This year there has been more people traveling around the United States by way of car. For anyone that is not used to using I-19, they got a little shock this year. In fact, most drivers that are new to this 63 mile interstate, which connects Tucson and the Mexican border, have to do a double take every time they pass a highway distance and exit sign. This is because all of these signs are in kilometers.

If this is not confusing enough, these are the only signs that are in kilometers. The speed limit signs are not, they are still in miles per hour. Also, the mile post signs are in miles as well. However, all of the 400 distance and exit signs along both sides of the interest are in kilometers. A recent survey has shown that many holiday travelers admitted to being at least a little confused by the sudden switch to the Metric system.

I-19 is one of the few interstates in the United States that uses kilometers on such signs. The United States Metric Association, which is a group that supports the United States’ adoption of the metric system, says that other border areas, north and south, often add metric signs on segments of their roads to accommodate visitors.

For example, there is a section on I-89 in Vermont near the Canadian border that uses kilometers. Signs on section of highway in California, Tennessee and Connecticut also use miles and kilometers in many of their signs.

Right now Arizona is considering converting all of the signs to miles. This is a move that is starting to stir up just as much controversy as these signs have caused for the past 30 years. So why are people upset about the signs being changed? Well many merchants already have advertisements with the exit sign in their campaign. Thus, they will have to go through and change it.