Center Tab Exit Signs outside of CT?

Started by MATraveler128, January 17, 2022, 07:54:53 AM

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MATraveler128

My apologies if this has been discussed before, but I am aware that Connecticut uses center tab exit signs on most of their highways, but were they ever used much outside of the Nutmeg State? The only two places I can think of are along solo 128 in Danvers and I-95 on the MA/RI border. Are there any others I'm missing?
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1995hoo

New York City has long used center exit tabs on at least the Belt Parkway, although they've been changing that as they replace old signs. 
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machias

Quote from: BlueOutback7 on January 17, 2022, 07:54:53 AM
My apologies if this has been discussed before, but I am aware that Connecticut uses center tab exit signs on most of their highways, but were they ever used much outside of the Nutmeg State? The only two places I can think of are along solo 128 in Danvers and I-95 on the MA/RI border. Are there any others I'm missing?

Centered exit tabs were the standard until the release of the 1978 MUTCD. The first time I ever saw non-centered exit tabs was when the interchange for I-81/I-481 in Syracuse was built in the early 1980s. Minnesota seemed to be using centered exit tabs in the early 2000s, don't know if that's still their practice.

SkyPesos

#3
Ohio uses centered tabs for well... center exits. Here's two relatively new examples at the OH 315 exit from I-71 NB and US 62 exit from I-670 EB

Lots of other states still have old examples of centered exit tabs regardless of which side of the road the exit is. Missouri and Minnesota are the first two states that comes to my mind for this.

For full length centered exit tabs, Georgia and Washington are the only two states to use them iirc.

plain

Quote from: SkyPesos on January 17, 2022, 12:43:06 PM
Ohio uses centered tabs for well... center exits. Here's two relatively new examples at the OH 315 exit from I-71 NB and US 62 exit from I-670 EB

This is actually a very good idea on ODOT's part.
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KCRoadFan

I remember seeing a bunch of centered exit tabs in Minnesota. Does that state still use them on new installations?

SkyPesos

Quote from: KCRoadFan on January 17, 2022, 03:27:59 PM
I remember seeing a bunch of centered exit tabs in Minnesota. Does that state still use them on new installations?
I don't think so. Most new BGS in MN use the same "slightly curved"  exit tab style as MO and OH, with them placed at the side of the exit.

hbelkins

Still a few old ones remaining in Kentucky.


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machias

Quote from: SkyPesos on January 17, 2022, 12:43:06 PM

For full length centered exit tabs, Georgia and Washington are the only two states to use them iirc.

IDOT (Illinois) says hello


Big John

Quote from: SkyPesos on January 17, 2022, 12:43:06 PM
For full length centered exit tabs, Georgia and Washington are the only two states to use them iirc.
Georgia stopped using those when they stopped using Series D on BGS's.

SkyPesos

Quote from: machias on January 17, 2022, 05:08:29 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on January 17, 2022, 12:43:06 PM

For full length centered exit tabs, Georgia and Washington are the only two states to use them iirc.

IDOT (Illinois) says hello
IDOT's are aligned to the side of the exit.

jakeroot

As far as I know, Washington is the only state that still centers the exit number legend, although as mentioned above, the tab is always full-width and installed as part of the guide sign. Every other state and agency aligns the exit number legend to the left or right, even if the tab is full-width and/or installed as part of the guide sign.

The exception to this rule are: Southwest Washington in general; APL signs; a few scattered signs elsewhere in state.

MATraveler128

I forgot about this one, but on I-287 in Westchester, there's a button copy BGS at Exit 9 that has a center tab.
Decommission 128 south of Peabody!

Lowest untraveled number: 56

Daniel Fiddler

Not EXIT signs, but Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee use mileage signs every 2/10 of a mile in the median, as I am sure other states do.  Very handy when I am driving 75 - 85 in the left lane trying to get past slow-moving traffic (especially trucks) and I need to get over in the last half a mile before my exit.

LilianaUwU

Pennsylvania had centered exit tabs in the days of button copy.
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SkyPesos

Quote from: Daniel Fiddler on January 17, 2022, 09:55:01 PM
Not EXIT signs, but Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee use mileage signs every 2/10 of a mile in the median, as I am sure other states do.  Very handy when I am driving 75 - 85 in the left lane trying to get past slow-moving traffic (especially trucks) and I need to get over in the last half a mile before my exit.
I made a dedicated thread for those mileage signs a while ago, called enhanced mile markers:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=28137.0

And it's not always every 0.2. Indiana uses 0.1 in urban areas and 0.5 in rural areas, for example.

ran4sh

Quote from: machias on January 17, 2022, 12:37:24 PM
Quote from: BlueOutback7 on January 17, 2022, 07:54:53 AM
My apologies if this has been discussed before, but I am aware that Connecticut uses center tab exit signs on most of their highways, but were they ever used much outside of the Nutmeg State? The only two places I can think of are along solo 128 in Danvers and I-95 on the MA/RI border. Are there any others I'm missing?

Centered exit tabs were the standard until the release of the 1978 MUTCD. The first time I ever saw non-centered exit tabs was when the interchange for I-81/I-481 in Syracuse was built in the early 1980s. Minnesota seemed to be using centered exit tabs in the early 2000s, don't know if that's still their practice.

They're still technically permitted for right exits, the statement calling for right-aligned exit tabs for right exits is only Guidance rather than Standard [2E.31 - 07] (the left exit tab on the left is a Standard [2E.31 - 08]). Although I think the proposed new MUTCD changes this.
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Quote from: BlueOutback7 on January 17, 2022, 07:54:53 AM
My apologies if this has been discussed before, but I am aware that Connecticut uses center tab exit signs on most of their highways, but were they ever used much outside of the Nutmeg State? The only two places I can think of are along solo 128 in Danvers and I-95 on the MA/RI border. Are there any others I'm missing?

Quote from: machias on January 17, 2022, 12:37:24 PM
Centered exit tabs were the standard until the release of the 1978 MUTCD. The first time I ever saw non-centered exit tabs was when the interchange for I-81/I-481 in Syracuse was built in the early 1980s. Minnesota seemed to be using centered exit tabs in the early 2000s, don't know if that's still their practice.

Quote from: ran4sh on January 17, 2022, 10:23:18 PM
They're still technically permitted for right exits, the statement calling for right-aligned exit tabs for right exits is only Guidance rather than Standard [2E.31 - 07] (the left exit tab on the left is a Standard [2E.31 - 08]). Although I think the proposed new MUTCD changes this.

NCDOT has used justified tabs for many years, but there are still many locations with center tabs (some at relatively newer installations).  In some cases, there seems to be a reason for the difference, as I-85 has almost entirely right justified exit tabs going [eastbound] at the I-40 split near Hillsborough, but for some reason the ramp from [westbound] I-85 to [southbound] I-40 has a bunch of centered tabs.  I'm not entirely sure, but those BGS may have been recently replaced along with others on I-85 between Hillsborough and Durham (sometime around 2015, give or take a few years).

machias

Back in the late 1990s South Carolina moved the exit tabs on their button copy signs on I-85 from the center to the right side. At the time the signs were like those in Pennsylvania, with no bottom border on the exit tab. They left the blank space with no border in the center but the tab had been moved to right.

TheHighwayMan3561

Quote from: KCRoadFan on January 17, 2022, 03:27:59 PM
I remember seeing a bunch of centered exit tabs in Minnesota. Does that state still use them on new installations?

Other than the stray holdout, the largest stretches of center tabs remaining are:

-I-494 from I-394 to US 212 (rebuilt 2004-2006, just before MN transitioned to side tabs)
-I-494 from MN 77 to US 52 (many of these signs are now in dire need of replacement, especially east of I-35E)
-I-694 from I-35E to I-94/494 in Oakdale
-I-35 around Albert Lea
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