Largest highway shield

[andrewkbrown]

What are some of the largest highway shields anyone can recall seeing, be it interstate, US highway or state highway?

I thought of this since I often pass under this for I-95...
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=38.795269,-77.143228&spn=0.003897,0.014656&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=38.795295,-77.143075&panoid=lxviE-p1lmmtx8IMXgVZ8A&cbp=12,244.33,,0,-9.88

What size might this one be? 5x5 or 6x6 ft?

[NE2]

Pennsylvania Turnpike?
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/PennsylvaniaTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5443851538655243042
http://www.m-plex.com/roads/pamplex/treichard/i70w_us30e_split.jpg

[Quillz]

[myosh_tino]

How about these...


Too bad it's been replaced with new reflective signs.  The shields on the new one aren't as big...

[jdb1234]

From Hoover:

[Dr Frankenstein]

In the Pull Through sign department... http://maps.google.ca/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.420737,-75.63072&spn=0.00421,0.008379&z=17&layer=c&cbll=45.420814,-75.630217&panoid=4qHXcJs-7_I1G0rTygzMEA&cbp=12,259.03,,1,-0.84

[national highway 1]

How about these...

Those two shields were particularly fugly...Thank God they were replaced.

[Quillz]

I think they look awkward because they're at an angle. I think head-on, they look like fairly standard route shields.

[DTComposer]

Why isn't the I-5 shield centered? Just another Caltrans mystery...

[mightyace]

^^^

It looks like there's room for NORTH to the right of the shield.

[national highway 1]

Better still, mount a three-paneled sign bridge before the overpass, perpendicular to the traffic lanes.
Left Panel:
EXIT 221
JCT CA 99 1 1/2 MILES
Middle Panel:
I-5 NORTH
San Francisco
Sacramento
Right Panel:
EXIT 219B
Laval Road West

[J N Winkler]

I think the only sign that should be bridge-mounted should be the Laval Road exit direction sign, with information relating to the I-5/SR 99 split being relegated to an overhead structure further down the road.  This makes more sense in terms of message loading and avoids having the extreme skew of the overbridge get in the way of interpreting the messages related to the split.

In principle the I-5 and SR 99 messages can do without downward-pointing arrows, but the interchange configuration (three lanes of SR 99 leaving on the left) is so unusual that I can understand why they are used.

[hobsini2]

The Interstate shields (I-55, I-40) on the BGS at the west JCT in West Memphis AR were pretty big.

[Bickendan]

Better still, mount a three-paneled sign bridge before the overpass, perpendicular to the traffic lanes.
Left Panel:
EXIT 221
JCT CA 99 1 1/2 MILES
Middle Panel:
I-5 NORTH
San Francisco
Sacramento
Right Panel:
EXIT 219B
Laval Road West

Or even:
Left panel
CA 99 Golden State Freeway

Right panel
I-5 West Side Freeway

[myosh_tino]

Here are the signs on I-5 before the CA-99 split drawn based on the suggestions of National Highway 1 and Bickendan...

Better still, mount a three-paneled sign bridge before the overpass, perpendicular to the traffic lanes.
Left Panel:
EXIT 221
JCT CA 99 1 1/2 MILES
Middle Panel:
I-5 NORTH
San Francisco
Sacramento
Right Panel:
EXIT 219B
Laval Road West

Or even:
Left panel
CA 99 Golden State Freeway
Right panel
I-5 West Side Freeway

Mods: If you feel that this should be in the Road-Related Illustrations thread, feel free to move it.

[national highway 1]

Exactly what I meant, myosh_tino! Great work! 

[agentsteel53]

I remember the button copy shields and they were indeed fugly - it's not just the angle at work here, it is the non-standard stretched design as well. 

the largest shield I can recall is that I-95 at the beginning of the NY Thruway which Quillz posted a photo of.  But some of the shields which are painted directly in the lane might be larger.



tough to tell because of the angles - I believe they are probably significantly heightened vertically to compensate for the foreshortening and make them look approximately correct when being driven over.

[roadfro]

Pavement marking shields are indeed bigger--the 2di shield at smallest is 6' x 15' according to the 2004 SHS book.

I think the pavement shields are in a whole separate class of shields that it's not fair to compare to regular sign shields.

[Alex]

Definitely the largest I have seen. That photo size does not do it justice.

Though temporary and long gone, these fugly things were quite large as well:

[Michael]

In the mid 1990s, NYSDOT reconstructed NY 5 east of Auburn, and installed huge NY 5 signs.

[Duke87]

{Huge I-95 shield at New England thruway toll plaza}

Definitely the largest I have seen. That photo size does not do it justice.

Compare it to the minivan waiting in the lane next to it. That sucker's gotta be six feet tall.

[cu2010]

In the mid 1990s, NYSDOT reconstructed NY 5 east of Auburn, and installed huge NY 5 signs.

NY104 has some even bigger than that after a recent reconstruction project east of Oswego...they're so large that they make the standard-sized banner look tiny!

[pianocello]

Although not as big as ones previously posted, normal route signs in Indiana seem to be a lot bigger than in other states

[architect77]

Why isn't the I-5 shield centered? Just another Caltrans mystery...

They were trying to compensate for the foreshortening caused by the angle. Would it have killed them to mount these signs with a bracket to properly face the road?

[Brandon]

They were trying to compensate for the foreshortening caused by the angle. Would it have killed them to mount these signs with a bracket to properly face the road?

If it's CalTrans, you just answered your own question.