Street Blade Signs Changing (All Uppercase > Mixed Case)?

[mjb2002]

Thanks to Google for putting the Augusta, Ga. and Charleston areas in Street View HD, I am able to find more mixed case signs.

In Augusta, I found this. I first saw it on November 19, 2011.



That will be the new standard for Augusta-Richmond County. That will replace these two standards for signs:

The first old standard:



The second old standard:



Now. Here are the new signs for Charleston County:

[Kacie Jane]

The first old standard:

Looks an awful lot like the NYC classics:


And yes, I had to choose the Seaman Cumming picture.  Or is it Cumming Seaman?

[deathtopumpkins]

[roadfro]

It is a freeway-expressway/non-freeway-expressway distinction, though of course larger shields can be used on normal surface roads.
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/htm/2009/part2/part2a.htm#section2A11
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/htm/2009/part2/part2e.htm#section2E14

Hmm... The freeway-expressway distinction *is* clear for minimum sizes versus minimum sizes for surface roads and other facilities. However, upgrading sizes seems to be preferred on certain conditions, such as higher speed roads.

That's what I get for not checking before posting. I must've been remembering just the second part...I stand corrected.

[agentsteel53]

is that some sort of subtle anti-smoking ad?  if you smoke too much, you die ... and forget how to speak English?

[deathtopumpkins]

is that some sort of subtle anti-smoking ad?  if you smoke too much, you die ... and forget how to speak English?

Well the highway department that put that up sure has.

[Alps]

is that some sort of subtle anti-smoking ad?  if you smoke too much, you die ... and forget how to speak English?

Well the highway department that put that up sure has.

Oh, "cemetary" is spoken like "cemetery," at least.

[route56]

The town of Pomona, Kansas replaced every street blade in town, not necessarily because of the new MUTCD requirements, but because they renamed every North-South street.

Pomona is divided east and west by what was Main Street (the road continues north and south of Town as Colorado Road in Franklin County). The first street east of Main was "East A," and the first street west of Main was "West A."

The City Council approved the renaming of the lettered streets back in April.

I have a photo of one of the new installations, and will update OSM with the new names.

[route56]

A new Street blade sign in Pomona, Kansas:


(Madison Street, BTW, is the new name for what was Main Street)

[CentralCAroadgeek]

A picture of the new SF mixed-case street blades mentioned earlier in this thread...

(They tend to be more common in the northwest part of the city, such as the Marina and Cow Heights)

[Scott5114]

I like the design of both of these last two. Although it would be nice if the Pomona sign was one piece instead of the dumb back-to-back setup, which always seems wasteful to me. OKC did it for a long time but ended up ditching it.

[mjb2002]

I like the design of both of these last two. Although it would be nice if the Pomona sign was one piece instead of the dumb back-to-back setup, which always seems wasteful to me. OKC did it for a long time but ended up ditching it.

As much as I like the one piece, I think it is a bad idea for higher speed highways (particularly those with a speed limit of 50 mph or higher) since those highways would require larger signs. Aiken County has the one piece and I counted five signs including one at Jefferson Davis Highway and Langley Dam Rd that I referred to earlier, that have suffered wind damage. The split can be readily seen on the Langley Dam Rd sign (a white line).



The threat of damaging winds is why I prefer the method that Barnwell County is doing for their mixed-case signs - the back-to-back setup. Charleston and Dorchester counties are also doing this, as well as the Orangeburg City Limits.

[Android]

That fuzzy photo makes it look like "Langley Darn" to me!

[Scott5114]

Honestly, a better solution for 50 MPH+ highways is to use the normal sized streetblades with advance signage on BGSes.

[mjb2002]

Honestly, that's not a solution in SC, where SCDOT's budget has been cut to the barebones for nearly ten years (SCDOT has control over advanced signage in SC). The back-to-back street blades that are under the COUNTIES' control works better, since the agency is not under the control of the state.

[Scott5114]

SC's government needs to stop being idiotic then.

[M3019C LPS20]

New York City is currently in the process as well. The new street sign's font is rather awkward in my opinion, and the sign looks kind of unprofessional.

D.O.T. expects to complete this conversion within several years from now.

[JMoses24]

Cincinnati is currently converting to mixed case, as is the city of Florence, Kentucky (new signage only), where I live.

[apeman33]

I spotted new mixed-case signs in Salina, Kansas, last week. They're coming in slowly. The majority in town are still all-upper case. Some have had a missing blade replaced with a mixed-case one but the all-upper blade on the bottom is still there.

This one is by the Bicentennial Center with both blades replaced (The one for The Midway can't be seen as well because of the angle, and it was a cloudy day so my phone camera had some trouble focusing):

[mjb2002]

The City of Barnwell, S.C. installed this sign in September 2012, but this is the first time I actually was able to snap a photo of it. This is the only sign that I've accounted for that the city has replaced. The county and city are super slow to replace their signs. About 80% of the signs are still in all uppercase with three inch high letters.

Predictably so, I Instagrammed it.

[burgess87]

Kenmore, NY goes the wrong way with Clearview application:

[JMoses24]

Kenmore, NY goes the wrong way with Clearview application:

Kill it! Kill it with fire! Gah! Terrible.

[Brandon]

New City of Joliet, Illinois standard.  It's similar to the old standard, but the font is changed:



Black Road is the major street, Donna Avenue is a side street.  The tall blade is for better visibility on major streets.

[mjb2002]

Kenmore, NY goes the wrong way with Clearview application:

Exhibit A as to why Clearview should be restricted solely to Distance and Destination signs.

[abc2VE]

Not sure if this sign exceeds the new size requirements or not but, when I first saw it this morning I thought size.