On beltways in right-side driving nations, traffic travels in a clockwise direction in the inner lane (blue) and counterclockwise in the outer lane (red).
Inner/outer directions identify the direction of travel between opposing lanes of traffic along ring roads and beltways. Although most uses of the words inner and outer refer to two distinct routes, the labels are also used in the United States as a way to sign individual routes that encircle a city or metropolitan area, on which east-west and north-south orientations cannot be applied uniformly.
If traffic must flow along the right lane(s) of a highway, traffic traveling in a clockwise direction around a loop will always be in the “inner” lane(s) (assuming there is no lane crossing). Likewise, traffic traveling in a counterclockwise direction will always be in the “outer” lanes. “Inner” and “outer” labels are derived from this reasoning. In the United States and other nations in which automobiles drive on the right side of the road, “inner” denotes the clockwise lanes around the loop’s centerpoint, and “outer” the counterclockwise lanes around the loop’s centerpoint.
Variations on these labels include “inner loop”/”outer loop”, “inner beltline”/”outer beltline”, and “inner ring”/”outer ring”.
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Criticism and alternatives
Despite the logical benefits and uniformity of inner/outer labeling, many find the concept confusing. Compass directions (e.g., “east” and “west”) are by far more commonly used to sign routes in the United States. More confusion can occur in places where more than one route encircles an area (such as Houston, Texas, which is encircled by Interstate 610 and the Sam Houston Tollway); the outermost route may be called an Outer Loop and the innermost route may be called an Inner Loop (like in Rochester, New York As a result, most applications of “inner” and “outer” are secondary to compass directions, which change as one travels along the loop.
Some beltways, such as Interstate 285 in Georgia, divide the loop into quadrants and sign those by compass directions (e.g., “Northern Perimeter West”/”Northern Perimeter East”).
Examples
The Capital Beltway is signed by all four compass directions at various points, but is consistently signed with inner/outer labeling.
Primary labeling system
- Georgia State Route 10 Loop encircling Athens, Georgia
- Hampton Roads Beltway encircling the Hampton Roads area
- Interstate 440 encircling Raleigh, North Carolina (truncated in 2002, labels being phased out)
Secondary labeling system
- Interstate 485 encircling Charlotte, North Carolina
- Interstate 495/Capital Beltway encircling Washington, D.C.
- Interstate 695 encircling Baltimore, Maryland
See also
- Orbital road
- Roundabout
References
- ^ Photo Gallery – Monroe County | Inner Loop
- ^ Dr. Traffic (2006-05-14). “Making heads or tails of inner, outer loops”, The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved on 7 March 2008.
- ^ Kurumi: Interstate 285
- ^ Southeast Roads: Athens Loop Pic
- ^ Teresco: I-695 pic (Accessed Dec 27, 2006)
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner/outer_directions”
Categories: Orbital roads | Road transport