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

Started by mass_citizen, December 04, 2013, 10:46:35 PM

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Tom958



NE2

pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

Scott5114

Quote from: SignGeek101 on January 05, 2015, 06:37:51 PM
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougtone/4118984473/in/pool-canada-signs

Quite unique. Not even sure what font this is, but it's not Helvetica, Arial, Times New Roman or any of the arialveticverstesk combination.

Doesn't look like the MTO installed it though. Could be local or private.

Not my pic. Credit goes to the author.
That would be Optima. It was one of the first of the "humanist" family of fonts, which Clearview is a member of.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

mhh

Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on January 04, 2015, 12:33:16 PM
Signs like these debuted along the 402 in Sarnia, ON about a decade ago.  Queued US bound trucks were instructed not to block ramp lanes, and signs like these were installed at the end of each ramp in Sarnia.  Only this one remains:



Westbound Hwy. 402 in Sarnia has been widened from two lanes to four, and additional customs booths have been added on the American side (at Canadian expense), greatly reducing the length of traffic backups. I drive this route often and have noticed a huge difference.

jakeroot

Quote from: NE2 on January 05, 2015, 07:31:42 PM
Quote from: jakeroot on January 05, 2015, 07:07:58 PM
For what it's worth, this sign has been installed for a long time. I'm still not sure what the green-out covers.

http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-705_wa.html

You're getting at something but I'm not getting it. I know what the sign normally looks like (construction on the freeway portion of Highway 7 has it closed) but I want to know what used to be under the I-705 shield.

NE2

Oops. I'm, er, orange-green colorblind. That's it.

Maybe it's just a faded I-705 shield.
pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

jakeroot

Quote from: NE2 on January 06, 2015, 12:24:38 AM
Oops. I'm, er, orange-green colorblind. That's it.

Maybe it's just a faded I-705 shield.

np m8. There's a lot of green-out in the area (this is an original, mostly untouched stretch of Interstate 5). Nearby signs like a BGS pointing towards SR-167 have a green-out covering US-410, which was decommissioned in 1967. I assume the sign with the 705 shield is from the same era.

Historic Aerials suggests a couple of options. Highway 509 ran along Pacific Avenue near Downtown Tacoma until I-705 was constructed in the early 90s (the last Interstate to be built in Washington). The map also shows Highway 16 along the same route at the same time. I don't know why the map would show that, however. I always thought that 16 had always been where it exists today (from the 16/5 interchange to just south of Bremerton).

Based on the fact that I-705 has only existed since 1990, I assume that the sign shows one of the above options, since a shield fading after only 15 years seems unlikely.

Historic Aerials Link

Kacie Jane

I have no proof, but I'm pretty sure when that sign originally went up, it had an error SR 705 shield, or at least one such sign in the area did. I think that's what's covered here.

Kacie Jane

Quote from: jakeroot on January 06, 2015, 12:43:45 AMThe map also shows Highway 16 along the same route at the same time. I don't know why the map would show that, however. I always thought that 16 had always been where it exists today (from the 16/5 interchange to just south of Bremerton).

Nope, definitely jives with what I thought.  While the 16 Freeway parallels Bantz Blvd (mostly no longer existant, since judging from those aerials/old topos, it was upgraded on the spot), before the freeway was completed, 16 (or pre-1964, PSH 14) followed 6th Avenue into downtown.

Quote from: jakeroot on January 06, 2015, 12:43:45 AM
There's a lot of green-out in the area (this is an original, mostly untouched stretch of Interstate 5). Nearby signs like a BGS pointing towards SR-167 have a green-out covering US-410, which was decommissioned in 1967. I assume the sign with the 705 shield is from the same era.

Mostly untouched???  Even before construction around the 16 interchange started, sign replacement was rampant.  Not completely thorough, as you mention, but for every ancient sign that you point out, I'll point out half a dozen no older than a decade.  In another thread, we mentioned the new signs at 56th Street that use an ugly way too narrow font where they replaced Tacoma Mall Blvd with University Place as the "control city".  Signs at the next exit south now read "S 72 St/S 84 St" instead of "So. 72nd St./So. 84th St."  Any sign that has Gig Harbor in addition to Bremerton for SR 16 is relatively new, and not all such replacements were necessitated by the new interchange configuration.

Using the slider on GSV confirms that this sign is older than 2007, but I'm about 95% sure it's the one I'm thinking of that has an error shield underneath, and that it's no older than when I moved back to the general area in '04.  Definitely doesn't date to 1990.

jakeroot

Quote from: Kacie Jane on January 06, 2015, 01:36:13 PM
Quote from: jakeroot on January 06, 2015, 12:43:45 AMThe map also shows Highway 16 along the same route at the same time. I don't know why the map would show that, however. I always thought that 16 had always been where it exists today (from the 16/5 interchange to just south of Bremerton).

Nope, definitely jives with what I thought.  While the 16 Freeway parallels Bantz Blvd (mostly no longer existant, since judging from those aerials/old topos, it was upgraded on the spot), before the freeway was completed, 16 (or pre-1964, PSH 14) followed 6th Avenue into downtown.

Speaking of Bantz Boulevard, it still exists, but only as a short one-way frontage road between 6th and Pearl. Sort of an interesting throwback on the part of WSDOT (since that frontage road was only built a few years ago). Looking at the old aerials of Tacoma, looks like Bantz was a regular at-grade intersection at 48th near Cheney Stadium as recently as 1990. Really quite difficult to imagine!

Quote from: Kacie Jane on January 06, 2015, 01:36:13 PM
Quote from: jakeroot on January 06, 2015, 12:43:45 AM
There's a lot of green-out in the area (this is an original, mostly untouched stretch of Interstate 5). Nearby signs like a BGS pointing towards SR-167 have a green-out covering US-410, which was decommissioned in 1967. I assume the sign with the 705 shield is from the same era.

Mostly untouched???  Even before construction around the 16 interchange started, sign replacement was rampant.  Not completely thorough, as you mention, but for every ancient sign that you point out, I'll point out half a dozen no older than a decade.  In another thread, we mentioned the new signs at 56th Street that use an ugly way too narrow font where they replaced Tacoma Mall Blvd with University Place as the "control city".  Signs at the next exit south now read "S 72 St/S 84 St" instead of "So. 72nd St./So. 84th St."  Any sign that has Gig Harbor in addition to Bremerton for SR 16 is relatively new, and not all such replacements were necessitated by the new interchange configuration.

Using the slider on GSV confirms that this sign is older than 2007, but I'm about 95% sure it's the one I'm thinking of that has an error shield underneath, and that it's no older than when I moved back to the general area in '04.  Definitely doesn't date to 1990.

I mean the section between 705 and 167. All of the signs along that stretch are ancient (the BGS for Portland Ave is button copy -- fairly certain it's one of the last remaining button copy freeway signs in the state). Though you might be right about the 705/7 exit only sign in question, since the exit-only plaque has a black border, which is something WSDOT only started doing about 20 years ago (maybe).

Kacie Jane

Quote from: jakeroot on January 06, 2015, 07:43:27 PMI mean the section between 705 and 167. All of the signs along that stretch are ancient (the BGS for Portland Ave is button copy -- fairly certain it's one of the last remaining button copy freeway signs in the state). Though you might be right about the 705/7 exit only sign in question, since the exit-only plaque has a black border, which is something WSDOT only started doing about 20 years ago (maybe).


Ah, didn't realize you were taking specifically about such a small section.  Still, I think your statement might only apply to the northbound side.

PColumbus73

Quote from: 6a on December 24, 2014, 09:12:35 PM

Quote from: thenetwork on December 21, 2014, 10:07:09 PM
ODOT in the recent years had to note every crossing of a city limit on a stretch of I-71 between exits 244 and 245 to denote what is in the city of Brooklyn and what is in the city of Cleveland.  It was moreso because the 2 cities were getting very anal about which city had to respond to calls on this stretch of freeway (talk about splitting hairs)

Look at how often I-71 crosses between the 2 cities in under a mile on this map: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Brooklyn,+OH/@41.447575,-81.7380672,16z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x8830ee468f9bf5f5:0x6cbe6346175e419a

and you'll see a small example of how ODOT had to respond to it:


This 25-30 foot section of Cleveland makes the 500-some foot section of I-71 through nearby Linndale look like you're crossing Delaware on I-95!!!


I would hate to see what would happen if a 53' semi trailer or larger would have an incident on this spot. How would the two cities cope???

Along those lines, Ohio also uses 'Enter Corp' and 'Leave Corp' signs for the same purposes, something I don't recall seeing in too many other places. As for your specific example, check this out:



US 62 in Columbus / Franklin Township (red is the township.) Note in at least one spot the line goes down the middle of the road! I have heard of arguments over accidents where even the police don't know what jurisdiction is needed.

Whom ever is closest to the call should be the one to get it, regardless of jurisdiction. In regard to the Columbus/Franklin Township, I think the township should either incorporate into it's own town, or be absorbed into Columbus (or surrender the parts of the township that are discontinuous), or negotiate with the city on redrawing the boundary.

busman_49


Kacie Jane

Quote from: Kacie Jane on January 06, 2015, 01:36:13 PM
Using the slider on GSV confirms that this sign is older than 2007, but I'm about 95% sure it's the one I'm thinking of that has an error shield underneath, and that it's no older than when I moved back to the general area in '04.  Definitely doesn't date to 1990.

Jake, I'm on mobile (for the foreseeable future) so I can't provide a link, but if you look at the back of the sign in GSV, you can see a white sticker in the lower right corner that has the year the sign was put up. I can't zoom in far enough or get the right angle to get a clear shot, but it looks to me like it says 07.

jakeroot

Quote from: Kacie Jane on January 09, 2015, 06:49:41 PM
Quote from: Kacie Jane on January 06, 2015, 01:36:13 PM
Using the slider on GSV confirms that this sign is older than 2007, but I'm about 95% sure it's the one I'm thinking of that has an error shield underneath, and that it's no older than when I moved back to the general area in '04.  Definitely doesn't date to 1990.

Jake, I'm on mobile (for the foreseeable future) so I can't provide a link, but if you look at the back of the sign in GSV, you can see a white sticker in the lower right corner that has the year the sign was put up. I can't zoom in far enough or get the right angle to get a clear shot, but it looks to me like it says 07.

Good thinking. 2002:

I would have never thought the sign was that new. Now I just want to contact the DOT and get an official answer (unless they ignore me like last time).


Kacie Jane

I was close... sort of... not really. (So it wasn't after I moved back, it was during the previous time I lived in Seattle...)

jakeroot

Quote from: Kacie Jane on January 09, 2015, 07:20:17 PM
I was close... sort of... not really. (So it wasn't after I moved back, it was during the previous time I lived in Seattle...)

I think, in road years, 2002 and 2004 are basically the same. So job well done.

bassoon1986

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.287973,-94.852325,3a,75y,73.12h,87.19t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s8yQ6mgk0-Zr6Od8wjTCx0Q!2e0

This is approaching the last southbound exit on I-45 in Galveston, TX. I've never seen a secondary destination sign for an exit with arrows for each one.

roadfro

Quote from: bassoon1986 on January 15, 2015, 04:00:13 PM
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.287973,-94.852325,3a,75y,73.12h,87.19t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s8yQ6mgk0-Zr6Od8wjTCx0Q!2e0

This is approaching the last southbound exit on I-45 in Galveston, TX. I've never seen a secondary destination sign for an exit with arrows for each one.

Those arrows were not necessary...
Roadfro - AARoads Pacific Southwest moderator since 2010, Nevada roadgeek since 1983.

Brandon

"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

kkt

Quote from: Brandon on January 16, 2015, 10:36:15 AM
Definitely unique.



That's half as much as Paradise gets in an average year, but Paradise has no big sign about it.

1995hoo

I can't decide which thread is the right place for this one. Spotted it yesterday on Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia, and passed it again today, allowing me to get a picture.

The sign is trying to tell you that the far right lane (the one coming in from my right on the other side of the island) is an option lane at the traffic light up ahead past the dump truck, the left lane is left-only at the same light, and then beyond the light the left thru lane goes straight over the main overpass and the two lanes to the right of that split to the right onto a different overpass to provide access to I-395 northbound (via a left turn further up the road). Going straight through the light in the far right lane puts you in a lane leading to southbound I-395.

How effective the sign is at conveying all that, I don't know, given that I know the area well even with the current construction project. But the sign certainly seems to qualify as a strange one to me given how it appears to depict two right-turn-only lanes slamming into a straight-thru lane.

"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

roadfro

The sign layout is odd.

What they probably should have done was use two rows of arrows and some text to convey this.
Roadfro - AARoads Pacific Southwest moderator since 2010, Nevada roadgeek since 1983.

1995hoo

Quote from: roadfro on January 16, 2015, 11:16:51 PM
The sign layout is odd.

What they probably should have done was use two rows of arrows and some text to convey this.

Yeah, I found myself thinking of ways to depict it and I was thinking (1) something similar to the little island icon used on "keep right/left" or "divided highway begins/ends" signs ought to go between the vertical straight-ahead arrow and the right-turn arrows, (2) the two adjacent right-turn arrows should show a more gradual curve to them, (3) the straight portion of the option lane arrow should likewise be curved, and (4) the turn arrow for the option lane could either stay as-is or be more sharply angled.

Virginia isn't averse to using oddly-shaped arrows when needed, so the above could work here, but I'm not sure whether VDOT or the City of Alexandria posted this sign.

Of course, the sign will be replaced in a year or two when the overpass reconstruction (coupled with construction of a new HOV ramp) is done.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

freebrickproductions

It's all fun & games until someone summons Cthulhu and brings about the end of the world.

I also collect traffic lights, road signs, fans, and railroad crossing equipment.

(They/Them)



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