Colored US highway shields |
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Florida started using colored US highway signs in 1956, and the 1957 issue of the official state highway map was the first to show them:
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The following paragraph was taken almost verbatim from the now-defunct website us-highways.com :
"In 1956, the language of the MUTCD allowed the use of colored shields. But by the 1980s, the verbiage in the MUTCD had changed, prohibiting the use of colors other than black and white on the standard US highway shield. So after three decades of use, Florida's colored US highway signs were suddenly considered non-standard. FHWA refused to allow Federal gas tax funds to be spent on new or replacement colored US shields. The colored US shields were no more expensive than a standard US marker, although yellow and orange markers did require more frequent replacement. FDOT maintenance forces placed colored shields up at state expense. Florida officially ceased producing colored US route markers on August 27, 1993. No new colored US shields were made after that time, but old stocks were used until they were exhausted. The last of the old colored shields were posted in 1996. Each year that passes, there are fewer of the old colored signs left. They are being replaced with standard MUTCD black and white signs. Occasionally a county or private entity will post a sign in the old color scheme, but that is a rare event."
Some examples of these Florida signs are shown on the following pages: US 1 :: US 19 :: US 27 :: US 41 :: US 92 :: US 129 :: US 192 :: US 221 :: US 231 :: US 331 :: US 301 :: Miami :: Pensacola :: St. Pete :: Sanderson
"In 1956, the language of the MUTCD allowed the use of colored shields. But by the 1980s, the verbiage in the MUTCD had changed, prohibiting the use of colors other than black and white on the standard US highway shield. So after three decades of use, Florida's colored US highway signs were suddenly considered non-standard. FHWA refused to allow Federal gas tax funds to be spent on new or replacement colored US shields. The colored US shields were no more expensive than a standard US marker, although yellow and orange markers did require more frequent replacement. FDOT maintenance forces placed colored shields up at state expense. Florida officially ceased producing colored US route markers on August 27, 1993. No new colored US shields were made after that time, but old stocks were used until they were exhausted. The last of the old colored shields were posted in 1996. Each year that passes, there are fewer of the old colored signs left. They are being replaced with standard MUTCD black and white signs. Occasionally a county or private entity will post a sign in the old color scheme, but that is a rare event."
Some examples of these Florida signs are shown on the following pages: US 1 :: US 19 :: US 27 :: US 41 :: US 92 :: US 129 :: US 192 :: US 221 :: US 231 :: US 331 :: US 301 :: Miami :: Pensacola :: St. Pete :: Sanderson
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A few other states also experimented with colored US route shields, most of them during the same general timeframe as Florida (more info). From 1955-1964, Arizona used colors on both US and state highway markers to indicate direction-of-travel, as indicated on this legend from the 1961 official highway map:
Signs in the field did not look exactly like those illustrations; here are some actual photos:
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(unknown)
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date and attribution unknown
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Connecticut (more info):
Lindsay, 1964
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District of Columbia used colored route shields to indicate direction, similar to Arizona. In this photo, the US 50 shield was yellow (not white), but I do not know what color was used for eastbound shields:
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Lindsay, 1957
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Northbound US 240 was obviously blue, and there is evidence that southbound US 240 was red.
Since 1978, Idaho has used brown highway markers on its officially-designated scenic byways (US and state routes). Possibly a different color scheme was used during the 1950s, but few details are known.
Reportedly, from the 1930s-70s, at places where US highways entered Indiana, the route markers were gold-on-blue. |
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Kansas used white-on-green shields for US 56 when the route was commissioned in 1957, and some of these signs were still posted into the 1980s:
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from a postcard printed in Larned, probably late 1950s
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Green US 56 shield in Kansas (date and attribution unknown)
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From 1956-'64, Louisiana used white-on-green US route shields; this photo was taken in Ferriday:
Lindsay, 1965
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Mississippi (see also this link)
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South Dakota (zoom in to the far right side of this photo)
According to the paragraph below, Washington used the same direction-based color scheme as Arizona during the 1950s and '60s (excerpt from Oct. 1954 issue of State of Washington Department of Highways News):
Following are some photos that were in that same news article (I manually colored the second one based on the color description):
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c. 1954, WSDoT (in Olympia, looking north on Capitol Way at Legion Way)
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c. 1954, WSDoT (colorized by me)
Research and/or photo credits: Jake Bear; Mark Bozanich; Robert Droz; Jim Lindsay; Dale Sanderson
Page originally created 2016;
last updated Jan. 26, 2019.
last updated Jan. 26, 2019.
