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

[Truvelo]

What about this US 41 shield in Indiana. Someone obviously forgot a 1 is narrower than a 4.

[roadfro]

^ If you just center the space between numbers in the center of the shield, then it'll look okay in most cases. That gets a bit harder when you have the narrowest digit and the widest digit together on the same shield...

[hbelkins]

^^^
That's not uncommon on US 41 signs in Kentucky, either.

[KEVIN_224]

Found these beauties while perusing GSV.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0980149,-72.5965788,3a,43y,236.37h,89.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sfq7-ggsVkGnc4wCivgiDuQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

You have THIS at the same rotary/traffic circle. Should be a US route shield!

[KEVIN_224]

Off of Westlake Drive in Middletown, CT. The Mattabesset River lies near this and is the border with Cromwell.

[Revive 755]

Can't recall if I have seen parkway abbreviated as Pky before.  Certainly don't recall seeing it as Pky as done on this sign for SB Ellington Parkway near Nashville, TN.

[6a]

Saw this in Urbana, OH on SR 55 west of US 68. At first I thought it was just pasted to the back of a stop sign, but it's an entirely separate sign mounted on the other side of the post.

[hockeyjohn]

Eighth Street in Noblesville, Ind.   The tracks going down the middle of the street were pulled up earlier this year so the sign will soon go, too.

[roadman65]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/50015992841/
This sign assembly is still here after many decades of life.

[riiga]

"STOP HERE ON RED", used at a temporary traffic light that controls a short section of the way that is limited to a single lane due to road work. Quite unusual to see signs with such instructions here compared to the US.

[kphoger]

Official hitchhiking spots:  Netherlands

Does this type of sign exist outside the Netherlands?  I seem to remember there having been one somewhere in Colorado about fifteen years ago or so, but I cannot find any reference to it now.

[machias]

Found these beauties while perusing GSV.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0980149,-72.5965788,3a,43y,236.37h,89.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sfq7-ggsVkGnc4wCivgiDuQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

You have THIS at the same rotary/traffic circle. Should be a US route shield!

This is why the old Mass paddle --- 5 --->  was always safe!

[jakeroot]

"STOP HERE ON RED", used at a temporary traffic light that controls a short section of the way that is limited to a single lane due to road work. Quite unusual to see signs with such instructions here compared to the US.

That is odd! I don't even see that in the US all the time. There normally wouldn't be a sign, right?

Is there a second signal or just that one?

[riiga]

That is odd! I don't even see that in the US all the time. There normally wouldn't be a sign, right?

Is there a second signal or just that one?

Normally there's just the traffic light and the painted stop line. They've also put up temporary warning signs a few hundered meters back to alert drivers that there's an upcoming traffic light along with the work zone warning.

There's another identical signal about 50 m ahead facing the other direction, taking turns with this one in letting through traffic.

[J N Winkler]

That is odd! I don't even see that in the US all the time. There normally wouldn't be a sign, right?

Is there a second signal or just that one?

Normally there's just the traffic light and the painted stop line. They've also put up temporary warning signs a few hundred meters back to alert drivers that there's an upcoming traffic light along with the work zone warning.

There's another identical signal about 50 m ahead facing the other direction, taking turns with this one in letting through traffic.

In the US equivalent to this scenario (alternating one-way working controlled by traffic signals), figure 6H-12 in the MUTCD lays out the signs and markings that are to be used, and neither the stop bar nor the "Stop Here On Red [arrow pointing at stop bar]" sign is marked as optional.  Control can also be effected by flaggers or AFADs.

Besides the US, the Swedish sign has an equivalent in Britain (TSRGD diagram 7011, all-uppercase "When Red Light Shows Wait Here" on red background).  Britain also has additional signs to address situations where traffic (not controlled by signals) is allowed to turn off side roads onto the segment subject to one-way working.  I don't think the US has a national standard to cover this, though a few states probably have treatments for it.

[jakeroot]

In the US equivalent to this scenario (alternating one-way working controlled by traffic signals), figure 6H-12 in the MUTCD lays out the signs and markings that are to be used, and neither the stop bar nor the "Stop Here On Red [arrow pointing at stop bar]" sign is marked as optional.  Control can also be effected by flaggers or AFADs.

This is good to know, because I thought the sign was optional. I don't remember seeing it all the time. Then again, non-flagger temp signals are quite rare in general.

[J N Winkler]

This is good to know, because I thought the sign was optional. I don't remember seeing it all the time. Then again, non-flagger temp signals are quite rare in general.

I suspect regional preference plays a role.  In Kansas, temporary tricolor signal installations are very common for work on two-lane rural state highway bridges--each signal comes on its own trailer with a folding truss for overhead mounting so it can be seen a long way away.  I can't even remember the last time I saw a flagger on a Kansas project.

[Bruce]

Spotted in Lynnwood, WA:

[plain]

Spotted in Lynnwood, WA:

I remember seeing a sign very similar to this in NC a long time ago but I can't remember where.

[CoreySamson]

About that narrow lane sign:

I remember my online driving course noted a yellow diamond version of that sign without the words "NARROW LANE" for narrow bridges. However, I think that sign is the first one in the real world I've ever seen.

Is this narrow lane depiction a relatively new addition to the MUTCD? I know plenty of places in my county alone where that sign would work.

[jakeroot]

Is this narrow lane depiction a relatively new addition to the MUTCD? I know plenty of places in my county alone where that sign would work.

As far as I know, the only thing resembling this "narrow lane" sign was the "narrow bridge" sign (W5-2A) that was originally included in the 1988 MUTCD, but was removed from the 2000 edition:



(Photo by me, near Olympia, WA).

[roadfro]

About that narrow lane sign:

I remember my online driving course noted a yellow diamond version of that sign without the words "NARROW LANE" for narrow bridges. However, I think that sign is the first one in the real world I've ever seen.

Is this narrow lane depiction a relatively new addition to the MUTCD? I know plenty of places in my county alone where that sign would work.

That sign uses an adaption of the symbol from the "narrow bridge" symbolic warning sign (W5-2a) that used to be in the MUTCD. The symbol sign was removed from the MUTCD starting with the 2003 edition.

[hbelkins]

I never understood why the "narrow bridge" graphic sign was removed and replaced with text. Back in the 1970s when the graphic signs came into vogue, I imagined what a "narrow bridge" graphic sign would look like, and when it was finally introduced, it was nearly identical to what I had conceived. The rollback to text baffles me. The design seems pretty intuitive and self-explanatory to me.

[Max Rockatansky]

2nd and 1st Gears on Mineral King Road:

IMG_7188 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_7223 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[M3100]

Kind of a do-it-yourself crossbuck with a faded Yield sign.  Pier B Street (an alternate route for CA 47), Long Beach, CA; Pacific Harbor Lines RR (heritage SP).