The Worst of Road Signs

[agentsteel53]

great find!  I never would have guessed that "Pasadena Freeway" was intended to be one expression there.

[formulanone]

Let's just say it now: Walt Disney was a closet roadgeek. There's tons of references to cars, roads, signs, automobiles (and the like) in many of his cartoons, movies, and theme parks.

Although, I believe he was a huge proponent of the interstates from the beginning (travelers would bring their families and dough), as well as all the other promises tied into them.

/ OT

[Central Avenue]

This fat OH 37 shield isn't doing it for me.



At this point I think I've seen more of these one-piece signs with unnecessary wide shields for 2-digit numbers than I have with actual 2-digit shields.

Is that intentional? I get the feeling it must be intentional for it to happen as often as it does, but I have no idea why that would be the case.

[thenetwork]

^^ I want to say that ODOT uses one-size-fits-all blanks for US and State Routes and sticks on the appropriate numbers and arrows after-market.

Even in Medina, ODOT uses wide shields for similar signs when there is only one cardinal direction & arrow.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=google+maps+medina+oh&ll=41.137947,-81.864039&spn=0.000008,0.004801&hnear=Medina,+Ohio&gl=us&t=m&z=18&layer=c&cbll=41.138059,-81.863928&panoid=qJ2g2YXQ1NLBQS6tYnS3aQ&cbp=12,358.62,,0,3.72

Just my guess.

[vtk]

Sometimes, wide shields are used for two-digit routes directly above or below wide shields for three-digit routes, and that allows for a kind of alignment that could have been intentional.  But most of the time, I think it's just halfassery.

[Billy F 1988]

This fat OH 37 shield isn't doing it for me.



At this point I think I've seen more of these one-piece signs with unnecessary wide shields for 2-digit numbers than I have with actual 2-digit shields.

Is that intentional? I get the feeling it must be intentional for it to happen as often as it does, but I have no idea why that would be the case.

Looks like the OH 37 is erroneous, too, direction-wise. Both digits are odd. You see the arrow going up on the US 62, but why would OH 37 be an east-west artery?

[NE2]

Looks like the OH 37 is erroneous, too, direction-wise. Both digits are odd. You see the arrow going up on the US 62, but why would OH 37 be an east-west artery?

What are you talking about?

[Scott5114]

Looks like the OH 37 is erroneous, too, direction-wise. Both digits are odd. You see the arrow going up on the US 62, but why would OH 37 be an east-west artery?

What are you talking about?

He's saying since OH 37 is an odd number, it makes no sense for it to be east west.

[NE2]

Which makes no sense. Ohio doesn't match direction to parity.

[Central Avenue]

If there's anything that should seem weird, it's that two ostensibly "east-west" routes meet at a right angle like that.

Of course, US 62 actually runs southwest to northeast, and OH 37 actually runs northwest to southeast, so the banners are correct, even if it's slightly unintuitive to see an "east-west" cross street after seeing "EAST 62" for several miles.

(I suppose one could argue that OH 37 ought to be signed north-south rather than east-west, but that's another debate.)

[ctsignguy]

AT one time (into the early 90s) Ohio had cardinal banners labeled N-EAST, N-WEST, S-EAST, S-WEST.....a simple acknowledgement that roads didnt run in just 4 directions...





so back then, OH 37 would have been signed N-West and S-East because that was the general direction the route took

[kphoger]

I am greatly in favor of having SW, NW, SE, and NE direction banners.

[jeffandnicole]

K.I.S.S.

What's next?  NNE, ENE, NNW, WNW, SSE, etc...

[hobsini2]

I am greatly in favor of having SW, NW, SE, and NE direction banners.

Agreed. Certainly can use them on routes that start out one way then midway through become the other way. Case in Point, Wis 23. It is East-West between Sheboygan and Wis Dells/Reedsburg area. Then it becomes a north-south route from there to south of Darlington.  It should be signed as N-EAST AND S-WEST.

[formulanone]

All of Maine, as well.

[Billy F 1988]

Which makes no sense. Ohio doesn't match direction to parity.

What do you mean Ohio doesn't match direction to parity?

[yakra]

Methinks ctsignguy should crosspost those to "best of".

If ME9 were to run a mere 90° counter to its signed direction, rather than 135°, I guess that's an improvement? Maybe we should have our own custom cardinal directions, like Hithah & Thithah, or better yet, UP and DOWN. YEHBUB!

[agentsteel53]

What do you mean Ohio doesn't match direction to parity?

the last digit of the route number does not have a significance.  i.e. with US routes north-south is odd and east-west is even.  in Ohio, this is not the case.  some odd routes run east-west.   a quick glance at a map shows that OH-39 is east-west, for example.

[deathtopumpkins]

Maybe we should have our own custom cardinal directions, like Hithah & Thithah, or better yet, UP and DOWN. YEHBUB!

For up there perhaps "here" and "there" would be appropriate, considering "you can't get there from here!"

[Central Avenue]

AT one time (into the early 90s) Ohio had cardinal banners labeled N-EAST, N-WEST, S-EAST, S-WEST.....a simple acknowledgement that roads didnt run in just 4 directions...


[ other images snipped ]

so back then, OH 37 would have been signed N-West and S-East because that was the general direction the route took

This is what I would consider the ideal solution. The fact that it didn't catch on baffles me.

Of course, if it did, we'd probably be here arguing over whether certain roads should be posted with cardinal or ordinal directions.

What do you mean Ohio doesn't match direction to parity?

the last digit of the route number does not have a significance.  i.e. with US routes north-south is odd and east-west is even.  in Ohio, this is not the case.  some odd routes run east-west.   a quick glance at a map shows that OH-39 is east-west, for example.

Ohio doesn't even respect the US Routes' parity at times...US 42 and US 68 are signed north-south in Ohio, and US 33 is signed east-west.

Hell, even US 62, which is mostly posted at east-west, inexplicably becomes north-south a few places in Columbus.

[Scott5114]

Maybe we should have our own custom cardinal directions, like Hithah & Thithah, or better yet, UP and DOWN. YEHBUB!

For up there perhaps "here" and "there" would be appropriate, considering "you can't get there from here!"

Physics joke: why not STRANGE and CHARM?

[thenetwork]

AT one time (into the early 90s) Ohio had cardinal banners labeled N-EAST, N-WEST, S-EAST, S-WEST.....a simple acknowledgement that roads didnt run in just 4 directions...

Throw in US-42 and US-68 labeled as North/South routes in the Buckeye state, as well as the short stretch of US-24 through Toledo.

Jesus,  man, what were you quoting??

[ctsignguy]

Ohio used the combo-banners for a few decades from at least the 1950s into the early 90s...i think they were told by AASHTO to quit that and sign things conventionally...

As to why the US routes in Ohio get the directions they did, i was told by a gent at the ODOT Sign Shop some years ago that the policy for the 'diagonal' US routes (33, 35, 42, 62) was something along the lines of 'Did the route travel further east-west, or north-south?"  So, while US 35 was sihned N-S in Indiana and W Virginia, in Ohio, because it traverses a greater E-W distance, it was given E-W tags...obviously, over the years it hasnt been a  firm and fast policy

[agentsteel53]

Physics joke: why not STRANGE and CHARM?

math time: I believe the general consensus for extending "up" and "down" into a fourth dimension of space is "ana" and "kata".

[1995hoo]

Northbound on VA-241 (Telegraph Road) in the City of Alexandria, Virginia, this past Friday afternoon. Don't care for that downward-pointing diagonal arrow at all. I can't say I've seen many "Exit Only" banners with this sort of arrow in Virginia, but I have been noticing more diagonal arrows lately in general (such as for lanes ending) that appear to stem from a desire to use smaller signs. In this case I suppose its meaning is clear enough, but the diagonal-arrow fad is resulting in some rather unfortunate designs–notice the middle sign in this Street View image from just across the Potomac in Maryland.





While I'm at it.....took this picture about half an hour later on westbound Eisenhower Avenue in Alexandria. It's not really "Worst of Road Signs" so much as it is "Utterly Useless/Pointless Road Signs," but it fits into this thread nicely. I suppose the curb cut itself is utterly useless as well.