The Worst of Road Signs

[PHLBOS]

Spotted this sad excuse for a US shield in Cumberland two weeks ago. Looks sort of like an acorn...

Okay, I know what a white-on-blue "H" sign means HOSPITAL, white-on-blue "P" sign means POLICE and white-on-blue "?" means INFORMATION, but what the heck does the white-on-blue "Y" sign on the left side of that photo mean???

You Go Here sign.   
My guess is that that its for a parking area/lot that designated by that letter.

[agentsteel53]

it means "you are here".

I thought that white P on blue background meant parking.

I've also seen "C" in Florida, whose meaning I do not know.

[roadfro]

The "P" is meant for parking. Blue signs for "Police" are usually a badge graphic of some kind.

[Kacie Jane]

My gut told me to guess that Y is for YMCA, and sure enough, there appears to be one a couple of blocks past the I-68 entrance in question. Google maps  (Street view in the area sucks, but I'm 99% I pinpointed the sign at A; the unedited route would direct you down Chase instead of Lee.)

The Y sign in question looks like it might be from a bygone era when YMCAs were worth signing in such a fashion.

[Dougtone]

Spotted this sad excuse for a US shield in Cumberland two weeks ago. Looks sort of like an acorn...

I've spotted a similar shield in Frederick, MD, but for US 15.

[Sanctimoniously]

Derpy-looking US 70 shield in Morehead City, NC.

[vtk]

Derpy-looking US 70 shield in Morehead City, NC.

I think that's a perfect '61-spec wide US outline, geometrically stretched to square dimensions.

[Sanctimoniously]

Perhaps, but it doesn't seem like they carried over that perfection to the font.

[okroads]

Two cases of bad font...

[Brandon]

^^ Bad, yes, but fortunately temporary as they are construction contractor signs.

[Central Avenue]

The first one also has an inline fraction, and it lacks any sort of border separating the exit number from the main sign panel.

[KEK Inc.]

Perhaps, but it doesn't seem like they carried over that perfection to the font.

The only thing I can criticize is the spacing between the 7 and 0 is maybe an inch too wide.  Really nothing critically wrong about that sign that I can see.

[national highway 1]

Perhaps, but it doesn't seem like they carried over that perfection to the font.

The only thing I can criticize is the spacing between the 7 and 0 is maybe an inch too wide.  Really nothing critically wrong about that sign that I can see.

I guess that would belong in the category 'Signs With Design Errors'. Not too big of a deal.

[Eth]

Perhaps, but it doesn't seem like they carried over that perfection to the font.

The only thing I can criticize is the spacing between the 7 and 0 is maybe an inch too wide.  Really nothing critically wrong about that sign that I can see.

It looks to me like it may be vertically stretched Series E, when really D would've done just fine.

[Duke87]

The Y sign in question looks like it might be from a bygone era when YMCAs were worth signing in such a fashion.

I was incidentally in this very spot yesterday and I checked. The Y sign has a sticker on the back dating it to 1998.

[Compulov]

Spotted this sad excuse for a US shield in Cumberland two weeks ago. Looks sort of like an acorn...

There's a US 15 shield like that after the Harrisburg West toll plaza off the PA Turnpike. Drives me f'n insane every time I drive past it. Maybe I'm a tad bit OCD...

[signalman]

^ Yikes!  That US 15 sign is hideous.  If I didn't already know it was a US route, I'd never be able to tell based on the sign.

[Kacie Jane]

The Y sign in question looks like it might be from a bygone era when YMCAs were worth signing in such a fashion.

I was incidentally in this very spot yesterday and I checked. The Y sign has a sticker on the back dating it to 1998.

Interesting.  Looks significantly more worn than that.

[flowmotion]

Derpy-looking US 70 shield in Morehead City, NC.

I think that's a perfect '61-spec wide US outline, geometrically stretched to square dimensions.

Combination railroad crossing and highway guide sign mounted on some strange man-climbable tower in the middle of an intersection? If it wasn't for that awkward No U-Turn sign, this might a "best" candidate.

[codyg1985]

This weird sign was seen in Collierville, TN:



Then there is this sign stating the obvious in Rainsville, AL (hahaha):

[1995hoo]

I saw white rectangular versions of that "3 feet" sign in Florida last month.

[agentsteel53]

I think that's a perfect '61-spec wide US outline, geometrically stretched to square dimensions.

what is '61 wide?  do you mean for green sign use, or California-style cutout?

the '61 MUTCD had only one width (square) for black squares.  they had these wide offerings:





the CA-style cutout was intended to be paired with an interstate shield as a mainline reassurance.

[vtk]

I think that's a perfect '61-spec wide US outline, geometrically stretched to square dimensions.

what is '61 wide?  do you mean for green sign use, or California-style cutout?

the '61 MUTCD had only one width (square) for black squares.  they had these wide offerings:





the CA-style cutout was intended to be paired with an interstate shield as a mainline reassurance.

Okay, I should have said the specific thing which I knew was applicable, not the general thing which I (incorrectly) thought was applicable.  The shield outline in the pictured US 70 shield looks to me like a perfect Ohio Sign Design Manual (current version, relevant pages dated 1975) wide US shield outline (30"×24" and/or 45"×36", guide sign and/or independent mount; my eye can't detect differences in outline shape between those variants) scaled to square dimensions.  I had previously got the impression that Ohio's US and Interstate markers, as detailed in the SDM, were essentially '61-spec.  If I had to choose between the above-pictured California wide shields, I'd say the outermost edge of the independent-mount cutout most closely matches the shape used in Ohio and scaled to square dimensions for that US 70 shield.

[agentsteel53]

vtk, you are referring to the '70 spec US shield. 



that was devised by Pennsylvania around 1965, and adopted by other states mainly starting in 1970 when it became a federal standard.  Ohio's used it since the mid-70s: 1975 seems about right. 

the US-70 shield indeed looks like a shrunk version of that 611.

[Roadsguy]

Is US 611 that sign still there? Where is/was it?