The Worst of Road Signs

[noelbotevera]

I tried (again)?

[SignGeek101]

I tried?

Some would put that under 'Best' because of its age (classic BC font, which was phased out in the late 80's?). Its replacement, although cleaner, contains the control city "Thru Traffic" which I think is unacceptable. At least it details the wrong way concurrency through there though:

https://goo.gl/maps/2MgrDyiTEnQ2

Both signs (I believe) are wrong though in that there should be three through arrows (not two).

[Brandon]

Does Yoda switch individual words, or just parts of a sentence? I would have thought that "Slower traffic keep right" would be, in Yoda English, "Keep right slower traffic".

You are correct, but you fell into the same trap I did.  I looked at that sign a dozen times before I saw the error.

Look at it and read it out loud really slowly.  It is amazing how our brains "fix" errors in sentences/syntax.

No no, I understand the error ("Slower Traffic Right Keep"). I'm just not certain that is Yoda-speak. I figured that, if someone wanted to turn "Slower Traffic Keep Right" into something that Yoda would have said, they'd change it to "Keep Right Slower Traffic" (not just changing the order of any two words -- my impression was always that Yoda reversed the order of a phrase, not just a couple of words at random).

Yes, I'm over-thinking this.

You are right, though, Yoda re-ordered phrases rather than words, as far as I know.

And I would have been one of those who "approved" that sign because I did miss the mistake many times.

There's an actual order to Yoda-speak.  Object-Subject-Verb.  The verb in this case is "Keep".  Thus, it should be Right (Object) Slower Traffic (Subject) Keep (Verb).

[jakeroot]

I tried?

www.aaroads.com/shields/blog/photos/086059.jpg

Some would put that under 'Best' because of its age (classic BC font, which was phased out in the late 80's?). Its replacement, although cleaner, contains the control city "Thru Traffic" which I think is unacceptable. At least it details the wrong way concurrency through there though:

https://goo.gl/maps/2MgrDyiTEnQ2

Both signs (I believe) are wrong though in that there should be three through arrows (not two).

I think the use of two up arrows and "Thru Traffic" was on purpose. There are two heavy merges after this overpass (the first from Hillside, the second from Pacific), so to keep too much traffic from using the right lane and potentially mucking with merging traffic, they encourage traffic to use the left two lanes by labelling them as "Thru Traffic". Though, even if that is the case, I'd rather have a separate regulatory sign with "thru traffic use left two lanes", rather than trying to portray that message on the pull-through.

[amroad17]

I tried (again)?

The Creek Turnpike sign needs to be redone.  It needs to be wider and show the EXIT ONLY lane above the one that is the exit lane.  Also, the Jenks/Broken Arrow sign needs to be an auxilary ground-mounted sign (with EXIT 218 under the destinations) placed around 1/2 mile before the interchange.  Nothing like crowding an OK 364 shield on the sign.

Like the open area where I-44 used to go before the Creek Turnpike was built? (Just south of the eastbound off ramp for the Creek)

[dfwmapper]

The original Creek Turnpike sign was much better. It was centered over the lane, which split off further back (the striping was changed when the road was repaved). The 364 wasn't there on the original sign (the Creek wasn't designated 364 until 2014), and instead had a properly-centered Creek Turnpike logo sign along with the EAST text above the Creek Turnpike name. That looks like it was replaced with a new retroreflective sign that is like the current one except it still had the logo instead of the number. So, in short, OTA did some maintenance and half-assed the signage, because Oklahoma. The Jenks/Broken Arrow sign was always terrible though.

[Voyager75]

Been meaning to take of pic of this Clearview nightmare the past year on I-65 Southbound below Birmingham. Maybe they were going to spell out Highway but were told to abbreviate it after they had already put the H on. The 2 mile signage for I-459 just past this is almost as bad. Will try to get that pic later.

[freebrickproductions]

Been meaning to take of pic of this Clearview nightmare the past year on I-65 Southbound below Birmingham. Maybe they were going to spell out Highway but were told to abbreviate it after they had already put the H on. The 2 mile signage for I-459 just past this is almost as bad. Will try to get that pic later.

Was there supposed to be a larger shield originally or something? Because there's a lot of empty space around that US 31 shield.

[Voyager75]

Been meaning to take of pic of this Clearview nightmare the past year on I-65 Southbound below Birmingham. Maybe they were going to spell out Highway but were told to abbreviate it after they had already put the H on. The 2 mile signage for I-459 just past this is almost as bad. Will try to get that pic later.

Was there supposed to be a larger shield originally or something? Because there's a lot of empty space around that US 31 shield.

Probably. The 459 shields on the new BGS going I-65 Nortbound approaching the junction are the same way. Very small. Southbound on 65 the 459 BGS shields are great so go figure. These were all put up at the same time when the concrete lanes were rebuilt from 31 to 459 last year.

[chays]

Slap-together fix for the old Citrus Bowl name.  Sign will likely be replaced as part of I-4 Ultimate.

[jbnv]

Slap-together fix for the old Citrus Bowl name. <snip>

Where's the pure unadulterated suck?

[machias]

Slap-together fix for the old Citrus Bowl name.  Sign will likely be replaced as part of I-4 Ultimate.

Not sure I can identify the issue with this sign. Greenout?  The spacing on the patch is a little off but at least they kept the lettering the same as the legend above it, many DOTs would have resorted to mixed cased Series C or D. 

Something like this:

[jakeroot]

Slap-together fix for the old Citrus Bowl name.  Sign will likely be replaced as part of I-4 Ultimate.

http://i.imgur.com/EFQPtu9.jpg

That's definitely a candidate for "worst stadium name".

[chays]

Slap-together fix for the old Citrus Bowl name. <snip>

Where's the pure unadulterated suck?

Kerning is bad, but you're right, it doesn't quite reach the level of pure unadulterated suck.

[noelbotevera]

I've been trying to scrounge around for more bad Oklahoma signs. All I get are 'shopped or button copy signs.

[Scott5114]

*psst* I-235

[tckma]

Something like this:

Um... Pyramid Mall, right?

...asks the 2000 CU graduate.

[machias]

Something like this:

Um... Pyramid Mall, right?

...asks the 2000 CU graduate.

Indeed, Pyramid Mall.  One would think "Ithaca" would fit over "Pyramid" better than that.

[Tom958]

Gratuitous facepalm aside... I probably missed it scanning the MUTCD, but is there a correct way to sign this condition? There needs to be.

[Rothman]

Looks okay to me.

[Big John]

The W4-6 sign would be more appropriate here.

[jbnv]

Gratuitous facepalm aside... I probably missed it scanning the MUTCD, but is there a correct way to sign this condition? There needs to be. <snip>

The thread you want is Right Idea, Wrong Sign.

[paulthemapguy]

Gratuitous facepalm aside... I probably missed it scanning the MUTCD, but is there a correct way to sign this condition? There needs to be.

Mirror the imagery over a central horizontal axis, and it might be more appropriate--at least it would be something I've seen before.

[Tom958]

The thread you want is Right Idea, Wrong Sign.

Thanks. If I'd seen that thread before, I'd forgotten about it.

One other thing about this sign, and it's so outlandish that I'd started to doubt my memory from last Friday and decided not to mention it, is that this sign is fluorescent yellow-green. Looking back at Streetview, a yellow sign that's mirrored from the correct layout has been in place here since 2012. That would mean that sometime within the last six months the old sign was removed and replaced with a wrong color carbon copy. Could that have actually happened? In Dekalb County GA, yes, it could've.

[PHLBOS]

The W4-6 sign would be more appropriate here.

IMHO, such signs need to be placed at I-476/US 1 interchange at the Mezzanine level left-turn ramps: both here and here.  Many literally stop at the ramp (on a red signal) despite the fact that the left-turn lane continues as its own lane.