Erroneous road signs

[CentralCAroadgeek]

Zzyzx Road is a sight not to be forgotten out on I-15 in the California desert. But on NB I-15, the people that made this sign might've forgotten the exit number.

This sign is supposed to say "Exit 239", but they left out the nine. It does say the correct exit number (Exit 239, not Exit 23) for the "1 MILE" sign, image below.

So as of passing it by two weeks ago, the exit number has been corrected on this sign. Unfortunately, they did it very badly. Instead of greening out the "23," they hastily added a 9 squished to side. Trust me, it's UGLY. I don't have pictures though...

[cpzilliacus]

All of these images are from public roads under maintenance of the U.S. Government, Department of Agriculture (USDA), in Beltsville, Prince George's County, Maryland.

This is the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), which occupies a huge swath of land in northern Prince George's County.  The federal Baltimore-Washington Parkway ("secret" Md. 295) runs through BARC reservation, as does U.S. 1 (Baltimore Avenue).

I think several of these (perhaps all of them) qualify as "crimes against the MUTCD:"

[1995hoo]

This morning I went through the intersection shown in the Street View image linked below. The image is quite outdated (it says June 2008 in the small print; the trees on the far side were torn down at least two years ago for commercial development), but the auxiliary plaque below the "No Turn on Red" sign at the far right side of the image in the foreground is still there and still contains the same error. Wasn't able to get a picture this morning because I had a green light and someone was coming up too fast behind me to allow me to slow enough to get a clear image.

https://maps.google.com/?ll=38.872538,-77.26337&spn=0.003274,0.008256&t=m&z=18&layer=c&cbll=38.872442,-77.263331&panoid=79mvbc6UIhDwJ9YTQvKSsg&cbp=12,190.16,,0,2.16

[cpzilliacus]

This morning I went through the intersection shown in the Street View image linked below. The image is quite outdated (it says June 2008 in the small print; the trees on the far side were torn down at least two years ago for commercial development), but the auxiliary plaque below the "No Turn on Red" sign at the far right side of the image in the foreground is still there and still contains the same error. Wasn't able to get a picture this morning because I had a green light and someone was coming up too fast behind me to allow me to slow enough to get a clear image.

https://maps.google.com/?ll=38.872538,-77.26337&spn=0.003274,0.008256&t=m&z=18&layer=c&cbll=38.872442,-77.263331&panoid=79mvbc6UIhDwJ9YTQvKSsg&cbp=12,190.16,,0,2.16

Ah yes, Va. 243 (Nutley Street) and U.S. 29 (Lee Highway). 

That is (at times) one very busy intersection. Will look for that the next time I drive by there.

[texaskdog]

How do I post pictures again?  Promise I will print the instructions this time.  I have a few from our trip to post.

[1995hoo]

How do I post pictures again?  Promise I will print the instructions this time.  I have a few from our trip to post.

Upload them to some kind of hosting site that allows direct linking and embedding. Then take the URL for the image and wrap it in "IMG" tags here (meaning put "IMG" in square brackets before the URL and "/IMG" in square brackets after the URL).

[bassoon1986]

Imgur works well

[Road Hog]

All of these images are from public roads under maintenance of the U.S. Government, Department of Agriculture (USDA), in Beltsville, Prince George's County, Maryland.

This is the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), which occupies a huge swath of land in northern Prince George's County.  The federal Baltimore-Washington Parkway ("secret" Md. 295) runs through BARC reservation, as does U.S. 1 (Baltimore Avenue).

I think several of these (perhaps all of them) qualify as "crimes against the MUTCD:"

Silly! Those signs are all in Obama font!

[Central Avenue]

All of these images are from public roads under maintenance of the U.S. Government, Department of Agriculture (USDA), in Beltsville, Prince George's County, Maryland.

This is the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), which occupies a huge swath of land in northern Prince George's County.  The federal Baltimore-Washington Parkway ("secret" Md. 295) runs through BARC reservation, as does U.S. 1 (Baltimore Avenue).

I think several of these (perhaps all of them) qualify as "crimes against the MUTCD:"

[snip]



[snip]

Most of those are inexcusable, but I really like this one. What can I say? I'm a sucker for that old-fashioned lettering.

[thenetwork]

Whats worse?  That teh government us taxpayers probably paid 5 to ten times more for these sub-standard signs than if they just went with MUTCD-approved signs.   

[agentsteel53]

what's wrong with the "commercial vehicles not on official BARC business prohibited" sign?  looks like it has an embossed border, even.

[texaskdog]

How do I post pictures again?  Promise I will print the instructions this time.  I have a few from our trip to post.

Upload them to some kind of hosting site that allows direct linking and embedding. Then take the URL for the image and wrap it in "IMG" tags here (meaning put "IMG" in square brackets before the URL and "/IMG" in square brackets after the URL).

How do I post pictures again?  Promise I will print the instructions this time.  I have a few from our trip to post.

Dang I can't figure it out.  Oh well.

[cpzilliacus]

what's wrong with the "commercial vehicles not on official BARC business prohibited" sign?  looks like it has an embossed border, even.

Not exactly what the MUTCD specifies for truck bans, is it?

[agentsteel53]

what's wrong with the "commercial vehicles not on official BARC business prohibited" sign?  looks like it has an embossed border, even.

Not exactly what the MUTCD specifies for truck bans, is it?

how old is the current truck ban wording?  I'd bet that sign is at least 40 years old, if not 50.

[cpzilliacus]

All of these images are from public roads under maintenance of the U.S. Government, Department of Agriculture (USDA), in Beltsville, Prince George's County, Maryland.

This is the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), which occupies a huge swath of land in northern Prince George's County.  The federal Baltimore-Washington Parkway ("secret" Md. 295) runs through BARC reservation, as does U.S. 1 (Baltimore Avenue).

I think several of these (perhaps all of them) qualify as "crimes against the MUTCD:"

[snip]



[snip]

Most of those are inexcusable, but I really like this one. What can I say? I'm a sucker for that old-fashioned lettering.

Central, the lettering on that one is admittedly pretty cool. 

This is on Research Road, which connects Eleanor Roosevelt's City of Greenbelt (where more than a few BARC employees have traditionally lived) with the BARC reservation.  There is indeed a gate at the boundary between the federal property and the corporate limits of Greenbelt, and it is indeed closed during the hours shown on the sign.

But the dunderheads installed the sign in the wrong place (and obviously a long time ago)!  It is on a segment of Research Road north of Beaver Dam Road (another road through the BARC property that is open to the public) (here).  Traffic on Beaver Dam Road that turns south onto Research  Road does not see that sign!

[cpzilliacus]

Silly! Those signs are all in Obama font!

Hog, I think all of those signs pre-date the election of President Obama in 2008.

[cpzilliacus]

what's wrong with the "commercial vehicles not on official BARC business prohibited" sign?  looks like it has an embossed border, even.

Not exactly what the MUTCD specifies for truck bans, is it?

how old is the current truck ban wording?  I'd bet that sign is at least 40 years old, if not 50.

Agreed that the sign is very old.  As far as I can tell, the truck ban on the BARC property is mostly never enforced. 

The USDA used to have its own federal police force (pretty common around the Washington area that federal agencies have their own in-house police forces), but  I am not sure that they (USDA/BARC) do any longer, in which case the only federal cops to be seen there are the United States Park Police, which patrol the federal section  of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, and some federal reservations which adjoin the Parkway.

In theory, I suppose the USDA could deploy rangers from the U.S. Forest Service to patrol the  BARC property (since both  are part of USDA), but there are no national forests anywhere in Maryland, and I have never seen a Forest Service ranger in Beltsville.

[formulanone]

Silly! Those signs are all in Obama font!

Hog, I think all of those signs pre-date the election of President Obama in 2008.

Nonsence, you always blame the current president, who should have at least chosen a planet with a binary star system, so we could potentially roadgeek all days long.

Slow down!

[Brandon]

How do I post pictures again?  Promise I will print the instructions this time.  I have a few from our trip to post.

Upload them to some kind of hosting site that allows direct linking and embedding. Then take the URL for the image and wrap it in "IMG" tags here (meaning put "IMG" in square brackets before the URL and "/IMG" in square brackets after the URL).

How do I post pictures again?  Promise I will print the instructions this time.  I have a few from our trip to post.

Dang I can't figure it out.  Oh well.

The tags are: "[_IMG_]" and "[_/IMG_]".  Remove the spaces "_" for the actual tags.

[cpzilliacus]

Whats worse?  That teh government us taxpayers probably paid 5 to ten times more for these sub-standard signs than if they just went with MUTCD-approved signs.   

I am actually thinking of sending these over to a friend at the Federal Highway  Administration, with the suggestion that it be forwarded to someone at FHWA's Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division. 

I think they have the authority (because these roads are owned by the federal government and open to the public) to get the USDA to straighten-out this mess.

[cpzilliacus]

Nonsence, you always blame the current president, who should have at least chosen a planet with a binary star system, so we could potentially roadgeek all days long.

Slow down!

<smile> 

[NE2]

Tomorrow on AARoads: Does CP decide to fink on old signs?

[agentsteel53]

a planet with a binary star system

please take all discussion of the Alanstar/Goatstar pair to the appropriate thread!

[vtk]

How do I post pictures again?  Promise I will print the instructions this time.  I have a few from our trip to post.

Upload them to some kind of hosting site that allows direct linking and embedding. Then take the URL for the image and wrap it in "IMG" tags here (meaning put "IMG" in square brackets before the URL and "/IMG" in square brackets after the URL).

How do I post pictures again?  Promise I will print the instructions this time.  I have a few from our trip to post.

Dang I can't figure it out.  Oh well.

The tags are: "[_IMG_]" and "[_/IMG_]".  Remove the spaces "_" for the actual tags.

I suspect the problem might be finding a site to upload to, and getting the right URL to the image.

Seems like this is a topic that should be covered in public school computer skills classes.

[cjk374]

How do I post pictures again?  Promise I will print the instructions this time.  I have a few from our trip to post.

Upload them to some kind of hosting site that allows direct linking and embedding. Then take the URL for the image and wrap it in "IMG" tags here (meaning put "IMG" in square brackets before the URL and "/IMG" in square brackets after the URL).

How do I post pictures again?  Promise I will print the instructions this time.  I have a few from our trip to post.

Dang I can't figure it out.  Oh well.

The tags are: "[_IMG_]" and "[_/IMG_]".  Remove the spaces "_" for the actual tags.

I suspect the problem might be finding a site to upload to, and getting the right URL to the image.

Seems like this is a topic that should be covered in public school computer skills classes.

Some of us are old enough where computer classes were consisted of DOS programming on green screens & no such thing as the internet, URL, USB, IMG, LOL, OMG, etc.