Double typo on Florida highway sign

[Dougtone]

Apparently, Florida was spelled as "Flordia".

http://www.wfla.com/story/22744012/double-typo-on-highway-sign

[KEVIN_224]

WGAL-TV (NBC) channel 8 of Lancaster, PA notes a similar sign goof along US Route 222 South, at MM 43 in Lancaster County. The LGS reads US Route 322 EPHARTA. Whoops!

http://www.wgal.com/news/susquehanna-valley/lancaster/photos-embarrassing-typo-spotted-on-ephrata-sign/-/9704306/20787684/-/1cyoc1z/-/index.html

[Brian556]

This story was on the local news in Dallas.

[roadman65]

Apparently, Florida was spelled as "Flordia".

http://www.wfla.com/story/22744012/double-typo-on-highway-sign

This one takes the cake!  Great find!  Someone in the sign shop must of had a few too many.

[roadman]

Apparently, Florida was spelled as "Flordia".

http://www.wfla.com/story/22744012/double-typo-on-highway-sign

This one takes the cake!  Great find!  Someone in the sign shop must of had a few too many.

It's far more likely that the person who prepared the face drawing (or the FLDOT engineer who checked the drawing - assuming FLDOT even requires final sign face drawings to be submitted for approval) is the one to blame, and not the actual laborers who fabricated the signs.

[DeaconG]

Apparently, Florida was spelled as "Flordia".

http://www.wfla.com/story/22744012/double-typo-on-highway-sign

This one takes the cake!  Great find!  Someone in the sign shop must of had a few too many.

It's far more likely that the person who prepared the face drawing (or the FLDOT engineer who checked the drawing - assuming FLDOT even requires final sign face drawings to be submitted for approval) is the one to blame, and not the actual laborers who fabricated the signs.

Still, you would think someone in the fabrication shop would have caught it and said "uh, guys...you might wanna call FDOT on this one..."

[txstateends]

Apparently, Florida was spelled as "Flordia".

http://www.wfla.com/story/22744012/double-typo-on-highway-sign

How does it make it all the way to gantry mounting before the oh-crap/whoa-d'oh moment comes??

[Brandon]

Apparently, Florida was spelled as "Flordia".

http://www.wfla.com/story/22744012/double-typo-on-highway-sign

How does it make it all the way to gantry mounting before the oh-crap/whoa-d'oh moment comes??

Drugs, alcohol, basic stupidity, the "it's not my problem" syndrome.  Take your pick of one or all four.  I'd bet on the last one personally.  It's a major problem no matter where you are.

Along the line, no one gave enough of a shit to actually look at the specifications, the work being performed, or the actual sign to make sure it was being made correctly.  There should be enough blame to go around from the engineer to made the specifications, to the draftsman who drew it up, to the sign fabrication folks who made the sign according to the specifications, to the sign installation crew who also failed to noticed the mistakes.

[Henry]

Flordia...That's one of the funnniest mistakes I've ever seen!

[roadman]

Apparently, Florida was spelled as "Flordia".

http://www.wfla.com/story/22744012/double-typo-on-highway-sign

How does it make it all the way to gantry mounting before the oh-crap/whoa-d'oh moment comes??

Drugs, alcohol, basic stupidity, the "it's not my problem" syndrome.  Take your pick of one or all four.  I'd bet on the last one personally.  It's a major problem no matter where you are.

Along the line, no one gave enough of a shit to actually look at the specifications, the work being performed, or the actual sign to make sure it was being made correctly.  There should be enough blame to go around from the engineer to made the specifications, to the draftsman who drew it up, to the sign fabrication folks who made the sign according to the specifications, to the sign installation crew who also failed to noticed the mistakes.

You presume that the orginal plans and speciffications for the sign installation contract were wrong to begin with.  With respect, this is not normally the case.  In my 26+ years of experience with highway signs, I've found that such errors that involve a simple transposition of letters (like this one was) normally occur at the fabrication level, and not the design level.  For sign companies like Interstate Highway Sign, Rocal, and others, it's usually a case of their person typing the legend into the computer too fast and, thus, inadvertently transposing letters.

This is why MassDOT and a number of other states have adopted specific procedures whereby the fabricator's final face drawings are submitted and approved before the signs are released for fabrication, and that the fabricated sign panels are double-checked before they are actually installed.   Of course, no procedure is foolproof enough to totally eliminate legend errors, but they have gone a long way to greatly reduce such errors actually appearing on the signs in the field.  MassDOT's policy can be read at http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Portals/8/docs/engineeringDirectives/2008/e-08-002.pdf

Also, and again with respect, it is unrealistic to expect either the sign shop laborers or the contractor's field installers to be responsible for catching errors on signs, even obvious ones like this one was.  That should have fallen to FLDOT's engineers who reviewed the final face drawings (if FLDOT even requires face drawings to be submitted) or their field inspectors on the sign installation project.

[hbelkins]

"Flordia" is a common typo/misspelling for Florida. I see it often.

[formulanone]

Here's the "progress" - sign is still located in the grass on the northbound lane (of to eastern side of the road). There were a few other signs similarly located along that 2-3 mile span, so it must have been part of a re-signing project.

[NE2]

What did the 'a' do to them?

[jeffandnicole]

It was the letter that snitched.  d & i saw nothin' and know nothin'.

[roadman]

Here's the "progress" - sign is still located in the grass on the northbound lane (of to eastern side of the road). There were a few other signs similarly located along that 2-3 mile span, so it must have been part of a re-signing project.

Interesting.  The last time MassDOT had a goof on an overhead sign - MA 3 south at 'Plimoth Plantation Highway (was spelled 'Pilmoth') - the contractor went up there that night in a bucket truck and just swapped the letters.  Something to be said for demountable copy.

However, the funniest part of the whole episode was that, as the contactor was making the sign correction, it was covered live as the opening "breaking news" story on the local Fox station's 10 pm broadcast.

note that "Plimoth" is the old English spelling of "Plymouth".

[deathtopumpkins]

The last time MassDOT had a goof on an overhead sign - MA 3 south at 'Plimoth Plantation Highway (was spelled 'Pilmoth') - the contractor went up there that night in a bucket truck and just swapped the letters.  Something to be said for demountable copy.

However, the funniest part of the whole episode was that, as the contactor was making the sign correction, it was covered live as the opening "breaking news" story on the local Fox station's 10 pm broadcast.

note that "Plimoth" is the old English spelling of "Plymouth".

Isn't the road supposed to be spelled "Plimoth"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plimoth_Plantation_Highway

[roadman]

@deathtopumpkins - The overhead signs were spelled "Pilmoth Plantation Hwy" when they went up - that was the goof.  After the contractor corrected them, under the watchful gaze of a Fox News crew, they are now spelled "Plimoth" - which I'm sure gets tourists looking for "Plymouth Plantation" confused.

[deathtopumpkins]

@deathtopumpkins - The overhead signs were spelled "Pilmoth Plantation Hwy" when they went up - that was the goof.  After the contractor corrected them, under the watchful gaze of a Fox News crew, they are now spelled "Plimoth" - which I'm sure gets tourists looking for "Plymouth Plantation" confused.

Oh, I didn't catch that the I and L were switched around! I thought you were trying to say it should be spelled Plymouth!

[roadman]

@deathtopumpkins - The overhead signs were spelled "Pilmoth Plantation Hwy" when they went up - that was the goof.  After the contractor corrected them, under the watchful gaze of a Fox News crew, they are now spelled "Plimoth" - which I'm sure gets tourists looking for "Plymouth Plantation" confused.

Oh, I didn't catch that the I and L were switched around! I thought you were trying to say it should be spelled Plymouth!

No problem.  It took me a minute to figure out what was wrong with the signs when the issue first came to my attention.

[hotdogPi]

I don't think switching two consecutive letters is a double typo. I think it's only a single typo.

[mstgator]

I don't think switching two consecutive letters is a double typo. I think it's only a single typo.

But, it was done twice on the same sign (albeit the same word).