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How many more miles? It depends on where you measure

A road sign near Barlow shows distances to nearby communities. (Photo Provided)

Driving down the road we all notice the large road signs noting how far away distant towns are. While driving across Ohio I started wondering how exactly that distance is measured. I know point A is where I am driving, but where exactly is point B? How are the miles calculated? It is not as simple as you think.

To get to the root of modern road measurement we must journey back to ancient Rome and what was called the Milliarium Aureum, which translates to the Golden Milestone. All roads were considered to start at this marker and all distances were measured from it. There are still mile markers in Italy measuring the distance in Roman numerals.

Thousands of years later, thousands of miles from the Roman Empire, a young country got into the act of establishing the Zero Milestone just south of the White House in Washington D.C. Inspired by the Golden Milestone, the Zero Milestone was erected in 1923. The intention was that all measurements in the country would be based on that stone.

The reality ended up being a little different, the area around the nation’s capital uses the point for distances, but most of the country uses a standard practice outline by the Federal Highway administration manual on traffic control devices. The guide dictates that the measurement should be to the center of town.

“A well-defined central area or central business district should be used where one exists. In other cases, the layout of the community should be considered in relation to the highway being signed and the decision based on where it appears that most drivers would feel that they are in the center of the community in question,” states the policy.

The U.S. Geological Servey once used the post office as the center point of towns. This is no longer the case because post offices are not always in the center of towns now. They use things such as city halls and town squares to mark the center. This means, of course, that you may reach the edge of town long before you get to the zero mark.

It is likely that very few people use the road signs to know the number of miles to their destination anymore. The digital age lets us know exactly how far it is to distance towns and how long it will take us to get there. Normally people put in an exact address into their smart phone to guide them to the precise locations they are traveling to. If you just put in the city however, you will get to see where mapping software considers to the town center. In general, it seems to follow the guidelines of the USGS.

Using Apple maps for instance, you will be guided to the following locations.

¯ In Marietta it will take you to a spot on Putnam Street in front of the City Building.

¯ In Belpre it takes you directly to the parking lot for the City Building.

¯ In Parkersburg it will take you to the side door of the Municipal Building at 1 Government Square.

¯ In Athens, it will guide you to a spot in front of the City Building on E. Washington Street, even though everyone that has ever attended Ohio University knows that the center of town is at the intersection of Court and Union streets a block away.

¯ In McConnelsville it will take you to the middle of the traffic circle next to the Morgan County Courthouse.

Different software will take you to slightly different spots. Google, for instance, will take you to the intersection of Second and Putnam streets in Marietta. The location is a block away from the Apple location and is likely a better representation of the center of town. In Belpre it takes you to the end of a random alley.

Regardless of what methods sign makers and GPS map makers use to note the exact center point of communities, the age-old question remains from the back seat. Are we there yet?

Art Smith is online Manager of The Times, he can be reached at asmith@mariettatimes.com. His column appears on Saturday.

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