20 December 2009

Milepost Zero


Mileposts are marked to show the distance relative to some point. So what do you call that absolute point?

This unique mile post can be seen on the way to Laxapana along Norton Bridge – Maskeliya Road. I think this is the only mile post no.0 in Sri Lanka. Has anyone seen a similar milepost anywhere in the world?

After some time, I found a similar one from Bucharest, Romania, thanks to Frieda's Blog.

17 comments:

roentare said...

Beautiful capture in deed. It does strike me as an alter of some sort.

George said...

I've never seen a zero milepost before. Is the milepost you pictured at the center of a district or of the country? It would be interesting to know how it came to be considered the starting point for measurement.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

No I have never seen this before... Zero, huh????? Interesting.... If you find out, let us know.
Betsy

Janith said...

wow! I never knew such things existed... wonder why this one reads 0? :/

Rajesh said...

Wow! never seen it here before. Good capture.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Roentarre,
Thanks mate!

George,
No it is just standing there at a small junction. :) Somebody must have come up with the bright idea of putting up an extra milepost for the starting point.

Betsy,
So no such thing in Tennessee. I'll let you know when i get more details of it :)

Chavie,
No idea. Usually we never mark the starting point. If that is the case we should see lot of zero posts in cities like Colombo, Kandy etc.

Rajesh,
Thanks. So no such thing in India too :)

Thanks all for your wonderful comments!!

Amaris in Wonderland said...

Cool. I haven't seen one like that before, in any of the 16 states that i've been through, but i will look into it. I know that the Texas State Capitol represents the "zero" starting point for our state. (excluding the Interstate mile markers) It would be interesting to find out if there is such a plaque on the grounds somewhere.
www.tspb.state.tx.us/spb/capitol/texcap.htm

rainfield61 said...

Fun. The world starts from here, 0 origin.

Jim said...

That's interesting. We have an obelisk in Sydney which is used to measure all road distances.
Sydney - City and Suburbs

Kirigalpoththa said...

Amaris,
Thanks a lot for the information! :)

Rainfield,
Yes. centre of the earth :D

J Bar,
That is nice to know. So there is a 0 milepost in Sydney!!

Μαριανα said...

This milepost zero has a poetical meaning for me... :)

Hello, nice to find your blog!

Kirigalpoththa said...

Mapiava,
Thanks for dropping by and for your comments :)

Slogan Murugan said...

Will look or them! Interesting

Kirigalpoththa said...

Slogan Murugan,
Thanks mate :)

Harshi said...

Wow.. cool capture. I've heard of it from mom so many times in the past but never got around to see it for real. And ya, it should be the one and only absolute zero milepost in Lanka.. I think.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Harumi,
There is a high chance to miss this milepost even you travel on this road. There is a small junction along Norton Bridge – Maskeliya Road. The road to right (If you travel towards Maskeliya) leads you back to Kithulgala. The milepost is actually at the start of this road by the side of Norton Bridge – Maskeliya Road.

Faz said...

I believe that the zero point for calculating mileage in Sri Lanka is the Fort Clock Tower and all distances are computed from this location.