Crazy South Bay Freeway Sign in Milpitas, California Makeover 3

This would actually be a follow-up sign, between McCarthy Blvd and 237 Calaveras Blvd in Milpitas, California:

Crazy South Bay Freeway Sign in Milpitas, California Makeover 2

I concluded the first post on this sign with the following:

Of course, with this one the state engineers may have to order the sign bridge replaced with a new, stouter one. In which case, one can have a fifteen-foot high sign with the arrows down at the bottom and away from the town names, and include the hours and days of the week when carpool are required.

And so I created one.

The arrows are rightly positioned in their lanes. The overhead directional signs above the arrowboard correctly identify which lanes will go where (right lane arrow, McCarthy Blvd or East 237 Calaveras Blvd Milpitas only, centre-right arrow either 237 or 680, centre-left arrow 680, left arrow 680 Express lane). While not perfect, the sign is legible enough to guide the motorists where they need to go. 

And I got the hours on the microscopic HOV 2+ carpools only sign right, too!

Crazy South Bay Freeway Sign in Milpitas, California Makeover

Here is the original captured by Google Street View:

237 South Bay Freeway looking East at McCarthy Blvd overhead sign bridge.

Pretty crazy sign, eh? A lot of info to process and the arrows (six of them of the Sword of Damocles type) appear to indicate the road is supposed to be seven lanes wide!!! It's obviously not the case.

Another misleading aspect of this sign is that the access lane to the 880 Express Lane is indicated to be in the left-hand breakdown lane. That's not the case either.

Plus, there's a tiny sign announcing that the Express Lane is only for 2-occupant -or-more carpools, except toll tag holders can use the lane regardless of how few people the vehicle carries. It's very easy to miss.

What is needed is a sign of the same size with only as many arrows as there are lanes (four, with a fith up ahead peeling off to McCarthy Blvd). It has to be the same size because of earthquakes -- a bigger sign may cause the sign bridge to tip over onto the traffic, or the truss-beam to detach from the pillars and fall onto the roadway, cars and all.

So here's an idea to clean up the sign:

Now we have almost* ALL the information on one sign, 60 feet wide by ten feet tall, same as the existing sign, with everything legible and in their proper place and only FOUR arrows pointing up, one for each travel lane. The right-hand arrow at the inside lane splits to indicate the upcoming exit and the "ONLY" next to it indicates either 237 Calaveras Blvd or McCarthy Blvd only.

* Except carpool required hours and days of the week.

Add exit tabs similar to the type found in Spain and the made-over sign will appear like this:

Of course, with this one the state engineers may have to order the sign bridge replaced with a new, stouter one. In which case, one can have a fifteen-foot high sign with the arrows down at the bottom and away from the town names, and include the hours and days of the week when carpool are required.

New Route Marker for Arkansas

This is based on Arkansas being the home to the Diamond Crater State Park; and the reverse of their State Commemorative Quarter bearing a diamond right underneath its date of establishment.

Size of the sign blade will be about 26¼ in. by 24 in. Height of the numerals 10"

Out-of-State Plates 60

USA - SD

Two plates for real, this time. :^)

USA - TX

White Lone Star.

 

 

This plate style for some reason reminds me of a joke in a stand-up routine from Second City TV's idea of a communist TV station called 3CP-1, that "broadcast" to the US by "hijacking" 2CTV's signal. The routine was a guy slapping countries sized to the same scale of the USSR and insulting those countries' citizens. Among these he included Texas, with the line, "You Texans, you think you are so big." And slapping Texas onto the map, he shouts, "HA! You are but LONE STAR in Galaxy of Mother Russia!"

 

Still (((( x^D )))) funny unto this very day.

Out-of-State Plates 59.

New Plates:

MT Montana

New design -- state outline recedes in the background.

Typeface is still not the most legible.

 

 

VA - Virginia.

 

VERY old Virginia license plate from before

the switchover to "Times New Roman"-like typeface.

 

"Heritage" plate with a Cardinal, the state bird, on

a dogwood branch bearing the state flower.

 

 

Louisiana Plates.



 

I'll be adding to this as time goes on...

 

 

An old plate from way back.

Note the "Sportsman's Paradise" is stamped, not silkscreened.

 

 

"Sportsman's Paradise" again.

Silkscreened this time -- newer plates with the "Jazzy" state name. 

 

"Sportsman's Paradise" with the pelican.

These appeared when Kathleen Blanco was governor.

 

 

1803 - 2003: Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial.

 

 



1812 - 2012: 200 Years as a state.

 

 

1815 - 2015: Battle of New Orleans Bicentennial.

I hate the state name typeface. Very amateur.

 

 

Now if US states' license plates were like European countries',

this is what Louisiana's would look like.

 

Protect the Environment legacy plate.

It should be the regular plate!

 

Tow truck plates.

 

Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana plate.

 

 

Out-of-State Plates 58

FL - Florida

Imagine Florida: tacky!!!

(Pun intended)

WV - West Virginia

Regular numbered plate in good condition.

WY - Wyoming

Sample off the web.

 

February 2nd, 2014:

And now a real one has been found!

The typeface is different from the one in the sample.

And not as legible. We need federal standards!

 

Out-of-State Plates 57

Today: British Columbia and US Virgin Islands.

BC - British Columbia. Canada-on-the-Pacific.

Simple and direct. And legible.

 

VI - US Virgin Islands. "American Paradise."

 

Something tells me these boats and fish shouldn't be here.

 

Out-of-State Plates 56

WS

Today's State is Wisconsin. Cheese and Beer!

 

Simple and legible.

Out-of-State Plates 55

WVa

Today's State is West Virginia (<i>take me hoooome... country rooooads...</i>)

See, they can fit eight digits on a standard size US plate.

And keep it legible, too!

Why not other states like Texas and Iowa???

Out-of-State Plates 54

WA

Today... Washington State. The only US state where the state highway route marker resembles nothing so much as an impaled head.

Now the plates.

Out-of-State Plates 53

MD

Today... another plate from Maryland.

Maryland farms specialty plate.

Out-of-State Plates 52

Today, we have three places: two US states and a Caribbean Isle.

ARU - Aruba.

This plate was found in JW's Burger Bar, 17 The New Driftway, Scituate, Mass.

 

 

MI - Michigan

 

 

More Pure Michigan - this is a US Olympic team vanity plate.

NH - New Hampshire

The old "Man of the Mountain" memorial plate.

It's now the regular NH license plate.

Live free or die!



Out-of-State Plates 51

VT

Today is Vermont: the Green Mountain State. The plates are no-nonsense green plates with white legend.

Someone bought the vehicle in Louisiana, registered it in Vermont.

(S)he keeps it in New Orleans!!!!!

This one is a little more discreet.

This one's not an official plate, but it looks like it could be one.

An older-style vanity plate, that is!

 

 

Out-of-State Plates 50a

VA

A Virginia Bumper Sticker!

 

 

Looks like the previous governor Bob McDonnell had allowed the roads of Virginia fall into deterioration.  And the present governor Terry McAuliffe? Probably doing the same exact thing. With the amount of extra funding they get from Washington, they have no excuse!

Out-of-State Plates 50

VA

Today, Virginia. The Old Dominion.

A vanity plate, in the old style.

Old style, regular alpha-numerical sequence.

Newer style, vanity plate.

Newer style, another vanity plate. 

"Friends of the Chesapeake" legacy plate.

Out-of-State Plates 49

Today's State: Utah: the Beehive State.

Otherwise known as "Deseret".

These two feature the natural arch at  Moab, Arches National Park.

Very pretty design. Good color contrast for legibility, too. 

 

This is an earlier motif to promote skiing.