The Worst of Road Signs

[Brandon]

Clearview route numbers, anyone?

At least they put "ILLINOIS" back in the shield. For the longest time, it was just a square with no state name for the exits at IL-31, IL-25, and IL-59.

Isn't that the case on I-90 as well, also near the river?

That picture, I believe, IS from I-90. Westbound, west of the Fox River Bridge.

And you'd be right.  It's just before the Elgin cashbox (old slang for a toll plaza) at Illinois 31.

My bad!  I saw a tollbooth by Route 31, and I immediately thought of I-88.

That's the Aurora Plaza, just east of the Fox River (between there and Farnsworth Ave).

[HighwayMaster]

Clearview route numbers, anyone?

At least they put "ILLINOIS" back in the shield. For the longest time, it was just a square with no state name for the exits at IL-31, IL-25, and IL-59.

Isn't that the case on I-90 as well, also near the river?

That picture, I believe, IS from I-90. Westbound, west of the Fox River Bridge.

And you'd be right.  It's just before the Elgin cashbox (old slang for a toll plaza) at Illinois 31.

My bad!  I saw a tollbooth by Route 31, and I immediately thought of I-88.

That's the Aurora Plaza, just east of the Fox River (between there and Farnsworth Ave).

And no exit numbers, either.

[Stratuscaster]

And no exit numbers, either.

On I-88, the exit numbers seem to stop after Orchard Road eastbound.

I do wish ISHTA would get them posted throughout the system, though.

[CentralCAroadgeek]

Just another one of the many Clarendon atrocities here in Salinas...

[relaxok]

From around the Badger State:


Supposedly, the WisDOT plans were correct and the contractor screwed up.  Knowing both parties, either one (or both) could have been guilty.  For those not familiar with the area, (in addition to the misspelling of 'Business', the poor alignments/spacing, and the missing arrow), it should be Rothschild and Schofield.  I haven't been up there in a while, but WisDOT claimed it was going to be fixed right away.

Dear god that may actually be the worst in the thread.

[Central Avenue]

Just another one of the many Clarendon atrocities here in Salinas...

Those arrows aren't quite right either...they're very sharp, as opposed to the curved arrows usually used for turn lane signs.

[rickmastfan67]

Just found this looking around in StreetView in FL....
http://goo.gl/maps/7sME

[bulkyorled]

Found this, this morning in Gardena, CA. Some awkward bastardization of I-110... it was also awkwardly small too

[kurumi]

From around the Badger State:


Supposedly, the WisDOT plans were correct and the contractor screwed up.  Knowing both parties, either one (or both) could have been guilty.  For those not familiar with the area, (in addition to the misspelling of 'Business', the poor alignments/spacing, and the missing arrow), it should be Rothschild and Schofield.  I haven't been up there in a while, but WisDOT claimed it was going to be fixed right away.

Dear god that may actually be the worst in the thread.

Eh, could be worse.
* Clearview
* Exit tab jammed into corner of sign
* WI 51 marker

[Brandon]

Found this, this morning in Gardena, CA. Some awkward bastardization of I-110... it was also awkwardly small too

It looks like a mushroom.  Where's Mario and Luigi?

[kharvey10]

I found a bunch of god awful interstate shields put up by City of Savannah in the downtown area.  I missed my first attempt and when I came back in there the rains from Debby made it impossible to get a second attempt off.  They're found on Bay Street by ML King Drive.  Street view image is so blurry that there is no point in posting the link.  They were I-16 and I-516 in non-cutout shields, and get this: the I is part of the shield too.  There is tons of GDOT shields in there too that are more of their standard non-neutered stuff.

[sandwalk]

Here's a fun one from near Rockford.  This sign was located on Mulford Road just south of Baxter Road in southeastern Winnebago County, Illinois (and was probably erected by the county).



A) There is no Illinois Route 39.
B) Even if there was, that's not the right shield.
C) It's actually referring to Interstate 39.

[vtk]

Borderless guide sign for an entrance to I-71 (Fields-Ertel Rd EB, north edge of Cincinnati):


These are on OH 48 near Lebanon, OH.  Actually, considering the route exits the bypass which becomes an unnumbered highway at that point (actually unsigned SR 48T or something like that) I don't know if there's a way to compose these signs elegantly...

On the other hand, do they really need to sign "to south US 42"?  Typically they only do that if staying on the current road or route only provides access to one direction of the advertised route, which is not the case here.  Stay on the bypass, and you hit US 42 and can go either way on it.  Stay on OH 48, and you hit US 42 and can go either way on it.  I guess the reasoning of signing "to north US 42" is because otherwise there's no signed designation on that part of the bypass; signing "to south US 42" is maybe just because then they felt they had to?  Anyway, strict adherence to margin specifications combined with the unusual "shape" of the contents of the sign lead to excessive greenspace.  And the "to US 42" sign could use rounder corners.  And then the assembly at the bottom of the ramp is just a bit oddball...

[Kein Mitleid]

This sign actually means "speed control" in Danish.

[hbelkins]

^^^^^
My wife wants to sign me up for this.   

Does the local constabulary issue farting tickets?

[DaBigE]

This sign actually means "speed control" in Danish.

Ignoring the pasted on '8', I'd nominate this one for one of the best signs.

[PHLBOS]

Borderless guide sign for an entrance to I-71 (Fields-Ertel Rd EB, north edge of Cincinnati):

To me, that one's not so bad.

[kphoger]

I spotted at least three different varieties of lane assignment signs along the Kellogg frontage road today, just between Edgemoor and Armour.  Here's the worst:

[Alex]

I found a bunch of god awful interstate shields put up by City of Savannah in the downtown area.  I missed my first attempt and when I came back in there the rains from Debby made it impossible to get a second attempt off.  They're found on Bay Street by ML King Drive.  Street view image is so blurry that there is no point in posting the link.  They were I-16 and I-516 in non-cutout shields, and get this: the I is part of the shield too.  There is tons of GDOT shields in there too that are more of their standard non-neutered stuff.

This style has been present since at least 2007 in Savannah. A close-up of one of the "I-16" 3di width shields:
www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=GA20080161

[national highway 1]

This style has been present since at least 2007 in Savannah. A close-up of one of the "I-16" 3di width shields:
www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=GA20080161

I literally LOLed at the caption on the Shield Gallery page which said:

Would you like a sign just like what you see here?

I'm guessing, no.

[Scott5114]

I literally LOLed at the caption on the Shield Gallery page which said:

Would you like a sign just like what you see here?

I'm guessing, no.

Jake should put a tag in his database so that on signs like that it says "Would you like a sign just like what you see here? If so, you have no taste."

[hbelkins]

Found a few while perusing my collection today.

[corco]

As Scott said, see this post for the disastrous Boise City bypass

Others from the last few weeks:

On I-15 north of Las Vegas...what IS that font, anyway?



On US-160 east of Durango


On I-25 north of Albuquerque


On US-79/80 in downtown Shreveport. Look at the Louisiana 1 shield


Never seen Series E (?) on a Texas shield before- at US-380 and SH 5


Where US-70 joins I-10 west of Las Cruces, I guess Deming and Lordsburg don't matter anymore.

[Ian]

Some interesting city of Rochester, NH installs...




For reference, this is what the standard NHDOT shields look like:

[Scott5114]

On I-15 north of Las Vegas...what IS that font, anyway?



Never seen Series E (?) on a Texas shield before- at US-380 and SH 5

Both of these almost look like pre-FHWA series custom fonts to me. Those might well belong in Best.