What Is Wooden In Your State (re: Signs)?

[thenetwork]

Does your state, or neighboring state(s) incorporate wood or other non-metal materials into their signing practices?  Here are a few musings from my travels:

UTAH:  Along I-70, many of the BGSs, Reassurance markers and ramp trailblazers are made of wood.  They are doing some major sign replacements just west of the Colorado line, but I didn't check to see if they stayed with wood.  That might also spell the end to the handful of 1st generation button-copy signs off of some of the Ranch Access exits.

COLORADO:  The smaller button-copy signs (mileage signs, city limit signs,...) were mostly of the wooden variety -- both the signs & the posts.

OHIO:  I never recalled any signage being of the wooden variety, but there are some metal BGS on wooden posts.

MICHIGAN:  About 20+ years ago, a lot of their non-BGSs were of the wooden variety.  There are still "woodies" out there, but I want to say that there is more of a mix of wooden & metal signs nowadays (regulatory signs -- Speed limits, caution signs,... -- are moreso metal than wood, while smaller green signs -- Michigan Left diagrams and advance street/junction banners,... -- are still in regular supply.

Others??

[ftballfan]

In Michigan, I think there is still one on old US-31 in Scottville (a distance sign for Manistee and Traverse City). Also, I bet old US-31 between Ludington and Montague and old US-131 between Tustin and Howard City still have some woodies.

[twinsfan87]

Minnesota almost exclusively uses metal for all signs and support posts. In fact, the only posts or signs that I can think of that are wooden in Minnesota are signs in parks. I don't think even counties use wooden signs or support posts (although I can't vouch for the more rural areas).

Wisconsin, however, uses wood posts quite often for ground-mounted signs as well as wooden "uni-signs" for their newer reassurance markers. Many regulatory and warning signs outside of the metro areas are wooden as well. BGS signs and other freeway signs as well as regulatory/warning signs in metro areas are often metal, however.

[Brian556]

TxDOT signs:
BGS's- Used to be all wood. New signs are metal.
Large Traffic Signs (IE: 48x48, 48x60)- used to be all wood, now all new signs are metal.
Small non-FRWY guide signs -used to be all wood, now all new signs are metal.

Construction signs: Used to be almost all wood. Now mostly corrugated plastic. Wood signs are still produced and often used.
Barricades, Vertical panels: Used to be all wood. The rules changes in the year 2000. They are now all metal/Plastic. You sometimes see a Type III barricade with wood panels on metal legs.

[agentsteel53]

California's classic sign posts are redwood: a black base, and the top painted the same color as the sign it matches - white, yellow, and for stop signs, a barbershop red and white striped mix.

I believe the only time CA has used wood signs was during WWII.

[agentsteel53]

wait - one more wooden feature in California.  Classic button-copy "sandwich" signs consist of two panes of aluminum separated by a honeycomb mesh of cardboard for stability. 



I am sure that, somewhere, I have photos of some signs that have been hit by vehicles and have the insides exposed - but I cannot find one offhand.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Minnesota almost exclusively uses metal for all signs and support posts. In fact, the only posts or signs that I can think of that are wooden in Minnesota are signs in parks. I don't think even counties use wooden signs or support posts (although I can't vouch for the more rural areas).

There are a couple wood-mounted signs near my house in the far northwest Twin Cities metro on a county-maintained road, but those are the only two wood-mounted signs I can think of off-hand here. All the other signs on that road have metal posts.

[Marc]

TxDOT signs:
Large Traffic Signs (IE: 48x48, 48x60)- used to be all wood, now all new signs are metal.
Small non-FRWY guide signs -used to be all wood, now all new signs are metal.

I still see some new wood installations in the Houston area from time to time. Mainly small signs like exit gore signs, but there are some larger signs I can think of. No BGS's though.

[on_wisconsin]

Wisconsin, however, uses wood posts quite often for ground-mounted signs as well as wooden "uni-signs" for their newer reassurance markers. Many regulatory and warning signs outside of the metro areas are wooden as well. BGS signs and other freeway signs as well as regulatory/warning signs in metro areas are often metal, however.

All BGS's in WI are metal, however Wisconsin mostly follows Michigan model as stated above. Wisconsin still actively uses and manufactures wooden highway shields, smaller roadside guide signs, and warning/ regulatory assemblies, not strictly in rural areas either.

[ctsignguy]

OHIO:  I never recalled any signage being of the wooden variety, but there are some metal BGS on wooden posts.

For many years, Ohio used wood for their directional boards  (the signs that would tell you which direction and how many miles to the next town) at intersection approaches.  You still see quite a few of them on the road but i dont know if they are using them still as new signs

[twinsfan87]

on_wisconsin: Agreed. I've just noticed that the wood signs/posts are more plentiful in rural areas but certainly can be found in urban areas as well.

TheHighwayMan394: I didn't know that there were any so close! Where in the metro do you live? I'm sure that there are a few wooden signs/posts sprinkled around the state, but I doubt that there are very many.

[1995hoo]

On our trips to Cozumel, Mexico, I've noticed that many, perhaps most, of the road signs are hand-painted wooden signs, or at least most of the regulatory signs like the stop signs, right-on-red signs, speed limit signs, and topes warning signs were.

[Ian]

OHIO:  I never recalled any signage being of the wooden variety, but there are some metal BGS on wooden posts.

For many years, Ohio used wood for their directional boards  (the signs that would tell you which direction and how many miles to the next town) at intersection approaches.  You still see quite a few of them on the road but i dont know if they are using them still as new signs

IIRC, these large yellow arrow signs are made from wood:

[vdeane]

I believe ON 401 has some wood-mounted signs along the St. Lawrence.  Don't know if the signs themselves are wood though.

[Ian]

Not sure if they're still installed, but New York has a decent amount of wooden signs. Also, most of the parkways in New York have a lot of the non-BGS signs mounted on wood posts.

[roadfro]

Nevada uses metal signs and posts everywhere, and has for some time. The only times I've seen wooden posts have been in construction areas where a temporary sign was either meant to be in place for a long time or there wasn't room for a portable sign stand.

I found it interesting the first time I went to California and saw most post-mounted signs were affixed to wooden posts, including post-mounted BGS.

[triplemultiplex]

Yeah the ol' reliable and, might I add, renewable 4x4 wooden post holds up most highway signs in Wisconsin apart from BGS's of course.  And a LOT of the signs themselves are painted 1/2" plywood.

I reckon there's probably a correlation between the use of wood in signs and a regions forest products industry or lack thereof.  On second thought, one of the examples already cited in this thread goes against that hypothesis; Minnesota.  Then again, over half of Minnesota is prairie.

[Alps]

The only wooden sign I ever know NJDOT to have used is the NJ 69 shield because it was stolen so often, prior to renumbering as NJ 31. (I have a wooden 69 on my wall.)

[hbelkins]

There are a few wooden sign posts in Kentucky, but they are rapidly disappearing in favor of metal posts.

Temporary signs (construction signs, etc.) posted by contractors are often made of wood.

[Mergingtraffic]

CT used to have a lot of wooden route/interstate shields plus warning and regulatory signs up until the 1980s.  During that time they were replaced with metal. 

[Dr Frankenstein]

Québec: Guide signs inside national parks used to be wooden with the legend etched (and painted) into them... but they've been replacing them with standard aluminum signs with NY's gold-on-brown scheme and Clearview. Even in pedestrian trails.

Ontario: Some services signs appeared to be wooden to me. And they sometimes use wooden posts on various signs too.

[formulanone]

Collier County seems to use lots of wooden posts for nearly all their signs (except BGS signs), but most other counties in Florida almost exclusively use metal sticks.

[nyratk1]

The only wooden sign I ever know NJDOT to have used is the NJ 69 shield because it was stolen so often, prior to renumbering as NJ 31. (I have a wooden 69 on my wall.)

Heh heh heh, you said "wooden 69".

[bulldog1979]

M-185 on Mackinac Island had wooden combined reassurance marker/mile marker signs. The Keweenaw County Road Commission uses brown wooden signs with carved legends painted in white for non-MDOT guide signage.

[thenetwork]

Last time I was in Virginia, a lot of the non-interstate highways used wooden posts, painted white, giving them that "colonial" look.