Talk:U.S. Route 302

U.S. Roads: U.S. Highways / Vermont / New Hampshire / Maine Mid‑importance

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Topics	U.S. Highways
Locations	Vermont New Hampshire Maine
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Wrong Direction?

I have reviewed the reference article for subject template, and found comparatively little discussion or description of the subject. I believe there is actually more diversity than the template suggests. California, with a large motoring population, has mileposts numbered as suggested because European population entered at San Diego and moved northward up the coast and then eastward toward the interior. The eastern United States were populated in the opposite directions, and the pre-interstate United States Highway System is numbered from north to south and from east to west. Since the subject of this article follows trade routes originating at the coast and moving toward the interior; I believe the guideline may be ignored for this article. Since the existing description progresses from south to north, I have removed the template.Thewellman (talk) 18:16, 3 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The west-to-east guideline was created because 99.9% of highways in the US with mileposts count up from the west or south. So, in effect, you're reading from mile zero to the end. It has nothing to do with population centers and never has. –Fredddie ™ 19:54, 3 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I obviously mis-spoke about the interstate highway system, which is both numbered and mileposted as you describe. Federal mileposting regulation appears to date from approximately 1960 as the federal government assumed control of the Interstate Highway System similar to existing State Highway Official control over the preceding United States Highway System established by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1925. The 1925 listing by the United States Department of Agriculture Bureau of Roads used the opposite numbering convention and describes each route beginning at a northern or eastern point and ending at a southern or western point. Mileposts prior to the Interstate Highway System were often labeled on both sides giving the distance from opposite ends of that road segment (or sometimes the entire route.) Each milepost (other than a central one) might have been inscribed with two different mileage figures, and any given mileage figure (except one half of the total distance) might have appeared on two different mileposts depending upon the direction of travel. Early divided highways sometimes rationalized that ambiguity by identifying each direction as a different road. Very early roads were often associated with the direction of immigrant travel; so few would describe the Oregon Trail by beginning on the west coast and moving east. Mileposts on roads being extending into remote areas from a city were similarly identified by distance from the city, to avoid renumbering each milepost every time the road was extended; and the earlier history of the road segment closest to the city suggests starting the description with the earliest road segment. I acknowledge the wisdom of conforming to an established system of mileposts (such as that of the Interstate Highway System), but US 302 was created by the earlier (opposite) system following a route extended into the White Mountains from the colonial seaport of Portland, Maine. No rational purpose would be served by turning that history on its head.Thewellman (talk) 05:34, 4 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

No, all states in the United States start their mileposting at the south and western ends of their state highways. And US 302 is considered a state highway by the DOTs of the three states it runs through for maintenance purposes. WP:USRD/STDS is correct here. --Rs chen 7754 21:38, 4 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

WP:TL;DR. In short, the standard for mileposting is south-to-north or west-to-east, and that's how our articles will be written per the consensus behind WP:USRD/STDS. As for roads that aren't modern highways, those can be written in either direction as appropriate, but current, active highways should follow the convention for inter-article consistency. Imzadi 1979 → 21:36, 4 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What’s the name of the main road that goes through Windham?

Ok 105.112.70.149 (talk) 15:29, 14 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]