Largest wastes of overhead assemblies?

[architect77]

This is a common sight in Georgia now because of the ridiculous directive that no more cantilevers will be built, only an elevated "balanced butterfly" is allowed. It's like taking engineering back to the stone ages. All of these HOT lane signs would look fabulous if supported on a left pole in the center divider. Instead, I-85 in north Atlanta has about 50 gantries along 15 miles, many for only 1 sign. What a waste of money and added eyesore. None are  parallel to the horizon either, they're all crooked like something out of "Hee-Haw".

[JustDrive]

I-405 north at Harbor Blvd.  I don't think that overhead sign gantry was there before the whole upgrade of the 73/Fairview/Harbor Blvd interchange.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Costa+Mesa,+CA%27&hl=en&ll=33.688317,-117.915487&spn=0.010016,0.021136&sll=33.641132,-117.918669&sspn=0.160347,0.338173&t=m&hnear=Costa+Mesa,+Orange,+California&z=16&layer=c&cbll=33.688256,-117.915159&panoid=rR7ldIgzD2U2czt18K8SVw&cbp=12,292.75,,0,8.77

[NE2]

I always thought of the 'sign assembly' as just the signs themselves, with the structure supporting the signs being a gantry or support.

[kharvey10]

sept29 046 by Kimmy1978, on Flickr

Thankfully, this gantry has been torn down as of last week.  There was just a single sign westbound for the Riverview exit (used to also had a pull-through but that was over 30 years ago) but nothing eastbound.  This one was in existence from the day this section of highway opened, just for good measure.

[Scott5114]

I always thought of the 'sign assembly' as just the signs themselves, with the structure supporting the signs being a gantry or support.

I have always understood "gantry" to refer to the overhead-type supports only... see https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gantry , which characterizes it as a "framework of steel bars" "bridg[ing] over or around something". Then it seems natural to include the signs being supported as being part of the gantry: "This next gantry shows that US-2 exits ahead..."

Whereas a clump of state route signs on a few pole is not a gantry since it's not going around or over something. It makes more sense to use "assembly" to refer to such a cluster.

(Arguably monotube gantries are not true gantries by the definition Wiktionary gives because it's not a framework. But their definition is odd for stipulating that it must be made out of steel. If some state were to use wood trusses to hold up their signs I would still call them gantries.)

[cpzilliacus]

This is a common sight in Georgia now because of the ridiculous directive that no more cantilevers will be built, only an elevated "balanced butterfly" is allowed. It's like taking engineering back to the stone ages. All of these HOT lane signs would look fabulous if supported on a left pole in the center divider. Instead, I-85 in north Atlanta has about 50 gantries along 15 miles, many for only 1 sign. What a waste of money and added eyesore. None are  parallel to the horizon either, they're all crooked like something out of "Hee-Haw".

Could it be that Georgia was concerned about the weight and placement of the transponder-reading antennae above the HOV/toll lanes?

Not that it really ought to matter, as VDOT and the holder of the Capital Beltway toll concession (2 lanes each way) are using cantilevered structures to hold up the toll collection hardware.

[cpzilliacus]

I-95 (JFK Highway) northbound, Harford County, Maryland.

[Ian]

^ I believe there used to be a pull-through sign for I-95 NB to the left of that exit 74 sign. Notice how there's that one spot on the gantry that's a bit brighter than the rest.

[cpzilliacus]

^ I believe there used to be a pull-through sign for I-95 NB to the left of that exit 74 sign. Notice how there's that one spot on the gantry that's a bit brighter than the rest.

That is quite possible. 

MdTA used to have many pull-through signs on the JFK Highway that read either just I-95 North or I-95 North - New York or (many years ago) I-95 North - NJ Turnpike (I wonder if  there wasn't someone in a senior position at MdTA that used to work for the NJTA in the (distant) past).

Never any mention of Philadelphia.

Though the BGS panel for Md. 152 is Clearview, and thus relatively recent vintage.

[PHLBOS]

Is it me or is the lower portion of that pic (below the BGS) appear superimposed?  Note the difference in color shading.

[cpzilliacus]

Is it me or is the lower portion of that pic (below the BGS) appear superimposed?  Note the difference in color shading.

I see what you mean. 

It's not superimposed, but I did crop it with Photoshop, and optimized it with three "scans" (for the benefit of folks with a slower connection). 

I will re-save it later today.  Thanks for pointing that out.

[agentsteel53]

looks like the file got corrupted during the save or the upload.  the result is typical of JPEG image corruption.

[cpzilliacus]

looks like the file got corrupted during the save or the upload.  the result is typical of JPEG image corruption.

Yeah, I think you are correct.  Will re-save and re-upload later on today.

[Alex]

^ I believe there used to be a pull-through sign for I-95 NB to the left of that exit 74 sign. Notice how there's that one spot on the gantry that's a bit brighter than the rest.

They replaced signs throughout I-95 in northeastern Maryland in June 2012. Only took northbound at night once this summer, so no updated photos.

Here is what was displayed at Exit 74 before (June 25, 2010):

Yeah, I think you are correct.  Will re-save and re-upload later on today.

And to add to the image issue, your file upload was compromised / was incomplete. Have had that issue happen many times over the years with AARoads.

[cpzilliacus]

And to add to the image issue, your file upload was compromised / was incomplete. Have had that issue happen many times over the years with AARoads.

What is curious about that image is that it looked O.K. when I initially uploaded it to my ISP's site (yes, I still use an independent ISP) and put the link here.

[Ian]

MdTA used to have many pull-through signs on the JFK Highway that read either just I-95 North or I-95 North - New York or (many years ago) I-95 North - NJ Turnpike (I wonder if  there wasn't someone in a senior position at MdTA that used to work for the NJTA in the (distant) past).

Never any mention of Philadelphia.

I've always thought that to be an annoyance. Surely they could've at least put up Newark or Wilmington, but I suppose a majority of the I-95 traffic is heading through to New York, so those cities wouldn't matter to them. I've always thought DelDOT should get back at them by not mentioning Baltimore, and just put Washington, D.C. as a control city for I-95 southbound. 

[PurdueBill]

What's weird is that when I first saw the Joppa exit pic, it looked fine.  Today it looks weird.  Strange.

The exit tab on the new sign looks even worse than the old one.  Maybe it's the Clearview contributing to that in my mind, but I guess I just don't get Maryland's thing for expansive tabs with EXIT way to one side, the number way to the other, and nothing in between.  Why not make the tab a little narrower or use larger text to fill in?

The text looks disproportionately large on the new sign too, in part because of the comparatively microscopic exit tab characters.  Bring back the old sign!

[cpzilliacus]

MdTA used to have many pull-through signs on the JFK Highway that read either just I-95 North or I-95 North - New York or (many years ago) I-95 North - NJ Turnpike (I wonder if  there wasn't someone in a senior position at MdTA that used to work for the NJTA in the (distant) past).

Never any mention of Philadelphia.

I've always thought that to be an annoyance. Surely they could've at least put up Newark or Wilmington, but I suppose a majority of the I-95 traffic is heading through to New York, so those cities wouldn't matter to them. I've always thought DelDOT should get back at them by not mentioning Baltimore, and just put Washington, D.C. as a control city for I-95 southbound. 

Actually, Maryland does mention Philadelphia once (!) on a mileage sign - on the northbound side of I-95 in Savage, Howard County, just after the rest area and before Md. 32.

I think the image below shows that sign that is the only mention that the City of Brotherly Love gets on I-95 in Maryland:

[amroad17]

There are two others north of Baltimore.  One after exit 64 (I-695) listing Philadelphia at 92 miles, and another one about 15 miles north of there listing Philadelphia at 74 miles. 

[kphoger]

^^ Hey, look!  Another dumb VMS with information that belongs on roadside metal signs! ^^

[Ian]

Actually, Maryland does mention Philadelphia once (!) on a mileage sign - on the northbound side of I-95 in Savage, Howard County, just after the rest area and before Md. 32.

I think the image below shows that sign that is the only mention that the City of Brotherly Love gets on I-95 in Maryland:

There are two others north of Baltimore.  One after exit 64 (I-695) listing Philadelphia at 92 miles, and another one about 15 miles north of there listing Philadelphia at 74 miles. 

Okay, so signs for Philadelphia do exist, but they're very few and far between it appears. I've always thought the control city 'New York' was unique for I-95 in Maryland, so I wouldn't mind new pull through signs including that and may be Wilmington or Philadelphia as well.

[amroad17]

The pull-through signs could have both Philadelphia and New York on them.

[Ian]

The pull-through signs could have both Philadelphia and New York on them.

That's basically what I was trying to get at.

[PHLBOS]

^ I believe there used to be a pull-through sign for I-95 NB to the left of that exit 74 sign. Notice how there's that one spot on the gantry that's a bit brighter than the rest.

They replaced signs throughout I-95 in northeastern Maryland in June 2012. Only took northbound at night once this summer, so no updated photos.

Here is what was displayed at Exit 74 before (June 25, 2010):

That older BGS arrangement looks so much nicer than the current BGS.

[D-Dey65]

I don't have any pics right now, but there are quite a few of them cluttered along the westbound Long Island Expressway at Exit 53 and former Exit 54 both on the main road and the service road.


At the east end of NY 454 there's one that used to be used for both ramps to NY 27, then the east-to-westbound ramp was closed. The place where the sign for westbound NY 27 used to be should really be used for a sign for Suffolk CR 97(Nicoll's Road), something I posted a picture of a while back.