Blue, White or Green?

[BigMattFromTexas]

[How many of y'all knew what I was talking about when you first saw the tittle? Heh heh.]

Okay, but, here in Angelo, the street signs are green. I'm talking about the street signs, not the highway signs. But I think I like the blue ones better.. Maybe it's cause Angelo doesn't have blue street signs. So that makes me like them more. I'm not sure.. So what does your city use and which do you prefer?
Here's a picture of a San Angelo street sign:

BigMatt

[Scott5114]

Gah, Helvetica.

The town where I grew up used red sign blades, while the town I live in now used to do a two-tone scheme where major arterials used red signage and minor streets used green. The former hasn't put up any new signage since the 2009 MUTCD came out and the latter has switched to larger, all-caps  in Series C green signage, but the newest signs use mixed-case Series C.

[agentsteel53]

those don't even look to be correct Helvetica R's - there is no final little "foot" that heads outward at the end of the stem of the R.  So we may as well call it Arial!  I know that the two fonts are different, but I figure that one derogatory name for the whole damn family is sufficient.

also, it's compressed.  Guys, there's a font called FHWA 1945 Series C that is the target width and looks a lot better!

[BigMattFromTexas]

Here's the sign style I like, and these have been popping up around Angelo a lot. But their in Clearview, and I refuse to make this sign in Clearview. So I did it in Series EM. I like "Knickerbocker" better than "KNICKERBOCKER" I mean I feel like I have to yell the name of the street. .

BigMatt

[cu2010]

My personal favorites are the old embossed variety.  The North Country region of NY still has many of these in the field, with some towns having almost entirely embossed signs. Many of these are green with white lettering However, they are, sadly, being replaced- one town, Waddington, had entirely black-on-white embossed street blades (with one blue-on-white error sign), however, these were all replaced several years ago with new, non-embossed white-on-green signs that attempt to replicate the old embossed signs...and, while most of them don't look bad, some of them are in mixed-case lettering which looks like pure crap, if you ask me (especially when on the same post as an all-caps one... inconsistency in street blade signage is one of my biggest road-related pet peeves).

Most of the ones around here are done in Series C mixed-case, which looks pretty good. Some of the newer ones were done in Series B, which doesn't look as good. Wayne County also puts the county road number on the blade signage as well (they don't use the pentagon marker, but nobody refers to county routes by number around here anyways, so there's probably no point wasting money to put up route markers).

[huskeroadgeek]

In Lincoln, there is a difference between green and blue signs. Green signs are public streets and blue signs are private drives.

[Alps]

Here in NJ: West Orange uses white, Clifton and Bloomfield used to use blue (now green), Livingston used to use white (long ago turned green).  NYC used to use yellow.

[US71]

Fort Smith, AR uses Blue (Green for private streets)

Fayetteville, AR uses Green (Blue for private)

Van Buren, Springdale, Rogers all use green as do Joplin, MO and Springfield.

Muldrow, OK uses white signs with red lettering

[agentsteel53]

NYC used to use yellow.

I think that was only Manhattan.  Queens was white with blue legend.  That was in the 60s.  I definitely remember them being around in the 80s when I first went to NYC.

a long way before that (1905 to ... sometime) the classic "humpback" blue with white legend porcelain signs were all over NYC.

[Ian]

Media, PA replaced a bunch of black on white embossed 1950s vintage street signs a few years ago with these "old" look white on black street signs, which are even embossed!


The city of Philadelphia uses white on green trapezoidal street signs:


All across Pennsylvania, there are many color varieties of traffic signal mast arm street signs. They vary from white on blue, white on green, to even black on white! Go up to the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York, and you'll find gold on brown street signs!

[Duke87]

NYC used to use yellow.

I think that was only Manhattan.  Queens was white with blue legend.  That was in the 60s.  I definitely remember them being around in the 80s when I first went to NYC.

Yup, it was color coded by borough. Manhattan and Staten Island = black on yellow, Bronx = white on blue, Queens = blue on white, Brooklyn = white on black.
Apparently the city had to end this practice because someone got on their case about it violating the MUTCD color standards.

[Bryant5493]

City of Atlanta blue street name signage:

Ralph D. Abernathy Blvd. SW @ McDaniel St. SW

Peachtree St. NW @ Pine St. NW


Be well,

Bryant

[Michael in Philly]

Here in NJ: West Orange uses white, Clifton and Bloomfield used to use blue (now green), Livingston used to use white (long ago turned green).  NYC used to use yellow.

Re NYC:  Manhattan and Staten Island were black-on-yellow, the Bronx white-on-blue, Brooklyn white-on-black and Queens blue-on-white.  What I never liked in New Jersey (I grew up in Union County) is those vertical concrete posts that are in use to this day in places like Cranford.  Try reading them at more than 10 m.p.h.

Edit and note to self:  I see someone already said that about New York.  Must remember to read entire threads.

[D-Dey65]

Yup, it was color coded by borough. Manhattan and Staten Island = black on yellow, Bronx = white on blue, Queens = blue on white, Brooklyn = white on black.
Apparently the city had to end this practice because someone got on their case about it violating the MUTCD color standards.

One time when I drove through JFK Airport, I found that they still had yellow-on-black signs, even after the feds made the Five Boroughs go all white-on-green. It made me wonder about LaGuardia.


The Town of Brookhaven used to use white wooden or concrete posts sticking out of the ground with the black street names painted vertically. Then they used black-on-white normal street name signs, and then around 1972 started painting  them all white-on-green. The exceptions were villages like Patchogue(white-on-black), Port Jefferson(white-on-blue), and Bellport(I forget, but I think it was white-on-black with a different typeface than Patchogue).

Most of the ones I've seen in the Towns of Islip and Smithtown are white-on-blue, but Islip's aren't as long as Smithtown's and have borders of some kind on the tops and bottoms.


The Village of Babylon still uses white concrete poles sticking out of the ground with black lettering.

[bugo]

while the town I live in now used to do a two-tone scheme where major arterials used red signage and minor streets used green.

Tulsa uses green signs for most streets and red signs for dead-end streets.

[bugo]

Topic has been move to General Highway Talk as it is on topic.

[TheStranger]

Most Northern California jurisdictions use some variant of white-on-green, but some notable exceptions:

Daly City: White on blue, originally a plain-looking blade, then redesigned in 1997 to this:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/2295995712_30c442bc58.jpg

San Francisco: Black-on-white for many decades (originally embossed block font), sometimes Series C...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/battyward/2097679171/

More commonly in Series E(M) -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/executionsinfo/4911619675/

San Jose: White on brown, series D:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbagcollection/3375071650/

Citrus Heights: White-on-purple...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbagcollection/3375071650/

Rancho Cordova: White-on-blue -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/calaggie/2947546091/

Unincorporated Sacramento County areas: black-on-white:
http://www.sacdot.com/projects/calvine/images/signm.jpg

Fulton Avenue area, unincorporated Arden-Arcade:  white on brown
http://www.fultonavenue.com/images/hp_img_mid.jpg

[xcellntbuy]

How about white-painted rocks (yes, rocks) with black painted-on street names?  Try the City of Coral Gables, Florida.  The street names have zero relationship to the Miami-Dade street grid and EXTREMELY difficult to see in the daytime, let alone at night.

[US71]

How about white-painted rocks (yes, rocks) with black painted-on street names?  Try the City of Coral Gables, Florida.  The street names have zero relationship to the Miami-Dade street grid and EXTREMELY difficult to see in the daytime, let alone at night.

Like this ?

[myosh_tino]

Most Northern California jurisdictions use some variant of white-on-green, but some notable exceptions:

Daly City: White on blue, originally a plain-looking blade, then redesigned in 1997 to this:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/2295995712_30c442bc58.jpg

San Francisco: Black-on-white for many decades (originally embossed block font), sometimes Series C...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/battyward/2097679171/

More commonly in Series E(M) -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/executionsinfo/4911619675/

San Jose: White on brown, series D:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbagcollection/3375071650/

Citrus Heights: White-on-purple...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbagcollection/3375071650/

Rancho Cordova: White-on-blue -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/calaggie/2947546091/

Unincorporated Sacramento County areas: black-on-white:
http://www.sacdot.com/projects/calvine/images/signm.jpg

Fulton Avenue area, unincorporated Arden-Arcade:  white on brown
http://www.fultonavenue.com/images/hp_img_mid.jpg

The San Jose street blades are actually white on navy blue.  The photo you linked to distorted the color.

Other San Jose-area cities...
Los Altos: uppercase white non-FHWA font on brown. 
They recently replaced all their blades with new reflective ones using the same color scheme.

Campbell: black on white.  Street names are uppercase.

Mountain View: white on royal blue.  Street names are uppercase.

Cupertino: white Bookman font on royal blue.  Example below...

[english si]

Westlake Village, CA uses white on brown for at least the ones where one of the roads is major. Beverley Hills and Santa Monica are similar, using white on blue for big street signs.

Most in the UK are black on white, but some authorities use different ones (in the West Midlands, the different boroughs/cities have different colour poles for streetlights as well) - Mostly white on green or blue. They are also rarely more than a couple of feet above ground (and then only if attached to a wall), and we don't have block numbers or anything like that. Some have the first bit of the postcode on them, or the local authority, or both.

[Eth]

In Lincoln, there is a difference between green and blue signs. Green signs are public streets and blue signs are private drives.

IIRC, the same is also the case in Dothan, AL.

How about white-painted rocks (yes, rocks) with black painted-on street names?  Try the City of Coral Gables, Florida.  The street names have zero relationship to the Miami-Dade street grid and EXTREMELY difficult to see in the daytime, let alone at night.

Like this ?
<photo>

Reminds me of something similar elsewhere in the state - Bonifay does this with obelisks, perhaps two or three feet tall, with the street name written vertically on the side.  I believe most of them are also accompanied by standard green signs elsewhere at the intersection, though.  (Upon further inspection in Google Street View, I can't seem to find an example, which makes me wonder if they've been removed - I definitely remember their presence about 5-10 years ago, though.)

Also, I drove through northeast Georgia over the weekend and remember seeing a lot of yellow street signs.  I think they were in Rabun County.

[Fredddie]

In Des Moines, normal streets have green signs.  Truck routes have blue signs.  Truck route assemblies are white on blue to match.  I do like how Cedar Rapids uses a red sign for a private or a dead-end street.

[joseph1723]

Over here in the Toronto Area for the most part:

Downtown Toronto: older signs were in black all caps series C text on white background with embossed lettering, newer signs are in black mixed case Clearview with around the same width as series C on white back. The newest signs use white mixed case Clearview text on a blue background. Arterials use white on blue signs with mixed case Clearview text.

The other areas in the former Metro Toronto used all caps series C white on blue street blades. The new signs are the same as the newest Toronto signs.

Richmond Hill, ON and Vaughan, ON : series C white on green street blades, most of them are all caps but I 've seen some mixed case ones too. There are some different designs used in some historic districts though. Arterials use a scaled up version of the street blades. 

Markham, ON: Older signs were white on brown street blades with mixed case normal width Helvetica text, newer ones are white on green signs with a wider midpoint, font is still the same. arterials use white on green signs with mixed case Helevtica. 

Mississauga, ON: series C white on blue street blades, arterials use white on blue signs with Arial. 

Provincial highways: white on green plywood fingerboards with mixed case series c text for smaller streets, larger white on green plywood signs with mixed case series EM for larger streets.

[WillWeaverRVA]

The City of Richmond mainly uses green signs on its streets. However, some areas (Shockoe Bottom and the Fan) have brown signs, and there are blue signs in a few places near I-195.

Henrico and Chesterfield Counties use green signs for public roads and white ones for private roads. This leads to some interesting developments because there are roads with white signs that you'd expect to be public, and roads in apartment complexes and the like that should be private but are actually county- (or state-, in the case of Chesterfield) maintained.

As a whole, the state of Virginia (where VDOT maintains the streets, that is) is not consistent and usually leaves the decision up to the local residencies. Northern Virginia tends to have a lot of blue signs, while central and southern Virginia usually have green ones.