States Ranked by Signage Quality

[RobbieL2415]

NYS is good in rural areas, bad in urban areas.  And really, NYC should be considered a state for the purposes of this list since it takes care of all signage within the city.

[Rothman]

NYS is good in rural areas, bad in urban areas.  And really, NYC should be considered a state for the purposes of this list since it takes care of all signage within the city.

No.

[Ned Weasel]

Missouri (points lost due to bad maintenance)

Maintenance of signs or maintenance of roads ??

Signs. Some are so decrepit they're barely legible.

[kphoger]

Missouri (points lost due to bad maintenance)

Maintenance of signs or maintenance of roads ??

Signs. Some are so decrepit they're barely legible.

Got some examples?  I've driven extensively in Missouri and I struggle to think of any.

[ilpt4u]

Missouri (points lost due to bad maintenance)

Maintenance of signs or maintenance of roads ??

Signs. Some are so decrepit they're barely legible.

Got some examples?  I've driven extensively in Missouri and I struggle to think of any.

I haven't noticed any issues in the Eastern half of the state. Granted I don't drive a lot in MO, but STL Metro area is good.

AotS could be signed, maybe as supplamental signage, at the 70/64/40/61 Interchange in Wentzville. Otherwise AotS signage is fine

I-55 and I-57 are both fine

Issues further west, perhaps?

*EDIT*

I take it back. Not signing the Inbound/eastbound I-70 Express Lanes as an Early Exit for I-44/I-55 and making perfectly clear there is no access to the Stan Musial/I-70 nor Poplar St/I-55/I-64 Bridges to IL from the Express Lanes is a STL area poor signing job

Those kinds of things should be signed, especially on the Interstate between the Airport and Downtown/Mississippi River Bridges

[Ned Weasel]

Missouri (points lost due to bad maintenance)

Maintenance of signs or maintenance of roads ??

Signs. Some are so decrepit they're barely legible.

Got some examples?  I've driven extensively in Missouri and I struggle to think of any.

Eastern leg of I-435, and I-35 around Downtown KC.

[kphoger]

Eastern leg of I-435, and I-35 around Downtown KC.

Interesting.  I've driven both in their entirety (35 through downtown somewhat often) and nothing stands out in my mind.  What seems amiss?

[Ned Weasel]

Eastern leg of I-435, and I-35 around Downtown KC.

Interesting.  I've driven both in their entirety (35 through downtown somewhat often) and nothing stands out in my mind.  What seems amiss?

Lettering that you can barely read. I can't tell if it's from graffiti or the letters being worn away. I've heard graffiti has been an issue.

[csw]

Just drove through MO on I-70/I-270 two days ago. Some signs have issues with peeling/fading lettering. I also noticed this on I-55 approaching St. Louis from the south when I went through 2 summers ago. Here's a particularly bad example. https://goo.gl/maps/yB25sL8sWrCaG7bU8

Outside of that issue, I'd say Missouri is pretty good overall. Legible BGSs, fairly consistent fonts, adequate signage for state and county routes, what more do you need?

[kphoger]

adequate signage for ... county routes

??  I've only seen county route pentagons in a select few areas.

[csw]

adequate signage for ... county routes

??  I've only seen county route pentagons in a select few areas.

whatever the lettered routes are, I guess they're state secondaries

[StogieGuy7]

I've seen a number of posts ranking Indiana near the top of the list.  My question: what are you smoking? Indiana has some of the most hideously misaligned BGS' of any state.  And they're not all old, either - many are newer.  Inconsistent fonts, badges in the wrong place, the list goes on.  I'd rank them down toward the bottom.  A couple of minor examples from I-65, though such errors are found on freeways throughout the Hoosier State.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.0215763,-87.2711092,3a,37.5y,206.45h,86.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIAjjmvgI2BBIqNutGhvrRA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9738606,-86.3863186,3a,37.5y,342.17h,92.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1seXiTuEL1Rd1FHecYE8nyJQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

By the way, I'd rank Wisconsin in the very top tier and at least at the same level as Minnesota.  Great signage on freeways, excellent signage on surface roads and the county trunk highway lettering system is helpful on local roads.  WI actually has more updated BGS' than Minnesota does (some of theirs are getting pretty worn).  And they're both top tier in my book because....no clearview!

[csw]

Ok, Wisconsin's unisign-shields alone are enough to disqualify it from top tier status...

I'll be the first to admit Indiana isn't the best, but to call the two examples you gave "hideously misaligned" when the spacing is only off by a few inches is ludicrous. At least provide some better examples. I'm also curious to know how many highways you've traveled in Indiana, because the bulk of signage is adequate, albeit pretty old in places. And inconsistent fonts? I've seen clearview on only a handful of new signs on IN 265...outside of that it's pretty consistent.

Basically, I want to see more evidence before I accept your judgment of Indiana signage.

[jbnv]

I'd say most of the rankings of Louisiana as below average are fair. We can have some really good looking signage--if we wanted to. However, just like with everything else associated with state government, there's a lot of laziness and lack of care for quality.

The Good: I'm disappointed that the state abandoned Clearview, but post-Clearview BGS's actually look pretty good, as long as they don't have some sort of OCD-triggering defect..

The Bad: Inconsistency, especially among state-highway shields. I don't know why we bother with wide shields; you can fit four digits into the state shape easily, and even the extreme case of four digits, Instead, we get wide signs in lots of places we don't need them (I have a picture of a wide LA 75, FPS). Fonts are all over the place, with a lot of ugly series B on 1- and 2-digit shields. Also bad: Insufficient signing of cardinal directions.

The Ugly (literally): A) Peeling signs. You'd think that in the 21st century, we'd know how to make signs that aren't going to fall apart in our harsh summer climate. B) Series B on LGS's. We were starting to get some decent-looking LGS's before Clearview was pulled. The post-Clearview LGS's are generally hideous. (rather fitting that our current failure of a governor put up some of those hideous series B signs at the borders of his home parish.)   

If we took care of the peeling and made all of the shields squares with fonts that made good use of the space, we'd be average if not above average.

[kphoger]

I've seen a number of posts ranking Indiana near the top of the list.  My question: what are you smoking? Indiana has some of the most hideously misaligned BGS' of any state.  And they're not all old, either - many are newer.  Inconsistent fonts, badges in the wrong place, the list goes on.  I'd rank them down toward the bottom.  A couple of minor examples from I-65, though such errors are found on freeways throughout the Hoosier State.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.0215763,-87.2711092,3a,37.5y,206.45h,86.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIAjjmvgI2BBIqNutGhvrRA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9738606,-86.3863186,3a,37.5y,342.17h,92.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1seXiTuEL1Rd1FHecYE8nyJQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

By the way, I'd rank Wisconsin in the very top tier and at least at the same level as Minnesota.  Great signage on freeways, excellent signage on surface roads and the county trunk highway lettering system is helpful on local roads.  WI actually has more updated BGS' than Minnesota does (some of theirs are getting pretty worn).  And they're both top tier in my book because....no clearview!

I think those two examples you linked to aren't all that bad, honestly.  Certainly, other states are known to do worse.

[jbnv]

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.0215763,-87.2711092,3a,37.5y,206.45h,86.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIAjjmvgI2BBIqNutGhvrRA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9738606,-86.3863186,3a,37.5y,342.17h,92.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1seXiTuEL1Rd1FHecYE8nyJQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I think those two examples you linked to aren't all that bad, honestly.  Certainly, other states are known to do worse.

What's the problem with the second one? There's definitely an alignment issue with the first sign, but only those with OCD will fret about it as they pass it at 70mph.

[formulanone]

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.0215763,-87.2711092,3a,37.5y,206.45h,86.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIAjjmvgI2BBIqNutGhvrRA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9738606,-86.3863186,3a,37.5y,342.17h,92.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1seXiTuEL1Rd1FHecYE8nyJQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I think those two examples you linked to aren't all that bad, honestly.  Certainly, other states are known to do worse.

What's the problem with the second one? There's definitely an alignment issue with the first sign, but only those with OCD will fret about it as they pass it at 70mph.

After spending some time in Indiana last week, the BGS' remind me of some of the work seen around Florida about 5-15 years ago: Many little centering/spacing issues, varying font heights from sign-to-sign, but nothing really hideous.

[tolbs17]

Would it be nice if NCDOT started using the square signage rather than the oval signs that are smoother like other states do? I want to know what you're opinions are. I like the square signs better.

[sprjus4]

^ My opinion is that the rounded edge, in conjunction with FHWA font, looks far nicer than the newer square signage, especially in conjunction with Clearview.

[ClassicHasClass]

Always liked the Super-sized BGSes on the Mountain Parkway in Kentucky.

Those were installed in the mid-1970s. A few of them have been replaced, but a few still survive.

Any examples?

[tolbs17]

Btw, NCDOT did have many square signs and they currently phased it out since the early 1980s. Although many can still be seen on older highways, they are being replaced with the ones with rounded edges. Other states still use square...

[ran4sh]

^ My opinion is that the rounded edge, in conjunction with FHWA font, looks far nicer than the newer square signage, especially in conjunction with Clearview.

In NC the signage with square (non-rounded) corners is not new, new signs have rounded corners.

Btw, NCDOT did have many square signs and they currently phased it out since the early 1980s. Although many can still be seen on older highways, they are being replaced with the ones with rounded edges. Other states still use square...

States that make their BGSs with extruded panels don't have the option to round the corners of those signs. This is probably the majority of states. However, some states that use flat panel signs don't bother to round the corners, for example Washington, Alabama, etc

[tolbs17]

North Carolina highway signs in the early 2010s suck imo. I think that was the worst time to see them being used. They looked so cheap and clumsy.

2007-2009 were awesome imo as well as in the 90s and 2000s.

But now they have gotten better in recent years now and I'm impressed.

Examples:

https://goo.gl/maps/k2bzitKhCG1uGvQd9

https://goo.gl/maps/jNjStoUsjxkMYQnKA

[Scott5114]

North Carolina highway signs in the early 2010s suck imo. I think that was the worst time to see them being used. They looked so cheap and clumsy.

I sentence you to five years of living in Oklahoma.

[tolbs17]

North Carolina highway signs in the early 2010s suck imo. I think that was the worst time to see them being used. They looked so cheap and clumsy.

I sentence you to five years of living in Oklahoma.

Ew, ugly!

I would want to visit Oklahoma. I'm eager