AARoads Forum

National Boards => General Highway Talk => Traffic Control => Topic started by: DSS5 on June 12, 2013, 04:25:02 PM

Title: Brown number signs
Post by: DSS5 on June 12, 2013, 04:25:02 PM
Can anyone explain these to me? They count from 0-9 and then start over. I noticed them on I-40 Westbound near Canton, NC

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=i-40+asheville&ll=35.551781,-82.87365&spn=0.017248,0.084543&hnear=Interstate+40,+Asheville,+Buncombe,+North+Carolina&gl=us&t=h&z=14&layer=c&cbll=35.551793,-82.873682&panoid=3XyO6QtHt-08x9CkEWkvSQ&cbp=12,265.27,,0,13.51
Title: Re: Brown number signs
Post by: rarnold on June 12, 2013, 04:34:22 PM
They probably measure 1/10ths of a mile.
Title: Re: Brown number signs
Post by: agentsteel53 on June 12, 2013, 04:35:14 PM
the last "0" is on the same post as an END CONSTRUCTION sign, so maybe it was some guide to the road workers?

it may or may not be a coincidence that each gap between numbers is three lane stripes long, by my eyeballing.  so, 120 feet?  (unless my knowledge of interstate lane striping is incorrect.  10-30-10-30..., correct?)
Title: Re: Brown number signs
Post by: DSS5 on June 12, 2013, 09:43:41 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on June 12, 2013, 04:35:14 PM
the last "0" is on the same post as an END CONSTRUCTION sign, so maybe it was some guide to the road workers?

it may or may not be a coincidence that each gap between numbers is three lane stripes long, by my eyeballing.  so, 120 feet?  (unless my knowledge of interstate lane striping is incorrect.  10-30-10-30..., correct?)

Nothing to do with the construction. That image is from August 2011. I drove by there last week, the road work and related signs are long gone.
Title: Re: Brown number signs
Post by: KEK Inc. on June 13, 2013, 06:00:02 AM
RPM for a semi?
Title: Re: Brown number signs
Post by: Mapmikey on June 13, 2013, 08:08:42 AM
They are almost certainly related to the rehab of the bridge which looks recent in the 2011 GMSV.  Notice that they also have a set of 0-9 twice facing backward on the same side of I-40 east of the bridge.  They are distance-related points (20 in each direction) from the mid point of the bridge it appears.



Mapmikey
Title: Re: Brown number signs
Post by: hbelkins on June 13, 2013, 12:42:47 PM
Those signs have been up for years and years. Seems like I heard somewhere that they are weather-related, since that area is subject to heavy fog.
Title: Re: Brown number signs
Post by: PHLBOS on June 13, 2013, 04:40:49 PM
Those sort of remind me of the large white-on-black number signs one sees along an airport runway.  The numeral (X) represents X000 feet to the end of the runway.  In the case of the runway, the numbers decrease as a plane travels along a runway (in both take-offs and landings).
Title: Re: Brown number signs
Post by: HazMatt on June 13, 2013, 07:15:03 PM
There's a joke that the signs are to teach us North Carolinians how to count before we get to Tennessee.
Title: Re: Brown number signs
Post by: Alps on June 13, 2013, 09:33:49 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on June 13, 2013, 12:42:47 PM
Those signs have been up for years and years. Seems like I heard somewhere that they are weather-related, since that area is subject to heavy fog.
Sounds like a maintenance reference, then, or state police - determine visibility based on number of signs you can see ahead. The NJ Turnpike Authority does this with just plain skip lines to decide how low to run the speed limit on a foggy day or whether to close the road entirely.