Painted Shields in travel lanes

[mightyace]

I actually saw this on I-355, merging onto I-294 in Downers Grove, IL. Really good idea!

Where were you?  I'm confused. 

AFAIK I-355 and I-294 are both north-south and parallel each other.

[Brandon]

I actually saw this on I-355, merging onto I-294 in Downers Grove, IL. Really good idea!

Where were you?  I'm confused. 

AFAIK I-355 and I-294 are both north-south and parallel each other.

There's a painted shield for I-355 South on I-88 East, and another set for both I-290 West and I-294 North further east on I-88 East.
It looks like ISTHA is experimenting with them.

[Brandon]

The ISTHA is using them now as well.  Not so sure I like them.  They would seem to me to be potentially slippery when wet or icy, and they would strike me as the first things to be scraped off the pavement after a snowfall.

The pavement route shields are usually thermoplastic (same material many jurisdictions use for crosswalk bars, stop lines, and pavement word messages), although some might possibly be painted on. In any event, a snowplow shouldn't be able to scrape them up.

I'm not so sure a snowplow wouldn't make a mess of them.  Having lived here for the past 30 years, I've seen stop lines disintigrate after a couple of winters with a decent snowfall.  It's common practice here (Chicagoland) to repaint stop lines every few years if the municipality/county/DOT in question wants them to be seen again.  I've even seen lane arrows disappear after a couple of winters.

[roadfro]

The ISTHA is using them now as well.  Not so sure I like them.  They would seem to me to be potentially slippery when wet or icy, and they would strike me as the first things to be scraped off the pavement after a snowfall.

The pavement route shields are usually thermoplastic (same material many jurisdictions use for crosswalk bars, stop lines, and pavement word messages), although some might possibly be painted on. In any event, a snowplow shouldn't be able to scrape them up.

I'm not so sure a snowplow wouldn't make a mess of them.  Having lived here for the past 30 years, I've seen stop lines disintigrate after a couple of winters with a decent snowfall.  It's common practice here (Chicagoland) to repaint stop lines every few years if the municipality/county/DOT in question wants them to be seen again.  I've even seen lane arrows disappear after a couple of winters.

It may be that the Chicago area might not be using thermoplastic, and instead using a type of reflective tape or similar material for pavement markings. With thermoplastic, the markings are literally melted onto the pavement, and end up being maybe about 1/4" thick--the result usually being that to remove the thermoplastic marking requires grinding it down below the surface of the pavement, which is something a plow won't do.  I've never seen thermoplastic pulled up by plows, but have seen tape pulled up after a decent snow and plowing operations.

[agentsteel53]

So here's one for you all - has anyone ever seen a painted shield with the state name? 

only for historic Route 66 - the traditional state/US/66 design is most prevalent (at least on a per-mile basis) in Kansas.

[Mapmikey]

More in Virginia off the top of my head:

US 17 SB at I-95 Falmouth
US 460 Bus WB at VA 114 Christiansburg
SR 644 EB at I-95 Springfield

Mapmikey

[Bryant5493]

Another that I've seen is at the I-75 North/I-24 West interchange in Chattanooga.


Be well,

Bryant

[bugo]

There are also I-244 and OK 11 painted shields.  The OK 11 shields are circles.  I've never seen a painted meat cleaver.

[aztoucan]

Heres one from I 80 in salt Lake City. There were installed around mid 2008 and they have lasted longer than the Lane lines they use on the roadway.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=redwood+rd+and+500+south&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=60.894251,134.912109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Redwood+Rd+%26+W+500+S,+Salt+Lake+City,+Salt+Lake,+Utah+84104&ll=40.764527,-111.926436&spn=0,0.016469&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.764527,-111.926311&panoid=XkpLN70cLyqDPd-NmNo86Q&cbp=12,91.77,,0,13.85

[WillWeaverRVA]

US 250 at VA 288 near Short Pump, VA:

[shoptb1]

Heres one from I 80 in salt Lake City. There were installed around mid 2008 and they have lasted longer than the Lane lines they use on the roadway.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=redwood+rd+and+500+south&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=60.894251,134.912109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Redwood+Rd+%26+W+500+S,+Salt+Lake+City,+Salt+Lake,+Utah+84104&ll=40.764527,-111.926436&spn=0,0.016469&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.764527,-111.926311&panoid=XkpLN70cLyqDPd-NmNo86Q&cbp=12,91.77,,0,13.85

Interesting that they don't use the directions (ordinals) in addition to the shield.  I-15 on either side of I-80.  Very weird.
I see that the directions are painted like 100ft further, which is a bit confusing. 

[Mergingtraffic]

A friend of mine at the DOT, told me that unfortunately CT has no plans of implementing painted shields on CT oradways.  They are only on I-84 because there is a project that is gonig to start that will replace the current sign bridge.  Since the sign bridge has to come down the shields are painted as a temporary replacement.  The replacement project will take 7 weeks! 

I thought it was too good to be true that the CT DOT would be one of the first to implement new procedures.  I mean, we just stopped using center exit tabs on BGSs a couple of years ago. =(

[deathtopumpkins]

VDOT painted some on I-64's C/D roads around the new basketweaves near the new Battlefield Blvd interchange.

[LeftyJR]

If I remember correctly, these shields are painted at the I-295/95 split near Portland, ME...can anyone confirm this for me?

[TheStranger]

So here's one for you all - has anyone ever seen a painted shield with the state name? 

only for historic Route 66 - the traditional state/US/66 design is most prevalent (at least on a per-mile basis) in Kansas.

Some examples of Route 66-on-pavement signage along Cajon Boulevard between Devore and Cajon:
http://www.floodgap.com/roadgap/395/old/u18/

[roadfro]

Heres one from I 80 in salt Lake City. There were installed around mid 2008 and they have lasted longer than the Lane lines they use on the roadway.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=redwood+rd+and+500+south&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=60.894251,134.912109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Redwood+Rd+%26+W+500+S,+Salt+Lake+City,+Salt+Lake,+Utah+84104&ll=40.764527,-111.926436&spn=0,0.016469&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.764527,-111.926311&panoid=XkpLN70cLyqDPd-NmNo86Q&cbp=12,91.77,,0,13.85

Interesting that they don't use the directions (ordinals) in addition to the shield.  I-15 on either side of I-80.  Very weird.
I see that the directions are painted like 100ft further, which is a bit confusing. 

As you mentioned, the directions are downstream of the shield, but do seem a bit separated. So let's analyze...

The MUTCD gives guidance that parts of a single message should be at least four times the letter height of the message (for low volume roads) and not more than ten times the letter height (under any conditions). Further guidance states that letter height should be a minimum of six feet tall.  If we take this as the standard, then the cardinal directions should be separated from the shield by a minimum of 24 feet and a maximum of 60 feet. Given that a standard broken lane line is a 10-foot stripe with a 30-foot gap, I'm estimating that the direction text for is about 70-80 feet downstream of the shields based on the lane lines (it's hard to tell, as the lane lines don't appear to be consistent here).


One thing that Nevada DOT has done with the painted shields is to place the route direction before the shield. In their limited applications of pavement shields, it creates slightly more emphasis on the "ONLY" legend found in the drop lane after the shield.

[yakra]

If I remember correctly, these shields are painted at the I-295/95 split near Portland, ME...can anyone confirm this for me?

This is not the case.
There's a painted I-295 shield on ME9 in SoPo that I linked to upthread; that's the closest one.
Other than that, there's ME3's western terminus in Augusta.
I believe these are the only ones in the state.

[Scott5114]

Kansas was doing this in the late nineties at the I-35/635 interchange.

[LeftyJR]

If I remember correctly, these shields are painted at the I-295/95 split near Portland, ME...can anyone confirm this for me?

This is not the case.
There's a painted I-295 shield on ME9 in SoPo that I linked to upthread; that's the closest one.
Other than that, there's ME3's western terminus in Augusta.
I believe these are the only ones in the state.

THAT's the one I was thinking of...the one right outside of Augusta!

[UptownRoadGeek]

I-10 in New Orleans have shields painted on the highway, but I can't recall if they have any signage painted on lanes for exits.

They also have them in the shape of the Evacuation Route markers on I-10 eastbound. What I don't like is that, unlike Texas, Louisiana doesn't apply the markers for State and U.S. route. I also like how Texas adds the direction and arrows to compliment the markings.

I've noticed that GA spells out the highway numbers. For example it will say I-75/85 ONLY in the lane vs having a 75 and 85 shield.

[roadfro]

I've noticed that GA spells out the highway numbers. For example it will say I-75/85 ONLY in the lane vs having a 75 and 85 shield.

Nevada DOT has done this as well. It's applications of this method are about as limited as the applications of shield images on freeways/arterial freeway approaches.

[BigMattFromTexas]

I recently found out that on I-37 North they have a hurricane evacuation lane that has the little hurricane symbol and LANE EVAC. painted onto them. I was on that road just Saturday the 1st...
BigMatt

[Ian]

Here are some of the painted roadway shields that I know of at the top of my head at the moment...

1) I-83 southbound at I-283/US 322 in the Harrisburg, PA area (recent additions therefore no streetview)

2) I-287 eastbound/I-87 southbound approaching the split between the two near Elmsford, NY (there are 2 sets)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Elmsford,+NY&sll=41.060683,-73.848596&sspn=0.007928,0.019205&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Elmsford,+Westchester,+New+York&ll=41.060683,-73.849347&spn=0,0.009602&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=41.060688,-73.849555&panoid=o2hMp3aWuQNj996D2JTWyQ&cbp=12,275.24,,0,33.86

3) New York Thruway exit 24 just after the toll going onto the Thruway (aka I-87 south/I-90 west)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=colonie,+ny&sll=41.060691,-73.84955&sspn=0.507385,1.229095&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Colonie,+Albany,+New+York&ll=42.699871,-73.844218&spn=0,0.009602&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=42.700101,-73.844348&panoid=mCdIEzVv2I_1ZvFA11zD2Q&cbp=12,269.88,,0,27.02

[mefailenglish]

I-97 on I-695:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=39.204391,-76.625004&spn=0,0.067291&z=14&layer=c&cbll=39.204415,-76.624899&panoid=O0W3c0kYNkCXeVahm0DiwQ&cbp=12,240,,0,5

[US71]

I've seen Texas use these types of signs for other things