Your Favorite State Route Sheild?

[MNHighwayMan]

I'm obviously totally biased, being from Minnesota, but their design is the best. It's simple but also distinctive. I think those two qualities make for the best-designed markers. California, Colorado, Wyoming, and Kansas fill out my top five.

[jakeroot]

I'm obviously totally biased, being from Minnesota, but their design is the best. It's simple but also distinctive. I think those two qualities make for the best-designed markers. California, Colorado, Wyoming, and Kansas fill out my top five.

My only issue with Minnesota, having just returned from Minneapolis today, was that, from a distance at least, the design very heavily resembles the interstate marker. The key things being that it has a similar dark blue background, and a high-contrast border. Other than those things, it's completely different. And within 500 feet, I was able to see the difference. I still like the marker, though. Quite easy to see in the snow.

[kphoger]

I'm obviously totally biased, being from Minnesota, but their design is the best. It's simple but also distinctive. I think those two qualities make for the best-designed markers. California, Colorado, Wyoming, and Kansas fill out my top five.

My only issue with Minnesota, having just returned from Minneapolis today, was that, from a distance at least, the design very heavily resembles the interstate marker. The key things being that it has a similar dark blue background, and a high-contrast border. Other than those things, it's completely different. And within 500 feet, I was able to see the difference. I still like the marker, though. Quite easy to see in the snow.

Agreed.  In fact, dark blue shields appear on guide signs in three different flavors up in Minnesota:  Interstate, State, County.

[ekt8750]

I'm biased. The keystone is essentially our logo for just about everything Pennsylvania so having it as our state route shield just makes sense.

PA:  Not too bad for B&W.  Put "PENN" or something at the top, and it would be even better.

That was a thing in the past:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_State_Routes_in_Pennsylvania#History

[The High Plains Traveler]

A white square/rectangle with or without the state name, or a plain circle: c'mon, is that the best you can do? I don't have an absolute favorite, but like Minnesota, Kansas, California, South Carolina, and New Mexico. What these have in common is the use of colors other than black on white. I downgrade Colorado because the flag taking up the top half of the sign means the numbers are shorter than ideal.

[ColossalBlocks]

My favorite isn't a primary route shield, but Montana's arrowhead secondary route shield:


Personally I wish they would adopt that as the primary shield and relegate the boring square primary shield to secondary routes.

Yeah, the arrowhead is amazing.

[Max Rockatansky]

My favorite isn't a primary route shield, but Montana's arrowhead secondary route shield:


Personally I wish they would adopt that as the primary shield and relegate the boring square primary shield to secondary routes.

Yeah, the arrowhead is amazing.

It's not a bad design but it is very similar to a lot of BIA Route signs on Reservations.  It got me to double take a couple times the first time I went to Montana because I thought that I was on a tribal road. 

[Darkchylde]

Colorado's primary, out of those still in use. I would have said Louisiana's, but the black and white versions are still ugly as hell - the green and white ones were far better.

[Quillz]

California's for being a cutout. Like Oregon's a lot, but wish they still used the cutouts.

[Quillz]

According to my cousin, who's a retired Caltrans employee, the principal reason the CA state shield was changed to white-on-green in 1964 was that FHWA was getting on the Division of Highways' ass about the use of white outlined state shields on green BGS's; they demanded that the signs be redone, with the then-standard black numbers on a white background.  About 20-25% of the BGS signage with state shield had been replaced with the compliant signs by the end of 1963 -- but the Division decided that since a statewide renumbering was also taking place at the time, that the stand-alone shields should be green-on-white, so the remaining white-outline BGS shields would be then compliant (assuming the route number displayed hadn't changed!).  The slight difference of green shades (somewhat darker on the BGS's) was deemed close enough to be technically compliant.

Of course, it took the Division, and Caltrans after 1973, about four decades to completely replace the remaining but relatively small number of BGS black-on-white shields; the '64 renumbering took care of about half of those immediately.   

But they did do a good job of replacing them... As far as I know, not a single black-on-white miner's spade remains. I actually prefer the color scheme since I've seen it on various modern replicas, mainly because its so simple to standardize. By contrast, I've come across many miner's spades with various hues of green, some very bright, some very dark.

[kkt]

California's, becaues not a state outline, a circle, or a square; because it's immediately identifiable; because it's a cutout; because it's legible.

Navajo Nation Routes are pretty cool too, even if they're not cutouts.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj0sPzA6KTRAhUIsVQKHfU1BJMQjB0IBg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fazdailysun.com%2Fnavajo-route%2Fimage_3e9fd42e-9343-5083-a55b-8a336d5e6e72.html&psig=AFQjCNGEGbHhv1Y036_DONMeONgtSZy_gg&ust=1483493077133406

Washington, well, at least it's not a state outline or a square.

[Quillz]

I liked Washington's older design, which also used a font that I've not seen elsewhere:



I don't know why they stopped using these, they seem more legible. Change to the standard FHWA Series fonts and call it a day.

[adventurernumber1]

I voted for the Florida state route shield. I highly like all of the usual favorites, such as California, Kansas, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. However, when it comes to states I have actually been to and seen the shields in person, probably my very favorites are Florida and Colorado. I honestly don't see why states like Mississippi or Kentucky couldn't decide on something more inventive.

[kphoger]

I honestly don't see why states like Mississippi or Kentucky couldn't decide on something more inventive

OTOH, what incentive do they have in doing so?  Circles definitely get the job done of directing motorists where they need to go, and they are an accepted national standard.  I agree they're dull but, then again, most of the world doesn't seem to think route shields are supposed to be anything but dull.  Outside the USA and Canada, good luck finding anything but plain shapes and a letter or two.

[empirestate]

I honestly don't see why states like Mississippi or Kentucky couldn't decide on something more inventive

OTOH, what incentive do they have in doing so?  Circles definitely get the job done of directing motorists where they need to go, and they are an accepted national standard.  I agree they're dull but, then again, most of the world doesn't seem to think route shields are supposed to be anything but dull.  Outside the USA and Canada, good luck finding anything but plain shapes and a letter or two.

American exceptionalism, perhaps?

[jbnati27]

I just cast a vote for South Carolina's newer state route shield. That's what I'm feeling today. Ask me tomorrow, I may have a different answer.

I do like the distinctive ones such as Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, New York, Washington, Kansas, Colorado, North Dakota, Wyoming, etc.

I also like the state outlines.

I don't care for the squares and circles. That includes Indiana and Illinois, which are only a slight better than a generic square. At least Maryland puts a box around the state name.

[adventurernumber1]

I just cast a vote for South Carolina's newer state route shield.

I like South Carolina's shield as well. Of the states I've been to and shields I've seen in person, South Carolina would probably be my third favorite.

[kkt]

I don't think are any sort of national standard.  Octagonal stop signs and triangular yield signs are national standards.  Circular route number signs are just something a few states do.

As for why the U.S. and Canada, partly it's the Federal tradition of roads being built and maintained by the state or province, even roads of the highest design and build standard.

[kphoger]

I don't think are any sort of national standard.  Octagonal stop signs and triangular yield signs are national standards.  Circular route number signs are just something a few states do.

They are the default shield per MUTCD.

(10) State Route signs shall be designed by the individual State highway agencies.
(11) ... The shape of the white area should be circular in the absence of any determination to the contrary by the individual State concerned.

[kkt]

I don't think are any sort of national standard.  Octagonal stop signs and triangular yield signs are national standards.  Circular route number signs are just something a few states do.

They are the default shield per MUTCD.

(10) State Route signs shall be designed by the individual State highway agencies.
(11) ... The shape of the white area should be circular in the absence of any determination to the contrary by the individual State concerned.

But it starts out saying that the individual agencies should design their route signs.

[adventurernumber1]

I don't think are any sort of national standard.  Octagonal stop signs and triangular yield signs are national standards.  Circular route number signs are just something a few states do.

They are the default shield per MUTCD.

(10) State Route signs shall be designed by the individual State highway agencies.
(11) ... The shape of the white area should be circular in the absence of any determination to the contrary by the individual State concerned.

But it starts out saying that the individual agencies should design their route signs.

It's not saying state route shields must be circular, but simply that in the absence of any other input from the individual states, that is what it will be.

Also, I don't want to come off as hating on states that use the default circle shields, I just prefer something more interesting.

[adventurernumber1]

I suppose I am just surprised that 5 states (Mississippi, Kentucky, Iowa, Delaware, and New Jersey) stayed with the circle shields. Once again, I think they're fine, and still find them to be aesthetically pleasing shields, just not as much so as the more interesting shield designs. I don't like the squares as much either, but I do like that some of them have the state name for differentiation. Perhaps I was too harsh on the circle shields back there. Don't take my post the wrong way. I love all state route shields (including circles and squares) and find them interesting, I just wish every single state utilized the ability to make their own unique, interesting shields to differentiate from one another.

[Quillz]

I suppose I am just surprised that 5 states (Mississippi, Kentucky, Iowa, Delaware, and New Jersey) stayed with the circle shields. Once again, I think they're fine, and still find them to be aesthetically pleasing shields, just not as much so as the more interesting shield designs. I don't like the squares that much either, but I like that some of them have the state name for differentiation. Perhaps I was too harsh on the circle shields back there.

Kentucky used to at least put the state name on their circles:



And New Jersey used to have white-on-green circles:



Too bad they aren't still in use anymore.

[jwolfer]

I suppose I am just surprised that 5 states (Mississippi, Kentucky, Iowa, Delaware, and New Jersey) stayed with the circle shields. Once again, I think they're fine, and still find them to be aesthetically pleasing shields, just not as much so as the more interesting shield designs. I don't like the squares that much either, but I like that some of them have the state name for differentiation. Perhaps I was too harsh on the circle shields back there.

Kentucky used to at least put the state name on their circles:



And New Jersey used to have white-on-green circles:



Too bad they aren't still in use anymore.

I like the green circle

LGMS428

[adventurernumber1]

I suppose I am just surprised that 5 states (Mississippi, Kentucky, Iowa, Delaware, and New Jersey) stayed with the circle shields. Once again, I think they're fine, and still find them to be aesthetically pleasing shields, just not as much so as the more interesting shield designs. I don't like the squares that much either, but I like that some of them have the state name for differentiation. Perhaps I was too harsh on the circle shields back there.

Kentucky used to at least put the state name on their circles:



And New Jersey used to have white-on-green circles:



Too bad they aren't still in use anymore.

Those are incredibly cool, and very interesting. I also wish they were still in use.

I have no problem with the accepted MUTCD standard, I simply advocate going for something even more interesting, like those shields in those pictures.

I also think it is a good thing for the states to be their own individual selves, and differentiate themselves from eachother (at least with State Highway Shields), and especially make that differentiation interesting. I think I was just surprised to think about the fact that all those states chose to stay exactly the same.