What states use the blue pentagon shield for county roads?

[Roadgeekteen]

Not Massachusetts, as we don't have county roads.

[hotdogPi]

Not Massachusetts, as we don't have county roads.

(alpsroads)

[formulanone]

Not Massachusetts, as we don't have county roads.

There was a one-off pentagon shield which made an appearance near Acton:

[Roadgeekteen]

Not Massachusetts, as we don't have county roads.

(alpsroads)

Is MA 27 maintained by the county in Acton?

[Avalanchez71]

Not Massachusetts, as we don't have county roads.

(alpsroads)

Is MA 27 maintained by the county in Acton?

That is really not how counties in Massachusetts work.  Many counties in Massachusetts have been abolished and only as act as geographic lines on paper.  County government in Massachusetts is weak in form.  There may at one time been limited county roads.  The sign in question for Middlesex County which no longer exists as a governmental unit is a vestigial remnant and quite a find.  I had no idea such a thing even existed in Massachusetts.

Per Wikipedia which I generally do not quote but it works here.

The legislation abolishing the Middlesex County executive retained the Sheriff and Registers of Deeds as independently elected officials, and transferred the Sheriff's Office under the state Department of Public Safety and the two Registry of Deeds offices to the Massachusetts Secretary of State's Office.[20] Additionally, all county maintenance and security employees were absorbed into the corresponding staffs of the Massachusetts Trial Court. The legislation also transferred ownership of the two Superior Courthouses to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The hospital was closed. Finally, the office of County Commissioner was immediately abolished and the office of County Treasurer was abolished as of December 31, 2002.[21] Any county roads transferred to the Commonwealth as part of the dissolution. The other administrative duties (such as Sheriff, Department of Deeds and court system, etc.) and all supporting staff were transferred under the Commonwealth as well.

[hotdogPi]

It's not an old shield. It's an error shield.

[Avalanchez71]

It's not an old shield. It's an error shield.

Well that makes far more sense for sure with the state in question.  That is just now how things are done in Massachusetts.  What the state doesn't handle the towns/cities handle.  Every square inch of Massachusetts is incorporated into a municipality.

[Roadgeekteen]

Not Massachusetts, as we don't have county roads.

(alpsroads)

Is MA 27 maintained by the county in Acton?

That is really not how counties in Massachusetts work.  Many counties in Massachusetts have been abolished and only as act as geographic lines on paper.  County government in Massachusetts is weak in form.  There may at one time been limited county roads.  The sign in question for Middlesex County which no longer exists as a governmental unit is a vestigial remnant and quite a find.  I had no idea such a thing even existed in Massachusetts.

Per Wikipedia which I generally do not quote but it works here.

The legislation abolishing the Middlesex County executive retained the Sheriff and Registers of Deeds as independently elected officials, and transferred the Sheriff's Office under the state Department of Public Safety and the two Registry of Deeds offices to the Massachusetts Secretary of State's Office.[20] Additionally, all county maintenance and security employees were absorbed into the corresponding staffs of the Massachusetts Trial Court. The legislation also transferred ownership of the two Superior Courthouses to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The hospital was closed. Finally, the office of County Commissioner was immediately abolished and the office of County Treasurer was abolished as of December 31, 2002.[21] Any county roads transferred to the Commonwealth as part of the dissolution. The other administrative duties (such as Sheriff, Department of Deeds and court system, etc.) and all supporting staff were transferred under the Commonwealth as well.

I know that. The sign seemed way too detailed to be an error. They did get the county name right.

[Nacho]

Indiana does not use them, but the Toll Road uses it on signs for the CR 17 exit in Elkhart County.

There used to be at least one on Johnson County Road 144 at its western end where it met SR 37 and SR 144. CR 144 itself is a bit of an odd duck as it doesn't fit into the usual grid system that Johnson County (and most of Indiana) uses for its county roads. Instead it connects the two segments of SR 144.

The sign has been gone for some time but it caught my attention as a kid on my many trips along SR 37 since I'd otherwise never see those signs in Indiana.

[Avalanchez71]

Looks like Mississippi needs to be added to the list.  They like to write all over the pentagon but it is used in Lee and Prentiss counties for sure.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.2667124,-88.5738829,3a,17.7y,166.2h,78.51t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sj_lsQrOAIzIObrqwegF9hA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[bulldog1979]

So I guess Orleans County New York is right where it belongs on that front too... non-competitive! 

Hamilton County has 5 state routes and a population of ~4,400. That's sub-1000, which isn't mind-blowing, but it's certainly enough to make it competitive - possibly even the winner (looking at you, northern Maine) - among counties east of the Mississippi.

Ontonagon County MI has 1 US, 4 state and 1 inter-county route.  With 5720 people (2019), that works out to 950 per route.  Before M-107 was decommissioned, it would have been about 820.

Luce County has 3 state and 4 county.  At 6229 people, that comes out to 889 per route.

There are no inter-county highways in Ontonagon County. If you're thinking of the "H-16" on the state map, that's Federal Forest Highway 16; Ontonagon County would be in the G section of the grid. So redoing your math there, 1,054 people per highway.

[mgk920]

Wisconsin uses a white rectangle inside a black square.

Missouri uses a black-bordered white square for single letters or black-bordered white rectangles for double letters.

Yes, I'm a bit late with this reply, but to me (living here in Appleton, WI), the way that Wisconsin does its county highways is very much a 'comfort' thing - it tells me that I am *home*.  Wisconsin thoroughly marks its county highways statewide and the sign shops in only a couple of counties 'up north' don't use the exact Wisconsin shield design (they use a more 'blank' square shield, instead).  I have always very much liked Wisconsin's County sign shields (the ones on the left above), too.  OTOH, IMHO, the MUTCD pentagon design is too 'busy'.

Mike

[SEWIGuy]

Wisconsin uses a white rectangle inside a black square.

Missouri uses a black-bordered white square for single letters or black-bordered white rectangles for double letters.

Yes, I'm a bit late with this reply, but to me (living here in Appleton, WI), the way that Wisconsin does its county highways is very much a 'comfort' thing - it tells me that I am *home*.  Wisconsin thoroughly marks its county highways statewide and the sign shops in only a couple of counties 'up north' don't use the exact Wisconsin shield design (they use a more 'blank' square shield, instead).  I have always very much liked Wisconsin's County sign shields (the ones on the left above), too.  OTOH, IMHO, the MUTCD pentagon design is too 'busy'.

Mike

Waukesha County has a bunch of signs that stray from the standard and look like this.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.8573032,-88.4894137,3a,42.3y,102.92h,89.97t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s2Mk0rclbODPgAJO6ge3DnA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D2Mk0rclbODPgAJO6ge3DnA%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D245.66985%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

BTW, I agree with mgk that I love the lettered county highways.  Well marked and maintained throughout the state.

[NWI_Irish96]

Whether it be the blue pentagon shields or the rectangular lettered signs, I like states that consistently use some method of differentiating among non-state roads. While I know it's not always 100% the case, generally a signed county route in Wisconsin is going to be a better quality road than an unsigned one.

In Indiana, where there's no distinction, CR 200 N might be a road striped with center lines, medians, and recent pavement, whereas CR 300 N might be a gravel road, and there's no way to know without actually driving them or looking at them in advance on GSV.

[kphoger]

Minnesota's county-by-county patchwork of blue and white shields frustrates me.  I wish they had the same meaning statewide.

[paulthemapguy]

Minnesota's county-by-county patchwork of blue and white shields frustrates me.  I wish they had the same meaning statewide.

I just got back from Colorado, where I saw alternating use of the blue pentagons and green squares to mark county highways.  Consistency is indeed nice.


CO-COU31-US550ER by Paul Drives, on Flickr                                    CO-US285-CSGV.5N by Paul Drives, on Flickr

And yes, "V" is a number you can split into decimals, now.

[US 89]

Minnesota's county-by-county patchwork of blue and white shields frustrates me.  I wish they had the same meaning statewide.

I just got back from Colorado, where I saw alternating use of the blue pentagons and green squares to mark county highways.  Consistency is indeed nice.


CO-COU31-US550ER by Paul Drives, on Flickr                                    CO-US285-CSGV.5N by Paul Drives, on Flickr

And yes, "V" is a number you can split into decimals, now.

There are exceptions, but based on what I've seen the green square vs. blue pentagon seems to be a county-by-county decision. Green squares abound in Routt County, but I think neighboring Moffat County was almost all pentagons.

I love Colorado's county route grids. Without even looking at where it is, I'm betting it's on a half section line between CR V and CR W.

[ethanhopkin14]

Brazoria County in Texas installed some pentagons when they rebuilt and extended CR 220 around 7 years ago:

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.1242927,-95.4304217,3a,26.1y,59.9h,89.84t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTCA73-dJxlaZc50g4ahFGA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

The odd thing is Brazoria County normally uses a different county shield, a green square which looks like this:

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.1732724,-95.4384028,3a,15y,340.96h,86.57t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sdSBUp5G0WMfQ-_LUwpVGtA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

From what I've seen, no other green squares around the county have been replaced with pentagons since they rebuilt CR 220, so I'm wondering if this is a contractor error. Of course it may just be that the CR 220 shields were the only ones needing replacement. I'll see if I can find any other pentagons to see if this is a county-wide thing.

There are other counties in Texas that use the blue pentagon.  I live in Hays County and growing up that's the place where I saw my first blue pentagon.  Of course the signage of them is very few and far between. 

[formulanone]

Minnesota's county-by-county patchwork of blue and white shields frustrates me.  I wish they had the same meaning statewide.

I just got back from Colorado, where I saw alternating use of the blue pentagons and green squares to mark county highways.  Consistency is indeed nice.


CO-COU31-US550ER by Paul Drives, on Flickr                                    CO-US285-CSGV.5N by Paul Drives, on Flickr

And yes, "V" is a number you can split into decimals, now.

There are exceptions, but based on what I've seen the green square vs. blue pentagon seems to be a county-by-county decision. Green squares abound in Routt County, but I think neighboring Moffat County was almost all pentagons.

I love Colorado's county route grids. Without even looking at where it is, I'm betting it's on a half section line between CR V and CR W.

Gunnison County, Colorado:


Rio Blanco County:


The only one I found in Garfield County was for CR 215 in West Parachute, but I think that was just on US 6 or I-70, since everything else I saw used a street blade to denote counties.

[mgk920]

Waukesha County has a bunch of signs that stray from the standard and look like this.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.8573032,-88.4894137,3a,42.3y,102.92h,89.97t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s2Mk0rclbODPgAJO6ge3DnA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D2Mk0rclbODPgAJO6ge3DnA%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D245.66985%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

BTW, I agree with mgk that I love the lettered county highways.  Well marked and maintained throughout the state.

That is the shield design that is used by those few 'oddball' counties.  Besides a part of Waukesha County, I believe that Lincoln County (in the northwoods) uses that design.  Also, a county that is well north of Green Bay also uses them.

Mike

[SD Mapman]

Minnehaha County in South Dakota uses blue pentagons. I can't begin to tell you whether anywhere else in South Dakota does, being I haven't been there since 2012.

A good number of other counties do, Meade, Lincoln, Custer, Fall River, Brookings, off the top of my head. SDDOT has been replacing signage for counties, and anywhere they do they put up the pentagons.

[Avalanchez71]

Minnehaha County in South Dakota uses blue pentagons. I can't begin to tell you whether anywhere else in South Dakota does, being I haven't been there since 2012.

A good number of other counties do, Meade, Lincoln, Custer, Fall River, Brookings, off the top of my head. SDDOT has been replacing signage for counties, and anywhere they do they put up the pentagons.

Doesn't Pennington County use pentagons inside street blades?

[ClassicHasClass]

Yes. My mother lives outside of Rapid City on SD 44 and that's exactly how they're posted currently.

[US 89]

Yes. My mother lives outside of Rapid City on SD 44 and that's exactly how they're posted currently.

Also, haven't seen Utah mentioned here. At least a few places when I was out there in '06 used "baby shields," like this one in Juab county: http://www.floodgap.com/roadgap/6/u6/#sec_20

I mentioned Utah on the first page of this thread. Those "baby shields" aren't county road shields - that is the shield for the federal aid route system, which is numbered on a statewide basis with clustered numbers by county. The system includes just about every major road that isn't a state highway, including county-maintained roads and city streets, but the routes are generally unsigned with only sporadic mini-pentagons in more rural areas. I wrote up a more detailed explanation in another thread a while back.

Actual numbered county routes are pretty rare in the state. From what I can remember, I've only ever seen pentagons regularly used in Duchesne and Daggett County, plus on one road in Washington County (CR 91 - old US 91). Uintah and San Juan Counties have their own systems of numbered CRs as well but have their own special, county-outline shields for them.

[ClassicHasClass]

Sorry, I didn't see your post. I'll remove the mention.