Unusual punctuation in BGSs

[andrewkbrown]

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=38.826653,-77.220218&spn=0.00774,0.029311&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=38.826752,-77.220166&panoid=d5cNAKtJj1cKgIrP8ztt_Q&cbp=12,25.4,,1,-10.54

This sign has since been removed for the major reconstruction of the Capital Beltway, but a similar sign is in place that also notes (Annandale Campus).

Does anyone know of other examples of the use of parentheses in BGSs? What about any use of quotation marks, or other unusual punctuation?

[Kniwt]

Does anyone know of other examples of the use of parentheses in BGSs? What about any use of quotation marks, or other unusual punctuation?

I-880 at Fremont Blvd. in Fremont, Calif. It happens because there are Fremont Blvd. exits at both ends of the city. Why it's not just "N Fremont Blvd" and "S Fremont Blvd," well, who knows:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=i-880,+fremont+ca&aq=&sll=37.996163,-95.712891&sspn=45.058638,80.15625&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Interstate+880,+Fremont,+California&ll=37.490047,-121.944852&spn=0.023257,0.039139&z=15&layer=c&cbll=37.489971,-121.944751&panoid=zBfJ43w1a_cV7O5zBEygQw&cbp=12,324.57,,0,13.03

[agentsteel53]

does the tilde over the ñ in a Spanish name count?  okay, not that linguistically unusual in California, but when it is clearly a piece of hand-cut button copy from some other glyph, it is unusual!

until recent replacement, some signs for Rancho Peñasquitos on CA-56 had button-copy tildes that were about half a tilde - just a single wide arc, as though cut from a letter "o" or similar.

[Ian]

Up until 2002 when New Hampshire used both standard and metric distances on their BGSs, the kilometer distance was in parenthesis.

[citrus]

Off the top of my head:

An ampersand appears a few places: I believe the I-81/I-70 junction in Maryland (sign says "I-70 EAST & WEST"), exit tabs in Connecticut (I-91 has "Exit 39&41" or something like that).

In Rhode Island, there are (as of 2006 or so) signs on RI 146 at I-295 point the way to "Boston, Ma." with the comma and period.

Also in RI, a sign for "Exits 8A-B" was grafitti'd to make the dash into a division sign. The exit was for Division St. (The sign has since been replaced by a smaller one that just says "Exits A-B"...oops)

[myosh_tino]

Does anyone know of other examples of the use of parentheses in BGSs? What about any use of quotation marks, or other unusual punctuation?

I-880 at Fremont Blvd. in Fremont, Calif. It happens because there are Fremont Blvd. exits at both ends of the city. Why it's not just "N Fremont Blvd" and "S Fremont Blvd," well, who knows:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=i-880,+fremont+ca&aq=&sll=37.996163,-95.712891&sspn=45.058638,80.15625&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Interstate+880,+Fremont,+California&ll=37.490047,-121.944852&spn=0.023257,0.039139&z=15&layer=c&cbll=37.489971,-121.944751&panoid=zBfJ43w1a_cV7O5zBEygQw&cbp=12,324.57,,0,13.03

I believe signing the exits as you suggest would mean the direction (North and South) is part of the road's name (i.e. "North Fremont Blvd" and "South Fremont Blvd").  In this case, the road's name is just "Fremont Blvd" for it's entire length.

[Ian]

A-15/QC 132 northbound has this sign with a large dot to separate control cities on the same line:

[huskeroadgeek]

Not sure if it's still there, but I believe on the sign for Las Vegas Blvd. from I-15 they used to have The Strip in parentheses below Las Vegas Blvd.

[Scott5114]

The OK-28 exit from the Will Rogers Turnpike has a sign formatted thusly:

(28)
Adair, Chelsea
South
Grand Lake

[roadfro]

Does anyone know of other examples of the use of parentheses in BGSs? What about any use of quotation marks, or other unusual punctuation?

I-880 at Fremont Blvd. in Fremont, Calif. It happens because there are Fremont Blvd. exits at both ends of the city. Why it's not just "N Fremont Blvd" and "S Fremont Blvd," well, who knows:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=i-880,+fremont+ca&aq=&sll=37.996163,-95.712891&sspn=45.058638,80.15625&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Interstate+880,+Fremont,+California&ll=37.490047,-121.944852&spn=0.023257,0.039139&z=15&layer=c&cbll=37.489971,-121.944751&panoid=zBfJ43w1a_cV7O5zBEygQw&cbp=12,324.57,,0,13.03

I believe signing the exits as you suggest would mean the direction (North and South) is part of the road's name (i.e. "North Fremont Blvd" and "South Fremont Blvd").  In this case, the road's name is just "Fremont Blvd" for it's entire length.

A similar situation occurs with the McCarran Blvd loop and the I-80 junctions in Reno-Sparks. Nevada DOT just puts the clarifying direction after the street name--i.e. "McCarran Blvd West" and "McCarran Blvd East"--although there is one sign on EB I-80 that says "E. McCarran Blvd" which is annoying. Addresses on McCarran are split up by north and south (changing at I-80 on both sides), so the west/east use on the freeway signs is just there for ease of navigation. By contrast, there is also an interchange with "N. McCarran Blvd" on US 395, which is correct since that junction lies on the north end of the loop.

Not sure if it's still there, but I believe on the sign for Las Vegas Blvd. from I-15 they used to have The Strip in parentheses below Las Vegas Blvd.

That would be the first sign pictured below. It was replaced by the sign in the second photo (I believe the former sign bridge was replaced during reconstruction of the SR 160/Blue Diamond Rd interchange a few years ago). Both pictures from AARoads:

[r-dub]

Not on a BGS per se, but here's a doozy from US 160 west of Walsenburg, Colorado:

Parentheses, tri-lingual, and proof that Americans bungle every name they can...

[citrus]

Parentheses, tri-lingual, and proof that Americans bungle every name they can...

That reminds me....there are signs in a Native American language on I-86 in NY, and all over Cherokee, NC.

[froggie]

MnDOT is known to use ampersands in cases where there are two ramps in one direction but only one ramp in the other:




They're also known to use them in cases where there's more than one exit ramp listed on the same guide sign:

[agentsteel53]

that's not the American name.  the American name would be "the Halliburton Hills of Bank of America Country, Presented by Pepsi"

[Henry]

On I-85 in Charlotte, Exit 39 is marked as "Statesville Ave/Rd". I'm pretty sure that slashes don't show up on too many BGS's, either.

[Alps]

I saw button copy tildes around the San Diego area on Thursday (Spanish ñ).

[Kacie Jane]

MnDOT is known to use ampersands in cases where there are two ramps in one direction but only one ramp in the other:

They're also known to use them in cases where there's more than one exit ramp listed on the same guide sign:

Washington has one case of that I can think of.  I-5 northbound has an advance sign that directs EXITS 153 & 154B to the rightmost lane, and EXIT 154A to the second lane.


(Image from WSDOT's SRWeb)

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

ODOT combines exits on signs at a couple of places in Columbus.
I-270 CCW NB approaching I-70/US 40 in Eastern Columbus
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=39.917384,-82.880086&spn=0,0.002406&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=39.917384,-82.880086&panoid=0wkRdpa0m9EcRszfXuI9nQ&cbp=12,46.9,,0,-5.12
(and once upon a time on I-270 SB at the Broad St. exit)
I-670 WB at I-71 approaching US 23 (3rd/4th streets)
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=39.978592,-82.976334&spn=0,0.009624&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=39.978592,-82.976334&panoid=peMp5LHref_3hgH0mfm_0A&cbp=12,266.09,,0,-4.52

But no unusual punctuation

[Scott5114]

Nice placement on that exit tab.

[joseph1723]

I've seen Ontario use parentheses to indicate if the exit leads downtown when the control cities on both pull through and exit signs are the same:
They seem to use the ampersand if there are two seperate routes that can lead to the same destination, not sure on that one though.

They'll use a slash as a seperator between English and French or when a exit lead to two streets and they need to cram it on to the sing:

Another Example

[Dr Frankenstein]

Quebec uses similar techniques.

In Canada, abreviations end with a dot, too. (Ave., St.)

[roadfro]

Nice placement on that exit tab.

A lot of the older BGSs near the I-15/215 beltway interchange had the exit tabs offset like that. These signs are also the only ones where the lighting is above the sign pointed downward, instead of the typical upward lighting--I think the county did this because of the vicinity to McCarran Airport and perceived lighting conflicts/issues (these stretches also don't have high-mast lighting in the median).

[Henry]

MnDOT is known to use ampersands in cases where there are two ramps in one direction but only one ramp in the other:

They're also known to use them in cases where there's more than one exit ramp listed on the same guide sign:

Washington has one case of that I can think of.  I-5 northbound has an advance sign that directs EXITS 153 & 154B to the rightmost lane, and EXIT 154A to the second lane.


(Image from WSDOT's SRWeb)

I've seen those signs a lot! Pretty cool thing to see, though.

[Kacie Jane]

Yeah, the day after I posted that, I drove from Bellingham to Tacoma (and back) and saw two more.  I-405 SB has one for 2 & 3 (Exit 3 is the brand new exit for SR 515), and I-5 NB for 193 & 194.  I guess WSDOT uses the ampersand rather than a dash when the numbers are different, and I think the point of combining the two exits onto one sign is so that they can sign the lane as Exit Only in advance of the first exit.  Dreadfully clever, I think.

[Central Avenue]

I know of at least one place in Columbus where an ampersand is used:

I imagine this was done because the typical "EXITS 30-33" could be misinterpreted to mean all exits from 30 to 33, and exit 32 is not accessible from the exit 30/33 C/D lanes (thus the "Morse Rd" tab on the pull-through sign).