Recently Street Smarts received its longest-distance correspondence ever.
Edd Henry of San Juan Nepomuceno, Paraguay writes:
Every time I return from Canada I think of making this suggestion: Since Blaine is the northernmost city of I-5, I think it’d be fun to have a new mileage sign just a mile or two south of the border. It would read:
Portland, Oregon 284 mi 457 km
Hilt, California 588 mi 946 km
Tijuana, Mexico 1,384 mi 2,227 km
Henry explains that he and his family are Lynnwood natives and moved to Paraguay last summer. He said his mother lives in Everett and he plans to return periodically.
He continues: When I enter the U.S. on I-5, I’m always curious, “How far is it to Oregon?’ ‘How far is it to California?’ and especially, ‘How far is it to the southern end of Interstate 5?’
“I’ve never submitted my suggestion before because I realize the response will be ‘costs’ or ‘money,’ but when I see so many other interstate signs, I figure it’s only one extra sign, and a fun one at that.”
Henry said he got his mileage figures from Mapquest directions, so I duplicated the effort and they checked out. I couldn’t get Tijuana to come up, so I used San Ysidro, Calif., the last town before the Mexican border, and got 1,381, three fewer than Henry.
At first I thought he used Hilt, Calif. as a joke. Henry explained it’s because it’s the first town in California as you cross the border from Oregon.
He uses the word “town” very loosely. It’s a tiny, former mining settlement about a mile off I-5, hidden in a valley in the Siskiyou Mountains.
Peggy Linnihan of Edmonds writes: As I traveled between Edmonds and Marysville on I-5 in the recent past, there were posted signs instructing drivers of standard-size vehicles to allow over-sized trucks ample space for braking. It has been my observation that many of the drivers of those trucks violated that same rule in relationship to other drivers.
Often when changing lanes these trucks move right in behind standard size vehicles, leaving very little room between the truck and the vehicle and no room to make an emergency stop by the over-size truck.
When the truck changes lanes and all I can see in my rear view mirror is a grill, the driver of the truck is not adhering to the same request made of other drivers. These signs now have been removed. Have they been re-located? How were these signs funded?
Bronlea Mishler, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, responds: The signs Peggy noticed were funded and installed between 2005 and 2007 as part of a statewide collaboration between the transportation department, the State Patrol and the Washington Traffic Safety Commission to reduce the number of collisions involving commercial vehicles.
In 2005, the Department of Transportation created and put up eight signs along I-5 in Skagit and Whatcom counties and an additional eight signs along I-5 between Olympia and Dupont. The signs had the message “leave more space” along with a graphic showing drivers how much space to allow before merging in front of a commercial vehicle.
The signs were removed in April 2007. Because the signs were part of a larger public safety campaign, once the campaign ended, the signs were no longer part of a coordinated outreach effort and would therefore not be as effective and were taken down. None of the signs were installed along I-5 between Edmonds and Marysville.
E-mail us at stsmarts@heraldnet.com. Please include your city of residence.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
