Unique, Odd, or Interesting Signs aka The good, the bad, and the ugly

[Scott5114]

I think it's one of those municipalities where they're so obsessed with street sweeping they make people constantly rearrange their cars so they can get the sweeper through.

Here they just don't sweep the street so nobody has to move their cars.

I think part of the motivation is to discourage people from owning more cars than they can comfortably park off the street.  Other cities do this by having a time limit for parking (in Wichita, I think it is either 48 or 72 hours) and ticketing apparent overstayers.

This seems like it would be an undue burden if someone were in a position where they could not park on the property itself (due to, say, only having a one-car garage and owning two cars, or the garage being inoperable for some reason or another) and also worked from home or else was in some circumstance where there was no need to leave the property for 72 hours. (I work from home and can generally get away with only leaving the house 3 days a week, if I really want to minimize the amount of time I spend away.) Or if someone was simply visiting from out of town for a week or so and the hosts took up the mantle of driving the visitors around town.

I would also be worried that measures taken to technically comply with the law (like, say, driving around the block every other day or so) would go unnoticed by the parking authorities, and so a ticket would be written despite the subject car vacating the spot in the preceding 72 hours.

Here, there are no such restrictions, and street parking on residential streets can be used indefinitely, which is feasible since most of the housing stock in town was built after attached garages became standard. Arterials have No Parking Any Time restrictions in place, so parking is not usually an impediment to serious traffic flow.

[kirbykart]

Jamestown NY, where you need a calendar, a clock, and maybe also a slide rule to figure out where to park.

Why not allow parking on just one side of the street all the time and remove the need to interpret a calendar? Seems like a money grab for parking enforcement...

We get a lot of lake-effect snow here and the purpose of alternating the side you park on every day is so the snowplow can get the whole street plowed.

The switching is pretty pointless in the summer though,  at least it's just every month. And the way the sign is put together is a bit strange, I will say.

I really didn't expect to see a sign about 40 minutes away from where I live on here!

[J N Winkler]

This seems like it would be an undue burden if someone were in a position where they could not park on the property itself (due to, say, only having a one-car garage and owning two cars, or the garage being inoperable for some reason or another) and also worked from home or else was in some circumstance where there was no need to leave the property for 72 hours. (I work from home and can generally get away with only leaving the house 3 days a week, if I really want to minimize the amount of time I spend away.) Or if someone was simply visiting from out of town for a week or so and the hosts took up the mantle of driving the visitors around town.

It is a burden, but it is tolerated in the interests of nuisance control.  The concern is not visitors or commuter vehicles that are parked in the same spot every night so much as it is abandoned cars, broken-down vehicles, RVs not moved for months on end, stock for a gypsy car dealership/car flipper, etc.

I would also be worried that measures taken to technically comply with the law (like, say, driving around the block every other day or so) would go unnoticed by the parking authorities, and so a ticket would be written despite the subject car vacating the spot in the preceding 72 hours.

Residential streets here typically aren't actively patrolled for parking enforcement.  The time limit exists mainly to give residents the ability to call in a vehicle that has been in one place too long and is making a nuisance of itself.  The police then come out and put a sticker on the car to warn that it will be towed imminently and the onus falls on the owner to sort the situation out one way or another.

[machias]

Jamestown NY, where you need a calendar, a clock, and maybe also a slide rule to figure out where to park.

Why not allow parking on just one side of the street all the time and remove the need to interpret a calendar? Seems like a money grab for parking enforcement...

We get a lot of lake-effect snow here and the purpose of alternating the side you park on every day is so the snowplow can get the whole street plowed.

The switching is pretty pointless in the summer though,  at least it's just every month. And the way the sign is put together is a bit strange, I will say.

I really didn't expect to see a sign about 40 minutes away from where I live on here!

I lived in Jamestown for a few years and didn't find this overly confusing. The summer months are for street sweeping. What I found more confusing was back then (this was 35 years ago), leaves were piled along the center line of the street, not along the curb. There was nothing on the swap sides sign about that.

[US 89]

From the street view, my instinct would be that I could get over it in my car, but it sure isn't intended that I do so, and I should find a different way around.

If it were intended that I not do so, then it would have been built with full curbs.

I feel like you could use that logic to exploit a lot of things. Like driving over truck aprons or through shoulders.

I don't see it as exploiting anything.  They could have installed a full curb-height median but chose not to.  This indicates to me that they wanted to discourage but not prevent turning across the area–equivalent to using a single solid white line instead of a double to discourage but not prohibit changing lanes.

And I'm definitely not the only one.  Just look at all the tire tracks from cars turning left into Planet Sub.

Of course Kansas would have a road called Maize.

[J N Winkler]

Of course Kansas would have a road called Maize.

Not just a road--I'm pretty sure it's called that because it goes to the town of Maize (founded 1886, incorporated 1915).  It also runs through the Maize school district (USD 266), on whose board Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker was serving--her first stint in elected office at any level--when she was elected to the US Senate in 1978.

[1995hoo]

Spotted this earlier this morning while out for a walk in Arlington, Virginia. This is southbound on George Mason Drive just south of Arlington Hospital.

[roadman65]

https://goo.gl/maps/QvQAun4CU9f92avv8
Since when does a yellow LEFT tab need to be used for a freeway entrance ramp departing from the left.

[jakeroot]

https://goo.gl/maps/QvQAun4CU9f92avv8
Since when does a yellow LEFT tab need to be used for a freeway entrance ramp departing from the left.

I don't know the exact rules, but it does seem to be overused by some agencies.

Example: Washington State DOT has been installing "LEFT" tabs on every HOV/ETL entrance/exit sign. Even though every movement to/from those lanes would logically be on the left to begin with.

edit: I suppose a Google Maps link would be helpful: https://goo.gl/maps/59qNQF12a692YFps7

[PurdueBill]

https://goo.gl/maps/QvQAun4CU9f92avv8
Since when does a yellow LEFT tab need to be used for a freeway entrance ramp departing from the left.

I don't know the exact rules, but it does seem to be overused by some agencies.

Example: Washington State DOT has been installing "LEFT" tabs on every HOV/ETL entrance/exit sign. Even though every movement to/from those lanes would logically be on the left to begin with.

edit: I suppose a Google Maps link would be helpful: https://goo.gl/maps/59qNQF12a692YFps7

The 2009 MUTCD even pictures on its cover, of all things, that.

I still don't get how every last sign right down to the one with a left-pointing arrow has to have the LEFT plaque, but here we are.

[Scott5114]

I still don't get how every last sign right down to the one with a left-pointing arrow has to have the LEFT plaque, but here we are.

The General Public is breathtakingly dumb.

[jakeroot]

I still don't get how every last sign right down to the one with a left-pointing arrow has to have the LEFT plaque, but here we are.

The General Public is breathtakingly dumb.

Hey now. Tenderness is a great track.

[roadman65]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/52419694672/in/dateposted-public/
I like the way Caltrans here uses  " Junction"  on the exit sequence sign here.  Many other mileage signs for next 3 exits just display the shield only.

[1995hoo]

...

Example: Washington State DOT has been installing "LEFT" tabs on every HOV/ETL entrance/exit sign. Even though every movement to/from those lanes would logically be on the left to begin with.

edit: I suppose a Google Maps link would be helpful: https://goo.gl/maps/59qNQF12a692YFps7

HOV/express entrances don't necessarily have to be on the left. A "basketweave"-style ramp might be on the right; we have several such around here, some of them dating back almost 50 years.

[Scott5114]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/52419694672/in/dateposted-public/
I like the way Caltrans here uses  " Junction"  on the exit sequence sign here.  Many other mileage signs for next 3 exits just display the shield only.

Oklahoma does that a lot and it drives me nuts. If there was no junction, it wouldn't be listed on the sign!

[Quillz]

I actually find info besides the shield unnecessary. I would agree with Scott here, the BGS showing the shield implies it will junction. Something like "NORTH" or "SOUTH" is useful if it's a terminus and/or the beginning/end of an implied concurrency. But otherwise, "JUNCTION" just seems like redundant info.

As an aside, I do like that California has simplified markers for BGS, though. Omitting the state name, for example. Do other states do something similar, where they'll drop the state name on their BGS to account for smaller icons? I'm thinking of states like Wyoming that have both the state name and a logo on their shields.

[roadman65]

I actually find info besides the shield unnecessary. I would agree with Scott here, the BGS showing the shield implies it will junction. Something like "NORTH" or "SOUTH" is useful if it's a terminus and/or the beginning/end of an implied concurrency. But otherwise, "JUNCTION" just seems like redundant info.

As an aside, I do like that California has simplified markers for BGS, though. Omitting the state name, for example. Do other states do something similar, where they'll drop the state name on their BGS to account for smaller icons? I'm thinking of states like Wyoming that have both the state name and a logo on their shields.

Maryland, Nebraska.

[roadfro]

As an aside, I do like that California has simplified markers for BGS, though. Omitting the state name, for example. Do other states do something similar, where they'll drop the state name on their BGS to account for smaller icons? I'm thinking of states like Wyoming that have both the state name and a logo on their shields.

Maryland, Nebraska.

Nevada as well. The BGS version of the state route shield removes the rectangular bump-out where the state name is shown. It also uses a more distorted outline of the state shape to better accommodate the larger numbers needed without dramatically increasing shield height to keep the proportions correct–the angled southwestern border is drawn about 30° from horizontal on the BGS shield (where the standard shield it's drawn closer to 45° and much more in proportion), and the BGS version greatly exaggerates the Colorado River notch at the southern tip of the state (standard shields approximate this a bit more closely, especially older shields).

Standard shield, via Google Maps
BGS shield, via Google Maps

[jakeroot]

Nevada as well. The BGS version of the state route shield removes the rectangular bump-out where the state name is shown. It also uses a more distorted outline of the state shape to better accommodate the larger numbers needed without dramatically increasing shield height to keep the proportions correct–the angled southwestern border is drawn about 30° from horizontal on the BGS shield (where the standard shield it's drawn closer to 45° and much more in proportion), and the BGS version greatly exaggerates the Colorado River notch at the southern tip of the state (standard shields approximate this a bit more closely, especially older shields).

Standard shield, via Google Maps
BGS shield, via Google Maps

The BGS version kind of looks like a speech bubble in that example.

[kphoger]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/52419694672/in/dateposted-public/
I like the way Caltrans here uses  " Junction"  on the exit sequence sign here.  Many other mileage signs for next 3 exits just display the shield only.

Oklahoma does that a lot and it drives me nuts. If there was no junction, it wouldn't be listed on the sign!

My main beef is actually that it makes "Junction" look like the name of a town.

[plain]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/52419694672/in/dateposted-public/
I like the way Caltrans here uses  " Junction"  on the exit sequence sign here.  Many other mileage signs for next 3 exits just display the shield only.

Oklahoma does that a lot and it drives me nuts. If there was no junction, it wouldn't be listed on the sign!

My main beef is actually that it makes "Junction" look like the name of a town.

Yeah if they insist on having Junction there then they should've used all capital letters.

[roadman65]

Junction should really be used for freeway to freeway junctions. It shouldn't be for exits to non freeway routes.

BTW I was being somewhat sarcastic in my OP.

[kphoger]

Junction should really be used for freeway to freeway junctions. It shouldn't be for exits to non freeway routes.

Agreed.

Yeah if they insist on having Junction there then they should've used all capital letters.

If they're going to use it at all, then they should just use JCT instead.

[kkt]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/52419694672/in/dateposted-public/
I like the way Caltrans here uses  " Junction"  on the exit sequence sign here.  Many other mileage signs for next 3 exits just display the shield only.

Yes, CalTrans almost always uses "junction" when state routes meet.

[J N Winkler]

As an aside, I do like that California has simplified markers for BGS, though. Omitting the state name, for example. Do other states do something similar, where they'll drop the state name on their BGS to account for smaller icons? I'm thinking of states like Wyoming that have both the state name and a logo on their shields.

Besides California, Maryland, Nebraska, Nevada, and indeed Wyoming (the cowboy doesn't appear on guide-sign shields), there are also New Mexico, Texas (multiple shield series), Louisiana, and Michigan.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/52419694672/in/dateposted-public/

I like the way Caltrans here uses  " Junction"  on the exit sequence sign here.  Many other mileage signs for next 3 exits just display the shield only.

Oklahoma does that a lot and it drives me nuts. If there was no junction, it wouldn't be listed on the sign!

California has historically had different rules for using shields on interchange sequence signs.  Where most states will use a shield 24" high with 13.3" UC/10" LC copy and often isolate it on its own line, Caltrans has traditionally required that the shield be sized so that digit height matches lowercase loop height.  I believe it also used to require that the shield be positioned so that the digits vertically aligned with lowercase letters on the same line that did not have ascenders or descenders.  "Jct" (or any other mixed-case copy, such as a street name) thus functioned as an alignment control.  For purposes of calculating space padding, the shield was also treated as if it were not present, so that a three-line sign without shields would be the same height as a three-line sign with shields.

Nowadays, Caltrans has backed away from these practices somewhat, so recent signing plans have had details for interchange sequence signs with shields isolated on their own lines, and the digits often don't match the height of or align with the lowercase letters in any mixed-case copy used on the same line.

In terms of other states' unusual practices with interchange sequence or mileage signs, I like Nebraska's use of the word "EXIT" next to the shield and a town name to indicate that the distance is to the exit rather than to the town proper (example).