Used in NoVa late 90s/early 00s, what is this font?

[MillTheRoadgeek]

Hey AARoads,
I am wondering, what is this traffic signal sign font used in the Northern Virginia area in the late 1990s through early 2000s?  I think it may be some variant of Highway Gothic I don't recognize, but I do not know what it is. I also see a common variant only in PWC that is the same font (probably used earlier), but on these "tabs" by the traffic signal posts, mostly used at span-wire signals, but sometimes on mast arms as well.

It would be really awesome if you know this, but if you do, then simply identify it. K? 

(Finally got images working. Yes!) Thanks.

[Zeffy]

Just by recreating it, it looks to be standard Series E with initial letters raised much more than normal, but the picture isn't the greatest quality, so I could be wrong. Here's the sign I used to compare:

[J N Winkler]

The name of the font is "I design signs professionally and I don't understand the distinction between capital letter height and lowercase loop height."

[Alex4897]

The name of the font is "I design signs professionally and I don't understand the distinction between capital letter height and lowercase loop height."

That looks to be "I design signs professionally and I don't understand the distinction between capital letter height and lowercase loop height."-Modified if I'm seeing it right.

[Scott5114]

To elaborate on J.N. Winkler's post–the MUTCD specifies that lowercase letters are to be 75% the height of the capital letters. If you use a typical implementation of FHWA Series fonts, this is done automatically for you. However, some designers misread this requirement and scale the lowercase letters to be 75% of the default (correct) height, which results in signs like this.

Examples of this crop up throughout the country.

[Kacie Jane]

Or in other words, the "eene" in Keene should be 75% the height of the capital letters, not the "ld" in Old.

[dfnva]

Hey AARoads,
I am wondering, what is this traffic signal sign font used in the Northern Virginia area in the late 1990s through early 2000s?  I think it may be some variant of Highway Gothic I don't recognize, but I do not know what it is. I also see a common variant only in PWC that is the same font (probably used earlier), but on these "tabs" by the traffic signal posts, mostly used at span-wire signals, but sometimes on mast arms as well.

It would be really awesome if you know this, but if you do, then simply identify it. K? 

(Finally got images working. Yes!) Thanks.

I think that only a certain contractor used this ugly combination of font sizes as it appeared almost exclusively with new/replacement signal assemblies in the late 1990s-early 2000s. Some useless history--The fairly bland installation in the example above at SR-644/Old Keene Mill Rd and SR-638/Rolling Rd in Springfield replaced a span wire assembly with (far superior) older Marbelite signals.

Other new signals installed within that time frame, such as ones down the road on SR-644/Old Keene Mill Rd in downtown Springfield as part of the Springfield Interchange project, had normal looking Series E fonts for the street signs.

[1995hoo]

You can find signs like that at the traffic light outside the Burke and Herbert Bank on Manchester Boulevard just east of Beulah Street near the IHOP. Ugly stuff. It's hard to read the sign because the initial characters stand out too much.

[MillTheRoadgeek]

Wow, guys, thanks for all this information. Oh, and does anyone know about any sort of the tab usage in PWC used earlier or so? (They always make ugly signage, especially those ugly signposts installed in the late 2000s).

[dfnva]

VDOT (or a contractor) has done it again, but with Clearview.  Surprisingly, due to the spacing between the letters, it's not quite as ugly as the Old Keene Mill Rd example above.

This is along SR-641/Old Bridge Rd in Lake Ridge, VA.  New mast arm signal assemblies have just recently been installed at five intersections, replacing span-wire assemblies installed in the 1980s and 1990s -- some, but not all, of which have street signs in this style. 

[txstateends]

VDOT (or a contractor) has done it again, but with Clearview.  Surprisingly, due to the spacing between the letters, it's not quite as ugly as the Old Keene Mill Rd example above.

This is along SR-641/Old Bridge Rd in Lake Ridge, VA.  New mast arm signal assemblies have just recently been installed at five intersections, replacing span-wire assemblies installed in the 1980s and 1990s -- some, but not all, of which have street signs in this style. 

That font needs to be a *little* bigger if it is going to be readable, and they should have trimmed that tree branch back some, or placed the sign a little farther out on the mast.