Best/Worst States For Denoting Intersections With State/U.S. Routes.

[thenetwork]

What states go above and beyond the call of duty for noting intersections with numbered highways, both approaching and at the actual intersection?  I am speaking more about intersections/interchanges not involving a limited-access highway.

-  I seem to recall (and this goes back 10-15 years) that South Carolina gave 110% when it came to denoting numbered highways, as I thought that they would install JCT xx signs even on most non-numbered county roads leading to the actual highway.  So, in a sense, if you were hopelessly lost on an unmarked country road, sooner or later you could approach an intersection in the middle of nowhere and know that you could now be traveling on a numbered highway.

-  Ohio has done pretty good with advanced junction signs and at-intersection signs.  At least they do a good job sufficiently marking an intersection with a numbered highway(s).

-  I always liked Indiana's denotations -- especially the large, overhead trailblazers at major intersections.

-  Colorado is definitely at or near the bottom when denoting numbered routes.  CDOT can have reassurance shields for numbered highways just past an intersection, but have no guidance for the routes at the intersection <coughcoughUS-6coughcough>.  Or sometimes CDOT will have a "JCT xx" sign approaching the intersection or an arrow blade with the route number(s) in advance, but no markers at the actual intersection at all.

Other states worth praising or chastising???   

[NE2]

-  I seem to recall (and this goes back 10-15 years) that South Carolina gave 110% when it came to denoting numbered highways, as I thought that they would install JCT xx signs even on most non-numbered county roads leading to the actual highway.  So, in a sense, if you were hopelessly lost on an unmarked country road, sooner or later you could approach an intersection in the middle of nowhere and know that you could now be traveling on a numbered highway.

These 'county roads' are actually secondary state highways (like North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and (I think) Delaware).

[corco]

Speaking of New Mexico- I can't imagine a worse state for that.

Washington does a very good job, I'd say. Even the most pointless of state highways get full little green signage with control city


Wyoming is good too- there isn't always a control city, but a lot of the highways don't go anywhere so that's fine. But there is consistently at least a junction sign and a sign at the turn with reassurance shields after the turn

[thenetwork]

Now that you brought up Wyoming, I want to give high marks to Nebraska.  Even in the middle of nowhere, they put up diagrammatical signs in advance of their intersections. 

I'm still trying to find the 3+ photo discs I have of my cross country trip from Ohio to Colorado when I moved out here.  Some great photos of the heartland I want to share, but darned if I know where in my multi-move boxes they're in.

[vtk]

In Ohio, the DOT generally ignores local side roads.  They don't even get intersection warning signs for those.  (When the state route turns at an intersection with a local road, ODOT often erects sharp-turn warning signs as if the local road doesn't even exist -- even if one of the state-route approaches has a stop sign!)  Any signage at the intersection between a state road and a county or township road is left up to the county or township.  Most counties are pretty good about posting blades at such intersections, but some are a bit on the lazy side.  In Madison County, for example, only the county roads are signed where they meet state roads, and there usually isn't a reassurance marker on the state road within sight.  The lack of a blade sign and the better pavement is usually a good hint that it's a state road, and if there's trucks on it then it's probably US 42, but beyond that it's kind of a guessing game if you don't already know what state highway to expect.  Then again, if you don't know your way around, you probably shouldn't be driving on Madison County's local roads...

[roadfro]

Nevada is pretty good about signing junctions between state and US routes...in rural or small-urban areas. Junction signage (and reassurance shields, for that matter) on state highways in urban areas like Vegas or Reno is fairly limited and often non-existent...the beginning and end are (usually) signed, and that's about it...

[Alps]

In NJ you frequently don't even know you've intersected a state highway unless you're on another state highway. Many county routes just come to stop signs, let alone town roads. Have to look at the pavement/striping to figure it out, and then you don't know which you'd be on if you turn. Some counties don't even sign their routes.
Most of the Northeast is hit or miss. CT signs from some side roads, RI and MA never do. Nor does VT as best I can tell. NY will sign from random side roads, but there's no reason as to which warrant it - some dead ends have junction signs! In PA, especially in rural areas, signage is decent enough, plus you can always read the little white signs to see what road you've come to just in case. But PA probably gets my vote for doing it the best in the Northeast.

[hobsini2]

Wisconsin does an excellent job of both the state highways and county highways with a small exception.  In alot of towns, the county highway sign does not exist to let you know that once out of town, that certain street turns into County ___.  For example, in my grandmother's hometown of Princeton, Hwy D, J, and T all come into Princeton.  However Hwy T is not signed along Farmer St until you are well out of town.  D and J get enough signage at the junctions in town but that's because both change there routing in town.  Up until recently, T didn't even have a sign at 23/73 but i think WiDOT has put 1 up.

[mightyace]

I nominate Tennessee for one of the worst.

TDOT is all over the map in how well or poorly it signs its intersections.  Some are well signed.  And others, barely at all.  The latter is especially true on state secondary roads (triangles).  TN 247 is not well signed where it meets US 31 in Spring Hill and on the northern end of the unsigned TN 246/247 mulitplex, there are no signs on 247 east to tell you that you need to go on 246 south to continue on 247.  Reassurance signage is also spotty, especially in cities like Nashville.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

In Ohio, the DOT generally ignores local side roads.  They don't even get intersection warning signs for those.  (When the state route turns at an intersection with a local road, ODOT often erects sharp-turn warning signs as if the local road doesn't even exist -- even if one of the state-route approaches has a stop sign!)  Any signage at the intersection between a state road and a county or township road is left up to the county or township.  Most counties are pretty good about posting blades at such intersections, but some are a bit on the lazy side.  In Madison County, for example, only the county roads are signed where they meet state roads, and there usually isn't a reassurance marker on the state road within sight.  The lack of a blade sign and the better pavement is usually a good hint that it's a state road, and if there's trucks on it then it's probably US 42, but beyond that it's kind of a guessing game if you don't already know what state highway to expect.  Then again, if you don't know your way around, you probably shouldn't be driving on Madison County's local roads...

That's because sideroad (signage) are the responsibility of the county/city. Not the State.

[vtk]

In Ohio, the DOT generally ignores local side roads.  They don't even get intersection warning signs for those.  (When the state route turns at an intersection with a local road, ODOT often erects sharp-turn warning signs as if the local road doesn't even exist -- even if one of the state-route approaches has a stop sign!)  Any signage at the intersection between a state road and a county or township road is left up to the county or township.  Most counties are pretty good about posting blades at such intersections, but some are a bit on the lazy side.  In Madison County, for example, only the county roads are signed where they meet state roads, and there usually isn't a reassurance marker on the state road within sight.  The lack of a blade sign and the better pavement is usually a good hint that it's a state road, and if there's trucks on it then it's probably US 42, but beyond that it's kind of a guessing game if you don't already know what state highway to expect.  Then again, if you don't know your way around, you probably shouldn't be driving on Madison County's local roads...

That's because sideroad (signage) are the responsibility of the county/city. Not the State.

That doesn't change the fact that ODOT ignores the county roads completely -- some acknowledgement of them on the state roads would be helpful in some cases -- and the Madison County Engineer's Office doesn't bother to sign the state routes, even with little blades next to the ones for their own county highways as other counties do.