Adventures in Utah signage

[CL]

It's typical of UDOT to fix something that isn't broken. Hence no button-copy, and hence those asinine I-15 shields. The good thing is these are limited to a ten-mile stretch of I-15 (from I-70 to around Manderfield).

[CL]

1962.

[agentsteel53]

wow!!

glad the beehive won out.  and glad they tightened up the shape a bit.

the Giant Letter U just doesn't look right in its reworked form.

good to know that 1962 is when they were thinking about switching.  I had guessed 1961 because that is when the feds mandated the black-square style.

[national highway 1]

I quite like the UT state outline 118 though... but the beehive is still better...

[CL]

That above beehive is hideous. But yes, they did clean it up:



This was taken in 1964. So, between 1962 and 1964 it was decided that the beehive was going to be the new state highway symbol. Check out that funky font on the SR-279 shield.



Now I can say with complete confidence that I-415 was a signed route, through and through. It only lasted two years on a three-mile stretch of route (if that), but it was there. I posted an I-415 sign before, but the caveat for that photo was that the junction for that road wasn't even built yet.



Welcome to 1958. Land of no interstates. This just looks so typically '50s to me, including the overhead signage. They just have that vintage look to them.



For kicks, Utah's experimentation in reflectorized signage. Note the mixed-case series C. That, too, was an experiment.

[agentsteel53]

That above beehive is hideous. But yes, they did clean it up:

[UT-279]

This was taken in 1964. So, between 1962 and 1964 it was decided that the beehive was going to be the new state highway symbol. Check out that funky font on the SR-279 shield.

neato custom font!  I don't believe I had seen the Utah font in Series B before.

[415]

Now I can say with complete confidence that I-415 was a signed route, through and through. It only lasted two years on a three-mile stretch of route (if that), but it was there. I posted an I-415 sign before, but the caveat for that photo was that the junction for that road wasn't even built yet.

except the sign had not yet been installed in that photo  maybe, as the winch was being hoisted, the override work order came in, to say "nah, forget it, guys, just the leftmost two signs, please!"

[outline shields]

Welcome to 1958. Land of no interstates. This just looks so typically '50s to me, including the overhead signage. They just have that vintage look to them.

wow, great to see Utah using that standard shield element.  that is a button copy style developed by AGA around 1957, as far as I can tell, and I've tracked about 10 states - make that 11 - that used it.  California was huge into it, and Colorado comes to mind as well.

also note the JUNCTION banner in the distance on the right - with no shields underneath.  Perhaps they had just taken those shields down, to install this new overhead gantry?

For kicks, Utah's experimentation in reflectorized signage. Note the mixed-case series C. That, too, was an experiment.

I believe that, while the uppercase letters are CM, the lowercase are DM or EM.  also, nice 80N shield with the wide state name.  the shield I had in my hands the other day had the narrow state name; Michael Summa believes it is a contractor sign, installed when a new segment of road opened.

[Interstate Trav]

did the ALT designation extend to 91, or was it just 89?

Yep, the State Street/North Temple routing was both 89 Alternate and 91 Alternate.

EDIT: Interstate Trav, I found a photo that confirms that Los Angeles was a control city on I-15 (though I'm still not sure if that was ever the case for US-91). In Salt Lake, no less!

Thank You!!  I just noticed.  It's interesting that Los Angeles is signed that far away.  Alos interestin that it says Provo and Los Angeles with no mention of Las Vegas.
I wonder if it was the same for US 91.  I appreciate you telling me about it.  Thank You. 

[CL]

[415]

Now I can say with complete confidence that I-415 was a signed route, through and through. It only lasted two years on a three-mile stretch of route (if that), but it was there. I posted an I-415 sign before, but the caveat for that photo was that the junction for that road wasn't even built yet.

except the sign had not yet been installed in that photo   maybe, as the winch was being hoisted, the override work order came in, to say "nah, forget it, guys, just the leftmost two signs, please!"

Jake, leave it to you to ruin my momentous discovery of a sign that basically makes life just that much better. Only you.

[outline shields]

Welcome to 1958. Land of no interstates. This just looks so typically '50s to me, including the overhead signage. They just have that vintage look to them.

wow, great to see Utah using that standard shield element.  that is a button copy style developed by AGA around 1957, as far as I can tell, and I've tracked about 10 states - make that 11 - that used it.  California was huge into it, and Colorado comes to mind as well.

also note the JUNCTION banner in the distance on the right - with no shields underneath.  Perhaps they had just taken those shields down, to install this new overhead gantry?

Yep, if you look at the largest zoom level you'll be able to spot some '48-spec shields for the junction. It's not very clear in the photo, but they're there.

[Mergingtraffic]

I'm surprised they are letting traffic go through while they fix the signs overhead.
Also, Utah seems proactive in widening their interstates.  How many lanes is I-15 now in Salt Lake?   When was it widened?

[NE2]

I-15 was widened in preparation for the 2002 Olympics.

[CL]

Few new ones:



Taken just after this stretch of I-80 opened on 23 December 1966.




This sign reveals early UDOT signing practices. Notice the outline US-89/91 shields. There was another photo in the archives (though it was horrendously blurry) with a block U state highway shield on a BGS (for the present day Warm Springs Rd/2300 North exit, which used to be SR-249).




This stretch of I-15 opened in 1960, one of the few years we had with '57-spec interstate shields and '48-spec U.S. highway shields in service simultaneously.




UDOT has been known to sign the I-80/US-189 concurrency before, though it's probably been more than forty years.




Miniscule shields for the US-40/US-50A sharing-of-pavement between Lake Point Jct and West Wendover. Note that for the US-50A shield, "ALT" is where the usual state name of "UTAH" should be.




So I found this picture laying around, and I thought it would be good to identify what roadway this is. Hollywood, sometime in the early or mid-1960s.

[CL]

A few shields that I like (and dislike), plus three photos from 1983.



Three-digit shields for I-215 have been used exclusively since the '90s, but the shields fluctuate between series C and D. Obviously, when D is used the numbers are tightly kerned. Too much so, if you ask me.




I'm making the case for this style of shield again. Don't they look so much better than the ones below?




Those just look dowdy.




By 1983, we've seen the demise of US-40, US-40A, and US-50A from Salt Lake City. SR-201 lies in their wakes.




So, this is confirmation that state-named shields were phased out between 1976 and 1983. It'd be nice to get an exact year but I don't think I'll be discovering that soon.




I believe this is the present-day I-15/US-50 junction in Scipio. A stretch of freeway had just opened south of Nephi, and I believe this is the northern temporary end of that section of I-15.

[texaskdog]

I-15 is 80 MPH around Parowan.  We only got to drive a few miles of it.  When was the speed limit raised in Utah and how far up is it still 80 MPH?

[Ian]

I don't know. I like the Utah shields with the white outer margin. The outline around the beehive can go though.

[Central Avenue]

I don't have a preference one way or the other for the outer border, but the border around the beehive just makes the design feel unnecessarily busy/cluttered to me.

[agentsteel53]

So, this is confirmation that state-named shields were phased out between 1976 and 1983. It'd be nice to get an exact year but I don't think I'll be discovering that soon.

my guess is 1978 or shortly thereafter.  a lot of states got rid of state-named shields then, because the MUTCD of 1978 banned the state-named shield.

that said, wasn't I-70 across San Rafael Swell opened in 1986?  there were some state-named shields there in 1998, including one '57-spec at the Fish Lake exit which survived until 2007, and one in Salina ('70 spec) that was the last state-named shield anyone knows of, vanishing sometime in 2008.

also, if you could please get a photo - no matter how godawful - of the Big Letter U on the green sign for us, that would be excellent.  the 36" UTAH/US cutout is something else.  Oregon, California and North Carolina are other states which I know did such a thing, and I am sure there are more which I do not know about.

[Brandon]

I like the newer beehives, but they should be cutouts with a border like that.

[Brandon]

So, this is confirmation that state-named shields were phased out between 1976 and 1983. It'd be nice to get an exact year but I don't think I'll be discovering that soon.

my guess is 1978 or shortly thereafter.  a lot of states got rid of state-named shields then, because the MUTCD of 1978 banned the state-named shield.

that said, wasn't I-70 across San Rafael Swell opened in 1986?  there were some state-named shields there in 1998, including one '57-spec at the Fish Lake exit which survived until 2007, and one in Salina ('70 spec) that was the last state-named shield anyone knows of, vanishing sometime in 2008.

also, if you could please get a photo - no matter how godawful - of the Big Letter U on the green sign for us, that would be excellent.  the 36" UTAH/US cutout is something else.  Oregon, California and North Carolina are other states which I know did such a thing, and I am sure there are more which I do not know about.

I-70 was two lanes across the San Rafael Swell by 1984.  I took it back then from US-89 to Moab.

[CL]

I like the newer beehives, but they should be cutouts with a border like that.

Actually, the SR-68 and SR-266 shield designs (which first appeared in 2008) are newer than the SR-65/SR-175 design (which first appeared in 2000 or so). Although the former might look pretty close to what we've been using from the 1980s to about ten years ago, there are differences which ultimately make this the better shield over every other design (in my high and mighty opinion, of course).

Appearances aside (though I really think the white outline around the beehive is idiosyncratic and tacky), what I really like about the design that I choose to advocate is how series D numerals are used always. With the outline design, the numerals are more narrow with a three-digit shield than with a two-digit... so why have a three-digit design in the first place?

So, this is confirmation that state-named shields were phased out between 1976 and 1983. It'd be nice to get an exact year but I don't think I'll be discovering that soon.

my guess is 1978 or shortly thereafter.  a lot of states got rid of state-named shields then, because the MUTCD of 1978 banned the state-named shield.

that said, wasn't I-70 across San Rafael Swell opened in 1986?  there were some state-named shields there in 1998, including one '57-spec at the Fish Lake exit which survived until 2007, and one in Salina ('70 spec) that was the last state-named shield anyone knows of, vanishing sometime in 2008.

also, if you could please get a photo - no matter how godawful - of the Big Letter U on the green sign for us, that would be excellent.  the 36" UTAH/US cutout is something else.  Oregon, California and North Carolina are other states which I know did such a thing, and I am sure there are more which I do not know about.

I-70 was two lanes across the San Rafael Swell by 1984.  I took it back then from US-89 to Moab.

Here's a photo just east of the San Rafael Swell in 1971.



Two lanes in total. Really, all this confirms is that the freeway was open at Fremont Junction in 1971, but it's definitely possible that it was open through the swell at that time as well (or perhaps a portion of it).

So, this is confirmation that state-named shields were phased out between 1976 and 1983. It'd be nice to get an exact year but I don't think I'll be discovering that soon.

my guess is 1978 or shortly thereafter.  a lot of states got rid of state-named shields then, because the MUTCD of 1978 banned the state-named shield.

that said, wasn't I-70 across San Rafael Swell opened in 1986?  there were some state-named shields there in 1998, including one '57-spec at the Fish Lake exit which survived until 2007, and one in Salina ('70 spec) that was the last state-named shield anyone knows of, vanishing sometime in 2008.

also, if you could please get a photo - no matter how godawful - of the Big Letter U on the green sign for us, that would be excellent.  the 36" UTAH/US cutout is something else.  Oregon, California and North Carolina are other states which I know did such a thing, and I am sure there are more which I do not know about.

Here's that photo. I-15 at the US-89/US-91 junction north of Salt Lake City.

[CL]

Old US-40 between Wendover and Knolls. There is a stretch between mile 2 and mile 12 (thereabout) that is in horrendous shape; the road is so bumpy that travel over 15 mph is prohibitive. Other than that, the rest of old roadway is in passable condition. I went twice the pre-1995 speed limit without any problem (hope that was euphemistic enough).




A little further east. Notice that the older white striping has proved itself more durable than the newer yellow lines! I surmise that the forsaken yellow striping was only applied once, after I-80 opened.




At the end of the Wendover-Knolls section of old US-40. I wouldn't be surprised if the arrow for Wendover once pointed left, before I-80 was completed through the area.




These signs are scattered on I-80 between Tooele and Wendover, for good reason.




Utah has changed its exit tabs two times in eight years. This is the post-2011 style. I used to dislike it, but I like the polished, rounded appearance of the sign as a whole.




The 2003-2011 style. Wouldn't be surprised if this sticks around for a few more future installations before completely dying out.




The 1970s-2003 style. Also note the Utah-spec sign for the first Nevada exit on westbound I-80.




I introduce to the ladies and gentlemen of this forum (well, gentlemen) a third variant of the state highway shield of Utah. It looks mighty similar to the outline SR-175 shield posted above, one may think, but it's different. Look at the humps of the beehive, as well as the opening of the beehive at the bottom and - of course - the series D numerals.

[Rover_0]

(SNIP)
I introduce to the ladies and gentlemen of this forum (well, gentlemen) a third variant of the state highway shield of Utah. It looks mighty similar to the outline SR-175 shield posted above, one may think, but it's different. Look at the humps of the beehive, as well as the opening of the beehive at the bottom and - of course - the series D numerals.

You know, I think I like that one--enough room for Series D numerals, simple, and keeps the white beehive outline. It sounds like the UDOT folks are listening to your requests. By the way, have they said anything to you about the beehive design?

I know I'm in the minority, but I like the beehive outline; without it, the signs look a little too plain. But a happy medium can be reached, and the outer border can be used instead. Here's a comparison:

[nexus73]

I like the 201 sign the best.  The outlining sharpens up the design so well!

Rick

[CL]

(SNIP)
I introduce to the ladies and gentlemen of this forum (well, gentlemen) a third variant of the state highway shield of Utah. It looks mighty similar to the outline SR-175 shield posted above, one may think, but it's different. Look at the humps of the beehive, as well as the opening of the beehive at the bottom and - of course - the series D numerals.

You know, I think I like that one--enough room for Series D numerals, simple, and keeps the white beehive outline. It sounds like the UDOT folks are listening to your requests. By the way, have they said anything to you about the beehive design?

I know I'm in the minority, but I like the beehive outline; without it, the signs look a little too plain. But a happy medium can be reached, and the outer border can be used instead. Here's a comparison:

[two state highway shields]

I honestly wouldn't mind if this newest design (the SR-201 shield above) was used. You're right: it's an excellent compromise between the early 2000s-spec dowdy outline shield and the 2008/2009-spec non-outline shield. I'd still rather have the latter, but the compromise 2011-spec design is growing on me more and more. I love that the compromise design doesn't have a square border around the perimeter of the shield, which to me is just unnecessary. For what it's worth, I spotted a second shield of this new design in American Fork (at the new 500 East diverging diamond interchange).

Here's a comparison of all three, side-by-side:



The first image is the early 2000s-spec one that I so dislike. The second is the 2008/9-spec one. The third is the newest, "compromise" design.

[Quillz]

I'd need a better shot of the third design, but I think of those three, I like the first one the best. Although the third one is quite nice, too. I think Series C would be the way to go, though. (As opposed to Series D.)

[CL]

I'll try to get a better photo of the new design this week. Incidentally, while driving this weekend I saw three construction projects that had just last week installed the compromise design: a DDI in Utah County (SR-180 at I-15), State Street/US-89 in Salt Lake (at SR-171), and a CFI at Bangerter Highway. While I'm not jumping to conclusions, it seems that UDOT may have finally shown some resolve in fixing the copious state highway shield variants floating around. It's just rare to have three separate projects in separate metropolitan areas use the same state highway shield; usually, someone varies in one way or another. So, we'll see. If my guess is correct, this is the first time UDOT and associated contractors have been using one consistent design in ten years.