Are the days of heading to downtown Lebanon on Exit 18 numbered? Maybe so.
The state Department of Transportation has endorsed the idea of changing exit numbers on interstates and turnpikes so that they reflect mileage rather than sequence.
New Hampshire is one of only four states that still number exits 1, 2, 3 and so on rather than by mileage from a set point, usually the state border. The federal government has long requested, and more recently urged, states to change their numbering so it’s uniform coast to coast.
Maine switched four years ago, Rhode Island switched two years ago, and last week Massachusetts said it would be making the change over the next two years.
If the Bay State switches, only New Hampshire, Vermont and Delaware would have sequential numbering on their interstates.
Last week, the state’s Department of Transportation said it supports a proposal to highway exits, part of New Hampshire’s next 10-year highway plan that could be considered by the Executive Council as early as this week.
Eileen Meaney of the DOT said the proposal could take up to a year to work its way through the Legislature.
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, the guidebook for signs on federal roads, exit numbers on interstates should be mileage.
Switching exit numbers to mileage readings in New Hampshire would cost well over $1 million because there are so many signs on the state’s highways.
In theory, the U.S. could withhold federal highway funds from New Hampshire if the state doesn’t change, but that threat has not been leveled.
The issue has percolated in Vermont as well. In July 2018, Gov. Phil Scott’s office voiced reservations before a meeting with federal officials earlier this summer to discuss a new exit-sign standard, with a spokesperson saying it would burden businesses that use exit numbers in their advertising.
“It would just be a really big impact on our small businesses,” Scott spokesperson Rebecca Kelley said, according to a report by VtDigger. “It’s all going to have to be updated.”
Material from The Associated Press and VtDigger was used in this report.