The Only Metric Highway in the US

[Rams]

America's only metric highway

A remnant of the Jimmy Carter era, Interstate 19 in southern Arizona is the only metric highway in the United States.
http://www.cnn.com/videos/living/2015/07/02/orig-americas-only-metric-highway-great-american-story-nws.cnn

Honestly, I have to ask WHY?

I haven't ridden this road and I doubt this would be a concern but, to me, this just doesn't make sense.

[specialdose]

    Thank you Ronald Reagan for defeating Jimmy Carter! ! ! !

[bscrive]

Come on guys, get with the rest of the world.  Do the switch, you might like it.   

[Serk]

Come on guys, get with the rest of the world.  Do the switch, you might like it.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdnmNLDvZFo

[Beardo]

My dad's generation HATED the switch to metric, but we are a farming family where everything is based on miles and acres. My generation grew up with it, but we still used miles when giving distances, especially in rural areas where your gravel roads are still based on a grid of sections of land. We still use acres...hectares still mean nothing to us. Up until about 3 years ago, I exclusively used mpg for fuel economy...I HATED when they'd give it in L/100km...it meant nothing to me. But now that vehicles all have the L/100km on the dash, it's starting to mean something, but I still convert to mpg to have it really mean something.

My daughter just took the Imperial system in Gr 10 math after only ever knowing metric, where everything is based on 10's and is easy to work with. She couldn't believe how ridiculous it seemed.

So yeah, it took 3 generations to make the switch here.

[msb]

I'm from the era that had most of my schooling under the old imperial measurement system, then had to switch over to metric in my late high school years. I do recall a fair amount of confusion at the time, although once used to it, multiplying or dividing anything by 10 .... moving a decimal forward or backwards sure became a whole heck of a lot easier than figuring out different measurements in the "old" system in many, if not most ways. All these years later, with a Canadian manufacturing business that exports throughout the US as well, along with the fact that I travel so much in the US for both business and when motorcycling, I am quite adept at converting back and forth.... especially with the most often used measurements such as weight, volume, and distance. Funny though, I still defer to lbs for weight a lot of the time ..... example, I weigh 225 lbs, rather than 102 kg (mmm...that 102 sure sounds svelte though ) and some common lengths such as 6' tall rather than 1.83 m, but pretty much everything else I defer to metric. The US is never changing...not in my lifetime anyway, so it is handy to know both.
The one thing I could never understand though was why the US Customary System gallon is smaller (3.78 Liters compared to 4.546 Liter) than the imperial gallon...this one always added more confusion back in the day

[DirtyDan]

Come on guys, get with the rest of the world.  Do the switch, you might like it.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdnmNLDvZFo

+1

Dan

[old2soon]

Motocrossing in japan In 66 and a friend of mine in the club had a rollaway tool box that had-American standard tools-Metric tools and British Whitworth tools. He had a beezer in addition to his Kaw. The speedometer on my 94 Olds has metric and miles on the readout and I can change with the push of a button tween total miles or have it read total kilometers. Course on the other hand I would have rather gotten 53 cents a kilometer than 53 cents a mile.  RIDE SAFE.

[gordonv]

I too had to change systems in school, but at a younger age. I still use a lot of Imperial, distance, weights and measures, I KNOW what they are. The main roads are 1 mile apart, who cares that they are 1.7Km. Wood is sold by 2"x4" and 4'x8', tile the same, 4", 8" or 12" sq. My first car where in miles.

Unless all these things where to change to metric sizes, and I don't mean a rough conversion, we will never see the end to Imperial.

As for the US and Imperial Gal, isn't the US based upon 4 quarts, and ours 5. Why, that I don't know the answer to.

[Gryphon Rider]

Yeah, but if you had switched to metric, imagine what you could have done. You'd have multiple thriving colonies on the moon, and Syria would be a happy vacation destination. 

I'm pretty much bilingual with the two systems, although I couldn't tell you how many kPa my tires need.

[hubcapsc]

I'm pretty sure that a 4X8 sheet of plywood in these
metric places is 1220 x 2438 millimeters... bleggg...
so much for moving the decimal point 

-Mike

[The emperor has no clothes]

I used to know the metric system better. The only one that stuck permanently was 1 kilo = 2.2 lbs.  

[Firefighter]

I just wish we would switch one way or the other, make up our minds! Guess the tool companys and bolt companys are happy, as vehicles have both american and metric hardware. My Valkyrie is metric but some accessorys use american so I have to carry both sets of tools!! Needed grease fittings for a Kioti tractor the other day, took a couple days of looking as the fittings were metric.

[Beardo]

I just wish we would switch one way or the other, make up our minds! Guess the tool companys and bolt companys are happy, as vehicles have both american and metric hardware. My Valkyrie is metric but some accessorys use american so I have to carry both sets of tools!! Needed grease fittings for a Kioti tractor the other day, took a couple days of looking as the fittings were metric.

The only reason there is both is because of the US. 

[The emperor has no clothes]

I just wish we would switch one way or the other, make up our minds! Guess the tool companys and bolt companys are happy, as vehicles have both american and metric hardware. My Valkyrie is metric but some accessorys use american so I have to carry both sets of tools!! Needed grease fittings for a Kioti tractor the other day, took a couple days of looking as the fittings were metric.

The only reason there is both is because of the US. 

It's only because we didn't want to offend our neighbors. We let some metric infiltrate our borders.
Seriously though, I don't know why there is such resistance. Even an old man can get pretty comfortable with metric tools. I'm probably better at eyeballing metric than SAE nowadays.

[Paxton]

Conversion from cm to inches:

http://www.convertunits.com/from/cm/to/inches

[sandy]

61 cu/in = 1000 cc's

[DirtyDan]

Kilometers to miles x .6

Miles to kilometers  x 1.6

Dan

[solo1]

Yes, our system is unique but metric is easier. 

This confusion resulted in the "Gimlie Glider" (SP) . A Canadian jet ran  out of fuel due to that and the pilot made an emergency dead stick landing by side slipping the huge jet into a small abandoned air field .  The airfield was being used as a drag race at the time but no one was hurt.  Amazing, sorta like 'Sully"

[Beardo]

I just wish we would switch one way or the other, make up our minds! Guess the tool companys and bolt companys are happy, as vehicles have both american and metric hardware. My Valkyrie is metric but some accessorys use american so I have to carry both sets of tools!! Needed grease fittings for a Kioti tractor the other day, took a couple days of looking as the fittings were metric.

The only reason there is both is because of the US.  

It's only because we didn't want to offend our neighbors. We let some metric infiltrate our borders.
Seriously though, I don't know why there is such resistance. Even an old man can get pretty comfortable with metric tools. I'm probably better at eyeballing metric than SAE nowadays.

 

You're doing better than me meathead. I can eyeball a 1/2 to a 9/16 no problem but if it's metric, I'm still grabbing 3 wrenches.

And solo1...did you see the show on Discovery Channel about the Gimli Glider?  Amazing flyin by that pilot.

[baldo]

Come on guys, get with the rest of the world.  Do the switch, you might like it.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdnmNLDvZFo

lolololol

[Jess from VA]

I use metrics on my Valks, and a few other things.

Other than that, we have 7.62, 5.56, and 9mm.... I've got big boxes of those, and am proficient with them.

Is a metric highway, like a metric monkey wrench?

[RP#62]

America's only metric highway

A remnant of the Jimmy Carter era, Interstate 19 in southern Arizona is the only metric highway in the United States.
http://www.cnn.com/videos/living/2015/07/02/orig-americas-only-metric-highway-great-american-story-nws.cnn

Honestly, I have to ask WHY?

I haven't ridden this road and I doubt this would be a concern but, to me, this just doesn't make sense.

That from Nogales to Tucson.  Its metric so that the illegals can better gage their progress.

-RP

[bscrive]

Come on guys, get with the rest of the world.  Do the switch, you might like it.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdnmNLDvZFo

lolololol

I didn't know you guys use metric....  

[Serk]

Come on guys, get with the rest of the world.  Do the switch, you might like it.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdnmNLDvZFo

lolololol

I didn't know you guys use metric....  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6MOnehCOUw

[Atl-Jerry]

Wasn't the Hubbel telescope SNAFU caused by metric confusion?  If NASA engineers can't get it right, the rest of us are in trouble.

[Serk]

Wasn't the Hubbel telescope SNAFU caused by metric confusion?  If NASA engineers can't get it right, the rest of us are in trouble.

It was the Mars Climate Orbiter...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter

It's all that silly Metric system's fault... If we'd all just stuck with SAE that never would have happened!

[Crackerborn]

1520 cubic centimeters equals 92.75 cubic inches, 1800 cc equals 109.84 ci.  The 108ci (1769.8cc) v-twinky can't catch either so what else is there to know?

[Rams]

America's only metric highway

A remnant of the Jimmy Carter era, Interstate 19 in southern Arizona is the only metric highway in the United States.
http://www.cnn.com/videos/living/2015/07/02/orig-americas-only-metric-highway-great-american-story-nws.cnn

Honestly, I have to ask WHY?

I haven't ridden this road and I doubt this would be a concern but, to me, this just doesn't make sense.

That from Nogales to Tucson.  Its metric so that the illegals can better gage their progress.

-RP

Hmm, Okay.   I don't suppose any locals have attempted to mis-direct those whom you speak of by modifying any of these signs?

In reference to which system we use, I really don't care, pick one and stick with it.   

[Disco]

Are there still 14 days in a metric fortnight?   ???

[Serk]

Many years ago I was working an outage for a server cluster that happened to be in a European country.

We had two bridge lines set up, one for the geeks actually working on fixing it, and one for management types who kept demanding updates from each other.

There was a CSR that was on both lines to get updates from us and give them to the suits on the other one.

We got the servers back up and functioning, but the time on the server was incorrect. Being the smart-ass I am I quipped "But that's okay, that server runs on metric time since it's in Europe."

Few minutes later we heard the CSR updating the customer management on the other line informing them, in all seriousness, that the time was different because that European server runs on metric time.

[MarkT]

I usually use metric in the shop with mm/cm; easier to work with.  But I still prefer gallons, miles, pounds, oz, grains, cubic inches,  in everyday use. Just because I know what they mean - momentum.

[DirtyDan]

Metric time........ wow

Dan

[czuch]

25 miles from the house, 22 years in Tucson, haven't rode it much.
Its a well kept piece of road, which is odd for the Tucson area.

[Savago]

Grew up using metric, learned the Imperial in high school and forgot about it for over many years until moving to US.

Being living in US for around 3 years and after the first year I was able to think in both systems and convert between them just fine.

But there is no competition: metric is better and easier to make conversions and it is what NASA uses officially for quite a few years already, since the SNAFU when a Mars orbiter was lost: http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric/

Also remember that the Saturn V rocket was designed by ex-Nazis *cough*, I mean former German scientists (so metric heads).

Our bikes are also metric and they beat the crap out of Harleys.
:-)

[Alberta Patriot]

Been in the Home Building Business since well before Canada Switched to Metric.
I have never used a metric tape in all the years I have been in the business.
A 2X4 is still a 2X4...a sheet of plywood is still 4 feet wide and 8 feet long.
All the home plans that I have drawn and submitted to the various municipalities I have built in still accept the imperial dimension drawings.
The section roads (every mile N&S by 2 miles E&W) on the prairies have not been torn up and relocated to fit the metric system...the one thing I really noticed...it is a lot easier for the service stations to bump the price at the pump by a dime per liter than to bump the price of a gallon by 40 cents.
Still waiting for the CFL to try 9 meters instead of 10 yards for a first down.  

[hubcapsc]

Been in the Home Building Business since well before Canada Switched to Metric.
I have never used a metric tape in all the years I have been in the business.
A 2X4 is still a 2X4...a sheet of plywood is still 4 feet wide and 8 feet long.

Its not that metric isn't arguably "better", but it sure would suck if
dimensioned lumber was all of a sudden... the wrong dimension. They'd
either have to stock both kinds of lumber, or people trying to work
in non-metric houses would just be screwed.

-Mike

[Beardo]

Been in the Home Building Business since well before Canada Switched to Metric.
I have never used a metric tape in all the years I have been in the business.
A 2X4 is still a 2X4...a sheet of plywood is still 4 feet wide and 8 feet long.

Its not that metric isn't arguably "better", but it sure would suck if
dimensioned lumber was all of a sudden... the wrong dimension. They'd
either have to stock both kinds of lumber, or people trying to work
in non-metric houses would just be screwed.

-Mike

Builders have adapted to a 2x4 not actually being 2"x4", so I'm sure you'd adapt. 

Lumber is one of those things...where a 2x4 would always be a 2x4, they'd still be sold in 8' lengths, a 4x8 sheet of plywood would always be 4'x8'.

Just like msb said, we switched decades ago, but some things like height, weights, lumber would likely all stay as they were, because that's what people know. Just going off what we've seen, anyway. I grew up in the metric system but I consider myself 6' 200lbs. No idea what I am in metric.