Word Road Row Milestone Important Side Green Signs

In this episode of ESL Podcast, a "milestone" is a significant event or achievement that marks an important step in one's progress. The word is "derived" (taken; adapted) from "markers" (objects that indicate where something is) that are traditionally found alongside roads, because they are also known as milestones. The first milestones were "stone" (made from rock) "obelisks" (tall, four-sided towers or pillars) that showed distances along important Roman roads.

In the modern United States, most highways and other major "thoroughfares" (roads) have mileposts or "mile markers" along the side of the road. These are usually green or brown rectangular signs placed low on the side of the road with the word "mile" and then a number indicating which mile the sign is at. The miles are usually numbered from one end of the road or from where a road begins within a state.

The system in California is a little bit different. In California, markers called "postmiles" indicate the distance traveled through a "county" (one of many geographical and political subdivisions of a state). Each marker has three numbers: the route, the county, and the postmile.

The State of New York has "yet another" (emphasis that there are other systems) way of marking miles along roads: the reference markers. These are small green signs that are placed every one-tenth of a mile. Each sign has three rows of four characters. The top row indicates the route number, the middle row indicates the region, and the bottom row indicates the number of "increments" (addition of a certain amount) from where the numbering began.