Single Panel signs or "unisigns"

[peterj920]

Wisconsin is moving towards putting route signs all on one panel (directional, JCT, Arrows etc).  I have examples below. 





Where there would normally be gaps, WISDOT places black panels.  I was wondering if any other states are using assemblies such as these and what you think of these signs?

[jakeroot]

This is all WSDOT does now, except, for the most part, interstate re-assurance markers (LGS's are the preferred method for directing traffic to freeways, though uni-signs with more typical arrows are plentiful). There are a couple of different styles, depending on the region:

[JoePCool14]

I like WisDOTs unisigns. They are pleasant to the eye and are overall better quality. However, they aren't really necessary if it's just a simply reassurance marker on an interstate.


iPhone

[Eth]

Honestly, I don't particularly like them. I saw them a pretty fair bit when I lived in Maryland, where they were used exclusively at signalized intersections (like this one).

IMO, if a unisign is desired, I think it looks much better as an LGS, as in jakeroot's third and fourth examples above.

[spooky]

Unisigns join bubblers on the list of similarities between Wisconsin and Rhode Island.

[1995hoo]

Those are all water fountains.

[Pink Jazz]

I know NMDOT District 3 in recent years has been installing more green background unisigns.  They are very common on the freeways, and more recently it appears they are being installed on state routes on surface streets as well.

[Alex]

Virginia went through a period of time in the 90s where they used unsigns. Most of what I saw was in southern parts of the state and the Petersburg area:



New Hampshire is another state that does a variant of unisigns, placing signs for overlaps and junctions within small green signs:



Iowa's rapid replacement of signs at various interchanges across the state with Clearview resulted in most junction assemblies and shields posted at on-ramps with small guide signs (similar to NH).



Delaware also briefly used unsigns in the 1990s/early 2000s, mostly in the Middletown and Odessa area:

[hbelkins]

Alex beat me to it on Virginia and New Hampshire.

I've seen a few scattered versions in Kentucky, but they're a rarity and an anomaly for sure.

North Carolina also uses them occasionally on interstates where there are concurrencies with other routes. I've seen them most often in the Greensboro area.

[Mapmikey]

Virginia's foray into unisigns was mainly in District 4 and goes back to the early-70s at least (1972 photo of Franklin St just east of I-95 below).  District 4 replacement signs are not all unisigns but District 8 (roughly the Shenandoah Valley) is slowly introducing them including interstate signage...



Mike

[noelbotevera]

Loooooong ago, at some point PA used unisigns in gantries. This for example shows a left (or right?) arrow and TO US 11/15 on the back of the left sign. The other sign which is barely visible shows TO I-83 and a right arrow (or left?).

[SignGeek101]

Ontario sometimes does, but I've only seen them at junctions:

https://goo.gl/maps/GGqUnWutwFt

https://goo.gl/maps/eeF5jTwmc1H2

I believe I've seen it in their traffic manual, so it might be standard there. But for reassurance markers, I've never seen them anywhere.

[cl94]

Unisigns? Don't you mean "RIDOT signs"?

[Brandon]

Unisigns? Don't you mean "RIDOT signs"?

In the Midwest, they're "WisDOT signs".  Wisconsin has been using them for at least 20 years, even for interstate shields.

[theline]

Indiana doesn't use them often, but here's one (sorry for the blurry GSV): https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4228843,-85.5512269,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sZ1uoYjeIP0xdbANEFhLgGQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[PurdueBill]

Indiana doesn't use them often, but here's one (sorry for the blurry GSV): https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4228843,-85.5512269,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sZ1uoYjeIP0xdbANEFhLgGQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

The IN 22 interchange with I-69 has those as well, with US 35 entering/leaving I-69 so some arrows go different ways.   

About the water fountain, it was very common in school north of Boston growing up to hear at least a significant minority talk about the bubblah to get a drink of watah. 

[roadman]

About the water fountain, it was very common in school north of Boston growing up to hear at least a significant minority talk about the bubblah to get a drink of watah. 

Growing up outside of Boston in the 1960s and early 1970s, we used to call the water fountains in elementary school "bubblers".

[freebrickproductions]

Do these signs here in Huntsville count as a "unisign" or a single panel sign?
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.719672,-86.5920988,3a,29.6y,351.32h,90.8t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sgtlGl0Q7fMnmlnz_XD_-Og!2e0

[PHLBOS]

Philly has some as well.

Newer example near 30th St. Station.

[bzakharin]

Philly has some as well.

Newer example near 30th St. Station.

These are not only new(ish), there was nothing preceding them. There were literally no signs whatsoever in University City about how to get onto 76 when I went to college there. So, I'm just thankful they were put up at all.

[paulthemapguy]

Unisigns? Don't you mean "RIDOT signs"?

In the Midwest, they're "WisDOT signs".  Wisconsin has been using them for at least 20 years, even for interstate shields.

Can confirm.  I try to get photos of individual route shields, and that is impossible in the state of Wisconsin (frustrating for me).  Even simple reassurance markers are composite sign faces.  So I have to cheat and just crop the directional label out of the photo to get an image of a shield. https://www.google.com/maps/@44.2865828,-90.8421072,3a,75y,228.79h,83.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sk5z1p0ayon0iTvC_4WdAwg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

But at least it's a nice economical way to create larger sign assemblies.
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.2949829,-90.8477579,3a,26.5y,109.51h,87.01t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sESAEDFp2MpL2a6NTT-9kGA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[WillWeaverRVA]

Unisigns? Don't you mean "RIDOT signs"?

RIDOT signs have white backgrounds, not black.

VDOT has been installing new unisigns in places, mainly on concurrent routes. A few new ones have popped up at some intersections on US 301/VA 2 in Hanover County, and this one where VA 33 joins US 60 and VA 156 in Henrico County - all of these were individual shields in 2014. It seems they may be looking into this as a more cost-effective way of signing concurrencies rather than using individual shields, banners, and arrows on a sign tree.

[OracleUsr]

Unisigns? Don't you mean "RIDOT signs"?

RIDOT signs have white backgrounds, not black.

VDOT has been installing new unisigns in places, mainly on concurrent routes. A few new ones have popped up at some intersections on US 301/VA 2 in Hanover County, and this one where VA 33 joins US 60 and VA 156 in Henrico County - all of these were individual shields in 2014. It seems they may be looking into this as a more cost-effective way of signing concurrencies rather than using individual shields, banners, and arrows on a sign tree.

Rhode Island is moving away from the unisign anyway. 

[kurumi]

They are rare in CT, but not unknown. On US 44 in Winchester there's a "Junction [183][8]" sign, green, that long ago was "JCT [8][183]", black:

https://goo.gl/maps/yT4AbinC4vj

[Bitmapped]

In Ohio, ODOT has a psuedo-unisign sometimes used at intersections with US and state routes to show the cardinal directions: https://goo.gl/maps/zotDbw2XFD92