When the national highway system of interstate roadways was being developed in the 1940s and 1950s, states were given two options in how highway exits would be marked – consecutively or based on mileage.

Connecticut opted for the consecutive numbering system where, starting at the most westerly or southerly point, its begin with Exit 1 and each succeeding exit is numbered consecutively – 2, 3, 4, etc.

But in 2009, the Federal Highway Administration changed the rules and is now requiring Connecticut highway exits to be numbered based on miles. Over the next 12 to 18 months, that change will take place along Interstate 395, the 53-mile interstate that runs from East Lyme on the Connecticut shore to Thompson on the Massachusetts border.

We’ve known the change was coming for several years, the implementation put off until highways signs along the roadway had reached their “useful life” – approximately 30 years – and would need to be replaced. Now that the change is upon us, we’re paying attention and discovering it’s too late to stop it.

By the end of next year, exists along I-395 will be renumbered. Norwich’s Exit 80 will be Exit 11. Exit 77, the exit leading to the malls in Waterford, will be Exit 2. And Exit 100, at the northern most part of the highway, will become Exit 53.

It will cost $5.5 million – and for what?

The answer is money. As is typical of federal mandates, federal funding is tied to compliance. Failure to comply with the new order means fewer federal highway dollars, which are already in short supply and dwindling.

I-395 will be the first interstate to match exit numbers with mileage. It’s yet to be determined when or if other interstate highways – for example, I-95 and I-84 – will undergo a similar change.

The only real advantage of matching exit numbers to mileage posts is that it enables drivers to more easily determine how far they driven or how far they still have to go to reach their destination. But it’s hard to justify how that advantage can be worth the $5.5 million price tag – especially with today’s advanced GPS systems.

It does, however, remind us of the effort in the 1970s to have the United States join the rest of the world and convert to metrics, replacing inches and pounds with meters and kilograms. The conversion never materialized mostly because of the cost associated with it – but more so because of a lack of commitment to change the way we think.

In 1999, the U.S. promised the European Union that the conversion to the metric system would be completed by 2010. Legislation was supposed to be submitted to Congress in 2005, but it never was.

Ultimately, however, that change will happen. The global economy that we must now compete in will eventually force us to align with the rest of the world. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.

Which raises the question: if we’re going to commit $5.5 million to re-number highway exits to reflect mileage, why not add metrics to the formula and include kilometers to the new highway signage and begin the process of that change as well?