Milestone
A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a
Milestones are installed to provide linear referencing points along the road. This can be used to reassure travellers that the proper path is being followed, and to indicate either distance travelled or the remaining distance to a destination. Such references are also used by maintenance engineers and emergency services to direct them to specific points where their presence is required. This term is sometimes used to denote a location on a road even if no physical sign is present. This is useful for accident reporting and other record keeping (e.g., "an accident occurred at the 13-mile mark" even if the road is only marked with a stone once every 10 miles).
History
Roman Empire
Byzantine Empire
A mile-marker monument, the Milion, was erected in the early 4th century AD in Constantinople. It served as the starting point for measurement of distances for all the roads leading to the cities of the Byzantine Empire, and had the same function as the Milliarium Aureum of Ancient Rome. The Milion survived intact until at least the late 15th century. Its fragments were discovered again in the late 1960s. A fragment is re-erected as a pillar.
Islamic civilization
In Islamic civilisation, use of milestone began in the first Islamic century. The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik bin Marwan laid the milestones along the paths that travelers used, and some were found in the city of Faiq in the Syrian Golan, which is, Faiq, one of the main road stations throughout the Islamic ages. The function of these stones was to guide travelers and introduce them to long distances, as the separation between one and the other was one mile. Many of these stones were found in more than one location, one in the Islamic Archeology Museum in Istanbul and another in the Jerusalem Museum. A translation of the text written on the stone currently found in the Kasserine Museum in the Golan reads as follows:
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
There is no god but God alone, and there is no partner for it. Muhammad is the Messenger of God. He ordered the making of these miles, Abdul Malik bin Marwan, Commander of the Faithful. At the hands of a consultant, the Lord of the Faithful.
In Sha'ban from the year eighty-five, from Damascus to this stone fifty-three miles.
Post-Medieval Europe
In Europe, the distance measured typically starts at specified point within a city or town, as many roads were named for the towns at either end. For example, in London, United Kingdom, a plaque near the Eleanor cross at Charing Cross is the reference point from which distances from London to other towns and cities are measured. In the UK, milestones are especially associated with former turnpike roads.
The British built many milestones on the
India
The Kos Minars or Mile Pillars are medieval milestones that were made by the 16th-century
Modern highways
The historical term milestone is still used today, even though the "stones" are typically metal highway location markers and in most countries use kilometres and metres rather than miles and yards. Also found today are more closely spaced signs containing fractional numbers, and signs along railways, beaches and canals.
Australia
Metrication in Australia caused the former mile markers to be gradually replaced with 10 km markers on highways and country roads, which are referred to as "kilometre plates".
Kilometre plates have white text on a trapezoidal green background, and are generally located about a metre above the ground. They have a letter which indicates the town or city they are referring to, and a number, which is the distance in kilometres to that town or city.
Kilometre plates are now generally 5 km apart on major highways and 10 or 20 km apart on less popular or rural highways, though there are many exceptions. Kilometre plates are supplemented by signboards, which display distances to several towns ahead.
Some mile markers are retained as curiosities (see gallery). These include stone markers on Victoria's Glenelg Highway at Delacombe,
Canada
Usage varies by province, as highways are under provincial jurisdiction. In Alberta, for example, kilometre markers are green metal signs with white lettering, and are generally placed every 4 km starting at the last major intersection to the south or west, depending on whether the route runs north–south or east–west.
India
Milestones on National highways of India typically have white backgrounds with yellow tops (on national highways) or green tops (on state highways). The names of cities and distances are painted in black. The names of the nearest towns and cities are written along with distance in kilometres. On undivided highways, both sides of the milestones are used, telling the distance to the nearest cities in each direction. The highway number is written on the head of the milestone. The sum of the distances of two nearest cities in each direction from the milestone is listed on the side.
Philippines
Milestones in the Philippines are found in
The second label is a letter, standing for the first letter of the next town if one is traveling on that direction, then the distance in kilometers, from the town. In the example to the right, a milestone in Ortigas Avenue in Pasig says it is 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) from Rizal Park, and 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) from Cainta. On the other side, the milestone there says it is 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) from San Juan.
Most milestones only have labels on one side, facing the driver. Others have labels on all four sides.
United Kingdom
In the UK,
United States
In the U.S.
Myanmar
In
Zimbabwe
Railway mileposts
The Railways Clauses Consolidation Act 1845[9] compels UK railway companies to provide their passengers with a means of determining the distance travelled (fares were set by distance at this time). Section 94 states:
"The company shall cause the length of the railway to be measured, and milestones, posts, or other conspicuous objects to be set up and maintained along the whole line thereof, at the distance of one quarter of a mile from each other, with numbers or marks inscribed thereon denoting such distances."[10]
Similar laws were passed in other countries. On the modern railway, these historical markers are still used as infrastructure reference points. At many points, the distances shown on the markers are based upon points no longer on the network – for example, distances measured via a closed line or from a junction which has subsequently been moved. Whole mileposts are usually supplemented by half and quarter posts. Structure signs often include the mileage to a fair degree of precision; in the UK, the chain (equal to 1⁄80 mile or 20 metres) is the usual accuracy. In the U.S. and Canada, miles are "decimalized", so that, for example, there may be a "milepost 4.83" to mark a junction, crossing, bridge or tunnel.
In metricated areas, the equivalent is the kilometric point.
Boundaries
Surveyors place milestones to mark the boundaries between the jurisdictions separated by borders. A series of such boundary markers exists at one mile (1.6 km) intervals along the borders of the District of Columbia in the United States.
Gallery
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Milestone nearB1149 in Norfolk
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A milestone marked "A.D. 1836", on the B3306 near Land's End Airport
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Milestone on the A5130 in Broughton, Milton Keynes
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Milestone on the B3318 in Penwith, Cornwall
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Milestone on B5500, in the township of Balterley, Staffordshire
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Milestone on the B940 near Lathones in Fife, Scotland
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Milestone on Sutton High Street, Sutton, London
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Milestone on Rod Moor Road, Dronfield, Derbyshire, UK
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Milepost 18 fromBatemans Bay, New South Wales, now preserved in the town. 35°42′05″S 150°10′53″E / 35.7014°S 150.1815°E
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A milestone along the King's Road in Sipoo
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A milestone in Jakobstad
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A milestone in Äänekoski
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A milestone near Haridwar on an Indian highway
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A Milestone onNH309A in Uttarakhand, India.
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A milestone at Milestone in County Tipperary
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Cast iron milestone on N71 in County Cork
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A milestone in Mountbellew, County Galway
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1774 Caleb Aldrich milestone onGreat Road in Rhode Island, United States
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Great Road in Rhode Island, United States
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Milestone 8 on the Upper Boston Post Road in Harvard Square, Massachusetts, United States
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Milestone along the boundary of the original District of Columbia set in 1792 and now marking the boundary between Washington, D.C., and Maryland in the United States.
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Historic granite milestone in Kingston, Massachusetts, marking the 42nd parallel.
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Savyolovskoye direction of Moscow Railway
See also
- Boundary marker
- Exit number
- Ichirizuka
- Highway location marker
- Kilometre zero
- Milepost equation
- Parting stone
- Reassurance marker – a road sign with a route number, but no distance
- Survey marker
- Waymarking
References
- ISBN 978-1-4081-0381-4.
- Clarendon Press.
- ^ "Milestones salvaged and added to the new museum's collection". Wirt Artna. Archived from the original on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
- ^ "'Monumental' treasure house". The Times of India. 12 July 2009. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
- ^ "Kos Minar". University of Alberta. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ^ Khandekar, Nivedita (27 October 2012). "A milestone on the highway". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 23 September 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
- Highways Agency. "Driver Location Signs - Frequently Asked Questions". Archived from the originalon 10 August 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- ^ "Poultney Family - Mort's Tree". 5 September 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
The kilometre marker near the tree - distance from Bulawayo [Photo caption]
- ^ "94 Milestones". Railways Clauses Consolidation Act 1845. Retrieved 3 November 2008.
- ^ "Section 26: Distance Markers". Railway Signs and Signals of Great Britain. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2007.
External links
- "Brief History of American Milestone Markers". Stones of Northeastern United States. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- Milestone in Ayrshire, Scotland
- The Milestone Society UK
- Mileposts and milestones on the Leeds Liverpool Canal
- milestones on the Thames & Severn Canal (and more than 41 other canals)
- map of milestones mid Gloucestershire UK (including old fingerposts)
- Article in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities with further links, including to a photograph of a Roman milestone in Orvieto
- Inventory of Roman milestones in France (in French)
- Section 2D.46 of the U.S. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
- MileStonesGurus, a weblog pictures project with only milestones with an equal KM point