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Illuminated street name signs

Started by bulkyorled, April 10, 2012, 03:09:17 AM

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bulkyorled

Strange. Ive never noticed that. Thank you for informing me!
Your local illuminated sign enthusiast

Signs Im looking for: CA only; 1, 2, 14, 118, 134, 170, 210 (CA), and any california city illuminated sign.


6a

Quote from: bulkyorled on May 02, 2012, 03:43:39 AM
Strange. Ive never noticed that. Thank you for informing me!

Yeah, you'll see FM 1234 just as you might see SR 1234 somewhere else.  If I'm not mistaken, they are called Ranch to Market roads in the western part of the state.

bulkyorled


My precious. They have fixed you. It has been blown out for a year. Although only one light :(
Your local illuminated sign enthusiast

Signs Im looking for: CA only; 1, 2, 14, 118, 134, 170, 210 (CA), and any california city illuminated sign.

blawp



I know these make you happy, Bulky. This is a pretty recent installation in Monrovia at the corner of Huntington and Myrtle.

hm insulators

Quote from: bulkyorled on May 20, 2012, 10:41:08 PM

My precious. They have fixed you. It has been blown out for a year. Although only one light :(

That intersection looks familiar! My favorite restaurant in Montrose was right near this intersection! RIP, Pasta Preziosa.
Remember: If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

I'd rather be a child of the road than a son of a ditch.


At what age do you tell a highway that it's been adopted?

formulanone

I don't recall seeing any of these illuminates signs in South Florida until 1998 or so.





Not exactly sure if this style lights up when it becomes dark outside:


blawp


formulanone

Because FLORIDA has lots of near-blind people driving around; also led/planned by blind people (street blades are rarely not all-capped in FL).

roadfro

Quote from: blawp on June 12, 2012, 04:29:34 PM
Why is the text in all caps?
Quote from: formulanone on June 12, 2012, 05:10:09 PM
Because FLORIDA has lots of near-blind people driving around; also led/planned by blind people (street blades are rarely not all-capped in FL).

Interesting...

Florida also has a larger population of older folks, if I'm not mistaken. One of FHWA's justifications for the switch to mixed case signing for street names and destinations was something in the older driver study--these drivers had better recognition of mixed-case signing over all-caps legends at greater distances. So the fact that there is still a lot of all-caps blades in Florida surprises me a bit.
Roadfro - AARoads Pacific Southwest moderator since 2010, Nevada roadgeek since 1983.

formulanone

All-caps is indeed not more legible than proper capitalization, whether on road signs, computer screens, books, or newspapers. Every so often, it can be used for single-word emphasis or solely to denote acronyms, but all-cap usage is a bad idea...it probably works for 2-4 letter abbreviations or short "sight words", but readability decays after too many letters.

Florida signage is so wildly inconsistent, you either love it or hate it. Viva la difference, I say.

relaxok

Quote from: bulkyorled on April 12, 2012, 10:09:11 PM


These are in Glendale, Ive only ever seen one other city with these and I believe it was Orange but they didn't have them everywhere and theirs are blue instead of brown

That looks fantastic.

bulkyorled

#61
Quote from: blawp on June 10, 2012, 08:35:51 PM

I know these make you happy, Bulky. This is a pretty recent installation in Monrovia at the corner of Huntington and Myrtle.

Just saw a couple of the newer ones last time I was over there! In the daytime it looks clean but when the lights come on the font looks brownish and the green looks dark. I like the ones that say City of Monrovia, a lot of them look newer since they're not all crusty and dirty yet.... Not sure how old they are since i've seen some crusty versions of it too

Quote from: formulanone on June 11, 2012, 04:41:23 PM
I don't recall seeing any of these illuminates signs in South Florida until 1998 or so.



Wow Barack Obama Blvd! When was that changed? And what city is that in?


Quote from: relaxok on June 13, 2012, 07:52:29 PM
Quote from: bulkyorled on April 12, 2012, 10:09:11 PM


These are in Glendale, Ive only ever seen one other city with these and I believe it was Orange but they didn't have them everywhere and theirs are blue instead of brown

That looks fantastic.

I always liked Glendale's. They have contrast between LA and Burbank, and at a stretch even Pasadena's. None of them are the same over here



I really wish I could find a way to get a hold of one of these for my collection  :ded: Its not an easy thing to come across
Your local illuminated sign enthusiast

Signs Im looking for: CA only; 1, 2, 14, 118, 134, 170, 210 (CA), and any california city illuminated sign.

bulkyorled




Shitty picture for the 2nd one, its not really that bright of course. In real life you can read it. But Burbank just changed out a few old ones and these new ones are gigantic
Your local illuminated sign enthusiast

Signs Im looking for: CA only; 1, 2, 14, 118, 134, 170, 210 (CA), and any california city illuminated sign.

formulanone

Quote from: bulkyorled on June 14, 2012, 12:38:21 AM
Wow Barack Obama Blvd! When was that changed? And what city is that in?

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5452.00

My photo was from West Park, Florida (a small municipality which began in 2005; between Miami and Fort Lauderdale). The city of Orlando was apparently first to do it.


bulkyorled

Hm. Kind of agreed with the first post there. Like him or hate him that seemed a bit rushed. Thats why I was shocked to see it.
Your local illuminated sign enthusiast

Signs Im looking for: CA only; 1, 2, 14, 118, 134, 170, 210 (CA), and any california city illuminated sign.

swbrotha100

Most of the cities in the Phoenix area, as well as most of the incorporated cities in the Tucson area. I remember them scattered around in El Paso. I thought they were the coolest thing too. Before I moved to Arizona, I had only seen signs like that on TV (in California and Nevada).

bulkyorled

The ones Ive seen in AZ are always gigantic compared to the CA/NV common ones. Or at least in Chandler I think. I've seen pics where they look like triple large size. But then you scoot on over to Glendale, AZ and they look too small to me.

I think I'm the only one on here who thinks these are the coolest things. Im almost even bothered when cities take them out in exchange for boring metal ones. Although that doesn't happen around here much...
Your local illuminated sign enthusiast

Signs Im looking for: CA only; 1, 2, 14, 118, 134, 170, 210 (CA), and any california city illuminated sign.

swbrotha100

#67
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.

txstateends

A few Dallas-area examples:

Addison, TX: http://goo.gl/maps/orUl
(almost all their signals have backlit street signs)

Highland Park, TX:  http://goo.gl/maps/Vcbi
(couldn't find any Street Views, but the ornate mast-arms in the pic now have new thin backlit street signs)

Plano, TX:  http://goo.gl/maps/IOoQ
(so far, only the major intersections have backlit street signs; the blurred-out part is the Plano city logo in a white circle)
\/ \/ click for a bigger image \/ \/

blawp

What does Texas have against FHWA font? Two of the examples you show are in Helvetica.

Scott5114

I don't know that Texas has anything against FHWA font in particular. TxDOT probably uses Clearview so extensively because the Texas Transportation Institute was one of the agencies involved in the design/testing process. As for the Helvetica example above, those were done by a municipality, and we all know how well those adhere to proper signmaking guidelines sometimes.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

blawp

Quote from: Scott5114 on June 24, 2012, 06:19:40 PM
I don't know that Texas has anything against FHWA font in particular. TxDOT probably uses Clearview so extensively because the Texas Transportation Institute was one of the agencies involved in the design/testing process. As for the Helvetica example above, those were done by a municipality, and we all know how well those adhere to proper signmaking guidelines sometimes.

All of the California examples shown have been FHWA, so I guess the municipality issue doesn't extend to California.

Scott5114

Quote from: blawp on June 24, 2012, 08:48:26 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on June 24, 2012, 06:19:40 PM
I don't know that Texas has anything against FHWA font in particular. TxDOT probably uses Clearview so extensively because the Texas Transportation Institute was one of the agencies involved in the design/testing process. As for the Helvetica example above, those were done by a municipality, and we all know how well those adhere to proper signmaking guidelines sometimes.

All of the California examples shown have been FHWA, so I guess the municipality issue doesn't extend to California.

Courtesy bulkyorled:

Calabasas, CA


San Fernando, CA


Glendale, CA

And where's that guy that posts pictures of that town in CA that posts everything in Clarendon?
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

CentralCAroadgeek

Quote from: Scott5114 on June 24, 2012, 08:57:20 PMAnd where's that guy that posts pictures of that town in CA that posts everything in Clarendon?

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

Scott5114

Thanks! Couldn't remember the username. You just stuck in my mind as Clarendon Guy, I guess, haha.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef



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