collection of Mass. photos from the 1950s

[agentsteel53]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mit-libraries/tags/trafficsigns/

enjoy!

[Alps]

Enjoyed.  From SPUI: "1-28-38-2 must have been from when you could turn left on mass ave from mem drive".  There are definitely some historical lessons to be learned from this about roads in Boston - a lot we don't know (like why is the 2 reversed but not the 28/38?).

[agentsteel53]

Enjoyed.  From SPUI: "1-28-38-2 must have been from when you could turn left on mass ave from mem drive".  There are definitely some historical lessons to be learned from this about roads in Boston - a lot we don't know (like why is the 2 reversed but not the 28/38?).

I had thought that 1/28/38 crossed the Tobin and headed into Somerville that way.  What routing would it take if it went down Mem Drive?  The guide signs for 1/28/38 to downtown Boston imply that 1/28/38 crossed elsewhere than 2, so if 2 took the Harvard Bridge, then what did 1/28/38 take?

as for the shields:

the 28 and 38 are actually an earlier spec (1948 or 1949), while the 2 is an experiment they did around 1952 to see if the black shields reflect better.  The US-1 must also be from that experiment, though they must've given up on it because I've seen a US-5 from 1955 that is the standard colors, and also the state route markers reverted sometime around then too.  Here is the 1955 US-5:

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=MA19550051t200050.jpg&search=5

the really inexplicable thing?  Why did they use the Mass custom font for everything except that run of inverse-striped state shields?? Both before and after; in general they didn't use the MUTCD font until the mid-1970s.

a small aside: that custom font has been around since 1931 or earlier, as these photos are from 1931:

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=MA19300011t200010.jpg&search=1

note the guide sign with the custom fonts - also note the cast aluminum "State Highway Begins Here", which can still be found to this day.

Massachusetts did a lot of weird things.  Here is a font that much resembles the MUTCD 5, on a 1939 shield:

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=MA19390051t200050.jpg&search=5

(I have seen that "5" on a catalog from 1935 that shows some Connecticut guide signs, so it's not like the idea for making a "5" that looked like that came springing anew in 1943 when Highway Gothic was invented, but still interesting to see it in 1939 in field use)

[Alps]

I had thought that 1/28/38 crossed the Tobin and headed into Somerville that way.  What routing would it take if it went down Mem Drive?  The guide signs for 1/28/38 to downtown Boston imply that 1/28/38 crossed elsewhere than 2, so if 2 took the Harvard Bridge, then what did 1/28/38 take?

I know at different times 1 has used the BU and Harvard Bridges.  I believe 28/38 used the Longfellow at one time.  1 followed the Gilmore Bridge over to 99 and used 99 north from there.  That one's easy.  I do not have any idea how 28/38 got into Somerville from Boston, though, if they're on Mem Drive.  That one's new to me.