Neighboring the Triplets of Lincoln, just further up the road, is this simple sign that introduces the driver to Even Addition. This sign doesn’t have a story. It doesn’t have history. It just is. It’s not pretentious and doesn’t have a problem with just being who it is. It tells you how far things are. Nothing more, nothing else.

This very simple sign is very straightforward. The math is

This sign is located on I-80 westbound. The GPS coordinates are approximately N40 54 08.9 W96 31 51.8. See sign on map!

The Triplets of Lincoln are a trio of related signs that watch over drivers on I-80 as they go through Lincoln, NE. The Triplets of Lincoln spent their younger years on 1930s roads directing people around what were then popular highways and are now considered scenic byways. As they’ve grown older they have moved to a more exciting, but ultimately less enjoyable role, of guiding people through Lincoln as they speed along the freeway.

The Triplets are sisters. They were born in Lincoln in the early 1900s and were huge fans of be-bop music. They even sang in dance-halls from time-to-time and drew huge crowds of people. They all took their families interest in even numbers and lively music to heart. The Triplets reached the peak of popularity in the times of the Model-T.

The first of the Triplets was shorter than her sisters. She always had a harder time finding dance partners but later met a man that she spent a lot of time with but ultimately it didn’t work out. She was just to close too her sisters. They always lived together and sang as they did work around the house. This sister is found on eastbound I-80 directs visitors to the municipal airport and gives people the option to head into downtown Lincoln. This Triplets math is

The second Triplet was the tallest and the strongest of her sisters. The Sisters loved French culture and cuisine and this, the strongest sister, was responsible for getting the harvest of frogs for a variety of different dinner dishes. She was thin and not curvy, kind of a beanpole, but had a booming voice that made the dance halls explode with excitement. She now stays on eastbound I-80 and has the same math.

The last Triplet was separated from her sisters many years ago and found herself on westbound I-80. She was always the third wheel, never feeling quite as home with her other sisters as she felt she should. She loved the dance halls but she didn’t enjoy the frog soup as much as the others. She was always a loaner and kept more to herself. Her math is the same as her sisters

These signs are generally around GPS coordinates N40 51 47 W96 42 59, but they are specifically spread across I-80 as you pass through Lincoln, NE going both eastbound and westbound. See sign on map!

Who is Tom Osborne? That’s a very valid question. I had never heard of him. I found myself in the middle of Nebraska on Highway 34 southbound after exiting I-80 to get some gas and a rest stop when I was confronted with my lack of historical background as I was greeted to the Tom Osborne Expressway. What exactly the Tom Osborne Expressway is an expressway to, I’m not quite sure. It seems to connect Lincoln, NE and Hastings, NE however I-80 would be a much better way to go for this route.

I looked up Tom Osborne on Wikipedia and as always it provided me with the information I needed. It turns out Tom Osborne was a football coach for the dearly loved Nebraska Cornhuskers football team and later became a member of the US House of Representatives for Nebraska. I know people from Nebraska and I’ve even seen the place on game day and they really do love their football team. Osborne was an amazing football coach, winning 250 games faster than any coach in Division 1-A history! The compliment of this expressway is enhanced with the addition of a mathematically significant road sign.

Doniphan (spelled in the elegant English) and Hastings mark this homage to math. The sign reflects one of the more popular relationships found in Road Sign Math.

While it seems like a compliment to name an expressway that doesn’t go anywhere all that relevant and actually is not as good of a route as the nearby interstate after Osborne, I question the back-handed nature of it. After all, it is certainly better than naming a dead end street after you it is a far cry from a ritzy boulevard in a high-tax part of Omaha. To add insult to injury there is the thinly-veiled accusation that Mr. Osborne is a “square”. Why else would this road sign be put there?

This wonderfully ironic road sign is found on highway 34 southbound after exiting off I-80 eastbound in Nebraska. The GPS coordinates for this sign are approximately N40 49 02.6 W98 22 43.2. See sign on map!

The largest city in all of Nebraska takes a wonderful opportunity to welcome those that appreciate mathematically significant road signs to their beautiful city. Visitors to Omaha, whether they are heading westbound toward Colorado or eastbound to Iowa, are welcomed warmly on I-80 with a mathematical greeting.

Omaha doesn’t feel a need to be pretentious and hide behind complex math. Some cities may choose modulo function or square roots. Frankly you could consider the use of such evolved math to be unfriendly to families! Omaha on the other hand welcomes families and math aficionados alike with the simplest of mathematics

1 + 2 = 3

These two signs perched on I-80 are not only a welcome to Omaha but they also tell a story. A story of times that were better for Omaha. The first sign erected was in the boom times of Omaha. Times when every kid in America watched Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom eagerly on Sunday nights. In these lavish times Omahanians spared no expense in their signs. Spacious metal canvases reveled in fully spelling out “Street” and the use of the expensive superscript for “th” showed a level of class and sophistication that fit the city.

In recent years though times have gotten tough. The demise of popular children’s wildlife shows and the increasing crunch that has placed on city coffers has led Omaha to a much more frugal path. Now the “th” must be done in normal letters, the extra cost of the superscript simply cannot be absorbed with the financial situation the way it is. And without a doubt you must use the abbreviated “St” instead of spelling it out. No person in their right mind could be so unabashedly extravagant.

Together we will wait for the return of the vibrant prosperity of children’s wildlife shows. Some day I am sure that Omaha will replace their new sign with another sign of the golden prosperity of their metropolis. Perhaps one that even spells out “sixty” and “seventy-second street”. Who knows, maybe even an upgrade from “Street” to “Boulevard” (or “St” to “Blvd”, depending on how big the boom.)

These reverse matching signs are found on I-80, both westbound and eastbound as you go through Omaha, NE. The GPS coordinates for these signs is approximately N41 13 26.3 W96 01 24.8. See sign on map!