Road signs and markings

Sebastian is, oddly, really interested in intersections and road markings and so forth lately. He makes endless drawings like the one above, with stretched-out writing to mimic the elongated font they use for words like "stop ahead" on the road, and different variations on lane configurations and freeway entrances etc. There is a feeder road to the freeway where they have those variable lanes (the ones that can go one direction at certain times of day, and then the other direction at other times of day) and every time we go anywhere, he wants me to drive on that road so he can check out the interesting lanes. So, of COURSE we had to learn more about road signs and markings during our car unit!

I thought one of the coolest things we learned about was the Interstate Highway numbering system. You can tell whether an interstate runs north-south or east-west based on its number, and beltways are always three numbers with the number of the "parent" route plus an even-numbered prefix. (So, in Utah, I-215 is a belt route around I-15, and if there were another big city that needed a belt route, it would be I-415. Interesting, huh!) If the branching-off route is not a belt, but just a spur to a city, the first digit of its three-digit number will be odd rather than even. U.S. Highways or Routes have their own numbering system too. It's all fascinating—this is the sort of thing I love knowing! We learned more about this here and here.

This street sign guide is great! Tells all about the different categories of signs and what they mean.

Sebastian is still skeptical about this one. He thinks the lines are more like eight feet long. I promised him someday, late at night or when a road is deserted, we will pull over with our tape measure and see for ourselves. Until then, you just have to believe the article: Those lane divider lines are longer than you think!

You didn't realize how great it is to know the name of these things, but it is.

We learned the name of these things years ago, and still remember fondly how little Junie would call out, as a baby, when we drove onto one: "Ah-bip!" That meant "rumble strip."

Pavement marking guide. Sebastian is super into this, as seen here.

More about road lines.

Another pavement marking and sign guide. Sebastian wanted a copy of this printed out for himself. :)

Very interesting: this tells about the reflective sheeting they use on road markings.

This is fun; you can take a practice driver's license test. I was really confident that I knew everything on it, but there were a couple I missed!