Interstate 93 Signing Work

[roadman]

I didn't get a photo today, but the reverse-facing horse/bike/ped sign has been moved to the reverse of the furthest sign in the background, and I believe the JFK Library/Expo Center sign has been removed. 
It's a better situation, but it just occurred to me — hasn't the expo center been closed for years?  I recall it shutting down several years ago (all the shows go to the three other big exhibit halls in town) and the parking lot has been empty every time I've been by for a long time.  Its website has been dead since 2010 or 11.  Another case of contractors just replacing what's there?

Bayside Expo Center has been closed for some time, and the property was actually sold to U-Mass.  Not excusing the fact the old signs have been replaced "in-kind" despite this, but you have to remember that the design of the Randolph to Boston project was completed in 2006, when the Expo Center was still alive and well.

[bob7374]

I didn't get a photo today, but the reverse-facing horse/bike/ped sign has been moved to the reverse of the furthest sign in the background, and I believe the JFK Library/Expo Center sign has been removed. 
It's a better situation, but it just occurred to me — hasn't the expo center been closed for years?  I recall it shutting down several years ago (all the shows go to the three other big exhibit halls in town) and the parking lot has been empty every time I've been by for a long time.  Its website has been dead since 2010 or 11.  Another case of contractors just replacing what's there?

Bayside Expo Center has been closed for some time, and the property was actually sold to U-Mass.  Not excusing the fact the old signs have been replaced "in-kind" despite this, but you have to remember that the design of the Randolph to Boston project was completed in 2006, when the Expo Center was still alive and well.

Plus, currently UMass Boston is using the Expo Center parking lot as an overflow lot while new buildings are being constructed on campus. They usually tell visitors to park there and use a shuttle to get to campus, so having signs for the Expo Center still serves a useful purpose.

[PHLBOS]

Wow, I didn't know about the Bayside Expo being closed.  I attended the Auto Show there back in late 1989 when I still resided in the Bay State and the facility was brand spanking new then.

[southshore720]

I didn't know it closed down either.  But now that I think about it, the 1990s-era Red Line cars with the automated messages used to announce "Bayside Exposition Center" immediately following "JFK/UMASS."  I haven't heard that in a while!

[Pete from Boston]

Wow, I didn't know about the Bayside Expo being closed.  I attended the Auto Show there back in late 1989 when I still resided in the Bay State and the facility was brand spanking new then.

The new convention center has pulled the biggest shows, the World Trade Center has the mid-sized ones.  The hotel boom down there makes both more attractive.  The Hynes Auditorium has survived this arrangement despite initial predictions of its closure following the convention center's opening.  I guess location goes a long way.

[bob7374]

After a lull of more than a month, the contractors are back putting up overhead BGSs along Northbound I-93/SE Expressway. Over the past week a new cantilever sign went up at the ramp to Furnace Brook Parkway (Exit 8) and new supports have started going up further north for advance signs for Exits 9 and 11. A northbound support is also in place northbound between Exits 8 and 9 for the major overhead that will have the first advance signs southbound for the Exit 7 'Braintree split'. I also spotted new I-93/US 1 trailblazers at the Furnace Brook Parkway ramps. I hope to get photos of all of this (and hopefully more) by the end of the week.

[bob7374]

After a lull of more than a month, the contractors are back putting up overhead BGSs along Northbound I-93/SE Expressway. Over the past week a new cantilever sign went up at the ramp to Furnace Brook Parkway (Exit 8) and new supports have started going up further north for advance signs for Exits 9 and 11. A northbound support is also in place northbound between Exits 8 and 9 for the major overhead that will have the first advance signs southbound for the Exit 7 'Braintree split'. I also spotted new I-93/US 1 trailblazers at the Furnace Brook Parkway ramps. I hope to get photos of all of this (and hopefully more) by the end of the week.

As promised here's a photo of the new Exit 8 sign:

When I drove on I-93 yesterday I counted over 10 new support posts that have gone up over the past week northbound as far as just beyond Morrissey Blvd. (Exit 14) plus they also had put in several southbound as well. I've included photos of many of them, in addition to the sign above, on my I-93 Photo Page:
http://www.gribblenation.net/mass21/i93photos.html

[bob7374]

Over the past couple weeks the contractor has placed many new sign onto the right-side support posts put up the weeks before along the SE expressway portion of I-93. A dozen new exit or auxiliary signs have been put up, including this new 1 Mile Advance BGS for MA 3A:


Photos of the other new signs, including one currently well hidden, can be found on my I-93 Photo Page:
http://www.gribblenation.net/mass21/i93photos.html

[southshore720]

Bob, great pics as ALWAYS!   

I'm surprised that the aux sign for Exit 7 for "Braintree" didn't say "LEFT Exit 7" like the aux sign for Rte 24's aux "Brockton/New Bedford" a little further down for Exit 4.

[roadman]

I'm surprised that the aux sign for Exit 7 for "Braintree" didn't say "LEFT Exit 7" like the aux sign for Rte 24's aux "Brockton/Fall River" a little further down for Exit 4.

Now that's actually a good idea.  I'll forward the suggestion to my MassDOT contacts in District 6.  Shouldn't be an issue to add a "LEFT" panel as an overlay, even if it results in the legend not being centered on the sign.

[Pete from Boston]

One thing in this area that frustrates me is the insistence on awkwardly signing the through movement of 93S into 95/128N as an exit.

From a system logic point of view, yes, this can technically be viewed as an exit.  But only under that logic.  From a simple user-friendliness approach, "exit" clearly means "point where one leaves the main body of the highway."  That's not what this is, and "left exit" does not do a good job of explaining "four lanes continue through with a different number designation."

A much more intuitive way to inform folks of what happens here is something like this sign on 495 North in Salisbury where it merges into 95 North.

Sometimes I feel like there's a failure to consider how something reads before approving the signing plans.  Is there some kind of human-factors editor for this stuff? 

[KEVIN_224]

My picture of the same sign from May of 2011. Was it replaced since this time?

[PHLBOS]

My picture of the same sign from May of 2011. Was it replaced since this time?

I would say Yes (but replaced in kind) due to your photo shows the BGS being faded... especially at the red parts of the I-shields.

I saw that particular BGS (the one on GSV) last year en route to the Portsmouth, NH meet and it looked brand new.

[roadman]

My picture of the same sign from May of 2011. Was it replaced since this time?

I would say Yes (but replaced in kind) due to your photo shows the BGS being faded... especially at the red parts of the I-shields.

I saw that particular BGS (the one on GSV) last year en route to the Portsmouth, NH meet and it looked brand new.

The sign in question was originally installed in late 2004 as part of a statewide contract to provide advance signing indicating the endpoints of Interstates and other numbered freeways.  It was replaced as part of the I-95 Georgetown to Salisbury sign updating project, which included the upper end of I-495 in Salisbury.

[Zeffy]

I don't like the verbiage on that sign, so I whipped up my concept of that sign...



This is essentially the way New Jersey signs the current gap in I-95, which I think works well here as well.

[Pete from Boston]

I don't like the verbiage on that sign, so I whipped up my concept of that sign...



This is essentially the way New Jersey signs the current gap in I-95, which I think works well here as well.

But 95 doesn't begin there.

[PHLBOS]

I don't like the verbiage on that sign, so I whipped up my concept of that sign...



This is essentially the way New Jersey signs the current gap in I-95, which I think works well here as well.

But 95 doesn't begin there.

And there also isn't an I-95 'gap' in that vicinity either.

If one doesn't like the phrase ENTERING 95 NORTH, one could just use JCT. or JUNCTION 95 NORTH instead.

[Zeffy]

But 95 doesn't begin there.

And there also isn't an I-95 'gap' in that vicinity either.

If one doesn't like the phrase ENTERING 95 NORTH, one could just use JCT. or JUNCTION 95 NORTH instead.

In my opinion, I-295 turning into I-95 north of Trenton isn't really beginning I-95 either, considering the real I-95 is located east of here with the New Jersey Turnpike. I guess you can argue that BEGIN should only be used for terminii, but ENTERING just sounds so horrible to me.

In any case, here's another version omitting the BEGIN and substituted with JCT...

[Pete from Boston]

This sign has one and only one purpose: to communicate to drivers in the clearest way possible that by going straight ahead they are no longer going to be on the road they were on, but rather on this other road.  Does "JCT" communicate that most clearly to most drivers?  Does "BEGIN"?  Does "ENTERING"?

How about "LEFT EXIT"?

[agentsteel53]

California tends to do one of the following:

* unsigned (405 south end at 5)
* dual-signed reassurance panels leading up to the end (101 south end approaching 5, 73 north end approaching 405)
* explicit TO, omitting the actual number in favor of the next number (the west end of US-50 is signed as "TO I-80")

of these, I prefer the middle one, and would add a TO as appropriate.

[PHLBOS]

How about "LEFT EXIT"?

Given the fact that that there's a 2-mile stretch of I-495 between its final exit (for MA 110 East) and where 495 actually merges w/95; LEFT EXIT notations would not be appropriate.

OTOH, JCT. or JUNCTION is a more commonly used term.  To a degree, such has been applied before.  Like its MA counterpart, this I-495 also just blends/merges into I-95 North.

[Pete from Boston]

How about "LEFT EXIT"?

Given the fact that that there's a 2-mile stretch of I-495 between its final exit (for MA 110 East) and where 495 actually merges w/95; LEFT EXIT notations would not be appropriate.

OTOH, JCT. or JUNCTION is a more commonly used term.  To a degree, such has been applied before.  Like its MA counterpart, this I-495 also just blends/merges into I-95 North.

My point with saying "LEFT EXIT" is that it doesn't make sense in Canton, either.  Joe Traveler isn't going to consider that an exit, and the signs ought to reflect reality as it is commonly understood, not as makes sense in a logic puzzle.

[PHLBOS]

My point with saying "LEFT EXIT" is that it doesn't make sense in Canton, either.  Joe Traveler isn't going to consider that an exit, and the signs ought to reflect reality as it is commonly understood, not as makes sense in a logic puzzle.

I agree with you but only up to a point.  The LEFT EXIT over that I-95 North (& US 1 South) BGS in Canton, while it took me by surprise initially since the exit tab was erected well after the main signboard, is somewhat forgivable because one indeed merges with the through-I-95 North traffic just beyond that interchange... not 2 miles away like the I-95/495 North merge in Salisbury. 

Additionally, unlike the Canton interchange, which includes a direct exit ramp to I-95 South; there is no direct exit ramp that runs from I-495 North to I-95 South.  If such existed closer to the actual merge (to my knowledge, MassDOT has no plans for such since the traffic counts on MA 110 aren't large enough to warrant such), maybe LEFT EXIT signage for I-95 North there would be MUTCD-warranted.

To the mods,

I would suggest that posts #360 through 372 374 be moved to this thread due to the current discussion being primarily focused on I-95 signage rather than those along I-93.

[PurdueBill]

LEFT EXIT 45 where 128 leaves 95 in Peabody doesn't look like an exit to most people either (especially when 128 was there first and that's what people call the whole road anyway) but the rules and regs say to sign it that way now.  Both I-93 SB Left Exit 1B and I-95 NB Left Exit 45 are pseudo-exits in people's minds but technically exits.  The I-495 northern end could take an exit number the same way, I suppose, if the exit number were assigned at the MA 110 interchange...offer Exit 55A (the current exit) to MA 110 TO I-95 SB, and Exit 55B (the two thru lanes) as an "exit" to I-95 NB. Sure the "ramp" (the I-495 mainline winding down to join I-95) is 2 miles long but now everything's got an exit number. 

[spooky]

How about "LEFT EXIT"?

Given the fact that that there's a 2-mile stretch of I-495 between its final exit (for MA 110 East) and where 495 actually merges w/95; LEFT EXIT notations would not be appropriate.

OTOH, JCT. or JUNCTION is a more commonly used term.  To a degree, such has been applied before.  Like its MA counterpart, this I-495 also just blends/merges into I-95 North.

My point with saying "LEFT EXIT" is that it doesn't make sense in Canton, either.  Joe Traveler isn't going to consider that an exit, and the signs ought to reflect reality as it is commonly understood, not as makes sense in a logic puzzle.

I think the addition of the LEFT and EXIT 1B tabs to the diagrammatic sign was a lot more noticeable to us than it was to Joe Traveler. I think the more noticeable (and confusing) signage for Joe Traveler is in the opposite direction, where the "exit" isn't an exit, but the mainline through highway is.