States that used US colored shields

[Mergingtraffic]

What states besides FL used colored US shields at one point?

I saw this is Baltimore, MD recently.

[hbelkins]

Keep up with the times. The correct term now is FHWA-American shields. 

I've seen them for Florida, Mississippi and Arizona.

[Avalanchez71]

Wasn't this just discussed like last week?

[usends]

I saw this is Baltimore, MD recently.

Is that really a colored shield?  Or is it just rusted?

[Mapmikey]

I saw this is Baltimore, MD recently.

Is that really a colored shield?  Or is it just rusted?

Definitely not a colored shield. 

GMSV here https://goo.gl/maps/rjy96Yqms5w shows progression to red over time...


Here is a MD 2 shield that had the same thing happen to it.  The 2008 view has no red and the 2011 view has some and the most recent one is deep red...

https://goo.gl/maps/tRtD7mYX2Hp

[rarnold]

Idaho uses brown colored signs to mark scenic byways on both state and U.S. highways. I have noticed that some have been replaced by standard colored signs.

[silverback1065]

What was the point of the colors?

[Quillz]

Well, technically black and white are colors, so every state did at some point...

What was the point of the colors?

Depends on the state. Florida and Arizona seemed to use them for directional purposes (and in the former, no two like colors could meet, although this wasn't always the case), while some states like Idaho seemed to use brown to indicate a scenic highway.

Given California used to use outline shields, I guess they technically had a few black and green background shields.

[Max Rockatansky]

The shield gallery will give you some interesting results in some far flung places.  Off the top of my head I'm not recalling the exact states but I know there was some in the mountain/plains region that had them for a little bit. 

[Quillz]

New Jersey

[Scott5114]

Kansas used green US-56 shields for a while. Just 56, though.

[PHLBOS]

I remember seeing some in RI back in the 70s.

[hubcity]

New Jersey

That looks to be from that short period where NJ tried out shields with yellow or white (looks like white there) on a green background, apparently in the 60's. Is there any more info on that initiative out there? Seems like it ended almost as soon as it began.

[kurumi]

Connecticut experimented in urban areas for a while (state and US routes): http://kurumi.com/roads/ct/colors.html

CTSignGuy has a real green US 5, and replicas of the other US routes: http://s166.photobucket.com/user/ctsignguy/library/Convincing%20Fakes?sort=3&page=1

[Quillz]

New Jersey

That looks to be from that short period where NJ tried out shields with yellow or white (looks like white there) on a green background, apparently in the 60's. Is there any more info on that initiative out there? Seems like it ended almost as soon as it began.

It extended to their state route shields, too:



I didn't know it was part of an experiment, but it's interesting to note that Caltrans made the shift to white-on-green in 1964, so around the same time, as they found that it provided superior visibility in dark or hazy conditions. (Although nowadays, I believe however your typical black-on-white signs are made, it's got better visibility than white-on-green).

[freebrickproductions]

Alabama uses shields with blue letters and backgrounds for the Appalachian Development corridors, but the shields themselves are white, so I'm not sure if they count.