Street blades by city

[Buffaboy]

On the train today I looked out my window at the cities I passed through and noticed a distinct difference between the city street signs. Take a look:

Buffalo:



Rochester:



Syracuse:



Utica:



Albany:



Please AARoads, show us the signs in your city.

[Mohkfry]

The following are all towns/cities in Northwest Indiana that I can think of with distinct signage. They are in no order.

Merrilvile:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4710909,-87.3360128,3a,15y,30.59h,118.4t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sUNPf82KsoecfesfvSqu36Q!2e0!5s20130801T000000!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1
Hobart:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5320269,-87.2548684,3a,26.4y,338.19h,97.13t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swMSzt3Xt3RDxEuA9UpJWeA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1
Portage:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Portage,+IN/@41.5649542,-87.1828939,3a,15y,8.37h,106.84t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sPqP1h2C8bItxbqjYF0ejsw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DPqP1h2C8bItxbqjYF0ejsw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D151.79288%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x8811be093239b9b1:0x4b38c8094628ea42!6m1!1e1
Hammond:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5956809,-87.5000602,3a,15y,46.56h,107.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8fCYoC34B27cH_ngI76kWw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Highland:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5520355,-87.437332,3a,15y,15.23h,101.99t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s668VXl8K-VIGZMPsYGod5A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Whiting:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Whiting,+IN/@41.6793304,-87.4960617,3a,15y,299.18h,104.91t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1smAFHAFwRzbEWXvB6so3ftw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DmAFHAFwRzbEWXvB6so3ftw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D350.22183%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x8811d916c9549be3:0xa5b40b068abed126!6m1!1e1
East Chicago:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.6464607,-87.4545907,3a,30.1y,114.8h,91.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAwDeqDAcZC7Q75XfXP8BFw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1
Munster:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5612866,-87.5089589,3a,15y,289.8h,93.21t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1soC6zxaT4QoM8yb7W1qCinw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1
Griffith:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5227733,-87.4277236,3a,15y,166.72h,99.83t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQWLDD4MppFEwEjyQinBC9A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

If any of the links don't match with the town names let me know and I'll fix them.

[CtrlAltDel]

Here's Santa Barbara, California:


(Image is from Google Street View)

[jakeroot]

Some street blades from my neck of the woods:

In order from left to right (first to last): Seattle, Everett (WA), Vancouver (BC) (flower optional), Portland (OR):

     
Seattle image courtesy Jmabel.

[myosh_tino]

Here are some more...

Cupertino, CA


Los Altos, CA


Los Gatos, CA


Monte Sereno, CA


Saratoga, CA

[SignGeek101]

Here's Winnipeg's:

Current version. Black on White All caps Clearview. Stop signs are still FHWA in Manitoba.


New Winnipeg Street Blade Design by Sign Geek, on Flickr

Older version, before 2012 or so. Still very common. Also notice the unique 'No Right Turn On Red' Sign here. That isn't Canadian standard.


Old Winnipeg Street Blade Design by Sign Geek, on Flickr

Street blades over traffic signals are white on green Clearview (with no border around the sign). Older installations use Helvetica instead.

[jakeroot]

Street blades over traffic signals are white on green Clearview (with no border around the sign). Older installations use Helvetica instead.

The switch from Helvetica to Clearview was also observed in Vancouver:

 

To be clear, white Clearview on green is the British Columbia standard except when another design is utilized (such as white-on-blue or the brown/white design above).

[Buffaboy]

Here's Winnipeg's:

Current version. Black on White All caps Clearview. Stop signs are still FHWA in Manitoba.


New Winnipeg Street Blade Design by Sign Geek, on Flickr

Older version, before 2012 or so. Still very common. Also notice the unique 'No Right Turn On Red' Sign here. That isn't Canadian standard.


Old Winnipeg Street Blade Design by Sign Geek, on Flickr

Street blades over traffic signals are white on green Clearview (with no border around the sign). Older installations use Helvetica instead.

I think it looks pretty clean, AFAIK NYS severely lacks those kinds of blades...or at least Upstate.

Also, happy birthday.

[SignGeek101]

Also, happy birthday.

Thanks.

[nexus73]

Here's Santa Barbara, California:


(Image is from Google Street View)

San Luis Obispo has the same style but a different color as I recall from a trip through both cities in 2013.  I believe SLO was blue, could be green.

Rick

[Purgatory On Wheels]

Pound Ridge NY has finger-shaped signs:


(GMSV image)

[noelbotevera]

Pound Ridge NY has finger-shaped signs:


(GMSV image)

I thought those were crab claws.

[DTComposer]

Here are some more...
Los Gatos, CA

A little more about Los Gatos:
Their street signs had been very traditional black text on white, embossed porcelain, black border.

Then, these "old-timey" signs went up along Los Gatos Boulevard (former CA-17) - not sure when, but I'm guessing when they changed the name of the street from San Jose Avenue (c. 1970):

(Most of the signs do not have the tree)

Then, in the mid-1980s, they began to replace the black-on-white signs with these white-on-brown models:


That project seemed to stall out in the 1990s, but it picked back up around 2000, but with the suffix-as-a-superscript variant:


Some time after that, they decided the downtown area needed special street signs:


Then we have the version that myosh_tino posted. All of these are present at multiple intersections today, and I'm sure there's some old black-on-white ones out there as well - so in a town of 30,000 people you currently have five or six variants of street sign.

[roadman65]

Growing up in New Jersey the different types of blades told me what city you were in.  Like Clark, NJ had two types as the older ones were black with white raised lettering and the newer ones had white on black with a plastic cover to protect the blade from elements of the air.

Neighboring communities like Cranford and Woodbridge used posts signing. Then Linden used white on green for the newer signs with a plastic cover with the older ones being white on black blades. Westfield and Scotch Plains used the same small white on green blades, so going across the border seemed the same between those two neighboring towns. Winfield Park, I had forgotten what they had as I very rarely went there as no through streets as it was a peninsula on the Rahway River and Clark was not connected by road to it.

It made going from town to town interesting, I must say.  Sort of like traffic lights and the  guide signs on freeways made it interesting going from state to state.  In essence I like the way each city has its own.

[Zeffy]

GMSV FINALLY has new coverage of Somerville, NJ so I can show these:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5771239,-74.6093635,3a,15y,139.54h,87.41t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1ssfLGf-PmxCwkIxr5cITHMA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5700393,-74.6190289,3a,21.1y,119.16h,89.41t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUOf7KiktGpVuUxenyOEN5A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[Bruce]

Washington, D.C. has its flag on some street blades:

[Pete from Boston]

No photos, but I will add that many cities here add the historical name of the road and its date of inception in small print below the street name.  A very cool practice, IMO. 

I'm not fond of the ubiquitous and undistinguishable city/town seals that clutter up too many street signs nowadays.

[ekt8750]

Here's a current generation sign blade set up in Philly. Call me a homer but I think they have the nicest sign blades of any city in the country.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.076319,-75.1948024,3a,15.7y,284.66h,100.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svAFlnS7JBkL1ThTP3kWqYA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[SignGeek101]

Here's a current generation sign blade set up in Philly. Call me a homer but I think they have the nicest sign blades of any city in the country.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.076319,-75.1948024,3a,15.7y,284.66h,100.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svAFlnS7JBkL1ThTP3kWqYA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I actually like mixed-case Clearview on streetblades. I feel it's "cleaner" than FHWA in that role. I'm not a fan of the all-caps version used where I live though.

[ekt8750]

Here's a current generation sign blade set up in Philly. Call me a homer but I think they have the nicest sign blades of any city in the country.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.076319,-75.1948024,3a,15.7y,284.66h,100.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svAFlnS7JBkL1ThTP3kWqYA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I actually like mixed-case Clearview on streetblades. I feel it's "cleaner" than FHWA in that role. I'm not a fan of the all-caps version used where I live though.

Yeah when Philly first adopted Clearview, they used all caps and it wasn't good at all. Mixed casing on both Clearview and the narrower FHWA series (I see blades in Jersey with that all the time) look much nicer, esp when they're kerned properly.

[odditude]

Here's a current generation sign blade set up in Philly. Call me a homer but I think they have the nicest sign blades of any city in the country.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.076319,-75.1948024,3a,15.7y,284.66h,100.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svAFlnS7JBkL1ThTP3kWqYA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I actually like mixed-case Clearview on streetblades. I feel it's "cleaner" than FHWA in that role. I'm not a fan of the all-caps version used where I live though.

Yeah when Philly first adopted Clearview, they used all caps and it wasn't good at all. Mixed casing on both Clearview and the narrower FHWA series (I see blades in Jersey with that all the time) look much nicer, esp when they're kerned properly.

in Center City, there's also Liberty Bell symbols on some blades.

[ekt8750]

Here's a current generation sign blade set up in Philly. Call me a homer but I think they have the nicest sign blades of any city in the country.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.076319,-75.1948024,3a,15.7y,284.66h,100.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svAFlnS7JBkL1ThTP3kWqYA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I actually like mixed-case Clearview on streetblades. I feel it's "cleaner" than FHWA in that role. I'm not a fan of the all-caps version used where I live though.

Yeah when Philly first adopted Clearview, they used all caps and it wasn't good at all. Mixed casing on both Clearview and the narrower FHWA series (I see blades in Jersey with that all the time) look much nicer, esp when they're kerned properly.

in Center City, there's also Liberty Bell symbols on some blades.

Actually the Liberty Bell is added to any sign with a street name that's 5 characters or less. They appear on signs all across the city.

[mgk920]

Appleton, WI has been using white on green mixed-case Clearview on its blades for about three years now, too.

Mike

[mrsman]

The City of Los Angeles has several different types of street blades.  Pictures and history on the link that follows:

http://militantangeleno.blogspot.com/2011/03/signs-of-times.html

[TheStranger]

San Francisco has traditionally had a two-rectangle blade setup: the top, smaller one contains the block number and an arrow to note which direction the blocks go up (or "END" if the road has reached its terminus), and the street name in the larger rectangle below.  Due to the MUTCD changes of the last few years, the all-caps text which had been used for the street name has been supplanted by mixed case.

http://sfbay.ca/2012/06/18/sf-street-signs-face-capital-changes/

Originally, these signs were embossed metal:
http://www.californiahomedesign.com/trending/2011/01/07/cant-miss-estate-sale-old-firehouse-sfs-broad-street

Apparently the black-on-white design was not always in place in SF:
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist/sign.html

In specific ethnic neighborhoods (Chinatown, Japantown) a translation of the street name is provided on a third rectangle below:
https://mycamerajournal.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/chinatown-street-signs.jpg
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/02/fa/36/1a/chinatown.jpg
http://www.aviewoncities.com/img/sf/kveus4209p.jpg

Here's a unique setup at Haight & Ashbury:
http://surfimages.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ashbury-haight-signs.jpg

Road type (Street/Boulevard/Avenue) is rarely ever used for named streets, but is invariably used for the numbered streets (due to the two distinct numbered street grids).