No Exit: Random Signs of the Times
Bac Totrong/Daily News via AP
The Federal Highway Administration has required exits to be numbered based on distance since 1970, but has been granting selective waivers for half a century.
As a good progressive, I defend the public sector. But every once in a while, your government does something truly moronic, warming the hearts of government-bashers everywhere.
If you live on the East Coast, you may have noticed that highway signs have been renumberedâjettisoning the commonsense sequential system, in which Exit 5 follows Exit 4, in favor of a lunatic scheme in which exit numbers are a function of distance (from what random starting point the hapless motorist can only guess). Thus, after Exit 5 might be Exit 38.