Editing Milestone (section)

{{Short description|Numbered marker along a road or boundary}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|Milemarker|the music group|Milemarker (band)}}
{{Redirect|Milepost|the publication|The Milepost{{!}}''The Milepost''}}
{{distinguish|Millstone}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}

[[File:Cumberland 258.jpg|thumb|upright|A mile marker on the [[United States|U.S.]] [[National Road]] giving distances from many places]]
[[File:Milestone@Penrhosgarnedd 2.jpg|thumb|upright|Slate milestone near [[Bangor, Wales|Bangor]], [[Wales]]]]

A '''milestone''' is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a [[road]], [[railway|railway line]], [[canal]] or [[border|boundary]]. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks like [[Mileage sign|mileage signs]]; or they can give their position on the route relative to some datum location. On roads they are typically located at the side or in a [[Central reservation|median or central reservation]]. They are alternatively known as '''mile markers''' (sometimes abbreviated '''MMs'''), '''mileposts''' or '''mile posts''' (sometimes abbreviated '''MPs'''). A "'''kilometric point'''" is a term used in [[Metrication|metricated areas]], where distances are commonly measured in [[kilometre]]s instead of [[mile]]s. "'''Distance marker'''" is a generic unit-agnostic term.

Milestones are installed to provide [[linear referencing]] points along the road. This can be used to reassure [[travel]]lers that the proper path is being followed, and to indicate either [[distance]] travelled or the remaining distance to a destination. Such references are also used by maintenance engineers and emergency services to direct them to specific points where their presence is required. This term is sometimes used to denote a location on a road even if no physical sign is present. This is useful for [[incident report|accident reporting]] and other record keeping (e.g., "an accident occurred at the 13-mile mark" even if the road is only marked with a stone once every 10 miles).