Oahu Sign Upgrade/Replacements

[Short n Swift]

Starting a new series where I collect photos of new or replaced signs in Hawaii. Starting off with this really bad sign:



The "Stadium" sign is where my attention is at. Replaced just this week, it gives advance notice for two lanes that aren't even in use (and when there is, it's only one lane), and an unnecessary "only" notice when the lanes are not actual exits, just standard lane drops. This seems to be a vestige of the original sign:



Although it's flawed, it's still much better than the sign that was in it's place earlier this week, which was so bad it didn't even last a day. The sign read:

• Halawa HtS
• Halawa Valley
• stadium

It didn't have the proper post-2022 diacritical markings, it couldn't even capitalize correctly, and it wasn't even the right height. A shame I couldn't get a photo of this sign, because it's truly a candidate for the worst sign of all time. The ONLY thing it got right was that it had only one exit arrow pointing down (and even then it's not supposed to be "exit only". Expect it to be changed again.

[Short n Swift]

Here were some more sign replacements I found across the island:


1. Standard modern traffic signal label that's been at use since at least 2017. Mainly for slap on mods where the traffic pole remains the same. Newer signs use accurate diacritical markings, especially along the leeward coast of Farrington.

2. Standard modern traffic signal label for poles that were built to the new standard (which is much thicker). As with #1, later signs use 'okina and kahakō consistently. I've seen a lot of this particular design on neighboring islands, like in Maui.

3. Weirdly condensed E-series labels appearing on Kalaniana'ole Hwy very recently, as well as Nimitz underneath the airport

4. Replaced in either 2023 or 2024, one of the earlier guide signs to be replaced to use the proper punctuation. Uses standard typeface, which is interesting since recently a ton of signs were Clearview'd on the H201.

5. Exit gore sign replaced with Clearview along the Moanalua freeway within the last month. Many were replaced here including the "Exit 1C" sign which was hanging for its life. Not all recent installations are in clearview, as Exits 15A and 15B westbound were replaced without clearview.

6. Also fairly new, these were replaced with awful letter design (look at the y's) and just look plain ugly. Pretty sure you can't put "Military Access Only" in that font so small and difficult to read.

These are some of the ones I've found so far. I've been researching signage for a while and here's what I was able to find:

• Clearview seems to be a dying breed. Back in the day they were being replaced everywhere, but nowadays you only see new installations on freeway signs and on some guide signs near them. The vast majority of new guide signs along most state highways and roads use D or E series (mainly D), you can see these on Pali, Likelike, Farrington and along the major roads. There is no Clearview on neighboring islands, only on Oahu (though I might be wrong)
• That said, they're very inconsistent. For every four FHWA signs there's a Clearview one. Almost all new Clearviewed signs were installed near freeways or interchanges and don't have diacritical markings, but that might change, as the Phase 3 sign upgrade replacements should use Clearview with the diacritical markings. Still, I've looked through the as-built pdfs for the H1 widenings in Kalihi and Kaimuki and no mention of clearview is on them.
• Lots of mistakes on the new signs. An example is a reddit post showing the Kinau exit where the "S" on both signs were tilted upside down, and the "a" in "Kinau" was canted. Another one is near the Middle Street station where spaces are nowhere to be found. You can tell they were rushing and weren't bothering to follow the rules.
• I spotted a few button copy signs still intact, one on H2 southbound and one on Aiea Access Road. It's interesting how those signs lasted so long, but most guide signs on H2 and H3 have been unchanged since the Clearview craze went on. Some deteriorating, some still in great condition.
• At one point there were yellow signs that said "Emergency Escape Ramp". Now they were replaced with ones that say "Runaway Truck Ramp".
• The H3 Kailua Exit 14 still does not have a proper exit sign. The gantry was empty for years, but it too eventually removed. I remember watching a video by UDown that put their own version of the sign on it, just to have it removed.
• Speaking of UDown, you can still find their logos splattered around on some highway signs to this day. There's still one at the Pali exit downtown.

[PColumbus73]

Starting a new series where I collect photos of new or replaced signs in Hawaii. Starting off with this really bad sign:



The "Stadium" sign is where my attention is at. Replaced just this week, it gives advance notice for two lanes that aren't even in use (and when there is, it's only one lane), and an unnecessary "only" notice when the lanes are not actual exits, just standard lane drops. This seems to be a vestige of the original sign:



Although it's flawed, it's still much better than the sign that was in it's place earlier this week, which was so bad it didn't even last a day. The sign read:

• Halawa HtS
• Halawa Valley
• stadium

It didn't have the proper post-2022 diacritical markings, it couldn't even capitalize correctly, and it wasn't even the right height. A shame I couldn't get a photo of this sign, because it's truly a candidate for the worst sign of all time. The ONLY thing it got right was that it had only one exit arrow pointing down (and even then it's not supposed to be "exit only". Expect it to be changed again.

I was in Hawaii when H201 was officially signed in 2004/5, I never liked the bubble shields.

Is Aloha Stadium still planned to be demolished?

[Short n Swift]

I was in Hawaii when H201 was officially signed in 2004/5, I never liked the bubble shields.

Is Aloha Stadium still planned to be demolished?

From my understanding yes, it's still expected to be demolished, but it has now been delayed to winter 2026. The whole stadium project has been delayed too, the full buildout is March 2029 (plus 2 years, knowing hawaii infrastructure).

[Short n Swift]

2 new signs, only one of which I actually got on photos. This first one has a disgustingly large exit tab compared to the actual text.



The second one I wasn't able to get a clear picture of, but it's pretty much the same sign that used to be here, so I'm using a picture of the old one. The only noticeable difference in the new sign is that the shield font is wider and the letters look a lot more cleaner and uniform in size. Other than that, you'd probably not notice a change at all.



A third sign that hasn't been replaced yet but I suspect will be is the overhead sign right at the Nimitz exit westbound, not far from here. The sign stood the test of time and I don't expect it to stay much longer, since it's pretty faded compared to the newer sign on the left.

Finally, an interesting setup closer to the pearl harbor interchange. There's an empty socket that's been empty since street view was available in 2009, and it clearly wasn't set up at the same time as the right half of the gantry. I suspected that there was a sign that directed drivers to stay on H1, but after reviewing old documents, it was never even filled. In fact, it and the "Pearl Harbor Historic Sites" signs were made much later at an unknown time, as only the right two signs existed when it was built. I'm interested with why that light even exists.