FHWA Approved Colors

[Quillz]

Outside of the colors used on various shields, I couldn't find this anywhere in the MUTCD: How many colors are approved for use on any kind of highway sign at all, and is there a site where I can see them all and preferably get the hex codes so I can use them in my concepts? I recall reading recently that a lot of states have never used certain approved colors like coral, for example.

[NE2]

http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/kno-colorspec.htm

[Quillz]

Thanks, no idea why I couldn't find that.

Coral and light blue aren't used in any states, are they? I've never seen them in use anywhere, except maybe outside of Florida's experiment with colorful U.S. Route shields.

[roadfro]

Coral and light blue have no specific meanings assigned to them in the MUTCD. That doesn't mean those colors haven't been used in any non-standard signs...

[J N Winkler]

Some states have proposed to adopt coral as a background color for incident management signs which are otherwise fabricated to the same designs as orange-background construction detour signs.  There is a master's thesis (from Virginia Tech, I think) which investigates the conspicuity of various combinations of unassigned colors, and NCDOT has proposed standard plan sheets showing coral background.  I have not researched whether any of these ideas have official experimentation status with FHWA or checked that they have made their way into the MUTCD.

[realjd]

Some states have proposed to adopt coral as a background color for incident management signs which are otherwise fabricated to the same designs as orange-background construction detour signs.  There is a master's thesis (from Virginia Tech, I think) which investigates the conspicuity of various combinations of unassigned colors, and NCDOT has proposed standard plan sheets showing coral background.  I have not researched whether any of these ideas have official experimentation status with FHWA or checked that they have made their way into the MUTCD.

Doesn't incident management use pink currently, or is that not standard?

[froggie]

Not standard.  Most incident management signs I'm familiar with are blue.

[mightyace]

What class of signs are considered incident management?

[Dr Frankenstein]

Here are the converted PANTONE colors:

Brown - Pantone 469 -  96      51      17      #603311
Green - Pantone 342 - 0       107     84      #006B54
Red - Pantone 187 - 175     30      45      #AF1E2D
Blue - Pantone 294 - 0       63      135     #003F87
Yellow - Pantone 116 - 252     209     22      #FCD116
Orange - Pantone 152 - 221     117     0       #DD7500
Purple - Pantone 259 - 114     22      107     #72166B

Source: http://www.zeald.com/Resources/Effective+Website+Design+-+Tips++Tricks/Convert+Pantone+Colours+to+RGB.html

When designing, I've been using either colors from MTQ's vectors or colors ripped from the 2009 FHWA MUTCD (which seem kind of darker)

[rawmustard]

Not standard.  Most incident management signs I'm familiar with are blue.

Table 2A-5 in part 2A of the MUTCD indicate incident management signs are commonly orange or fluorescent-pink background with black legend. Given that, the only time I've seen fluorescent pink signs used is by utility crews (typically those extremely portable foldable fabric warning signs). I would welcome a clear distinction between the colors used for road construction and incident management, but I tend to think this issue isn't particularly of the highest priority. Most drivers probably won't care about the specific details regarding a lane or road closure, so it's doubtful a standard will be made regarding a specific color of incident management signs.

[realjd]

Table 2A-5 in part 2A of the MUTCD indicate incident management signs are commonly orange or fluorescent-pink background with black legend. Given that, the only time I've seen fluorescent pink signs used is by utility crews (typically those extremely portable foldable fabric warning signs). I would welcome a clear distinction between the colors used for road construction and incident management, but I tend to think this issue isn't particularly of the highest priority. Most drivers probably won't care about the specific details regarding a lane or road closure, so it's doubtful a standard will be made regarding a specific color of incident management signs.

The only times I've ever really seen them were when there was an accident, stalled car, or something of that nature requiring a temporary detour or lane closure, but one in place long enough for them to drop temporary signs down for.

[agentsteel53]

Most drivers probably won't care about the specific details regarding a lane or road closure, so it's doubtful a standard will be made regarding a specific color of incident management signs.

indeed.  temporary orange works just fine regardless of whether or not it was a planned, or unplanned, guardrail rearrangement exercise.

[mightyace]

Thanks for explaining things, gentlemen.

Now that I understand what you're talking about, I agree that there doesn't need to differentiate why the road is restricted/closed just the fact that it is.  If anything, an additional color might create more confusion.

[J N Winkler]

The argument for having a separate color for incident management signing rests, I think, largely on the possibility of permanent detour signing.  This was contemplated by NCDOT's draft standard plan sheets, which showed regular Interstate shields used with tabs in the incident-management colors instead of the usual black-on-white.  A distinction in color or design is necessary to allow permanent detour signs to be distinguished from long-term road construction detours, for which black-on-orange tabs or black-on-orange guide signs will be used.

[agentsteel53]

is "permanent detour" not an oxymoron?  by definition, a permanent detour is a new alignment.

[realjd]

I think he's referring to permanent off-freeway detour signage. Fort Wayne, IN went through a few years ago and created permanently marked "emergency detour" routes from every off-ramp to the next on-ramp so if they had to close a stretch of I-69 or I-469, drivers would know what local route to follow to get back on at the next opportunity. They just use standard "to" markers, except they put "emergency detour" in the banner sign instead of "to". I think it would make sense to use pink for the banner sign in those circumstances.

Here in my part of Florida, they put small VMS signs on every corner of the emergency detour routes so they can display "I-95 turn here" or similar if they need to use local roads to bypass an accident.

[rawmustard]

is "permanent detour" not an oxymoron?  by definition, a permanent detour is a new alignment.

I'm thinking Jonathan's actually refering to emergency detours, which are permanently signed. Here in Michigan, such detours are marked with a black-on-orange EMERGENCY tab. This emergency system was started with I-94 IIRC and has been gradually implemented for other freeway trunklines, even for M-6 in the southern part of the Grand Rapids metro area.

[J N Winkler]

Yup--emergency detours is what I meant.  When did the emergency detour signs go up on I-94?

[agentsteel53]

why not just use orange?  does the driver care why the detour (permanent or otherwise) is suddenly in use?  the emergency detour system seems like it would make sense to have in place for construction as well.

[rawmustard]

Yup--emergency detours is what I meant.  When did the emergency detour signs go up on I-94?

I seem to remember them as far back as the early-to-mid 90s. I know I had seen them in the Kalamazoo area before moving away from there in 1991.

why not just use orange?  does the driver care why the detour (permanent or otherwise) is suddenly in use?  the emergency detour system seems like it would make sense to have in place for construction as well.

That was the idea in Michigan–the emergency detour can be used to get around both traffic incidents and construction.

[NE2]

Pennsylvania has had their colored 'permanent detour' signs for a while.

[mightyace]

^^^

There still some of those from the US 11 exit (241) of I-80 eastward.  Many of them are simply the colored arrows with no shield whatsoever.

[NE2]

"still"? I'm pretty sure they're a standard thing on all Pennsylvania freeways.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Ontario has these permanent detours too, and they sign them with black-on-orange signs: http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/traveller/signs/edr/index.shtml

[Mr_Northside]

"still"? I'm pretty sure they're a standard thing on all Pennsylvania freeways.

And also, a lot of them are only a couple of years old.