Why is California the only state that has cutout state and US highway shields? I never understood why they don't do that.
I ponder the same question. I like the cutout style better than the others.
California and places in Virginia are the last holdouts for cutout route markers...
There are isolated cutouts or patches of cutouts in some other States, (Jake was in one small town in Kansas a year or two back and saw a whole street of US 36 cutouts...KDOT obviously hadnt gotten that far in YEARS) but they are far and few in between...
Illinois has one, atleast a few months ago they did. When I-80/94/U.S. 6 was re built a EB marker for U.S. 6 was a cut out...
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.billburmaster.com%2Frmsandw%2Fillinois%2Fimages%2Febus6lan.jpg&hash=a9c0ef5b8fbca21cbbb35d6d5df16516947bdc91)
I don't have a picture of it, but on westbound I-84/US-26/US-30 near Glenn's Ferry, Idaho, there's a cutout US-26 shield along the line of that US-6 shield.
Oklahoma has some cutouts for Business US 60 at Seneca and Alternate US 69.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.static.flickr.com%2F3158%2F2901060636_9352248f44.jpg&hash=d60d6754db49463d459bac3bdb45e1bcb1ffbe22)
Wisconsin seems to go the other extreme. They put Interstate shields on black boxes for multiplexes - and some singletons
WA usually does that too, master son, but some older shields (from the 70's) are cutouts.'
I don't see any cutout U.S. or state highway markers...they'd be either with a black or green background.
Washington never used cutouts for State markers...you always had ol' George looking off to the side from his black box...
Some states always used squares or rectangles for their markers (The New England States, Indiana, Illinois, Montana come to my mind immediately).
7 states in the early days used state shapes inside squares or rectangles (Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, and South Carolina)
The only states that used State-shaped cutouts for route markers were Ohio, Missouri Georgia, Arizona, and Arkansas....other States used state shields or symbols
I think I saw a pic of one Primary State Highway (Washington, 1937-1964) shield that was cutout. It looked very strange.. :eyebrow:
What about US 3 in Massachusetts? That has loads of cutout shields.
CG-
Washington had a brief run in the early 90's where they put interstate shields on white backgrounds resulting in ugly shields like this
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.davidjcorcoran.com%2Fhighways%2F82%2F22to223%2F2.JPG&hash=9ad72831dd086eeb9c349c8fc9d03304279acc5c)
but new interstate shields are all cutout along the very standard neutered design.
As far as the state highway shields, Washington hasn't used cutouts since at least 1954
Thanks for pointing that out...around here (Marysville) the "TO I-5" signs are cutouts and sometimes with white, ugly backgrounds.
Wow, those square Interstate signs are ugly indeed. :ded:
I saw cut outs in several places in Virginia this past weekend.
Connecticut has their state route markers cut out. ;-)
Kidding aside, somehow I think the answer is simple: non-cutout markers are cheaper and easier to manufacture. No DOT wants to waste taxpayer money on more expensive signs.
I'd reckon the cutout markers would be slightly cheaper since they use less metal. Think about it–if Michigan used cutouts they'd save 50% of the cost on each sign!
But it takes fewer cuts to make a square. It'd be very time-consuming to cut out all those little details, even on something the size of a route marker.
Re: corco's photo of I-82/US 12
That I-82 sign disturbs my soul. It's so ugly! X-( X-(
Be well,
Bryant
deathtopumpkins: But in the instance that Scott5114 mentioned (Michigan), no actual "cutting out" is required - just take a square sign blank and tilt it 45 degrees, and you have instant cutout! :sombrero:
Oh yeah Michigan uses the diamond-shaped ones doesn't it? :-D Same for North Carolina too...
Those I could understand using cutouts for.
Here's WA's cutout I-90 and non-cutout I-90 from Mark O'Neil's site (http://web.archive.org/web/20060524185456/http://mdo20.0catch.com/route/wa/wasign.html). (photos taken by Joe Koehler)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.archive.org%2Fweb%2F20040515084459%2Fmdo20.0catch.com%2Froute%2Fwa%2Fiwa90.JPG&hash=9a71769e327047c3b9bdd1f4fdbe396f4022ba94)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.archive.org%2Fweb%2F20040518155447%2Fmdo20.0catch.com%2Froute%2Fwa%2Fiwa90_2.JPG&hash=8136ea35e9976a1737545d444fbe51664b88c823)
That non-cutout is really ugly...
Oh, and I noticed a non-cutout I-64 sign here today (on the ramp from US-258 SB to LaSalle Ave. SB) mounted on a square blue background.
I've never seen a non-cutout Interstate shield. On the other hand, I've never seen a state or US route cutout shield, either.
Michael...
I can fix THAT real fast!
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi166.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu102%2Fctsignguy%2Farkus79.jpg&hash=f1bbcbe39c0f1ca8402149246f1f6d42ac1d27f0)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi166.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu102%2Fctsignguy%2Fctus116.jpg&hash=89ccf796804c3876e85375f4655dba37b331991c)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi166.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu102%2Fctsignguy%2Fdelus13.jpg&hash=fb8efdfb9402182bbabb5c69db4ded9e42d9e59e)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi166.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu102%2Fctsignguy%2Fga332.jpg&hash=3ead8a7aeb40fdfa8e38a654951b623ddf3d5be8)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi166.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu102%2Fctsignguy%2Fmo114.jpg&hash=069e6619038c88d8b53b11cc2a93515aa4b4ea9f)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi166.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu102%2Fctsignguy%2Foh44.jpg&hash=998f1f2f0ee2b33ab07eff27853534340b6034e2)
I meant in REAL LIFE!!! :pan:
Froggie > ooops! how about here:
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u102/ctsignguy/ (http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u102/ctsignguy/)
Michael: Specify! Specify! Must SPECIFY!!!! :-P
If you want to classify this as a cutout, there's a couple of these 23 signs in the Port Jervis NY area.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55173627@N00/2803286788/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/55173627@N00/2803286788/)
A couple others on US 1 in Mass. These look better with a black border.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cerebusfangirl/3380650766/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cerebusfangirl/3380650766/)
I FOUND MY FIRST CUTOUT SHIELD IIN THE WILD TODAY YES I"M SO EXICTED WOOOHOO
CHECK THIS OUT!!!
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.davidjcorcoran.com%2Fhighways%2Fcoloradocutout.JPG&hash=233e6a4e6f0b9aca3b9a4f14961d17d9fd158c0b)
I just happened to turn down a backroad in Julesburg, Colorado to check out the town and LO AND BEHOLD I FOUND IT HALLELUJAH!
This was the greatest moment of my roadgeeking career ever by far
Woah...just like CA only the bold font. :-o
QuoteI FOUND MY FIRST CUTOUT SHIELD IIN THE WILD TODAY YES I"M SO EXICTED WOOOHOO
CHECK THIS OUT!!!
Cedar St. southbound. How do I know? http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/co/us_138/cedars.jpg (http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/co/us_138/cedars.jpg). So it's survived more than 20 years since 1987! And plenty longer since then I'm sure.
Wow that's awesome. Both signs still look pretty good, too.
That US 385 shield is UGLY!
HIDE IT...QUICK!!!!
before someone finds it!!!!
QuoteThat US 385 shield is UGLY!
Actually, until sometime in the 1980's, Colorado left space for the "U.S." above the number even though that was gone in the 1960's. So if you look around my site, which has several hundred Michael Summa photos from Colorado in the 1970's and 1980's, you'll see a ton more shields like that as well on all the different highways.
I'm glad to hear that the U.S. 138 cutout is still there!
https://www.aaroads.com/west/colorado999/cedar_st_sb_app_us-138_us-385_02.jpg (https://www.aaroads.com/west/colorado999/cedar_st_sb_app_us-138_us-385_02.jpg)