Where Is a Name Better Than a Number? In California

Dear Street Smart:

The freeways in other states I’ve driven in have mileage markers, and all their exits are numbered. This makes it very easy for me to calculate mileage between exits. Unfortunately, California doesn’t label its freeway exits with numbers. I have always been perplexed as to why this is so. Ken Joh

Laguna Hills

California doesn’t have numbered freeway exits because the state was ahead of its time, according to Jim Drago, a spokesman for Caltrans in Sacramento.

The numbering of exits nationwide began in the 1950s when the federal government began requiring states to uniformly number their highways. By then, however, California already had its own way of marking and measuring state highways, an intricate network of “post-mile” markers.

Developed in the 1930s to help highway maintenance crews pinpoint projects and law enforcement officials locate accidents, the system consists of small signs resembling rowboat paddles along highways and freeways.

Beginning with 0 at each county line, they mark the distance from south to north and east to west. Thus, the first sign on the northbound Santa Ana Freeway at the San Diego County line reads 0.0, while the last one before the freeway crosses into Los Angeles County reads 44.38.

The signs are placed every mile in rural areas and every half mile in urban areas.

“We had a network already up and functioning, and we were already collecting data on it,” Drago said, describing the situation in the 1950s. “All of our records are based on our post-mile system, and to change that would be costly and serve no purpose.”

Swayed by such arguments, federal officials exempted the state from conforming to the country’s exit-numbering system, and California’s markers remain today.

The practice of naming exits after the streets to which they lead stems from the 1920s when, in Southern California anyway, the early freeway system took the form of spokes radiating from the Los Angeles Civic Center. Those early roads became known by the names of their destinations; hence, the Harbor, San Bernardino and Santa Ana freeways.

Eventually, the practice of naming things for their destinations was applied to exits as well.

“I mean, which makes more sense?” Drago reasons. “Isn’t a sign saying ‘Disneyland next three exits’ just as effective as one saying ‘Exits 13, 14 and 15?’ ”

Dear Street Smart:

Are the Botts dots ever replaced on the freeways? On the San Diego Freeway in the area of the John Wayne Airport, they seem to be disappearing each time we drive by. Without them, it makes it extremely difficult to follow the lane in the dark.

Selma Meyer

Laguna Hills

The Botts dots in Orange County are constantly being replaced, according to a Caltrans spokeswoman, and the ones you refer to will be replaced this month.

There are two types of Botts dots, those white bumps that mark freeway lanes and are named after the chemist who invented the adhesive for them. The reflective kind cost $3.50 apiece installed, last up to 10 years and are used sparingly to divide lanes. The more common non-reflective type cost about $1.50 each and can last up to 15 years.

Despite their longevity, Caltrans spokeswoman Pam Gorniak said, the markers are inspected at least every three years and, if necessary, replaced. The work is done at night by a crew using a specially equipped truck.

The most recently completed replacement project was along the 11.7 miles of the Orange Freeway from the Orange Crush to the Los Angeles County line.

Currently, Caltrans maintenance crews are replacing the Botts dots along the San Diego Freeway from the San Gabriel Freeway to the El Toro Y, a stretch that includes the area near the airport. The work should be done by the end of the month, Gorniak said.

Dear Street Smart:

There’s a railroad crossing in Orange, between Bristol Lane and Fletcher Avenue, that was paved over by the city several months ago. Unfortunately, the RR Crossing signs are still up.

Because the signs are there, OCTA and school buses are required to stop. Besides being annoying to drivers and passengers alike, it makes for a strange situation because other traffic doesn’t stop, often having to pass around the buses.

Is it the responsibility of the city or the railroad to take down the signs?

Michael D. Zorn

Santa Ana

It is the city’s responsibility, according to Hamid Bahadori, traffic engineer for the city of Orange.

There, as in other cities, he said, various public vehicles, including buses, are required to stop at all posted railroad crossings.

“If the tracks are out of commission, it is a nuisance,” Bahadori said.

The signs will be removed by the end of the week, he said.

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Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition. Readers are invited to submit comments and questions about traffic, commuting and what makes it difficult to get around in Orange County. Include simple sketches if helpful. Letters may be published in upcoming columns. Please write to David Haldane, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, send faxes to (714) 966-7711 or e-mail him at David.Haldane@latimes. com. Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted.