Bring up the metric system in America, and you may get stared at like a leper. The lack of fractions and use of decimals confuses numerous. It can come off as a foreign language. Nevertheless, some people have tried to convert the United States to the orthodoxy of the metric scale method. It has never been successful. There is one highway that only uses the metric system though, Arizona’s Interstate 19. nineteen runs from the border of Mexico to Tuscon, so it’s not as if it’s a large highway. That said, this may become a thing of the past. Individuals want to change the signs.
Lonesome extent of metric street on I-19
Interstate 19 in Arizona is an oddity. It is the sole American highway to use metric measurements. Arizona Interstate 19 runs from Tuscon to Nogales, where it meets the border of Mexico. Because distances are in metric units, so are the exit numbers. Distance in miles is how exit sign numbers are determined. However, according to the New York Times, a few people are getting confused by the marks, and the state government is looking at replacing the marks, which would cost more than $1 million. This could potentially confuse motorists even further and cause some longstanding companies and tourist locations along the way to suffer. Also, motorists heading north from Mexico may also be confused, as Mexico uses the metric system.
Exactly why kilo away a good custom?
You will find good deals of cultural traits that America carried over from Britain. Our method of measurement is one of them. The American system and previous British system aren’t entirely identical, of course. There were changes made. Most of our measurements though, such as pints and miles, feet, and inches, are from the English system. According to Wikipedia, there are solely three countries that do not use metric units as the official standard. Those other two holdouts would be Burma and Liberia. Nevertheless, there are several attempts to view about converting the United States to the metric method. The last one was a pilot study begun by the Ford administration.
It isn’t likely the United States will change to or start utilizing the metric scale method, and unfortunately, those marks will likely get changed. It is still taught in schools as part of the science curriculum, as scientists worldwide use metric scale units.
Additional reading
NY Times
nytimes.com/2010/09/15/us/15highway.html?_r=1 and ref=automobilesvv
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_States
