New TX exit gore sign -- new change for the state, or just a local version?

[txstateends]

I thought about limiting this to the Mid-South, but WTH, it's big either way.......

I saw this new-style exit gore sign for the first time late last week:



It's in Dallas, the first NB US 75 exit ramp (exit 1A, Hall St./Lemmon Ave.).  This (http://g.co/maps/m6ngm) is the previous exit gore sign.  All of the ones between here and I-635 have been this style, smaller (than usual TxDOT size) exit GS, big exit number tab above, yellow exit speed advisory sign below.  The new version I snapped this morning on the way home from work looks like the regular TxDOT size exit sign, but stretched vertically to include the exit number.  This is the first time in the modern era of TX exit signage that I've ever seen the pictured layout.  BTW, the next NB exit (1B, Haskell Ave.-Blackburn St./Fitzhugh Ave.) has one of the new exit gore signs but I couldn't get a pic of it.  Its the first exit ramp NB in the trenched-below-grade portion of US 75.  Maybe I'll be lucky enough to be driving or riding along in that area and get a snap that way.

Has anyone heard whether this is a new exit sign style for TX now (to include the exit # within the sign), or are these maybe special just for US 75-Central Expwy., or what?

PS:::: didn't realize the exit advisory speed had changed also till I saw the Google Street View of the previous version.

[myosh_tino]

I saw this new-style exit gore sign for the first time late last week:



Has anyone heard whether this is a new exit sign style for TX now (to include the exit # within the sign), or are these maybe special just for US 75-Central Expwy., or what?

I believe that's a "Narrow Exit Gore" sign (E5-1c).  Section 2E-37 of the 2009 MUTCD includes an option statement that allows the narrow gore signs when there isn't sufficient lateral offset to install a regular exit gore sign.  I'm not sure if this type of gore sign was mentioned in previous editions of the MUTCD.

EDIT: The Narrow Exit Gore sign (E5-1c) spec is included in the 2012 supplement to the SHSM book.  California uses a similar layout for it's 3 and 4-digit exit gore signs although the California signs are significantly smaller than the E5-1c (60 x 90 versus 48 x 60).

[TXtoNJ]

What's notable is that as a rule, Texas does not do gore signs with the exit number within the main body of the sign. It's generally a numberless "EXIT" sign with a tab on top indicating the exit number.

I remember growing up and thinking that was how all states did their exit signs. I was perplexed the first time I went out of state and saw how the rest of the country did it.

[vdeane]

I grew up and thought it was a peculiarity of NY 590 from Blossom Rd to NY 404 (they're gone now, though).

[Brian556]

Also, in Texas, exit gore signs on non-interstate freeways or expressways are sometimes smaller sizes.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=32.192438,-95.907919&spn=0.000018,0.012531&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=32.192613,-95.907963&panoid=w2yThLj4zZYFhohEPdMuYg&cbp=12,322.69,,0,0

[Alex]

What's notable is that as a rule, Texas does not do gore signs with the exit number within the main body of the sign. It's generally a numberless "EXIT" sign with a tab on top indicating the exit number.

I remember growing up and thinking that was how all states did their exit signs. I was perplexed the first time I went out of state and saw how the rest of the country did it.

This style was also found in Alabama. There are still a few remaining signs adhering to the design in the Mobile area.

See https://www.aaroads.com/southeast/alabama010/i-010_wb_exit_025b_02.jpg
https://www.aaroads.com/southeast/alabama010/i-010_eb_exit_026a_03.jpg
in the background of https://www.aaroads.com/southeast/alabama010/i-010_wb_exit_022b_04.jpg

[US71]

I saw a few of those in Eastern Arkansas along I-40 a few weeks back.

[PurdueBill]

Ohio has been putting a lot of those up even in rural areas where they replaced "normal" format ones.  In the mass replacement on I-71 north of Columbus, even a couple of gore signs at exit 151 that were only a couple years old (after a rehab project there) were replaced by narrow Clearview ones.

Interestingly, Ohio has been mounting the narrow gore signs on Texas-style "goalpost" poles, even when there is room for a pair of traditional posts.  Not surprisingly, several signs on goalpost poles around Akron didn't take long to get knocked down, whereas an old gore sign on traditional posts stood on one post for a long time after a wayward vehicle took out the other. All the gore signs on the rural stretch of I-71 are the narrow kind, whereas the ones in Akron are a mixture of narrow and traditional--there appears to be no logic as to how they decided what went where.

[austrini]

I drive Central Expressway every day and saw those, I like them. They seem so urban.

[txstateends]

I drive Central Expressway every day and saw those, I like them. They seem so urban.

Justin, have they all been replaced or just the #1A and #1B?

[austrini]

I'm not sure, i'll have to look this weekend at some point. I know its most of them south of LBJ but i'm not sure if its *all* of them.

[Alex]

Took note that there are still a few left along Interstate 10 in Alabama today. For fun shot an image of the left-hand one at Dauphin Island Parkway (AL-163).

[Eth]

Back in the '90s, when Georgia still used sequential exit numbers, I noticed that these (with the number "tab" on top) were common on I-75 north of Atlanta, and only there.  It seemed to be a standard for exit numbers over 99 (which, IIRC, only I-75 had).  I think I've only seen a couple of them in Georgia post-2000, and then only for four-digit exit numbers (e.g. 252A).

[deathtopumpkins]

I recall there being a fair number of tabbed exit signs in Virginia, at least along I-64. If I remember correctly they were being phased out, but slowly. Not long before I moved one westbound at J Clyde Morris Blvd was struck by a vehicle and replaced with a larger sign that contained the number in it.

[austrini]

I checked US 75 today, they are all the new style sign up to Forest, Exit 8B. After that they are the older style.

[OracleUsr]

I-81 through the Shenendoah's still has some tabbed gore signs.  Of note is the gore sign for US 60 East off I-81 North (Exit 188A), which as of end of October is still tabbed.  Then again, a lot of I-81 in the Shenendoahs has those old as heck BGS' that are still center-tabbed...but IMHO, it beats Clearview.  Thank goodness many of the signs in Roanoke are upgraded without the use of Clearview.

The ones in Georgia are mostly in metro Atlanta, and some are being phased out to look more like that first Texas one (for instance I-75 South at I-285 East in Clayton County or I-75 South's second exit at I-285 East in Cobb County).

[iwishiwascanadian]

It looks familiar to the narrow gore signs in MD, I think they look nice especially when they have the shield of the route that the ramp leads to. 

[txstateends]

I checked US 75 today, they are all the new style sign up to Forest, Exit 8B. After that they are the older style.

Wow, thanks Justin. 

I sent a message off to the Dallas to ask them about whether they will be just be for Central inside I-635 or if they'll be rolled out statewide instead of tabs.  Haven't heard back yet.

[austrini]

I think the city and state maintain the signs and other things south of 635 minus the Churchill Exit, which came later... and the state handles the northern portion of it. That's why the exit numbers are different. There recently has been a big hassle about the vegetation planted in the median and what the city is going to do about beautifying it. That might be why the exit signs are different for that portion only.

[KEK Inc.]

What's notable is that as a rule, Texas does not do gore signs with the exit number within the main body of the sign. It's generally a numberless "EXIT" sign with a tab on top indicating the exit number.

I remember growing up and thinking that was how all states did their exit signs. I was perplexed the first time I went out of state and saw how the rest of the country did it.

California does that too.  Since California was a little tardy and reluctant to join the exit numbering party until 2002, it was probably cheaper for some DOT districts to install the numbers on stand-alone signs.



I do quite like California's exit gore signs.  They're the most aesthetically pleasing ones in the country in my opinion.  They actually have symmetry & they're mainly consistent. 

[colinstu]

Thought I'd go contribute here.

I noticed one of these for the 25Th St Exit on I94 WB in Milwaukee, WI. Kinda different style, but pretty thin/small.

[txstateends]

UPDATE:  Just heard from a traffic engineering supervisor in the Dallas TxDOT office.  In the new 2011 TX MUTCD, the exit signs do now call for the number included with the sign, instead of tabbed above.  He said they'd be rolled out after signs are damaged or due to age.  It's gonna be strange to see the exit signs without tabs anymore.

[Alex]

UPDATE:  Just heard from a traffic engineering supervisor in the Dallas TxDOT office.  In the new 2011 TX MUTCD, the exit signs do now call for the number included with the sign, instead of tabbed above.  He said they'd be rolled out after signs are damaged or due to age.  It's gonna be strange to see the exit signs without tabs anymore.

Got an email from Jeff R. over Thanksgiving with a photo of the new style sign (Exit 204A from IH 35).



I relayed your post.

[Brian556]

Here's one in Dallas, photographed in October:

[PurdueBill]

Growing up in New England, I had never seen the tabbed style of exit sign until finally visiting a state with them (I believe West Virginia was the first place I saw them).  All the gore signs I had seen for a long time had the number inside the main sign.

As far as the Exit 204 one above, as well as the Exit 1A one, and many, many others all across Ohio these days, the Clearview in gore signs drives me nuts.  There is no reason for it.  All-caps EXIT and numerals, neither of which are supposed to be Clearview.  Bleah!  OK, I got that off my chest.