New South Carolina State Shields

[Alex]

South Carolina unveiled new highway shields in late 2007 featuring a state outline and the signature Palmetto Tree on a blue/white design. These shields are gradually replacing all of the standard black/white square shields as they warrant replacement.

New signs along Interstate 95 northbound beyond Florence reveal our first look at what the new shields look like on freeway-style guide signs.

[Snappyjack]

I caught snaps of these on my way back from Florida. Very nice looking.

[deathtopumpkins]

Those are neat... I like them!
Been 2 years now since I've been south down I-95 though.

[Alex]

I should also mention that all the new blue/white shields are in the 3-digit width design (even the one-digit routes).

[Darkchylde]

Sounds like the reverse of Louisiana (everything in 2-digit signs), then.

I saw pics of these shields last year, and I still like them way more than S.C.'s older Plain White Squares.

[OracleUsr]

You know, something I always found interesting is the trend towards making South Carolina's exit tabs look like New York's.  Kinda bizarre.

327 is the highway that used to have a T-junction with US 501 south of Marion, IIRC?

[OracleUsr]

Having gone to school at Clemson (yeah, yeah, I know, UNC fans...I'm still proud of the Tigers), I spent a great chunk of my life in South Carolina, though I'm from NC.

I digress...

Back before my college days, in the early 90's, I remember something really odd about South Carolina.  It had to do with their STOP AHEAD signs.  In various areas, specifically the Upstate and the northern Coastal region, I remember that there were some signs that boldfaced the word STOP, and I think they also used larger letters for STOP than AHEAD, making the sign almost shout STOP at you.  The last one I ever saw was on SC 9 in North Myrtle Beach.

Does anyone here have a picture of such a sign?  I've seen one similar in the Carowinds parking lot just south of Charlotte, but it's not quite the same as the one I saw in N. MB.

[74/171FAN]

Update on the new SC state shields: They are now on all I-95 guide signs for certain SC 38 and points north.  There aren't many along SC 38 and US 501 or in the Myrtle Beach area though

[mpgarr]

I like the new SC road signs---they are very pleasant to look at and for older eyes---much easier to read.

[SSF]

also not many on I-85, i think there might be one on Exit 92(the other Gaffney exit) but that's all I remember seeing.

[leifvanderwall]

It's about time! I hope other states who just use the plain square or the circle will follow suite. I really think the state highway shield represents the state.

[rickmastfan67]

I saw one of the new shields on a BGS on I-77, and only one so far. lol.

However I did notice that about 75% of the State Shields from US-17 to US-278 along US-321 and US-601 have been updated in the Southern part of the state.

[treichard]

On  BGSs along I-95 that use the new shield, the digits are in the jumbo font, even for 3-digit numbers without 1s.  All of the roadside reassurance markers that I saw (not that many) used the wide font instead.

[rickmastfan67]

On  BGSs along I-95 that use the new shield, the digits are in the jumbo font, even for 3-digit numbers without 1s.  All of the roadside reassurance markers that I saw (not that many) used the wide font instead.

Well, for the stand alone shields, I was able to photograph all three kinds of highways (1d, 2d, 3d) which didn't use a "1" in the number.  I'll try to get them posted soon so you can see those Tim.

[rickmastfan67]

Alright, here's picture of each type of 1d, 2d, 3d SC shields:

SC-3: (going NB on US-601)


SC-46: (going NB on US-321)


SC-304: (going EB on US-78 Business in Blackville)

[papaT10932]

I'm thrilled that SC made the change to a "fresher" highway marker. But, am I the only one who thinks the blue on white is hard to read? I think they should have stuck with black numbers (like SD does).

[US71]

Alright, here's picture of each type of 1d, 2d, 3d SC shields:

The 1d & 2d have a slightly smaller font, don't they?

[agentsteel53]

The 1d & 2d have a slightly smaller font, don't they?

they appear to, but I think this is a matter of the 304 having oversize digits.  I will have to look through my photos from a few weeks ago, but I remember the three-digit signs having the same size digits as the one and two digit shields - implying that the SC-304 shields are the aberration.

[agentsteel53]

But, am I the only one who thinks the blue on white is hard to read? I think they should have stuck with black numbers (like SD does).

In the daytime, I have not had trouble reading the new SC shields, but I have seen several photos of SC shields, taken with flash at night, where the blue was approaching "washed out".  It is a lighter blue compared to the interstate shields - so I do wonder if interstate blue would've been the right way to go.

[rickmastfan67]

The 1d & 2d have a slightly smaller font, don't they?

they appear to, but I think this is a matter of the 304 having oversize digits.  I will have to look through my photos from a few weeks ago, but I remember the three-digit signs having the same size digits as the one and two digit shields - implying that the SC-304 shields are the aberration.

Jake, it seems that the SC-304 matches the SC-327 shield in the first post of this thread.

[rickmastfan67]

But, am I the only one who thinks the blue on white is hard to read? I think they should have stuck with black numbers (like SD does).

In the daytime, I have not had trouble reading the new SC shields, but I have seen several photos of SC shields, taken with flash at night, where the blue was approaching "washed out".  It is a lighter blue compared to the interstate shields - so I do wonder if interstate blue would've been the right way to go.

This is the picture that I took that Jake is talking about:

[Scott5114]

That could just be a matter of halation from the flash.

I like the design of these shields, but... the three digit blanks for one and two digits routes is too much for me. That SC 3 shield looks ridiculous.

[florida]

It does look absurd; they should stick a 0 in front of the 3, or at least bolden the numeral.

[Scott5114]

Or use a wider series of font.

[J N Winkler]

In the daytime, I have not had trouble reading the new SC shields, but I have seen several photos of SC shields, taken with flash at night, where the blue was approaching "washed out".  It is a lighter blue compared to the interstate shields - so I do wonder if interstate blue would've been the right way to go.

Where traffic signing specifications are concerned, there is just one blue--it isn't really a question of lighter or darker.  The blue that is specified for the SC state route shields is not any different from the blue that is specified for, e.g., Interstate shields.

The real reason the new SC shields tend to whiteout under flash is that, unlike the adjacent signs which might use super engineer-grade or (at best) high-intensity sheeting, they use microprismatic sheeting.  You can tell this straight away by the pale gridded appearance of the white background in some of the less overexposed pictures posted in this thread.  In general, it is extremely difficult to take a flash picture of a sign with microprismatic sheeting without it whiting out.  It can be done, but it is almost impossible to do with just shutter and aperture control--you need very fine control over flash intensity.

If you look very closely at the SC 304 shield Rickmastfan67 posted above, you can see that the gridded texture of the white background continues underneath the "304" digits.  This indicates that the digits, and quite probably also the blue border, are applied directly to the white retroreflective sheeting using process ink.  This is the cheapest way to make colored route shields of this kind.  Of course the process ink will fade over time and, even when new, won't necessarily have the same opacity as the blue film that is used to pigment blue microprismatic sheeting.  Therefore I'm not surprised it looks lighter.