Suggestion for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority!

HEY YOU GU-U-U-U-YS!

The signs for the Masssachusetts and Delaware tolls are simple, concise and informative enough... in other words, looking good! But the south end of the Jersey Turnpike is a completely different story.

Source: pixelmap.com.

I mean, LOOK at all this crap! Just look at it!

You have a small sign over the high speed lane bearing the message, "E-ZPass EXPRESS LANES" with an electronic screen, supposedly indicating when the lanes are closed. (And why do you need to close the E-ZPass lanes anyway? Just have a spare lane like normal turnpikes!)

The other sign over the right travel and breakdown lanes is just overcrowded with a lot of messages, which makes it very difficult to read at 65, 70 miles an hour. Six lines of text on the left, five on the right. And some of those messages are unnecessary! (Such as if it's a toll tags only lane, you don't need the additional "NO CASH" message. And the "REDUCE SPEED" is also unnecessary; the drivers know there's a toll plaza coming up, they have to reduce speed! Except in the toll tags only lanes, of course -- those guys can speed right through. And even with the "NO CASH" message, it's hard to tell if cash is not accepted in the right travel lane and very impossible to tell is cash is not accepted in the high speed lane.

And that's without the distraction of the flashing yellow lights.  I wonder if drivers have rear-ended others while trying to decipher this sign, HAHAHA.

Maybe the NJTA should consider extending the auxiliary turnoff lane back to this sign if rear-end collisions are a problem.

Well I've come up with a better one, based on my "E-ZPass TAGS ONLY" sign in the previous post. First, I merged two signs into one for two lanes restricted to toll tags only.

Voila! Simple enough, Jerseyites?  It's bottom message, "TAGS ONLY" in regulatory black-and-white for each lane clearly indicate that cash is not allowed.  This can be installed on the sign bridge that's off in the distance.

Now for the replacement sign on the immediately near sign bridge:

Now this sign, suspended over both travel lanes and breakdown lane gets the message across for both toll tag holders and cash toll payers much more quickly than all that illegibly small and crowded stuff the NJTA put on their sign.  Everything is simple and concise. The cash toll payers are instructed to bear right, while the toll tag holders can breeze on through. (And the word "THROUGH" is spelled correctly, too.)

But if you think you need the "NO CASH" message for each toll tag lane, just get rid of "ALL LANES THROUGH" and scoot up the "E-ZPass" and "CASH" messages to make room for "NO CASH" in the regulatory black-and-white field directly under each "E-ZPass."

Now back to the far sign bridge, here's my design for the cash toll lanes guide sign on the right:

This is simple enough, too. Only three lines of text and two turnoff arrows, one over each lane.

Now for the big enchilada... how it will look like in real life.

Ta-da!

Suggestions for E-Z Pass Only / No Cash Lanes.

I sampled some existing E-Z Pass toll lanes signs from off the internet, and I am less than impressed with how they do things up in the Northeast and the Midwest... except for Delaware and Massachusetts; their signs look good with no nonsense.

Mouth of the Sumner Tunnel
Lookin' good, Mass!
Source: metro.us

New Jersey Turnpike
Can you read all this clutter at high speeds? Difficult for me.
Can you figure if the express lanes to the left are tags only? Some people can't! LOL
Source: pixiemap.com

Route 95 Delaware Turnpike
Source: andy-knapp.de

Here in Louisiana, we have a simple "TAGS ONLY" sign over each electronically automatic toll collection (transponders only, no cash accepted) lane.

So here is my suggestion for some of you Toll Road Authorities up north in Yankeeland. ;^)

Corporate Limit Boundary Sign!

Usually the corporate limit boundary signs are very boring. They are either simple green-and-white or white-and-black rectangular signs that just don't quite announce that you're entering a city or c crossing into another county. They can very easily be missed. Here is an example, which is about as plain as it can get:



Source: sbsun.mycapture.com

A boring sign in a dreary landscape! (Sorry, Californians.)

Now here is my idea for the several States' corporate limit boundary signs. I have redesigned Massachusetts'  version from white-and-black to green-and-white (The grey is sky, of course.) Basically the redesign keepis the commonwealth-designed present shape and layout, with the participle "ENTERING" bannered in an arc. The rest of the sign possesses the state seal and the city or town's name and date of establishment, just like at present. Other states can have similar signs, with different shapes and data, of course.

In Memoriam

Well the original The Great International Highway Makeover webpage is no longer with us; it was a webpage of RV Droz's US-Highways.com website, which has since been taken down.

If any of the contributors to the old TGIHMO wishes to have their Route Marker Designs up on the internet again, please let me know in the comments section or by emailing me at: ed_miessner@yahoo.com, and please use the banner, "Route Marker Design". (Otherwise I night delete it as junk email, which I get a lot of.)

Thanks!

New New Mexico Route Marker!

No, it's not for real (yet) but it's my latest design for route markers we'd like to see in that state.

The size of the sign is 36" wide by 30" high with 12" high numerals and a 9" high/wide Zuni.

Out-of-State Plates 61

CAN - PEI

Provincial registration plate from 1972.

It's been very long.

I've had real life problems to solve (more over at my sister blog, Fin Des Voies Rapides (If Peak Oil Is No Object) here on Blogger) and I've also been working on a new highway route marker design for New Mexico, based on their turquoise registration plate. The ones so foar I've grown to hate. Posting soon!