I would like to know what are logo the logo sign installation laws per all 50 states. The reason is for I can make a map on Wikipedia to indicate the laws of each state:
Here is my list so far - please feel free to make any additions or corrections:
- Alabama - ???
- Alaska - No logo signs installed.
- Arizona - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- Arkansas - ???
- California - Logo signs permitted in rural areas only (maximum population 5000).
- Colorado - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- Connecticut - ???
- Delaware - ???
- Florida - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- Georgia - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- Hawaii - No logo signs permitted.
- Idaho - ???
- Illinois - ???
- Indiana - Logo signs permitted in rural areas only.
- Iowa - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- Kansas - ???
- Louisiana - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- Maine - ???
- Maryland - ???
- Massachusetts - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- Michigan - ???
- Minnesota - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- Mississippi - ???
- Missouri - ???
- Montana - ???
- Nebraska - ???
- New Hampshire - ???
- New Jersey - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- New Mexico - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas, but no logo signs installed in Albuquerque except on the outskirts of the city.
- New York - Logo signs permitted in rural areas only.
- North Carolina - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- North Dakota - No logo signs permitted.
- Ohio - ???
- Oklahoma - ???
- Oregon - ???
- Pennsylvania - ???
- Rhode Island - ???
- South Carolina - ???
- South Dakota - ???
- Tennessee - Since 2016, logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas (opt-in required for urban areas).
- Texas - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- Utah - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- Vermont - Mainline logo signs not permitted, ramp signs permitted only.
- Virginia - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- Washington - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas, but no logo signs installed within Seattle city limits (however they are installed in the near suburbs).
- West Virginia - ???
- Wisconsin - Logo signs permitted in both urban and rural areas.
- Wyoming - ???
WV has a 55 page book of regulations, which is available on the state's website. Page 7 lists the signs as only being available on "rural" interstates and page 29 adds in a list of "rural" non-interstates, but no where does it define "rural". The list is out of date as some new roads, which do have such signs, have been built since it was written in 2004.
The only place I have not seen such signs is in Charleston. The WV Turnpike has signage for private businesses off the exits even though they compete with the toll road (with one exception there is no toll for using an exit).
Quote from: SP Cook on May 23, 2017, 02:01:35 PM
WV has a 55 page book of regulations, which is available on the state's website. Page 7 lists the signs as only being available on "rural" interstates and page 29 adds in a list of "rural" non-interstates, but no where does it define "rural". The list is out of date as some new roads, which do have such signs, have been built since it was written in 2004.
The only place I have not seen such signs is in Charleston. The WV Turnpike has signage for private businesses off the exits even though they compete with the toll road (with one exception there is no toll for using an exit).
I know some states that allow logo signs in urban areas today didn't start allowing them until they adopted the 2003 MUTCD, even though provisions to allow them in urban areas have existed since the 2000 MUTCD. 2004 is a bit old, just one year after the publication of the 2003 MUTCD.
New Jersey: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/business/signs/logo/ (use the links on the left for more info) and http://www.newjersey.interstatelogos.com/state/
Quote from: jeffandnicole on May 23, 2017, 02:54:24 PM
New Jersey: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/business/signs/logo/ (use the links on the left for more info) and http://www.newjersey.interstatelogos.com/state/
NJ according to the map has some logo signs pretty close to Newark, so I guess NJ allows them in urban areas.
Quote from: Pink Jazz on May 23, 2017, 03:37:00 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on May 23, 2017, 02:54:24 PM
New Jersey: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/business/signs/logo/ (use the links on the left for more info) and http://www.newjersey.interstatelogos.com/state/
NJ according to the map has some logo signs pretty close to Newark, so I guess NJ allows them in urban areas.
Yep. About the only place they're not allowed is where there's simply not enough room for them, either due to short distances between exits or unavailable space (due to soundwalls, support walls, etc).
Slightly off topic...what is the reasoning for not allowing logo signs in urban areas?
Quote from: Mergingtraffic on May 23, 2017, 03:46:34 PM
Slightly off topic...what is the reasoning for not allowing logo signs in urban areas?
Prior to the 2000 MUTCD there was a restriction to rural areas only on a national scale. The 2000 MUTCD added provisions to allow them in urban areas as long as adequate sign spacing can be maintained, however, states continue to set their own rules as far as installation goes. My guess for those initial restrictions were that it was initially believed that they would cause too much driver distraction in urban areas, but further studies found that not to be the case. Plus, many fast-growing cities in the Sun Belt have plenty of space for logo signs on their freeways, and thus allowing them helps businesses in these areas and promotes tourism.
Quote from: Pink Jazz on May 23, 2017, 12:41:11 PM
Oh, hey, you managed to neatly sum up not just Oklahoma's logo sign practices, but
all of their sign practices, in one bullet point. Good job!
Quote from: Pink Jazz on May 23, 2017, 12:41:11 PM
The reason is for I can make a map on Wikipedia to indicate the laws of each state:
Note that if you are going to create a map for Wikipedia, you are going to have to cite the exact law (statute, title and section) in order to meet the site's reliable sourcing policy. You'll probably be better off just going to each state's statutes and finding and reading the laws yourself, since you'll need to find them to use as sources anyway.
I would expect that a lot of these aren't addressed by law at all, but rather through a policy document created by the DOT. This would also be a Wikipedia-kosher RS. You may be able to find such documents on the state DOT website. (For example, the always fun-to-read MoDOT EPG (http://epg.modot.org/index.php?title=903.11_Specific_Service_Signs) has an entire page about logo signs in Missouri. Doesn't that photo make you want to go to Tourist Attraction for your vacation this summer?) In some states, you may need to contact the DOT directly because the documents may not be readily available. For some of the more cloak-and-dagger DOTs, be prepared to submit FOIA requests. There may be a fee for this service.
If you're serious about this project, leave a message at WT:USRD and let them know what you're trying to do and you may get some of the more experienced editors to give you more specific pointers or help out with one or two states. There's a guy there, for instance, who is in regular contact with Michigan DOT and could probably help get you what you need.
Good luck!
You left out Kentucky. Here's the link...
http://transportation.ky.gov/Sign-Programs-and-Standards/Pages/Blue%20LOGO%20Signs.aspx
Quote from: Pink Jazz on May 23, 2017, 12:41:11 PM
I would like to know what are logo the logo sign installation laws per all 50 states. The reason is for I can make a map on Wikipedia to indicate the laws of each state:
Here is my list so far - please feel free to make any additions or corrections:
- Indiana - Logo signs permitted in rural areas only.
Some rural area this is (https://goo.gl/maps/Uk9RoPGV63r).
When did Colorado change? Last time I was there, they didn't allow logo signs
Pennsylvania
While urban areas are not specifically excluded from specific services (logo) signage, other prohibitions leave very few opportunities for it. Logo signs are prohibited:
- At interchanges where space for only one sign installation exists
(in which case, in urban areas, preference will be given to a single Attraction sign)
- In areas of high congestion, such as within a central business district or where long traffic delays frequently occur
- When the number of turns required from the crossing route prior to the driveway of an establishment is greater than the following:
- Gas — two turns
- Food — three turns
- Lodging — three turns (exception: four turns permissible if within one mile)
- Where an illegal movement is required to access a business, or where it is not convenient to return to the original direction of travel
- Where long sections of structure, retaining wall and/or installations of noise wall limit the ready placement of ground-mounted logo signing
- At interchanges where it is necessary to direct motorists back in direction to service establishments located at a previous interchange
Installation Fees
Interchanges signed in two directions: $14,500
Interchanges signed in one direction: $7,250
Additional trailblazers at turns (each): $200
Annual Fees
Per mainline sign: $326
Per ramp sign: $152
Per trailblazer: $152
The complete manual on Pennsylvania's specific services signage program is here: http://palogo.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/LOGO-Guidelines-March_0-1.pdf
<quote>installations of noise wall</quote>
If a noise wall is located so close to the right edge of the highway that normal traffic signs cannot be installed, then the design of the noise wall is flawed. And providing information to drivers on the highway is more important than "quality of life" enhancements that are expensive and of questionable value.
Quote from: US71 on May 24, 2017, 01:43:43 PM
When did Colorado change? Last time I was there, they didn't allow logo signs
I think it was around 2012-2013.
This map shows several in the Denver and Colorado Springs areas:
http://www.colorado.interstatelogos.com/state/businessLocator.aspx?programId=178
I believe Maryland is rural only.
Quote from: roadman on May 24, 2017, 02:44:56 PM
<quote>installations of noise wall</quote>
If a noise wall is located so close to the right edge of the highway that normal traffic signs cannot be installed, then the design of the noise wall is flawed. And providing information to drivers on the highway is more important than "quality of life" enhancements that are expensive and of questionable value.
Not necessarily. You're doing with old roads that were squeezed in when the interstate system was designed. In many cases, the highway went thru old neighborhoods. Some states, like NJ, tried to make amends decades later to affected homeowners as traffic has gotten much heavier.
Also, NJ's soundwall program came into play well before NJ's logo sign program. And a state's citizens are not going to agree with you. They live near the highway everyday. Their quality of life is much more important than telling someone where the nearest McDonalds is. If providing info to drivers was that important, then signs would be required in urban areas, where there are more people on the roads, rather than excluding those areas.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on May 25, 2017, 06:04:56 AM
Quote from: roadman on May 24, 2017, 02:44:56 PM
<quote>installations of noise wall</quote>
If a noise wall is located so close to the right edge of the highway that normal traffic signs cannot be installed, then the design of the noise wall is flawed. And providing information to drivers on the highway is more important than "quality of life" enhancements that are expensive and of questionable value.
Not necessarily. You're doing with old roads that were squeezed in when the interstate system was designed. In many cases, the highway went thru old neighborhoods. Some states, like NJ, tried to make amends decades later to affected homeowners as traffic has gotten much heavier.
Also, NJ's soundwall program came into play well before NJ's logo sign program. And a state's citizens are not going to agree with you. They live near the highway everyday. Their quality of life is much more important than telling someone where the nearest McDonalds is. If providing info to drivers was that important, then signs would be required in urban areas, where there are more people on the roads, rather than excluding those areas.
Appreciate where right of way constraints may be an issue. However, my experience with noise walls has been that designers insist on placing them right up against the roadway edge, even if there enough right of way to provide a sufficient offset to accommodate future sign installations. And it's not just placement of service signs that are affected, but placement of all guide signs - including uprights for overhead sign supports.
As for noise walls placed to address the "waahhhh - I bought a house next to a major highway but don't want to hear the traffic" crowd (as opposed to new construction where a highway doesn't exist), what happens ten or fifteen years from now when the traffic volume doubles? Do you come back and put in an even bigger or thicker wall (assuming it's even practical)?
And, I don't know about New Jersey, but in Massachusetts, the average construction cost for a noise wall is approximately $1 million per half-mile (that's right -
per half-mile). Given how government resources are continually shrinking, as well as the increasingly deteriorated state of our highways and bridges, logic strongly suggests that we should be spending that money on more important infrastructure priorities instead of "feel good" projects whose principal purpose is to satisfy the vanity of private property owners who, again, KNOWINGLY BOUGHT houses adjacent to major highways.
All the info for CT:
http://www.ct.gov/dot/cwp/view.asp?A=1394&Q=259522 (http://www.ct.gov/dot/cwp/view.asp?A=1394&Q=259522)
Illinois:
From IDOT: Short version, not in "densely populated urban areas" -- which I'm pretty sure limits them to outside the City of Chicago, as I'm pretty sure I've seen them in the 'Burbs
https://idot.illinois.gov/doing-business/permits/special-sign-programs/index
"IDOT administers a Business Logo Signing Program along various Interstate highways and other freeways. This program involves mounting gas, food, lodging, camping business, and 24-hour pharmacy signs, referred to as logos, on large blue-background panels in advance of interchange exits, and along exit ramps to alert motorists of available motorist services.
The program includes all sections of Interstate highways and other freeways except those passing through densely populated urbanized areas where logo signing would overload motorists with information that is not essential to their safe travel. It does not apply to highways under the jurisdiction of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.
Where sufficient room is available between interchanges, a maximum of four freeway panels will be erected within the right-of-way of a freeway after approval by IDOT of an application for a type of service."
From ISTHA: Short version, Rural/Far out Suburban/Exurban interchanges only. The website actually specifies what specific interchanges are allowed. Also, only Lodging or Special Attraction logo signs on the IL Tollways -- I'm assuming that is due to the Oases/Service Plazas, since the common "Gas" or "Fuel" and "Food" logo signs aren't allowed.
Of course, this doesn't take into account the Logo signs for the Oases/Service Plazas themselves, which obviously list the Food and Fuel options available, and most of the Oases (other than DeKalb and Belvidere) are in fairly Urbanized Suburban areas with high traffic counts
https://www.illinoistollway.com/doing-business/information-signage-guidelines
Quote from: ilpt4u on May 26, 2017, 01:05:23 AM
The program includes all sections of Interstate highways and other freeways except those passing through densely populated urbanized areas where logo signing would overload motorists with information that is not essential to their safe travel.
I realize this is Illinois-specific, but I remember a time when I was traveling along I-270 in Maryland, approaching DC, and looking in earnest for a gas station logo sign. After my stay in DC was over and I was on my way home, I remember looking without success for one along I-66 in Virginia. I was thrilled to find a Sheetz logo sign for the US 15 Haymarket exit, as I was running on fumes at that point.
Quote from: hbelkins on May 26, 2017, 01:07:59 PM
Quote from: ilpt4u on May 26, 2017, 01:05:23 AM
The program includes all sections of Interstate highways and other freeways except those passing through densely populated urbanized areas where logo signing would overload motorists with information that is not essential to their safe travel.
I realize this is Illinois-specific, but I remember a time when I was traveling along I-270 in Maryland, approaching DC, and looking in earnest for a gas station logo sign. After my stay in DC was over and I was on my way home, I remember looking without success for one along I-66 in Virginia. I was thrilled to find a Sheetz logo sign for the US 15 Haymarket exit, as I was running on fumes at that point.
When was this? Virginia does actually allow logo signs in urban areas, although they tend to disappear near downtown areas, as well as areas with exits that are too closely spaced. For example, in the Hampton Roads area, even though most Hampton Roads Interstates have them, they are not installed on parts of I-64 and I-264 in Norfolk. However, I-64 in Newport News, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, and parts of Hampton, I-264 in Portsmouth and Virginia Beach, as well as I-664 have logo signs installed (I-464 used to have one at one exit but it was removed since the business did not renew its lease).
It was in 2004.
In regards to sound barriers, current NJ policy is they will only consider them when reconstructing the road. They won't install them just because a developer built a housing development next to a road.
As far as their height goes, there's a whole engineering analysis that goes into their height (like all aspects of roadway design). A single highway can easily have multiple heights of sound barrier due to various roadway and off-roadway conditions.
Nevada was left out of the list. Logo signs are allowed in all areas, but use in urban areas is limited by sign spacing standards so these signs are usually on the edges of urban areas.
Quote from: roadfro on May 28, 2017, 06:06:40 PM
Nevada was left out of the list. Logo signs are allowed in all areas, but use in urban areas is limited by sign spacing standards so these signs are usually on the edges of urban areas.
Last time I was in Vegas I actually saw them pretty close in on most freeways, found frequently on I-15 and US 95/I-515, but for some unknown reason I-215 did not have them.
Quote from: Pink Jazz on May 28, 2017, 09:39:44 PM
Quote from: roadfro on May 28, 2017, 06:06:40 PM
Nevada was left out of the list. Logo signs are allowed in all areas, but use in urban areas is limited by sign spacing standards so these signs are usually on the edges of urban areas.
Last time I was in Vegas I actually saw them pretty close in on most freeways, found frequently on I-15 and US 95/I-515, but for some unknown reason I-215 did not have them.
Well, they're definitely not close in like to downtown due to sign spreading. There's probably more along I-515 than anything else.
You likely don't find logo signs along I-215 because most of that route is under Clark County jurisdiction, not NDOT. That, and it's not really a tourist corridor, logo signage is probably a bit less effective there.
Note that New Mexico's logo sign contract is currently up for bid, since Interstate Logos' contract with NMDOT is expiring (they signed the contract in 2009, with a four year base period and four option years). I wonder whatever company is selected to administer the logo sign program in New Mexico will install logo signs on Albuquerque freeways. The RFP document includes provisions to allow logo signs in urban or suburban areas where spacing allows.