Favorite button copy signs still standing

[Mergingtraffic]

What are your favorite button copy signs that are still standing?  (in the wild at the time you post it)



This is mine due to the fact is goes back to the I-70N days and it's the beginning of the westward adventure to Utah.
Extra points if it's non-reflective!

[Max Rockatansky]

We have a copious amount of button copy left in central California.  This is probably my favorite at the junction of CA 155 and CA 65:



Damaged and all the sign remains.  Kind of telling of the state of signage in these parts...or lack of maintenance.

[nexus73]

Wish I had the pix of the "Bakersfield I-5" sign pointing toward a freeway entrance around Burbank if memory serves me right.  I saw it back in 2013 and was amazed it had survived.  The sign was quite straight and clean too!

Rick

[epzik8]

I went through my photos and dug up this one from downtown Philadelphia from August 2016.

Also, I want to reply to OP that I live in the Baltimore area and have been inspired to try to look for that I-70 sign.

[1995hoo]

The famous I-66 sign bridge near the Kennedy Center with the wooden panels obscuring certain signs. I'll edit this tonight to add a picture because Photobucket isn't loading right now due to a crappy data signal.

Edited:

[Max Rockatansky]

Wish I had the pix of the "Bakersfield I-5" sign pointing toward a freeway entrance around Burbank if memory serves me right.  I saw it back in 2013 and was amazed it had survived.  The sign was quite straight and clean too!

Rick

The BGS signs in particular seem to have a ton of surviving button copies.  If I recall correctly most of them were on signage with baked reflective enamel paint which is why they weather much more slowly.  Individual button copy shields are tough to find but it is still fairly common to find baked enamel with vinyl numbers, I actually have several in my own collection.

[Buck87]

This one for the Ohio Turnpike on OH 4, which is an exit that opened in 1994

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3465684,-82.7563437,3a,18.7y,230.13h,88.68t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1seCSjT_n6J2PKifvaFw5kOw!2e0

[PHLBOS]

70s-vintage BGS' at approach ramps to I-95 from I-76 West beyond the Walt Whitman Bridge

[PurdueBill]

This one for the Ohio Turnpike on OH 4, which is an exit that opened in 1994

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3465684,-82.7563437,3a,18.7y,230.13h,88.68t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1seCSjT_n6J2PKifvaFw5kOw!2e0

Looks like the signage on OH 49 (interchange still with no exit number, although the former "Westgate" is now "Toll Plaza 2")....signage on OH 49 is all ODOT-style button copy.



Baumhart Road, another interchange built in the 90s, doesn't have button copy signage but has Turnpike-issue signage (square corners on white border, all reflective copy) while ODOT signage of the 90s would have been button copy.

[PurdueBill]

As far as other button-copy faves:

I like the remaining button copy on US 30 near Mansfield, Ohio.  It is likely to disappear when the heavy work starts.  I like these for the combination of route shield, street name, and destination--now discouraged.  Newer replacements of such signs seem to carbon-copy the text, though.  The interchanges in question may change in configuration with the coming work, so the wording will likely change.




This beauty is from 1999 when the little bit of new US 30 opened from I-75 to OH 235.  They were kind enough to leave it when they completed the road from OH 235 to US 23.  The signs for eastbound are 2007-issue reflective copy.  This button copy still stands.


Eastbound on US 30 where traffic used to be forced off until 2007, this is the exit BGS.  Photo from just over a year ago, but sign was there a week ago.


At the other end of that 1999 stretch heading westbound is a series of 3 of these (1 mile, 1/2 mile, exit BGS with arrow); they are awesome and still there as well.


Ohio has a lot less button copy than it did just a few years ago, sadly.  A lot of it that was replaced really needed replacement, but some got changed out for Clearview that didn't improve things or even made it worse with crazy spacing.

One more favorite photo of button copy; the same sign as the first one but at night with some motion.


I have a favorite in Indiana (or two) and another Ohio one that I will share after someone else gets a chance--I don't want to monopolize the screen height and am afraid I already did.....but these are favorites of mine.

[Buck87]

As far as other button-copy faves:

I like the remaining button copy on US 30 near Mansfield, Ohio.  It is likely to disappear when the heavy work starts.  I like these for the combination of route shield, street name, and destination--now discouraged.  Newer replacements of such signs seem to carbon-copy the text, though.  The interchanges in question may change in configuration with the coming work, so the wording will likely change.

Nice pics Bill.  Too bad those will be likely be going away in a few years, though it will be interesting to see what the replacements are like. The OH 13 one will definitely have to change as the new interchange there will be for it and OH 545, though the one at OH 39 will remain as a single exit, so it could possibly retain its wording.

At that OH 4/Ohio Turnpike interchange most of the signage there is still button copy, and here's an example (taken from google image search):


Though one sign there that is not button copy is the opposite direction sister sign to the one I first linked to above.

[PurdueBill]

It would be interesting to see if there are ODOT stickers on the backs of the button copy signs.  I can't believe that on OH 49 when I was getting pics of several of the button copy beauties, I didn't look at the backs of the signs for labels. 

The Turnpike wouldn't issue button copy but ODOT would at the time that interchange opened, but would ODOT be that cooperative when they could make the turnpike furnish signs?  Hmm.

[Ian]

I have a few favorites that are still up. I'll start with this original non-reflective button copy sign for the Mass Pike (I-90) westbound from Clarendon Street in Boston.



Next, I have these button copy signs in Hudson, NH. The first two photos are where NH 3A turns from Central Street to Chase Street, while the rest are where NH 3A meets NH 102 and 111 a block north. I like these, because button copy signs are very rare in New Hampshire nowadays, plus they use the old pre-Old Man of the Mountain square shields the state used to use.

[Rothman]

I believe this sign used to be button copy up until relatively recently (I went through there in 2009).  Oh well.

https://goo.gl/maps/AXzs4mPsVKx

[PurdueBill]

I believe this sign used to be button copy up until relatively recently (I went through there in 2009).  Oh well.

https://goo.gl/maps/AXzs4mPsVKx

A lot of the great old button copy in that area was replaced, oddly with the lighting not removed.  ODOT has removed the lighting entirely from nearly all previously lighted signs around the state but somehow the ones in the Dover/New Philadelphia area that got replaced left the luminaries in place.  Has to be a decision by the local district.

[TXtoNJ]

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7025394,-95.3544801,3a,75y,82.61h,88.71t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAyphc2Y-tXEvVtkGgACXnw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I'm partial to this one on OST in Houston.

[SidS1045]

I'll start with this original non-reflective button copy sign for the Mass Pike (I-90) westbound from Clarendon Street in Boston.

The Mass Pike "extension" (between I-95/MA 128 and I-93) has lots of button-copy BGS's still up, and still in remarkably good condition, considering they're all over 50 years old (the extension opened in 1964).  The green color has darkened, as one would expect, but there are no signs of shredding on the green sheeting.  Some of the buttons are missing, but again, far fewer than one would expect for 50+-year-old signs.

IIRC MassDOT expects BGS's to last between 10 and 15 years, mostly due to our weather extremes.  Maybe roadman can elaborate or correct?

[roadman]

I'll start with this original non-reflective button copy sign for the Mass Pike (I-90) westbound from Clarendon Street in Boston.

The Mass Pike "extension" (between I-95/MA 128 and I-93) has lots of button-copy BGS's still up, and still in remarkably good condition, considering they're all over 50 years old (the extension opened in 1964).  The green color has darkened, as one would expect, but there are no signs of shredding on the green sheeting.  Some of the buttons are missing, but again, far fewer than one would expect for 50+-year-old signs.

The remaining button copy signs on the MassPike extension mainline were installed in the mid-1990s as part of the Turnpike Authority's sign replacement projects.  The last original button copy signs on the Extension, which were on ramps within the Newton Corner and Newton Centre interchanges, were replaced under the sign replacement project at these two interchanges that was completed in 2013.

IIRC MassDOT expects BGS's to last between 10 and 15 years, mostly due to our weather extremes.  Maybe roadman can elaborate or correct?

MassDOT's current sign replacement schedule is based on an anticipated lifespan for BGS panels of 18 to 20 years.  This is to insure that sign panels are replaced before the retroreflectivity on the signs goes completely flat, which is normally between 22 and 24 years in typical NE weather conditions.

[SidS1045]

The remaining button copy signs on the MassPike extension mainline were installed in the mid-1990s as part of the Turnpike Authority's sign replacement projects.  The last original button copy signs on the Extension, which were on ramps within the Newton Corner and Newton Centre interchanges, were replaced under the sign replacement project at these two interchanges that was completed in 2013.

Strange.  I would have sworn those signs were originals.  Thanks for the correction.

[PHLBOS]

The remaining button copy signs on the MassPike extension mainline were installed in the mid-1990s as part of the Turnpike Authority's sign replacement projects.  The last original button copy signs on the Extension, which were on ramps within the Newton Corner and Newton Centre interchanges, were replaced under the sign replacement project at these two interchanges that was completed in 2013.

Strange.  I would have sworn those signs were originals.  Thanks for the correction.

The original signs looked similar in style to the Clarendon St. entrance sign posted earlier by Ian (the latest GSV from May 2016 still show it present).  The original signs featured no I-shields on the panels (separate I-90 or TO I-90 trailblazer signage were posted adjacent/nearby) and the MA 16, 30 & 128 shields were elongated.  IIRC, these (the original Pike Extension signage) were the first highway signs to feature mixed-case lettering in Massachusetts.

[Mergingtraffic]

I'll add this one too.

[roadman65]

https://goo.gl/maps/FwEu69SQCHMT1ERe8
This one in Trenton, NJ.

[Henry]

I remember when button-copy was prevalent throughout Chicagoland, with the old signs at the northern I-90/I-94 split as an example:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9618854,-87.7436514,3a,75y,320.99h,96.96t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sYGjuIYvtI_TJ5t0Ha6s8yA!2e0!5s20111001T000000!7i16384!8i8192

The current signs have been in place since 2017, so it does not exactly match the title. In fact, just about every one of the area's expressways has had similar signs fall victim to many replacement projects over the years.