Idaho State Highway Shield Reversion

[corco]

As I think we all know, in 2020 Idaho changed its shield standard to this monstrosity:



Good news though! ITD has published a new traffic manual which REVERSES this change and brings back the old signs:

https://apps.itd.idaho.gov/apps/manuals/Traffic_Manual.pdf

You can find the details on page 39 but there are a few interesting notes:
1. They pretend the whole 2020 shield never happened by discussing the 70+ year history of the Idaho highway shield.
2. There is now a demand to replace all non-conforming signs ASAP - previous versions of the traffic manual noted that the new (now old) signs should replace the old signs as needed.
3. This is a total reversion - we're back to different signs for guide signs vs. standalone assembly and the three digit blank has been removed.
4. Contractors are no longer allowed to make state highway shields - only the ITD sign shop can do this. This is a new change.

I think this is a delightful change - the new shield was awful - besides being ugly, at least my eyes as a driver went straight to the giant black Idaho and not to the route number. That said, the way this is written suggests a top-down mandate. To that end, I have reviewed everything I could find - ITD Board minutes, the most recent legislative session, ITD's social media, recently adopted Idaho administrative rules and so forth and can find no public documentation on why this decision was made.

[Great Lakes Roads]

As I think we all know, in 2020 Idaho changed its shield standard to this monstrosity:



Good news though! ITD has published a new traffic manual which REVERSES this change and brings back the old signs:

https://apps.itd.idaho.gov/apps/manuals/Traffic_Manual.pdf

You can find the details on page 39 but there are a few interesting notes:
1. They pretend the whole 2020 shield never happened by discussing the 70+ year history of the Idaho highway shield.
2. There is now a demand to replace all non-conforming signs ASAP - previous versions of the traffic manual noted that the new (now old) signs should replace the old signs as needed.
3. This is a total reversion - we're back to different signs for guide signs vs. standalone assembly and the three digit blank has been removed.
4. Contractors are no longer allowed to make state highway shields - only the ITD sign shop can do this. This is a new change.

I think this is a delightful change - the new shield was awful - besides being ugly, at least my eyes as a driver went straight to the giant black Idaho and not to the route number. That said, the way this is written suggests a top-down mandate. To that end, I have reviewed everything I could find - ITD Board minutes, the most recent legislative session, ITD's social media, recently adopted Idaho administrative rules and so forth and can find no public documentation on why this decision was made.

Good for ITD for going all-in on both full-width APL and the sawed version of the APL signs!

[LilianaUwU]

Good that they're going back to the old version, but one thing I wouldn't mind is if they did a three-digit version of the old sign. That was one good idea they had with the new shield.

[Max Rockatansky]

I kind of liked the Vanilla Oreo Idaho State Highway shield.

[kphoger]

Both versions suck.

[The_Ginger]

Both versions suck.

Yes, the design isn't ideal. I feel like an Oklahoma-style shield with the digits partially inserted inside the state outline would look a tad better.

[kphoger]

Both versions suck.

Yes, the design isn't ideal. I feel like an Oklahoma-style shield with the digits partially inserted inside the state outline would look a tad better.

Nobody really liked my idea, back when I drew it up:

[Rothman]

Nah.  Keep the Sad Nixon.