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

[Bruce]

A bit of a cryptic sign near Mount St. Helens on WA-503:

[JoePCool14]

A bit of a cryptic sign near Mount St. Helens on WA-503:

It's cryptic, but I'm not sure how better they could've worded it without being too verbose for a road sign. Any reasonable fisherman should understand what that means.

[hbelkins]

I had to google "bull trout" to learn that they're an endangered species, and you're not supposed to keep one if you catch it.

[1995hoo]

A bit of a cryptic sign near Mount St. Helens on WA-503:

This is the sort of sign where the people at whom it is directed will know what it means and other people need not be concerned about it. Some signs directed at truckers or hazmat carriers are similar in that respect. Sure, some people will wonder what it means, but for the overwhelming majority of them it won't matter if they don't figure it out–and, as hbelkins notes, anyone who really cares can do a search (preferably not while driving).

[Tom958]

Pretty self-explanatory. I think these appeared within the past couple of days.

[jakeroot]

What is that I don't even ...

I'm actually really intrigued as to how something like that would happen. The shape is standard enough, but what would make them color it like that? Did the plans show it exactly like this? Or did the plan show Interstate shields, and they just painted the US Route shield in the same pattern / color scheme?

Just odd. But wicked cool. Glad you got a picture before it is ultimately removed.

[hotdogPi]

What is that I don't even ...

I'm actually really intrigued as to how something like that would happen. The shape is standard enough, but what would make them color it like that? Did the plans show it exactly like this? Or did the plan show Interstate shields, and they just painted this shield in the same style?

Just odd. But wicked cool. Glad you got a picture before it is ultimately removed.

It's the shape that's incorrect, not the color.

[jakeroot]

It's the shape that's incorrect, not the color.

Did I say otherwise? Besides, the designation is not relevant. What they painted is not a real shield. It's a combination of two different shields. How did that happen? Did the plans call for this? Or did they wing it with the materials they had?

[Scott5114]

My guess is something like this happened.
"Shit, Murph, I just messed up."
"what'd ya do this time clark"
"So you know how we're painting these shields on the pavement?"
"yeah"
"Well, I decided to do all the outlines first and put the numbers in afterward. Makes sense to do that way, ya know?"
"kay"
"So I did the outlines for the two US-19s first. Then. Uh. I kind of kept going."
"so"
"So...I kind of have all these US route outlines painted. And some of them are supposed to be interstates. And the boss is gonna be back for lunch before I can grind them off and redo them..."
"easy clark i got this under control"

[vdeane]

It's the shape that's incorrect, not the color.

Did I say otherwise? Besides, the designation is not relevant. What they painted is not a real shield. It's a combination of two different shields. How did that happen? Did the plans call for this? Or did they wing it with the materials they had?

Shields like that really do exist... on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

[plain]

The fact that they mismatched the US 19 paintings even further qualifies this for goof of the year.

Someone's into Spy Vs. Spy

[hbelkins]

The differences in the two US 19 markers on the pavement jump out at me even more than the wrong shield shapes for I-285. The color scheme makes those markers pretty much self-explanatory.

From the looks of that pavement, those markers are probably not long for the world. That road looks like it could use a resurfacing.

[Big John]

And no local calls it US 19; they refer to it as (SR) 400.

[JoePCool14]

That is a next-level goof. Looks like USDA-choice highways going on there. Where is that by the way?

[LilianaUwU]

Pretty self-explanatory. I think these appeared within the past couple of days.

This might be worthy of the actual worst of signs thread. I mean, it's definitely the result of binge drinking at the sign shop...

[Scott5114]

But it's not actually a sign...

[J N Winkler]

But it's not actually a sign...

Segnaletica verticale/orizzontale, señalización vertical/horizontal, oznakowania pionowe/poziome, . . . .

[jakeroot]

I don't know where else to put this, so it's going here.

If I had to put this sign in my own car, I'd only use the top one since WA law technically requires everyone to stay right, no matter how fast you are going.


"Keep Right" sign in a back window by Jacob Root, on Flickr

[plain]

Someone's obviously fed up with left lane hogs 

[roadman65]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/51352964175/in/photostream

Everything in Oregon is a junction including.a city limit.

[JoePCool14]

I don't know where else to put this, so it's going here.

If I had to put this sign in my own car, I'd only use the top one since WA law technically requires everyone to stay right, no matter how fast you are going.


"Keep Right" sign in a back window by Jacob Root, on Flickr

Someone needs to paste an I-366 shield in their back windshield like that!

[Tom958]

From the looks of that pavement, those markers are probably not long for the world. That road looks like it could use a resurfacing.

This is part of the 285-400 interchange project. 285 here was originally built with four lanes and a 64 foot median. Four more lanes and a jersey barrier were added in the median in the mid '70's, and another two lanes were crammed in immediately before the Olympics by going to eleven-foot lanes. As part of this project, the mainline will be milled and repaved to restore the '70's arrangement, with the loss in capacity there more than replaced by CD roads.

The '90s misalignment between lanes as built vs. as marked, combined with poor pavement condition, was so profound as to make parts of the corridor difficult to drive. To my pleasant amazement, part of the old pavement was milled and repaved in order to make the lanes drivable as marked. https://goo.gl/maps/XxMPzc5FaMbEgbBr8

[Tom958]

Part two, crossposted from the Georgia thread:

On Sunday afternoon, I investigated the 285-400 interchange after the latest round of ramp changes, including the opening of the mile-and-a-half-long westbound CD and offramp to Roswell  Road. The signage situation is inherently difficult but made worse by indifference to detail, such as having an unneeded trailblazer block the view of the undersized 3/4 mile sign for the Peachtree Dunwoody Road exit.

The current configuration crams three offramps to four destinations right on top of each other, as this GDOT masterpiece demonstrates:



This one went up a couple of weeks ago, when the 400 offramps were reconfigured but before the new Roswell Road exit was opened, with the Roswell Road exit being 1 3/4 miles out instead of 1/2. As wordy as it is, it would've been a good idea to eliminate the useless NEXT 4 EXITS tab, especially since this is an overlay on a sign for three destinations. But noooo. As it stands, though, it's essentially moot: the scene there is so chaotic that I missed it on my first pass even knowing it was there! That said, maybe it'll be useful in slow-moving rush hour traffic.

This master-blaster overhead is unfortunately located just beyond and is obstructed by the Perimeter Center Parkway bridge, which impedes the already-difficult task of interpreting it. It also introduces exits 27A and 27B, replacing exit 27 for both directions.



To me, the most objectionable aspect of this assembly is the unfortunate placement of the new EXIT ONLY arrow for the Roswell Road-400 south exit. The new offramp leaves 285 as a single lane, then widens to two lanes before splitting. I think it would've been possible to stripe the offramp for two lanes with and option lane and thereby provide two arrows, one white and one black, one for each destination, with each directly over the appropriate lanes instead of confusingly far off as the lone arrow is now. Yes, I know that having a white down arrow over an option lane is a no-no per the MUTCD, but this assembly's previous incarnation had one, so drivers would be familiar with it. That's just me, though.

[roadfro]

This master-blaster overhead is unfortunately located just beyond and is obstructed by the Perimeter Center Parkway bridge, which impedes the already-difficult task of interpreting it. It also introduces exits 27A and 27B, replacing exit 27 for both directions.


To me, the most objectionable aspect of this assembly is the unfortunate placement of the new EXIT ONLY arrow for the Roswell Road-400 south exit. The new offramp leaves 285 as a single lane, then widens to two lanes before splitting. I think it would've been possible to stripe the offramp for two lanes with and option lane and thereby provide two arrows, one white and one black, one for each destination, with each directly over the appropriate lanes instead of confusingly far off as the lone arrow is now. Yes, I know that having a white down arrow over an option lane is a no-no per the MUTCD, but this assembly's previous incarnation had one, so drivers would be familiar with it. That's just me, though.

Gawd, I hope that is a temporary signage situation for construction... The exit 27 sign panel is actually overlaid on top of the exit 25 sign, and it looks incredibly sloppy. That exit only panel looks like an add-on, but it's also really sloppy if that's meant to be permanent.

[vdeane]

From the looks of that pavement, those markers are probably not long for the world. That road looks like it could use a resurfacing.

This is part of the 285-400 interchange project. 285 here was originally built with four lanes and a 64 foot median. Four more lanes and a jersey barrier were added in the median in the mid '70's, and another two lanes were crammed in immediately before the Olympics by going to eleven-foot lanes. As part of this project, the mainline will be milled and repaved to restore the '70's arrangement, with the loss in capacity there more than replaced by CD roads.

The '90s misalignment between lanes as built vs. as marked, combined with poor pavement condition, was so profound as to make parts of the corridor difficult to drive. To my pleasant amazement, part of the old pavement was milled and repaved in order to make the lanes drivable as marked. https://goo.gl/maps/XxMPzc5FaMbEgbBr8

Spinning the view around, that "exit only" panel with an up arrow is kinda interesting!