Shields for named highways

[ctsignguy]

The Mass Pike pilgrim's-hat logo is being phased out, and MassDOT announced last year their intention to get rid of it altogether at some point.  It'll be just plain I-90 with tolls.

Good luck actually getting anyone around there to actually stop calling it the Pike for a long time though....considering that not only the general public but even the traffic reports refer to I-93 from exit 1 to exit 7 as "128" even though it hasn't been 128 for a very long time.  I doubt the public will suddenly start referring to "90" instead of the Pike, especially if it's still tolled.

The tolls have been gone for almost 30 years, yet I-95 in Connecticut is still referred to as the Turnpike....

[MrDisco99]

From 2000 to 2004 (before TxDOT took it over, that is), the Camino Colombia Toll Road had its own shield.  Now it's just State Toll 255.

The Mass Pike pilgrim's-hat logo is being phased out, and MassDOT announced last year their intention to get rid of it altogether at some point.  It'll be just plain I-90 with tolls.

Seems there's a general trend to try to phase these out.  Any others in danger of going away?  I would think the ones that don't have a concurrent number are likely to stick around.

[US71]

Seems there's a general trend to try to phase these out.  Any others in danger of going away?  I would think the ones that don't have a concurrent number are likely to stick around.

Cimarron Turnpike in Oklahoma has replaced almost all their signs with US 412.

[NYhwyfan]

I don't believe I have ever seen shields for the Robert Moses State Parkway or Onondaga Lake Parkway. 

I do not have a photo of the Onondaga Lake Parkway shield.

I don't believe I have ever seen shields for the Robert Moses State Parkway or Onondaga Lake Parkway. 

I do not have a photo of the Onondaga Lake Parkway shield.

Not sure about the Onondaga Lake Parkway, but the Robert Moses Pkwy is well signed even with its removed section in Niagara Falls.

[kphoger]

From 2000 to 2004 (before TxDOT took it over, that is), the Camino Colombia Toll Road had its own shield.  Now it's just State Toll 255.

The Mass Pike pilgrim's-hat logo is being phased out, and MassDOT announced last year their intention to get rid of it altogether at some point.  It'll be just plain I-90 with tolls.

Seems there's a general trend to try to phase these out.  Any others in danger of going away?  I would think the ones that don't have a concurrent number are likely to stick around.

Actually, before TxDOT took over the CCTR, it was not state highway 255; it was privately owned, with only a name and no number.  The sheilds were replaced with state highway markers when TxDOT took it over and it was assigned a number.  If I recall, though, I believe the one-mile stretch from Mines Road to the actual Mexican border was FM-255 even before that–which it still is.

[1995hoo]

Some of the signs for the Dulles Greenway in Virginia (privately-constructed extension of VA-267 from Dulles Airport west to the Leesburg area) use a logo instead of a VA-267 shield. Here's a Street View link to an example on the VA-7 Bypass around Leesburg.

The Hampton Roads Beltway has some logo signs similar in concept to the Capital Beltway signs mentioned in the original post in this thread.

I also seem to recall that the Central Florida GreeneWay (FL-417) used to have logo-type shields, though I do not recall seeing any on my most recent trip a few weeks ago.

[hbelkins]

Here's a crappy nighttime photo I took a couple of years ago from US 15 northbound.

[1995hoo]

Yup, that's the other side of the same interchange as the Street View link I posted. I've always thought that the logo looks kind of like a palm tree, and thus more appropriate for somewhere in Florida, when you see it at a glance.

[hobsini2]

Elgin - O'Hare Expressway:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.998491,-88.101811&spn=0.013539,0.033023&t=m&z=16&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=41.998615,-88.101797&panoid=y-7jNu_4ExelL_yOtVWZSA&cbp=12,234.39,,0,-0.58

Always suspected that the EOE was supposed to be IL-19, but could never prove it. 

Elgin - O'Hare Expressway:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.998491,-88.101811&spn=0.013539,0.033023&t=m&z=16&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=41.998615,-88.101797&panoid=y-7jNu_4ExelL_yOtVWZSA&cbp=12,234.39,,0,-0.58

Forest Park Parkway in Clayton, MO:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=38.646288,-90.337384&spn=0.003557,0.008256&t=m&z=18&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=38.646167,-90.3374&panoid=OBQLkh_hL-_sjE0oUKdPbg&cbp=12,192.19,,0,0.23

I wouldn't call those shields, just placeholders.

Considering that Illinois uses a black-on-white square, the EOE ones aren't exactly placeholders.

Brandon, interesting that you think the EOE was to be IL 19. I always thought once the west phase was completed it would be US 20, which also would use the same direction color scheme. I would certainly route US 20 onto it and I-290 all the way to Northlake and make the old 20 on Lake St a Business Route.

[hobsini2]

Here are some i am aware of:
Lincoln Highway http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1083&bih=739&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=xVUsEsSfMooeUM:&imgrefurl=http://windycityroadwarrior.com/blog1/presentations-1/linchwy/&docid=EBR-Mmz-3EXfnM&imgurl=http://windycityroadwarrior.com/blog1/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Sign_LH1.jpg&w=311&h=395&ei=MrEYT67OIdS_gAektPzfCw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=430&sig=114410953852498010262&page=1&tbnh=129&tbnw=102&start=0&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0&tx=48&ty=72

Grant Highway - I can't find an image on google but i do know along US 12/20/45 La Grange Rd, there are such signs.

Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway/Highway (both signs) on I-88. Tollway sign is in Oak Brook IL. The other is east of Moline IL. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AvCOzxKSFT0/SWQ2MCukUxI/AAAAAAAAEsM/CHSy2rNdY84/s1600/Reagan+Highway.jpg
http://www.google.com/imgres?start=20&num=10&hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1083&bih=739&tbm=isch&tbnid=8wS4bI15dp2xjM:&imgrefurl=http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2009/08/rising-late-and-angry.html&docid=yOHoCzR77CH5sM&imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_0wRJjXvyZ1I/SpivPuNjc3I/AAAAAAAAEQo/Wa52rtCCYmA/s400/ReaganTollway.jpg&w=400&h=254&ei=IbIYT_fSK4_yggfUlaGbCw&zoom=1

Jane Addams Memorial Tollway I-90 in IL - can't find a pic.

[roadman65]

Osceola Parkway in Kissimmee, FL has an old shield with the picture of the famous Indian Chief who the county is named after.  Plus a new one that says "Follow the Sun." http://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/6798636429/in/photostream

The Orlando-Orange County, FL Expressway Authority has one for all of its toll roads.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/5802946950/in/photostream

[vtk]

The OP mentions redundancy with numbered routes; I think the best example of that is the Indiana East-West Toll Road, which IIRC has two Interstates along its entire length.

I wouldn't mind if the old shields went away, or at least were redesigned to feature one or two large letters – something that makes it "pronounceable" by people not familiar with the toll road speeding by at 70 MPH.

[Brian556]

The Orlando-Orange County, FL Expressway Authority has one for all of its toll roads.

The North Texas Tollway Authority currently uses the same signs, with different words, for all of it's highways. Each highway used to have it's own unique shield.

[Brandon]

Brandon, interesting that you think the EOE was to be IL 19. I always thought once the west phase was completed it would be US 20, which also would use the same direction color scheme. I would certainly route US 20 onto it and I-290 all the way to Northlake and make the old 20 on Lake St a Business Route.

Part of my reasoning is that IL-19 is not used on any of the BGSs for Irving Park Road.  There's not even a space for the route shields.  If the EOE was meant to be something other than IL-19, then why is there not even a space on the BGSs for Irving Park Road for an IL-19 shield?

[Kacie Jane]

The OP mentions redundancy with numbered routes; I think the best example of that is the Indiana East-West Toll Road, which IIRC has two Interstates along its entire length.

In the interest of being a thorn in your side, not quite its entire length.  The western 20ish miles are I-90 only; I-80 is concurrent with I-94 there slightly to the south.

[vtk]

The OP mentions redundancy with numbered routes; I think the best example of that is the Indiana East-West Toll Road, which IIRC has two Interstates along its entire length.

In the interest of being a thorn in your side, not quite its entire length.  The western 20ish miles are I-90 only; I-80 is concurrent with I-94 there slightly to the south.

That's right. For some reason I was thinking the Toll Road followed 80-94 on its west end.  That's what I get for not checking a map before posting.

[Takumi]

The Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway apparently had a shield in its early years. I don't remember any existing in the 1990s when I first remember going there.

www.aaroads.com/shields/img/VA/VA19530441i1.jpg

[hobsini2]

Brandon, interesting that you think the EOE was to be IL 19. I always thought once the west phase was completed it would be US 20, which also would use the same direction color scheme. I would certainly route US 20 onto it and I-290 all the way to Northlake and make the old 20 on Lake St a Business Route.

Part of my reasoning is that IL-19 is not used on any of the BGSs for Irving Park Road.  There's not even a space for the route shields.  If the EOE was meant to be something other than IL-19, then why is there not even a space on the BGSs for Irving Park Road for an IL-19 shield?

I think the reason IL 19 is not posted on the BGS is that it has more to do with fitting the BGS on that style of gantry (Brown). The always make sure the signs on those gantries are the same size even when unwarranted. I blame IDOT for that.  Although in the last 2 years, they have since changed that policy (ie I-355 SB at Army Trail Rd. when they added the Exit numbers).

The other reason i always thought of it as a Future US 20 when complete is because IDOT likes to put the more important route on the freeway. It happened when the Elgin Bypass was built and when I-39 was completed. IDOT could have returned US 51 to the IL 251 routing when the I-39 shield was placed on the freeway but didn't.

[Brandon]

^^ No, I doubt it has to do with the gantry type.  Up on I-290, they have IL-58 and IL-72 to the left of their respective roads on a brown gantry.

Plus, IDOT District 1 usually makes the signs the same height even when they are on the silver gantries.

[PAHighways]

What about any bridges or tunnels with their own shields?

The Fort Pitt Tunnel has an alternate route for eastbound traffic marked with a shield.  There are only two places where I have seen it posted:  376 at Exit 69C and in the West End Circle.