Rare Road Signs

[GCrites]

I remember in the late '80s when the government allowed states to raise the rural Interstate speed limit to 65 MPH, Ohio began using a very weird and detailed speed limit sign on rural Interstates. Aren't these signs pretty much gone now?

Yes since the split speed limit for trucks is gone. I don't believe I have seen any with a big "70" plastered over them.

[peterj920]

Saw this sign for the first time the other day

[kphoger]

I've seen a few yellow diamond HOSPITAL signs here and there in the Richmond, VA area, but not really anywhere else.

The VA here in Wichita, just blocks from my house, has these signs that aren't all that old, relatively speaking.
https://goo.gl/maps/9mshELFRw8w

[TravelingBethelite]

Saw these about 8 months ago in Missouri:

[kphoger]

Saw these about 8 months ago in Missouri:

Yeah, I've hardly ever seen this one as a text-based sign.  Almost always pictorial.

[TEG24601]

"School Bus Stop Ahead" has largely been replaced with the new Pictogram Signs.


The left-side pennant for passing zones have largely been phased out, in Washington.  They recently started posting the large white "No Passing"/"Pass With Care" signs over the last 6 months or so.


In some small towns in the mid-west I have seen old yellow Stop signs.

[kphoger]

"School Bus Stop Ahead" has largely been replaced with the new Pictogram Signs.


The left-side pennant for passing zones have largely been phased out, in Washington.  They recently started posting the large white "No Passing"/"Pass With Care" signs over the last 6 months or so.


In some small towns in the mid-west I have seen old yellow Stop signs.

In my neck of the woods, I've never seen a pictorial school bus stop sign, and yellow left-side no passing pennants are ubiquitous.

[peterj920]

Saw these about 8 months ago in Missouri:

Yeah, I've hardly ever seen this one as a text-based sign.  Almost always pictorial.

Those are all over the place in Wisconsin.  There is a pretty big Amish population here. 

[kphoger]

I'm driven through Amish areas in Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, and Kansas, but nearly all the warning signs I've seen have been pictorial rather than text-based.

[7/8]

I'm driven through Amish areas in Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, and Kansas, but nearly all the warning signs I've seen have been pictorial rather than text-based.

Same here in Ontario. This is the typical sign you'll see for horse and buggies

[PurdueBill]

I remember in the late '80s when the government allowed states to raise the rural Interstate speed limit to 65 MPH, Ohio began using a very weird and detailed speed limit sign on rural Interstates. Aren't these signs pretty much gone now?

Yes since the split speed limit for trucks is gone. I don't believe I have seen any with a big "70" plastered over them.

If it's the two-row signs, there are still some out there with the 70 pasted over the 65.   Note that practice varied widely on what to do with the bottom row--some signs got the bottom part lopped off as shown in the link, some had it pasted over with a white panel.  Practice when doing a wholesale sign replacement has been to replace such signs with conventional speed limit signs, so these remnants may not last forever--except for the ones that are forgotten.

[DandyDan]

Driving around in rural Minnesota this past week, while on MN 56 going south towards Austin, as I was approaching one of the towns on MN 56, rather than the now standard yellow diamond sign with the arrow on top and the reduced speed in the center, they had a 3 shield setup with the top shield saying "BEGIN", the middle shield the reduced speed limit, and the bottom shield "1/5 MILE".  I believe years ago, that was the standard in Minnesota, but I didn't see very much of that this week in the MN portion of my travels.  I was rather surprised to see that, but I don't remember which town it was.

[Scott5114]

I'd consider the "Eisenhower Interstate System" sign to be rare, since it's only supposed to be posted at entrances from rest stops, and even then not all states post it.

[peterj920]

First time I saw this.  Posted because of new stop signs placed at an intersection that was a 2-way stop converted to a 4 way stop. 

[CNGL-Leudimin]

The priority road sign is very common across Europe, but it is as rare as it gets in Spain.


In fact I know of only one sign of this kind in the whole of Aragon: This one. There are a few others in Spain (I remember seeing a couple in Guipuscoa province).

[hm insulators]

Saw this once in a subdivision in Indio CA. No idea if it's still there.

SPEED LIMIT 5 1/2? Now that's bizarre!

I have no pictures, but sometimes when I'm visiting Los Angeles, I've detoured around the Palos Verdes Peninsula on my way from the San Fernando Valley to Orange County. The south shore of this peninsula is unstable in spots and there is a short stretch of Palos Verdes Drive that is signed something like "CONSTANT EARTH MOVEMENT NEXT 0.8 MILES" or some such. This short stretch of road is always having to be patched and repaved because of the earth slippage (any sort of rain frequently brings landslides which close the road completely of course) and driving it, even at the 25 or 30 mph speed limit is like driving on the old-fashioned "whoop-de-doos" or "thank-you-Ma'ams" on highways of a bygone era.

Perhaps one of my fellow road fans in southern California (Quillz or someone) can drive along Palos Verdes Drive and post pictures of these signs.

I don't know about you, but when I'm driving, I don't want my earth to move!

[kphoger]

Driving around in rural Minnesota this past week, while on MN 56 going south towards Austin, as I was approaching one of the towns on MN 56, rather than the now standard yellow diamond sign with the arrow on top and the reduced speed in the center, they had a 3 shield setup with the top shield saying "BEGIN", the middle shield the reduced speed limit, and the bottom shield "1/5 MILE".  I believe years ago, that was the standard in Minnesota, but I didn't see very much of that this week in the MN portion of my travels.  I was rather surprised to see that, but I don't remember which town it was.

I've seen that quite a bit in Minnesota.

[Brandon]

Also, do they still post DO NOT PASS and PASS WITH CARE signs? It seems like these have been pretty much usurped by the NO PASSING ZONE pennants.

I've seen pass with care in michigan only.  Do not pass is rare.

MDOT actually uses all three.  The pennant on the left with DO NOT PASS on the right, and then at the end of the no passing zone, PASS WITH CARE.  It comes in very handy in the winter when the road may not be plowed to pavement.

[paulthemapguy]

Will and LaSalle Counties in Illinois use PASS WITH CARE signs at every opportunity they get.  Textual "stop ahead" signs are also widespread across rural roads in Illinois.

[Ga293]

I have no pictures, but sometimes when I'm visiting Los Angeles, I've detoured around the Palos Verdes Peninsula on my way from the San Fernando Valley to Orange County. The south shore of this peninsula is unstable in spots and there is a short stretch of Palos Verdes Drive that is signed something like "CONSTANT EARTH MOVEMENT NEXT 0.8 MILES" or some such. This short stretch of road is always having to be patched and repaved because of the earth slippage (any sort of rain frequently brings landslides which close the road completely of course) and driving it, even at the 25 or 30 mph speed limit is like driving on the old-fashioned "whoop-de-doos" or "thank-you-Ma'ams" on highways of a bygone era.

Perhaps one of my fellow road fans in southern California (Quillz or someone) can drive along Palos Verdes Drive and post pictures of these signs.

I don't know about you, but when I'm driving, I don't want my earth to move!

No kidding! That's a very disconcerting sign to see.

The only other sign that comes close is the one on NM 159 towards Mogollon that reads "NIGHT TRAVEL DISCOURAGED". This on a remote, narrow, windy mountain road leading through the wilderness with mountain lions, wolves, and bears to what's essentially a ghost town in a narrow canyon pockmarked with abandoned mineshafts. What could possibly go wrong?

[freebrickproductions]

No kidding!

I think you need to check that link.

[Darkchylde]

I've seen "PASS WITH CARE" signs in Louisiana before, but only in work zones, never as a regular sign. Usually they're placed when there's no permanent centerline.

[US71]

No kidding!

I think you need to check that link.

How's that?

[marleythedog]

Yes since the split speed limit for trucks is gone. I don't believe I have seen any with a big "70" plastered over them.

If it's the two-row signs, there are still some out there with the 70 pasted over the 65.   Note that practice varied widely on what to do with the bottom row--some signs got the bottom part lopped off as shown in the link, some had it pasted over with a white panel.  Practice when doing a wholesale sign replacement has been to replace such signs with conventional speed limit signs, so these remnants may not last forever--except for the ones that are forgotten.

I think it varied by district. D8 (Lebanon/Cincinnati) blanked out the bottom row (I remember ODOT putting out a press release at the time calling this an innovative cost saving measure or something bombastic like that). D7 (Sidney/Dayton) took the opportunity to install all new speed limit signs (some of which they had to patch over when the speed limit went to 70 between Troy and Vandalia a year later).

[paulthemapguy]

Not sure if this is rare or just a one-time-only deal (I don't remember seeing this anywhere in the MUTCD)
but here's a weird jagged-turn sign for a state highway.  The oddball is the bottom panel.

2016-07-24_02-30-41 by Paul Drives, on Flickr