Video Captures from old highway footage

[Alex]

I have converted some of my road videos from VHS onto DVD and did a few screen captures with the VLC player on the PC. These are from a July 4, 1993 roadtrip to D.C. that stretched into the early morning of July 5.



Shot through the back window, a brief glimpse of a diagrammatic overhead for the split of I-495 with I-270 Spur. Spur appears in a green box above the I-270 shield. Also visible are darker 3di shield imprints above the arrows.




Further south into Virginia, an auxiliary guide sign for Lee Highway with a shield imprint and relocated U.S. 29 marker. Was a US 50 shield posted along side US 29, or was this old enough to reference US 211?




An upcoming exits sign that included a 1957-spec shield for Interstate 95 and also label scars referencing SOUTH-NORTH.

[Mapmikey]

The 2nd shield would definitely have been US 211.

Those TO Lee Hwy signs were gone by the time I started commuting through there in 1998 but other signs lasted until the HOT lane construction that had a space (but no visible shield imprint) next to the US 29 shields (where VA 237 could have been identified...)

All signs now have no space.


Mapmikey

[agentsteel53]

anyone ever seen a DC-US 211 shield?  I have not.  just 1, 29, 50, 240.

[dfnva]

Great pics of these signs! What a treasure trove. I don't mean to be greedy, but do you have any more video captures?

VDOT replaced these BGS's by bolting over them with new ones (as well as BGS's on I-395 and I-66 inside the Beltway) in the mid-1990s-- they looked funny from behind, you could see the original sign (with rounded corners), but the new one on top (with sharp 90-degree corners) overlapping it.

Does anybody know when these original BGS's, as depicted in the video captures, were installed?  I like these older signs better, particularly  the VA primary shield specs where a 2-digit sized VA primary shield was used even for 3 digit routes, like the VA-236 sign. All of the BGS's on I-395 and I-495, at this time, used such specs for 3-digit primary routes, something that has not been commonly done on BGS's installed in the last 20+ years (though is still done, at times, as recently as this year, on trailblazers).

-Dan

[Mapmikey]

Does anybody know when these original BGS's, as depicted in the video captures, were installed?  I like these older signs better, particularly  the VA primary shield specs where a 2-digit sized VA primary shield was used even for 3 digit routes, like the VA-236 sign. All of the BGS's on I-395 and I-495, at this time, used such specs for 3-digit primary routes, something that has not been commonly done on BGS's installed in the last 20+ years (though is still done, at times, as recently as this year, on trailblazers).

-Dan

Those BGS's were likely installed around 1977 when the Beltway was widened to 8 lanes (per Kozel).

There is still a VA 193 shield on a BGS that is the 2-digit size on the Beltway - http://goo.gl/maps/i8ltJ

Incidentally I saw today there is one small BGS at the VA 286-289 split that has the narrow shields as well.

Mapmikey

[dfnva]

I've seen that sign with VA-286/VA-289 - they were bolted over SR-7100/SR-7900 signs.

This is one of my favorite signs still in operation (on I-81) as it has similar shield specs (including a black border) as the ones on the BGS's in the pictures above from the Beltway.

http://goo.gl/maps/d5mvH

[Alex]

Great pics of these signs! What a treasure trove. I don't mean to be greedy, but do you have any more video captures?

VDOT replaced these BGS's by bolting over them with new ones (as well as BGS's on I-395 and I-66 inside the Beltway) in the mid-1990s-- they looked funny from behind, you could see the original sign (with rounded corners), but the new one on top (with sharp 90-degree corners) overlapping it.

Does anybody know when these original BGS's, as depicted in the video captures, were installed?  I like these older signs better, particularly  the VA primary shield specs where a 2-digit sized VA primary shield was used even for 3 digit routes, like the VA-236 sign. All of the BGS's on I-395 and I-495, at this time, used such specs for 3-digit primary routes, something that has not been commonly done on BGS's installed in the last 20+ years (though is still done, at times, as recently as this year, on trailblazers).

-Dan

North Carolina did a similar practice, where you could identify a sign replacement by spotting the sign with the full corners overlaid on a sign that was previously with rounded corners.

The 1993 video goes on I-495 counterclockwise from I-95 to I-395, with a jaunt west on I-66 to VA 123 and back, then north on I-395 all the way to the freeway end. There is one overhead sign with what appears to be an I-295 DC shield on it, which was probably where this sign is now: http://goo.gl/maps/wX6D0 I did not recorded every sign and the video was fairly erratic (I blame my 18 yo self!), though, I can try to make additional screen grabs per request.

[Mapmikey]

I've seen that sign with VA-286/VA-289 - they were bolted over SR-7100/SR-7900 signs.

This is one of my favorite signs still in operation (on I-81) as it has similar shield specs (including a black border) as the ones on the BGS's in the pictures above from the Beltway.

http://goo.gl/maps/d5mvH

The VA 185 sign is exceedingly rare on a Virginia interstate these days and may be the only one left with a primary route.

There are still a few BGSs on non-interstates with the style of shield in the VA 185 sign, notably the 4 shield assembly at Fredericksburg and also US 460 approaching Suffolk Bypass.

Mapmikey

[dfnva]

I've seen that sign with VA-286/VA-289 - they were bolted over SR-7100/SR-7900 signs.

This is one of my favorite signs still in operation (on I-81) as it has similar shield specs (including a black border) as the ones on the BGS's in the pictures above from the Beltway.

http://goo.gl/maps/d5mvH

The VA 185 sign is exceedingly rare on a Virginia interstate these days and may be the only one left with a primary route.

There are still a few BGSs on non-interstates with the style of shield in the VA 185 sign, notably the 4 shield assembly at Fredericksburg and also US 460 approaching Suffolk Bypass.

Mapmikey

I've not seen the Suffolk assembly, but the one in Fredericksburg is one of my favorite old relics. I'm amazed its still up there despite providing erroneous route information (i.e. Alt US-1, etc.). Many similarly aged BGS's, with such VA shield specs, lasted well into the 2000's -- along and approaching VA-195 in Richmond, the JCT of VA-419 and US-460 between Roanoke and Salem, and other BGS's along I-81 between Harrisonburg and Winchester. I'm sure there were others elsewhere that I did not personally observe.

[dfnva]

Great pics of these signs! What a treasure trove. I don't mean to be greedy, but do you have any more video captures?

VDOT replaced these BGS's by bolting over them with new ones (as well as BGS's on I-395 and I-66 inside the Beltway) in the mid-1990s-- they looked funny from behind, you could see the original sign (with rounded corners), but the new one on top (with sharp 90-degree corners) overlapping it.

Does anybody know when these original BGS's, as depicted in the video captures, were installed?  I like these older signs better, particularly  the VA primary shield specs where a 2-digit sized VA primary shield was used even for 3 digit routes, like the VA-236 sign. All of the BGS's on I-395 and I-495, at this time, used such specs for 3-digit primary routes, something that has not been commonly done on BGS's installed in the last 20+ years (though is still done, at times, as recently as this year, on trailblazers).

-Dan

North Carolina did a similar practice, where you could identify a sign replacement by spotting the sign with the full corners overlaid on a sign that was previously with rounded corners.

The 1993 video goes on I-495 counterclockwise from I-95 to I-395, with a jaunt west on I-66 to VA 123 and back, then north on I-395 all the way to the freeway end. There is one overhead sign with what appears to be an I-295 DC shield on it, which was probably where this sign is now: http://goo.gl/maps/wX6D0 I did not recorded every sign and the video was fairly erratic (I blame my 18 yo self!), though, I can try to make additional screen grabs per request.

I don't want to overstay my welcome, but I'd love to see some more of the old MD signs with button copy and the old VA non-reflective signs on I-495 and I-395.

[Takumi]

The Suffolk assemblies in question (there are two, and I was shooting directly into the sun here):




There was also a set on VA 10/32 east/southbound last summer.

[froggie]

That shield style (minus the black border) still exists on northbound I-95 at VA 207/Carmel Church.

I'm pretty sure the US 460 Suffolk assemblies are gone...victims of a Suffolk sign replacement project, just as most (if not all) of their standalone reassurance shields have been replaced by green-background unisigns.

[Takumi]

I'm pretty sure they were still there a month ago. It'll be a shame the day they're replaced, because Suffolk's new signage is absolutely awful.

[Mapmikey]

I don't want to overstay my welcome, but I'd love to see some more of the old MD signs with button copy and the old VA non-reflective signs on I-495 and I-395.

If the video captured any Black BGS's on I-395 HOV lanes that would be worth capturing...

Mapmikey