cities, especially during rush hour and other busy times.
That is a really neat video with good info. Thanks for sharing it.
Glad you liked it!
Great video! I’ve lived here all my life, and I learned something! Thank you, my Canadian friends for teaching me something about life in the US! (We take backroads whenever possible.) Happy, safe travels.
I’m so glad that it was helpful to you! Now you need to find a guide for me about Canadian highways 😊
I will see what I can do! No promises, though…
I stopped listening when he said ‘continent’ and then talked only about the US. Actually I found it confusing at first that GPS tells you to take exit numbers instead of road names but it does make sense in the US. But it still does it in Canada too which doesn’t make sense, at least not in the west. I never know where to find the exit number on the sign until it’s too late! Maggie
😂 I know, the lack exit numbers infuriate me!
😊
This reminds me of a trip I was taking with a sister-in-law who at that time lived in Texas. We were driving from Australia’s coast to Uluru and she suggested she “plan” the route, not knowing that unlike the U.S., there was only one highway into the interior from our starting point.
Hahja, the same can be true about taking the Trans Canada Highway from one side of the country to the other, with a few exceptions around the big cities.
I’m kind of a geography nerd, so I found this video fascinating. I had no idea that there was an organized system of highways. I’ve always thought of it as a bunch of random numbers. How fascinating to learn that Interstate highways ending in 0 run east and west while those ending in 5 run north and south. Perhaps that’s common knowledge, but it’s the first time I’ve heard of it.
Right? I found it fascinating too! You would think that this is common knowledge, but somehow it looks it isn’t. Something to teach at school as part of a Geography class maybe?
Fun video, interesting to learn the US interstate story! I’ve never really questioned why the numbers are set the way they are.
I love driving, so all the roads are fun for me – back roads, gravel roads, interstate highways… I don’t have GPS in my little, 20-year-old Mustang, so I use paper maps or guesstimate. 😊
I thought it was interesting too! And yes, all roads can be fun!
I like your tip about exploring the back roads
Haha, everyone seem to prefer it to the interstates 😊
Interesting. What a fun little video.
It is nice to (kind of) understand all the numbers but I love having GPS. I can’t even imagine how I used to travel around without it when we only had paper maps. But actually I think I got lost less back in those days.
I love the GPS too. I didn’t mean that this needs to replace iit, but rather if you are trying to make a quick decision on two possible routes, the numbers give you very specific information that can help with a quick decision.
I loved the video; it explained things very well although I’m not too sure if “southernest” and “northernest” are real words even taking into account the often strange ways the English language is treated in some places. I personally prefer to keep off the equivalent Aussie highways because you miss the little towns.
I like making up words and people assume that I making a mistake because English is not my first language. Yes, small towns along the way have more to offer than a bland stretch of highway!
I recently became fascinated with the history of the US interstate system, after going on a short, but rejuvenating road trip along a few of them. Really fascinating to see how long some of them are, as well as how they were designed and came to be. Hope to travel along a few more in the future!
It’s a fascinating system and in many of the cases very convenient for fast travel from A to B. Here’s to many more trips!
Interesting and funny presentation. It is reassuring to know that there is a logic behind and that the numbers are not just randomly chosen, or almost.
It is somewhat reassuring 😊
I’m TERRIBLE with directions. My husband says I could get lost in a box, this is extremely useful! Thanks for sharing!
Haha, now I have this image of you wondering around a box. Thanks for the morning laugh!
LOL you’re welcome!!
I did pick up a few tidbits of information from this video – like the odd and even starting numbers indicate whether it loops back or not. It bugs me when my GPS (Google Maps) tells me numbers instead of street names, where those street names are used! I too have a bad sense of direction, so anything helps!
Yeah, I found that the best piece of info as well!
This is a great idea and we always love walking around on the backroads.
It’s the most fun!
I wish I had that video when I was learning how to drive in the USA. The interstates were a baptism of fire, but fortunately, my Dad gave me a few lessons about driving the interstates. I’m better at it now, but then I moved away from the US!
It’s a good refresher if you ever need to go back and drive there 🙂
Indeed!
I had no idea about the highway systems in the US. Makes food sense.
Good grief my fast fingers I am certain there are many good food establishments to be had an such a road trip but the word above in my comment should be good not food.
Haha, it was clear what you actually meant 😊 Thank you for the comment!
Great post! Thank you for the information😊🚙
Thanks for stopping by!