With the sign replacements over the past few years, Ohio have seen a lot of button copy BGS go. What are some remaining button copy BGS signage left in the state?
The only one that I can think of atm is the signs at I-71 NB and Ridge/OH 562 interchange (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1632119,-84.4342763,3a,42.7y,53.51h,93.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIv-A5rT7fRFLEUNHNRIktw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) complex, though I'm 99% sure they will be replaced when the Kennedy Rd ramp project gets finished.
As of last October, there were a decent number of button-copy signs along US-35 southwest of Dayton; some of them looked reasonably new, too. We followed the road up to where it makes a 90-degree left to head west and OH-49 heads north as the bypass; at that point, we stayed on OH-49, and I can't say as I recall button-copy signs on there.
I also recall button-copy signs on eastbound US-30 in Canton approaching Trump Avenue. The signs seemed to be in good shape such that there was no reason to replace them. I can't say I recall the other signage along that road in that area.
If you want Button Copy around Cincy, Tim Brown's did a photo recon leading up to last year's Cincy Roadmeet:
Link below leads to more links Tim posted for his photos.
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25466.msg2501336#msg2501336
Finally, a thread I can post a relevant picture in!
When I was in the Cincinnati area a few weeks ago, in Liberty, I got a picture of this button copy sign for OH-129 on Cin-Day Rd at Liberty Way. I know the quality isn't superb though, this is all I was able to get holding my phone out the window.
(https://snz04pap002files.storage.live.com/y4mhbEF-BmNVQRhVKi50MspvRjtK_sq-URSxkjMOezEAC2-BUmmiF562nbi8bvX4T3gq7ozCTUg5a_uXMHMz5UbbuK5e5D7_7w88Z7UaNU46GILT_qKdKQ2rIxOZ8XYHfjtTNSMTqKHHOeApOa9ZsaMtiegCIPI7_BMqxHKWzEn3OOwOFcwJSfhBbfKNCENgWTb?width=4030&height=2688&cropmode=none)
Here is the GMSV link for those who want it. (https://goo.gl/maps/bLEC2hLWGia5bGBH6)
A one-off on I-71 that I drive through multiple times a week and forget it's there: an advance BGS on I-71 NB for I-275 EB (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.2631608,-84.3585536,3a,48.8y,21.93h,103.19t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sr8w0pxjkNhPL6VA5NFbWrA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192). Interesting that this button copy stayed when pretty much all the other signs around it, in front of it on the highway, and behind it got replaced a long time ago.
In the past few years, I've seen button copy on virtually every drive I've taken through Ohio. Cincinnati and Dayton have the most but there are at least individual signs on I-76 in Akron, I-70 near Springfield, US 52 in Scioto and Lawrence Counties, US 35 in Jackson, and OH 7 Steubenville. I can't speak for the northern half of the state.
Regardless of recent sign replacements, there is still plenty of button copy remaining, and they're pretty well distributed throughout the state too.
Some of the signs along I-270 and South High/US 23 are still button copy and very decrepit.
If you like button copy. there is an eponymous Facebook group at:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/buttoncopy
I drove US 52 between Ashland and Huntington a few weeks ago. All of the button copy on that portion of the route is gone. Not sure about between Ashland and Portsmouth. Last time I was between Greenup Dam and Portsmouth, which was shortly after the opening of the OH 823 bypass, there was just a smattering left.
Quote from: SkyPesos on June 29, 2021, 12:07:29 PM
With the sign replacements over the past few years, Ohio have seen a lot of button copy BGS go. What are some remaining button copy BGS signage left in the state?
Marion
Found one at the southern end of OH 315 (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9526522,-83.0177529,3a,64.9y,178.45h,94.82t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sExy5S2UtcjEMCB5WqgKk3w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192). Think this one may get replaced when the 70/71/315 interchange gets reconstructed in who knows how many years.
Akron area has a lot less left than it used to except blue service signs (which is true around much of the state; the last major stronghold of button copy will probably be logo signs) and one-offs that were either missed in replacement projects or outside the limits of a project. About 15 years ago there was tons of it. Now there is still some, as evidenced below, but not nearly the quantity there used to be. There is still a bit if you know where to look, but it is not the awesome amount it had been.
This sign is still on I-76 EB at the Central Interchange but won't be for much longer (https://goo.gl/maps/ScPk2NPJerKdee9d9); the ramp is to be replaced with another less severe curved one, but still a left exit, within the next couple years. Likely this sign was past the limit of the sign replacement project in 2003 on 76 from Barberton to just barely west of here, and it didn't make it into the Clearviewization in 2009 that ran just east of here to MM 29 either. They did remove its underlighting in 2008 along with the lights on the 2003 signs.
They missed this one in 2009 (https://goo.gl/maps/fbHobt7UhQHJ1YLz6) when installing Clearview on I-77. If you look to the right, you can see that the overhead pointing to 77 NB is Clearview; that used to be button copy too.
For whatever reason, many panels on White Pond Dr. at I-77 are still button copy despite corresponding signs at other nearby interchanges being replaced during the I-77 rehab in 2008 or during more recent sign replacements.
White Pond NB advance (https://goo.gl/maps/g1Ruk7zUnvEn2Mhr6)
One of the 77 SB BGSs (https://goo.gl/maps/RWyZ7yL8m7dXiaDH9) (in great shape for a south-facing panel this old)
77 NB BGS, a little more faded but still in good shape (https://goo.gl/maps/b57FxnRpv4qkLJyg7)
White Pond SB advance (https://goo.gl/maps/X3w5HPWBpojvAUiL9) unfortunately with a non-button arrow patch
Other interchanges around have stuff like that, like in Barberton, but with shields in worse shape:
the 76 shield barely readable anymore (https://goo.gl/maps/igNd91HkDDBYp9H4A) and LEFT very large in the old Ohio style which made more sense when in a message for a left exit (e.g., LEFT 1 MILE) than on a surface road like this; the one in the background is also button copy
There are others like this around as well.
This sign and its counterpart if you pan 180 degrees (https://goo.gl/maps/2wVCyhuEA6M7vETQ9) are possibly the most resilient button copy signs in Akron; I am happy to report that as of yesterday when last seen, they are still there and the CLOSED orange panel and the greenout have both been off there since last year sometime, revealing all the button copy again. They have pasted stuff on these signs repeatedly over the past few years and removed it, but the signs stay put.
The SR 261 interchange with SR 21 has some button copy on 261 and one sign on 21 that has escaped replacement.
261 EB approaching (https://goo.gl/maps/uRtrNrGCofNRLP9n8)
261 EB at 21 NB (https://goo.gl/maps/wYozaybdvSj3B5Fi7)
261 WB approaching (https://goo.gl/maps/PBwufhFrDruqbDpF6); note the numeral 0 in "Massil0n"
261 WB at 21 SB (https://goo.gl/maps/79vpjsEHcE1SRqou6)
The bridge is all redone; the pavement fresh; the signs straight from the 80s. It is amazing.
Somehow, approaching that interchange on 21 SB, this sign remains after other signs have been replaced (and some replaced again). (https://goo.gl/maps/cAj8VXepq9WMAWd96) It may just last forever.
South of that interchange, the BGS panels have also been replaced with some replaced more than once, but the gore signs on 21 are still the same ones from many moons ago. Seeing these at night, these gore signs are losing reflectivity fast and I hate to see button copy go, but it may be time for these. And I want one or more of them when they do.
There is an ODOT garage literally next to this interchange, so they must know the signs are there--they just have good taste.
21 SB to 76/224 WB gore (https://goo.gl/maps/cVEop4wrp6uKbrMNA)
21 SB to 76/224 EB gore (https://goo.gl/maps/1UDw39HjnSYSixmv7)
21 NB to 76/224 EB gore (https://goo.gl/maps/aBHPVubMCSQ2913G7)
21 NB to 76/224 WB gore (https://goo.gl/maps/MUQ2HBbqzCjSc6GU8) (There's the ODOT facility in the background. They KNOW these button copy signs are there.)
And, an all-time fave that used to have counterparts all the way from Barberton to Lodi but no longer, on Cleveland-Massillon Road: advance for 76/224 (https://goo.gl/maps/6JTEhTpL83s7582L7)
The best bunch may be on the Innerbelt/SR 59 which had more until a couple years ago but still has a couple; those with the lighting actually still have a couple bulbs that come on at night!!
The Clearview next door is so badly misproportioned with different sizes on two lines; doesn't the button copy look better? (https://goo.gl/maps/ej1gBmdPR83Z1M5C6)?
Also has one light that comes on at night still (https://goo.gl/maps/Xqf34jHfVBtNNugs6)
Gore sign in much better shape than those on 21 (https://goo.gl/maps/vSKr4U2kKg2hofzT6)
Last in the Cedar/Exchange series; also lights at night (https://goo.gl/maps/7bA78Dh6UL51cRgK8)
The ramp to the left, the new Clearview sign for it, and its bridge? All gone today. The button copy sign? Still there!! (https://goo.gl/maps/Pi8jQkdbgqUFsZ7k8) The last mile or so of Innerbelt was removed from service and ramps removed but concrete and light poles still largely there while they figure out what to do with the land which is surrounded by the service roads which have to stay for connectivity. As you can see from this view of the same sign (https://goo.gl/maps/LxZDaADhmeSHgmay9) with no other sign on the sign bridge now, there are some oddly placed lampposts left today where roads used to be.
These classics have VMS insets that have not worked in decades (https://goo.gl/maps/R4oW3ZQviAbB5bUr7) related to the downtown parking garage.
On the mirror image ramp, the right-hand sign is still there today (https://goo.gl/maps/W5dJJFqbKPdS21rH7) as is the one on the next sign bridge (https://goo.gl/maps/PHJYABQ9svRrXqMK7).
Akron has lots to offer as far as button copy even though the big runs of it are gone now. Hopefully that means that what is left will linger for a while considering that they are scattered around. A few that have failed badly have been replaced (like one near the former Carousel Dinner Theater trailblazing to Arlington St.) so they do seem to monitor.
Outside Akron: Whenever travel takes me out the Turnpike to the Indiana Toll Road, I get off quickly at OH 49 to visit the button copy signs on 49 for the Turnpike and Toll Road. They are classics and with multiple shields and mentions of two states' toll roads by name, they are great.
I should mention, as others have and will also, that there are many other outposts like on OH 82 at I-71 where only the signs right at 71 were replaced when 71's signs were Clearviewized a few years back; the rest (https://goo.gl/maps/ZazAkdTevinNbkQ59) =https://goo.gl/maps/gmSZZ7TzMmUMnnhb8remained (http://=https://goo.gl/maps/gmSZZ7TzMmUMnnhb8remained) button copy (https://goo.gl/maps/U4UWDz4AdJPuGiXR6) although associated with the 71 interchange (https://goo.gl/maps/ECrRjfY1yM6THa1y8). Note in the last one that it has one of the famous switcheroos between small capital S and a larger lowercase s in SOUTH and Columbus. Westlake has another example (https://goo.gl/maps/KjmkCtdA49FNnW8s8) of button copy advance being left when signs at the interchange were replaced along with those on the highway itself.
Quote from: SkyPesos on June 29, 2021, 12:07:29 PM
The only one that I can think of atm is the signs at I-71 NB and Ridge/OH 562 interchange (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1632119,-84.4342763,3a,42.7y,53.51h,93.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIv-A5rT7fRFLEUNHNRIktw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) complex, though I'm 99% sure they will be replaced when the Kennedy Rd ramp project gets finished.
And... they got replaced (sorry for bad image quality, I get stressed out taking photos while driving). Also there are 3 through lanes on NB 71 now, instead of dropping down to two, though the right lane is an exit only for Red Bank Rd after this interchange.
(https://i.imgur.com/SglKknG.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/X3eM7D3.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/rRSEKpp.jpg)