California

[Quillz]

Within the last week or so, we have a new Welcome to California sign where US 50 enters the state.  It's a drab green and white, but I found it interesting because Caltrans doesn't usually cram that much information on to a single sheet of metal.  (Stateline Avenue is the intersecting street; US 50 through South Lake Tahoe is "Lake Tahoe Boulevard".)



[...]

Of course, NDOT's signage effort on the other side of US 50 at that location isn't very spectacular either:

When going from west to east, how hard is it usually to get your car up that 33-foot hill in the middle of the street?

That highlights one of my road pet peeves: elevation signs showing the elevation of some unknown place in the town, rather than the elevation of the sign itself.

Aren't they based on the zero point? LA would be city hall, for example. 

[pderocco]

Within the last week or so, we have a new Welcome to California sign where US 50 enters the state.  It's a drab green and white, but I found it interesting because Caltrans doesn't usually cram that much information on to a single sheet of metal.  (Stateline Avenue is the intersecting street; US 50 through South Lake Tahoe is "Lake Tahoe Boulevard".)



[...]

Of course, NDOT's signage effort on the other side of US 50 at that location isn't very spectacular either:

When going from west to east, how hard is it usually to get your car up that 33-foot hill in the middle of the street?

That highlights one of my road pet peeves: elevation signs showing the elevation of some unknown place in the town, rather than the elevation of the sign itself.

Aren't they based on the zero point? LA would be city hall, for example.

Maybe. But since I've never heard of a "zero point" in reference to a town, I doubt most people have, and even so, why would they find that of any interest, not knowing where that point actually is? At least if the sign showed its own elevation, it would also tell people looking at the sign their own elevation.

[DTComposer]

Within the last week or so, we have a new Welcome to California sign where US 50 enters the state.  It's a drab green and white, but I found it interesting because Caltrans doesn't usually cram that much information on to a single sheet of metal.  (Stateline Avenue is the intersecting street; US 50 through South Lake Tahoe is "Lake Tahoe Boulevard".)



[...]

Of course, NDOT's signage effort on the other side of US 50 at that location isn't very spectacular either:

When going from west to east, how hard is it usually to get your car up that 33-foot hill in the middle of the street?

That highlights one of my road pet peeves: elevation signs showing the elevation of some unknown place in the town, rather than the elevation of the sign itself.

Aren't they based on the zero point? LA would be city hall, for example.

Maybe. But since I've never heard of a "zero point" in reference to a town, I doubt most people have, and even so, why would they find that of any interest, not knowing where that point actually is? At least if the sign showed its own elevation, it would also tell people looking at the sign their own elevation.

For these particular signs:

6285' seems to be the elevation at the location of the sign itself. However, "Lake Tahoe" is not the name of the CDP you're entering - that's Stateline (which is why I've looked past the one-word version of it on the Nevada sign). Since as a CDP, there's no city hall, it makes sense that they would use the elevation at the sign's location (or perhaps because that's the location of the "central business district" of Stateline).

Lake Tahoe (the lake) has an elevation of about 6225'.

On the other sign, I'm not sure what point 6252' is referring to. South Lake Tahoe city hall, the El Dorado County government buildings, and the US-50/CA-89 junction are all about 6270-6280'. There is a point on US-50 near the historic location of the Bijou post office that matches that elevation.

GNIS puts the elevation of South Lake Tahoe at 6237', but their location for that doesn't really correspond to any landmark (it's in the Truckee Marsh south of the Al Tahoe neighborhood).

[jdbx]

Within the last week or so, we have a new Welcome to California sign where US 50 enters the state.  It's a drab green and white, but I found it interesting because Caltrans doesn't usually cram that much information on to a single sheet of metal.  (Stateline Avenue is the intersecting street; US 50 through South Lake Tahoe is "Lake Tahoe Boulevard".)



[...]

Of course, NDOT's signage effort on the other side of US 50 at that location isn't very spectacular either:

When going from west to east, how hard is it usually to get your car up that 33-foot hill in the middle of the street?

That highlights one of my road pet peeves: elevation signs showing the elevation of some unknown place in the town, rather than the elevation of the sign itself.

Aren't they based on the zero point? LA would be city hall, for example.

Maybe. But since I've never heard of a "zero point" in reference to a town, I doubt most people have, and even so, why would they find that of any interest, not knowing where that point actually is? At least if the sign showed its own elevation, it would also tell people looking at the sign their own elevation.

For these particular signs:

6285' seems to be the elevation at the location of the sign itself. However, "Lake Tahoe" is not the name of the CDP you're entering - that's Stateline (which is why I've looked past the one-word version of it on the Nevada sign). Since as a CDP, there's no city hall, it makes sense that they would use the elevation at the sign's location (or perhaps because that's the location of the "central business district" of Stateline).

Lake Tahoe (the lake) has an elevation of about 6225'.

On the other sign, I'm not sure what point 6252' is referring to. South Lake Tahoe city hall, the El Dorado County government buildings, and the US-50/CA-89 junction are all about 6270-6280'. There is a point on US-50 near the historic location of the Bijou post office that matches that elevation.

GNIS puts the elevation of South Lake Tahoe at 6237', but their location for that doesn't really correspond to any landmark (it's in the Truckee Marsh south of the Al Tahoe neighborhood).

This is something I have always wondered about. Since the standard "City Limit" sign that you see posted in California always shows population and elevation, you see it all the time, so there has to be *some* method that is used by Caltrans or the posting agency to determine what elevation to place on the sign. I had been under the assumption was that it was the median elevation within the city limits, but I'd love to find out.

[RZF]

Google says it's the central business district or city hall building. Please fact check me...

[DTComposer]

I checked the cities around me, and here's what I found:

San Jose: listed on signs at 94 feet. That doesn't correspond to current (2005) city hall or former (1958) city hall, but is pretty close to the 1889 city hall.

Los Gatos: listed on signs at 395 feet, corresponds to city hall (edge of CBD).

Santa Clara: listed on signs at 93 feet. Doesn't correspond to current or former city hall or central business district.

Saratoga: listed on signs at 500 feet. Doesn't correspond to current (1966) city hall, but does correspond to former (1956) city hall (edge of CBD).

Campbell: listed on signs at 190 feet. Corresponds closely to current city hall/downtown.

Monte Sereno: listed on signs at 502 feet. Doesn't correspond to city hall, but does correspond to the geographic center of the city (which is on private property).

Google says it's the central business district or city hall building. Please fact check me...

So....sorta?