photos of old signs on the internet

[agentsteel53]

still there as of December, 2007.

quite hard to steal!

[florida]

[agentsteel53]

I definitely remember that Sanford sign from about Dec 2006.  No idea if it's still there.

At that time, there also was a button copy sign on I-95 NB in West Palm Beach showing the distances to the nearest 3 exits.  One of them was Hypoluxo Blvd and I don't remember the other two.  Dunno if that sign is there or not either. 

[florida]

I definitely remember that Sanford sign from about Dec 2006.  No idea if it's still there.

At that time, there also was a button copy sign on I-95 NB in West Palm Beach showing the distances to the nearest 3 exits.  One of them was Hypoluxo Blvd and I don't remember the other two.  Dunno if that sign is there or not either. 

The Sanford sign was taken on 9/3/07.

There was/is a lot down there. The Congress Avenue interchange had some, but AlpsRoads said he found a lot still intact down there. That sign could be one of them.

[Alex]

The Sanford sign was taken on 9/3/07.

That Sanford sign reminded me of this sign on CA 62 near Parker Dam:

There was/is a lot down there. The Congress Avenue interchange had some, but AlpsRoads said he found a lot still intact down there. That sign could be one of them.

Those Davis Island button copy signs in Tampa were replaced in mid-2007.

[agentsteel53]

that has to be the most destinations on any green sign out there.  14 of them!

kinda reminds me of this blue guide sign in Iceland.  It has 19 destinations, including the three control cities.  There is, appropriately, a spot to pull over and carefully study the sign before proceeding!

[WillWeaverRVA]

I was browsing the Library of Virginia's photo collection on Flickr and found some really neat Richmond area stuff shot in the 1950s and 60s. All of these are from the Adolph B. Rice Studio, and I obviously did not take them seeing as I had not been born yet when they were taken.


VA 33, VA 5, and US 60 cutouts at 25th and Broad in 1960. US 250 was not yet out here (it's not quite out here today), and VA 5 ended here until 2004 when US 60 was removed from Broad and put on Main.


US 1/301, taken in 1955. You can see two cutouts on the right.

VA 161 approaching Broad Street (US 33/250 even in 1954).


Embossed street signs in 1960 (all such signs are long gone, I've seen photos from just 10 years later that have the precursors to modern green signage).

Not a sign, but I-95 being built in 1957.

...and 1958.

US 1/301 cutouts in 1954

I wish there were a larger version of this photo, but you can seecutouts and white-bordered trailblazer signs. This is 11th and Broad in 1960. This is back when US 60 was on 11th Street, part of a very complicated routing described on the Virginia Highways Project.

Borderless VA 147 cutout on Cary Street in 1960

[agentsteel53]

there's gotta be some higher-resolution versions of those photos available.  they're taken on 4x5 film; that's the equivalent of about 500 megapixels!

[WillWeaverRVA]

Well, the only place that's likely to have them is the Library of Virginia, and I doubt they'd provide them. :\

Then again, I've never been there, and perhaps they might let me take photos (yes, take photos of photos), since there are no known copyright restrictions - the studio no longer exists, as its last owner passed away in 1974 (which is why the Library of Virginia has the photos, they were donated).

[agentsteel53]

anything before 1963 is in the public domain unless the copyright was explicitly renewed.

wonder if this guy did...

[agentsteel53]

also, I've had good luck with photos of photos ...

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=AL19310431t200430.jpg

that, for example, is not the most stupendous thing in the world but it is a photo of a 5x8 print.  there isn't *much* resolution beyond that in my photo but it surely does the job. 

[WillWeaverRVA]

Fairly sure that's the case since the photos were taken before 1964, and not published until recently. The Library isn't asserting any copyright claims over the photos in the collection. Of course, the prints might not be very large...at any rate, I won't know until I go, and I'll probably go tomorrow.

EDIT: Apparently, they have strict requirements for how photos or scans of their collection materials can be used. Photos of photos cannot be used on the Internet at all; scans are limited to 72 DPI resolution or less.

[xonhulu]

Here's a good read, an account of 1940 US 30 across Oregon, with several historic highway photos:

http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/exhibits/across/overview.html

ODOT also has an archive of historical highway photos here:

http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/state/odotphotos/highway/index.htm

[agentsteel53]

now that's an odd requirement - what do they care how exactly their photos were re-captured?

[WillWeaverRVA]

now that's an odd requirement - what do they care how exactly their photos were re-captured?

No idea. I'll find out tomorrow.

[Mapmikey]

Great find on the picture galleries at Virginia state Library...


Notable in the first photo you put on here is that VA 5 did not end at US 60-VA 33.  Apparently when US 250 replaced VA 5 west of Richmond, they let VA 5 be signed on Broad St to the endpoint of US 250, which would be a useless duplex with VA 33 at that time).  I don't recall any CTB references removing VA 5 from Broad St but from personal experience it was by 1981.


Other pictures with notable items:

#59 has a US 33-250 cutout assembly
#146 has a Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike shield
#305 has a US 360 cutout
#326 shows an interchange with the RPT posted TURNPIKE south with no shields of any kind.

Mapmikey

[WillWeaverRVA]

Thanks for the correction on VA 5. I forgot it actually existed west of Richmond for quite a while.

I still haven't made it to the library yet. I might go on Wednesday, but as Wednesday is my birthday, I doubt I'll make it.

[CityBoy1986]

"Don't Never Ever Enter," Mississippi State U., sometime around 1970:  http://digital.library.msstate.edu/collections/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/uac&CISOPTR=3051&CISOBOX=1&REC=11

Sign pointing the way to Columbus, 1969:  http://digital.library.msstate.edu/collections/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/uac&CISOPTR=3055&CISOBOX=1&REC=10

[US71]

A couple from Arkansas:

http://photos.ark-ives.com/deane/1122_1r.jpg

http://photos.ark-ives.com/deane/1703_1r.jpg

[Hellfighter]

[Mapmikey]

I also meant to point out that in the linked photo with white border signs and cutouts, the cutout next to the US 60 cutout (US 33?) is an older style with the state name still in it.  This may also be photographic proof of where the transition from VA 33 to US 33 was at that time.

Here is a photo from 1942 near Goose Creek, SC where I grew up...



More historic photos used to be on SCDOT's website 10 years ago (mostly not signs, though) still accessible through web.archive.org http://web.archive.org/web/19980625054841/www.dot.state.sc.us/RoadDesign/frhistory.htm

Mapmikey

[Hellfighter]

I know this for signs, but since I just found it, and this tread wants old photos, here's a photo of I-696 in 1988 before the Lodge to I-75 portion was opened.

[jjakucyk]

I just found these today in Lockland (just North of Cincinnati).  I understand Ohio lettered interstate shields are tough to find, and though I haven't really looked much, these are the only ones I've ever seen.  Lockland has lots of old stuff like this, including vintage traffic signals and buried streetcar tracks.  It also helps that the western leg of I-75 through Lockland was originally constructed in the mid 1940's(!)  It's just the southbound lanes now, but the old retaining walls and fences, including a very tight exit are all original.  So it's no wonder there's a bit of a time warp here.  The arrow in the first picture is painted over something else, probably a "North" sign.  Any ideas how old that AAA sign is? 

[FLRoads]

Not sure on how old the sign is, but that style of the AAA logo is from at least the 1920's.

[FLRoads]

A picture I found of a AAA worker affixing a mileage sign along the Lincoln Highway outside of Stockton, CA...