Alpha-Numeric Route Shields coming to America in 2018

[Thunderbyrd316]

[Rover_0]

*Sees time of post*

Phew. But still...

[Quillz]

In all seriousness, I do suspect something like this happening in the future.

[froggie]

Too bad this "joke" is killed by the fact that alphanumeric shields already exist in some CONUS jurisdictions...

[bing101]

Wait don't EU countries already have something like that for their motorways and limited access roads.

[hotdogPi]

Wait don't EU countries already have something like that for their motorways and limited access roads.

Yes. That's why the thread said "coming to America".

[Max Rockatansky]

Ironically a lot of Forest Sevice routes already use similar looking markers.  I'm finding the use Forest Route shields to becoming less and less common as the years pass.

[MNHighwayMan]

I would puke if this became reality.

[vdeane]

The thread's a little late for April 1.

I would puke if this became reality.

Ditto.  Why did Australia switch anyways?  They got rid of good looking shields in favor of boring rectangles.

[cpzilliacus]

Ironically a lot of Forest Sevice routes already use similar looking markers.

Virginia uses similar (always black-on-white) at many intersections involving secondary system roads meeting other secondaries, and at some places where a secondary meets a primary system road.

[hm insulators]

*Sees time of post*

Phew. But still...

...don't give them any ideas! The highways would be dull indeed without the colorful Interstate shields, iconic US Highway shields and what would we do without California's green miner's spade, Utah's beehive, Kansas' sunflower or the Colorado flag?

[dvferyance]

The thread's a little late for April 1.

I would puke if this became reality.

Ditto.  Why did Australia switch anyways?  They got rid of good looking shields in favor of boring rectangles.

They didn't all switch just some states did. And I am with you I liked the old ones way better. They should switch back the new system is way too confusing. I doubt this will ever come to the US and why would it?

[Quillz]

I was under the impression Australia's newer system merely signed routes based on design standards. i.e. Highway 1 suggests a typical two-lane highway, while something like M1 says this portion is built to higher standards. Or does it work differently?

[vdeane]

Found a couple articles on the conversion.

http://www.ozroads.com.au/NationalSystem/alpha.htm
http://blog.andrewtechhelp.com/2012/09/28/nsws-transition-to-an-alpha-numeric-route-numbering-system/

The latter one contains a couple points that don't seem to be merited.  I fail to see why converting to an alphanumeric system would make a state that was bad at posting routes become good or how it would get people who previously wouldn't let go of old numbers to suddenly do so.

[Duke87]

I'm not sure what exactly is motivating Australia to switch.

With regards to the idea that the alphanumeric method is more in line with international standards... it really isn't. The use of shields with shapes is common practice throughout the Americas and East Asia... it's not even unheard of within Europe. That said, all of Europe's most popular tourist destination countries use rectangular cartouches rather than shields, so it's apparent where this sort of perception comes from.

Still, one perhaps slight benefit I can see to the alphanumeric method is that is spells out the route classification in text. In large parts of the US people commonly refer to everything as "route", "highway", or "the" ##, and many end up not recognizing any distinctions between classifications - I've had many a non-roadgeek say they've never noticed that US routes have a different shaped sign than state routes until I pointed it out to them, and some weren't even aware there were different kinds of "routes". If the signs actually say "NY-590" and "US-20", it makes it clear what the difference between the two is to anyone, you don't need to know what the different shield shapes mean (NYSDOT seems to have even forgotten the difference themselves lately! ).

But yes, rectangular cartouches are aesthetically bland compared to shields.

[vdeane]

Of course, if the US did go alphanumeric, I wouldn't think the box would say "NY-590", because then you might as well just use plain text or a boxed street name.  I couldn't see the US adopting the British system like Australia did either, so I came up with my own (listed in order of letter priority if routes fit multiple categories):
-A: Interstate highways ("A" for "America")
-P: Roads that restrict truck traffic
-F: Non-interstate freeways
-E: High-speed divided highways
-U: US Routes
-S: State routes
-T: State secondary routes
-C: County routes
-L: Locally numbered routes

[Duke87]

I mean if you wanted to bluntly apply the British system to the US, it wouldn't be that difficult to do:

I-XX → MXX
US or state XX → AXX
county or secondary XX → BXX
Unsigned state/secondary XX → CXX

Still, you wouldn't get a perfectly analogous system out of this. The UK does not reuse route numbers between its constituent countries because all routes are numbered nationally. In the US the numbering of state routes is up to each individual state, and while there is some degree of coordination to maintain the number of a particular road across a state line or two, every number is reused many times throughout the country.

If you wanted to apply the system less bluntly you would probably want to have AXX include US highways and then only some of the more prominent state highways. Lesser state highways could get shunted down into the B designation, especially in states that do not have any existing county or secondary routes. But you'd need to renumber most of the state, secondary, and county roads to avoid having any duplicates.

[vdeane]

Sure, you can make the British system work here (especially with the rules Australia adopted), but would Americans want to?

[MNHighwayMan]

Sure, you can make the British system work here (especially with the rules Australia adopted), but would Americans want to?

No.

[vdeane]

Exactly.  Even if Americans wanted an alphanumeric system, national pride would dictate inventing a new system from scratch, rather than importing another country's.  Though I would expect national pride would prevent an alphanumeric system from coming here in the first place; since it's common in Europe, it would probably be considered "socialism" and ruthlessly attacked.

[Brandon]

Exactly.  Even if Americans wanted an alphanumeric system, national pride would dictate inventing a new system from scratch, rather than importing another country's.  Though I would expect national pride would prevent an alphanumeric system from coming here in the first place; since it's common in Europe, it would probably be considered "socialism" and ruthlessly attacked.

It would actually be contrary to some of the systems in place already here that work on an alphanumeric level anyway.  Ever listen to a Michigander give directions?  M14 to I94 to US127 as an example.  Not a "highway" or "route" to be found.