British Columbia Route Markers.

Just go back to the old style with the cut corner letters!

Typical route marker.

Old cut-corners style.

Crowsnest Highway - Route 3.

Old cut corners style.

British Columbia recently has switched over to Helvetica typeface. Not only is it ugly for a road sign, it is not, in my opinion, the most legible. Compared to cut-corners typeface, I think it is a step backwards to illegibility and bad aesthetics.

North Island Route, Route 19.

Ugly Helvetica typeface in cyan!

Yellowhead Highway Route 5 and

Crowsnest Highway Route 3 --

both in Helvetica!

Three route markers on an overhead directional sign.

The Clearview typeface actually looks good compared to Helvetica!

And the blue for the numbers and border need to be darker.

Some Big Green Signs Using Some of My Suggestions.

Here are some big green signs using some of my suggestions.

Florida:

Louisiana:

New Jersey:

The County Road route marker is Chris Blaney's idea

Massachusetts:

The Old Dominion.

Here are some suggested route marker signs for Virginia. The present State Primary route markers are a kind of rounded shield in a black square, and the State Secondary is the boring circle sign.

Here's the present Primary route marker.

(Grey represents sky, which is typical throughout)

This one can be for limited-access free roads like Quebec's Autoroutes.

This one can be for toll roads.

This one can be for the Primary roads.

And this one can be for Secondaries.

The Magnolia State.

Remember when Mississippi had the Magnolia auto registration plates? Well I think the state ought to model its route markers after it. In my suggested scheme, the surround and numerals are blue, and the magnolia is a green, yellow and grey watermark. I think it would be great for tourism.

One and two-digit.

And three digit. 

(1xx 3-digit signs can be a little bit narrower.)

Smaller versions at RV Droz's website.

Newfoundland and Labrador

An idea for Newfoundland and Labrador. The present sign is a drab white square on a green field, with contrasting numbers and letters.

This is the old sign, no longer in use.

And this is my retro-style suggestion, using the province's tourism logo.

Nova Scotia.

Here are my ideas for Nova Scotia. Although its present Arterial (1xx) route markers are interesting, its present Trunk Highway and Collector Highway route markers are rather drab.

Present Nova Scotia Arterial.

A suggestion for their Arterials that are built to freeway and tollway standards.

A suggestion for their Trunk Highways.

(The present is a cutout-style US-Route shield border on a white square.)

And a suggestion for their Collector Highways.

(The present consists of white letters and border on a Tuscan red, i.e. brown, square.)

Connecticut

How about this for Connecticut? It works the same whether for single, double or triple digit numbers.

Oak Tree on Sunset background.

It's based on the Charter Oak.

Sample Overhead Directional Signs (BGSs)

These are samples to compare Highway Gothic (FHWA Series), Worboys, and Mittelschrift highway sign typefaces with the Clearview typeface.

First sample. Highway Gothic above, Clearview below.

Second sample. Worboys above, Clearview below.

Third sample. Mittelschrift above, Clearview below.

It looks like the Worboys and Mittelschrift are clearer and more legible than the Clearview. And they don't look like f***ing AD COPY, either!

US Routes on Expressway -- Another Idea.

Well I didn't get to get back to this like I intended, but here are some more ideas...

The above two I prefer.

The cues for a freeway (top) and tollway (next) are subtle.

Here's another idea for a Tollway, in lieu of the above.

But some people (especially FHWA bureaucrats!) think Americans have to be hit over the head to get them to pay attention, so...

Any one of these three above can be used instead for the Tollways.

The banner screaming "TOLL!" belabors the obvious that the road you're on is a Toll Road.

More US Routes

This series can be used in part with the ones in my previous post, or without. I posted these in small size at The Great International Highway Makeover a while back.

Regular US Route.

US Alternate Route.

If this is too confusing, just use the previous and suffix it with 'A'.

US Business Loop.

US Route on Tollway.

:^) Purple can be used instead of Prussian Blue.

The first sign above could then be used on freeways.

US Truck Route.

US Historic Route - The Mother Road.

US Scenic Route (2di).

Road through the Cumberland Gap.

US Scenic Route (3di).

The Avenue that's known as AIA.

I'd extend it to Canada using David Sturm's idea, also endorsed by R.V. Droz.

Tomorrow I'll throw up some other ideas how to treat US Routes on Expressways (Freeways and Tollways).

US Routes on Expressway.

By Expressway I mean what "road geeks" call Freeway. They are for the non-Interstate highways that are fully-controlled access (no traffic lights or intersections, no driveways) that are up to interstate standards* or otherwise.  Here are some examples.

Route US 1, no tolls.

Various sections in New England, 

the Northeast, North Carolina and Florida. 

Where Route US 1 is a toll road:

Tobin Bridge, Boston; GWB Bridge, New York;

and Delaware River Bridge, Trenton NJ - Morrisville PA.

Small size shown here.

Route US 19 in Pinellas County, Florida,

and in Metro-North Atlanta, Georgia.

Small size shown here.

Route US 93 in Vegas.

Route US 101 in California.

Bud Schuster Freeway in PA.

Unless they use the scheme for US Route Interstates in my previous post.

* Interstate standards: 12-foot travel lanes, a full 10-foot right hand breakdown lane, full left hand breakdown land for highways three travel lanes or more in one direction, 16'-6" clearance underneath the overhead bridges (overcrossings and sign bridges), no more than 6 percent grade.. 

Interstates

Once upon a time RV Droz speculated that sometime in the future the US DOT FHWA will propose replacing the trademark Interstate Shield with a simple red, white and blue circle.

Well I came up with what I thought the FHWA would mandate: something even worse! Like what they did to the old cut-out US Highway shields.

Worst Interstate Highway route marker.
Ever.

Then I came up with my own idea for rectangular Interstate Highway route markers and a way to accommodate the 238 Freeway in California and the Bud Schuster Freeway in Pennsylvania.

A regular two-digit Interstate route marker.

A regular three-digit Interstate route marker.

This one is for the Bud Schuster Freeway. The number I-99 can be retired, or used east of 95.

This method of numbering an interstate with no available two-digit number in sequence follows the British method for numbering A-routes classified as Motorways.

This one is for the 238 Freeway in California.

And here is something extra: an Interstate Parkway (Jed A. Wilkinson's idea) following the present Shield design..