Oddball Municipalities

[CoreySamson]

It's a given fact that local municipalities usually are less strict and take more liberty with their signage than their state's DOT. But what about cities that have (or had) really quirky signage and design, especially when compared with the rest of the area's infrastructure? As an example, I offer up Lake Jackson, TX...

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.0440992,-95.4464302,3a,29.9y,293.52h,86.97t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sabp-5wRClIqOP_8nGStnzQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Here's the intersection of Oyster Creek Drive and Oak Drive. You might notice a couple of things not often seen in this part of Texas:
1. The oddly-shaped mast arm (Lake Jackson also has another strange mast arm shape I haven't seen anywhere else)
2. The small blue guide sign mounted on the mast arm that says "CITY HALL 3 BLOCKS".
3. The Botts Dots used instead of lane markings (not typically used by TxDot. They can be found all over Lake Jackson)
4. If you zoom in to the left of the city hall sign, you can see a rectangular yellow "END SCHOOL ZONE" sign
5. The interesting pictorial sign on the right that says turning traffic must yield to pedestrians (there's also another unique yield to peds sign a few blocks away.
That last link also showcases another unique thing downtown Lake Jackson does: parking spaces directly on the streets and in the median instead of parallel parking or parking lots.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.0404106,-95.4258519,3a,22y,108.47h,84.8t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sWxBAJsEAp3XPdZyuCdlyLQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
This shot on Oyster Creek Drive shows on of Lake Jackson's most unique quirks. Instead of green signs telling you the next street names you'll intersect, Lake Jackson elects to use blue for ground-mounted signs. This is used fairly consistently around the city. These quirks however, are going away as old signs and traffic signals are being replaced with more MUTCD-compliant ones.

So that's the quirks of one city in my area, but are there any cities near you that have practices bordering on strange?

[SkyPesos]

First example that came to mind for me is Dublin, OH. Compared to the rest of Columbus, they have a few oddball designs. First, this area has an obsession with roundabouts for some reason, not that it's a bad thing. Also most of the the mast arms poles, streetlights and street blades use some sort of a brown color. Not road related, but a lot of the neighborhoods in Dublin have a small pond or lake in them, not sure if those are natural or man-made, as nearby suburbs don't have a lot of them.

[Ned Weasel]

Lenexa is the only city in Kansas I know of that loves horizontal traffic signals.

[Takumi]

Richmond has its own style for shields.

[EpicRoadways]

Not at all oddball in a bad way, but I've been looking for an excuse to mention Forest Lake, MN's signature bright blue that is used on street/traffic lights, guardrails, decorative posts, benches, and even landscaping. It seems like some private businesses have gotten in on the act too! 

Also, while we're on the topic of horizontal traffic lights... Estherville, Iowa (population: 6,360) seems to love them. All nine signalized intersections in the city have overhead horizontal signals. This is the only use of horizontal signals that I know of in Iowa, and it's all the more interesting that they're in such a small city. Usually major deviations from statewide signal standards are found in larger and/or wealthier areas.

[RobbieL2415]

Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, FL, the controlling municipalities of Walt Disney World. They like to use purple concrete signposts and have some unique, but functional, color signage.

[SectorZ]

My town had a fascination with signs that literally just had stickered letters plastered on them without any effort to make them last or look halfway decent.

https://goo.gl/maps/PVgrJanUbWGLSYvMA
Note in this that by 2019 it was gone, but you can see how many letters were missing from the sign before its death.

Most of the other ones were gone by the time the GSV era kicked in, and I remember loads of them in the 80's and 90's gradually falling one-by-one in the 21st century.

[Bruce]

Seattle uses state-name Interstate shields unlike the rest of WA (for the most part).

[NoGoodNamesAvailable]

NYC has too many quirks to count. It's the only US city I know of that's allowed to promulgate its own traffic rules that override state law (for example, cars are allowed to park all the way up to the crosswalk). It has its own unique parking signs (which IMO are far superior to the MUTCD's and should be standard in every large city). Probably the only major city on earth to still use guy wire mast arms for traffic signal supports. Probably the most extensive use of leading pedestrian intervals in the US.

[hotdogPi]

It's the only US city I know of that's allowed to promulgate its own traffic rules that override state law (for example, cars are allowed to park all the way up to the crosswalk).

Each municipality in Illinois decides for itself whether to allow U-turns. There's no way to memorize which ones do and which ones don't.

[kphoger]

It's the only US city I know of that's allowed to promulgate its own traffic rules that override state law (for example, cars are allowed to park all the way up to the crosswalk).

Each municipality in Illinois decides for itself whether to allow U-turns. There's no way to memorize which ones do and which ones don't.

Chicago is the only one I was aware of that prohibits them.  Where else in Illinois are U-turns not allowed?

[NoGoodNamesAvailable]

It's the only US city I know of that's allowed to promulgate its own traffic rules that override state law (for example, cars are allowed to park all the way up to the crosswalk).

Each municipality in Illinois decides for itself whether to allow U-turns. There's no way to memorize which ones do and which ones don't.

It's not too uncommon for states to have a law allowing each municipality choose whether to implement a particular traffic rule. What's unusual about NYC is the broad number of regulations they're allowed to set, and the fact that it's singled out from all the other municipalities in NY.

[roadfro]

As an example, I offer up Lake Jackson, TX...

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.0440992,-95.4464302,3a,29.9y,293.52h,86.97t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sabp-5wRClIqOP_8nGStnzQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Here's the intersection of Oyster Creek Drive and Oak Drive. You might notice a couple of things not often seen in this part of Texas:
1. The oddly-shaped mast arm (Lake Jackson also has another strange mast arm shape I haven't seen anywhere else)
2. The small blue guide sign mounted on the mast arm that says "CITY HALL 3 BLOCKS".
3. The Botts Dots used instead of lane markings (not typically used by TxDot. They can be found all over Lake Jackson)
4. If you zoom in to the left of the city hall sign, you can see a rectangular yellow "END SCHOOL ZONE" sign
5. The interesting pictorial sign on the right that says turning traffic must yield to pedestrians (there's also another unique yield to peds sign a few blocks away.
That last link also showcases another unique thing downtown Lake Jackson does: parking spaces directly on the streets and in the median instead of parallel parking or parking lots.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.0404106,-95.4258519,3a,22y,108.47h,84.8t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sWxBAJsEAp3XPdZyuCdlyLQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
This shot on Oyster Creek Drive shows on of Lake Jackson's most unique quirks. Instead of green signs telling you the next street names you'll intersect, Lake Jackson elects to use blue for ground-mounted signs. This is used fairly consistently around the city. These quirks however, are going away as old signs and traffic signals are being replaced with more MUTCD-compliant ones.

So most of these are odd/peculiar. But do you realize that the signs you mention in point #5 are MUTCD-standard signs?

[CoreySamson]

So most of these are odd/peculiar. But do you realize that the signs you mention in point #5 are MUTCD-standard signs?

No I was not aware, but I have not seen many, if any, signs of that sort in my part of Texas.

[andy3175]

What I've noticed is wayfinding signs  that point the way to local attractions can vary between cities. These types of signs are often placed by the local business association or chamber of commerce but also by other governmental agencies such as airports or port districts. Usually the differences between various wayfinding signs include variation in sign shape, color, font, and use of logos.

This San Diego example is on West Ash Street in downtown:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/bN5WVQiD8rNQWjb77

[tq-07fan]

Montreal instead of using the already unique horizontal Quebec traffic signals with the two red lights Montreal uses regular signals mounted vertically. On certain intersections especially in the central business district they add a straight green arrow to the sequence. Green Arrow, green ball, yellow, red. This allows pedestrians to enter the crosswalk before turns can be made.

First example that came to mind for me is Dublin, OH. Compared to the rest of Columbus, they have a few oddball designs. First, this area has an obsession with roundabouts for some reason, not that it's a bad thing. Also most of the the mast arms poles, streetlights and street blades use some sort of a brown color. Not road related, but a lot of the neighborhoods in Dublin have a small pond or lake in them, not sure if those are natural or man-made, as nearby suburbs don't have a lot of them.

You make me think of how most municipalities in Ohio use their own unique combination of colors for the sunshades, faces and backs of traffic signals. Oakwood Ohio used to have a yellow face but the back was blue and sunshades were blue or yellow, yellow and blue being Oakwood's city colors. They have all been replaced by black and yellow signals.

Jim

[roadman65]

Lakeland, Florida uses tall slim signal control cabinets while the rest of Florida uses the big control boxes standard in most states.

NYC still uses the click boxes for their controllers.