Erroneous road signs

[jbnv]

Does someone have a list of non-circle states where circle shields have appeared?

Virginia and Maryland can be on this list...

Virginia uses circles for their secondary routes, so I wouldn't actually count them on this list.

[vtk]

Does someone have a list of non-circle states where circle shields have appeared?

Probably all of them.

[Mapmikey]

Does someone have a list of non-circle states where circle shields have appeared?

Virginia and Maryland can be on this list...

Virginia uses circles for their secondary routes, so I wouldn't actually count them on this list.

Virginia has had error primary route circle shields (also has had Massachusetts-style square errors and interstate business state route errors too)

[SidS1045]

New Hampshire seems to have a lot of squares:

Squares!

Before NH used the silhouette of the Old Man of the Mountain on their route shields, their standard shield was a plain square, much the same as the Massachusetts and Maine shields (and with the same inconsistency as to the appearance of the outline around the outside).

Circles show up for NH routes in Vermont near the state line, but Vermont used to be a circle state (I guess they still kind of are, with the inconsistency of route marker replacements):

Circles!

Vermont still uses circles for locally-maintained state routes, and prior to 1995 circles were used for all state roads.  Starting in 1995, VT state-maintained routes use the green shield with the legend "Vermont" above the route number.  Circle shields remaining on state-maintained state roads are being replaced with the green shield design.  As for NH routes posted in VT, I'm guessing they didn't go to the trouble of either obtaining shields from NH or getting the Old Man design template so they could do proper NH shields themselves.

[jbnv]

Virginia has had error primary route circle shields (also has had Massachusetts-style square errors and interstate business state route errors too)

It's not as big of a mistake to sign a Va. primary route with a circle. They have the circles on hand. I'm more interested in the states that don't use circles to sign any routes. In those cases, someone would have to make a circle blank or bring one in from out of state when they should already have proper blanks on hand.

[tckma]

Does someone have a list of non-circle states where circle shields have appeared?

Virginia and Maryland can be on this list...

Virginia uses circles for their secondary routes, so I wouldn't actually count them on this list.

Virginia has had error primary route circle shields (also has had Massachusetts-style square errors and interstate business state route errors too)

I've also seen primary route shields where a circle route shield should have been placed.  In general, for Virginia, primary state routes have numbers < 600, and secondary routes have numbers >= 600.  Secondary route numbers can be duplicated as long as the two routes are not in the same county/independent city.

[tckma]

Before NH used the silhouette of the Old Man of the Mountain on their route markers, their standard route marker was a square.

I did not know this.  But that is consistent with all other New England states but Vermont.

Not inconsistent at all.  Vermont still uses circles for locally-maintained state routes.  State-maintained routes use the green marker with the legend "Vermont" above the route number.  As for NH routes posted in VT, I'm guessing they didn't go to the trouble of either obtaining markers from NH or getting the Old Man design template.

See, whenever I drove through Vermont, I always thought they were in the process of replacing the plain circle with the green "Vermont" circle and only replacing worn-out and unreadable signs to save money.

[tckma]

I've also seen primary route shields where a circle route shield should have been placed.  In general, for Virginia, primary state routes have numbers < 600, and secondary routes have numbers >= 600.  Secondary route numbers can be duplicated as long as the two routes are not in the same county/independent city.

This is, in fact, why the Fairfax County Parkway changed numbers from 7100 to 286 (in February 2012 according to Wikipedia) -- it was changed from a county-maintained secondary route to a state-maintained primary route, and thus the number had to change.  Ditto for the Franconia-Springfield Parkway (7900 --> 289) and the Prince William County Parkway (3100 --> 234), which both also changed from county to state maintenance with the same legislative action.

[Jim]

Best I can tell, Vermont 132 is an entirely locally-maintained state route, so it has no green "Vermont" markers.  However, there are at least three different shield types along the route as of last August:

We have a square:



Then the (correct) circle:



And a very erroneous US shield:



Apologies if I or someone else has posted these before.

[tckma]

Best I can tell, Vermont 132 is an entirely locally-maintained state route, so it has no green "Vermont" markers.  However, there are at least three different shield types along the route as of last August:

We have a square:

Funny... 132 is nowhere near the Massachusetts border, yet that is a Maine/Massachusetts square.  I wonder if New England road maintenance contractors know that different states are supposed to have different shield shapes.  (The US route shield is just plain wrong.)

[jakeroot]

Does someone have a list of non-circle states where circle shields have appeared?

Probably all of them.

Maybe in states that already use a basic shape (California, Oregon, maybe New Mexico), but probably not in states with relatively unique markers (Washington, Utah, Colorado).

[tckma]

Maybe in states that already use a basic shape (California, Oregon, maybe New Mexico), but probably not in states with relatively unique markers (Washington, Utah, Colorado).

Oregon's shape derives from the official state seal (as does New York's), so I'd argue that shape is fairly unique.

New Mexico's shape is the symbol of the Zia Native Americans... so again unique, but in a circle.

[jbnv]

Does someone have a list of non-circle states where circle shields have appeared?

Probably all of them.

Maybe in states that already use a basic shape (California, Oregon, maybe New Mexico), but probably not in states with relatively unique markers (Washington, Utah, Colorado).

I'm not aware of any case of a circle in Louisiana (an outline state where some parishes use the county pentagon). I recall someone posting a LA-signed-US route here some time ago. I've never heard of a US route being signed with a LA shield.

[freebrickproductions]

Does someone have a list of non-circle states where circle shields have appeared?

Probably all of them.

I have yet to see any appear in Alabama.

[jakeroot]

Maybe in states that already use a basic shape (California, Oregon, maybe New Mexico), but probably not in states with relatively unique markers (Washington, Utah, Colorado).

Oregon's shape derives from the official state seal (as does New York's), so I'd argue that shape is fairly unique.

New Mexico's shape is the symbol of the Zia Native Americans... so again unique, but in a circle.

Frankly, all states that don't use a circle or square are unique. I was just naming examples of route markers that feature basic shapes (Oregon = deformed Virginia, upside Hawaii; California = upside down Virginia) versus markers that use something like a bust, a flag, an object, or a state outline, that are highly exclusive to that one area, with little like it across the rest of the country).

[kkt]

Does someone have a list of non-circle states where circle shields have appeared?

Probably all of them.

Maybe in states that already use a basic shape (California, Oregon, maybe New Mexico), but probably not in states with relatively unique markers (Washington, Utah, Colorado).

I have lived in California and Washington quite a while, and I don't think I've seen any circles or squares.  I'd be interested if someone has.

[hbelkins]

I've seen circles for at least two West Virginia state routes -- WV 10 in Logan and WV 34 near Hurricane.

[cl94]

Does someone have a list of non-circle states where circle shields have appeared?

Probably all of them.

Maybe in states that already use a basic shape (California, Oregon, maybe New Mexico), but probably not in states with relatively unique markers (Washington, Utah, Colorado).

Ohio at the intersection of US 23 and SR 161 in Worthington is a huge example. Shield is the state outline. There are a few squares/rectangles out there for New York state routes, possibly more of those than circles. The Tonawanda ones stick out quite a bit, as do a couple from NY 120A, everyone's favorite New York route that spends most of its time on the border or inside Connecticut. Whoever actually maintains/posts the signs on that one is a big question mark, as none of the signs are New York standard, but that's off-topic.

[thenetwork]

Ohio and the infamous circle route 161 at US-23 in Wilmington (Columbus).


/beaten by one post....told ya it was infamous!!!

[Rothman]

Does someone have a list of non-circle states where circle shields have appeared?

MA 2 (not on route itself), 28, and 125 (125 is an oval)

MA 9 has them pop up from time-to-time.  There was one WB near the Coolidge Bridge in Hadley, MA.

[PHLBOS]

Does someone have a list of non-circle states where circle shields have appeared?

MA 2 (not on route itself), 28, and 125 (125 is an oval)

MA 9 has them pop up from time-to-time.  There was one WB near the Coolidge Bridge in Hadley, MA.

This one for MA 1A has been around since the 80s.

[SidS1045]

Whoever actually maintains/posts the signs on that one is a big question mark, as none of the signs are New York standard, but that's off-topic.

Not a question mark at all.  NYSDOT maintains the road, even the parts that are wholly within Connecticut.  Plenty of the shields on the road are perfectly good NY-spec, like this one in Port Chester:



  The few that Connecticut has put up, pointing to the route, er, not so much...as in this example, on the ramp from CT 15 south:

[tckma]

I've seen circles for at least two West Virginia state routes -- WV 10 in Logan and WV 34 near Hurricane.

WV uses circles for their fractional county routes -- a numbering system I have never figured out.

[hbelkins]

I've seen circles for at least two West Virginia state routes -- WV 10 in Logan and WV 34 near Hurricane.

WV uses circles for their fractional county routes -- a numbering system I have never figured out.

Main county routes are whole numbers. Spur or branch county routes have their "parent" state, US or county route as the numerator (in most cases) and the spur number as the denominator. For example the first branch route off US 60 in a certain county might be 60/1 and the first branch off CR 1 might be 1/1. There are some exceptions, such as a series of routes with 252 as the numerator along US 52 in Mingo County.

[vtk]

I've seen circles for at least two West Virginia state routes -- WV 10 in Logan and WV 34 near Hurricane.

WV uses circles for their fractional county routes -- a numbering system I have never figured out.

Main county routes are whole numbers. Spur or branch county routes have their "parent" state, US or county route as the numerator (in most cases) and the spur number as the denominator. For example the first branch route off US 60 in a certain county might be 60/1 and the first branch off CR 1 might be 1/1. There are some exceptions, such as a series of routes with 252 as the numerator along US 52 in Mingo County.

It has always struck me as counterproductive to call them fractional routes.  They're just two-number routes, like in Louisiana, except with a horizontal dividing line instead of a hyphen.