I wish it talked more about place-naming, routes, roads, and all that.
I can't give you directions to a lot of places because I can't memorize the arbitrary sequence of route 123, then left on 56A, exit 6, then sharp right onto 9. They're just mostly arbitrary, indistinguishable roads. The numbers have some meanings [1], but it's not enough. Routes and roads should be named according to distinguishable landmarks or features, maybe in addition to their number. Birch Parkway better be dotted with birch trees. Cathedral Street better have a big cathedral that rises up above the other buildings. The canyon road flanked with sandstone should be called Red Rock Pass. These names are not only prettier than random numbers, but they're meaningful and useful.
Of course places and features change over time, but not that dramatically, and even if they do, just rename them. Constantinople is now Istanbul. We can change the meaningful names, but keep the number IDs.
US highway numbering was meant for machines, not people - even if the machines of the time consisted of people obeying rules and following instructions.
I can't give you directions to a lot of places because I can't memorize the arbitrary sequence of route 123, then left on 56A, exit 6, then sharp right onto 9. They're just mostly arbitrary, indistinguishable roads. The numbers have some meanings [1], but it's not enough. Routes and roads should be named according to distinguishable landmarks or features, maybe in addition to their number. Birch Parkway better be dotted with birch trees. Cathedral Street better have a big cathedral that rises up above the other buildings. The canyon road flanked with sandstone should be called Red Rock Pass. These names are not only prettier than random numbers, but they're meaningful and useful.
Of course places and features change over time, but not that dramatically, and even if they do, just rename them. Constantinople is now Istanbul. We can change the meaningful names, but keep the number IDs.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Numbered_Highway...