Q: I recently read a story about a proposed I-285 in North Carolina that will connect I-85 to Winston-Salem. Doesn’t either the U.S. Department of Transportation or the Federal Highway Administration prohibit the use of duplicate route numbers to minimize confusion?
— Lance DeLoach, Thomaston
A: I-285 in Atlanta and the one that will connect I-85 with Winston-Salem, N.C., are classified as local loops, and any city near I-85 can "have a loop named 285," a spokesman with the Federal Highway Administration told Q&A on the News. "It's a bypass for I-85 traffic, like the one in Atlanta, a local viaduct," he said. The interstate system is based on two-digit numbers (I-85 or I-75, for example), although there are single-digit interstates, and any three-digit offshoot is considered a local, or auxiliary, spur, he said. There is an I-185 that connects I-85 with Columbus in Georgia and another I-185 in Greenville, S.C.
Q: Is there a precise definition of an assault weapon?
— George Cain, Marietta
A: The Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which was part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, prohibited the manufacturing of 19 types of semi-automatic weapons, including AK-47s, Uzis and TEC-9s, according to The Associated Press, but didn't put a precise definition on the term. The ban expired in 2004. Connecticut describes an assault weapon as "any selective-fire firearm capable of fully automatic, semi-automatic or burst fire at the option of the user." It lists guns the state defines as assault weapons here: www.jud.ct.gov/ji/criminal/glossary/assaultweapon.htm.
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