Max's Mountain West Roads

[J N Winkler]

The thing that's really throwing me for a loop is why the 101 signage on surface streets in Scottsdale is blue again?

The locals in Scottsdale may have gone back to blue for Loop 101, but the picture you posted doesn't prove it.  I am fairly sure that is an Arizona DOT installation (of the type shown as "crossroad sign" in ADOT construction plans) that dates from the late nineties when colored shields for the Loops were still part of state standards.  It has the cardinal direction word "SOUTH" in button-copy Series D Modified, which ADOT abandoned in favor of Series E in the brief period before Clearview adoption when they were using the FHWA series with whole-letter retroreflectorization.

[howlincoyote2k1]

Just curious, does anyone know if any of the black 303 signs have survived in the wild since the upgrade to full freeway? Or did they all get replaced by the current spec?

Pretty sure they're all gone. The old two-lane road got completely torn out to make way for the freeway, and when the road went, so went the signs.

[Max Rockatansky]

The thing that's really throwing me for a loop is why the 101 signage on surface streets in Scottsdale is blue again?

The locals in Scottsdale may have gone back to blue for Loop 101, but the picture you posted doesn't prove it.  I am fairly sure that is an Arizona DOT installation (of the type shown as "crossroad sign" in ADOT construction plans) that dates from the late nineties when colored shields for the Loops were still part of state standards.  It has the cardinal direction word "SOUTH" in button-copy Series D Modified, which ADOT abandoned in favor of Series E in the brief period before Clearview adoption when they were using the FHWA series with whole-letter retroreflectorization.

I'm fairly certain that a good many of them are original to the 101 being built upon examining it further.  There was a couple down by my old house that were blue but got replaced with the standard whites.  For whatever reason the blue signs seemed to hold up better than the browns on the 202 ever did.

[Exit58]

Just curious, does anyone know if any of the black 303 signs have survived in the wild since the upgrade to full freeway? Or did they all get replaced by the current spec?

Pretty sure they're all gone. The old two-lane road got completely torn out to make way for the freeway, and when the road went, so went the signs.

I believe some still survive on side streets in Litchfield Park. I was in the area, on Camelback IIRC, and remember seeing one. I thought it might have been a city installation where they accidentally inverted the colors, I didn't realize L303 was thrown into the color-coding of the loops as well, I thought it was just 101 and 202.

[DJStephens]

[So I posted in another thread here https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=18772.0 asking if Arizona was done with Clearview. This looks to be a fairly new sign with the FHWA font, and after some
Strange that Arizona seems to be going in the backwards direction all of a sudden with Clearview.

That having been said, I've enjoyed your pictures and writeups, and look forward to more 
[/quote]

Second that.  Great pictures of the Mountain West.  Greatly enjoyed viewing them.  Good that AZDOT is reversing themselves in terms of signage font.  Never thought I'd say that there is an area that NMDOT has done something better, but font discipline is the one.  Good  that they're changing back to standard fonts.   

[Max Rockatansky]

[So I posted in another thread here https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=18772.0 asking if Arizona was done with Clearview. This looks to be a fairly new sign with the FHWA font, and after some
Strange that Arizona seems to be going in the backwards direction all of a sudden with Clearview.

That having been said, I've enjoyed your pictures and writeups, and look forward to more 

Second that.  Great pictures of the Mountain West.  Greatly enjoyed viewing them.  Good that AZDOT is reversing themselves in terms of signage font.  Never thought I'd say that there is an area that NMDOT has done something better, but font discipline is the one.  Good  that they're changing back to standard fonts.

Thanks, yeah Arizona does some strange things with signage.  I was surprised how many colored shields were really left after all these years.  Really I would like to get back out your way again some time.  I did cross I-10 through New Mexico in a snow storm about a year ago but I had intended for US 70 through some old stomping grounds from Roswell to White Sands.

[halork]

... The weird thing is that I don't think it really matters if AZ 89A connects to it's parent anymore since it technically really isn't an alternate route anymore given it doesn't connect back to an 89 (AZ or US) in Flagstaff.  It probably would have made more sense to give 89A a new number when it was downgraded to a state highway....

I seem to recall that ADOT was going to give it a regular number, but apparently some residents of Sedona complained it would ruin the "numerology" of the area.

[Max Rockatansky]

... The weird thing is that I don't think it really matters if AZ 89A connects to it's parent anymore since it technically really isn't an alternate route anymore given it doesn't connect back to an 89 (AZ or US) in Flagstaff.  It probably would have made more sense to give 89A a new number when it was downgraded to a state highway....

I seem to recall that ADOT was going to give it a regular number, but apparently some residents of Sedona complained it would ruin the "numerology" of the area.

Really it ought have gotten AZ 79 back and the current route should have been AZ x80 something. 

[Sonic99]

... The weird thing is that I don't think it really matters if AZ 89A connects to it's parent anymore since it technically really isn't an alternate route anymore given it doesn't connect back to an 89 (AZ or US) in Flagstaff.  It probably would have made more sense to give 89A a new number when it was downgraded to a state highway....

I seem to recall that ADOT was going to give it a regular number, but apparently some residents of Sedona complained it would ruin the "numerology" of the area.

Sedona people complaining? Never... 

[Max Rockatansky]

... The weird thing is that I don't think it really matters if AZ 89A connects to it's parent anymore since it technically really isn't an alternate route anymore given it doesn't connect back to an 89 (AZ or US) in Flagstaff.  It probably would have made more sense to give 89A a new number when it was downgraded to a state highway....

I seem to recall that ADOT was going to give it a regular number, but apparently some residents of Sedona complained it would ruin the "numerology" of the area.

Sedona people complaining? Never... 

Just make sure if you have a truck that you don't enter the city limit with an uncovered load...they'll make you sorry. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Just curious, does anyone know if any of the black 303 signs have survived in the wild since the upgrade to full freeway? Or did they all get replaced by the current spec?

Pretty sure they're all gone. The old two-lane road got completely torn out to make way for the freeway, and when the road went, so went the signs.

Speaking of colored shields, look what I just picked up:



I believe some still survive on side streets in Litchfield Park. I was in the area, on Camelback IIRC, and remember seeing one. I thought it might have been a city installation where they accidentally inverted the colors, I didn't realize L303 was thrown into the color-coding of the loops as well, I thought it was just 101 and 202.