Wood-backed signs

[Occidental Tourist]

Anyone aware of jurisdictions that currently use retroreflective sheeting over a plywood backer for highway signs?  I've been traveling up US 191 in Utah this week and have found many (but not all)  signs along the highway that look fairly new that use plywood instead of metal for the backing.  I'd love to know if anyone is aware of whether this is an ongoing practice in Utah and whether any other jurisdictions use wood for sign backing.

[Max Rockatansky]

Wisconsin is big on plywood unisigns.  New Mexico, Arizona and Connecticut used to use them occasionally. 

[tchafe1978]

Wisconsin has been moving away from plywood signs since 2017. There are probably still plenty of them out there, but they're being replaced with aluminum backed signs. Wisconsin will still make unisigns, however.

[US 89]

Anyone aware of jurisdictions that currently use retroreflective sheeting over a plywood backer for highway signs?  I’ve been traveling up US 191 in Utah this week and have found many (but not all)  signs along the highway that look fairly new that use plywood instead of metal for the backing.  I’d love to know if anyone is aware of whether this is an ongoing practice in Utah and whether any other jurisdictions use wood for sign backing.

To be honest wood signs used to be way more common in Utah. As you noticed, there are plenty still out there, though they are gradually being replaced by their metal counterparts. There are even some wood-backed BGSs on I-15 through downtown Salt Lake City that date from a 2001 reconstruction project.

That said, I didn’t think Utah had installed any new wood-backed signs in the last 15 years or so. Do these look newer than that?

[hbelkins]

Ohio has used them, particularly for directional signs at intersections and mileage signs. I remember some wooden signs at the intersection of US 23 and US 20 southeast of Toledo years ago.

Most temporary orange construction signs in Kentucky are plywood.

[Occidental Tourist]

Anyone aware of jurisdictions that currently use retroreflective sheeting over a plywood backer for highway signs?  I've been traveling up US 191 in Utah this week and have found many (but not all)  signs along the highway that look fairly new that use plywood instead of metal for the backing.  I'd love to know if anyone is aware of whether this is an ongoing practice in Utah and whether any other jurisdictions use wood for sign backing.

To be honest wood signs used to be way more common in Utah. As you noticed, there are plenty still out there, though they are gradually being replaced by their metal counterparts. There are even some wood-backed BGSs on I-15 through downtown Salt Lake City that date from a 2001 reconstruction project.

That said, I didn't think Utah had installed any new wood-backed signs in the last 15 years or so. Do these look newer than that?

A couple of signs in Bluff for town distances looked fairly new; newer than some of the sun-crazed and sun-bleached metal signs near Blanding and Monticello.  Near Moab they had signs for upcoming passing lanes that definitely looked new that were on wood backers.  In fact, the wood-backed ones seemed newer (based on appearance and style) than some other metal-backed passing lane signs.


Wood-backed:




Metal-backed:

[US 89]

Hm. Interesting. I am actually heading down that direction in a few weeks so I will have to pay attention a little more closely.

I will say, though, that the wood-backed sign in that photo is actually probably older than the metal one. I think we abandoned that style a while back. If you're still down there, one way to check is to look in the bottom left corner, where signs made after ~2010 will have 2 digits indicating the year the sign was manufactured (though this is rather difficult to see/read at speed).

[Occidental Tourist]

Already moved on, but I'll check it out next summer when I go back.

[renegade]

Lots of wood-backed signs in northern Michigan, particularly in the Upper Peninsula.

[Scott5114]

Lots of wood-backed signs in northern Michigan, particularly in the Upper Peninsula.

I wonder why they're more prevalent up there and in Wisconsin. You'd think the cold, snowy climate and the resulting freeze-thaw cycles would make aluminum a better choice than wood.

[kphoger]

Lots of wood-backed signs in northern Michigan, particularly in the Upper Peninsula.

I wonder why they're more prevalent up there and in Wisconsin. You'd think the cold, snowy climate and the resulting freeze-thaw cycles would make aluminum a better choice than wood.

Same reason wooden houses are common there, I suppose:  lots of trees to make them from.

[Scott5114]

Sure, but the same is not true everywhere–Oklahoma doesn't have a lot of trees but we have a lot of wooden houses. And other forested states like those in the Northwest use aluminum signs.

[hbelkins]

Lots of wood-backed signs in northern Michigan, particularly in the Upper Peninsula.

I wonder why they're more prevalent up there and in Wisconsin. You'd think the cold, snowy climate and the resulting freeze-thaw cycles would make aluminum a better choice than wood.

Two words: Lowest bidder.

(Although with the way lumber prices are these days, I'd be surprised if wood is cheaper than metal.)

[MCRoads]

I got to see a decommissioned Rt 66 sign on plywood. It was polished and stained by the DOT employee who kept it after it was taken down, but still. It's a lot heavier than a metal shield of the same size.