Up until about 10-15 years ago, I-80 in Pennsylvania was a treasure trove of non-reflective button copy, all text signs with no route shields, state-named Interstate markers, and other oddities. Now, there’s very little of any of these things left.
Two events accelerated the demise of the old signage. One was that, beginning in the late ’90s, PennDOT began a massive effort to completely reconstruct most of I-80’s 300+ miles in the state. These projects often included new signage. The other “nail in the coffin” was PennDOT’s switch from sequential to mileage-based exit numbering between 2001-2002. The old signs that had survived were butchered with new reflective panels, and many were replaced altogether.
Actually, I just drove the length from I-99 to I-476 over the weekend, and I didn’t see a single button copy sign in that entire length. The last holdouts were at the US 11 interchange near Berwick, but they were replaced last year with new Clearview signs.
There are only a couple of oddities that come to mind (which you may or may not find interesting). At Exit 192 stands one of the few remaining “Keystone Shortway” panels attached to an I-80 trailblazer. To see it, get off Exit 192, turn right (eastward) toward the Sunoco station, then make a U-turn at the Sunoco station and head back to I-80. You’ll see the sign as part of the “JCT” assembly.
Then further west (I believe around Clearfield), there’s an I-80 reassurance marker posted westbound that has a letter O instead of a zero for 80. It’s not terribly old, but still an oddity, and I’ve been meaning to capture a picture of it for a couple of years but always notice it too late.
