AARoads Forum

National Boards => General Highway Talk => Topic started by: roadman65 on July 11, 2023, 12:58:25 PM

Title: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: roadman65 on July 11, 2023, 12:58:25 PM
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/53014015952
Its height is way over the driver's head, but the sign is not directly over the lanes of travel.

It also is cantilevered somewhat over the freeway, but it's mooring is on a single thin mono tube pole used for standard guides.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53014015952_c04bf8a23e_k.jpg)
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: SEWIGuy on July 11, 2023, 01:08:55 PM
No
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: Rothman on July 11, 2023, 01:19:02 PM


Quote from: roadman65 on July 11, 2023, 12:58:25 PM
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/53014015952
Its height is way over the driver's head, but the sign is not directly over the lanes of travel.

It also is cantilevered somewhat over the freeway, but it's mooring is on a single thin mono tube pole used for standard guides.

Given the way it is mounted, in NY, this would fall under an overhead sign repair/replace contract.
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: Big John on July 11, 2023, 02:55:07 PM
Georgia has a lot of those, but centered about the post
  Not considered overhead.
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: epzik8 on July 11, 2023, 03:54:02 PM
Median, not overhead.
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: roadman65 on July 11, 2023, 04:10:33 PM
That's what I'm thinking. It's raised, but not overhead. Had the sign been pushed over the right lane it would be.
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: Dough4872 on July 11, 2023, 09:44:03 PM
I don't consider it an overhead sign because it is not above the travel lanes. Just a roadside guide sign on a really tall pole.
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: Hot Rod Hootenanny on July 12, 2023, 12:30:34 AM
We used to have a sign similar to that along I-70 on Columbus's far east side (err, Reynoldsburg) for WB traffic approaching I-270. ODOT took down the sign in 2017.
Google street view from Oct. 2016: https://goo.gl/maps/2suBHxV8sKwRkZGGA
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: cbeach40 on July 12, 2023, 03:33:27 PM
No, because its design is clearly a lollipop. Based on the support structures in the area that design is for regular road side signs but placed at a higher position.

Conversely, definitely an overhead sign but placed not directly over traffic (for now)
https://goo.gl/maps/spZSztuhPVj76pPQ7
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: gonealookin on July 12, 2023, 04:26:13 PM
That one and a few similar ones remind me of another Caltrans oddball I've pointed out here before, the mid-height but not overhead VMS on northbound US 395 at Crowley Lake:  https://goo.gl/maps/TGUUaRXu7Bk4ZqXD6 (https://goo.gl/maps/TGUUaRXu7Bk4ZqXD6)  That's the only VMS I'm aware of that's mounted that way.
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: ran4sh on July 13, 2023, 03:18:27 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on July 11, 2023, 12:58:25 PM
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/53014015952
Its height is way over the driver's head, but the sign is not directly over the lanes of travel.

It also is cantilevered somewhat over the freeway, but it's mooring is on a single thin mono tube pole used for standard guides.

Yes. Georgia mounts many new BGS' that way, although centered over the post (in particular, Advance Guide signs and sometimes Exit Direction signs, but it could be argued that Exit Direction signs should be mounted over the lanes). I've seen a few other states start doing it as well

As for the people who are saying "no". Do you also say that Interchange Sequence signs in the median (the ones that list the next 3 exits, usually) are also not overhead?
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: SEWIGuy on July 13, 2023, 03:34:27 PM
Quote from: ran4sh on July 13, 2023, 03:18:27 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on July 11, 2023, 12:58:25 PM
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/53014015952
Its height is way over the driver's head, but the sign is not directly over the lanes of travel.

It also is cantilevered somewhat over the freeway, but it's mooring is on a single thin mono tube pole used for standard guides.

Yes. Georgia mounts many new BGS' that way, although centered over the post (in particular, Advance Guide signs and sometimes Exit Direction signs, but it could be argued that Exit Direction signs should be mounted over the lanes). I've seen a few other states start doing it as well

As for the people who are saying "no". Do you also say that Interchange Sequence signs in the median (the ones that list the next 3 exits, usually) are also not overhead?

No. They are literally overhead.  This is not overhead.  It's just tall.
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: J N Winkler on July 13, 2023, 04:46:05 PM
Regarding the OP:  I would say Yes.  I recognize that those disagreeing include practitioners, but I generally understand "overhead" to refer to the height of the bottom edge of the panel in relation to grade, not whether it overhangs the roadway.

Applying this logic to plausible edge cases:

*  Interchange sequence signs mounted on butterfly trusses in a grass median--Overhead.

*  Advance guide or exit direction signs mounted on trusses well off to the side of the road (as in Georgia)--Overhead.

*  Signs mounted off to the side of the road, along a steep upslope such that the bottom edge of the panel is 17' or more above roadway grade but the bottom of the sign is much closer to the ground immediately underneath--Ground-mounted.

*  Signs mounted off to the side of the road, along a steep downslope such that the bottom edge of the panel is barely 7' above roadway grade but is a much greater height above the ground immediately underneath--Overhead.

Some seemingly lightweight structures are tougher than they look from the outside.  They're not all simple hollow-wall designs--Germany, for example, uses hidden stiffening ribs.
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: Jacob Norman on August 08, 2023, 08:56:54 AM
I think this is definitely not an overhead sign. Although it may be officially considered as such in some states, but from the point of view of common sense, this is not so.
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: Henry on August 08, 2023, 10:36:28 PM
Technically, it is an overhead, but since it doesn't actually reach over the travel lanes, then it's really not one.
Title: Re: Would you consider this an overhead sign?
Post by: Dellbeam on August 14, 2023, 03:22:55 PM
It doesn't look like it even goes above anything on that road, so no it's not really an overhead sign.