What has your state DOT contributed that is in wide use by the other states

[roadman]

Either NY still uses it, or the people at my ROW training were citing an example from a couple decades ago.

NY apparently allows restaurants that serve only 2 meals per day, but gives priority to applicants that serve 3 meals per day.  From the NYSDOT web page on LOGO signs:

■FOOD: ■licensed/approved by State and/or local municipality;
■provide rest rooms;
■operate 6 days per week (facilities providing 3 meals per day will have priority);
■provide a phone for public use;
■be located within 6 miles of exit ramp. 

Remember that individual states can have still policies and requirements that are more restrictive than what the MUTCD calls for.

[Pink Jazz]

The 'breakfast' requirement (must serve 3 meals) was dropped with the 2000 MUTCD.  Beginning in the mid-1990s, but prior to the MUTCD change, Massachusetts would often waive the breakfast requirement for new "add-on" applicants if other restaurants already on the sign offered breakfast.

Yep, I see Olive Garden all the time on logo signs around here. 

[roadman]

The 'breakfast' requirement (must serve 3 meals) was dropped with the 2000 MUTCD.  Beginning in the mid-1990s, but prior to the MUTCD change, Massachusetts would often waive the breakfast requirement for new "add-on" applicants if other restaurants already on the sign offered breakfast.

Yep, I see Olive Garden all the time on logo signs around here. 

Prior to the policy change, there was a Chili's in Burlington (MA) that agreed to have a breakfast menu and early hours as a condition of getting on signs along I-95 (MA 128).  IIRC, it was the only location in the entire chain that served breakfast.

[Pink Jazz]

Speaking of breakfast requirements, Virginia once also experimented with a "FULL SERVICE FOOD" category after the 2000 MUTCD, which they defined as sit-down restaurants that served three meals a day.  Virginia seems to pioneer a lot of concepts with logo signs, that is for sure.

FYI, North Carolina is currently experimenting with nine-panel logo signs at a few exits.  So far the studies have shown that it hasn't had any impact on safety.  I wonder if the FHWA will soon grant an interim approval.  This could be very useful in urban areas where there isn't enough space between exits for more than one logo sign of the same category.

[Pete from Boston]

The 'breakfast' requirement (must serve 3 meals) was dropped with the 2000 MUTCD.  Beginning in the mid-1990s, but prior to the MUTCD change, Massachusetts would often waive the breakfast requirement for new "add-on" applicants if other restaurants already on the sign offered breakfast.

Yep, I see Olive Garden all the time on logo signs around here. 

Prior to the policy change, there was a Chili's in Burlington (MA) that agreed to have a breakfast menu and early hours as a condition of getting on signs along I-95 (MA 128).  IIRC, it was the only location in the entire chain that served breakfast.

If I ran a Chili's, I'd be desperate to pull in bodies, too. 

[vdeane]

Either NY still uses it, or the people at my ROW training were citing an example from a couple decades ago.

NY apparently allows restaurants that serve only 2 meals per day, but gives priority to applicants that serve 3 meals per day.  From the NYSDOT web page on LOGO signs:

■FOOD: ■licensed/approved by State and/or local municipality;
■provide rest rooms;
■operate 6 days per week (facilities providing 3 meals per day will have priority);
■provide a phone for public use;
■be located within 6 miles of exit ramp. 

Remember that individual states can have still policies and requirements that are more restrictive than what the MUTCD calls for.

I'm just commenting based on what was discussed in the ROW training; it was just an overview, so we didn't go in depth.  They were telling a story about how real estate went out to verify a restaurants claim that it served breakfast only to arrive there finding janitors cleaning everything, the restaurant obviously not open, and the management offering to order them something from a fast food place.  Yes, this actually happened.

[roadman]

Understood.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Québec (or was it somewhere else in Canada?) provided the MUTCD's new symbolic "School Bus Stop" sign.

[Scott5114]

I think the version of the school bus stop sign that actually made it into the MUTCD was based on a design from West Virginia, although they may have been inspired by the Canadian version.

Kansas invented the small-caps treatment for cardinal directions.

I don't think Oklahoma has invented anything worth copying.

[NE2]

I don't think Oklahoma has invented anything worth copying.

They invtended the elimitantion of truck trarffic.

[pctech]

Ridiculously poor/stupid road designs, water soluble asphalt and "jump ramp" bridges approaches!

[cl94]

New York had the first extensive system of limited-access highways thanks to the Bronx River Parkway and Robert Moses.

If we're including Port Authority, New York and New Jersey had the first long automobile tunnel (Holland Tunnel).

[SteveG1988]

New York had the first extensive system of limited-access highways thanks to the Bronx River Parkway and Robert Moses.

If we're including Port Authority, New York and New Jersey had the first long automobile tunnel (Holland Tunnel).

I would include bi-state agencies as a form of a DOT, since they are a DOT on a smaller scale.

What was the first use of the zipper barrier on bridges, other than for temporary work like on I-95 in richmond VA?

[kkt]

Floating bridges that sink when you leave the lids to the pontoons open.

[SteveG1988]

Floating bridges that sink when you leave the lids to the pontoons open.

Bridges that twist in the wind like a rubber band.

[1995hoo]

Where did the diamond-shaped yellow sign telling you what the reduced speed limit ahead will be (e.g., picture of a "Speed Limit 55" sign with an arrow above it) originate? First place I ever saw that style of sign was in Quebec about 13 years ago and I liked it then. Still prefer it to a sign that merely says the speed limit will drop by some unknown amount.

[cpzilliacus]

I have heard of the "Potomac Pier" but until I Googled it, did not know where or when the phrase originated - it came from the construction of the U.S. 301 Potomac River Bridge (Gov. Harry Nice Memorial Bridge now).

From:  HISTORIC CONTEXT OF MARYLAND HIGHWAY BRIDGES BUILT BETWEEN 1948 AND 1960 (.pdf)

John Greiner"˜s partner, Herschel Allen, developed and patented the "Potomac Pier" for the Nice Bridge project. His pier design eliminated the need for a coffer dam by placing a steel form on the floor of the river and then driving piles  through the form. Additional piles were attached and covered by concrete until the pier was fully formed.

And:

Potomac-Type Piers

Mr. Miller also spoke with us about "Potomac-type piers" that J. E. Greiner was responsible for innovating. The piers, as their name
implies, were originally used for bridge construction on the Potomac River. Over time these piers have been modified for use on the
Woodrow Wilson Bridge and as far away as San Francisco.  J. E. Greiner determined  the Potomac piers to be such an asset to the
profession that,  rather than patenting them, he "gave," or donated, the design to the engineering profession.

[TEG24601]

Michigan created the Michigan left.

Along with concrete pavement and center lines.

I was under the impression that center lines were created by an Oregon Trooper on US 30.

[Scott5114]

Michigan created the Michigan left.

Along with concrete pavement and center lines.

I was under the impression that center lines were created by an Oregon Trooper on US 30.

First I've ever heard that...both Michigan and California have claimed to invent it, though I think Michigan's claim predates California's.

[bulldog1979]

Michigan created the Michigan left.

Along with concrete pavement and center lines.

I was under the impression that center lines were created by an Oregon Trooper on US 30.

First I've ever heard that...both Michigan and California have claimed to invent it, though I think Michigan's claim predates California's.

Edward Hines painted the first centerline in the Detroit area in 1911, and then KI Sawyer painted the first centerline on a rural highway (Trunk Line 15, later M-15, now County Road 492) at Dead Man's Curve in Marquette County in 1917. There are competing claims from Oregon and California from 1917, as outlined on Wikipedia, but FHWA recognizes the two Michigan claims as first.

I left these out in my original reply because they were innovations of country road commissions, and not of the State Highway Department. Hines worked for the Wayne County Board of Roads, and Sawyer was the engineer-superintendent of the Marquette County Road Commission (which was also in charge of the first airport that later became a USAF base named for him).

[mjb2002]

Oh, that's easy. Retroreflective backplates on RYGs. SCDOT experimented with that in Columbia a few years ago, right near their SHOP RD headquarters.

[apjung]

Louisiana: Crossovers on Interstates used for Hurricane evacuation contraflow.