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Columbus Street Signs - Letter Case Change?

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Started 9 months ago by NEOBuckeye
Latest reply from Walker

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NEOBuckeye
Ohio At-Large
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Anyone notice the new street signs going up around the city? They're not in ALL CAPS anymore (e.g. "OLENTANGY RIVER RD" is now just "Olentangy River Rd"). What's up with this change? I always thought the distinction in case was made to distinguish Columbus proper streets from roads in non-incorporated Franklin county townships?

I am guessing that they are doing this for readability, but I'm not so sure that I like it. I have always been a fan of the ALL CAPS signs. They are bold and assertive, and make a better fit for a city on the rise.

Posted 9 months ago #
joshlapp
SoHud
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I don't have the article right on hand but I believe its Federally mandated. Its to make it easier to read supposedly.

Posted 9 months ago #
NEOBuckeye
Ohio At-Large
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Interesting. It seems strange though that a federal mandate would impact local street signs. I have not observed similar measures being undertaken in other municipalities.

Posted 9 months ago #
joshlapp
SoHud
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I'm not really sure what the federal/state/local dichotomy is in this case but I assume the feds threaten to withhold money if the states/municipalities don't comply. Perhaps smaller cities don't recieve federal money for roads? I'm not really sure. But here is the article, it specifically focuses on NYC, but federal rules obviously apply everywhere.

Posted 9 months ago #
cc

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Looks like it is spread out, since they regularly have to replace signs it is probably not that big a deal. The question I have is how much $$$$$ was spent on federal studies to determine that mixed case was safer...

Posted 9 months ago #
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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It's the latest effort to make Columbus young and cool.

Posted 9 months ago #
alexs
Limestone bluffs of the Scioto
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You should see some of the Dublin signs like around Brand Rd., wood posts with vertical dark lettering - I don't know how you're supposed to read them on a rainy night.

Posted 9 months ago #
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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This is in the new MUTCD:

Section 2D.05 Lettering Style

The lettering for names of places, streets, and highways on conventional road guide signs shall be a combination of lower-case letters with initial upper-case letters (see Section 2A.13). The nominal loop height of the lower-case letters shall be 3/4 the height of the initial upper-case letter. When a mixed-case legend letter height is specified referring only to the initial upper-case letter, the height of the lower-case letters that follow shall be determined by this proportion. When the height of a lower-case letter is referenced, the reference is made to the nominal loop height and the height of the initial upper-case letter shall also be determined by this proportion.

All other word legends on conventional road guide signs shall be in upper-case letters.

http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/2009/part2d.pdf

The word "shall" is important. That means it's a requirement.

Posted 9 months ago #
BCNation
Franklin Park
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It's sporadically around...they haven't gotten to all of them. It's one or two every neighborhood, and then the regular normal street signs.

JOHNSTOWN RD (at Cassady) is now Johnstown Rd
MOHAWK ST, CARPENTER ST, and S 22ND ST (all at Livingston) are now Mohawk St, Carpenter St, and S 22nd St
S HAGUE AVE (at Sullivant) is S Hague Ave
W TOWN ST (at High) is W Town St

It is similar to the lettering in the Township signs.

Posted 9 months ago #
Anne
King Lincoln
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alexs said:
You should see some of the Dublin signs like around Brand Rd., wood posts with vertical dark lettering - I don't know how you're supposed to read them on a rainy night.

Gahanna has some of these as well. Super difficult to see!

Posted 9 months ago #
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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BCNation said:
It's sporadically around...they haven't gotten to all of them. It's one or two every neighborhood, and then the regular normal street signs.

They are not required to be replaced until the signs have exceeded their useful life. So it's not an added cost, it's just a change that will be implemented gradually over time.

Posted 9 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Tenzo said:
It's the latest effort to make Columbus young and cool.

If that were the case then the signs would be all lower case with no caps and no punctuation. Maybe the occasional misspelling too.

Posted 9 months ago #
alison

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Walker said:
If that were the case then the signs would be all lower case with no caps and no punctuation. Maybe the occasional misspelling too.

Perhaps the city save money by reducing the number of vowels.

Posted 9 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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RT @WestMndStr LOL ;) #fb #streetsignsmydadlikes

Posted 9 months ago #