Supplemental Speed Limit Plaques in the Wild?

[talllguy]

I noticed there are three supplimental plaques for speed limit signs in the MUTCD that I've never seen. "CITYWIDE", "NEIGHBORHOOD", and "RESIDENTIAL". Have any of you seen them used? I'm curious what the application would be, since 25MPH is the typical *neighborhood* type speed limit anyway. I guess you could put one of these at the entrance to a community to avoid placing lots of signs.

• R2-5aP is shown as a small horizontal rectangular supplementary white plaque with a black border and the word "CITYWIDE" in black.
• R2-5bP is shown as a small horizontal rectangular supplementary white plaque with a black border and the word "NEIGHBORHOOD" in black.
• R2-5cP is shown as a small horizontal rectangular supplementary white plaque with a black border and the word "RESIDENTIAL" in black.

[Zeffy]

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I thought some of the newer speed limit signs in New York City had either the CITYWIDE or NEIGHBORHOOD banners on top. Other than that, I have rarely seen them used.

[briantroutman]

I've never seen any go these plaques in the wild.

"CITYWIDE"  perhaps makes sense in the same way that "STATE LAW"   does on signs like the R1-6 "YIELD TO PEDESTRIANS"  (i.e. you must do this within a particular area whether or not you see other signs posted), but I'm surprised NEIGHBORHOOD and RESIDENTIAL are allowed because of their inherent vagueness.

Imagine you're driving down a street lined with homes and see "RESIDENTIAL SPEED LIMIT 25" . And then you pass a corner store–and then a dry cleaner and a gas station–intermingled with additional homes. Is it still "residential" ?

[Brandon]

I've seen them in many locales here as one-piece signs.

[Mapmikey]

North Carolina has separate STATEWIDE banners for speed limit signs...



They have plenty of one-piece signs at their city limits but I want to say I've seen CITYWIDE on a separate banner too.

South Carolina has ALL RESIDENTIAL STREETS with its signs in places:
https://goo.gl/maps/KCpgS



Mapmikey

[billtm]

My neighborhood has "neighborhood" plaques above the speed limit sign. I have never seen the plaques outside my neighborhood.

[1995hoo]

I've never seen those. I've seen the ones in New York that say, for example, "Village Speed Limit" on a single sign similar to those weird "State Speed Limit" signs they use. Around here, the supplemental plaque I see most often on a speed limit sign appears underneath and says "Speeding" (in black on yellow)/"Additional $200 fine" (underneath "Speeding" in black on white). That sign is typically used on residential streets with a high volume of cut-through commuter traffic.

[dgolub]

I've never seen those. I've seen the ones in New York that say, for example, "Village Speed Limit" on a single sign similar to those weird "State Speed Limit" signs they use. Around here, the supplemental plaque I see most often on a speed limit sign appears underneath and says "Speeding" (in black on yellow)/"Additional $200 fine" (underneath "Speeding" in black on white). That sign is typically used on residential streets with a high volume of cut-through commuter traffic.

Very common in New York State, except that it's always a single sign.  There's "State Speed Limit," "City Speed Limit," "Area Speed Limit," "Village Speed Limit," and of course just plain old "Speed Limit."  There are some other rare ones out there, but those are the most common ones.

[1995hoo]

I've never seen those. I've seen the ones in New York that say, for example, "Village Speed Limit" on a single sign similar to those weird "State Speed Limit" signs they use. Around here, the supplemental plaque I see most often on a speed limit sign appears underneath and says "Speeding" (in black on yellow)/"Additional $200 fine" (underneath "Speeding" in black on white). That sign is typically used on residential streets with a high volume of cut-through commuter traffic.

Very common in New York State, except that it's always a single sign.  There's "State Speed Limit," "City Speed Limit," "Area Speed Limit," "Village Speed Limit," and of course just plain old "Speed Limit."  There are some other rare ones out there, but those are the most common ones.

Right, that's why I said "on a single sign similar to those weird 'State Speed Limit' signs they use."

[jeffandnicole]

I've never seen any go these plaques in the wild.

"CITYWIDE"  perhaps makes sense in the same way that "STATE LAW"   does on signs like the R1-6 "YIELD TO PEDESTRIANS"  (i.e. you must do this within a particular area whether or not you see other signs posted), but I'm surprised NEIGHBORHOOD and RESIDENTIAL are allowed because of their inherent vagueness.

Imagine you're driving down a street lined with homes and see "RESIDENTIAL SPEED LIMIT 25" . And then you pass a corner store–and then a dry cleaner and a gas station–intermingled with additional homes. Is it still "residential" ?

It would be used if the neighborhood has one, or limited, ways to enter and exit the neighborhood, such as a development and especially in a gated community, and when there are several streets. A single thru street wouldn't need such a supplemental notation because the speed limit only applies to that street.

[Don'tKnowYet]

I'm curious what the application would be,

From the FHWA study that was the basis for adoption:

Areawide Speed Limits: In urban areas, it is often considered unnecessary and overly costly to install a speed limit sign on every minor residential street, particularly in typical suburban neighborhoods that may have only a very few access points into and out of the neighborhood to arterial streets with higher speed limits. In such cases, some 20 jurisdictions have a policy to install a speed limit sign only on the streets that enter the neighborhood from the higher speed arterial, and to include an indication on that speed limit sign that it applies "unless otherwise posted"  to the entire  neighborhood or subdivision. A similar approach is taken by some cities, posting a "citywide"  speed limit sign on each road as it enters the city and thereby reducing the number of speed limit signs posted on individual roads and streets within the city. At least 4 States have standard signs for this purpose.  The MUTCD should acknowledge and facilitate this cost-saving practice. Recommendation: Add four plaques for use with R2-1 speed limit signs: "Neighborhood" , Residential" , and "Citywide"  (to go above the R2-1), and "Unless Otherwise Posted"  (to go below the R2-1).

"Synthesis of Non-MUTCD Traffic Signs,'' December 2005

[freebrickproductions]

Huntsville and Madison do it all on one sign:
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.6540047,-86.5392791,3a,15y,120.02h,87t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sAzD2LPWJNrjCekQZk7Z20w!2e0?hl=en