Big Brown Signs for attractions

[Pink Jazz]

Historically, prior to the 2003 MUTCD, the standard way to indicate attractions on highways was through big brown signs.  In the 2003 MUTCD, an "Attractions" category was added to the standard logo sign categories.  This has led some states to put restrictions on what attractions could be eligible for a big brown sign.  It seems that many states now restrict the big brown signs only for attractions that have an educational or cultural significance, while other attractions (such as amusement parks) are now required to lease an attractions logo sign instead.  Still, non-eligible big brown signs that are already in place in most states can remain in place for the sign's usable life.  However, I heard there is a bill in Maine to remove most of the brown signs and have them replaced with attractions logo signs.

I was wondering, does your state still install big brown signs for any type of attraction, or only those with educational/cultural significance?  It seems here in Arizona ADOT mostly only installs big brown signs for educational/cultural attractions.  Also, I think there may be some other big brown signs along I-10 near Downtown Phoenix that cannot have logo signs installed due to limited sign spacing.

[NE2]

Theme parks have always been on normal green signs here, even though museums and such have been on brown signs.

[Pink Jazz]

Theme parks have always been on normal green signs here, even though museums and such have been on brown signs.

I remember seeing brown signs in Virginia for Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, and Kings Dominion.  I think they are still there.

[Pete from Boston]

NPS gets brown signs in Mass.  Not much else.

Unfortunately, the switch to "Attractions" has made a mess of excess verbiage at some exits, for places of dubious attractiveness that a 70mph motorist couldn't or shouldn't have time to read.  "Downtown Lowell Museums" on a BBS would be better than all the unread words on the "Attractions" sign. 

Too much word no good.  No be clutterbug.

[roadman]

NPS gets brown signs in Mass.  Not much else.

Unfortunately, the switch to "Attractions" has made a mess of excess verbiage at some exits, for places of dubious attractiveness that a 70mph motorist couldn't or shouldn't have time to read.  "Downtown Lowell Museums" on a BBS would be better than all the unread words on the "Attractions" sign. 

Too much word no good.  No be clutterbug.

Brown background LOGOs are allowed on blue background Attractions signs for certain state and local attractions in MA.  Also, where sufficient spacing exists, current MassDOT policy is to allow NPS facilities to have stand-alone signs - the recently installed replacement signs on I-90, I-91, and I-291 for the Springfield Armory National Historic Site are a good example of this.

The brown background Essex National Heritage Area signs blanketing parts of I-95, MA 128 (north of Peabody), I-93, and I-495 were the result of a Congressional mandate.

[1995hoo]

Theme parks have always been on normal green signs here, even though museums and such have been on brown signs.

I remember seeing brown signs in Virginia for Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, and Kings Dominion.  I think they are still there.

The southbound Kings Dominion brown sign was still there the Saturday before Christmas, with the word "Paramount's" concealed with brownout since said company no longer owns the park. I guess the idea is that an amusement park is considered a "park," and parks normally get brown signs?

The main difference I notice between those brown signs and NPS brown signs is the typeface.

I've seen some blue "Attractions" signs. Maryland has a lot of them listing all sorts of things. The main thing I've seen on Virginia's signs has been wineries, though I've seen some golf courses too. I tend to agree with Pete from Boston that some of the logos are hard to read. Some are very simple, such as the Naked Mountain Winery sign on I-66 approaching Exit 18, but that's because the winery chose simple Arial or Helvetica black-on-white text for use on the sign. I think that sort of thing is a lot better than putting your logo up because it's easier to read.

[Pink Jazz]

Theme parks have always been on normal green signs here, even though museums and such have been on brown signs.

I remember seeing brown signs in Virginia for Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, and Kings Dominion.  I think they are still there.

The southbound Kings Dominion brown sign was still there the Saturday before Christmas, with the word "Paramount's" concealed with brownout since said company no longer owns the park. I guess the idea is that an amusement park is considered a "park," and parks normally get brown signs?

My guess is that sign was installed before Virginia introduced attractions logo signs (I think it was 2004 in VA), and thus that sign was grandfathered.  I would think if Kings Dominion were to get a brand new sign today they would probably have to get a logo sign.

BTW, I wonder how that sign is actually holding up.  Brown signage tends to fade faster than green or blue.  However, since that sign is in the southbound direction that means the sign faces north, and north-facing signs don't fade nearly as fast as south-facing signs.

[roadman]

Although Massachusetts has used blue Attractions signs since 1999 (MA was the first state to use them under an FHWA pilot program), there are still a handful of older non-NPS, non-State Park, etc. brown signs out there.  This is because MassHighway/MassDOT policy does not require replacement of these signs with Attractions LOGOs until an additional entity comes along and requests a sign.

Unlike most states, in Massachusetts Attractions and other service sign installations are paid for by private businesses.  The only notable exception was in 2000 and 2001, when the Massachusetts Legislature gave the Office of Travel and Tourism (MOTT) a bunch of money to install highway signs promoting tourism.  To their credit, MOTT admitted they didn't know anything about highway signs, and gave the money to MassHighway instead.  This is why, to this day, the majority of LOGOs on Massachusetts Attractions signs are simple text instead of specialized designs.

[SectorZ]

NPS gets brown signs in Mass.  Not much else.

Unfortunately, the switch to "Attractions" has made a mess of excess verbiage at some exits, for places of dubious attractiveness that a 70mph motorist couldn't or shouldn't have time to read.  "Downtown Lowell Museums" on a BBS would be better than all the unread words on the "Attractions" sign. 

Too much word no good.  No be clutterbug.

Or on I-93 near exits 34/35, where the Stone Zoo has a little sign underneath the main sign to announce a particular up to date attraction at the zoo. Usually that small sign is a disaster.

Case in point, https://goo.gl/maps/74NO7

[cjk374]

Louisiana has the "Attractions" BBSs also.  From what I can tell from observations I have made, state funded/operated sites get brown signs, while private or local munincipal sites will get put on the logo signs (as long as they pay the fees).

Brown sign:  http://www.instantstreetview.com/2bn2g5z1n8239z16azpnz5p

Attractions logo sign:  http://www.instantstreetview.com/2bn2vvz1n7htez2hezq1z5p

[wphiii]

I've seen some blue "Attractions" signs. Maryland has a lot of them listing all sorts of things.

Maryland is in the process of getting rid of its "attractions" program (which was stupid, anyway - only six things could be listed before any given exit, it was first-come, first-serve with next to no parameters for what qualified as an "attraction," and many of the logos were impossible to read at highway speed) and replacing it with a more sensible, cohesive tourism signing system, which has actually already been implemented in parts of southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore.

The blue specific food/gas/lodging signs will still be around.

[NE2]

Theme parks have always been on normal green signs here, even though museums and such have been on brown signs.

Sea World is actually an exit to a local road, but the others only provide access to the parks (both do have names, but the park names are more useful to the tourist).

[1995hoo]

Theme parks have always been on normal green signs here, even though museums and such have been on brown signs.

I remember seeing brown signs in Virginia for Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, and Kings Dominion.  I think they are still there.

The southbound Kings Dominion brown sign was still there the Saturday before Christmas, with the word "Paramount's" concealed with brownout since said company no longer owns the park. I guess the idea is that an amusement park is considered a "park," and parks normally get brown signs?

My guess is that sign was installed before Virginia introduced attractions logo signs (I think it was 2004 in VA), and thus that sign was grandfathered.  I would think if Kings Dominion were to get a brand new sign today they would probably have to get a logo sign.

BTW, I wonder how that sign is actually holding up.  Brown signage tends to fade faster than green or blue.  However, since that sign is in the southbound direction that means the sign faces north, and north-facing signs don't fade nearly as fast as south-facing signs.

I will look in my Recycle Bin to see if the dashcam video is still there from when we passed by; if it is, and if the sign is clear enough, I'll follow up with a capture. Won't likely be today, though. I'm positive you're correct about it being an old sign. I think it is the same sign that was there in the mid-1990s, when I used that part of I-95 much more frequently than I do now.

[TEG24601]

All of the State and National parks in Washington are indicated with Brown Signs, as well as the ski areas in the Cascades.  Waypoints and overlooks are also marked with Brown Signs.  Local parks, however, seem to have green or blue signs.


Last time I drove cross-country (2008), all of the historical monuments and parks were indicated with Brown Signs, including Yellowstone, Little Big Horn, Devil's Monument, and Ft. Kearny.

[txstateends]

In TX, many attractions, especially of a historic nature, get brown signs.  Palo Duro Canyon, near Amarillo, has a brown sign on I-40 (http://goo.gl/maps/gKrce), but strangely enough, a pre-Clearview version on I-27 that had part green and part brown is now gone in favor of an all green one (http://goo.gl/maps/tiO2U). The corner at the service road and TX 217 still has a small brown version (http://goo.gl/maps/wCvkp).  At the same exit, though, there is another one with a separate brown section (http://goo.gl/maps/v3JJY) for a historical museum adjacent to West Texas A&M.  One non-park, non-historic brown I found is this one (http://goo.gl/maps/HYX0o) on the exit ramp from the south end of US 75 to Woodall Rodgers Freeway in Dallas (with a quickie bonus rare (because they don't appear on BGSes or at corners of cross-streets along the way) Spur 366 shield).

(Services, specific or non-specific, are blue.  Malls used to get advance green guide signs in TX, but currently are blue (http://goo.gl/maps/gcQ9q).)

[roadfro]

Historically, prior to the 2003 MUTCD, the standard way to indicate attractions on highways was through big brown signs.  In the 2003 MUTCD, an "Attractions" category was added to the standard logo sign categories.  This has led some states to put restrictions on what attractions could be eligible for a big brown sign.  It seems that many states now restrict the big brown signs only for attractions that have an educational or cultural significance, while other attractions (such as amusement parks) are now required to lease an attractions logo sign instead.

Even in the 2000 MUTCD, the brown signs were designated as 'Recreational or Cultural Interest' signage. The term "recreational" in this context was to refer to things like parks, campgrounds, ski areas, etc. and not an amusement park. It's possible that some sign designers could have interpreted "park" to apply to amusement parks, but that was not the intent. Attractions generating large amounts of traffic (e.g. amusement parks, stadiums, etc.) are perfectly appropriate to use green guide signing--but were never really intended to use brown.

The 2000 MUTCD had the 'Attractions' category in the specific service signage (blue sign) category, so these weren't introduced in 2003.

[1995hoo]

Theme parks have always been on normal green signs here, even though museums and such have been on brown signs.

I remember seeing brown signs in Virginia for Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, and Kings Dominion.  I think they are still there.

The southbound Kings Dominion brown sign was still there the Saturday before Christmas, with the word "Paramount's" concealed with brownout since said company no longer owns the park. I guess the idea is that an amusement park is considered a "park," and parks normally get brown signs?

My guess is that sign was installed before Virginia introduced attractions logo signs (I think it was 2004 in VA), and thus that sign was grandfathered.  I would think if Kings Dominion were to get a brand new sign today they would probably have to get a logo sign.

BTW, I wonder how that sign is actually holding up.  Brown signage tends to fade faster than green or blue.  However, since that sign is in the southbound direction that means the sign faces north, and north-facing signs don't fade nearly as fast as south-facing signs.

I will look in my Recycle Bin to see if the dashcam video is still there from when we passed by; if it is, and if the sign is clear enough, I'll follow up with a capture. Won't likely be today, though. I'm positive you're correct about it being an old sign. I think it is the same sign that was there in the mid-1990s, when I used that part of I-95 much more frequently than I do now.

Following up on this, the video is no longer in the Recycle Bin. I guess newer deletions replaced it.

I looked on Street View and found the sign I recall. See first link. There is another much newer brown sign for Kings Dominion a short distance further to the north, this one a full sign rather than a brown panel on a BGS. It's also in Clearview. See second link.

Old sign using brownout: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.851975,-77.455044,3a,75y,180.29h,88.27t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sc_T3xpNCCwtBKMEce7gCpA!2e0

New Clearview sign further north: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.856302,-77.454662,3a,75y,219.16h,83.65t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sbEWcc_-WmDvZGxB40plopQ!2e0

[freebrickproductions]

Decatur, AL has some brown signs for Point Mallard Park. They are currently in Clearview but were button copy up until 2011-2012ish.
Here's one of them on streetview:
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.588363,-86.980379,3a,15y,353.44h,100.71t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sdhioMYOUSPIQ1OHIZwGkow!2e0?hl=en

[jbnv]

The brown background Essex National Heritage Area signs blanketing parts of I-95, MA 128 (north of Peabody), I-93, and I-495 were the result of a Congressional mandate.

We have the Atchafalaya Heritage Area; it basically covers everything between Lafayette and Baton Rouge, including both cities. And plenty of BBSs to let you know you're entering it.

(The fact that Congress creates these "National Heritage Areas" gives me a bit of the frissons. Can't say I'm fond of the idea of Congress carving out broad swaths of land and giving them special status in which the National Park Service plays an "advisory" role.)