Airport Guide Signs

[TheStranger]

"All-Important Advertising Word"??? Huh? 

"international".  Didn't we just figure out that it's small, unimportant airports who really milk that word?  San Jose is very important; it should be able to get by with a simple moniker.

Regarding Norm Mineta, he helped shape the transportation system (freeways and public transit) here in the South Bay.  In fact, all of CA-85 is now the "Norm Mineta Highway" although it's still referred to as the Stevens Creek Fwy or the West Valley Fwy.  He may be a "bureaucrat" but in this area, he is still highly thought of.

so much so that he got the airport named after him while still alive.  Even Ronald Reagan had to die for the 118 freeway and the National Airport in Washington and whatever else is named after him these days.

Route 118 received the Reagan name in 1994-1995 when he was still living (the one time I was on that highway, in mid-1994, it was still the "Simi Valley-San Fernando Valley Freeway").

[flowmotion]

Norm Mineta was not only alive, he was the US Secretary of Transportation when they named the airport after him.

That always seemed a little sketchy to me - lets at least wait until politicians retire before we start building the monuments.

[english si]

^ You're right...the airport symbol is not meant to be a substitute for the word "airport". Had the airport symbol come at the front of that line of text, it would have been much better.

In the UK it is - the major control destinations on the M25 are, going clockwise: Dartford Crossing, Gatwick Airport, Heathrow Airport, Watford and Stansted Airport. However, you will never see the word Airport (in standard speech, people don't tend to use it for those airports anyway, as the airport names, either relate to a place that is under the airport, never was a settlement or is the first word of a nearby village with a two-word name that's less famous than the airport). Here's a sign with both Heathrow and Gatwick on it, and here's a different one with the planes at a different angle, and Heathrow one way, Stansted the other. Finally, here's one where the airport is straight on, and also has the problem of having the same name as the large town it's next to. You have Luton & <airplane symbol>.

It could be that I've grown up with it, I'm used to it and I see the plane on the sign and put the word "Airport" in there.

I do dislike this sign, pointing to Birmingham International Airport (not a small one) and Birmingham International railway station (just the red British rail symbol - also not international, unless you count Wales - though I think a couple of trains a day go to Scotland from there) with no mention of Birmingham International. It's not inherently obvious that we're looking at Birmingham International Airport (Coventry also has one, not as big, but still an airport - also on the A45). Railway stations are worse - which one, Coventry has an intercity one, Birmingham has three major central stations, plus the International one, not to mention the various smaller stations nearby. People heading for Birmingham International will get there, but it's just poor signage. I don't mind signs like this one, given that you'd have to be pretty dim to not realise that you are in Amersham, having driven to that point.

[J N Winkler]

Wasn't Heathrow signed as "London Airport" on the M4 etc. back in the 1960's?  I don't think the airplane symbol appeared in the Worboys report, but I can't remember whether it appeared in TSRGD 1975 or 1981.

[haljackey]

I go to Detroit and Toronto airports a lot.  Detroit's layout is simple compared to the complexity in Toronto, but the signage in Toronto helps simplify everything.

Detroit from above.  One route connects everything.


On the road, each lane goes somewhere specific.  That's effective placement.




Toronto is another story.  Look at this mess!


Even the trunk route is a tangle of spaghetti.


But the signage helps keeps things simple.


And when leaving, there are multiple signs to help you pick your highway, carriageway, and direction of travel.

[english si]

Wasn't Heathrow signed as "London Airport" on the M4 etc. back in the 1960's?  I don't think the airplane symbol appeared in the Worboys report, but I can't remember whether it appeared in TSRGD 1975 or 1981.

Heathrow bore the name 'London Airport' for a long time.

I don't know when exactly it came in, but I can see not until 1975 being very viable - Glasgow's M8 has 'Glasgow Airport' signs in the centre, where the signs are original. The M77/M8 split is 'Ayr, Prestwick Airport M77|Greenock, Glasgow Airport M8' and has been copied to the replacement signage on the M8 mainline (the c/d roads still have original signs on Google Streetview). Then again, that's Glasgow and the M8 - "rules, we'll have our own". I've looked on streetview at a few airports - there's lots of Airport <plane symbol> signs when you are onto the road network around the airport, eg signing the main entrance.

[Duke87]

I am a favor of the British approach:  "Heathrow [airplane symbol]."  There is an additional nicety in Britain that we don't do--Chapter 7 requires that the plane symbol (which can be rotated) be pointing in the direction drivers need to take to get to the airport. 

In Britain.... or, in (of all places) New York:



Is this technically an MUTCD violation?

[roadfro]

Is [rotating the airplane symbol as pictured in the post above] technically an MUTCD violation?

In short, no.

The MUTCD allows agencies to change the orientation of standard symbols. An official interpretation issued by FHWA in 2005 states that the airport general information sign (I-5) may be rotated 90° in conjunction with a left or right turn arrow in a trailblazer assembly in order to emphasize that a turn is required to reach the airport destination.

That interpretation was issued for the stand-alone airport sign (I-5). I would imagine that the FHWA would extend the interpretation to the orientation of the symbol on a BGS.  In that case, the airport symbol on the advance sign should probably be oriented straight up or 45° to the right (like the exit direction sign), instead of 90° to the right as pictured.


My own preference, however, is that the airport symbol be oriented with the nose of the plane straight up for all applications. I think this is best for uniform driver recognition of the symbol. An arrow indicating the direction of the turn (or ramp, in this case) is required anyway...so I don't think orienting the symbol gives that much added emphasis. I'm sure that viewpoint could be debated, but that's how I feel about it.

[Kacie Jane]

I'm going to hazard a guess here, but the issue may be that from a distance, the airplane can sort of look like an arrow, so it eliminates confusion if the two are pointing the same direction.

[agentsteel53]

I tend to get cognitive dissonance if I see the arrow pointing to the left or right, and the airplane straight up. 

[njroadhorse]

Newark Airport usually is signed with one of these:

[Duke87]

I do believe that is the official "logo" for Newark Airport. Not a problem.

What's I question is that part of the sign being brown. The airport is a recreational destination or historical site?

[mightyace]

What's I question is that part of the sign being brown. The airport is a recreational destination or historical site?

I guess after 9/11/2001, you could consider it a historic site.

[njroadhorse]

It was even brown before 9/11, so I'm not exactly sure why they do that.  What makes this different is that neither LaGuardia nor JFK Airports are signed in this manner, so why would Newark do it this way?