States that have signs that tell the name of the road on an freeway overpass.

[okroads]

In Oklahoma, Tulsa does this sparingly (on older sections of I-44 & hidden I-444), but OKC does not.

[Big John]

I recall them in Wisconsin 

They have general ones in most of Wisconsin, but in Milwaukee County, they add what block address the street represents (such as 8800 North) for non-numbered streets.

[Alps]

Representing New Jersey: Names are mounted on overpasses for all cross streets, nothing for underpasses.

[andrewkbrown]

Maryland will even tell you that it's just a railroad overpass:

http://maps.google.com/?ll=39.145505,-77.210519&spn=0.000033,0.01899&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=39.145466,-77.214592&panoid=-S6TpoQFKSkoUpM8r81KHg&cbp=12,345.14,,0,-10.81

[Mapmikey]

North Carolina labels all state maintained highways with their highway numbers. This includes the SR routes, which are labeled simply with their four digit numbers, which are not posted prominently on the routes themselves. It is a little disconcerting to be on I-85 and see the I-85 labels on the bridges where the carriageways switch sides between Lexington and Thomasville.

Originally, North Carolina labeled overpasses this way:  http://goo.gl/maps/DALFK

There are not very many of these left.  They started phasing them out in the late 1970s.  By 1980 only two remained on I-95 (NC 50 and US 701).  For SR routes, they used the name of the road but not the number.

They next went to small signs on the bridges themselves and later started posting signs on the ground at the bridge.

South Carolina started out stenciling directly on the concrete beam of the overpass before posting black-and-white signs with route numbers by the mid-70s.  They do not post anything for freeways going over a road but I know of one example of a road going under the interstate that had its own secondary route number stencilled on the bridge.

This is Midland Park Rd going under I-26 in North Charleston - http://goo.gl/maps/5Fe5x.  I went to Kindergarten at a school just past this bridge in 1975.

Mapmikey

[roadman65]

Florida used to do them on all interstates, but now they stopped altogether.  The Florida Turnpike has been still doing it, and the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority has been doing it for both overpasses and underpasses except rail lines.

Some parts of I-95 and I-4 still have some old overpass signs left on them, but just like the clearance signs for trucks, they seem to be disappearing.

[deathtopumpkins]

Maryland will even tell you that it's just a railroad overpass:

http://maps.google.com/?ll=39.145505,-77.210519&spn=0.000033,0.01899&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=39.145466,-77.214592&panoid=-S6TpoQFKSkoUpM8r81KHg&cbp=12,345.14,,0,-10.81

Dunno if NYSDOT does, but on the Thruway there are signs like that but with the railroad name. Though they don't seem to be updated very often, considering that as of Sunday the CSX overpass on the Berkshire Connector had a Conrail sign (Conrail became part of NS and CSX in 1999).

[thenetwork]

Back onto the Ohio Turnpike's desire to label darn near EVERY bridge over & underpass about 15 years ago (about the same time they converted to mileage-based exits):

-  Here's one about 50-60 ABOVE the Bennett Road underpass in North Royalton, OH:     https://maps.google.com/maps?q=north+royalton+ohio+map&ll=41.305338,-81.744949&spn=0.00115,0.00327&client=firefox-a&hnear=North+Royalton,+Cuyahoga,+Ohio&gl=us&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=41.305263,-81.745031&panoid=91CNWsc2_0gU63qaad7MOw&cbp=12,38.75,,0,-6.94

-  Meanwhile, less than a mile to the east, the OTC hung a then-new text-version SR-3 sign on a bridge @ roughly the same height Eastbound.  If you look closely to this grainy photo, they failed to take down not only the OLDEST sign on the Ohio Turnpike, but that is also probably the Turnpike's only RECYCLED sign (located directly above the Eastbound lanes).  Originally, they took an old SR-235 shield and covered up the "2" and the "5" leaving a skinny "3" uncovered.  Over the years, the 2 "hidden" numbers have gradually appeared again to the point now that it can now be considered a signing error. 

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=north+royalton+ohio+map&ll=41.303319,-81.735701&spn=0.001159,0.00327&client=firefox-a&hnear=North+Royalton,+Cuyahoga,+Ohio&gl=us&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=41.30331,-81.735579&panoid=fsJBbT510Jx_gSBaSLZDmQ&cbp=12,103.82,,0,-12.63

Not often you can call a single sign the OLDEST, RECYCLED, ERROR sign on a single stretch of road!   

[hobsini2]

I recall them in Wisconsin and in the Chicago area, though I don't think all of Illinois has them. Tennessee has white on blue signs at overpasses in urban areas, but not in the rural areas.

No, Illinois is inconsistent.  Some IDOT districts are better than others, and then there's ISTHA.  ISTHA tends to post of every overpass and underpass.  IDOT District 1 (Chicago) is very good at it, but does not post the overpass or underpass when there is an exit ramp in that direction.  District 2 (Rock Island) is bad at signing the overpasses and underpasses - they are rarely signed

They replaced all the signs along the tollways to these small squares, and there are many missing in-between

I don't like the "new" square signs at all. The font size is much smaller and on some of the bigger names is scrunched together badly.



The 1st one is how the ISTHA used to do them. The 2nd and 3rd is how they do it now.

[oscar]

Expanding this to Canadian provinces, New Brunswick (where I was yesterday) is very consistent about posting road names for over- and under-passes, bilingually, even for minor dirt roads passing under freeways in large culverts. 

Prince Edward Island province has no freeways.  I don't remember the practice in Quebec and Nova Scotia, or other provinces I visited on earlier trips.

[codyg1985]

Alabama does. I know I've seen them on I-10. I don't remember about the rest of the state.

Texas does in urban areas

Alabama does have the signs throughout the state on its interstates. They were installed in 2007-2008. Sometimes the route shield is displayed if the name of the road is shown. Otherwise, it is AL xx, US xx, or CR {county name} xx. The signs also show the milepost of the overpass. Here is an example of one of the signs.

Georgia also does it. They even have the name of the railroad when it is a railroad overpass (e.g. CSX).

[roadman65]

I remember at one time in New Jersey along NJ 495 when the overhead streets actually had blade street signs someplace along the side of the road near the overpasses. 

Also, NYC used to have them, I think (its very vague memory), on blade street signs attached to the light poles in the median of some NYC expressways at overpasses as well.

The NJ Turnpike has them on underpass crossings in Elizabeth, NJ that face outward toward the outer roadway, or it did prior to the latest construction project as I have not been on the road in a few years.

FDOT stamps street names into bridges with black paint filling in the indents, but can only be read in stopped traffic of course.

SC, I have seen, coded numbers on some of the I-95 overpasses instead of road names or route numbers.  I am guessing that these might be like NYSDOT with reference numbers to the roads itself.

[Alps]

I remember at one time in New Jersey along NJ 495 when the overhead streets actually had blade street signs someplace along the side of the road near the overpasses.

One time = currently

[right_said_ted]

Near the I-71/OH 562 interchange, a few overpasses are marked with Cincinnati-style blade signs, sans block number:

https://www.google.com/maps?ll=39.135386,-84.381866&spn=0.301984,0.676346&cbp=12,261.57,,0,5.26&layer=c&panoid=jSAO0wWF7Lq8i3XQ_Dubig&cbll=39.167565,-84.423261&dg=opt&t=m&z=11

I thought there were more of these but the only ones I found on Google were at Ridge and Robertson.

[andrewkbrown]

Near the I-71/OH 562 interchange, a few overpasses are marked with Cincinnati-style blade signs, sans block number:

https://www.google.com/maps?ll=39.135386,-84.381866&spn=0.301984,0.676346&cbp=12,261.57,,0,5.26&layer=c&panoid=jSAO0wWF7Lq8i3XQ_Dubig&cbll=39.167565,-84.423261&dg=opt&t=m&z=11

I thought there were more of these but the only ones I found on Google were at Ridge and Robertson.

Almost every street overpass along I-71 between downtown and OH 562 has them, but some are only signed on one direction and not the opposite. Some may have disappeared due to past road work.

[ChoralScholar]

Little Rock does this on I-630, the expressway that goes through downtown.

[roadman65]

I remember at one time in New Jersey along NJ 495 when the overhead streets actually had blade street signs someplace along the side of the road near the overpasses.

One time = currently

I assume that small green sign on the center pole in this https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Union+City,+NJ&hl=en&ll=40.773116,-74.033529&spn=0.002476,0.003449&sll=27.698638,-83.804601&sspn=8.300816,14.128418&oq=union+ci&t=h&hnear=Union+City,+Hudson,+New+Jersey&z=18&layer=c&cbll=40.773061,-74.033422&panoid=lJ_vxbZ7qpP3k1V-Ixpi0A&cbp=12,95.18,,1,0 is still that?  It is too blurry to see clearly here. I did not check the GSV originally because of the poor captioning  and if it was photographed with the old technology (which many places are) you either have a specific area skipped, sun glared, or fuzzy like many places trying to read simple route shields.

  Plus I would figure that with NJDOT replacing the guide signs over the past two decades on Route 495, they might of got rid of them for the same signs  they useon the NJDOT freeways that are attached to the overpass itself that were added in both the 90s and 00s.

[Alps]

I noticed an underpass sign above me as I went under the Ohio Turnpike.

...


I hate you. You have corrupted me.

[Scott5114]

Kansas does this consistently for bridges crossing over the freeway. Not for roads crossing under it.

There is one instance in which this is done in Oklahoma City–the interchange between Northwest Expressway (old OK-3A) and May Avenue has such a sign on the May Avenue bridge; it reads "MAY AVE" in all uppercase button copy, and may in fact be a black sign!

[Mapmikey]

SC, I have seen, coded numbers on some of the I-95 overpasses instead of road names or route numbers.  I am guessing that these might be like NYSDOT with reference numbers to the roads itself.

Do you have an example of this to point to on GMSV?  Or can you describe it? This would be brand new for South Carolina.

Thanks-
Mapmikey

[agentsteel53]

Kansas does this consistently for bridges crossing over the freeway. Not for roads crossing under it.

There is one instance in which this is done in Oklahoma City–the interchange between Northwest Expressway (old OK-3A) and May Avenue has such a sign on the May Avenue bridge; it reads "MAY AVE" in all uppercase button copy, and may in fact be a black sign!

I would like to see a photo of this.

as of 2006, there was one black button copy sign I know of in Oklahoma City - it listed some kind of regulations on the Kilpatrick Turnpike.  I can't remember if it was speed, weight, height, or something similar.

[jasonsk287]

New York varies by DOT region: some do overpasses, some add underpasses, and some do nothing. The Thruway does overpasses as well as waterways (under, obviously). I-390 has some of the earliest, as well as newest, instances of this, and is a great case study of every different type of sign you could want: all caps, mixed-case, old fonts, new fonts, overpasses only, over- and underpasses, and some unmarked areas as well.

This is correct, NY in general seems to have no statewide standard for signing crossings. I am on Long Island and we only have it on a short section of Route 27 in Suffolk County. NYC has been doing it for quite some time, and Upstate, the regions are hit or miss- I know the Albany/Capitol Region does it. So really it's anyone's guess as to where you'll see them in NY.

I've seen them in my neighboring states- PA does it pretty consistently, and NJ does it on state-maintained highways. Historically the NJ Turnpike hasn't done it, but I saw a section of the Turnpike in South Jersey recently added them. Haven't seen them at all in CT.

[kphoger]

drool....

[roadfro]

Nevada, in summary: It has become standard practice to identify the name of the cross road on the overpass itself in urban areas. There is no identification in rural areas, nor are there signs for roads that cross under the freeway.


About 15-20 years ago, NDOT did this for the first time on US 95 in northwest Las Vegas. This was for overpasses only, and consisted of a blade-like white on green reflective sign mounted directly to the side of bridge overhead. The signs were typically only on overpasses that were not part of an interchange.

As NDOT and other entities (especially Clark County and the City of Las Vegas) have embraced more and more aesthetics into projects, it has now become fairly standard practice to etch/carve the name of the overcrossing street directly into the side of the bridge overpass--however, now every new bridge identifies the road name, whether the bridge is part of an interchange or not. There is no standard font/paint color/size of the street name, as it varies greatly by project. The earliest examples of this that I can think of are bridges in the Summerlin/western of the Las Vegas Beltway (CC-215) in the early 2000s, so the trend might have been prompted by Clark County and not NDOT.

With the I-80 design build in Reno, NDOT chose to use a sign mounted to the overpass (EDIT: this was likely due to merely painting existing bridges and not constructing anything new). These signs I believe have raised metallic lettering with backgrounds painted with colors similar to the repainted bridges.


EDIT: GMSV examples:

1st blade style - US 95 in northwest Las Vegas (ca. 1995)

Present built-in methods, incidentally also showcasing various aesthetic designs:

• CC 215 in western Las Vegas (2000, Clark County)
  
• US 95 in northwest Las Vegas (2002, City of Las Vegas)
  
• US 95 in west central Las Vegas (2003, NDOT)
  
• I-515/US 95 in Henderson (2005, NDOT)
  
• I-15 in southern Las Vegas (2008, NDOT)
  
• CC 215 in North Las Vegas (2011, Clark County)
  
• I-15 in North Las Vegas (ca. 2010, NDOT)

[codyg1985]

Alabama does. I know I've seen them on I-10. I don't remember about the rest of the state.

Texas does in urban areas

Alabama does have the signs throughout the state on its interstates. They were installed in 2007-2008. Sometimes the route shield is displayed if the name of the road is shown. Otherwise, it is AL xx, US xx, or CR {county name} xx. The signs also show the milepost of the overpass. Here is an example of one of the signs.

Georgia also does it. They even have the name of the railroad when it is a railroad overpass (e.g. CSX).

Here is a better example of what Alabama does.