Illuminated street name signs

[CentralCAroadgeek]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Salinas pretty much would put anything in Clarendon. Even in signs like these:

[myosh_tino]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Salinas pretty much would put anything in Clarendon. Even in signs like these:

I'm OK with Clarendon on street blades but I am NOT OK with it's use on the above photo.  What was the city of Salinas thinking?

[Scott5114]

It seems to use them on small guide signs too; CentralCARoadgeek has posted instances of that as well.

It either has to come down to 1) stupidity, or 2) an attempt to establish a consistent brand/marketing (see number 1).

[blawp]

OK that dual left turn sign is really indefensibly bad.

[bulkyorled]

That would be me, my friend. And here's a Clarendon street blade from here in Salinas:

I am most definitely not a fan of those. The Suffix of the street doesn't look right. Its as if below the suffix they should have added the block number

This design is used in most of Tempe and Goodyear, and parts of Gilbert and Tucson:

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h31/minjas2006/Trainz%20METRO%20Light%20Rail/TempeTrafficLight1R.jpg

http://azbex.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/estrellabuckeye540.jpg

The "ADOT" setup is used virtually everywhere else. Some cities incorporate a logo into the illuminated sign. Glendale has two styles that I've noticed. One is that small version seen just about everywhere in the city limits. There's another style near the Westgate complex that is larger, and incorporates Glendale's city logo next to the street name.

Are Glendale AZ and Glendale CA at all in talks with each other? They've got so much in common it makes me wonder. As I've shown in an earlier pic, they've got straight arm poles which are rare in California and signs unlike 99% of the other cities here. But not in the whole city, just in downtown.

[bulkyorled]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Salinas pretty much would put anything in Clarendon. Even in signs like these:

That's terrible...
Its almost not even so much the font to me as they just don't put it all together right. The double left turn one doesnt look right or like its missing something, the street blades look like theyre missing the block numbers... the list goes on im sure

[swbrotha100]

New traffic signals in the city of Phoenix are pretty much going with straight mast arms for the overheads. Other than the signals in downtown Glendale (I think they are all on Glendale Ave), other signals with straight mast arms are relatively rare and just scattered around the rest of Arizona. I wish Phoenix used signals more like downtown Glendale, or go with the curved mast arms more often. Glendale hopefully will consider upgrading their illuminated street signs to be larger than they are now, maybe take a cue from the other cities in the area.

[Scott5114]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Salinas pretty much would put anything in Clarendon. Even in signs like these:

That's terrible...
Its almost not even so much the font to me as they just don't put it all together right. The double left turn one doesnt look right or like its missing something, the street blades look like theyre missing the block numbers... the list goes on im sure

On a standard left turn only like, the arrow is curved. I think there's usually a partial vertical line between the two, as well.

[blawp]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Salinas pretty much would put anything in Clarendon. Even in signs like these:

That's terrible...
Its almost not even so much the font to me as they just don't put it all together right. The double left turn one doesnt look right or like its missing something, the street blades look like theyre missing the block numbers... the list goes on im sure

On a standard left turn only like, the arrow is curved. I think there's usually a partial vertical line between the two, as well.

No vertical line in California. The outside arrow is larger than the inside arrow, however.

[bulkyorled]

Simi Valley seems to be experimenting with various forms now;




Awful 2nd picture I know haha The LED ones are rather small and are seemingly useless... the 2nd pic only is at the intersection of Tapo Cyn and Township, solar powered! The green outline doesnt show up in the dark, the letters are illuminated. I don't like them haha I hope they go for the LED ones, even if they are a little font. The solar ones are terrible looking and the old metal ones Simi has are basically not reflective anymore and are a bit yucky looking.

[Compulov]

Ah yes I forgot Phoenix, Chandler and possibly Mesa have them too.

While I know not all suburbs of Phoenix have them, I have seen them in the west valley as well (Glendale, Peoria, Surprise). I think Arizona, in some ways, is sort of like California's little brother. Take a typical stretch of road built in AZ and compare it to a similar stretch of road in California, built around the same time, and there will probably be a lot of similarities (like the traffic lights and signage). I only point this out since I grew up in NJ, but visit AZ and CA regularly, so it's the sort of thing that stands out to me.

[agentsteel53]

Take a typical stretch of road built in AZ and compare it to a similar stretch of road in California, built around the same time, and there will probably be a lot of similarities (like the traffic lights and signage).

I've always considered Nevada to have that role.  CA and AZ signage are sufficiently different, but if you ever want to see lots of signs made to 1990s retroreflective standards, but using 1960s Cal Division of Highways layouts, check Reno and Las Vegas. 

or, hell, the last porcelain signs in Nevada are even stamped CA-78!

[bulkyorled]

CA & AZ use the state's natural colors a lot too for their signs. AZ = almost all brown. CA = Mostly Blue (ocean) and then green... with a few random ones thrown in such as red or grey or even white with green lettering.
There are more blue signage in LA/OC than Green or other counting only incorporated cities. Green is standard for all unincorporated. And I was thinking the other day, there would have been very few cities with non-illuminated signs prior to the change in the county changing standards and making county dependent areas remove them.

[roadfro]

Take a typical stretch of road built in AZ and compare it to a similar stretch of road in California, built around the same time, and there will probably be a lot of similarities (like the traffic lights and signage).

I've always considered Nevada to have that role.  CA and AZ signage are sufficiently different, but if you ever want to see lots of signs made to 1990s retroreflective standards, but using 1960s Cal Division of Highways layouts, check Reno and Las Vegas. 

That certainly was the case some time ago, but I would say that much of NDOT's newer sign designs have diverged quite a bit from how CalTrans designs signs. Nevada has a much more consistent look now, but much of their highway design history does appear to be based on what California developed first.

or, hell, the last porcelain signs in Nevada arewere even stamped CA-78!

Fixed that for you... Most porcelain signs I knew of have been removed due to recent construction activities...I only know of one left (US 395 SB north of Reno).

[bulkyorled]

Whats even more obsessive and sick is that I could probably name all the cities in LA county and tell you what color they have, the design of it (if it mentions what city it is or has a city seal on it), and if theyre LED or not.

[agentsteel53]

Fixed that for you... Most porcelain signs I knew of have been removed due to recent construction activities...I only know of one left (US 395 SB north of Reno).

all the ones on 80 are gone?  I had been suspicious that this was the case.

indeed, as of May 21st (day after the eclipse), there was precisely one left on 395.

but, a lot of the new 395 signs have 1961-spec route shields!



that shield shape (not wider!) and with "395" in Series C.  not a bad looking shield at all.

[roadfro]

Fixed that for you... Most porcelain signs I knew of have been removed due to recent construction activities...I only know of one left (US 395 SB north of Reno).

all the ones on 80 are gone?  I had been suspicious that this was the case.

Yup. NDOT is reconstructing the original I-80 pavement between Keystone Ave & E. 4th St as part of their I-80 design-build project, which includes all new signs throughout the downtown corridor. This is where all the old porcelain signs were--new signs are not yet in place but all the old signs are gone.

[bulkyorled]

Maybe we can see some different fonts if anyone really sees any. Or unusual designs at least

[JustDrive]

I've always like the Westminster city signs, even though Medieval Times is in Buena Park...

[bulkyorled]

I only dipped in Westminster tonight. I gather that font is their old style? I cant even tell what was going on there, we were going up Westminster Ave and it seemed like most of the signs are burnt out or crusted over from age but appeared as though they had the standard font. I turned up Beach and it got worse. I was surprised that Garbage Grove had nicer signs...

[Brandon]

A few local examples:

Crest Hill (only one I know of in the city) at Renwick & Weber.


Romeoville (which is installing them all over the village) at the same intersection.


Joliet (installing them on new traffic signals) at Vermette and IL-59.


Shorewood (installing them all over the village) at Black and IL-59.  Note the symbol.  That's the village's seal - Jefferson (US-52) and IL-59 with the DuPage River flowing around the intersection.

[bulkyorled]

ILL? They could shop off the 2nd L. Did you edit those to show just the signs? They look a little freaky with it being pitch black...

[Scott5114]

My guess is he took them at night. With the camera focused on the illuminated sign, the aperture would probably be too small to catch the darkened background.

[Brandon]

ILL? They could shop off the 2nd L. Did you edit those to show just the signs? They look a little freaky with it being pitch black...

IDOT commonly shortens "Illinois" to "ILL", but "IL" is also seen.  What gets used often is the combination of "ILL RTE" for Illinois Route.

Yes, I took them at night to catch the signs while lit.

[bulkyorled]

I meant there's no background light or street lights it just looks funny haha
ILL seems odd, it makes it sound sick. It's Ill.