Unique, Odd, or Interesting Signs aka The good, the bad, and the ugly

[kphoger]

Did the culprit think Trebuchet looked a little like Clearview Highway and thus made it good enough to use as a substitute?

That was my first thought:  Trebuchet is the poor man's Clearview.

[JoePCool14]

Does Auburn Hills have a Contact Us form on their website? I think we all need to write them and explain that Trebuchet is actually not an approved font for road signs. Maybe if enough of us write them, they'll realize. As they always say, they can't stop all of us!

Those signs are awful.

[kphoger]

As they always say, they can't stop all of us!

I'm pretty sure they could ignore all of us, though.  Especially considering a large percentage of us don't even live there.

[Scott5114]

The City of Auburn Hills, MI has recently decided to replace most if not all of its signs with Trebuchet MS font. These signs look absolutely terrible!
The links below show only a tiny handful of the enormous amount of signs the city replaced using non-compliant MUTCD signs. Check it out...

I should hate it because it's a default system font (and one made in house by Microsoft, at that), but Trebuchet MS is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. (Mostly because it's the font used by Los Alamitos Race Course for their telecasts, and they were the last track to sign on before I got to go home for the night when I worked in an OTB.)

Those ONLY signs could be mistaken for being in LeHay. Almost.

[Bobby5280]

I don't hate Trebuchet (even if it is a Windows system typeface). I don't think it's an ugly typeface at all. It falls into the "office sans" sub-category of sans-serif typefaces. So does Clearview Highway. ITC Officina Sans is more of the standard-bearer of that style of type. I've used Trebuchet a few times over the years in sign projects. IIRC one of our local hospitals uses Trebuchet on its interior room label signs.

Out of Windows system fonts Arial is another matter. Now that typeface is indeed ugly. It's harsh looking even when the letters are allowed to remain in their normal proportions. When some sign guy applies Arial to type objects in a layout and distorts it that just stinks it up to an even more rotten level. The only nice thing I can say about the current version of Arial bundled in the Windows OS is it has a pretty substantial character set. That's probably because it is such a pervasive default typeface in so many applications. And "Arial" begins with "A" so it's near the top of the font menu. Hardly any scrolling is needed to get to it.

I never ever use Arial by choice in sign project layouts. The only time I will use it is when a customer's branding guidelines specifically require it. Thankfully such cases are very rare.

Oh, I will say that I dislike the versions of Garamond and Franklin Gothic Microsoft bundles into MS Office and Windows too. They suck compared to various alternatives. There is a bunch of different Garamonds out there and the Monotype cut of the one included in Office is my least favorite.

[Mr. Matté]

I saw this in Medford, NJ today. While I don't think it dates back to the 1950s (the side street didn't exist until the 80s) and it's just hilariously faded and unreplaced, I gotta have hope.

[roadman65]

I think this sign refers to the fact that Bordentown, NJ is a major community for Truck Stops.
https://goo.gl/maps/ZHnVoGeR9Apqc8bj6

[kphoger]

I think this sign refers to the fact that Bordentown, NJ is a major community for Truck Stops.
https://goo.gl/maps/ZHnVoGeR9Apqc8bj6

It's directing them to Rising Sun Road, which in turn goes to a bunch of truck stops.

https://goo.gl/maps/T7VL3BXrhAwjCASh8

[roadman65]

I think this sign refers to the fact that Bordentown, NJ is a major community for Truck Stops.
https://goo.gl/maps/ZHnVoGeR9Apqc8bj6

It's directing them to Rising Sun Road, which in turn goes to a bunch of truck stops.

https://goo.gl/maps/T7VL3BXrhAwjCASh8

First time I've ever seen info for trucks stops on a nearby local road.

[kphoger]

Yeah, it's kind of weird.

[JoePCool14]

I think this sign refers to the fact that Bordentown, NJ is a major community for Truck Stops.
https://goo.gl/maps/ZHnVoGeR9Apqc8bj6

Those signs are a bit of a mess there. Lots of random elements, fonts, stretched shields, etc.

[JoePCool14]

This one's a bit redundant. Or unnecessary.



Photo by me at Rickert Drive and US-34 in Naperville, IL.

[Bruce]

A "next truck stop" sign near Cedar City, UT

[plain]

This one's a bit redundant. Or unnecessary.



Photo by me at Rickert Drive and US-34 in Naperville, IL.

I would say unnecessary. The only way I see that sign being justified is if the green arrows are illuminated at the same time the red orbs are (when traffic from US 34 WB have the protected left active) but looking at GSV from a couple years ago, that's not the case.

[kirbykart]

This one's a bit redundant. Or unnecessary.



Photo by me at Rickert Drive and US-34 in Naperville, IL.

Definitely unnecessary. How do you turn right on red if the light isn't red?

[roadman65]

Yeah, it's kind of weird.

I think this sign refers to the fact that Bordentown, NJ is a major community for Truck Stops.
https://goo.gl/maps/ZHnVoGeR9Apqc8bj6

Those signs are a bit of a mess there. Lots of random elements, fonts, stretched shields, etc.

Found out in another thread that the Truck Stops signs are for nearby I-295 being the interchange on that freeway with nearby Rising Sun Road is a half diamond interchange from the south.  Truckers can exit at either Exit 52 A or 52 B on I-295 south. If they choose the latter, they then end up at US 130 at the above location.  This atrocious assembly sends truckers back to Bordentown to patronize the truck stops unreachable from I-295 southbound at Exit 56.

[7/8]

This one's a bit redundant. Or unnecessary.



Photo by me at Rickert Drive and US-34 in Naperville, IL.

There's a similar example in Kitchener, ON at the Highway 7/8 WB off-ramp to Fischer-Hallman Rd. It seems obvious to me that a green arrow overrides a NTOR restriction.

[kphoger]

It might have something to do with the fact that the second lane from the right is also a turn lane, yet it's almost directly facing a "solid ball" signal head.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7591648,-88.1872011,3a,46.2y,335.07h,91.41t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s3rOVv4HluG1yvFyC7FPE8g!2e0!5s20161001T000000!7i13312!8i6656

[roadman65]

https://goo.gl/maps/ixpSfiyXMjcFMqqdA

The diagramical arrow here looks cartoonish and it appears to narrow itself from the base to the head.

[JoePCool14]

https://goo.gl/maps/ixpSfiyXMjcFMqqdA

The diagramical arrow here looks cartoonish and it appears to narrow itself from the base to the head.

If classic NJTP designed a diagrammatic, this would be it.

[1995hoo]

I've never seen this before. Spotted this earlier this afternoon in Portland, Oregon.

[roadman65]

The ALT bean ear fell off the US 301 shield making it appear it's the mainline turning right at this location.
https://goo.gl/maps/59AwknYCS2tgwCNH8

Go back in time to see the banner just barely hanging on.

[kphoger]

The ALT bean ear fell off the US 301 shield making it appear it's the mainline turning right at this location.
https://goo.gl/maps/59AwknYCS2tgwCNH8

Go back in time to see the banner just barely hanging on.

That would be this thread:  Missing signs

[1995hoo]

Seen this afternoon on South Moody Avenue in Portland, Oregon:

[Hunty2022]

Apparently, VDOT thought US 60 was more important than I-64. The design is also bad.