Big Black Signs

[Henry]

I remember several decades ago that some states put up black signs with white lettering that said something like "RADAR DETECTORS ILLEGAL", and one such state that comes to mind is VA. Do these signs still exist, or have they been phased out (most likely for the traditional white signs with black letters)?

[1995hoo]

Virginia's current welcome sign is a Big Black Sign.

The "RADAR DETECTORS ILLEGAL" signs still exist in white-on-black form. The particular one seen in that link is slightly unusual in being posted as far after the "welcome" sign as it is. Over the years I've seen jokes about the radar detector sign being the true "Welcome to Virginia" sign.

[vdeane]

PA uses them for weigh stations.
https://nysroads.com/photos.php?route=i83&state=PA&file=101_3875.JPG

[Mapmikey]

Can't find a photo online anywhere but the I-395 HOV lanes in the 1980s had BBS's instead of BGS's on its sign gantries

[jmacswimmer]

A lot of BWI-related signage on area roads such as I-95, I-195, MD 100 & MD 295 are BBS's - here's one example.

(The signs entering the BWI terminal are also black - I presume these signs were installed & maintained by MDOT MAA rather than MDOT SHA.  Not sure about the above-mentioned signage since those are on SHA-roadways, but clearly MAA had some level of influence with the matching blue banners.  And at the end of the day, it's all MDOT.)

PA uses them for weigh stations.
https://nysroads.com/photos.php?route=i83&state=PA&file=101_3875.JPG

MD does as well.

[1995hoo]

Can't find a photo online anywhere but the I-395 HOV lanes in the 1980s had BBS's instead of BGS's on its sign gantries

The only picture I have of those is a black-and-white photo near Turkeycock, so it's not apparent.

[Pink Jazz]

As far as I know, I think some studies have found these to be problematic at night since black is a non-retroreflective sheeting color.  This is the reason why white-on-black street blades did not make it into the 2009 MUTCD.

[Mapmikey]

Can't find a photo online anywhere but the I-395 HOV lanes in the 1980s had BBS's instead of BGS's on its sign gantries

The only picture I have of those is a black-and-white photo near Turkeycock, so it's not apparent.

A shame that a photo can't be located of one in color with route shields on them.  I thought they looked really sharp when I visited DC when I was in high school...

[1995hoo]

Can't find a photo online anywhere but the I-395 HOV lanes in the 1980s had BBS's instead of BGS's on its sign gantries

The only picture I have of those is a black-and-white photo near Turkeycock, so it's not apparent.

A shame that a photo can't be located of one in color with route shields on them.  I thought they looked really sharp when I visited DC when I was in high school...

I always liked them, and I thought it was a more effective way of distinguishing between carriageways than the current style of putting an "EXPRESS EXIT" banner. I like Ontario's use of different-colored signs for the express lanes and collector lanes on Route 401 through Toronto for the same reason.

Come to think of it, in terms of finding a color photo with the dark signs, the older Google Street View images southbound at Turkeycock would have an old black "ALL TRAFFIC" sign (and an old-style Big Red Sign for "DO NOT ENTER"; both signs are gone now). I can't get a link for that since I'm using my iPad right now and the Google Maps app doesn't have the old Street View images as far as I know. That sign also didn't have any route shields, of course.


Edited to add the Street View from Turkeycock: https://goo.gl/maps/tfr7fNCstUnRaufu6

[ozarkman417]

Big Black Sign at a weigh station in Mississippi, along I-22.

[ErmineNotyours]

The first black signs I saw were in the short "Dad... Can I Borrow the Car?"  I wondered how common they were.

[1995hoo]

Can't find a photo online anywhere but the I-395 HOV lanes in the 1980s had BBS's instead of BGS's on its sign gantries

The only picture I have of those is a black-and-white photo near Turkeycock, so it's not apparent.

(image deleted)

A shame that a photo can't be located of one in color with route shields on them.  I thought they looked really sharp when I visited DC when I was in high school...

I sent VDOT a tweet asking if they had any pictures of the old black signs and they just replied that they were unable to locate any. Too bad. Worth a try, anyway.

[JoePCool14]

Here's a BBS from the SW corner of Wisconsin on US-151 EB.
https://goo.gl/maps/i7gNiNQUbap6xbhx7

[jemacedo9]

US 219 north in Ridgway PA approaching the truck route:
https://goo.gl/maps/GLaZSeHQGgUiPEyZ6

[StogieGuy7]

When I was a little road geek (late 60's-early 70's), I remember a lot of the older signs were white on black. In most cases they did not have an actual shield on them but used text instead. The newer big (darker than now) green signs generally did include shields.  Note that I-270 back then was only a short cut link between 495 and what was then I-70S (I-70N went to Baltimore).  That went away in the early to mid 1970s.



The only black signs I remember having a shield outline on them were in California and they were really really old by the time I was old enough to notice them.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F291115563387586106%2F&psig=AOvVaw1oowRfPQ7S748KVyrXTBhp&ust=1617133852135000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCNiL16Oj1u8CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

[PurdueBill]

Mass has been known to replace a big white sign with a big black one!

before:   https://goo.gl/maps/cnsNyRGUoYsH1N849
after:  https://goo.gl/maps/MqjWoRQskjVsapZ18

ditto northbound, https://goo.gl/maps/gZfF8ZbAhGhE9Pzk9 and https://goo.gl/maps/sXLueRVqordbeyXT7 

It is not consistent for all weigh stations in the state though--it will be interesting to see if others are replaced like that or if it was some sort of one-off for whatever reason.

[jakeroot]

The only one I can remember in Washington State was on the 520 near Redmond to indicate a truck climbing lane. It's now gone, though.

[Mapmikey]

Can't find a photo online anywhere but the I-395 HOV lanes in the 1980s had BBS's instead of BGS's on its sign gantries

The only picture I have of those is a black-and-white photo near Turkeycock, so it's not apparent.

(image deleted)

A shame that a photo can't be located of one in color with route shields on them.  I thought they looked really sharp when I visited DC when I was in high school...

I sent VDOT a tweet asking if they had any pictures of the old black signs and they just replied that they were unable to locate any. Too bad. Worth a try, anyway.

Thanks for trying...we can console ourselves with some British Columbia ones I remember from my 2014 trip to Vancouver...

https://goo.gl/maps/3PxxbVoRNd9bVGsc6

[1995hoo]

I suppose it's not really a huge surprise that it's hard to find I-395 pictures. Those signs were gone prior to the digital camera era, and to the extent there are people out there who do have pictures, the odds are that's a small population and the chances of any of those people having digitized those photos are even lower (much less being members of this forum).

[fillup420]

Most of RDU airport's overheads are black, but these have seen better days
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.8639975,-78.8085764,3a,39.6y,76.52h,95.72t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_6EqjYFvwN_m7Dj8PVrR8Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Some have been replaced since the google car went through, and look much better

[ClassicHasClass]

California had many black signs and a few are still around on old surface alignments, but one rather large one survived until relatively recently on I-5 at the Newhall Pass truck bypass. I think it came down about a decade or so ago.

(EDIT: Here it is. Google has it, but only from certain angles and years. https://goo.gl/maps/PqzBu8DxWhTSL38u7 )

[dfnva]

This was the last "big black sign" on I-395 in Virginia (HOV Lanes south at Turkeycock) before the express lane project resulted in its demise in 2018 or 2019:

https://goo.gl/maps/KJLxdYVdUdkhcMeq8

The replacement "All Traffic" sign is essentially the same, but has three arrows and the colors are inverted.

[wanderer2575]

This used to be on northbound US-93 north of Kingman, before the Hoover Dam bridge was built.  I assume the traffic restriction no longer exists and therefore neither does the sign.

[Occidental Tourist]

The need for the restriction ended when US 93 was rerouted over the Mike O'Callaghan—Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

[Scott5114]

This used to be on northbound US-93 north of Kingman, before the Hoover Dam bridge was built.  I assume the traffic restriction no longer exists and therefore neither does the sign.

How's that for a beauty? Not only a big black sign with a big NO, but it contains two different states' highway shields.