Ideas Exclusive To One State That Should Epand Cross-Country...

[thenetwork]

Often in my travels, I encounter highway ideas and scenarios that a certain state DOT implements that are pretty much exclusive to that state.  Some of those ideas are so innovative, that they should be used more widely on a national level.

For example: At many highway junctions in Indiana, InDOT uses overhead signage denoting all upcoming signed route directions (aka sign salads) -- including the route(s) currently on. This would be helpful in places like Colorado, who are terrible at properly signing route junctions at off-freeway intersections.


Another state exclusive I encountered a long time ago in South Carolina on the non-freeway highways outside of the cities: SCDOT would place a JCT. Route xx assembly on the side roads leading up to the intersection with said route.  I liked that extra touch for traveling county roads.


Others??

[1995hoo]

Texas's 85-mph speed limit.

[Max Rockatansky]

California style highway shield/freeway entrance signage assemblies. 

[oscar]

Nebraska's diagrammatic junction signage.

[Rothman]

MA's SGSes.

[SeriesE]

California's discouraging of concurrencies.

Some roads have 4 concurrencies and some routes don't have significant standalone sections. Those should be fixed to reduce confusion and maintenance costs on signs and administrative tasks. Besides, with modern turn by turn navigation  usage, "follow a route number to get to places" doesn't matter that much anymore.

[TheStranger]

California's discouraging of concurrencies.

Some roads have 4 concurrencies and some routes don't have significant standalone sections. Those should be fixed to reduce confusion and maintenance costs on signs and administrative tasks. Besides, with modern turn by turn navigation  usage, "follow a route number to get to places" doesn't matter that much anymore.

I would amend that a bit too:

I feel like in Nevada, there are some state route through corridors that clearly would work better as one number, but assigned two because of a short US highway segment connecting them.  (NV 379/NV 278, NV 376/NV 305)

Those are examples where a short concurrency actually would simplify things. 
Of course, this is the type of thing where it should be on a case-by-case basis: the sign-salad "state inventory route number" concept seen in a few Southern states isn't phenomenal, the "let's adminstratively assign a US route to something that will not be signed" concept is also not great, etc. 

Now, that being said, I also think that route numbers absolutely still do serve a purpose even in the GPS era - I think this is actually why US 101 overhead signage has significantly improved along the southbound Santa Ana Freeway since 2009.  The Caltrans implied TO concept that had been in place there (signage pointing towards I-5 south) before then isn't so great if you get stranded on the shoulder and then have to read a California-style postmile to explain to roadside assistance what road you are on.  (I can speak from personal experience after car trouble this year that even when you give out accurate details of the CalTrans postmile you see near you, the towing company may not be able to decipher it well!)

---

Since Max R. brought up Freeway Entrance signage (which I have seen in Nevada and West Virginia) as one California innovation that would be cool to see elsewhere, let me think of others:

- Cutout US shields!  For that matter, while I don't like how the green state highway shield indirectly had an effect on the downgrading of US 99 to state route 99 here (I recall that being mentioned in old editions of CHPW at least once and I've cited that in threads on this forum)...there's something to be said about all the shields in California having distinct, non-shared colors, and all being cutouts (gold/blue county, white-on-green state, black-on-white US, and the Interstate red-white-blue).  When I went to Texas in 2010 and then in 2021, the US and state routes all being painted black-on-white on rectangular or square signs really wasn't so great for visual acuity.

If the MUTCD is going to specify having mixed case on sign blades to help with immediate visual acquisition, I'll then argue that the same can be said for multi-colored cutout shields.

- Not sure if CalTrans still uses it, but the "notched shoulder marking" before an offramp is one of those subtle concepts that actually has merit, I recall those exist here as an aid in case of fog.

- Wasn't there a time when Route 73 tollway had different overhead signage background colors?  Not sure this is still the case, but in my head having a different colored overhead sign for toll roads vs. free roads is another good visual indicator.

- In line with the Freeway Entrance concept, I do like those "TOLL CROSSING ENTRANCE" signs for ramps going to the Bay Bridge portion of I-80.  It does conflate the idea of "freeway" with "toll-free road" even though I know those are not mutually exclusive, but I do get the idea of highlighting the toll crossings for the average motoring public too.

[Hunty2022]

Virginia with its very high VA-9XXXX route numbers for certain roads. Also the SR-9XXX numbers for school district roads and entrances.
Also, Bridge-Tunnels.  This is only last because I'd like Virginia to be the only state in the US with these.

[thenetwork]

I also like how ADOT signs dedicated turning lanes in Arizona.

IE. Instead of RIGHT LANE MUST TURN RIGHT they say RIGHT LANE <Right Arrow> ONLY.  I think it sticks out more than the all-text signs.

[TheStranger]

Also, Bridge-Tunnels.  This is only last because I'd like Virginia to be the only state in the US with these.

Would you count the Bay Bridge here in California between San Francisco and Oakland as a bridge-tunnel setup?  Or were you thinking specifically underwater tunnel?

There's the 1936 suspension bridge on the SF-Yerba Buena Island side, the Yerba Buena Tunnel, and the 2012 cable-stayed bridge on the Yerba Buena Island-Oakland poriton.

[pderocco]

Would you count the Bay Bridge here in California between San Francisco and Oakland as a bridge-tunnel setup?  Or were you thinking specifically underwater tunnel?

There's the 1936 suspension bridge on the SF-Yerba Buena Island side, the Yerba Buena Tunnel, and the 2012 cable-stayed bridge on the Yerba Buena Island-Oakland poriton.

I-90 in Seattle emerges from a tunnel onto the Murrow bridge. On the other side, it goes into a tunnel, but it's really just a cut-and-cover lid, of which there are quite a few in the Seattle area.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Similar to Indiana, Minnesota putting LGS on stoplights when you cross a numbered route. It would help especially when there are clusters of stoplights to pick out which one is the route you want.

[TheStranger]

Similar to Indiana, Minnesota putting LGS on stoplights when you cross a numbered route. It would help especially when there are clusters of stoplights to pick out which one is the route you want.

I've seen a few of this in the Puget Sound region in Washington (i.e SR 509 near the ferries in Seattle, SR 166 in Port Orchard) and a few examples like that in the Bay Area, and generally think that this is absolutely how it should be done everywhere (looking at you, San Francisco, with the decreasing references to US 101 along Van Ness since the bus lanes opened a few years back).

The mentality I've brought up here for over a decade remains the same, especially seeing California's piecemeal route decommissioning - the originaly point of route numbering is navigational help, and using it specifically for that purpose should be more important than using numbering to show who maintains a road. 

[mrsman]

^^^^

I think CA should contract with the two auto clubs, ACSC and CSAA to sign our highways again like they used to many many years ago. 

Another possibility is county level signage to contineu the route number on some sign if the miner's spade isn't good for non-state maintained roads.

[dantheman]

- Wasn't there a time when Route 73 tollway had different overhead signage background colors?  Not sure this is still the case, but in my head having a different colored overhead sign for toll roads vs. free roads is another good visual indicator.

Similarly, I like ON 401's practice of using different background colors for overhead signs on the local and express lanes - blue background for local, green for express. It really helps tell which signs are "yours" from a distance, especially when the highway curves and signs aren't directly over the lanes when you can first see them. https://maps.app.goo.gl/ef7J9h7JBrevfbua6

I know, I know, it's not MUTCD-compliant, and Ontario isn't a "state." 

[Henry]

For all of IDOT's faults, I like the freeway name going under the cardinal direction on BGS's (although the letters could be a bit larger):

[SeriesE]

The mentality I've brought up here for over a decade remains the same, especially seeing California's piecemeal route decommissioning - the originaly point of route numbering is navigational help, and using it specifically for that purpose should be more important than using numbering to show who maintains a road. 

That said, I think it's fine to stop signing the decommissioned route if the decommissioned part is at the ends of a route

[TheCatalyst31]

California's discouraging of concurrencies.

Some roads have 4 concurrencies and some routes don't have significant standalone sections. Those should be fixed to reduce confusion and maintenance costs on signs and administrative tasks. Besides, with modern turn by turn navigation  usage, "follow a route number to get to places" doesn't matter that much anymore.

I feel the opposite way about this - I kinda want every state to take Wisconsin's approach of putting concurrencies on everything. The reason we have route numbers is so that you can follow them to get places - if not, we could just put up signs with the road's classification instead.

On a different note, I love the look of Michigan's yellow box signage in intersections, and it would nice to see more states try something similar.

[TheStranger]

The mentality I've brought up here for over a decade remains the same, especially seeing California's piecemeal route decommissioning - the originaly point of route numbering is navigational help, and using it specifically for that purpose should be more important than using numbering to show who maintains a road. 

That said, I think it's fine to stop signing the decommissioned route if the decommissioned part is at the ends of a route

Examples either way:

Route where the decommissioned segment leaves us with a logical terminus: Route 82 now ending at I-880 on the west side of San Jose, instead of at US 101/Blossom Hill Road in south San Jose.  (That being said, there are still plenty of references to the downtown SJ Route 82 routing - much of which was never US 101 - off of Route 87 and I-280!)

Route where piecemeal downloading to municipal entities results in awkward signage situation and really isn't great: Route 1 in parts of Los Angeles County

[Ted$8roadFan]

Perhaps not exclusive to Texas, but they seem to have more interstate frontage roads than other states who would benefit from them.

[hobsini2]

I know it's not exclusive to Iowa but I wish at highway junctions more states would put up the distance to the city when changing routes. https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6293204,-91.3550231,3a,18.6y,27.2h,85.88t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sKh160qSizIKdhHe-Hxrs0w!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DKh160qSizIKdhHe-Hxrs0w%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.share%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26yaw%3D27.198918145789285%26pitch%3D4.1194329052307666%26thumbfov%3D90!7i13312!8i6656?coh=205410&entry=ttu
I find that helpful on road trips. Too many state don't do this.

[webny99]

Maryland's practice of using both road names and exit destinations on exit signage in urban areas should definitely be implemented nationwide. Why choose one or the other when you can have both?

https://maps.app.goo.gl/GryNnjSSafCKtgn66
https://maps.app.goo.gl/z9RysDyEgG9WVamE9

[mgk920]

Virginia with its very high VA-9XXXX route numbers for certain roads. Also the SR-9XXX numbers for school district roads and entrances.
Also, Bridge-Tunnels.  This is only last because I'd like Virginia to be the only state in the US with these.

That was done at the insistence of the USNavy, so that ships would not be trapped in port if a crossing were to be destroyed.

Mike

[SEWIGuy]

Wisconsin's lettered county highways.

But they should be used on blue pentagon signs...including in Wisconsin.

[mgk920]

'Lettering' county highways, like here in Wisconsin.  OTOH, I have never liked the MUTCD 'pentagon' route markers.

Mike