I'm curious about the prevailing opinion in regards to Street Blades. More specifically what the opinions are regarding logos on the signs and what your preferred size would be for your traditional street blade on a stop sign?
My city is getting close to needing to replace their street blades, and I want to ensure that whatever happens, they are readable, and won't end up as the worst signs.
standard FHWA fonts. do not compress horizontally or vertically
green background, white text is fine. really most any color scheme is fine.
no stupid fonts. please, no stupid fonts.
The city of Hillside IL has some interesting ones that looks nice. Black background, white letters in a Times New Roman style font (all caps) like this one: https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Hillside+IL&aq=&sll=39.739318,-89.266507&sspn=11.685494,18.764648&vpsrc=6&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Hillside,+Cook,+Illinois&ll=41.877166,-87.902609&spn=0.005528,0.009162&z=17&cbll=41.877097,-87.902611&panoid=yRauQr6JXJ5yZoJuYUIteQ&cbp=12,55.46,,0,5.06&ei=MLTMUv3sH9GcgQTMsYHQDg&pw=2
Newport News, VA has some really nice blades:
http://goo.gl/maps/yzI5f
Simplicity is best, IMO.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmaps.googleapis.com%2Fmaps%2Fapi%2Fstreetview%3Fsize%3D600x300%26amp%3Blocation%3D42.672428%2C-71.124424%26amp%3Bheading%3D250%26amp%3Bpitch%3D10%26amp%3Bsensor%3Dfalse%26amp%3Bfov%3D40&hash=9bcfe1516068b2dff1af6d7a7fbc674a5541060d)
North Andover, MA
Quote from: agentsteel53 on January 07, 2014, 07:21:45 PM
standard FHWA fonts. do not compress horizontally or vertically
green background, white text is fine. really most any color scheme is fine.
no stupid fonts. please, no stupid fonts.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.staticflickr.com%2F3310%2F3221055845_351af94fa7_z_d.jpg&hash=c71fcd5257c6a37fdbea291b3d878c0e25ca6958)
Tahlequah, OK
Older styled signs in Trenton:
http://goo.gl/maps/DQkOm
Whatever is decided, I hope your city has the wherewithal to do the job thoroughly and consistently.
The town I grew up in had fairly standard-issue signs: FHWA font, black text on white, all caps, black border. Older signs had embossed letters, later signs had decal letters.
EXCEPT for one arterial street whose signs had white text on brown, "old West"-style serif font, all caps, no border. Don't know what the reasoning was, but I assume it happened around 1970 when they re-named the street.
THEN in the 1980s they started replacing the old white signs with white text on brown, same FHWA font, all caps, white border. After a few years, though, the replacement program seemed to stall.
THEN around 2000 they decided to replace all the signs downtown with a custom look. White text on brown, but mixed-case, serif font, larger-than-average blade.
THEN they seemed to re-start the replacement program, but the signs were different. Still white text on brown, but slightly different font, suffixes (Ave., Blvd.) in superscript, narrow margins.
The result: at least six styles of street sign in a town of 30,000.
All that said, I think simple is better. Most logos are difficult to make out at driving speed. I'd rather see the city name along the top or bottom.
Quote from: US71 on January 07, 2014, 10:38:31 PM
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.staticflickr.com%2F3310%2F3221055845_351af94fa7_z_d.jpg&hash=c71fcd5257c6a37fdbea291b3d878c0e25ca6958)
Tahlequah, OK
the speed limit sign doesn't have bad fonts at all. kinda remind me of Oregon 1942.
as for the street blades - I can barely tell what it says on the English and the transliteration. I cannot say whether or not the Cherokee (?) script in the middle is a good or a bad font.
City/town seals on street name signs are totally useless. Not only are they all but illegible to drivers traveling at any sort of speed, but my observations have been that they tend to fade and wear out long before the rest of the sign.
As for color schemes, white on green is perfectly fine and should be the national standard for ALL street name signs. This nonsense communities spout about "unique identity" is just that - nonsense.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on January 08, 2014, 01:39:34 PM
as for the street blades - I can barely tell what it says on the English and the transliteration. I cannot say whether or not the Cherokee (?) script in the middle is a good or a bad font.
It's the "official" font (really there's only one). But they need a font that works well with the FHWA fonts. Without zooming in, I can read Huckleberry Circle / Guwaya Udeyasdi and Muskogee Ave / Guso Galanudvi (?). But it takes some time and that's the problem.
---
From my hometown. While they could have used something instead of Arialveticaverstesk, I like the sign otherwise.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.staticflickr.com%2F3082%2F3151993317_340553ef30_z.jpg&hash=98e1c165dbee48a5818c6d809567f4d0dfe2c5f5)
I'm starting to notice a trend around here where the blade for a secondary street points into an intersection rather than out from it. That does make it easier to catch and read for traffic on the primary street, now that I've thought about it.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on January 08, 2014, 01:39:34 PM
Quote from: US71 on January 07, 2014, 10:38:31 PM
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.staticflickr.com%2F3310%2F3221055845_351af94fa7_z_d.jpg&hash=c71fcd5257c6a37fdbea291b3d878c0e25ca6958)
Tahlequah, OK
the speed limit sign doesn't have bad fonts at all. kinda remind me of Oregon 1942.
as for the street blades - I can barely tell what it says on the English and the transliteration. I cannot say whether or not the Cherokee (?) script in the middle is a good or a bad font.
Not a clue, but I think that's just how they're written. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_syllabary
Quote from: roadman on January 08, 2014, 02:24:54 PM
City/town seals on street name signs are totally useless. Not only are they all but illegible to drivers traveling at any sort of speed, but my observations have been that they tend to fade and wear out long before the rest of the sign.
They're rather useful in knowing who to complain to about potholes and such. (Or at least having a better chance of being right.)
Quote from: Brandon on January 08, 2014, 02:38:30 PM
Not a clue, but I think that's just how they're written. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_syllabary
What part of 'font' don't you understand?
Quote from: agentsteel53 on January 07, 2014, 07:21:45 PM
standard FHWA fonts. do not compress horizontally or vertically
green background, white text is fine. really most any color scheme is fine.
no stupid fonts. please, no stupid fonts.
Whatever the current color scheme is, keep it, unless it replaced an older one that has more significance to your town (this is fairly common), in which case bring back the old scheme. MUTCD? What?
Quote from: NE2 on January 08, 2014, 02:39:21 PM
Quote from: roadman on January 08, 2014, 02:24:54 PM
City/town seals on street name signs are totally useless. Not only are they all but illegible to drivers traveling at any sort of speed, but my observations have been that they tend to fade and wear out long before the rest of the sign.
They're rather useful in knowing who to complain to about potholes and such. (Or at least having a better chance of being right.)
Or to know when you're in a speed trap.
Our current scheme is Blue Signs with White Text (I haven't paid attention to the font, but will tonight when I go home). The previous scheme, from the 80s, was Brown wooden signs with white stickers letters, and no extensions. The lack of extensions causes issues because now we have streets that one organization says is a Street, another an Avenue, and a 3rd calls a Road.
This came about because the county was upgrading many of their signs to mixed case, and on a few roads, mainly those with lowercase Gs and Ys, they look odd, and want to avoid that when ours are replaced, as the last replacement was 1994, and they are getting looking their age, and are all CAPS.
As for the logo question, I was concerned because we have a city/county/state route that travels through the city, since the state doesn't have any state routes to spare for us, as was curious if placing the routes logo on the appropriate blades, or a close facsimile, would be acceptable, or would the consensus be to not have the logo at all.
Quote from: TEG24601 on January 10, 2014, 04:36:06 PM
As for the logo question, I was concerned because we have a city/county/state route that travels through the city, since the state doesn't have any state routes to spare for us, as was curious if placing the routes logo on the appropriate blades, or a close facsimile, would be acceptable, or would the consensus be to not have the logo at all.
Why not put the route shield in place of the logo?
Quote from: NE2 on January 10, 2014, 05:53:54 PM
Quote from: TEG24601 on January 10, 2014, 04:36:06 PM
As for the logo question, I was concerned because we have a city/county/state route that travels through the city, since the state doesn't have any state routes to spare for us, as was curious if placing the routes logo on the appropriate blades, or a close facsimile, would be acceptable, or would the consensus be to not have the logo at all.
Why not put the route shield in place of the logo?
Mainly because there is no Route Shield.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FoGTnJpE.jpg&hash=2128c2beb34a3acf2cc6345288acfa80e04491a6)
This is all that is used to mark the route. As Washington has no provision for 4-digit routes, and there are no available 3-digit, this was the compromise to fulfill the RCW about state routes should be designated to serve cities/towns with populations of 1000 or more (and we crossed 1000 permanent residents in 2006).
The logo on this sign is the city logo, and I thought that perhaps just it, and not a miniature version of the entire sign, would be interesting to include on those roads that the route follows, of course with the signs of sufficient size as to make it recognizable, but not distracting.
Quote from: TEG24601 on January 11, 2014, 10:57:25 AMAs Washington has no provision for 4-digit routes, and there are no available 3-digit...
Not true. 514, 517, and plenty of numbers starting at 533. In fact it's not that far south of 531, so 533 wouldn't be all that out of place. More likely, it's not signed as a state highway because, well, it's not a state highway.
Quote from: Kacie Jane on January 11, 2014, 11:22:47 AM
More likely, it's not signed as a state highway because, well, it's not a state highway.
Yeah, this.
Quote from: TEG24601 on January 11, 2014, 10:57:25 AM
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FoGTnJpE.jpg&hash=2128c2beb34a3acf2cc6345288acfa80e04491a6)
They can at least move the arrows down to a separate plaque like they do on other route assemblies. >.>
Quote from: Kacie Jane on January 11, 2014, 11:22:47 AM
Quote from: TEG24601 on January 11, 2014, 10:57:25 AMAs Washington has no provision for 4-digit routes, and there are no available 3-digit...
Not true. 514, 517, and plenty of numbers starting at 533. In fact it's not that far south of 531, so 533 wouldn't be all that out of place. More likely, it's not signed as a state highway because, well, it's not a state highway.
True. However, I was somewhat involved in consulting with the Mayor during his conversations with WSDOT, and they flat refused to connect a 53x number to a 52x number, and wouldn't create a bannered route, which I was blown away by. WSDOT has, especially through the 90s assigned new routes over existing roadways, so it not being a state highway, because they didn't build it is specious at best. It took him almost a year to get them to even consider adding mileage to a sign with the city name and an arrow on SR-525. Which, prior to adding the mileage, people thought that the city was the strip mall at the corner, to which the arrow was pointing. These are just some of the drawbacks to the city being 4 miles off of the highway.
Quote from: TEG24601 on January 12, 2014, 10:47:35 AM
However, I was somewhat involved in consulting with the Mayor during his conversations with WSDOT, and they flat refused to connect a 53x number to a 52x number
So why did the legislature (not WSDOT - the legislature assigns the numbers) create (in 1991) SR 310 connecting SR 3 to SR 304?
Sounds like a completely bullshit excuse. The mayor needs to talk to the state legislators and get one of them to create a new route.
Quote from: TEG24601 on January 12, 2014, 10:47:35 AMWSDOT has, especially through the 90s assigned new routes over existing roadways, so it not being a state highway, because they didn't build it is specious at best.
I said nothing about them not building it. But nothing I'm reading regarding the loop implies a change of maintenance regarding the roads. So it's not a state highway, they're still county and locally maintained roads, but the county, city, and WSDOT have agreed to provide better signage along those roads.
Quote from: TEG24601 on January 07, 2014, 06:53:42 PM
I'm curious about the prevailing opinion in regards to Street Blades. More specifically what the opinions are regarding logos on the signs and what your preferred size would be for your traditional street blade on a stop sign?
My city is getting close to needing to replace their street blades, and I want to ensure that whatever happens, they are readable, and won't end up as the worst signs.
Here goes.
FHWA preferred. Arial and Helvetica are the only two alternative fonts.
Preferred size: minimum 18 inches blank, with 12 inch uppercase letters, 9 inch lowercase letters if the speed limit is 45 or higher. Otherwise: 12 inch blank, with 6 inch uppercase letters, 4.5 inch lowercase letters.
Color: blue with white lettering or midnight green with white lettering. Although you can use any shade of blue or brown for the signs. If using green, the shade of green must be
below 128 (hexadecimal of 80 or less). White with black lettering also acceptable. If using white-on-black, the blank must be at the highest rgb value: 255, 255, 255; and the lettering must be at the lowest rgb value: 0,0,0.
If you want my opinion on it...
Fonts: FHWA, or mixed case Clearview, or any legible font that doesn't look extremely ugly. (Arialveticaverstesk if they can manage for it to look nice) If using FHWA fonts, Series C or D is acceptable.
Colors: Green preferred, but blue, brown, white are acceptable*. Text color should be white on everything but a white sign, in which case it should be black.
Letter Size: If the road has a decently high speed limit, I would want 10in letters. Otherwise, 6-8in. letters will work. The designation of the road (I.E. Road, Avenue, Drive, Lane, etc.) can either be in mixed case or all-caps (unless it's Clearview in which case it better be mixed case) and can either be a subscript or it can be the same size as the other parts of the text.
Other: If the sign contains a route shield (common in New Jersey), then the route shield must conform to the standards set by the MUTCD or the State's DOT. City / Boro logos should be omitted from the signs.
Lastly, some examples of what I believe is acceptable:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1300.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fag88%2FZeffyboy%2FSigns%2Fstreetsignblades-acceptable_zps82fb7922.png&hash=40f45cf7e9e580a1172121e0cd6bb8f007eb4b0b)
* This does not include usage of Clearview. If using Clearview, the only acceptable color is green.
Remember, this is my opinion, so if you don't like what I put here, well, that's your own opinion. :biggrin:
Quote from: Zeffy on January 12, 2014, 04:46:48 PM
If you want my opinion on it...
Fonts: FHWA, or mixed case Clearview, or any legible font that doesn't look extremely ugly. (Arialveticaverstesk if they can manage for it to look nice) If using FHWA fonts, Series C or D is acceptable.
Colors: Green preferred, but blue, brown, white are acceptable*. Text color should be white on everything but a white sign, in which case it should be black.
Letter Size: If the road has a decently high speed limit, I would want 10in letters. Otherwise, 6-8in. letters will work. The designation of the road (I.E. Road, Avenue, Drive, Lane, etc.) can either be in mixed case or all-caps (unless it's Clearview in which case it better be mixed case) and can either be a subscript or it can be the same size as the other parts of the text.
Other: If the sign contains a route shield (common in New Jersey), then the route shield must conform to the standards set by the MUTCD or the State's DOT. City / Boro logos should be omitted from the signs.
Lastly, some examples of what I believe is acceptable:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1300.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fag88%2FZeffyboy%2FSigns%2Fstreetsignblades-acceptable_zps82fb7922.png&hash=40f45cf7e9e580a1172121e0cd6bb8f007eb4b0b)
* This does not include usage of Clearview. If using Clearview, the only acceptable color is green.
Remember, this is my opinion, so if you don't like what I put here, well, that's your own opinion. :biggrin:
The all caps Street Name signs will have to be limited to low-speed highways. That is not an opinion. That's a fact mentioned in the MUTCD. All-caps can no longer be used on Street Name signs if the speed limit on the highways and streets are 30 mph or higher.
^ All-caps can no longer be used on street name signs, period--there is no option for all caps at lower speeds. That is a fact from the MUTCD (Sec 2D.43 p03-Standard).
And "Arialveticaverstesk" shouldn't be on signs either...let's stick to FHWA fonts, or Clearview where approved and designed appropriately.
Quote from: Zeffy on January 12, 2014, 04:46:48 PM
If using Clearview, the only acceptable color is green.
Thanks for the diagram and example. Is there a specific reason that Clearview couldn't be on a Blue sign (the existing signs are Blue to differentiate them from the county on the roads/streets that have different jurisdictions on different sides)? I'm actually partial to Clearview, having been exposed to it a lot whilst living in Michigan, but the FHWA fonts look awesome as well. I've always found the current signs to be difficult to read, especially in the inclement weather we get so often in Washington.
Just for reference, there is only one road in the city over 25MPH, and it has no intersecting roads until it is out of the city.
Would there be any real downside to larger signs and fonts, or would would they look out of scale?
Quote from: Zeffy on January 12, 2014, 04:46:48 PM
* This does not include usage of Clearview. If using Clearview, the only acceptable color is green.
Funny, but doesn't Baton Rouge use blue blades w/ Clearview for their most recent street sign update?? And...doesn't NOLA also use blue blades w/ Clearview, too?
Here in Opelousas, we still have the basic black on reflective white ALL CAPS, with some of the blades mixed with street numbers and some not so much. The parish roads still use white-on-green ALL CAPS as well. Probably the usual laziness mixed with the popular "Why fix what we don't think is broken" mentality.
I wouldn't allow Clearview on a blue street sign because it's not allowed on normal blue service signs to begin with.
Quote from: roadfro on January 13, 2014, 05:09:26 AM
^ All-caps can no longer be used on street name signs, period--there is no option for all caps at lower speeds. That is a fact from the MUTCD (Sec 2D.43 p03-Standard).
And "Arialveticaverstesk" shouldn't be on signs either...let's stick to FHWA fonts, or Clearview where approved and designed appropriately.
I didn't know that the MUTCD forbid all-caps on street name signs. Guess that's why my Township is replacing all of their all-caps street signs to mixed case Clearview signs. As for the Arialveticaverstesk, I've actually seen some signs where they are fully legible at the speed for the roadway - which is < 35MPH. Now anything higher should definitely use the FHWA fonts. I think that provided the sign is legible from a distance and at the posted speed of the roadway, the font should not matter. Besides, I don't think the FHWA has ever done a study on the legibility of Arial / Helvetica on road signs (which I'm guessing is not good).
Quote from: Zeffy on January 13, 2014, 04:06:18 PM
I wouldn't allow Clearview on a blue street sign because it's not allowed on normal blue service signs to begin with.
Duh, blue service signs are all-caps.
I think my favorite street blades are in British Columbia, this one in West Vancouver:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FQ58rCbl.png&hash=49e25d33bebd32645a4be13e99bb764d470dfee6)
I just prefer blue over green, really just a personal preference. I also tend to favor Clearview on signs, but this sign was installed before clearview was rolled out widely across BC, back when they used some custom font on their signs, perhaps "Arialveticaverstesk"?
Quote from: roadfro on January 13, 2014, 05:09:26 AM
^ All-caps can no longer be used on street name signs, period--there is no option for all caps at lower speeds. That is a fact from the MUTCD (Sec 2D.43 p03-Standard).
And "Arialveticaverstesk" shouldn't be on signs either...let's stick to FHWA fonts, or Clearview where approved and designed appropriately.
They allow for an all-caps option on historic highways with a speed limit of 25 or lower. That change was added in 2012.
If FHWA is to be the sole font for street name signs, then only Series D, E or E(M) should be used.
Quote from: mjb2002 on January 13, 2014, 07:28:29 PM
If FHWA is to be the sole font for street name signs, then only Series D, E or E(M) should be used.
Why not C? I think C looks fine on street signs. I don't think EM should really be used on those, but E is fine.
Quote from: jake on January 13, 2014, 06:32:24 PM
I think my favorite street blades are in British Columbia, this one in West Vancouver:
image clipped
I just prefer blue over green, really just a personal preference. I also tend to favor Clearview on signs, but this sign was installed before clearview was rolled out widely across BC, back when they used some custom font on their signs, perhaps "Arialveticaverstesk"?
I also like blue over green street blades. I also don't mind if the blades use a typeface other than FHWA or Clearview. My city's street blades look like this...
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmarkyville.com%2Faaroads%2FCupertino_StreetBlade.png&hash=8015629050c5ce93d952a7d11c20489032ea7291)
... and street blades on traffic signal mast arms look like this...
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmarkyville.com%2Faaroads%2FCupertino_MastArm.png&hash=51d4d3b63ab185a1aea834c0c12818e739ca42f2)
The typeface used for both signs is Bookman.
Prior to this change over which happened in the late 90's, no signs were mounted on mast arms and the street blades used all caps Series C on a borderless blue blade.
Some of the stuff I've seen recently:
Clifton, New Jersey (Passaic 621/Valley Road - not on my list of likeable ones.)
(https://scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/561639_521091664656419_1498885239_n.jpg)
Stillwater, New York (NY 423 at Blizzard Road - yuck)
(https://scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1/1456533_508498185915767_195500731_n.jpg)
Essex Fells, New Jersey (Park Lane at Roseland Avenue (CR 527) - personally I've never been a fan of these, but I know others who do.)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.staticflickr.com%2F3702%2F10218041225_e77a9705ff_c.jpg&hash=87bda44ec9d3f2d4f4368121c17e5fcb4b29e6b8)
Verona has the strange VERONA|Bloomfield Avenue. They are now converting to Mixed case.
Quote from: Roadgeek Adam on January 13, 2014, 08:40:42 PM
Some of the stuff I've seen recently:
Clifton, New Jersey (Passaic 621/Valley Road - not on my list of likeable ones.)
(https://scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/561639_521091664656419_1498885239_n.jpg)
Stillwater, New York (NY 423 at Blizzard Road - yuck)
(https://scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1/1456533_508498185915767_195500731_n.jpg)
Essex Fells, New Jersey (Park Lane at Roseland Avenue (CR 527) - personally I've never been a fan of these, but I know others who do.)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.staticflickr.com%2F3702%2F10218041225_e77a9705ff_c.jpg&hash=87bda44ec9d3f2d4f4368121c17e5fcb4b29e6b8)
Verona has the strange VERONA|Bloomfield Avenue. They are now converting to Mixed case.
No matter what, that Stillwater, N.Y. sign is total yuck. One, just like Anderson and Florence counties here in South Carolina, they use two signpoles instead of one for street name sign. I am not in favor at all of using more than one signpole per street name sign.
Two, the colors.
Quote from: mjb2002 on January 13, 2014, 07:28:29 PM
Quote from: roadfro on January 13, 2014, 05:09:26 AM
^ All-caps can no longer be used on street name signs, period--there is no option for all caps at lower speeds. That is a fact from the MUTCD (Sec 2D.43 p03-Standard).
And "Arialveticaverstesk" shouldn't be on signs either...let's stick to FHWA fonts, or Clearview where approved and designed appropriately.
They allow for an all-caps option on historic highways with a speed limit of 25 or lower. That change was added in 2012.
That's not really an "all-caps option" though. 2D.43 p24 is an Option statement that reads:
On lower speed roadways, historic street name signs within locally identified historic districts that are consistent with the criteria contained in 36 CFR 60.4 for such structures and districts may be used without complying with the provisions of Paragraphs 3, 4, 6, 9, 12 through 14, and 18 through 20 of this section.The language used in the final rule of the Federal Register document (which governs the change to the MUTCD that added the above statement) seems to indicate that this is meant to apply to existing, non-conforming signs. The explanation even states "If
a community decides to use the new OPTION to retain existing historic Street Name signs within a historic district...", which seems to validate this view.
This option allows municipalities to exempt historic signs from the all-caps, size, color, font, etc. requirements for street name signs. 36 CFR 60.4 covers the criteria for adding historic districts to the National Register of Historic Places. So the change was meant to allow communities to keep 'historic' street name signs within established historic districts (or areas meeting the requirements of such a district if not recognized), in order to maintain the historic character of the neighborhood. The final rule also strongly suggests that such signs should still be useable for navigation if retained, going so far to suggest that these should be externally lit at night...
Quote from: Anthony_JK on January 13, 2014, 11:09:53 AM
Funny, but doesn't Baton Rouge use blue blades w/ Clearview for their most recent street sign update?? And...doesn't NOLA also use blue blades w/ Clearview, too?
I don't know about New Orleans, but Baton Rouge does use Clearview on some of the newest illuminated signs...mainly along Airline and on the south side of town.
So San Dimas, California will have to replace their street blades (which use an "Old West"-style font) with MUTCD-compliant ones at some point?
It'll probably be the same with Redondo Beach, CA with the little sailboats on their street signs.
Northbrook, IL:
OLD:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fassets-cloud.enjin.com%2Fusers%2F4481821%2Fpics%2Foriginal%2F2408983.jpg&hash=905e59f9e0105ea26a51e06bdc8eba5c77c831e6)
NEW:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fassets-cloud.enjin.com%2Fusers%2F4481821%2Fpics%2Foriginal%2F2408982.jpg&hash=eccc4055ab6ff369c1206f3b98282cdb9a8403f0)
One town near me use Arial BOLD for theirs not to mention, the main road's sign isn't as tall as the minor road's sign!
M.J.B.: N.Y.S. specs require all signs wider than 3O" to have 2 posts. And although designers often forget (or don't know), 4 panels are required for each assembly. Their total area far exceeds the rated capacity for 1 post. Signs, reference markers, guard rail and such in the Catskills and Adirondacks have been brown and yellow for decades, so although the colors may appear strange to you, they're very much appropriate for their setting.
Joe: Monroe County has also taken the approach of having different heighth street signs. They are allowed, as the approach speed at a stop sign is technically -O-, but they look just like what they are: cheap short-cuts.