I'm taking the liberty of passing on a question someone else posed on Skyscraper City:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=84445189&postcount=1183
See photo no. 8: the state-shaped Indiana 49 marker. Are those replacing the rectangles, or...?
Contractor error I think is the consensus
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=3521.msg111271#msg111271
^^Thanks. Thought I'd seen something about that here. But couldn't find an Indiana markers thread.
I replied a while ago a couple of places around Bloomington where there were state-shield SR 37 signs, along what is now considered Business SR 37 (or Walnut Street.) I'm not really sure if it was the state or the city or county that put these up, but they're cool to see anyway.
^^They are cool. The only problem, for a "vertical" state with route numbers that go past 9, being avoiding those awful flattened-Alabama markers.
The state-shaped shields are errors, but Indiana did, at one time pre-1960, use state-shaped shields.
Is there any definitive evidence that these are errors? I am not convinced either way at the moment although I lean toward them being errors.
On one hand, construction just occurred at that junction so contractor-provided signs would be the norm. Also, these appear to be unique.
OTOH, contractor signs usually don't have INDOT stickers on the back, and these do.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fhighwayexplorer.com%2FPhotos%2FTemp%2FSR49Sticker.jpg&hash=d9e72935c9fd0472fd8aa0fabbd56f0d4db7183d)