AARoads Forum

National Boards => General Highway Talk => Topic started by: andrewkbrown on May 30, 2011, 09:24:28 PM

Title: Largest highway shield
Post by: andrewkbrown on May 30, 2011, 09:24:28 PM
What are some of the largest highway shields anyone can recall seeing, be it interstate, US highway or state highway?

I thought of this since I often pass under this for I-95...
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=38.795269,-77.143228&spn=0.003897,0.014656&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=38.795295,-77.143075&panoid=lxviE-p1lmmtx8IMXgVZ8A&cbp=12,244.33,,0,-9.88

What size might this one be? 5x5 or 6x6 ft?
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: NE2 on May 30, 2011, 09:33:32 PM
Pennsylvania Turnpike?
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/PennsylvaniaTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5443851538655243042
http://www.m-plex.com/roads/pamplex/treichard/i70w_us30e_split.jpg
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: Quillz on May 30, 2011, 09:45:31 PM
(//www.aaroads.com/shields/img/MA/MA19880951i1.jpg)

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.interstate-guide.com%2Fimages095%2Fi-095_nb_new_england_thruway.jpg&hash=990ec3eab445fa4c185e4e79ff2e786c9d1d7306)
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: myosh_tino on May 30, 2011, 09:51:19 PM
How about these...
(https://www.aaroads.com/california/images005/i-005_nb_exit_219b_01a.jpg)

Too bad it's been replaced with new reflective signs.  The shields on the new one aren't as big...
(https://www.aaroads.com/california/images005/i-005_nb_exit_219b_01.jpg)
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: jdb1234 on May 30, 2011, 11:12:35 PM
From Hoover:

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs761.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fxx260%2Fjdbarnes1234%2F101_1054.jpg&hash=d195ee21d81b92876d9da0910850870863974550)
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: Dr Frankenstein on May 31, 2011, 12:24:19 AM
In the Pull Through sign department... http://maps.google.ca/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.420737,-75.63072&spn=0.00421,0.008379&z=17&layer=c&cbll=45.420814,-75.630217&panoid=4qHXcJs-7_I1G0rTygzMEA&cbp=12,259.03,,1,-0.84
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: national highway 1 on May 31, 2011, 01:12:07 AM
Quote from: myosh_tino on May 30, 2011, 09:51:19 PM
How about these...
(https://www.aaroads.com/california/images005/i-005_nb_exit_219b_01a.jpg)
Those two shields were particularly fugly...Thank God they were replaced.
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: Quillz on May 31, 2011, 01:23:32 AM
I think they look awkward because they're at an angle. I think head-on, they look like fairly standard route shields.
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: DTComposer on May 31, 2011, 02:13:26 AM
Quote from: myosh_tino on May 30, 2011, 09:51:19 PM
(https://www.aaroads.com/california/images005/i-005_nb_exit_219b_01.jpg)

Why isn't the I-5 shield centered? Just another Caltrans mystery...
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: mightyace on May 31, 2011, 02:48:54 AM
^^^

It looks like there's room for NORTH to the right of the shield.
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: national highway 1 on May 31, 2011, 05:39:10 AM
Better still, mount a three-paneled sign bridge before the overpass, perpendicular to the traffic lanes.
Left Panel:
EXIT 221
JCT CA 99 1 1/2 MILES
Middle Panel:
I-5 NORTH
San Francisco
Sacramento
Right Panel:
EXIT 219B
Laval Road West
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: J N Winkler on May 31, 2011, 11:08:36 AM
I think the only sign that should be bridge-mounted should be the Laval Road exit direction sign, with information relating to the I-5/SR 99 split being relegated to an overhead structure further down the road.  This makes more sense in terms of message loading and avoids having the extreme skew of the overbridge get in the way of interpreting the messages related to the split.

In principle the I-5 and SR 99 messages can do without downward-pointing arrows, but the interchange configuration (three lanes of SR 99 leaving on the left) is so unusual that I can understand why they are used.
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: hobsini2 on May 31, 2011, 04:30:43 PM
The Interstate shields (I-55, I-40) on the BGS at the west JCT in West Memphis AR were pretty big.
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: Bickendan on June 01, 2011, 01:47:00 AM
Quote from: national highway 1 on May 31, 2011, 05:39:10 AM
Better still, mount a three-paneled sign bridge before the overpass, perpendicular to the traffic lanes.
Left Panel:
EXIT 221
JCT CA 99 1 1/2 MILES
Middle Panel:
I-5 NORTH
San Francisco
Sacramento
Right Panel:
EXIT 219B
Laval Road West
Or even:
Left panel
CA 99 Golden State Freeway

Right panel
I-5 West Side Freeway
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: myosh_tino on June 01, 2011, 05:53:00 PM
Here are the signs on I-5 before the CA-99 split drawn based on the suggestions of National Highway 1 and Bickendan...

Quote from: national highway 1 on May 31, 2011, 05:39:10 AM
Better still, mount a three-paneled sign bridge before the overpass, perpendicular to the traffic lanes.
Left Panel:
EXIT 221
JCT CA 99 1 1/2 MILES
Middle Panel:
I-5 NORTH
San Francisco
Sacramento
Right Panel:
EXIT 219B
Laval Road West
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.markyville.com%2Faaroads%2F5-99-LavalRd_NatlHwy1.png&hash=6cf58606ca73892b1b5f3ca77d3fef197486efc1)

Quote from: Bickendan on June 01, 2011, 01:47:00 AM
Or even:
Left panel
CA 99 Golden State Freeway
Right panel
I-5 West Side Freeway
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.markyville.com%2Faaroads%2F5-99-LavalRd_Bickendan.png&hash=08539e9ccd002511e81ce4296f6afd818eb14a1b)

Mods: If you feel that this should be in the Road-Related Illustrations thread, feel free to move it.
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: national highway 1 on June 02, 2011, 02:36:48 AM
Exactly what I meant, myosh_tino! Great work!  :clap:
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: agentsteel53 on June 02, 2011, 11:32:36 AM
I remember the button copy shields and they were indeed fugly - it's not just the angle at work here, it is the non-standard stretched design as well. 

the largest shield I can recall is that I-95 at the beginning of the NY Thruway which Quillz posted a photo of.  But some of the shields which are painted directly in the lane might be larger.

(//www.aaroads.com/shields/img/TX/TX20070101i1.jpg)

tough to tell because of the angles - I believe they are probably significantly heightened vertically to compensate for the foreshortening and make them look approximately correct when being driven over.
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: roadfro on June 03, 2011, 01:34:54 AM
Pavement marking shields are indeed bigger--the 2di shield at smallest is 6' x 15' according to the 2004 SHS book.

I think the pavement shields are in a whole separate class of shields that it's not fair to compare to regular sign shields.
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: Alex on June 03, 2011, 04:44:34 PM
Quote from: Quillz on May 30, 2011, 09:45:31 PM

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.interstate-guide.com%2Fimages095%2Fi-095_nb_new_england_thruway.jpg&hash=990ec3eab445fa4c185e4e79ff2e786c9d1d7306)

Definitely the largest I have seen. That photo size does not do it justice.

Though temporary and long gone, these fugly things were quite large as well:

(https://www.aaroads.com/northeast/pennsylvania200/i-279_sb_exit_008b_06.jpg)
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: Michael on June 04, 2011, 01:34:33 PM
In the mid 1990s, NYSDOT reconstructed NY 5 east of Auburn, and installed huge NY 5 signs (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.982149,-76.531878&spn=0,0.010568&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=42.982245,-76.531885&panoid=PQ2IRHTfPPxfNHJ9x5zHlw&cbp=12,32.46,,0,2.01).
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: Duke87 on June 04, 2011, 06:24:16 PM
Quote from: Alex on June 03, 2011, 04:44:34 PM
Quote from: Quillz on May 30, 2011, 09:45:31 PM
{Huge I-95 shield at New England thruway toll plaza}

Definitely the largest I have seen. That photo size does not do it justice.

Compare it to the minivan waiting in the lane next to it. That sucker's gotta be six feet tall.
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: cu2010 on June 05, 2011, 05:25:51 PM
Quote from: Michael on June 04, 2011, 01:34:33 PM
In the mid 1990s, NYSDOT reconstructed NY 5 east of Auburn, and installed huge NY 5 signs (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.982149,-76.531878&spn=0,0.010568&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=42.982245,-76.531885&panoid=PQ2IRHTfPPxfNHJ9x5zHlw&cbp=12,32.46,,0,2.01).

NY104 has some even bigger than that after a recent reconstruction project east of Oswego...they're so large that they make the standard-sized banner look tiny!
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: pianocello on June 05, 2011, 07:14:40 PM
Although not as big as ones previously posted, normal route signs in Indiana seem to be a lot bigger than in other states
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: architect77 on June 27, 2011, 04:58:57 PM
Quote from: DTComposer on May 31, 2011, 02:13:26 AM
Quote from: myosh_tino on May 30, 2011, 09:51:19 PM
(https://www.aaroads.com/california/images005/i-005_nb_exit_219b_01.jpg)

Why isn't the I-5 shield centered? Just another Caltrans mystery...
They were trying to compensate for the foreshortening caused by the angle. Would it have killed them to mount these signs with a bracket to properly face the road?
Title: Re: Largest highway shield
Post by: Brandon on June 27, 2011, 07:41:08 PM
Quote from: architect77 on June 27, 2011, 04:58:57 PM
They were trying to compensate for the foreshortening caused by the angle. Would it have killed them to mount these signs with a bracket to properly face the road?

If it's CalTrans, you just answered your own question.  :pan: