Regional Boards > Northeast
Does anyone have any pics of NY Thruway's blue signs?
MisterSG1:
I've heard in the past that the New York Thruway once had blue guide signs, similar to how Hwy 407 both ETR and Toll have blue signs in my neck of the woods. Is there anyone who has any pictures of this? Because personally it seems kind of unusual myself.
On the same topic of blue signs, it's been speculated that the decision to use blue guide signs on Hwy 407 in Ontario was inspired by Autoroute 10 in Quebec using blue signs when it was a toll road.
This got me wondering, does anyone know when the blue NY thruway signs were phased out, and if this happened prior to the opening of Autoroute 10, because it could be possible that Transports Quebec took inspiration from the Thruway Authority in using blue signs, but again this is just a hypothesis.
So does any photo evidence exist of the blue Thruway signs?
machias:
--- Quote from: MisterSG1 on June 21, 2016, 09:22:04 PM ---I've heard in the past that the New York Thruway once had blue guide signs, similar to how Hwy 407 both ETR and Toll have blue signs in my neck of the woods. Is there anyone who has any pictures of this? Because personally it seems kind of unusual myself.
On the same topic of blue signs, it's been speculated that the decision to use blue guide signs on Hwy 407 in Ontario was inspired by Autoroute 10 in Quebec using blue signs when it was a toll road.
This got me wondering, does anyone know when the blue NY thruway signs were phased out, and if this happened prior to the opening of Autoroute 10, because it could be possible that Transports Quebec took inspiration from the Thruway Authority in using blue signs, but again this is just a hypothesis.
So does any photo evidence exist of the blue Thruway signs?
--- End quote ---
I can't speak to the last of the blue signs, but the last of the first green signs were phased around in the late 1980s. I believe they had the same format as the blue signs, but I don't know if they were the blue signs that were repainted green. The format looked like this:
BENNETT ROAD
Dunkirk
Fredonia
EXIT 59 1 MILE
I'm thinking the old format green signs weren't the same as the blue signs because the Rochester / LeRoy sign had route shields for I-490 and NY 19 mounted above it that were from the late 1960s.
machias:
storm2k:
The story I always heard is that the engineer in charge of standards for the Thruway Authority was color blind and thought the blue signs showed up better than green ones.
SidS1045:
Bertram Tallamy, superintendent of the NYS DPW while the Thruway was being built, thought blue would be the best background for white lettering on signs, and had all the signs on the Thruway done in blue. Problem was, he was developing color-blindness. He was named the Federal Highway Administrator in 1956 as the Interstate Highway System was being designed, and quite naturally he thought blue was the best background for Interstate signs as well. The FHwA engineers thought green was the best background color, so they set up a soon-to-be-opened section of roadway with signs with blue, green and black backgrounds. The road was driven on by hundreds of ordinary citizens, who were asked to give their impressions of which signs were most legible. The test conclusively showed that green was the most favored color by about 2 to 1 over blue. Black got only about 15% of the vote. Blue signs are, of course, still in use to direct motorists to services and rest areas.
(Source: "The Roads That Built America," by Dan McNichol.)
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version