The Best of Road Signs

[formulanone]

I nominate this oddity in Mentone, Texas:



1) unexpected re-use of button copy
2) it says "BRINE"
3) it's in the only town in the least-populated county in America
4) brine!

[freebrickproductions]

Here's a button-copy I-85 shield I found in Atlanta, GA:
Button-copy I-85 Sheild by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
Not sure if it was known about before, and it appears to be from before Georgia dropped the state-name for a while.

[Revive 755]

A Canadian symbolic version of 'trucks entering roadway'?  https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4918508,-117.2846983,3a,28y,132.67h,81.73t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxMidX1xkH-9uFlO-jRKC4A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

[SignGeek101]

A Canadian symbolic version of 'trucks entering roadway'?  https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4918508,-117.2846983,3a,28y,132.67h,81.73t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxMidX1xkH-9uFlO-jRKC4A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Standard across the country. Here it is in the driver's ed book from the MTO: http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/driver/handbook/section3.1.3.shtml

[tckma]

A Canadian symbolic version of 'trucks entering roadway'?  https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4918508,-117.2846983,3a,28y,132.67h,81.73t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxMidX1xkH-9uFlO-jRKC4A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

I wish I had taken a picture of it then, but this was in an age before cell phones were ubiquitous.  I remember when I was in grad school, a road construction crew put up a sign near campus that said "TRUCKS ENTERING AHEAD," but the spaces between letters was inconsistent.  A few days after the sign went up, it had been graffiti'd with a drawing of a giant face with open mouth into which a truck was driving.  Trucks entering a head.

This was in Boston along Comm Ave somewhere near Kenmore Square.

[cl94]

I found these beauties in West Pawlet, VT today a stone's throw from the New York border. These are OLD.

[tckma]

I found these beauties in West Pawlet, VT today a stone's throw from the New York border. These are OLD.

You sure that was Vermont?  That green sign looks suspiciously like a NYS Reference Marker.

[cl94]

I found these beauties in West Pawlet, VT today a stone's throw from the New York border. These are OLD.

You sure that was Vermont?  That green sign looks suspiciously like a NYS Reference Marker.

Vermont uses similar reference markers, except they restart at town lines and the first row always has 4 digits, even if the leading ones are zeroes (in this case, 0153, indicating that it's a town-maintained state route). I'm damn sure that's the Vermont side of the line because I was standing about 100 feet east of the boundary marker when I took it.

[Mapmikey]

I found these beauties in West Pawlet, VT today a stone's throw from the New York border. These are OLD.

really nice...check out what was still posted at the 153-315 jct as late as 2008:  https://goo.gl/maps/pFQuY5PKtSS2

There are shields like this on all three roads approaching this intersection...

Then there is this odd vermont marker where it leaves NY: https://goo.gl/maps/Tn5h5FME4L12

[cl94]

Yeah, wish those 153-315 shields were still there. I remember them from when I was little. Quite neat being able to see all three series of Vermont SR shields on the roads at once. Was hoping to see them on Tuesday, but VTrans did a huge replacement. All signs in Rupert are relatively new. The state line sign is gone as well.

[vdeane]

So how do you tell the difference, via reference marker, verses town-maintained VT 153 and VT 15C (since the last number is the suffix for the state-maintained routes)?

[cl94]

County and town code on the second line. That and VT 15C doesn't exist. I can't confirm this immediately, but it doesn't appear that many (if any) numbers that would conflict in this way exist.

[vdeane]

They don't; Vermont doesn't have many suffixes.  Still, I would have designed the system to be more reversible and not have that issue.  As it is now, "route" can mean two different things, and it's up to looking at another data piece to determine which is which (and even THAT relies on VT not numbering routes that the ambiguity could exist within a single town).

[cl94]

Does Vermont even need to worry about that? They'll never come close to running out and, even as it is, they have over 700 available 3-digit numbers. Numbers over 140 are generally continuations of a bordering state/provincial route as are a bunch of the suffixes.

[vdeane]

I guess I'm unusual as I like to design systems to be as versatile as possible even if it likely won't ever be needed.  I know I've definitely over-designed spreadsheets and forms before, for example (for example, forms for an effort to update the railroad crossing inventory this past summer were designed to be able to inventory things that don't even exist in the Region, just in case the forms happened to become the standard for all future updates and those devices might exist 50 years from now).  I guess I'm just an overachiever.

[Mergingtraffic]

Too long without a post here.
Ancient signage along MA-71. STILL there! by mergingtraffic, on Flickr

[cl94]

I saw a few of those MA 71 signs last weekend, but it was too dark to safely take a good picture. Town maintenance does wonders for keeping old signs around.

[Mergingtraffic]

these aren't falling apart, but they seem to be the canonical example of "what's wrong with California" or "what is awesome about California", depending on your perspective.

Where is the first sign's location?
Also, looks like the 2nd gantry was taken down according to GSV.

[AsphaltPlanet]

^ The first sign is (was?) situated right at the I-10/SR-60 junction in Beaumont.

edit - now that I have double checked street view, I am pretty sure I am wrong about that.  I always thought that this sign was in Beaumont... I have some pics from this interchange that I took back in 2010, which I will look at to see if I can place it when I get home tonight.

[Mapmikey]

^ The first sign is (was?) situated right at the I-10/SR-60 junction in Beaumont.

edit - now that I have double checked street view, I am pretty sure I am wrong about that.  I always thought that this sign was in Beaumont... I have some pics from this interchange that I took back in 2010, which I will look at to see if I can place it when I get home tonight.

The 2nd sign is still at the I-10/CA 60 split, though the arrows have now also been greened out to use straight arrows...

https://goo.gl/maps/3ipJpGz1Qv22

[jeffe]

Not exactly on topic, although I guess it could still be considered a "sign", but does anyone know what is up with the three paper arrows taped to the base of the overhead sign?

I've seen these other places, usually placed on three consecutive gore points -- the first having two down arrows and one pointing to the exit; the second with one down arrow and two pointing toward the exit; and finally the third with all arrows pointing to the exit as in the image above.

It seems to be indicating which exit to take, but anyone know who they are directing and who would put them up?

[empirestate]

Not exactly on topic, although I guess it could still be considered a "sign", but does anyone know what is up with the three paper arrows taped to the base of the overhead sign?

I've seen these other places, usually placed on three consecutive gore points -- the first having two down arrows and one pointing to the exit; the second with one down arrow and two pointing toward the exit; and finally the third with all arrows pointing to the exit as in the image above.

It seems to be indicating which exit to take, but anyone know who they are directing and who would put them up?

Could it be film/TV production companies giving directions to a shoot location? Those signs are typically a standardized black-on-yellow, but maybe for freeway exits they use something less obtrusive? Or another specialized industry, perhaps?

[hbelkins]

^^^

Also used by traveling carnival groups to direct the trucks carrying the midway rides and games to their appropriate destination.

[jeffandnicole]

Temporary arrows like that are used by numerous non-profit groups as well.  Bike runs, Walks, etc.  Could've been an charity organization that told the drivers to follow the 3 white-on-black arrows to their destination.

[jakeroot]

It could literally be anything. Trying to guess is completely ridiculous. No one knows, and I don't think anyone will ever know.

Also used by traveling carnival groups to direct the trucks carrying the midway rides and games to their appropriate destination.

I think I know what you mean by this.