Sign graffiti

[BigMattFromTexas]

I absolutely hate the new Interstate shields they use on the newer signs.

I don't know.  This I-40 shield looks OK compared to the older I-15.  There are some horrid looking 3-digit interstate shields on signs in the field and as agentsteel53 stated, there's a bunch of awful looking triangular 2-digit interstate shields used as reassurance markers in existence too.  I'm hoping there aren't many left as I have started to see some newer 2-digit interstate shields that look like my avatar starting to pop up around California over the last couple of years.

@Agentsteel53: There's nothing wrong with either the older I-15 and the newer I-40 shields on the sign.  The guy I was replying to said he hates the Interstate shields used on the newer signs.

Is that razor wire around the signs?
BigMatt

[agentsteel53]

Is that razor wire around the signs?
BigMatt

it sure is.  It prevents graffiti. 

dunno why it's needed out there.  East LA, perhaps, but ... out there?  Okay, maybe the Barstow Mafia is more powerful than I know.

[BigMattFromTexas]

Is that razor wire around the signs?
BigMatt

it sure is.  It prevents graffiti. 

dunno why it's needed out there.  East LA, perhaps, but ... out there?  Okay, maybe the Barstow Mafia is more powerful than I know.

One time when I was in San Antonio I saw sign for US 87 heading towards San Angelo covered in graffiti...
BigMatt

[Scott5114]

In Oklahoma you don't see too much graffiti on signage. But when you do, they go for the gusto.


This was a gantry on I-35 at Main Street in Norman that had both panels completely covered with the stuff. Rather than replace the signage, ODOT just removed the gantry.

There was another sign for SH-9 going southbound covered with graffiti from at least 1996 until the button copy was done away with south of Oklahoma City in 2003.

[roadfro]

In some areas, Nevada DOT has had problems with graffiti on overhead signs, particularly those mounted to overpasses. One method that NDOT has used in order to combat graffiti on highway guide signs is shown below:

US 95 south at Rainbow Blvd (SR 595) & Summerlin Pkwy in Las Vegas, 2004--signs have since been removed. Photo from RockyMountainRoads.

The angled panels surrounding guide signs on bridges were first implemented during early phases of the US 95 widening project in northwest Las Vegas in the early 2000s. Their use has spread to some other areas of US 95 and I-15 in Vegas, but are mostly on US 95 in the northwest. They've been fairly helpful in deterring would-be taggers.

I'm not sure what NDOT has concluded about this design, as I haven't seen any recent installations. Some newer bridge-mounted signs on US 95 don't have any protection from taggers. For the most part, NDOT seems to favor separate sign bridges instead of mounting guide signs to overpasses in newer designs.

[Ian]

In a lot of places in the northeast, when graffiti gets written on a freeway sign, it stays there. There are signs I have seen with graffiti on them everytime I pass by them on my trips up north. They really should do a better at preventing it. A lot of signs on the freeways in Philadelphia have had graffiti on them since the 1990s!

[Bryant5493]

About a year or so ago, there was graffiti on signage along I-75/85.


Be well,

Bryant

[Riverside Frwy]

Graffiti is proof that the public neither appreciates or deserves nice things.It's sad to see perfectly good signs go to waste by the graffiti.I've seen graffiti all over bridges and signs, and it just makes the freeway look like crap and the Fugly old concrete we use on our freeways doesn't help either.

[WNYroadgeek]

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&ll=42.079138,-76.854429&spn=0,359.996551&z=18&layer=c&cbll=42.079198,-76.854525&panoid=x-QG5U4KBJEfv42jWtUMWg&cbp=12,55.38,,2,-1.09

That's been like that for years. How long does it take to fix, NYSDOT?

[mapman]

Caltrans used to use "collars" (that's what I called them) around the circular poles holding up BGSs, in order to keep graffiti artists from climbing up them.  The collars were simply circular sheets of steel with a hole in them.  Can't find a picture of one, though.... 

[roadfro]

Caltrans used to use "collars" (that's what I called them) around the circular poles holding up BGSs, in order to keep graffiti artists from climbing up them.  The collars were simply circular sheets of steel with a hole in them.  Can't find a picture of one, though....  

Similar to these (on the right pole of this overhead sign bridge)?

US 95 north at Rainbow Blvd (SR 595) in Las Vegas, NV, 2008. Photo from RockyMountainRoads.

NDOT has been using these collars in the Las Vegas area. Generally, they've been implemented primarily in the same areas as I mentioned above with the protective panels on overpass-mounted signs.  The collars are used more often on gantries where the mast pole is located behind a soundwall; they are also used at places that might be easily accessed (such as this photo, where the embankment of an elevated ramp to Summerlin Pkwy is immediately behind the vertical wall) or have been problematic in the past.

Edited to change url for photo. - Alex

[SSOWorld]

Kinda off topic, but nice SPUI.

[okroads]

I've seen a couple cases of sign graffiti in my travels:

Taken 7/8/05 in Pittsburgh:


Taken 10/18/03 in Houston:


Taken 3/17/05 in San Antonio:

[agentsteel53]

is that button copy on the Loop 345 shield??  I just don't remember that from the last time I was there.  Is that EB or WB?

[corco]

Here's some graffiti in Korean on SB SR 99 heading into downtown Seattle

[okroads]

is that button copy on the Loop 345 shield??  I just don't remember that from the last time I was there.  Is that EB or WB?

That sign was on I-10 West.

[Truvelo]

There's a suburb in England near me called Compton and someone sprayed "straight outta" above it. This is named after a song by a South Central LA rap group.

[Duke87]

Local traffic signs lend themselves to graffiti much more than overheads. Examples:

[agentsteel53]

those three are pretty good, especially the first one.  That looks like someone put some effort into it - not like those awful "tags" that take 3 seconds, are completely illegible, and a waste of their time and mine.  (See the scrawling under "I bump you" - that's just moronic.)

[agentsteel53]

two google finds:



this one is well done.



this one is not bad ... and it begs the question: "since when are there gangs in Utah?"  It's Utah!!  Jesus!