Im not a Road MAp!...sterotyping Gas station Employee's of their knowledge

[Sandman]

well in "West Massachusetts" we have a part where you must go East/West on a North/South highway.

[Zoe1975]

well in "West Massachusetts" we have a part where you must go East/West on a North/South highway.

ever GET loss in Worcester??????
MY lord I been there ONCE and NEVER EVER again!!!




then i get OUt of Towners saying "WAR-CHESTER" IM LIKE ?????????????

ohhhhh!!! I CORRECT THEM and THEY correct ME!!!!oMg!!!LMAO

[Pagan]

... and then there is the city my mother lives in, they seriously have the intersection of Meadowood Cir and Meadwood Cir (yes, the road intersects itself).

Heh, there's one of those in Las Cruces. Roadrunner runs into Roadrunner.

I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson is annoying. I-10 West is actually heading north. I-10 East is actually heading south. If you're not a desert dweller, it probably gets very confusing.....

Sounds like Phoenix. Roads are interrupted and then continue later. Sometimes it's a mountain in their way. Sometimes they just stop. But a little further on down the line, they continue. This is somewhat confusing to newcomers.

Yeah, it takes a norther jog from El Paso, TX to Las Cruces, NM, too. Then I-25 takes a bit of an easterly jog north of Santa Fe. What fun is that Las Cruces is the southern terminus of I-25, so you're going to end up on I-10 at some point whether you want to or not. That, or get off the interstate all together! Causes endless confusion to the tourists.

There's some streets in Albuquerque that just stop inexplicably and then pick-up on the other side of the river! The one I can think of is Ellison. I don't know where is stops, but it's over somewhere near Osuna. Then it picks up over here on the Westside. Nobody's really sure, but we think it's actually supposed to be two separate streets.

[Sonoma]

I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson is annoying. I-10 West is actually heading north. I-10 East is actually heading south. If you're not a desert dweller, it probably gets very confusing.....

We have 99E & 99W up here. They're two separate highways. 99E runs north-south to the east of I-5. 99W runs north-south on the west side of I-5. Think I was 15 or so before I figured that one out.

[smileyeagle1021]

More confusing to newcomers is the fact that roads will often change names as you drive along them. MAJOR roads. Rural becomes Scottsdale, Dunlap becomes Olive, McClintock becomes Hayden, etc. Heck, don't get me started on driving in Phoenix....it is one of the most logically laid out cities I have ever driven in, but the oddities that are there are just screwy, and seem even screwier BECAUSE of how logically the place is overall!

oh, we have that too... to get to the community college I take 3900 south wich turns into the Meadowbrook expressway, which turns into 4100 south

oh and some other horror stories from my mom's town... they have a neighborhood where all the roads are names Niel (ct, rd, st, cir, etc)
oh, and they have roads that change names too, niel road becomes del monte... and they have names that sound alike too, up until 2 years ago there was a freeway exit for Del Monte and one for Damante (which is pronounced the same as the first street name except without the 'l' sound), that's why the renamed part of Del Monte to be Niel so that there would be less confusion. And my favorite reno story, there are 3 exits for south virginia st (funny story, for giving directions to my mothers house, if you give the wrong exit you'll end up either at a carl's jr. or a U-haul).

though coming back to what you said about phoenix... that means it must not be too different than salt lake, with most everything on a grid system.

[worddork]

I was visiting a friend in Yuma, AZ, and she had to do all the driving because I would have become hella lost left on my own. None of the streets had names, they were numbered. Streets that ran north/south were aveunes (1st Ave.) and the streets that ran east/west were streets (1st St) and no one who lives there gives directions using these add-ons. Form examlpe, on the way to her house I got turned around and pulled into a gas station to get back on track and was told "Take 32nd to 4th, trun right, then make a left on 4th, keep going straight then make a right on 32nd and your there" I swear I thought I was being punk'd until I called her and got the rest of the directions 32nd street to 4th avenue to 4th street to 32 aveune.
Name your streets people, or is this a plot to annoy the Snow Birds.

[smileyeagle1021]

I was visiting a friend in Yuma, AZ, and she had to do all the driving because I would have become hella lost left on my own. None of the streets had names, they were numbered. Streets that ran north/south were aveunes (1st Ave.) and the streets that ran east/west were streets (1st St) and no one who lives there gives directions using these add-ons. Form examlpe, on the way to her house I got turned around and pulled into a gas station to get back on track and was told "Take 32nd to 4th, trun right, then make a left on 4th, keep going straight then make a right on 32nd and your there" I swear I thought I was being punk'd until I called her and got the rest of the directions 32nd street to 4th avenue to 4th street to 32 aveune.
Name your streets people, or is this a plot to annoy the Snow Birds.

actually minneapolis is similar (avenues are north south and streets at east west)... oh, and no the numbered streets probably isn't a conspiracy... i think a lot of people actually prefer numbered because it is easier to navigate (4th always comes after 3rd but before 5th... no matter what city you are in).

[LizaMarie]

Let me guess, you live near here......http://www.interstate-guide.com/imag...-093_st_02.jpg
Driving by this sign more times than I would like to count =)

that's so funny, we must be practically neighbors! I recently moved up this way, so I've been giving a lot of directions to my rhode islander friends, who have a very hard time with 128/95. They also have a hard time with Salem MA vs Salem NH, and there are signs for both on the way to my house. Really, Mass. highways make very little sense.

[LifeCarnie]

CLose!!!

There is a stretch (like 70 miles) of 495 in Massachusetts that runs East and West, but the highway signs say North and South.

I think asking random strangers for directions is a Massachusetts thing. I walk, for excercise, a lot and I get stopped by people in cars looking for directions, quite a bit. Sometimes I can help. Sometimes I can't because the place they're looking for is in the boonies and requires taking alot of right and lefts at intersections that don't actually have street signs and is the boonies....with no really discernable land marks.

People sometimes get pissy when I can't give them directions. Hey here's a thought.....how about fuck off. I'm minding my business walking down the street, it's not my fault or concern that your dumbass didn't get directions ahead of time.

[click--it]

... and then there is the city my mother lives in, they seriously have the intersection of Meadowood Cir and Meadwood Cir (yes, the road intersects itself).

That is nothing I delivered pizza for 5 year. I could bore you with stories of people not know where they live. Not know landmarks like a lighthouse from a wind mill and knowing the diff between colors like yellow and tan or streets with out signs b/c they are dirt roads and random addresses with out numbers while its raining. YOU DO NOT EAT

[Primer]

I may not do a lot of driving, but I do know how to use a map. I generally know where I want to go, but sometimes I need to know where I AM. Is it unreasonable to expect an adult to be able to locate their town of work or residence on a state map, or their general neighborhood on a city map? Sorry, but I'm just remembering one time in the middle of Texas when I was trying to find State Hwy 290, and just needed to know if I was north or south. I knew I was within 10 miles but thought I may have missed it in the dark. I found a convenience store and bought a map, but nobody (employees or other customers) in the store could show me where I was. Now I'm lost in the wilderness still trying to find my way home.

[Bella_Vixen]

More confusing to newcomers is the fact that roads will often change names as you drive along them. MAJOR roads.

The greater Milwaukee area is like that.

And then there's the whole Moreland/Moorland mess to try to deal with.

[Becks]

The greater Milwaukee area is like that.

Like what? 27th and Layton?

[Namrepus221]

I'm tagging this thread cause I've had about 80% of the stuff that's happened in it happen to me and I'm just too tired to post what's happened to me yet.

Stupid midnight shifts....

[SpyOne]

We get customers asking for directions all the time. Almost always, they're holding a printout from Mapquest in their hand. Why everyone decides they've gone wrong somewhere when they reach our store escapes me, since less than 1000 feet further is the road they're looking for. (Seriously: ALL of them)

Anyway, I was trying to explain to a co-worker that the directions he was giving, while offering the best route, were too complicated, and he should instead send them the slightly longer route that only involved 2 turns, both well marked.
As I am explaining this, the following kernal of universal truth escaped my lips: "Look, these people are no good at following directions. If they were good at following directions, they wouldn't have wound up here, since they are holding a page of directions in their hand and asking us how to find their hotel."