For example, the Jersey Barrier from NJ.
PennDOT and Clearview, and i think rumble strips and the general idea for the interstate highway standard.
Michigan created the Michigan left.
New Jersey also built the first cloverleaf, in Woodbridge back in 1931 (recently obliterated).
Quote from: bulldog1979 on December 09, 2014, 02:30:43 AM
Michigan created the Michigan left.
Along with concrete pavement and center lines.
I noticed some "FREEWAY ENTRANCE" signs in either Nevada or Arizona. The signs are the standard here in California.
How about Wisconsin being the first state to implement a numbered highway system.
Minnesota effectively created the MUTCD. To be fair, they weren't the only ones. But they played the primary part.
Stretching the DOT bit, but i forgot about the Long Island Motor Parkway, first road ever built for automobile use only with overpasses and underpasses too.
I don't know whether it's true (maybe someone here does), but I remember reading somewhere that Virginia was the first state to post "Gas/Food/Lodging" signs in advance of highway exits.
Hmmm, was California first to implement HOT lanes? I think those are used elsewhere now.
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 09, 2014, 10:31:32 AM
I don't know whether it's true (maybe someone here does), but I remember reading somewhere that Virginia was the first state to post "Gas/Food/Lodging" signs in advance of highway exits.
As I understand it, Virginia was indeed one of the first states to post service signing on Interstates, but their policy and installations were based on guidance in the old AASHO
Manual for Signing and Pavement Marking of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. "Generic" service signs (Gas Food Lodging) were first detailed in the 1961 edition of this Manual.
Quote from: Brandon on December 09, 2014, 06:37:38 AM
Quote from: bulldog1979 on December 09, 2014, 02:30:43 AM
Michigan created the Michigan left (early 1960s).
Along with concrete pavement (1909) and center lines (1911).
I should have also mentioned roadside parks (1919) and welcome centers (1935 - New Buffalo).
And the first modern three light (red-yellow-green) traffic signal (1920).
Also the first depressed urban freeway (Davison Freeway - 1942).
Connecticut: first speed limit (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/connecticut-enacts-first-speed-limit-law) for motorized vehicles, enacted May 21, 1901. 12 mph in cities, and 15 mph outside.
As I've read, I believe the ODOT district covering the Cincinnati metro developed the decimal mileage sign found in medians of divided highways in the 1990s, which can be found elsewhere around the United States.
https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.238219,-84.451043&spn=0.000843,0.001321&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=39.238219,-84.4513&panoid=eXOAAsa0t5x5tsh9lHtf8w&cbp=12,325.61,,1,1.22
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute developed constant slope barriers, the ET-2000 guardrail end cap (the good one, not the maiming machine Trinity Industries turned it in to), breakaway sign posts, and was a partner with Pennsylvania in the development of Clearview (sorry). Texas also created the adopt a highway concept. Not sure if we actually invented the Texas U-turn on frontage roads, but it's associated with Texas more than anywhere else so good enough.
Not to mention the Texas twist. Obsolete now, but widely adopted back in the day.
Kentucky: Political patronage in hiring civil service employees. :-D
Quote from: KG909 on December 09, 2014, 08:01:46 AM
I noticed some "FREEWAY ENTRANCE" signs in either Nevada or Arizona. The signs are the standard here in California.
Montana has some now with "NO LEFT/RIGHT TURN" signs at the apexes of the on and off ramps of I-90, 15 and 94 along with FREEWAY ENTRANCE signs.
Quote from: roadman on December 09, 2014, 10:41:48 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 09, 2014, 10:31:32 AM
I don't know whether it's true (maybe someone here does), but I remember reading somewhere that Virginia was the first state to post "Gas/Food/Lodging" signs in advance of highway exits.
As I understand it, Virginia was indeed one of the first states to post service signing on Interstates, but their policy and installations were based on guidance in the old AASHO Manual for Signing and Pavement Marking of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. "Generic" service signs (Gas Food Lodging) were first detailed in the 1961 edition of this Manual.
I think Virginia was also one of the first states to allow logo signs in urban areas. While the 2000 MUTCD added provisions to allow logo signs in urban areas, many states were slow to adopt these provisions, with some states still restricting the program to rural areas even today. Virginia actually had logo signs on I-64 in Newport News (a city with a population over 170,000) since at least 1998, I presume as an experiment for allowing them in urban areas.
In addition, Virginia was the first state to experiment with having up to two logo signs per service type instead of only one. This led to the FHWA granting interim approval shortly afterward and eventually adopting it into the 2009 MUTCD.
Quote from: hbelkins on December 09, 2014, 07:44:24 PM
Kentucky: Political patronage in hiring civil service employees. :-D
Nah. Illinois has taken that to a high art form. Just ask our outgoing governor how it went for him.
QuoteIn addition, Virginia was the first state to experiment with having up to two logo signs per service type instead of only one. This led to the FHWA granting interim approval shortly afterward and eventually adopting it into the 2009 MUTCD
In my opinion, if an interchange has enough eligible services to fill up two LOGO signs, then a generic sign should be sufficient for the driver instead.
But what if you want fast food and all the restaurants are sit-down? A knife and fork don't cut it for me. Or it's got a bunch of the kind of places where you have to eat in your car. Or even just roller food and chips.
If you have 12 restaurants at an interchange, I'm sure at least 1 is fast food, and you're probably in suburbia or a city. There are minimum standards for being listed too (such as the breakfast requirement, which is one reason why logo signs are dominated by fast food and chains).
The 'breakfast' requirement (must serve 3 meals) was dropped with the 2000 MUTCD. Beginning in the mid-1990s, but prior to the MUTCD change, Massachusetts would often waive the breakfast requirement for new "add-on" applicants if other restaurants already on the sign offered breakfast.
Either NY still uses it, or the people at my ROW training were citing an example from a couple decades ago.
Quote from: vdeane on December 10, 2014, 01:26:06 PM
Either NY still uses it, or the people at my ROW training were citing an example from a couple decades ago.
NY apparently allows restaurants that serve only 2 meals per day, but gives priority to applicants that serve 3 meals per day. From the NYSDOT web page on LOGO signs:
Quote■FOOD: ■licensed/approved by State and/or local municipality;
■provide rest rooms;
■operate 6 days per week (facilities providing 3 meals per day will have priority);
■provide a phone for public use;
■be located within 6 miles of exit ramp.
Remember that individual states can have still policies and requirements that are more restrictive than what the MUTCD calls for.
Quote from: roadman on December 10, 2014, 01:09:43 PM
The 'breakfast' requirement (must serve 3 meals) was dropped with the 2000 MUTCD. Beginning in the mid-1990s, but prior to the MUTCD change, Massachusetts would often waive the breakfast requirement for new "add-on" applicants if other restaurants already on the sign offered breakfast.
Yep, I see Olive Garden all the time on logo signs around here.
Quote from: Pink Jazz on December 10, 2014, 06:12:36 PM
Quote from: roadman on December 10, 2014, 01:09:43 PM
The 'breakfast' requirement (must serve 3 meals) was dropped with the 2000 MUTCD. Beginning in the mid-1990s, but prior to the MUTCD change, Massachusetts would often waive the breakfast requirement for new "add-on" applicants if other restaurants already on the sign offered breakfast.
Yep, I see Olive Garden all the time on logo signs around here.
Prior to the policy change, there was a Chili's in Burlington (MA) that agreed to have a breakfast menu and early hours as a condition of getting on signs along I-95 (MA 128). IIRC, it was the only location in the entire chain that served breakfast.
Speaking of breakfast requirements, Virginia once also experimented with a "FULL SERVICE FOOD" category after the 2000 MUTCD, which they defined as sit-down restaurants that served three meals a day. Virginia seems to pioneer a lot of concepts with logo signs, that is for sure.
FYI, North Carolina is currently experimenting with nine-panel logo signs at a few exits. So far the studies have shown that it hasn't had any impact on safety. I wonder if the FHWA will soon grant an interim approval. This could be very useful in urban areas where there isn't enough space between exits for more than one logo sign of the same category.
Quote from: roadman on December 10, 2014, 10:29:31 PM
Quote from: Pink Jazz on December 10, 2014, 06:12:36 PM
Quote from: roadman on December 10, 2014, 01:09:43 PM
The 'breakfast' requirement (must serve 3 meals) was dropped with the 2000 MUTCD. Beginning in the mid-1990s, but prior to the MUTCD change, Massachusetts would often waive the breakfast requirement for new "add-on" applicants if other restaurants already on the sign offered breakfast.
Yep, I see Olive Garden all the time on logo signs around here.
Prior to the policy change, there was a Chili's in Burlington (MA) that agreed to have a breakfast menu and early hours as a condition of getting on signs along I-95 (MA 128). IIRC, it was the only location in the entire chain that served breakfast.
If I ran a Chili's, I'd be desperate to pull in bodies, too.
Quote from: roadman on December 10, 2014, 02:05:18 PM
Quote from: vdeane on December 10, 2014, 01:26:06 PM
Either NY still uses it, or the people at my ROW training were citing an example from a couple decades ago.
NY apparently allows restaurants that serve only 2 meals per day, but gives priority to applicants that serve 3 meals per day. From the NYSDOT web page on LOGO signs:
Quote■FOOD: ■licensed/approved by State and/or local municipality;
■provide rest rooms;
■operate 6 days per week (facilities providing 3 meals per day will have priority);
■provide a phone for public use;
■be located within 6 miles of exit ramp.
Remember that individual states can have still policies and requirements that are more restrictive than what the MUTCD calls for.
I'm just commenting based on what was discussed in the ROW training; it was just an overview, so we didn't go in depth. They were telling a story about how real estate went out to verify a restaurants claim that it served breakfast only to arrive there finding janitors cleaning everything, the restaurant obviously not open, and the management offering to order them something from a fast food place. Yes, this actually happened.
Understood.
Québec (or was it somewhere else in Canada?) provided the MUTCD's new symbolic "School Bus Stop" sign. :)
I think the version of the school bus stop sign that actually made it into the MUTCD was based on a design from West Virginia, although they may have been inspired by the Canadian version.
Kansas invented the small-caps treatment for cardinal directions.
I don't think Oklahoma has invented anything worth copying.
Quote from: Scott5114 on December 11, 2014, 06:43:42 PM
I don't think Oklahoma has invented anything worth copying.
They invtended the elimitantion of truck trarffic.
Ridiculously poor/stupid road designs, water soluble asphalt and "jump ramp" bridges approaches! :bigass:
New York had the first extensive system of limited-access highways thanks to the Bronx River Parkway and Robert Moses.
If we're including Port Authority, New York and New Jersey had the first long automobile tunnel (Holland Tunnel).
Quote from: cl94 on December 12, 2014, 08:12:04 PM
New York had the first extensive system of limited-access highways thanks to the Bronx River Parkway and Robert Moses.
If we're including Port Authority, New York and New Jersey had the first long automobile tunnel (Holland Tunnel).
I would include bi-state agencies as a form of a DOT, since they are a DOT on a smaller scale.
What was the first use of the zipper barrier on bridges, other than for temporary work like on I-95 in richmond VA?
Floating bridges that sink when you leave the lids to the pontoons open.
Quote from: kkt on December 13, 2014, 01:45:06 PM
Floating bridges that sink when you leave the lids to the pontoons open.
Bridges that twist in the wind like a rubber band.
Where did the diamond-shaped yellow sign telling you what the reduced speed limit ahead will be (e.g., picture of a "Speed Limit 55" sign with an arrow above it) originate? First place I ever saw that style of sign was in Quebec about 13 years ago and I liked it then. Still prefer it to a sign that merely says the speed limit will drop by some unknown amount.
I have heard of the "Potomac Pier" but until I Googled it, did not know where or when the phrase originated - it came from the construction of the U.S. 301 Potomac River Bridge (Gov. Harry Nice Memorial Bridge now).
From: HISTORIC CONTEXT OF MARYLAND HIGHWAY BRIDGES BUILT BETWEEN 1948 AND 1960 (http://sha.maryland.gov/OPPEN/MDBridgeSurvey.pdf) (.pdf)
QuoteJohn Greiner"˜s partner, Herschel Allen, developed and patented the "Potomac Pier" for the Nice Bridge project. His pier design eliminated the need for a coffer dam by placing a steel form on the floor of the river and then driving piles through the form. Additional piles were attached and covered by concrete until the pier was fully formed.
And:
QuotePotomac-Type Piers
Mr. Miller also spoke with us about "Potomac-type piers" that J. E. Greiner was responsible for innovating. The piers, as their name
implies, were originally used for bridge construction on the Potomac River. Over time these piers have been modified for use on the
Woodrow Wilson Bridge and as far away as San Francisco. J. E. Greiner determined the Potomac piers to be such an asset to the
profession that, rather than patenting them, he "gave," or donated, the design to the engineering profession.
Quote from: Brandon on December 09, 2014, 06:37:38 AM
Quote from: bulldog1979 on December 09, 2014, 02:30:43 AM
Michigan created the Michigan left.
Along with concrete pavement and center lines.
I was under the impression that center lines were created by an Oregon Trooper on US 30.
Quote from: TEG24601 on December 14, 2014, 04:22:23 PM
Quote from: Brandon on December 09, 2014, 06:37:38 AM
Quote from: bulldog1979 on December 09, 2014, 02:30:43 AM
Michigan created the Michigan left.
Along with concrete pavement and center lines.
I was under the impression that center lines were created by an Oregon Trooper on US 30.
First I've ever heard that...both Michigan and California have claimed to invent it, though I think Michigan's claim predates California's.
Quote from: Scott5114 on December 15, 2014, 03:57:48 AM
Quote from: TEG24601 on December 14, 2014, 04:22:23 PM
Quote from: Brandon on December 09, 2014, 06:37:38 AM
Quote from: bulldog1979 on December 09, 2014, 02:30:43 AM
Michigan created the Michigan left.
Along with concrete pavement and center lines.
I was under the impression that center lines were created by an Oregon Trooper on US 30.
First I've ever heard that...both Michigan and California have claimed to invent it, though I think Michigan's claim predates California's.
Edward Hines painted the first centerline in the Detroit area in 1911, and then KI Sawyer painted the first centerline on a rural highway (Trunk Line 15, later M-15, now County Road 492) at Dead Man's Curve in Marquette County in 1917. There are competing claims from Oregon and California from 1917, as outlined on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_surface_marking), but FHWA recognizes the two Michigan claims as first.
I left these out in my original reply because they were innovations of country road commissions, and not of the State Highway Department. Hines worked for the Wayne County Board of Roads, and Sawyer was the engineer-superintendent of the Marquette County Road Commission (which was also in charge of the first airport that later became a USAF base named for him).
Oh, that's easy. Retroreflective backplates on RYGs. SCDOT experimented with that in Columbia a few years ago, right near their SHOP RD headquarters.
Louisiana: Crossovers on Interstates used for Hurricane evacuation contraflow.