Who makes road signs and where are they made?

[KCRoadFan]

Sometimes I've wondered where road signs are made - do states (as well as cities) maintain their own shops or factories, or do they contract with private manufacturers based in their area? I'm sure it's some of both, and that it differs by state and by city - just curious about the details.

[J N Winkler]

Sometimes I've wondered where road signs are made - do states (as well as cities) maintain their own shops or factories, or do they contract with private manufacturers based in their area? I'm sure it's some of both, and that it differs by state and by city - just curious about the details.

I do not know of any state DOTs that don't have their own sign shops, at least to provide some in-house capability for emergency knockdown replacements.  Beyond that, there is considerable variation in the extent to which state DOTs handle routine sign replacement in-house.

A few examples illustrate the permutations:

*  Caltrans, Illinois DOT, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission often procure new signs through what are called framework contracts.  This means the contractor bids to supply an estimated quantity on an on-call basis, and then fabricates, furnishes, and installs (depending on the terms of the specific contract) the signs in response to a work authorization from the agency.

*  Many state DOTs handle routine replacement of small guide signs in-house, but contract out large guide sign replacement.  The latter are treated just like regular construction contracts, with sign layouts, sign elevations, and sign panel details in (usually) a set of plans.

*  A few state DOTs, like Kansas DOT, Iowa DOT, and NYSDOT also contract out small guide sign replacement through their regular construction lettings.

*  Occasionally there are procedural oddities like procuring sign replacements through sourcing channels other than construction lettings.  Arizona DOT did this about 10 years ago when it was converting to Clearview; the process they used is basically the same as what they use for things like printer ink or toilet paper.  (It was never clear to me why they did so, but I suspect it had to do with meeting deadlines for ARRA funding.)

[Max Rockatansky]

ADOT used to buy a bunch of them from Zumar.  Most of my Arizona shields have trace Zumar stickers on the back of them.

[Dough4872]

In Pennsylvania, road signs are either made by PennDOT at their sign shop in Harrisburg or by contractors for PennDOT. It is pretty easy here to tell if a road sign was made by PennDOT or a contractor. PennDOT signs have the PennDOT logo at the bottom of the sign (there are many versions of the PennDOT logo seen on signs throughout the state, which can tell you how old a sign is). Contractor signs do not have the PennDOT logo and may have a sticker on the back telling which contractor made the sign.

[J N Winkler]

ADOT used to buy a bunch of them from Zumar.  Most of my Arizona shields have trace Zumar stickers on the back of them.

Zumar is one of the big names in traffic sign fabrication--Interstate SignWays, out of Little Rock, is another (I think they used to be Interstate Highway Sign).

It is not at all uncommon for large guide signs to be fabricated many states away and then be delivered via truck to a receiving yard near where they are to be installed.  A year or two ago on the road-related Facebook groups, there was a photo floating around of a truck spotted on I-70 near Dayton with signs destined for Topeka.  And occasionally people post StreetView of signs awaiting installation in yards that are visible from the street.

Edit:  The truck with the Topeka signs also made an appearance on Reddit.

[Rothman]

Sometimes I've wondered where road signs are made - do states (as well as cities) maintain their own shops or factories, or do they contract with private manufacturers based in their area? I'm sure it's some of both, and that it differs by state and by city - just curious about the details.

I do not know of any state DOTs that don't have their own sign shops, at least to provide some in-house capability for emergency knockdown replacements.  Beyond that, there is considerable variation in the extent to which state DOTs handle routine sign replacement in-house.

A few examples illustrate the permutations:

*  Caltrans, Illinois DOT, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission often procure new signs through what are called framework contracts.  This means the contractor bids to supply an estimated quantity on an on-call basis, and then fabricates, furnishes, and installs (depending on the terms of the specific contract) the signs in response to a work authorization from the agency.

*  Many state DOTs handle routine replacement of small guide signs in-house, but contract out large guide sign replacement.  The latter are treated just like regular construction contracts, with sign layouts, sign elevations, and sign panel details in (usually) a set of plans.

*  A few state DOTs, like Kansas DOT, Iowa DOT, and NYSDOT also contract out small guide sign replacement through their regular construction lettings.

*  Occasionally there are procedural oddities like procuring sign replacements through sourcing channels other than construction lettings.  Arizona DOT did this about 10 years ago when it was converting to Clearview; the process they used is basically the same as what they use for things like printer ink or toilet paper.  (It was never clear to me why they did so, but I suspect it had to do with meeting deadlines for ARRA funding.)

NYSDOT does have its own signmaking capability and does not contract out everything...just most of it.

[Bitmapped]

WVDOH contracts out large-scale sign replacement projects, like the ones each Interstate and ARC corridor get every ~20 years. These projects include replacement of both BGS and smaller signage on the main route and adjacent signage on intersecting routes.

Signage for 2-lane roads, along with one-off replacements of both small and BGS signage on Interstates and ARC corridors, is handled in-house using the WVDOH sign shop. This had led to some situations where it is obvious that signs were produced by a contractor versus the state: for a time, contracted BGS used Clearview but the WVDOH sign shop stuck with the FHWA alphabet, so you could see which signs were subsequently replaced by noting the difference in fonts.

In the past year, there have been a series of HSIP contracts for upgrading curve signage throughout the state. These projects have gone to contractors, but that's really the only thing I can think of for existing surface roads that hasn't been done using WVDOH crews.

[LilianaUwU]

I'm pretty sure Québec's road signs are all contracted out. For instance, the QC 199 shield I got from MTQ has a Signel stamp on the rear, Signel being one of the many sign contractors in Québec.

[hbelkins]

Kentucky has a sign shop in most, if not all, of its 12 highway districts, as well as a central sign shop in Frankfort. Panel signs are done by contractors. There are subtle differences in the appearance of signs as you cross from one highway district into another.

[Road Hog]

Arkansas makes its state road signs in-house, but for interstate highways they've contracted it out. The state shields and LGS's are completely different-appearing.