Freeway Prohibition Signage

[cpzilliacus]

Virginia prohibits "self-propelled machinery".  No one can really seem to describe what that means though! 

Virginia's sign used to say "PROHIBITED" and then list all the uses that were not allowed.  In line with the Federal MUTCD shift in emphasis from the word "Prohibited" to the word "No", the sign was changed from the design that has always been in use to one that says "NO" and lists all the uses that are banned. 

There's an old-style Virginia prohibition sign on the (sharp) ramp from the northbound G.W. Memorial Parkway to the Inner Loop of I-495 (which leads almost directly to the American Legion Bridge and Maryland).

[kphoger]

To sketch a somewhat more quotidian scenario, it is also illegal to drive cattle, sheep, etc. down the Interstate.

Yes, and I'm certain that's part of the intent of the sign.  I heard once that Kansas is a free-range state, meaning it's legal to drive cattle anywhere that doesn't specifically prohibit it–meaning you could drive them right through a town unless there were a local law against it.  I'm unable to confirm or deny that on a quick Google search right now, though.

Does Missouri even use these?  I recall not seeing them, but maybe they're scattered around.  Or maybe I'm just blind.

Since no one has answered in the affirmative, I'll assume Missouri does not use these signs.  That doesn't mean freeways are wide open to every kind of traffic–specific laws may still exist on the books.  But, I do know that it leaves the shoulder of Interstates wide open for pedestrians, and therefore hitchhiking.  In most other states, one may not proceed by foot (and therefore may not hitchhike) beyond the restrictions sign.

Kansas' prohibition sign is large, oblong horizontally, and used only on Interstates with very few exceptions.

That makes it rather weird to see them while transitioning from one freeway to another freeway, i.e. from a state freeway to an Interstate.

Example:  where K-96 joins I-235.
Street view here.  Zoom out of street view to see that it's posted in the middle of a huge freeway-to-freeway interchange, but strategically precisely where a pedestrian on K-96 would have no option other than to enter I-235.

[J N Winkler]

Yes, and I'm certain that's part of the intent of the sign.  I heard once that Kansas is a free-range state, meaning it's legal to drive cattle anywhere that doesn't specifically prohibit it–meaning you could drive them right through a town unless there were a local law against it.  I'm unable to confirm or deny that on a quick Google search right now, though.

It sounds plausible to me, but I wonder if there are still restrictions on the type of cattle that can be driven which date from the 1860's and 1870's (when the primary intention was to prevent foot and mouth disease from being imported into the state by Texas longhorns).

Kansas' prohibition sign is large, oblong horizontally, and used only on Interstates with very few exceptions.

That makes it rather weird to see them while transitioning from one freeway to another freeway, i.e. from a state freeway to an Interstate.

It is also odd to see them on the mainline, as is the case on US 81 north of Salina and also (if memory serves) US 75 north of Topeka.

Kansas does not yet comply with the requirement in the 2009 MUTCD to use exit numbers on non-Interstate freeways, and I have long theorized that one approach to compliance KDOT might take is to use exit numbers only on Interstates and on non-Interstate freeways which have prohibition signs, treating the other state-route freeways as if they were just paper "expressways" (for which exit numbering is optional) even though they are built as full freeways.  I do not know if the use of prohibition signs in Kansas in fact translates into a legal distinction in the type or quality of access control provided.  (In Britain such a distinction exists between motorways and non-motorway dual carriageways subject to motorway restrictions:  agricultural traffic cannot be banned from the latter.)

The approaches to prohibition signage followed in most American states are faintly ridiculous, to be honest.

In western Europe, where the important feature of freeway-type roads is the prohibition of nonmotorized traffic (hence the use of some more or less direct translation of the word motorway for such roads in the various countries that have them), there is a rigidly observed convention of signing an escape route for nonmotorized traffic which would otherwise be led inexorably onto a motorway.  The closest we come to this in the US is "Bicycles Must Exit" signing in states, like California, where the freeway-as-motorway concept is well understood and signing is designed to be legally airtight.

[1995hoo]

Here's a Street View of one of Virginia's standard prohibition signs used for many years. It was still in place as of Tuesday afternoon. For those not wanting to click the link, it's a rectangular white sign, taller than it is wide, with all text in all-caps (I've transcribed it in caps/lowercase here for legibility) and center-justified, and it says:

PROHIBITED
-------------------------
Pedestrians
Bicycles    Mopeds
Animals
Self-Propelled
Machinery or
Equipment

[cpzilliacus]

Self-Propelled
Machinery or
Equipment

Curiously, there is a fair amount of "self-propelled" machinery or  equipment that is perfectly legal on Virginia freeways, including cranes and Gradalls on rubber tires.

[Brandon]

Looking around, Hawai'i has a most interesting sign for it:

Keep Out Freeway

[agentsteel53]

does a Googlemobile count as self-propelled machinery?

in a very loose sense, any automobile is self-propelled machinery.  the driver merely controls it - the propulsion is provided by a component of the automobile itself.  the only way it would not be self-propelled is if it were shot out of a cannon!

[NE2]

Missouri has at least one: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.1008,-94.571482&spn=0.007593,0.016512&gl=us&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=39.100746,-94.571549&panoid=5j3_dwcJlLq5ZuLg8DTBEw&cbp=12,315.24,,2,0.56

[Darkchylde]

Missouri has at least one: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.1008,-94.571482&spn=0.007593,0.016512&gl=us&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=39.100746,-94.571549&panoid=5j3_dwcJlLq5ZuLg8DTBEw&cbp=12,315.24,,2,0.56

I saw something like that, getting on I-470 West at Exit 2.

I take that onramp often, I'll see about snagging a pic next time I'm able.

[lordsutch]

I've seen PARADES listed on a prohibition sign, possibly in Tennessee.

"PARADES" is an Arkansas thing: http://www.flickr.com/photos/syddelicious/2676786682/

Mississippi doesn't generally post prohibition signs on freeway entrances; Tennessee and Georgia typically do.

[Big John]

I've seen PARADES listed on a prohibition sign, possibly in Tennessee.

Tennessee and Georgia typically do.

Georgia also posts them on the off ramps facing the cross street, as for anyone entering the "wrong way" and pedestrians.  I usually see them only on the on-ramps in other states.

[hobsini2]

I've seen PARADES listed on a prohibition sign, possibly in Tennessee.

"PARADES" is an Arkansas thing: http://www.flickr.com/photos/syddelicious/2676786682/

Mississippi doesn't generally post prohibition signs on freeway entrances; Tennessee and Georgia typically do.

Damn. I want my parade to go right down the middle of the Eisenhower in to Congress Pkwy.

[kphoger]

my parade

Wow, really?

[Billy F 1988]

Let's hope it rains!

[Brandon]

Here's an image, from the other day, or the ISTHA signage from the IL-47 entrance ramp onto I-88: