Caltrans External Exit Tabs & 240 Inch Tall Overhead Signs

[tolbs17]

Just seeing this; it's about time they switched! The in-set ones looked silly and childish..

[Max Rockatansky]

Just seeing this; it's about time they switched! The in-set ones looked silly and childish..

How are you defining "childish?"   If you're here to complain about how Caltrans doesn't follow the MUTCD like North Carolina does then please leave.

[tolbs17]

Just seeing this; it's about time they switched! The in-set ones looked silly and childish..

How are you defining "childish?"   If you're here to complain about how Caltrans doesn't follow the MUTCD like North Carolina does then please leave.

Not complaining. It was just odd that they were in-set of the sign. It was childish the put the exit numbers in-set the sign.

[Max Rockatansky]

Just seeing this; it's about time they switched! The in-set ones looked silly and childish..

How are you defining "childish?"   If you're here to complain about how Caltrans doesn't follow the MUTCD like North Carolina does then please leave.

Not complaining. It was just odd that they were in-set of the sign. It was childish the put the exit numbers in-set the sign.

I stand by my previous statement, please refrain from your nonsensical posts on this board.  Most of us here actually care about quality content and not spam.  "Childish"  isn't going to fit well with the serious threads and posts.

Also, if you had read up thread you would have noticed the wind loading issue with external tabs. 

[Scott5114]

When I was a child I put the tabs on the outside, so I don't really see how inset tabs are "childish".

Maybe putting tabs for left exits on the right. I did that a lot as a child.

[Alps]

Just seeing this; it's about time they switched! The in-set ones looked silly and childish..

How are you defining "childish?"   If you're here to complain about how Caltrans doesn't follow the MUTCD like North Carolina does then please leave.

Not complaining. It was just odd that they were in-set of the sign. It was childish the put the exit numbers in-set the sign.

I stand by my previous statement, please refrain from your nonsensical posts on this board.  Most of us here actually care about quality content and not spam.  "Childish"  isn't going to fit well with the serious threads and posts.

Also, if you had read up thread you would have noticed the wind loading issue with external tabs. 

I happen to agree that inset exit tabs look childish compared to external ones. Come at me.

[Max Rockatansky]

Just seeing this; it's about time they switched! The in-set ones looked silly and childish..

How are you defining "childish?"   If you're here to complain about how Caltrans doesn't follow the MUTCD like North Carolina does then please leave.

Not complaining. It was just odd that they were in-set of the sign. It was childish the put the exit numbers in-set the sign.

I stand by my previous statement, please refrain from your nonsensical posts on this board.  Most of us here actually care about quality content and not spam.  "Childish"  isn't going to fit well with the serious threads and posts.

Also, if you had read up thread you would have noticed the wind loading issue with external tabs. 

I happen to agree that inset exit tabs look childish compared to external ones. Come at me.

I mean hey, I think they look like total shit without external exit tabs.  But neither of us are posting empty calorie Google Street Views all of the forum are we?

[J N Winkler]

"Childish" is not a category I would personally use for guide signs--even badly designed ones--but I do think the phaseout of bitten-out and strip-style tabs in favor of external tabs improves the aesthetics.

[jdbx]

Driving around this weekend on I-680 where all of the gantries are monotube, it got me to wondering if we are ever going to see external exit tabs on monotube gantries.  I hope so, some of the signs in my area are busy and cluttered-looking with the internal exit tab.

[joshI5]

Driving around this weekend on I-680 where all of the gantries are monotube, it got me to wondering if we are ever going to see external exit tabs on monotube gantries.  I hope so, some of the signs in my area are busy and cluttered-looking with the internal exit tab.

Not exit tabs per se, but the recent I-15 Express Lanes Project involved a series of monotube gantry sign installations with external "LEFT" tabs: https://goo.gl/maps/4QzchdLAnADbidiC9

Oh, and then there's this in SF with an external exit tab, although this was installed well before this new standard: https://goo.gl/maps/7z1ncTTkPaspnYwPA

[TheStranger]

Saw a couple of new external exit tabs today, both for left-exits.

One is along I-580 eastbound at Buchanan Street in Albany, where an internal-tab sign had been replaced with a smaller sign for the street name legend, and an external Left Exit above it, but still with the gantry backing it.  Didn't get a photo.

I asked my dad to photograph the next one we saw, at I-80 west approaching Harrison Street exit in SF, and this is what it looks like:
_DSC8137e by Chris Sampang, on Flickr
_DSC8138 by Chris Sampang, on Flickr

[ClassicHasClass]

Unrelated: I "like"  the "Br" thrown on to Golden Gate as an obvious later edit.

[jdbx]

Saw a couple of new external exit tabs today, both for left-exits.

One is along I-580 eastbound at Buchanan Street in Albany, where an internal-tab sign had been replaced with a smaller sign for the street name legend, and an external Left Exit above it, but still with the gantry backing it.  Didn't get a photo.

I asked my dad to photograph the next one we saw, at I-80 west approaching Harrison Street exit in SF, and this is what it looks like:
_DSC8137e by Chris Sampang, on Flickr
_DSC8138 by Chris Sampang, on Flickr

I noticed that same sign this past Saturday driving into SF for the Warriors game.  I guess this sign looks better than the previous inset tab, although there is something somewhat wrong with the aesthetic of the tab looking nearly as big as the sign itself.  For comparison:

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7854186,-122.3917414,3a,75y,247.12h,91.43t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sY17K5b_VAuL37huL3cfAMg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[Scott5114]

I like how that is clearly an exit tab on one of the old gantries. Yet it hasn't blown over.

[SeriesE]

I like how that is clearly an exit tab on one of the old gantries. Yet it hasn't blown over.

I've never understood the wind loading excuse when LA had external exit tabs for decades and they didn't get blown away

[SeriesE]

Saw a couple of new external exit tabs today, both for left-exits.

One is along I-580 eastbound at Buchanan Street in Albany, where an internal-tab sign had been replaced with a smaller sign for the street name legend, and an external Left Exit above it, but still with the gantry backing it.  Didn't get a photo.

I asked my dad to photograph the next one we saw, at I-80 west approaching Harrison Street exit in SF, and this is what it looks like:
_DSC8137e by Chris Sampang, on Flickr
_DSC8138 by Chris Sampang, on Flickr

So much blank space on that exit tab.

The federal MUTCD can't make up its mind about blank space/margins.

Some has too much blank space (around the text in exit tabs, APL signs, non-cutout US route signs) while others have not enough (number size in interstate/US route shields)

[Scott5114]

The number size issue is 100% on the states. The MUTCD-spec interstate shield has plenty of space.



Some states make the numbers bigger than this. That's where the space issues come from.

[SeriesE]

The number size issue is 100% on the states. The MUTCD-spec interstate shield has plenty of space.



Some states make the numbers bigger than this. That's where the space issues come from.

https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/htm/2009r1r2/images/fig2e_05.gif These 3 digit shields look very cramped to me (or were the example figures from the MUTCD not accurate to the specs, which is possible?)

[Scott5114]

They're not accurate, no. According to the 2004 Standard Highway Signs book, three-digit shields are supposed to use Series C.

[J N Winkler]

When it comes to the Interstate shield, there is often a tradeoff between having digits at consistent height and position and using an alphabet series with high legibility per unit of letter height.

[Alps]

The number size issue is 100% on the states. The MUTCD-spec interstate shield has plenty of space.



Some states make the numbers bigger than this. That's where the space issues come from.

https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/htm/2009r1r2/images/fig2e_05.gif These 3 digit shields look very cramped to me (or were the example figures from the MUTCD not accurate to the specs, which is possible?)

They look fine to me. Some states default to D, some default to C, some do it number by number. NJDOT commonly uses D as shown.

[Henry]

It's good to hear that Caltrans is finally getting its act together, because I never liked the fact that it had unnumbered exits for many years, nor the exit tabs integrated into the signs. If anything, I'd rather have sequential exit numbering than no numbers at all.

[roadfro]

In most cases, the internal exit numbers weren't all that bad. But whenever they tried to fit in an internal tab within the same space as a sign panel that already had a lot of legend/shields/arrows, it could get fairly ugly quickly. I am glad they are starting to incorporate external tabs though.

[RZF]

It's good to hear that Caltrans is finally getting its act together, because I never liked the fact that it had unnumbered exits for many years, nor the exit tabs integrated into the signs. If anything, I'd rather have sequential exit numbering than no numbers at all.

Unfortunately, they're only placing exit numbers on certain freeways that were built after they decided to put in exit numbers. So, for example, CA-33 in Ventura, which was built before this change, does not have exit numbers, nor does it have any in the official CalTrans records.

[Scott5114]

The MUTCD requires exit numbers on all freeways, full stop. So eventually Caltrans will be required to add them, the same way they were obliged to fix the exit tabs. It's only a matter of when FHWA decides to show their teeth on that particular provision of the MUTCD.