Damaged Signs

[Scott5114]

I hate cutesy street names.

This is actually not a street name, but rather the entrance to a shopping center called Best in the West. (If the name seems familiar, it went viral in 2024 for having its digital sign hacked to display furry art.) It's just that Las Vegas apparently has a policy of attaching a street name sign to every mastarm, whether there's a street there or not. So you can find street name signs for Cheyenne Commons and Rainbow Ridge Plaza, Mob Museum (this is a T intersection, so the arrow is pointing at the actual museum), and a named crosswalk. Oh, and they all light up because Las Vegas doesn't do anything in half measures.

[kphoger]

It's just that Las Vegas apparently has a policy of attaching a street name sign to every mastarm, whether there's a street there or not. So you can find street name signs for Cheyenne Commons and Rainbow Ridge Plaza, Mob Museum, ...

I kind of like that idea, honestly.

... and a named crosswalk.

Oh, never mind, I guess.  That's just ridiculous.  Crosswalks don't even need names to begin with.

Oh, and they all light up because Las Vegas doesn't do anything in half measures.

Light-up crosswalk names?  What a waste of money.

[Scott5114]

Oh, never mind, I guess.  That's just ridiculous.  Crosswalks don't even need names to begin with.

Well, if it makes it any better, the name of it, San Simeon Crosswalk, matches the name of the nearest cross street, it's just that the crosswalk is just far enough away that they can't just put a sign for San Simeon Street.

I have seen others where the (still light-up) sign is yellow and says PED XING, though. That at least has a conspicuousness purpose.

Light-up crosswalk names?  What a waste of money.

Hey, if the tourists are paying for it, why not?

[kphoger]

Well, if it makes it any better, the name of it, San Simeon Crosswalk, matches the name of the nearest cross street, it's just that the crosswalk is just far enough away that they can't just put a sign for San Simeon Street.

No, that doesn't make it better.  It simply doesn't need a name.  Or a sign.

Hey, if the tourists are paying for it, why not?

Oh, I guess I was under the mistaken impression that residents' tax money was being used for those signs.

[roadfro]

It's just that Las Vegas apparently has a policy of attaching a street name sign to every mastarm, whether there's a street there or not. So you can find street name signs for Cheyenne Commons and Rainbow Ridge Plaza, Mob Museum, ...

I kind of like that idea, honestly.

The "street name sign when it's not even a real street" policy has been around in the Vegas valley for as long as I can remember. All of Scott's examples came from City of Las Vegas proper, but the other entities do this also. My favorite example, and the most egregious I can think of, is in the County off the Strip and involves a semi-restricted access to City Center under a parking structure (interestingly, the very next signal to the north, which serves the employee parking garage, has no street name signs at all).

Reno-Sparks seems to have a similar policy, although it's not applied quite as consistently as down south (but you're also more likely to find mast arms without street name signs here). Reno area examples include Orchard Plaza, Firecreek Crossing, and Sierra Marketplace & Atlantis Dwy).

... and a named crosswalk.

Oh, never mind, I guess.  That's just ridiculous.  Crosswalks don't even need names to begin with.

Oh, and they all light up because Las Vegas doesn't do anything in half measures.

Light-up crosswalk names?  What a waste of money.

The "named crosswalk" policy, though, appears to be more unique to actual Las Vegas—I'm not down in Vegas regularly, but the only other examples of this I've seen are in the city proper. Most appear to named for the street adjacent to the crosswalk, but I did manage to find one example of a mid-block crossing named for a person.

However, I believe this phenomena is relatively new (maybe in the last 10-15 years), and thus far I've only ever seen crosswalk street name signs at semi-recent installations of two-stage crosswalks.

[Scott5114]

Oh, I guess I was under the mistaken impression that residents' tax money was being used for those signs.

I do the vast majority my ambling around in the City of Las Vegas proper, where all of these examples are from. While residents do pay sales tax—not much, though, since groceries aren't taxable in Nevada—the vast majority of City of LV sales tax revenue comes from tourist expenditures on Fremont Street, and is then spent throughout city limits. (This is why the Strip had the state create the special tax structure that Paradise has—tax revenue collected in Paradise can only be spent in Paradise, whereas tax revenue collected on Fremont Street can be spent anywhere in LV city limits...including on the San Simeon Crosswalk signs.)

After 33 years of living under ODOT I am perfectly fine with having city and state DOTs that appear to want to spoil me rotten, especially if them not doing so would only lower my taxes by a negligible amount since so much money is coming in regardless of what I do.

The "named crosswalk" policy, though, appears to be more unique to actual Las Vegas—I'm not down in Vegas regularly, but the only other examples of this I've seen are in the city proper. Most appear to named for the street adjacent to the crosswalk, but I did manage to find one example of a mid-block crossing named for a person.

Ah, thanks for digging that up. I remembered seeing a crosswalk with a weird name on Decatur somewhere, but when I was looking for it I ran across the Westmoreland Crosswalk first and assumed it was that one.

[kphoger]

semi-restricted access
Firecreek Crossing

These are the same link.

I did manage to find one example of a mid-block crossing named for a person.

To me, that sounds like it's Doris's own private crosswalk, and nobody else is expected to use it.

[mrsman]

semi-restricted access
Firecreek Crossing

These are the same link.

I did manage to find one example of a mid-block crossing named for a person.

To me, that sounds like it's Doris's own private crosswalk, and nobody else is expected to use it.

A quick google search indicates that Mrs. Stoehr had lobbied the city to put a signalized crossing there.  Before it was installed, she was killed while crossing the street nearby.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/news-columns/road-warrior/new-crosswalk-on-decatur-represents-a-trail-of-tears/

[roadfro]

semi-restricted access
Firecreek Crossing

These are the same link.

Oops. Fixed here and in original post. Thanks.

[mrsman]

semi-restricted access
Firecreek Crossing

These are the same link.

Oops. Fixed here and in original post. Thanks.

It's not an unusual for a private driveway, for deliveries only, to have a traffic signal to make it easier to enter and leave.

But it is highly unusual that such a driveway, that is not open to general traffic, has a double left turn lane.


Here's one a short bit away that does not have a street name sign, but you can probably tell that this is parking for MGM employees.

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1086451,-115.1800376,3a,75y,166.42h,90.2t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sM3tgu_zh0nbjH-K2qGRJ1w!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-0.20275040822326673%26panoid%3DM3tgu_zh0nbjH-K2qGRJ1w%26yaw%3D166.41801471081317!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIyMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

LA also seems to put their signage at shopping center entrances.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/100+N+La+Cienega+Blvd,+Beverly+Hills,+CA+90211/@34.0745592,-118.37646,3a,37.5y,124.46h,89.49t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sgV7Sb4zHbmJoxinAN2SMIg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D0.5148267400969502%26panoid%3DgV7Sb4zHbmJoxinAN2SMIg%26yaw%3D124.46014936167361!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x80c2b94f28dcdccd:0xd1b02dcca76b4f57!8m2!3d34.0680641!4d-118.3760522!16s%2Fg%2F11b8v86mrr?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIxOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

[The_Ginger]

This WV 68 shield is in the heart of the Ravenswood "Historic District."

Fore reference, here's what it used to look like in 2017:


My photos were taken this year, a few days ago. The sign has been bent so facing it head-on results in viewing the buildings, not straight ahead.



The WV M6-3 arrow has been completely mangled.



The sign is no longer standing up straight.


Finally, the set of plates on the post have been scraped to oblivion on their right sides.

[Scott5114]

This WV 68 shield is in the heart of the Ravenswood "Historic District."

Fore reference, here's what it used to look like in 2017:

You think that's bad, you should see what happened to the building next to it!

[The_Ginger]

This WV 68 shield is in the heart of the Ravenswood "Historic District."
Fore reference, here's what it used to look like in 2017:

You think that's bad, you should see what happened to the building next to it!

Oh! I did forget to mention that the whole reason that I needed a photo of the sign was that I wanted a more in-date photo for the WV 68 article.

The building in question had been unoccupied for a while, and I think it had black mold in the interior. In 2023, an 18-wheeler, when making a turn from WV 68 North to the street on it's right (CR 2/19), slammed the side of the building, and apparently insurance or something didn't pay for the building's recovery, so the owner tore it and the other side buildings—one of which was Ravenswood's old City Hall—down. On-street parking in that area sucks, and the plan was to turn it into a parking lot, but that hasn't happened and it's still a dirt lot.

[kphoger]

On-street parking in that area sucks, and the plan was to turn it into a parking lot, but that hasn't happened and it's still a dirt lot.

then it's just an unpaved parking lot

[The_Ginger]

On-street parking in that area sucks, and the plan was to turn it into a parking lot, but that hasn't happened and it's still a dirt lot.

then it's just an unpaved parking lot

It's owned by a private individual, not the city, and while a person could park on it, no one has yet and the private individual hasn't clarified if you can or cannot.

[kphoger]

It's owned by a private individual, not the city, and while a person could park on it, no one has yet and the private individual hasn't clarified if you can or cannot.

I wonder...  In many places, it doesn't count as trespassing if the land owner hasn't posted [No Trespassing] signs every so often along their fence line, so you can legally be on their land until such time as they tell you to leave.  I wonder if the same sort of thing applies to parking in someone's private lot in a town.

[The_Ginger]

It's owned by a private individual, not the city, and while a person could park on it, no one has yet and the private individual hasn't clarified if you can or cannot.

I wonder...  In many places, it doesn't count as trespassing if the land owner hasn't posted [No Trespassing] signs every so often along their fence line, so you can legally be on their land until such time as they tell you to leave.  I wonder if the same sort of thing applies to parking in someone's private lot in a town.

Not sure. I don't think that anyone will park there for the time being as current local knowledge is just "It'll eventually be a parking lot but I'm not parking there until it's paved."

The WV Property Viewer hasn't updated to reflect the recent teardown, either.

[ClassicHasClass]

Springtime, when local signage molts its new skin.

[LilianaUwU]

Springtime, when local signage molts its new skin.

This wouldn't be an issue if they painted the old sign black and used the back side.

[ClassicHasClass]

Springtime, when local signage molts its new skin.

This wouldn't be an issue if they painted the old sign black and used the back side.

They could also paint it pink and erect a cheap and simple Somebody Else's Problem field on it, though this would probably make it even less effective as a traffic sign.

[thenetwork]

It's been a few springtimes for this one, but yeah...

https://maps.app.goo.gl/mBdkTAAhqHPRjX8g9?g_st=ac

[CoreySamson]

When they said "ground-mounted sign," I don't think they meant this...


Seen on I-45 SB yesterday.