I-344 I-240 I-335 Signage

[JayhawkCO]

Looks like next time I need to drive to KC, I'll take the looooong way as now OKC has the majority of my closest unclinched interstates.

[US75A]

Keep us posted if any of you see any more new Interstate 240/335/344 signs.

I traveled most of the JKT today - as of today, most of the "guidance" signs (ie, "East I-344 turn right" with the shield and an arrow) have been changed over, but no changes to the reassurance/BGS type signs. 

[Scott5114]

Can we get some photos?

[halork]

I drove through eastbound I-44 to southbound I-335 on 11/20/24. All of the I-335 signage appeared to be present, BGS at the I-44 junction and trailblazers along the route.

[CoreySamson]

I'll probably be in OKC sometime this week. I can try to grab some photos!

[SoonerCowboy]

I got on the JKT today at Pennsylvania and they had the I-344 signs up indicating east and west and "toll" above it, but once you get on they still have the Kilpatrick signs up.

[SoonerCowboy]

I used the Kickapoo turnpike from NE 23rd to SE 29th and they do now have I-335 signage up on the turnpike with the "toll" right above it. I think getting on it was still the Kickapoo signs.

[rte66man]

Westbound Kilpatrick approaching Penn:


Northbound Broadway Extension exiting at the Kilpatrick:

[Bobby5280]

Those yellow "toll" panels above the cardinal direction panels on post mounted signs look like a new thing. I've never seen those on I-44 turnpikes before.

[JayhawkCO]

Those yellow "toll" panels above the cardinal direction panels on post mounted signs look like a new thing. I've never seen those on I-44 turnpikes before.

Might be temporary just so the people that didn't get the news about the route numbering still know they're headed for the tollways they've always traveled.

[vdeane]

Those yellow "toll" panels above the cardinal direction panels on post mounted signs look like a new thing. I've never seen those on I-44 turnpikes before.

Might be temporary just so the people that didn't get the news about the route numbering still know they're headed for the tollways they've always traveled.

Such signage is appearing more and more around the country.  Probably not temporary, but it is a somewhat new-ish standard.

[jdingus]

I drove 335 and 344 today. Noticed that they are both signed. Except the BGS on I-40 doesn't have 344 or 335 at the respective Terminus. Drove 240 today as well. Didn't see any new 240 signs on Airport RD. Seems like OTA has done their part and ODOT needs to get with the program.

[Scott5114]

Holy shit, OTA actually looked at the spec book!

Although just uh. Try not to think about how stupid those bolt holes would look without it being on the pole. Just kind of. Ignore that.

[CoreySamson]

I clinched all three interstates today, so I can confirm what jdingus said.

I-335 is completely signed via trailblazers and BGSs:



I-344 is signed via trailblazers and standalone shields, but it hasn't made it to BGSs yet:


I-240 still ends where it has ended as of earlier today.

[Bobby5280]

The I-344 shield on the "East" post was installed crooked. The shield is leaning to the left. Overall, the whole post assembly looks oddly out of alignment. I guess that's the price of them trying to re-use existing posts that weren't designed for wider 3-digit Interstate shields.

They could have just installed a couple of cross bars to properly accommodate the I-344 shields and help get everything installed straight and level. Instead we have more slap-dash crap.

[Stephane Dumas]

Looks like the old Kilpatrick Tpk signs are now historic, here the last GSV showed them in May 2024 on OK-74 northbound.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/MHAcfjAYUrJp6ZkGA

[CoreySamson]

Looks like the old Kilpatrick Tpk signs are now historic, here the last GSV showed them in May 2024 on OK-74 northbound.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/MHAcfjAYUrJp6ZkGA

Based on my field observations today, many of them are still there, so see them while you can! But yes, they will soon be gone most likely.

[Scott5114]

Very cool, thanks for the pics. They actually did a pretty good job with these other than that silly crooked one.

[Plutonic Panda]

Yeah, that crooked one really bothers me for some reason. I mean, come on how hard would it have been for the contractor just to make them straight.

[SoonerCowboy]

I-240 still ends where it has ended as of earlier today.
[/quote]

I took my wife to the airport early this morning and can confirm that I-240 still ends at the I-44.

[Bobby5280]

Yeah, that crooked one really bothers me for some reason. I mean, come on how hard would it have been for the contractor just to make them straight.

It wouldn't have been difficult at all if they had actually thought about the job a little bit before trying to execute. I've seen other post-mounted "sign salads" where cross bars were used to span multiple posts and provide a straight, horizontal background for a variety of 2-digit and 3-digit route markers. It's not a new idea.

Instead we have installers improvising new bolt holes in spots not along the center of a 3-digit Interstate shield. It's no surprise that at least one of the shields wound up being installed crooked. One or more of the "bosses" was wanting to do stuff quick and cheap. Combine that with one or more of the install crew trying to get shit done as fast as possible so they can arrive at beer-thirty exactly on time and not a moment late.

[Scott5114]

Instead we have installers improvising new bolt holes in spots not along the center of a 3-digit Interstate shield. It's no surprise that at least one of the shields wound up being installed crooked. One or more of the "bosses" was wanting to do stuff quick and cheap. Combine that with one or more of the install crew trying to get shit done as fast as possible so they can arrive at beer-thirty exactly on time and not a moment late.

It's so weird going from living with that sort of work to living in Nevada. It took what felt like forever for the City of Las Vegas to respond when the fluorescent tubes for one of the illuminated signs on Rainbow Boulevard burned out. Come to find out that's because when they finally did come out and work on it, they completely rewired it to use LED and had fabricated brand new sign panels for it, front and back, to boot.

I have a couple of other burned-out light reports turned in and they're taking similarly long. So I'm guessing they're doing the same thing there.

[Bobby5280]

Swapping out the lighting from fluorescent based lamps to LED isn't really cheap. But doing the switch can save a lot of money in the long run via lower power usage and fewer maintenance calls.

Old T12 HO/D lamps or lamps that are high pressure sodium require high wattage ballasts for power supply. When switching to LED-based lamps the power supplies have to be swapped out. So you're going from one or more ballasts running at 600W or more to little dinky boxes running 60W. The LEDs last longer and drink a lot less electricity -at least that's the case for standard signage applications. Something like a big jumbotron that has tens of thousands (or even millions) of LED pixels is going to use some power.

[Plutonic Panda]

I wish they would use the warm LED lighting instead of the bright blue lighting.

[Scott5114]

While the warm lighting is generally more aesthetically pleasing, I think the more blue-shifted lighting  actually makes visibility better. Blue light in a home context is generally castigated for causing wakefulness by being close enough to daylight for the body's purposes, but of course this is a feature rather than a bug in a driving context.