The Worst of Road Signs

[kharvey10]

IDiOT been replacing light poles in the St. Louis Metro-East starting the first of August, this is the only one set up with this such of a layout.

[Alex]

It was nice to see reassurance shields added to Interstate 295 in Delaware for the first time ever, but what the DRBA posted was wretched... 

[brownpelican]

Good Lord that's huge...

[hbelkins]

Good Lord that's huge...

No bigger than some of the signs that Massachusetts posts.

[Ian]

It was nice to see reassurance shields added to Interstate 295 in Delaware for the first time ever, but what the DRBA posted was wretched... 

May be they borrowed them from RIDOT?

Good Lord that's huge...

No bigger than some of the signs that Massachusetts posts.

Hey, at least Massachusetts cuts out their interstate shields (for the most part)!

[NE2]

Guys, this belongs in the "Enormous road signs" thread...

[1995hoo]

The one I find ugliest in those pictures is the overhead sign for US-13 to Wilmington in the first picture. It has too much green space. I don't necessarily think a big I-295 shield is a bad thing in that particular area.

[6a]

Haha wow, in that second one I thought the sign was above the BGSes at first.  Talk about screwing with a mind...

[jdb1234]

Those can be found in north Alabama as well. A lot of new road construction projects done in the 90's and early 2000's featured those fugly US Shields.

Like this example in Pelham:

[hbelkins]

I've always thought Alabama's standard US route shield to be oddly shaped.

[formulanone]

The S0UTH tabs just l00k wr0ng.

[1995hoo]

This sign went up sometime last year on northbound I-395 in Virginia. I detest this sign for the following reasons:

(a) The abbreviation "Trpk" for "Turnpike." The other signs on I-395, as well as on the Beltway, use "Tnpk"; this one is unique in "Trpk." The street blade signs generally use "Tpke," and then in Annandale there are a couple of lighted street signs attached to mast arms that use "Trnpk." Maybe VDOT simply can't make up their mind how to abbreviate this road.

(b) While I like the spacing between the lines, especially compared to other signs at this interchange where the lines feel crammed together, I think the "Little River Trpk" line runs too close to the edges of the sign. The VA-236 shield also seems crammed very close to the top of the sign. I've gotten the feeling in recent years that VDOT has been trying to use smaller signs where possible (perhaps to save money?).

(c) Centered exit tab. Both ramps leave on the right. I suppose it could be worse–when you get to Exit 3A, that exit's tab is on the left even though the exit is on the right.

(d) Space between "3 A—B." I know it's the new standard, but it's a standard I think is unnecessary and ugly.

(e) The sign doesn't give any destinations. This is minor in a way because the signs for the specific ramps do list destinations, but I've always thought that a sign that merely gives a road's name isn't particularly helpful to someone who doesn't already know the area.

[thenetwork]

(e) The sign doesn't give any destinations. This is minor in a way because the signs for the specific ramps do list destinations, but I've always thought that a sign that merely gives a road's name isn't particularly helpful to someone who doesn't already know the area.

More than likely on the primary exit BGSs in urban areas, the use of street names usually takes precedence over specific destinations because the locals will tend to call that particular thoroughfare by it's street name rather than it's route number.  Usually one secondary exit BGSs will list a couple of destinations (cities, landmarks, etc...), referring drivers to USE EXIT xxx, for example. 

But once you get out in the rural areas, BGSs will list destinations on their primary exit signs because either the locals call the thoroughfare by the route number more often than the street name, or the thoroughfare is simply known as "Highway/Route xxx".

But as far as the other aesthetics of the sign go, It's not too bad. 

And why is there just as many "accepted" abbreviations for turnpike as there are "accepted" spellings for that Libyan dictator currently in hiding???  Can't we just settle on a single spelling and be done with it? 

(My vote goes for "Tpk.")   

[vtk]

Why did MUTCD introduce a space between the numeral and suffix of a suffixed exit number? If only for legibility, I think 1/4 text height gap would suffice – a space equal to the full text height makes it look like two separate, unrelated things.

[MDOTFanFB]

Here's a good old example:



Yeah, this sign is in Clearview, but that isn't the only thing wrong with this BGS. Do you know anything else that is wrong here?

[agentsteel53]

I remember when that sign, or one near it, was Highway Gothic, had a half-width exit tab, and was simply "exit 69".

my guess would be the full-size exit tab?

[D-Dey65]

Another problem I've always had with the signs at the Georgia Welcome Center:



No exit sign for St. Marys Road.

I-95 Welcome Center in Georgia; Cool ramp arrangement, sucky signs.

[1995hoo]

Strikes me as odd that they'd specify the time zone on I-95. One of the roads crossing from Alabama, sure–that's where the time changes. But I-95 doesn't go anywhere close to the Central Time Zone.

[agentsteel53]

Strikes me as odd that they'd specify the time zone on I-95. One of the roads crossing from Alabama, sure–that's where the time changes. But I-95 doesn't go anywhere close to the Central Time Zone.

I actually like that.  It is a helpful reminder.  I certainly have staggered into a gas station after 30-40 hours straight on the road and asked "what time zone am I in?"

[vtk]

Strikes me as odd that they'd specify the time zone on I-95. One of the roads crossing from Alabama, sure–that's where the time changes. But I-95 doesn't go anywhere close to the Central Time Zone.

At least they don't say "EST", which sounds more official but would be wrong for more than half of the year...

[Brandon]

Another problem I've always had with the signs at the Georgia Welcome Center:

{Image}

No exit sign for St. Marys Road.

I-95 Welcome Center in Georgia; Cool ramp arrangement, sucky signs.

WTF?  Rest room hours from 7am to 11pm?  Never seen this kind of time limit on the rest rooms (they're 24/7 around here).

[US71]

The 127 has since been replaced by a regulation AHTD 3d shield;)

[Ian]

Another problem I've always had with the signs at the Georgia Welcome Center:

{Image}

No exit sign for St. Marys Road.

I-95 Welcome Center in Georgia; Cool ramp arrangement, sucky signs.

WTF?  Rest room hours from 7am to 11pm?  Never seen this kind of time limit on the rest rooms (they're 24/7 around here).

It's now 24 hours. Here is my photo of the sign from April of 2010:

[Android]

These three sort of go together - wasn't sure if I should put these in the Clearview Thread or the Worst Signs thread...

Wyoming put in a new I-25 interchange south of Cheyenne with roundabouts at the new crossroad, and they rebuilt the Vandehei Exit 13 with roundabouts as well.  At each there are some not-so-good signs.   

This one, just looks wrong to me - the weight of the capital letters are too strong compared the lowercase. 




Then, when I took the time to drive the little roundabout, found this sign in it - they did it again with the Uppercase letters, but then why did they put "SOUTH" in Highway Gothic instead of the Clearview like the city names on the rest of the sign?   



Is it just me, but is this sign like, totally useless? A few miles north at the Vandehei exit, I saw this sign up after they finished the new exit/roundabout.    It only labels two out of the five roundabout choices. (NB I-25 and NB/SB Hynds Blvd are what's missing)

[roadfro]

This sign went up sometime last year on northbound I-395 in Virginia. I detest this sign for the following reasons:

(a) The abbreviation "Trpk" for "Turnpike." The other signs on I-395, as well as on the Beltway, use "Tnpk"; this one is unique in "Trpk." The street blade signs generally use "Tpke," and then in Annandale there are a couple of lighted street signs attached to mast arms that use "Trnpk." Maybe VDOT simply can't make up their mind how to abbreviate this road.

And why is there just as many "accepted" abbreviations for turnpike as there are "accepted" spellings for that Libyan dictator currently in hiding???  Can't we just settle on a single spelling and be done with it? 

(My vote goes for "Tpk.")   

The official abbreviation in the MUTCD is "Tpk".

(d) Space between "3 A—B." I know it's the new standard, but it's a standard I think is unnecessary and ugly.

Why did MUTCD introduce a space between the numeral and suffix of a suffixed exit number? If only for legibility, I think 1/4 text height gap would suffice  a space equal to the full text height makes it look like two separate, unrelated things.

The space between exit number and suffix was introduced for legibility reasons--I seem to recall a particular note on how similar an '8' and a 'B' look under halation effects. However, the standard for this space is 1/2 to 3/4 times the height of the suffix letter, not the full height space (or more) seen in the photo.

(e) The sign doesn't give any destinations. This is minor in a way because the signs for the specific ramps do list destinations, but I've always thought that a sign that merely gives a road's name isn't particularly helpful to someone who doesn't already know the area.

More than likely on the primary exit BGSs in urban areas, the use of street names usually takes precedence over specific destinations because the locals will tend to call that particular thoroughfare by it's street name rather than it's route number.  Usually one secondary exit BGSs will list a couple of destinations (cities, landmarks, etc...), referring drivers to USE EXIT xxx, for example. 

thenetwork describes the MUTCD guidance on this issue. Destinations are relegated to supplemental guide signs because people tend to navigate by street name in urban areas. Mixing destination legends and street names on the guide signs is discouraged in MUTCD guidance.