Remaining old-design state highway markers

[hbelkins]

The most recent state highway marker redesigns were executed by North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

The last time I was in South Carolina was about 10 years ago, and the mix of old and new signs I saw was about 50-50.

I've only traveled extensively in Oklahoma once, about 18 years ago, but have had brief incursions twice since then, the last coming a couple of years ago. All three times I saw that nearly all the surface signage had been changed from circles to meat cleavers.

I have only been in North Dakota once, five years ago, and the new design had not really taken hold. I'd estimate about 75-25 in favor of the old Indian head design.

Wonder what the ratio of new to old signage is in those three states these days?

IIRC, the most recent redesign prior to those three states was in Vermont. Or was it Louisiana? I can't remember for sure.

[CoreySamson]

I saw very few circle shields in Oklahoma when I lived there in college for four years. ODOT has been pretty methodical with their replacements. There are definitely a few that I do not remember, but here's what I can distinctly remember from my travels...

- There are several circles still located off of OK 152 in south OKC:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ihcULhZyb2tvbtHRA
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZGxTFzqKmGfQGM9t8

- There is an old button-copy OK 51 circle on Cincinnati Ave in downtown Tulsa:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/31gorKosR3iNRiqc6

- There are a few other circles for OK 51 in the Tulsa area, but not on independent shields:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/b85LdKVHfAUh3VQh6

- In fact, I am fairly sure the only extant independently mounted circle shield I have seen is this one for OK 22 in Caddo:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/NJpX4Fd2ua79E5418

- As a bonus, there is a circle OK 3 shield that was once covered up in Atoka:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/GT4dfgnncQK29Ekt9

[The_Ginger]

There are a few 1961-1980 design West Virginia State Route markers scattered around here. They use Series C numerals and have smaller corner radii. I don't know exactly where they are, but I thought I saw one in Parkersburg the other day.

These are not to be confused with the newer contractor-produced ones that also have Series C numerals.

[Mapmikey]

South Carolina picked up the pace in recent years to change pot markers.

Not many at all last couple times I went down there.

[Scott5114]

I saw very few circle shields in Oklahoma when I lived there in college for four years. ODOT has been pretty methodical with their replacements.

Oklahoma introduced the meat cleaver shield in 2006 to celebrate the state's centennial in 2007, with a goal of having the new signs in place statewide by the start of that year. They managed to get pretty much all of them installed on time, save for a few stragglers, most of which have gradually gotten knocked out by other replacements over the past 20 years. Most of the remaining ones are off of the state system, where ODOT wouldn't have known about them or had jurisdiction to replace them.

Here's one on an old alignment of OK-7 near Velma.

[formulanone]

North Dakota was vaguely 50/50 from a trip around Minot earlier this year. That's not exactly the whole state, though.

It's been about 18 months, but Louisiana is roughly 80/20 for black/green background shields, but they're disappearing or fading quickly.

I think I saw exactly one "S.C." shield left last year, not counting neutered square/rectangle shields on BGSes in South Carolina.

[Tendies]

White California shield for CA-134 on CA-170 SB. Appears to be the last known white shield outside of a national park.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/rD2rN6tifD9crSRb7

[freebrickproductions]

There was still at least one old-style Idaho state route shield in Post Falls, ID, when I visited back in 2022. Looks like it was still there as of 2024, per street view, no idea if it still survives though:
https://www.google.com/maps/@47.7097048,-116.8952004,3a,15y,45.07h,97.12t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sQ8hWIg-P2bSwv3tyhI34DA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-7.1234649923349025%26panoid%3DQ8hWIg-P2bSwv3tyhI34DA%26yaw%3D45.07254004651464!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDgwMy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

[Scott5114]

There was still at least one old-style Idaho state route shield in Post Falls, ID, when I visited back in 2022. Looks like it was still there as of 2024, per street view, no idea if it still survives though.

The nice thing is that the old-style Idaho shields are now the new-style shields.

[flan]

North Dakota was vaguely 50/50 from a trip around Minot earlier this year. That's not exactly the whole state, though.

In my experience, the area just around Minot probably has the greatest frequency of the old style shield. I've been trying to grab pics of the remaining ones and I've had pretty good luck in Ward County and many of the surrounding counties.

Eastern and far western ND I've noticed both seem to have the most new shields. But overall the spots I've noticed with the most old shields is in towns rather than the countryside, counterintuitively.