The Worst of Road Signs

[Scott5114]

That's like...Oklahoma-level bad.

[Central Avenue]

I found this gem while visiting Cape Breton Island earlier this week...

The oversided "dn" makes me wonder if they originally put "Syndey" and had to hastily correct it.

[Ace10]

Is that "dn" Clearview or Helvetica? I have the Clearview "d" and "n" on the same sign to compare them against, but it still really, really looks like Helvetica, and I wouldn't doubt it if they just hastily and haphazardly threw together such an awful patch/greenout.

Also noticed the periods for the "Rd." and "St." abbreviations, which should also not be there. Well, "St." maybe, but I figure most people know "St" in front of a name means "saint" and after means "street".

[Scott5114]

It's Clearview. Helvetica has a smaller x-height.

[Sanctimoniously]

I'm assuming they were posted here not because of the shape, but because of the difficulty of squeezing 190 into them.

Those aren't that bad.



(Borrowed from the shield gallery.)

EDIT: So I can have a semi-original post:



Sorry for the blurriness.

[Dougtone]

Is that "dn" Clearview or Helvetica? I have the Clearview "d" and "n" on the same sign to compare them against, but it still really, really looks like Helvetica, and I wouldn't doubt it if they just hastily and haphazardly threw together such an awful patch/greenout.

Also noticed the periods for the "Rd." and "St." abbreviations, which should also not be there. Well, "St." maybe, but I figure most people know "St" in front of a name means "saint" and after means "street".

This photo was taken in Nova Scotia, so I'm not familiar with any Canadian equivalent of the MUTCD allowing or disallowing periods after Rd. or St.

[roadfro]

I found this gem while visiting Cape Breton Island earlier this week...

 

This sign assembly is just awful! Not only do we have the font issues...

* improper use of an exit direction arrow on the top panel
* shields are of an independent mount variety, outline shields on square blanks (although this isn't too bad)
* numbers inside shield aren't properly centered
* improper directional banners where it should be white-on-green with the sign
* "Road" and "Saint" abbreviated with a period unnecessarily
* general service signs in brown color instead of blue
* recreation sign in blue color instead of brown
* 90° turn arrows on service signs oriented in direction that makes no sense to someone viewing sign head on




EDIT:

This photo was taken in Nova Scotia, so I'm not familiar with any Canadian equivalent of the MUTCD allowing or disallowing periods after Rd. or St.

Huh... well maybe that renders some of my previous rant meaningless, as I assumed it to be a US sign (with the US route shield shape in use).

[Kacie Jane]

This photo was taken in Nova Scotia, so I'm not familiar with any Canadian equivalent of the MUTCD allowing or disallowing periods after Rd. or St.

Does the U.S. MUTCD disallow periods?  Oregon seems to always use them.  In Washington, they're common on older signs, less so but still not unheard of on newer signs.

[mefailenglish]

I have a photo from Sept. 2006 of the orange Floridachrome shields from somewher around there.  maybe that junction, or maybe a few blocks away.

(image snip)

same awful shape!

Yes, the orange ones were on Rattlesnake-Hammock Road, next to a 7-11.  They were finally taken down and replaced.  I've been told they have been placed in a museum.

[Ace10]

This photo was taken in Nova Scotia, so I'm not familiar with any Canadian equivalent of the MUTCD allowing or disallowing periods after Rd. or St.

Does the U.S. MUTCD disallow periods?  Oregon seems to always use them.  In Washington, they're common on older signs, less so but still not unheard of on newer signs.

MUTCD, Section 2E.17:

02. Periods, apostrophes, question marks, ampersands, or other punctuation or characters that are not letters,
numerals, or hyphens should not be used in abbreviations, unless necessary to avoid confusion.

That's for Chapter 2E for guide signs for freeways & expressways. Chapter 2D which talks about guide signs for conventional roads has no section on abbreviations, so it would either be allowed or disallowed depending on the class of the road.

Of course, as Dougtone said, the picture is of a sign in Nova Scotia. The US Route shields threw me off, too, and I thought it was a sign in the US, which is why I brought up the MUTCD's prohibition on abbreviations on guide signs. I don't know of Canada's equivalent to the MUTCD, so I can't comment on whether the periods for abbreviations are allowed or not.

[myosh_tino]

Does the U.S. MUTCD disallow periods?  Oregon seems to always use them.  In Washington, they're common on older signs, less so but still not unheard of on newer signs.

MUTCD, Section 2E.17:

02. Periods, apostrophes, question marks, ampersands, or other punctuation or characters that are not letters,
numerals, or hyphens should not be used in abbreviations, unless necessary to avoid confusion.

Like Kacie Jane said... tell that to the state of Oregon!

[WillWeaverRVA]

EDIT: So I can have a semi-original post:



Sorry for the blurriness.

Virginia Beach?

[Sanctimoniously]

Yes, on Independence Boulevard.

[kphoger]

Of course, as Dougtone said, the picture is of a sign in Nova Scotia. The US Route shields threw me off, too . . .

But it isn't a US Route shield!  It's a Nova Scotia Trunk Highway shield!              

* improper directional banners where it should be white-on-green with the sign

I'm curious:  Is the black-on-white plaque OK on Canadian signs, or should it have been plain white on green?

[Ace10]

Of course, as Dougtone said, the picture is of a sign in Nova Scotia. The US Route shields threw me off, too . . .

But it isn't a US Route shield!  It's a Nova Scotia Trunk Highway shield!              

You're right! Bing Maps for some reason has this weird pentagon-shaped shield for Nova Scotia Trunk Highways, so I didn't even think the US Route-style shield was correct.

Crap, now every time I see a US Route shield in someone's avatar, I won't know if it's for a US Route or for a Nova Scotia Trunk Highway. Somehow I don't think it's that big a deal, though!

[kphoger]

Crap, now every time I see a US Route shield in someone's avatar, I won't know if it's for a US Route or for a Nova Scotia Trunk Highway. Somehow I don't think it's that big a deal, though!

If I'm not mistaken, modern Nova Scotia TH shields all have a white square background–unlike US Route shields, which are either cutouts or have a black square background.  Someone may have contrary information, but I believe older cutout TH shields all had the provinical name at the top.  So you shouldn't ever have to wonder.

[empirestate]

You're right! Bing Maps for some reason has this weird pentagon-shaped shield for Nova Scotia Trunk Highways, so I didn't even think the US Route-style shield was correct.

Even Mapple doesn't get it right; they show it as a generic square.

[Duke87]

I'm curious:  Is the black-on-white plaque OK on Canadian signs, or should it have been plain white on green?

You can't really call any Canadian signage "improper" the way you can with US signage since Canada has no equivalent of an MUTCD. Roads are up to each province to handle separately and they are each free to do whatever they please with their signs.

[Alps]

I'm curious:  Is the black-on-white plaque OK on Canadian signs, or should it have been plain white on green?

You can't really call any Canadian signage "improper" the way you can with US signage since Canada has no equivalent of an MUTCD. Roads are up to each province to handle separately and they are each free to do whatever they please with their signs.

In this case, it's a fairly standard Nova Scotia practice, so the answer is "OK."

[Dougtone]

This rather awful shield assembly is found in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, just over the border from Calais, Maine.  As far as I can, it's a New Brunswick provincial standard, and even if the shield should be for ME 9 and not US 9, I somehow find this to be among the worst of road signs.

[akotchi]

This rather awful shield assembly is found in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, just over the border from Calais, Maine.  As far as I can, it's a New Brunswick provincial standard, and even if the shield should be for ME 9 and not US 9, I somehow find this to be among the worst of road signs.

Why would one sign for a U.S. highway overlap in New Jersey from Canada? 

[agentsteel53]

This rather awful shield assembly is found in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, just over the border from Calais, Maine.  As far as I can, it's a New Brunswick provincial standard, and even if the shield should be for ME 9 and not US 9, I somehow find this to be among the worst of road signs.

I don't mind the shield shape, and like the '48 spec outline, with additional "US" (shades of 1950s New York!)... and the error in US vs ME route is not too bad.  the "9" even looks kinda like a New York custom digit.

but goddamn is that one ugly "1"!!

[Scott5114]

They are both stock Helvetica digits.

[Mr. Matté]

My home county, Mercer, NJ, seems to have the worst county highways. Not only do they have the most random routings and terrible pavement quality, their shields (if posted) are terrible as well. Most are either so faded that you can't even see the route number, have misaligned numerals, or are just plain fugly:

[yakra]

I saw a map in Tim Horton's once (musta been of Tim Horton's locations in Maine) where every state route was marked with a US Route shield. Well then. I guess, from over there, all these routes are in the US, so... *shrug* :lol:

But yeah, those Helvetica numerals make my eyes bleed. The '9' looks a little bit off center too.