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So you want to drive in Dallas

a satellite overview of the area my house is in, with overlaid street names

This is a satellite / street map hybrid of the view over my house. As my wife will no doubt attest, I have had more than a little trouble understanding the organization of the roads in the greater Dallas / Fort Worth area (AKA the metroplex). In particular, the highways cause me a lot of grief. Here are some of my favorite oddities:

  • W Bedford-Euless Rd is East of Bedford-Euless Rd
  • Grapevine Hwy = 26
  • Davis Blvd = 1938
  • 183 = 121, but only sometimes
  • NE Mall Blvd = Arcadia St
  • When I get on to NE Loop 820 from my house, my choices are West and South. Northeast. West. South. For real.
  • Following NE Loop 820 from the west to the south, it joins with 183 / 121, and all three highways head south together

The most sensible thing on this map is “Short St.,” because it is.

This morning, I almost missed my turn onto Highway 77, because it was labeled as Interstate 35 East South. I’d like to say that it was incorrectly labeled, but, no. They are both “valid” names for the same street.

Wanna hear something hilarious?

Highway 77 and Interstate 35 East South are also called Stemmons Freeway. And if you follow Stemmons Freeway far enough to the south, you’ll find North Stemmons Freeway, to the west. Check it out:

a satellite overview of north dallas

See, there’s Interstate 35 East (AKA Stemmons Freeway, AKA 77 (maybe)), going North and South as no doubt you would expect. Crossing over it is 635 (AKA Lyndon B Johnson Freeway).

And good old Harry Hines Blvd, where the weak are killed and eaten, exists simultaneously to the west and east of Stemmons Freeway with the names 354, 77, and North Stemmons Freeway.

I started looking at these maps in an effort to understand better how to get places. Unfortunately, I know less now than when I began, because of the massive brain cell damage. The rest of this post is a private message to the citizens of Dallas.

Rules of the Road Names

  1. Each road gets exactly one name.
  2. Barring traffic lights and other cars, if I can drive along the road without stopping (or even reaching terminal velocity), then the name remains the same.
  3. If, through poor planning, you absolutely must split a road into more than one road, then you have created two new roads, with one new name each

Huggles,

Bry

16 August 2005, 17:37