What is the largest road sign that you have seen?

[eagle14410]

I was wondering what the largest road sign that anyone has seen?

[mgk920]

The I-95 shields on the New England Thruway tollgate?

Mike

[Ian]

Here are some of the larger ones I've seen in my travels...

[rmsandw]

NB I-65 near I-80/94; U.S. 6.

[PurdueBill]

NB I-65 near I-80/94; U.S. 6.

Yikes--couldn't they have put the 80/94/6 shields under one direction, since they are all the same?  Especially on the right-hand sign, to trade a little width to decrease the height?  The right-hand one is one of the tallest signs for its width around!

As far as the Mass. signs, the most overdone huge diagrammatic has to be on I-91 approaching MA 2 EB, with 2-mile and 1-mile enormous diagrammatics for a simple one-lane right-hand exit with no option lanes, exit-only lanes, or anything else unusual.  Not sure why they went so wild.  See http://homepage.mac.com/kefkafloyd/valleyroads/91.html  most of the way down for pics.

[NE2]

I was wondering what the largest road sign that anyone has seen?

Why does it matter whether one of us has seen it?

[eagle14410]

I suppose it doesnt......show me whatever you can find! LOL

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

I was wondering what the largest road sign that anyone has seen?

Why does it matter whether one of us has seen it?

I hear that they grow highway signs in Central Florida as big as the state of Delaware.

[Alex]

I hear that they grow highway signs in Central Florida as big as the state of Delaware.

The state of Delaware had the biggest one posted at one point...

[agentsteel53]

I was wondering what the largest road sign that anyone has seen?

Why does it matter whether one of us has seen it?

if a road sign is put up, and no one sees it, does it still have to be obeyed?

[1995hoo]

I don't think they were actually the "biggest" signs I've ever seen, but the ones that came to my mind when I saw this thread were the absurd series of pull-through signs Delaware had on I-95 just south of the I-95/I-295 merge. (I have not been that way in a couple of years and so I don't know if they might have changed any of these as part of the widening project.) I say "absurd" primarily because they had a string of three or four of these all in extremely close proximity, and they come to mind as "big" signs because the portion of the sign with the words is so tiny. I think they seemed a lot bigger than they really were just because of the large amount of green space. Compare to the old sign that used to appear at the I-95/I-895 split northeast of Baltimore (second photo below), which was on the whole probably a "bigger" sign but which I always thought didn't seem as large because of the white dividing lines separating it into "panels."

Pictures from AARoads.com:

[Alex]

I don't think they were actually the "biggest" signs I've ever seen, but the ones that came to my mind when I saw this thread were the absurd series of pull-through signs Delaware had on I-95 just south of the I-95/I-295 merge. (I have not been that way in a couple of years and so I don't know if they might have changed any of these as part of the widening project.) I say "absurd" primarily because they had a string of three or four of these all in extremely close proximity, and they come to mind as "big" signs because the portion of the sign with the words is so tiny. I think they seemed a lot bigger than they really were just because of the large amount of green space. Compare to the old sign that used to appear at the I-95/I-895 split northeast of Baltimore (second photo below), which was on the whole probably a "bigger" sign but which I always thought didn't seem as large because of the white dividing lines separating it into "panels."

Those always struck me as overkill, and the number of them, repeated every 1,000 feet or something, ridiculous. When I last drove through (July 2010), the two 80s-based signs were still in place at DE-141. The third was replaced in the 90s, with those Clearviewized by 2010. New sign bridges were added over the ten-lane portion, which eliminated the next two sets. But when you thought the era of those godzilla signs was over, a new one was added ahead of Exit 4A!

[1995hoo]

Yeah, it was the number of signs more than the size of them that struck me as being silly. They could have had one of those signs at or near the spot where the left lane ended. Even then I think it was unnecessary. The yellow signs in the two images you linked always struck me as stupid because they're not terribly helpful to the average driver–I mean, 2100 feet? Really? Who the heck can visualize 2100 feet?

I don't mind Clearview, but the new pull-through sign in the picture you posted just doesn't look right to me. The exit sign looks OK despite the oddly-sized exit tab, but something doesn't look right about the pull-through sign and I'm not sure what it is. I think it may have to do with the leading and the larger space between  "Baltimore" and the arrows. The sides maybe look a little squeezed too, but that seems to be more common these days (maybe DOTs want to use smaller signs to save money on sheet metal?). As I look at the image multiple times I'm guessing that the reason I dislike it is probably that its dimensions, especially the vertical dimension, look funny next to the other sign.

I stopped going that way several years ago in favor of the I-78 route to New York, so I hadn't seen the new signs. I suppose if I make a daytrip to Philadelphia to see the Springsteen exhibit I'll go that way, though, unless I take Amtrak.

[thenetwork]

Buffalo, NY:

[1995hoo]

Buffalo, NY:

Image is not displaying. I see there is a massive string of characters within the "IMG" tags, but I don't know where to begin trying to edit it!

[PHLBOS]

Along I-76 west in Upper Merion Twp., PA at the recently-opened EXIT 329 (King of Prussia - Norristown).  The main sign board & lettering (in Clearview) seem abnormally huge; especially since this exit is for a regular street (the ramp terminates at the Gulph Road-Henderson Road intersection).

[roadman]

As far as the Mass. signs, the most overdone huge diagrammatic has to be on I-91 approaching MA 2 EB, with 2-mile and 1-mile enormous diagrammatics for a simple one-lane right-hand exit with no option lanes, exit-only lanes, or anything else unusual.  Not sure why they went so wild.  See http://homepage.mac.com/kefkafloyd/valleyroads/91.html  most of the way down for pics.

That location is in Greenfield MA, and is where the I-91 north and MA 2 east overlap splits.  Although the exit to MA 2 east is a "standard" right hand ramp and is fairly simple from a geometric standpoint, the split sees a lot of unfamiliar drivers - especially during the fall foliage season.

As I understand it, about the same time the signs on this section of I-91 were last replaced (in the mid-1990s), the Exit 27 'split' in Greenfield was identified by the locals as having a safety problem due to last minute lane changes.  This would explain MassHighway's rationale for going with diagrammatic signs for this location at that time.

Given the changes in the 2009 MUTCD regarding diagrammatic signs, it will be interesting to see if MassDOT goes back to a 'conventional' sign treatment for this exit when the I-91 signs are next updated, or if they will try to convince FHWA to allow them to replace the existing diagrammatics at this location 'in-kind'.

[roadman]

I don't mind Clearview, but the new pull-through sign in the picture you posted just doesn't look right to me. (snip) something doesn't look right about the pull-through sign and I'm not sure what it is. I think it may have to do with the leading and the larger space between  "Baltimore" and the arrows. The sides maybe look a little squeezed too, but that seems to be more common these days (maybe DOTs want to use smaller signs to save money on sheet metal?).

Looks to me like you nailed the issue with this panel.  The space between the legends is correct, but the space between the route shield and the legend is too large, the space between the legend and the arrows is too large, and the top and bottom margins are too small.  In signing parlance, a panel designed like this one is said to have an 'unbalanced' legend.

Regarding the side margins, the MUTCD standards state that margins should be at least equal to the height of the adjacent letters (i.e. 16 inch left and right margins for a 16/12 legend).  However, over time, many state DOTs have discovered that reducing the margin to 75% of the letter height (12 inch for a 16/12 inch legend) results in a reduced panel width (usually a 1 to 1 1/2 foot difference, depending upon the spelling of the legend) without unacceptably compromising legibility.  Several states also have reduced their inter-letter spacing on guide sign legends to 85% to 90% of the FHWA recommended standard as well, again to reduce panel width.

In this case, however, it appears that Delaware went a little too far in economizing on panel size.  Visually, the narrower Clearview font (as opposed to Highway Gothic) only excerbates the "something's not quite right to my eye" apparance of the sign you noted as well.

[okroads]

A couple of candidates for the largest sign that I saw Tuesday in North Carolina:

[1995hoo]

Damn, from my days in the Triangle in the mid-1990s I recognize the last of those as I-40. I was there when the first segment of I-540 opened to traffic (the portion from I-40 to US-70; it didn't get much use except by those of us who wanted to see how fast our cars could go). Back then the sign was a tiny little thing that had nothing but the exit tab and the "NORTH I-540" legend. I don't think it even said "TO US-70" back when it first opened. Quite the change!

The "NORTH" at the bottom of that sign is a bit odd. I know North Carolina likes to put "DOWNTOWN" in all caps when a route takes you to a downtown area, e.g., "Roxboro St DOWNTOWN" at the Roxboro Street exit on I-85. Is the "NORTH" on this sign being used in a similar sense to indicate that I-540 is the best route to Raleigh's northern suburbs off Falls of Neuse Road and areas like that, or do you think it's intended in a manner similar to Jersey's "Shore Points" signs?

[hbelkins]

If you're talking surface-mounted route markers, Massachusetts has some of the biggest I've ever seen. I've seen some I-495 and Mass 128 signs that look like they are 6 feet wide.

[kphoger]

For ground-mounted signs....  Here's one at the Colombia (NL) border crossing, right where the access road hits highway 2.  I don't know what used to be depicted on the sign, but now it's just a huge expanse of green.
http://g.co/maps/5t9q2

[Ian]

NB I-65 near I-80/94; U.S. 6.

And here I thought this sign was pretty tall!

This one isn't very large per se, but it isn't everyday you come across a ground mounted diagrammatic sign...

[Central Avenue]

I almost wish there were some unambiguous way to put "Newark" and "Baltimore" on the same line to make for a smaller sign panel.

My first thought was "Newark | Baltimore", but that could potentially be misread as indicating to keep left for Newark and keep right for Baltimore.

I find the juxtaposition of the huge exit 283 sign with the rather small exit 282 sign amusing.

[Takumi]

I find the juxtaposition of the huge exit 283 sign with the rather small exit 282 sign amusing.

Same.

As for my entry, I'll go with this monster from I-395 in Arlington: