Seeing Old (or newer) Button-Copy Signs Still in Use

[BigMattFromTexas]

Ok, I've never seen like ancient signs still in use, but I have seen some button copy on U.S. 67 southwest of Ft. Worth, and I've seen it on I-10 in Western San Antonio, It's probably been in a lot of other places I've been to, but I was probably too young to remember . (I'm still tryin' to get my family to go back up to Iowa so I can get some good roadgeeking in.) ANYWAYS back on topic, every time (which isn't often) I see a button-copy sign it just seems to but a big smile on my face, I know it HAS to do the same with some of y'all... Anyone?
BigMatt

[agentsteel53]

just wait 'til you see your first button-copy shield!  there are a couple left in El Paso.

[cu2010]

I was just in downtown Rochester last night, and there's quite a bit of it still in use there on I-490, particularly east of the Genesee River.  Granted, a lot of those signs are falling apart and are in desperate need of replacement (not to mention of the horrible reflective background variety) but it still made me happy to see quite a bit of it out there.

[Brandon]

ISTHA still has quite a bit of button copy, and IDOT has some in District 1 (Chicago) that date from the 80s through to 2000.  Yes, IDOT was using refective backings with button copy and lights.  Why they started using button copy in the 1980s when other DOTs were phasing it out, I'll never know.

[jjakucyk]

Shoot, it hasn't even been a decade yet since Ohio stopped installing button copy signs.  Of course, most of them are on reflective backgrounds *sigh* but they're everywhere here in Cincinnati.  

[agentsteel53]

CA of course has plenty of it.  The oldest I know of in circulation dates back to 1960.  Before that, the signs had holes drilled in them and the buttons were held in with backplates - slightly different than button copy.  The oldest of that style I know of still around is a 1947 sign on ... I-15, of all places!

[vdeane]

I was just in downtown Rochester last night, and there's quite a bit of it still in use there on I-490, particularly east of the Genesee River.  Granted, a lot of those signs are falling apart and are in desperate need of replacement (not to mention of the horrible reflective background variety) but it still made me happy to see quite a bit of it out there.

Yeah, there are a ton in the Rochester area.  Get em while they last though - we're in the middle of a region-wide sign rehab project, and a ton have already been replaced.

[cu2010]

Not surprised, really...a lot of it is in dire need of replacement. A lot of the buttons have fallen off some of those signs. Shame...a lot of the new signs don't look anywhere near as good as the old ones...

[Ian]

-Pennsylvania has quite a few buttoncopy BGSs
-New York has a few
-New Jersey has plenty
-Connecticut has quite a lot
-Rhode Island, its rare, but there are some left
-Massachusetts has a few buttoncopy signs left, but there are hundreds of the ones with buttons in the numerals of the interstate shields and the rest of the sign is reflective
-New Hampshire, very rare
-Maine, I don't think there is buttoncopy left in Maine

[agentsteel53]

-New York has a few

NYC is filled with it.

-Maine, I don't think there is buttoncopy left in Maine

last I saw a button copy sign in Maine was in 2006, at the southbound split between 95 and 295.  The sign also mentioned Maine 9 and 126.  It may still be there, the Google street view team chose an obscenely bad time of day to drive that section of road southbound, so I just cannot tell if the sign is still button copy.  Given that it mentions kilometers, it may very well be.

[agentsteel53]

In some states, it is next to impossible to find button copy because they simply never used it.  For example, Delaware and Mississippi. 

Louisiana hasn't used button copy in so long that the only surviving button-copy sign in the state is black.  There are also the white glass-cateye signs on the Huey Long bridge which predate button copy.

I've never seen it in Montana, Virginia or Wyoming either. 

[shadyjay]

-New York has a few

NYC is filled with it.

-Maine, I don't think there is buttoncopy left in Maine

last I saw a button copy sign in Maine was in 2006, at the southbound split between 95 and 295.  The sign also mentioned Maine 9 and 126.  It may still be there, the Google street view team chose an obscenely bad time of day to drive that section of road southbound, so I just cannot tell if the sign is still button copy.  Given that it mentions kilometers, it may very well be.

No button copy left on the Maine Turnpike.   Most exit guide signs along the turnpike have both Mile and KM distance, with the exception of Exit 42 (Scarborough).



Re:  Connecticut
Most first generation button copy signage is gone, with the exception of US 7 in Danbury, though its endangered.  Next oldest button copy after that would have to be I-395 (mid 80s installation). 

[jdb1234]

There is still plenty of button copy in Birmingham.  The button copy on the Red Mountain Expressway was replaced with Clearview last fall.  I think there are plans to replace the rest of the button copy on Birmingham interstates with clearview in the near future.

[The Premier]

Shoot, it hasn't even been a decade yet since Ohio stopped installing button copy signs.  Of course, most of them are on reflective backgrounds *sigh* but they're everywhere here in Cincinnati. 

There are also Button copy signs still in use in Akron, but apart from I-76 between Gilcrest Rd (Exit 27) to I-77 SB (Exit 23A), and on I-277, it is starting to look sporadic.

[juscuz410]

Most of I-270 in C-Bus & I-71 between SR-161 & I-670/5th Ave is loaded with button copy.
US-33 Frwy. west of Dublin, sans Marysville Corp Limits, still has button copy.
US-23 Expwy. north of C-Bus is all button copy up to Upper Sandusky.
SR-7 Expwy. around Bellaire, Bridgeport, Martins Ferry up to Steubenville/Mingo Jct., US-22 Frwy. on both OH & W.Va side, you guessed it.
I have never seen so many button copies in one state as I have in Ohio...and I'm sure there's more!

[realjd]

Indiana still has significant amounts of button copy around, even on relatively new signs (90's).

[rickmastfan67]

-Pennsylvania has quite a few buttoncopy BGSs

Pittsburgh lost all of it's Button Copy along I-579.  In fact, there are only 4 button copy signs that I know of left in the Pittsburgh area.  Two of them are for the HOV lanes (one @ McKnight Rd, one @ the Civic Arena - Yes, it's now the Civic Arena once again, Mellon's sponsorship ran out the other day), one of them is on SB I-279 right before getting onto the Fort Duquesne Bridge, and the other is on the NB beginning of PA-28.

[Mr_Northside]

As of about 2 weeks ago there is still one on the Blvd of the Allies in Oakland before Bates St, concerning access to the Parkway East...

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Pittsburgh&sll=40.348958,-79.625216&sspn=0.624821,1.454315&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Pittsburgh,+Allegheny,+Pennsylvania&ll=40.435515,-79.957423&spn=0.019501,0.061798&z=15&layer=c&cbll=40.435555,-79.957513&panoid=FUjgRk2kVXK2Pnrqrjf1Vg&cbp=12,117.25,,0,-10

(Obviously from Street View, and the sun makes the actual "picture" shitty, but this is the sign I'm talking about)

It's kind of isolated there in Oakland, so we'll see how long it takes them to replace.

[US71]

[SignBridge]

Still many left on Long Island, New York. The 1984 Northern State Parkway resigning project was the last button-copy installation I know of on Long Island and many of those signs are still in place, though some have been replaced.

[US71]

There are a small handful of signs remaining on AR I-40 between Clarksville & North Little Rock.

[Scott5114]

OK 9 is still full of it along the expressway section in Norman. When I did the Chickasaw Turnpike, it too was all-BC, probably because it was built in 1991, so the signs are still relatively young as button copy goes, just a hair under 20 years.

The I-35 widening in Norman kind of surprised me–the few remaining button copy signs along that stretch came down when they were beginning the project. But, when it was finished, only the overheads were replaced with new Clearview signage–all of the existing ground-level signage, including the button copy, was re-erected on new posts!