California Observations

[J N Winkler]

Wow!  I stand corrected but given the source (Raymond Yu), you can't blame me for being skeptical.  The GSV image doesn't show the horizontal lines that are prominently visible in the Raymond Yu photo.  Maybe Caltrans borrowed/stole a sign from Arizona... 

Myosh_tino, given our history with Raymond Yu, you were right to be suspicious.  That sign is actually a fake, but this time the falsification is limited to substrate type, unlike other past fakes which have falsified legend typeface.

Looking at the back of the sign, it appears to be of extrusheet construction:

Google StreetView extract showing extrusheet "ribs"

Brandon's guess as to plywood substrate is otherwise a good one--the rippling and gaps in the sheeting are otherwise pretty typical of plywood signs.  But a plywood sign this is not.

Caltrans' Standard Plans do not specify extrusheet construction for signs, so I think this sign is a double experiment:  (1) Clearview (Caltrans-sponsored), and (2) extrusheet.  This time Raymond Yu has faked the sign by making it look like it is of extruded aluminum construction.  (It has been previously mentioned, I think in MTR, that Caltrans erected experimental Clearview signs on I-10 in the Inland Empire.)

As an aside, I really dislike the term "corrugated" for sign substrates, not just because it is not officially sanctioned, but because it is used without discrimination to refer both to extruded aluminum and extrusheet construction.  The two are different and look different both from front and back.  Extrusheet signs are flat metal panels riveted to horizontal stiffener ribs at close spacing, while extruded aluminum signs are heavier-gauge extruded aluminum strips with flanges that are placed on top of each other and then bolted together through the flanges.  The height of each aluminum strip is generally higher than the spacing between each extrusheet rib, which is part of the way you tell the difference.  Another is that, when the sign panel is not secured to posts, extruded aluminum signs have more rigidity and are less likely to bend along a vertical axis.

[roadfro]

As an aside, I really dislike the term "corrugated" for sign substrates, not just because it is not officially sanctioned, but because it is used without discrimination to refer both to extruded aluminum and extrusheet construction.  The two are different and look different both from front and back.  Extrusheet signs are flat metal panels riveted to horizontal stiffener ribs at close spacing, while extruded aluminum signs are heavier-gauge extruded aluminum strips with flanges that are placed on top of each other and then bolted together through the flanges.  The height of each aluminum strip is generally higher than the spacing between each extrusheet rib, which is part of the way you tell the difference.  Another is that, when the sign panel is not secured to posts, extruded aluminum signs have more rigidity and are less likely to bend along a vertical axis.

Furthering your aside... Would it be possible start a thread that shows in detail, via photos or plans sheets, the different types of large-scale sign construction methods? I'd love to get a better visual understanding of these different types.

[roadfro]

With regards to that photo in the previous post, it's an obvious fake. 

Looking at the photo again, and comparing to the Street View link... unless there's another similar sign somewhere, it's an obvious fake cause there's not nearly as much foliage in the background on the Street View.

[myosh_tino]

With regards to that photo in the previous post, it's an obvious fake. 

Looking at the photo again, and comparing to the Street View link... unless there's another similar sign somewhere, it's an obvious fake cause there's not nearly as much foliage in the background on the Street View.

If you zoom out from the link NE2 provided you'll notice quite a bit of burnt shrubbery (presumably from a discarded cigarette butt) past the sign.  I suspect the street view image was taken well after the overhead satellite image Google Maps is using.

[CentralCAroadgeek]

For New Years' this year, we're going on a vacation in Los Angeles. I'm wondering if there is anything I should be wary about on the way (basically I-5 and US-101). The last time I went on I-5 was last July, so has anything changed since then? Anything north of Anaheim.

[agentsteel53]

For New Years' this year, we're going on a vacation in Los Angeles. I'm wondering if there is anything I should be wary about on the way (basically I-5 and US-101). The last time I went on I-5 was last July, so has anything changed since then? Anything north of Anaheim.

between exits 179 and 213, civilization has collapsed completely.  bring your own flamethrower.

[mcdonaat]

I plan on visiting California, albeit to Disneyland. After reading about these things called "button" signs (which must be pretty small), lack of mileposts, and killing the Mexican Jesus, I think I'm better off using Amtrak.

All jokes aside, I do plan on taking Amtrak. Allows me to not use California terms (where I-10 is The 10 Freeway), and someone else does the driving... I can focus on scenery!

[pctech]

I recently watched a "road geek" video of Interstate 5 north of Reading CA recently. There were exit#  tabs on the top corner of the signs just like the rest of us. What's up with that? I thought you guys  were non-conformist. 

Mark

[CentralCAroadgeek]

Well, California DOES occasionally use exit tabs in rural LGSes (though I've seen one near CA-91 on I-5). I just don't know why...

[roadfro]

In my observation, new exit tabs show up more on BGSs along the side of the road than on overhead signs.

[myosh_tino]

In my observation, new exit tabs show up more on BGSs along the side of the road than on overhead signs.

That's been my observation too.  External tabs on overhead signs are *very* rare but have been used on stretches of I-5 north of Sacramento.

[KEK Inc.]

Here's my favorite:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=redding,+ca&ll=33.666604,-117.89403&spn=0.030503,0.066047&hnear=Redding,+Shasta,+California&gl=us&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=33.666488,-117.894153&panoid=Z01n2xSKuJmDeS1lH3kcxQ&cbp=12,43.68,,0,3.16

[CentralCAroadgeek]

Kinda sad to say, but the last remaining outline 101 shield is in danger of being replaced. Currently, there is a large construction project on 101 on the Peninsula that includes the Rengstorff exit, where the outline 101 is. So to say, outline shields may be gone soon...

[myosh_tino]

Kinda sad to say, but the last remaining outline 101 shield is in danger of being replaced. Currently, there is a large construction project on 101 on the Peninsula that includes the Rengstorff exit, where the outline 101 is. So to say, outline shields may be gone soon...

Not so.  I have seen the construction plans for the US 101 Auxiliary Lane project and it appears the signs on the Rengstorff Avenue overpass are not being replaced.  Here is a small snippit from the sign plans...



If the signs in the above plan were replacing the existing signs, then the Rengstorff Avenue exit sign would have included an exit number "tab".

[kurumi]

Note the dual diamond lane in myosh's post above. I saw a Palo Alto Weekly article where this was mentioned, but hadn't seen it anywhere else.

Also: "Rengstroff" in the diagram is a typo.

[citrus]

All this construction to add a 2nd carpool lane through the area...when what's really needed is to extend the existing one northward to San Francisco.

[myosh_tino]

All this construction to add a 2nd carpool lane through the area...when what's really needed is to extend the existing one northward to San Francisco.

And in a couple of years, the two diamond lanes will become express lanes where solo drivers can pay a toll to use them.  There are plans to add a second HOV lane on the 1990's portion of CA-85 when express lanes are added.

[OCGuy81]

That's been my observation too.  External tabs on overhead signs are *very* rare but have been used on stretches of I-5 north of Sacramento.

True, though on our last trip up to our house in central Oregon, I noticed one at the US 97 exit in Weed.  I couldn't snap a picture, but here is one from Google Maps.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Weed,+CA&hl=en&ll=41.415237,-122.382076&spn=0.001128,0.002642&sll=41.988703,-122.607626&sspn=0.001126,0.002642&oq=weed&hnear=Weed,+Siskiyou,+California&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=41.415158,-122.382043&panoid=0lEG6eH0ZxtwHSnxYHXd2A&cbp=12,340.96,,0,-0.64

[on_wisconsin]

^ That's not an external exit tab though.

[myosh_tino]

That's been my observation too.  External tabs on overhead signs are *very* rare but have been used on stretches of I-5 north of Sacramento.

True, though on our last trip up to our house in central Oregon, I noticed one at the US 97 exit in Weed.  I couldn't snap a picture, but here is one from Google Maps.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Weed,+CA&hl=en&ll=41.415237,-122.382076&spn=0.001128,0.002642&sll=41.988703,-122.607626&sspn=0.001126,0.002642&oq=weed&hnear=Weed,+Siskiyou,+California&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=41.415158,-122.382043&panoid=0lEG6eH0ZxtwHSnxYHXd2A&cbp=12,340.96,,0,-0.64

As on_wisconsin said, that sign does not have an external tab.  Here is a photo of a sign from the AARoads Gallery that has an external exit tab...

[KEK Inc.]

I think this is the only external tab on a sign bridge.

http://goo.gl/maps/Jc55S

[TheStranger]

I think this is the only external tab on a sign bridge.

http://goo.gl/maps/Jc55S

Here's another, at the San Bernardino Split just past downtown Los Angeles:

http://maps.google.com/?ll=34.052326,-118.227305&spn=0.003966,0.00456&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=34.052688,-118.226859&panoid=bZrOMGxETK4jQ_LMvIPfQg&cbp=12,95.97,,1,-6.56

[KEK Inc.]

I think this is the only external tab on a sign bridge.

http://goo.gl/maps/Jc55S

Here's another, at the San Bernardino Split just past downtown Los Angeles:

http://maps.google.com/?ll=34.052326,-118.227305&spn=0.003966,0.00456&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=34.052688,-118.226859&panoid=bZrOMGxETK4jQ_LMvIPfQg&cbp=12,95.97,,1,-6.56

Forgot about those.  There's a few more preceding that sign.

[agentsteel53]

the "Exit 1D" at the East LA appears to be a replacement for a sign gantry that was put up in the 1971 exit-numbering experiment.  a handful of those exit numbers remain, and they are all centered and external. 

there are two tabs on I-5 at Exit 50 which have, in the last several years, switched between saying "Elm Ave." and "Exit 50".  I believe they were originally installed at the request of the City of Carlsbad, as they are made of wood.  very unusual.

[CentralCAroadgeek]

I noticed yesterday that the city of Davis is pretty good at signing the routing of US-40. I saw several "Historic *US-40 shield*" signs there.