Exit 0
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There are several places with a highway interchange labeled as Exit 0 (zero). In some U.S. states (including Massachusetts), this is the point where a highway begins, usually at another highway. Motorists driving on such a road must exit onto the other highway in one direction or the other. While this occurs everywhere, only some places officially designate this as an exit numbered "0". A few exits (or visitor centers) are right at a state line, and if the state uses a mile-log system, then the numbering system itself requires that the exit number be zero.
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[edit] Explanation
The distinction is between ordinal numbers (first, second, third, ...), which are used for order, and cardinal numbers (0, 1, 2, 3, ...), which are used for quantity. Some states number their exits using ordinal numbers, beginning with 1 (meaning first), but other states using cardinal numbers that measure distance from a starting point. In the latter case, the starting point is labelled zero, because the exit occurs at a distance of zero from the starting point of the highway.
Exit numbers that measure distance are cardinal numbers, while exit numbers that identify a position in a sequence are ordinal numbers. Similar distinctions occur in numbering the floors of a building, and in numbering the years in history. See Floor numbering and Year zero.
[edit] Occurrences
[edit] At state lines
- Interstate 10 in western Texas, at the border with New Mexico (see Anthony, Texas and Anthony, New Mexico)
- Interstate 40 in western Texas, at the border with New Mexico (see Glenrio, Texas/New Mexico)
- Interstate 65 in Central Kentucky, at the border with Indiana
- Interstate 70 in northern West Virginia, at the border with Ohio (in Wheeling, West Virginia on Wheeling Island)
- Interstate 90 in western Montana, at the border with Idaho
- Interstate 90 in northwestern Indiana, at the border with Illinois (in Hammond, Indiana approaching the Chicago Skyway)
[edit] At other highways
- Massachusetts
- New Brunswick
- Terminus of the Trans-Canada Highway in Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver, British Columbia
- Halifax Bicentennial Drive terminates at Bayers Road and the final exit to Joseph Howe Drive is listed as Exit 0.
