The Best of Road Signs

[Alex]

Was going through St Louis earlier on I-64/US-40 eastbound, and saw this for a gore sign.  I kind of liked it.

I see this as a very confusing sign. I know most of us read it as, "Last Missouri Exit, Exit 40", but a lot of people not familiar with the area could read it as, "Last Missouri Exit...(US-) 40 exit here." 

The assembly would be better off with a standard, but smaller EXIT 40 sign with diagonal arrow and a black on yellow square immediately below it stating "LAST EXIT IN MISSOURI".

When we drove through there in May, the exit gore point sign was missing and all that was left was "40B" in a tab, so that is a new sign.

Secondly, also looking through my photos, there is an overhead sign affixed to a brace holding up the upper deck reading "Last Missouri Exit at 6th Street" with a standard Exit 40 tab. I can post the photo later if someone would like.

[D-Dey65]

Cat-eyed cross buck sign in Severna Park:

I still love those... even without the button-copy.

[Takumi]

Some old signs from Baltimore. I don't think this first one is button copy, but the rest are.

[Dougtone]

New York City was forced to replace all their street signs in the late 70's/early 80's when the feds, MUTCD in hand, demanded they be white on green. Previously, there was a color code by borough.
Bronx = white on blue
Queens = blue on white
Brooklyn = white on black
Manhattan and Staten Island  = black on yellow

Here's one floating around in Queens that I spotted a few years back.



There was a also black on yellow blade sign for Hylan Blvd. that found its way to upstate Prattsville.  The Hylan Blvd. sign appears to have been lost to the floods of Hurricane Irene last year.

[The High Plains Traveler]

New York City was forced to replace all their street signs in the late 70's/early 80's when the feds, MUTCD in hand, demanded they be white on green. Previously, there was a color code by borough.
Bronx = white on blue
Queens = blue on white
Brooklyn = white on black
Manhattan and Staten Island  = black on yellow

Minneapolis continued to use its three different colors of street signs to distinguish, for purposes of snow plowing, street direction or status as snow emergency route. Its main streets were posted white on blue, with non-snow emergency routes posted white on brown or green depending on official direction. They were that way when I left in 2002 and I never heard of any movement to replace with all green.

The street direction became academic by 1990 or so, when the city standardized on an odd or even-side plowing schedule rather than N-S or E-W streets.

[CentralCAroadgeek]

On the topic of button copy, here's one from Tacoma:


And another from Portland:

[The High Plains Traveler]

I just think that it's at best odd, and at worst confusing to the average motorist, to use completely different shields on BGSs from what they use on the route itself.

not only that, but the surface-level signs say FARM ROAD, while the green signs say FM.  I remember my first time driving in Texas - I did not have an instinctive understanding that those two meant the same thing.  I happened to get off at some FM exit to get gas, and saw a FARM ROAD with the same number going off into the distance, so I made the connection by observation, but it was quite a bit longer before I learned that FM meant "farm to market".

I think early in my Texas driving experience I thought FM was an abbreviation for FarM. That did nothing to explain RM at that time, though.

[national highway 1]

On the topic of button copy, here's one from Tacoma:

What's the WA 167 greenout covering?

[Alps]

What's the WA 167 greenout covering?

I'd guess a WA 410, dating it to before 1973.

[Kacie Jane]

What's the WA 167 greenout covering?

I'd guess a WA 410, dating it to before 1973.

I've always wondered that myself, and 410 is the only viable answer.  However, the direction would have to have been changed as well (would have been 410 EAST), and while it might just be too old/dirty to tell, I don't see any evidence of alteration on that part of the sign.

As an aside, I'm reasonably confident that's one of only three button copy signs on I-5 in Washington.

[agentsteel53]

I've always wondered that myself, and 410 is the only viable answer.  However, the direction would have to have been changed as well (would have been 410 EAST), and while it might just be too old/dirty to tell, I don't see any evidence of alteration on that part of the sign.

As an aside, I'm reasonably confident that's one of only three button copy signs on I-5 in Washington.

that is not a button copy sign.  its neighbor is, but the 167 sign looks to be individually demountable reflective Scotchlite tape elements.

I have some pretty good photos of that gantry and even with contrast enhancement in Photoshop, I cannot see any alteration of the direction banner.

I also see no evidence of direction alteration on the next two exit 135 signs, which are immediately up the road - those, too, have patches for 167.

I actually believe the reflective-tape signs are older than button copy.  a friend of mine says that he remembers button copy starting to appear in Washington in the late 1960s.

[Kacie Jane]

that is not a button copy sign.  its neighbor is, but the 167 sign looks to be individually demountable reflective Scotchlite tape elements.

Apologies, I did mean the Portland Ave sign.  Somewhere between looking at the photo and trying to write the post without still looking at the photo, my brain froze and forgot there were two different panels.

[agentsteel53]

Apologies, I did mean the Portland Ave sign.  Somewhere between looking at the photo and trying to write the post without still looking at the photo, my brain froze and forgot there were two different panels.

now I wonder where the other two are.  also, any button copy on I-90?  Whenever I think of Washington button copy, I tend to think of it on city streets and ramps - for example, there's an on-ramp sign for I-5 south in Tacoma, which I don't think counts as being on I-5 even though one can see it from the freeway.

[Kacie Jane]

One is the SB Exit 199 1 mile advance.  I'm not sure about the third, I remember seeing it once a couple years ago, but couldn't re-spot it on any of my trips this past summer.  It was northbound for (IIRC) a weigh station (has a blue background) somewhere around Lacey.

[D-Dey65]

Here's one floating around in Queens that I spotted a few years back.

I saw one myself around the Summer of 2005, took a couple of pictures, and posted them on a few websites.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Old_Queens_Street_Name_Sign%28HHX_from_190th%29.jpg
I don't remember if it's still there now.


Believe it or not, New York has some signs that aren't white on green, but they're all in historic neighborhoods, and they're white on brown. Years ago, I saw street signs on the roads of JFK Airport that were yellow on black.

[Alps]

Believe it or not, New York has some signs that aren't white on green, but they're all in historic neighborhoods, and they're white on brown. Years ago, I saw street signs on the roads of JFK Airport that were yellow on black.

Port Authority does its own roadway signs. They have had different color schemes at each airport. The last I checked, they were considering blue at LGA, green at EWR, and maroon at JFK, but we were having trouble figuring out the maroon specification (it's not in the MUTCD). I think green at JFK would be the alternative. However, until that all takes effect, it is what it is right now.

[bassoon1986]

DSCN1849 by GeoJosh, on Flickr


Not too many of these in Texas. Only 3 Business FM routes according to TxDOT

-- Fixed the url/img code. -rmf67

[formulanone]

Found this Business 75 Loop sign still standing in Cordele, Georgia.

[codyg1985]

DSCN1849 by GeoJosh, on Flickr


Not too many of these in Texas. Only 3 Business FM routes according to TxDOT

-- Fixed the url/img code. -rmf67

What's with the A below the numbers? Is this FM 1960A (or should I say Business 1960A)?

[Alps]

Not too many of these in Texas. Only 3 Business FM routes according to TxDOT

-- Fixed the url/img code. -rmf67

What's with the A below the numbers? Is this FM 1960A (or should I say Business 1960A)?

Texas letters its business routes that way. For example, US 380 has two business routes - G and J, and the letters do appear in the shields.

[agentsteel53]

Found this Business 75 Loop sign still standing in Cordele, Georgia.

awesome!  I never noticed that.  was it on one of the connector roads between I-75 and US-41?

[formulanone]

Found this Business 75 Loop sign still standing in Cordele, Georgia.

awesome!  I never noticed that.  was it on one of the connector roads between I-75 and US-41?

Yes, midway along a non-numbered route.

[CentralCAroadgeek]

I've noticed these somewhat different speed limit signs in Vallejo. Does anyone know what font this is?


In Vancouver...

(I wonder if the blank space on the right used to have a TCH-1 shield)

And, just for the heck of it, Historic US Highway 99:

[national highway 1]

Zia on BGS and 'CR 4kj', Guadalupe County, NM

[Alps]

Zia on BGS and 'CR 4kj', Guadalupe County, NM

Did someone mash the keyboard?