Monument Valley

[AsphaltPlanet]

A few more for from Friday's journey.  Friday I stopped at the Grand Canyon (awesome), and then went east through the Painted Desert following US-89 to US-89A.

Painted desert:


Approaching Lee's Ferry.

[thenetwork]

If you have the chance in the Grand Junction Area, either check out Rim Rock Drive through the Colorado National Monument, or CO-65 over the Grand Mesa to Delta.  The south rim of Black Canyon National Park east of Montrose, CO is another worthwhile place to check out.

[AsphaltPlanet]

Unfortunately I didn't make it to Grand Junction today.  I got sucked into the Moab area and spent almost all day there.  I did jump into the southern end of Colorado, in on Hwy 90 and out along US-491.  Aside from the multitude of deer along Hwy 141, I found it to be a beautiful area.  The climb at Slide Rock is impressive.

Here is my road related highlight from Moab:

[texaskdog]

If you have the chance in the Grand Junction Area, either check out Rim Rock Drive through the Colorado National Monument, or CO-65 over the Grand Mesa to Delta.  The south rim of Black Canyon National Park east of Montrose, CO is another worthwhile place to check out.

Definitely, and it wont delay you much at all since it is a loop!

[AsphaltPlanet]

A few more photos, this time from my last day in Phoenix:

Loop 101 approaching the Loop 202 interchange:


Loop 202 approaching the Loop 101 interchange (same one as above, but different vantage point):


Some button copy remains in Phoenix, but after having a look at what was there last year on AlpsRoads, a lot has been removed:


A bonus shot, not in Phoenix, taken yesterday of the Moki Dugway.  The Dugway is actually a fairly tame mountain road.  Because it is gravel and the switchbacks are so sharp, the Dugway necessitates driving at a pretty slow speed making it an easy climb or descent.  It's neat for what it is though.


I took many more photos on this trip.  I'll likely add a few more to my website over the coming weeks or months until I find my next adventure to populate my camera's memory stick with.

[swbrotha100]

A few more photos, this time from my last day in Phoenix:

Loop 101 approaching the Loop 202 interchange:


Loop 202 approaching the Loop 101 interchange (same one as above, but different vantage point):


Some button copy remains in Phoenix, but after having a look at what was there last year on AlpsRoads, a lot has been removed:


A bonus shot, not in Phoenix, taken yesterday of the Moki Dugway.  The Dugway is actually a fairly tame mountain road.  Because it is gravel and the switchbacks are so sharp, the Dugway necessitates driving at a pretty slow speed making it an easy climb or descent.  It's neat for what it is though.


I took many more photos on this trip.  I'll likely add a few more to my website over the coming weeks or months until I find my next adventure to populate my camera's memory stick with.

Between signing projects, road widening projects and HOV lane projects, a good chunk of the button copy signs have been wiped out in the Phoenix area. That faded Loop 202 shield is a reminder of why ADOT got rid of most of the older colored shields. The only colored Loop 202 shields left can been seen going southbound on Loop 101 (Pima Freeway) from Thomas Rd to Loop 202, and on the ramp to go to Loop 202 EB or WB. I believe there's another one left going from SB AZ 51 to where it meets I-10 and Loop 202 near downtown Phoenix.

[AsphaltPlanet]

Was there any rhyme or reason as to why a green vs. red 202 marker was used?  Based on the name, it would make sense if the Red Mountain Freeway section of 202 was signed with red shields.  That would leave green for the Santan Freeway, but there doesn't seem to be a pattern.

[corco]

Ha, actually- the color for 202 was brown- but I still don't know the answer- I guess brown is a little bit closer to red than green.

[AsphaltPlanet]

It's a red brown.

[corco]

Oh I think I see what you're saying. Yeah, that "green" shield was brown but has faded- I'm guessing it faces north? (this is why AZ stopped using colored shields- the sun destroys them)

[AsphaltPlanet]

I am not an expert, but I don't think the green shield started out brown.  It seems unlikely to me that the shield would have faded that much (and so consistently), while the green sign backboard would have stayed so vibrant.

[corco]

Brown sheeting fades quickly- that's a large part of why Idaho moved away from brown as their scenic shield color.

3)      The Brown inks and sheeting fade faster than the colors of the standard shields, requiring more frequent replacement.

I'll try to find some other shots of brown signs in Arizona that face the sun- there's some that look similarly awful but I'm not sure when/if I took pictures of them.

There are various brown signs for scenic attractions off I-19 that come to mind as being bad too

[AsphaltPlanet]

Yeah, I went back and looked at my full resolution photo and did notice a little bit vignette of brownish hue around the edges of the sign.

[The High Plains Traveler]

Oh I think I see what you're saying. Yeah, that "green" shield was brown but has faded- I'm guessing it faces north? (this is why AZ stopped using colored shields- the sun destroys them)

My guess would be south. North-facing objects in this hemisphere don't get that much direct sun. South-facing New Mexico route markers start looking like New Jersey's pretty quickly.

[corco]

My guess would be south. North-facing objects in this hemisphere don't get that much direct sun. South-facing New Mexico route markers start looking like New Jersey's pretty quickly.

Good call, that's what I meant- you see the sign if you're driving northbound...got em mixed up.

[swbrotha100]

I think the color schemes for the loops were based on what happened to be built first. Loop 101's first section was the Agua Fria Freeway, so blue shields were used. Loop 202's first section was the Red Mountain Freeway. At one point, almost all of Loop 101 had colored shields. The colored Loop 202 shields only made it from downtown Phoenix to Country Club Drive in Mesa.

[thenetwork]

Brown sheeting fades quickly- that's a large part of why Idaho moved away from brown as their scenic shield color.

3)      The Brown inks and sheeting fade faster than the colors of the standard shields, requiring more frequent replacement.

I'll try to find some other shots of brown signs in Arizona that face the sun- there's some that look similarly awful but I'm not sure when/if I took pictures of them.

There are various brown signs for scenic attractions off I-19 that come to mind as being bad too

Based on some green sheeting on signs in the desert highway areas of Colorado & Utah, when the weather starts cracking them, the signs go from a normal green, to darker green to almost black.

I want to say that the 202 shields were green from the start. The 202 shields may have been brown on day one, but my guess is that because of the tendency to quickly lose it's brown color due to fading from the sun, they were replaced by newer green 202 shields which would hold their color.

I would think a brown sign would just fade into white before it would turn green.

[mapman1071]

Loop 101 - Blue
Loop 202 - Brown
Loop 303 - Black

[hm insulators]

Loop 101 - Blue
Loop 202 - Brown
Loop 303 - Black

Although the colored shields have almost vanished and ADOT is using the plain old white state highway signs.

[Alps]

The 202 shields may have been brown on day one, but my guess is that because of the tendency to quickly lose it's brown color due to fading from the sun, they were replaced by newer green 202 shields which would hold their color.

Still no. Only brown ones have ever been created.

[Sonic99]

I am not an expert, but I don't think the green shield started out brown.  It seems unlikely to me that the shield would have faded that much (and so consistently), while the green sign backboard would have stayed so vibrant.

I can confirm that the "green" 202 sign was originally brown. That is possibly the oldest section of the Loop 101 and was originally only a couple miles long (Southern to University). That section opened to the 202 in around 1993, and is indeed facing south. The other brown 202 shields that you posted all face north and don't suffer from the sun fading.

[agentsteel53]

around the Phoenix area, there is a continuum of shield colors between light brown (badly faded) and green (beyond badly faded), documenting the advanced stages of their decomposition.

[J N Winkler]

around the Phoenix area, there is a continuum of shield colors between light brown (badly faded) and green (beyond badly faded), documenting the advanced stages of their decomposition.

Phoenix (and southern Arizona more generally):  the Body Farm for screen-process signs.

[agentsteel53]

Phoenix (and southern Arizona more generally):  the Body Farm for screen-process signs.

I've always wondered why Arizona has the signs fade a lot more.  New Mexico, California, and Texas also have areas of similar climate, but it seems to always be Arizona that fares the worst.

[andy3175]

I am no expert on the topic of why signs fade, but I suspect that sign fading is directly proportional to the amount of sunlight received in the area. Based on a map I found at http://thephoenixsun.com/about, I believe that most of the Southwest (which has the most sunny days as compared to other regions of the U.S.) tend to have more faded signs. So places without an aggressive sign replacement program will have signs that fade, such as the Loop 202 sign referenced above, in a timeframe that I think is shorter than seen in other parts of the country. Perhaps others on the forum have some technical knowledge to share on why signs (especially retroreflective signs) tend to fade. Already, some reflective signs placed in 2003 along I-5 in San Diego have started to fade, especially those signs along the northbound direction.

Regards,
Andy