County Road Blue Pentagon signs

[Arthur Malkin]

Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).
Arthur Malkin
http://hometown.aol.com/artmalkin/home.htm

[Nick14578]

I KNOW they are in these states:

AL, AZ, AR, CA, FL, ID, IL, IA, KS, LA, MI, MN, MS, NJ, NM, NY, ND, OH, TX, WY.

There are also some non-standard ones in a county in eastern Tennessee. By this
I mean they are attached to the top of stop signs like a street name. They also
have white numbers instead of yellow.

[Steve]

Post by Nick14578
AL, AZ, AR, CA, FL, ID, IL, IA, KS, LA, MI, MN, MS, NJ, NM, NY, ND, OH, TX, WY.
There are also some non-standard ones in a county in eastern Tennessee. By this
I mean they are attached to the top of stop signs like a street name. They also
have white numbers instead of yellow.

And to start, WI and MO use other markers exclusively.
RI, MA, NH, CT, VT, and ME (New England) don't have county routes.

[unknown]

Post by Steve

Post by Nick14578
AL, AZ, AR, CA, FL, ID, IL, IA, KS, LA, MI, MN, MS, NJ, NM, NY, ND, OH, TX, WY.
There are also some non-standard ones in a county in eastern Tennessee. By this
I mean they are attached to the top of stop signs like a street name. They also
have white numbers instead of yellow.

And to start, WI and MO use other markers exclusively.

County roads in MO are marked in the way the coutny chooses. I think you're
confusing the State's secondary road system (which are trailblazed with
square blazers and designated with letters i.e. A, BB, RA). St. Louis
County marks its road system with a series of blue and yellow pentagons with
the "St. Louis County" logo on them. Usually these pentagons accompany
speed limit signs. The pentagons are also put on stoplight masts on the

Post by Steve
RI, MA, NH, CT, VT, and ME (New England) don't have county routes.
--
Steve
GO YANKEES! GO KNICKS!
Civil Engineering (Course 1) at MIT

[unknown]

Post by Steve

Post by Nick14578
AL, AZ, AR, CA, FL, ID, IL, IA, KS, LA, MI, MN, MS, NJ, NM, NY, ND, OH, TX, WY.
There are also some non-standard ones in a county in eastern Tennessee. By this
I mean they are attached to the top of stop signs like a street name. They also
have white numbers instead of yellow.

And to start, WI and MO use other markers exclusively.

County roads in MO are marked in the way the coutny chooses. I think you're
confusing the State's secondary road system (which are trailblazed with
square blazers and designated with letters i.e. A, BB, RA). St. Louis
County marks its road system with a series of blue and yellow pentagons with
the "St. Louis County" logo on them. Usually these pentagons accompany
speed limit signs. The pentagons are also put on stoplight masts on the
right end of the street sign as shown in this picture:

Loading Image...

taken near the I-64/I-170 interchange in Brentwood, MO.

The pentagon can be seen through the windshield of the Nissan on the right
side of this picture:

Loading Image...

None of St. Louis's county roads are marked with route numbers, although I
believe there are internal route numbers. Some other counties use
pentagons, some simply use corner street signs to designate the county road
names/numbers (Jefferson County comes to mind).

Post by Steve
RI, MA, NH, CT, VT, and ME (New England) don't have county routes.
--
Steve
GO YANKEES! GO KNICKS!
Civil Engineering (Course 1) at MIT

[I-540]

Post by Nick14578
AL, AZ, AR,

... and not every county in Arkansas uses them. Washington County, Madison,
Carroll, Sebastian, Scott, Pulaski and Polk do for sure. Benton County
mostly uses street signs with the road name and the county route number.
Newton County uses point-down white triangles (and they often look
homemade). Baxter County uses a combination of the standard blue pentagons
and simple squares.


Missouri uses almost exclusively street-sign style County signs, but the
route numbers vary by county. Barry, Lawrence and Greene Counties use Farm
Road x . Stone County uses a name and a number... the number being a
combination of a main highway "parent" and second number (like 160-12 or
JJ-201). Newton County uses names and sometimes a small number like "Iris
Road 12". McDonald County recently switched from numbers (like 71-12) to
names (like Bear Creek Rd).






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[Billy Riddle]

Post by Nick14578
AL, AZ, AR, CA, FL, ID, IL, IA, KS, LA, MI, MN, MS, NJ, NM, NY, ND, OH, TX, WY.
There are also some non-standard ones in a county in eastern Tennessee. By this
I mean they are attached to the top of stop signs like a street name. They also
have white numbers instead of yellow.

You're thinking of Monroe County.

Also, nearby McMinn County uses the blue pentagons for county roads as well.

I also remember seeing a couple of ancient county road pentagons in Putnam
County, back in the mid 90's. They may be gone by now.

[Mike Wiley]

Douglas County is the only county in Oregon to use standard pentagons. They
are not cutouts, but use a square with a yellow background (see link).

Loading Image...
--
=============================
Mike Wiley
***@yahoo.com
Oregon Highways Web Site
http://www.ylekot.com/orehwys

Post by Nick14578
AL, AZ, AR, CA, FL, ID, IL, IA, KS, LA, MI, MN, MS, NJ, NM, NY, ND, OH, TX, WY.
There are also some non-standard ones in a county in eastern Tennessee. By this
I mean they are attached to the top of stop signs like a street name. They also
have white numbers instead of yellow.

[Gene Janczynskyi]

Post by Mike Wiley
Douglas County is the only county in Oregon to use standard pentagons.

They

Post by Mike Wiley
are not cutouts, but use a square with a yellow background (see link).
http://www.ylekot.com/images/signs/or-douglas-389.gif

FDOT does the same way whenever there is a county shield on a BGS, standard
pentagon with a square yellow background. However you also see it with a
white background or no background, so there's not much of a standard when
it's signed.

[Steve Riner]

Post by Nick14578
AL, AZ, AR, CA, FL, ID, IL, IA, KS, LA, MI, MN, MS, NJ, NM, NY, ND, OH, TX, WY.

Add Colorado to that list. There are several counties that use the blue
pentagon, though it seems the most popular sign is the "blade" (i.e., street
sign) style.
Steve Riner
Pueblo West, CO
Minnesota and New Mexico Highways
http://www.steve-riner.com/mnhighways/mnhome.htm
http://www.steve-riner.com/nmhighways/nmhome.htm

Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I

[Ernest Cline]

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon
for county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other
markers exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all
(I believe PA is one).

For South Carolina the first question is what is a county road? Our
county roads are mostly rural dirt roads and newer subdivision streets that
haven't yet gotten taken into the state secondary system. That system
bases its numbering scheme on which county you are in. For instance,
I live on S-32-1011 which is the 1011th secondary road in county #32
(Lexington). However, the Savannah River Site does use the blue pentagons
to sign its roads, so you can see them in South Carolina, but those roads
are controlled by the US epartment of Energy, not by the SCDOT or by the
counties. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the blue pentagons showing
up on the more important state secondary roads, but that's not going to
happen any time soon, if ever.

[Rich Carlson, N9JIG]

While only some counties in Illinois post county roads with route
numbers, those that do almost exclusively use the blue and gold
pentagons. About half of those use the NACO standard alpha-numeric route
numbers (W-13, A-7 etc.) Some use plain integer numbering, and some
routes in Rock Island County use just letters.

I have seen a few oddball county markers in Illinois. I found near
Decatur a Macon County 26 marker in an outline shape within a rectangle.
I seem to recall seeing a couple white letter on green background signs
in southern Illinois a few years ago (similar to those used in western
Colorado) but can not remember which county.

Most counties in Illinois just mark county roads with street signs, many
using the x00N/x00W convention. The numbers indicate how many hundreths
of a mile and direction from the county line. (325W means 3.25 miles
west of the county line, 1000N means 10 miles north of the county line.
Some counties dispense with the decimals.

In southern Illinois many counties just use names for the roads.

In Northeastern Illinois' Chicago metro areas most counties use the
pentagon county markers, but few people use them for navigation. Lake
County seems to post county roads better than most, with trailblazers,
cardinal directionals and reasssurance markers, while Cook County seems
to have 6 county markers in the entire county, 5 of them on Lake-Cook
Road.

[DanF]

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).
Arthur Malkin
http://hometown.aol.com/artmalkin/home.htm

I've seen first-hand or photos of blue pentagon county shields in the
following states:
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota (though sometimes they also use a white square shield)
South Dakota
Florida
New Jersey
Arizona
California

Virginia doesn't have county routes per se, but has secondary routes
(numbered 600 and above) renumbered in each county. The shield used is
a circle in a black box, though small white rectangles are also used
with the route number and directional arrows inside.

West Virginia also uses circles for county routes, not sure if they
are county or state maintained, but they're renumbered in every county
too.

Pennsylvania is like VA in that they have secondary routes which are
renumbered in each county. They are numbered 1000 and above and are
posted on small rectangles kind of like those in Virginia.

North Carolina has secondary routes like those in PA, but they're not
posted very well.

Texas uses the Texas state shape for their secondary roads (called
farm market roads I think).

Maryland has no secondary or county roads that I know of.

-DanF

[Michael G. Koerner]

Post by DanF

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).
Arthur Malkin
http://hometown.aol.com/artmalkin/home.htm

I've seen first-hand or photos of blue pentagon county shields in the
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota (though sometimes they also use a white square shield)
South Dakota
Florida
New Jersey
Arizona
California

I've seen 'blue pentagons' in Michigan, too.

Post by DanF
Virginia doesn't have county routes per se, but has secondary routes
(numbered 600 and above) renumbered in each county. The shield used is
a circle in a black box, though small white rectangles are also used
with the route number and directional arrows inside.
West Virginia also uses circles for county routes, not sure if they
are county or state maintained, but they're renumbered in every county
too.
Pennsylvania is like VA in that they have secondary routes which are
renumbered in each county. They are numbered 1000 and above and are
posted on small rectangles kind of like those in Virginia.
North Carolina has secondary routes like those in PA, but they're not
posted very well.
Texas uses the Texas state shape for their secondary roads (called
farm market roads I think).
Maryland has no secondary or county roads that I know of.

Wisconsin uses a unique design sign for its county highways (I like them
MUCH more than the blue pentagons, BTW) and identifies them exclusively
by letters.

[Eric Opperman]

Post by Michael G. Koerner
Wisconsin uses a unique design sign for its county highways (I like them
MUCH more than the blue pentagons, BTW) and identifies them exclusively
by letters.

Does it have a state outline? ;)

[Keith]

Post by DanF

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).
Arthur Malkin
http://hometown.aol.com/artmalkin/home.htm

I've seen first-hand or photos of blue pentagon county shields in the
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota (though sometimes they also use a white square shield)
South Dakota
Florida
New Jersey
Arizona
California
Virginia doesn't have county routes per se, but has secondary routes
(numbered 600 and above) renumbered in each county. The shield used is
a circle in a black box, though small white rectangles are also used
with the route number and directional arrows inside.
West Virginia also uses circles for county routes, not sure if they
are county or state maintained, but they're renumbered in every county
too.
Pennsylvania is like VA in that they have secondary routes which are
renumbered in each county. They are numbered 1000 and above and are
posted on small rectangles kind of like those in Virginia.
North Carolina has secondary routes like those in PA, but they're not
posted very well.
Texas uses the Texas state shape for their secondary roads (called
farm market roads I think).
Maryland has no secondary or county roads that I know of.
-DanF

Not all counties in Michigan use them. In fact, in all of SE Michigan,
where most of the people live, only Livingston uses these shields and
route numbers. The other counties call the county road just by its
name, and no number. As far as I know, these roads don't even have
numbers, though I saw a map of Lapeer County with some of the routes
numbered. I have not seen actual signage of this, however.

[Joe Galea]

Post by Keith

Post by DanF

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).
Arthur Malkin
http://hometown.aol.com/artmalkin/home.htm

I've seen first-hand or photos of blue pentagon county shields in the
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota (though sometimes they also use a white square shield)
South Dakota
Florida
New Jersey
Arizona
California
Virginia doesn't have county routes per se, but has secondary routes
(numbered 600 and above) renumbered in each county. The shield used is
a circle in a black box, though small white rectangles are also used
with the route number and directional arrows inside.
West Virginia also uses circles for county routes, not sure if they
are county or state maintained, but they're renumbered in every county
too.
Pennsylvania is like VA in that they have secondary routes which are
renumbered in each county. They are numbered 1000 and above and are
posted on small rectangles kind of like those in Virginia.
North Carolina has secondary routes like those in PA, but they're not
posted very well.
Texas uses the Texas state shape for their secondary roads (called
farm market roads I think).
Maryland has no secondary or county roads that I know of.
-DanF

Not all counties in Michigan use them. In fact, in all of SE Michigan,
where most of the people live, only Livingston uses these shields and
route numbers. The other counties call the county road just by its
name, and no number. As far as I know, these roads don't even have
numbers, though I saw a map of Lapeer County with some of the routes
numbered. I have not seen actual signage of this, however.

Mostly, the pentagons are used on inter-county routes in the northern Lower
Peninsula.

[Chris Bessert]

Post by Joe Galea
Mostly, the pentagons are used on inter-county routes in the northern
Lower Peninsula.

LINKAGE!!

http://www.michiganhighways.org/listings/county_highways.html

:^)

Later,
Chris

[Bob Lutz]

Post by Keith
Not all counties in Michigan use them. In fact, in all of SE Michigan,
where most of the people live, only Livingston uses these shields and
route numbers. The other counties call the county road just by its
name, and no number. As far as I know, these roads don't even have
numbers, though I saw a map of Lapeer County with some of the routes
numbered. I have not seen actual signage of this, however.

Muskegon County does, or at least did, when I was up there.

[Chris Bessert]

Post by Keith
Not all counties in Michigan use them. In fact, in all of SE Michigan,
where most of the people live, only Livingston uses these shields and
route numbers. The other counties call the county road just by its
name, and no number. As far as I know, these roads don't even have
numbers, though I saw a map of Lapeer County with some of the routes
numbered. I have not seen actual signage of this, however.

The problem is you're confusing three different county road numbering
systems here. The first system is the one set up in the 1920s and 30s
where all county primary roads were numbered in the 300s-500s or so,
with the numbering systems repeating themselves in each of the penin-
sulas. This system, on a state-wise basis, died in the 1940s with only
some counties continuing to use it today. Those counties still using
this system may sign it either using the standard gold-on-blue penta-
gons, the ubiquitous black-on-white squares or their own unique signage.

The second system (or systems) are the independent county numbering
systems set up by the individual county on their own with no regard to
any previous system. This is likely the case with the Lapeer example
you cited above, although there are times where these systems are not
signed in the field, such as in Lapeer. As with the system above,
these systems also may be signed with pentagons, squares or other
markers.

The third system is the intercounty system set up in the early-1970s,
which not all counties embraced (and a few have abandoned). This is
the letter-number (e.g. D-19, C-48, H-57) system you cited for Living-
ston County. This system is ONLY supposed to use the gold-on-blue
pentagons, but one or two poorer counties (yes, Alger, I mean you!)
sometimes improvise with whatever materials they have on hand.

I have complete coverage of this third system at:

http://www.michiganhighways.org/listings/county_highways.html

Later,
Chris

[Brian Polidoro]

Post by DanF

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).
Arthur Malkin
http://hometown.aol.com/artmalkin/home.htm

I've seen first-hand or photos of blue pentagon county shields in the
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota (though sometimes they also use a white square shield)
South Dakota
Florida
New Jersey
Arizona
California
Virginia doesn't have county routes per se, but has secondary routes
(numbered 600 and above) renumbered in each county. The shield used is
a circle in a black box, though small white rectangles are also used
with the route number and directional arrows inside.
West Virginia also uses circles for county routes, not sure if they
are county or state maintained, but they're renumbered in every county
too.
Pennsylvania is like VA in that they have secondary routes which are
renumbered in each county. They are numbered 1000 and above and are
posted on small rectangles kind of like those in Virginia.
North Carolina has secondary routes like those in PA, but they're not
posted very well.
Texas uses the Texas state shape for their secondary roads (called
farm market roads I think).
Maryland has no secondary or county roads that I know of.
-DanF

Maryland does have county routes. They're just never signed. Any
route that's a major route is usually a state route.

The MDSHA highway reference locators list routes like this:

CO4690 MACARTHUR BLVD - for county roads
GV 6 CLARA BARTON PKWY - for fed gov roads
MU 70 KENILWORTH AVE - i think are municipal roads
MD - for state routes
IS - for interstates
US - for US routes
RP - for ramps
OP294 NO NAME - i think this means other public road. Like, i guess,
a road in a shopping center.

Most county routes are high numbers but some a smaller numbers under
100.

I'm not sure who numbers them and what scheme if any is used in
numbering them. Nor do I know who maintains what.

Brian Polidoro

[Monte Castleman]

Post by DanF
I've seen first-hand or photos of blue pentagon county shields in the
Iowa
Minnesota (though sometimes they also use a white square shield)

White squares are becoming less and less common in Minnesota, although some
counties still use them exclusively.

[Rothman]

Post by Monte Castleman

Post by DanF
I've seen first-hand or photos of blue pentagon county shields in the
Iowa
Minnesota (though sometimes they also use a white square shield)

White squares are becoming less and less common in Minnesota, although some
counties still use them exclusively.

...such as St. Louis County (CR-61)

[Patrick Lee Humphrey]

Post by Monte Castleman

Post by DanF
I've seen first-hand or photos of blue pentagon county shields in the
Iowa
Minnesota (though sometimes they also use a white square shield)

White squares are becoming less and less common in Minnesota, although some
counties still use them exclusively.

I've seen mostly the white squares in Minnesota, with a scattering of
gold-on-blue pentagons -- but I'll add South Dakota to the roster of
pentagon-using states, as I've seen them in Roberts County in the NE corner of
the state, and in Lincoln County south of Sioux Falls...

[Rothman]

Post by Patrick Lee Humphrey

Post by Monte Castleman

Post by DanF
I've seen first-hand or photos of blue pentagon county shields in the
Iowa
Minnesota (though sometimes they also use a white square shield)

White squares are becoming less and less common in Minnesota, although some
counties still use them exclusively.

I've seen mostly the white squares in Minnesota, with a scattering of
gold-on-blue pentagons -- but I'll add South Dakota to the roster of
pentagon-using states, as I've seen them in Roberts County in the NE corner of
the state, and in Lincoln County south of Sioux Falls...

I second your assessment. Seems to me that the pentagons are mostly used
near the Cities.

[Froggie]

Post by Rothman

Post by Patrick Lee Humphrey
I've seen mostly the white squares in Minnesota, with a scattering of
gold-on-blue pentagons -- but I'll add South Dakota to the roster of
pentagon-using states, as I've seen them in Roberts County in the NE
corner of the state, and in Lincoln County south of Sioux Falls...

I second your assessment. Seems to me that the pentagons are mostly used
near the Cities.

Mostly, but not even close to limited to. I've seem major shifts over the last
10 years or so in some outstate counties to increased use of the blue pentagon.
Freeborn, Todd, and Beltrami Counties are 3 that come to mind...

That said, both Carver and Washington Counties still use the old-style white
square almost exclusively.

Froggie | Who'll have to take a log of who uses what when he heads home... |
http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/

[Rothman]

Post by Froggie

Post by Rothman

Post by Patrick Lee Humphrey
I've seen mostly the white squares in Minnesota, with a scattering of
gold-on-blue pentagons -- but I'll add South Dakota to the roster of
pentagon-using states, as I've seen them in Roberts County in the NE
corner of the state, and in Lincoln County south of Sioux Falls...

I second your assessment. Seems to me that the pentagons are mostly used
near the Cities.

Mostly, but not even close to limited to. I've seem major shifts over the last
10 years or so in some outstate counties to increased use of the blue pentagon.
Freeborn, Todd, and Beltrami Counties are 3 that come to mind...
That said, both Carver and Washington Counties still use the old-style white
square almost exclusively.
Froggie | Who'll have to take a log of who uses what when he heads home... |
http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/

Same with the Arrowhead counties.

[Patrick Lee Humphrey]

Post by Rothman

Post by Patrick Lee Humphrey

Post by Monte Castleman

Post by DanF
I've seen first-hand or photos of blue pentagon county shields in the
Iowa
Minnesota (though sometimes they also use a white square shield)

White squares are becoming less and less common in Minnesota, although some
counties still use them exclusively.

I've seen mostly the white squares in Minnesota, with a scattering of
gold-on-blue pentagons -- but I'll add South Dakota to the roster of
pentagon-using states, as I've seen them in Roberts County in the NE corner
of the state, and in Lincoln County south of Sioux Falls...

I second your assessment. Seems to me that the pentagons are mostly used
near the Cities.

It looks like it's a hit-and-miss thing in Minnesota -- the blues *are* used a
bit near the Cities, having spotted a few in south Hennepin County (i.e.,
Bloomington), but once I crossed the river into Scott County, nothing but
white squares all the way down to St. Peter...

[Froggie]

Post by Patrick Lee Humphrey

Post by Rothman
I second your assessment. Seems to me that the pentagons are mostly used
near the Cities.

It looks like it's a hit-and-miss thing in Minnesota -- the blues *are* used a
bit near the Cities, having spotted a few in south Hennepin County (i.e.,
Bloomington), but once I crossed the river into Scott County, nothing but
white squares all the way down to St. Peter...

If one gets off of US 169, though, one will find that Scott County is starting
to join the "blue pentagon bandwagon" as well.

Froggie | Who's seen the same thing happen in Dakota County... |
http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/

[Chris Bessert]

Post by Patrick Lee Humphrey
It looks like it's a hit-and-miss thing in Minnesota -- the blues *are* used a
bit near the Cities, having spotted a few in south Hennepin County (i.e.,
Bloomington), but once I crossed the river into Scott County, nothing but
white squares all the way down to St. Peter...

Huh? I've got friends in Prior Lake and I see nothing but blue penta-
gons all over the place in their area. IIRC, the pentagons are used
liberally all over eastern Scott County and up into Shakopee. I can't
recall seeing a white square being used in Scott County, but then
again, I don't get into the western part of the county much when I
visit -- last time I was down US-169 was a few years ago.

Later,
Chris

[Patrick Lee Humphrey]

Post by Chris Bessert

Post by Patrick Lee Humphrey
It looks like it's a hit-and-miss thing in Minnesota -- the blues *are*
used a bit near the Cities, having spotted a few in south Hennepin County
(i.e., Bloomington), but once I crossed the river into Scott County,
nothing but white squares all the way down to St. Peter...

Huh? I've got friends in Prior Lake and I see nothing but blue penta-
gons all over the place in their area. IIRC, the pentagons are used
liberally all over eastern Scott County and up into Shakopee. I can't
recall seeing a white square being used in Scott County, but then
again, I don't get into the western part of the county much when I
visit -- last time I was down US-169 was a few years ago.

That would explain the differences -- the times I've been out of the Cities
that way (or in the opposite direction), I've been heading into (or out of)
there via either Sioux Falls (via I-90, MN 60, and US 169) or Elkton (via US
169, MN 99, and US 14). The only parts of Scott I've seen were from 169.
(I need to get out a little more. :-)

[Steve Riner]

Post by Patrick Lee Humphrey
It looks like it's a hit-and-miss thing in Minnesota -- the blues *are* used a
bit near the Cities, having spotted a few in south Hennepin County (i.e.,
Bloomington), but once I crossed the river into Scott County, nothing but
white squares all the way down to St. Peter...

Many times across Minnesota you see the old-style white square at the junction
on a trunk highway, and then the pentagon will be used as reassurance markers
on the county routes themselves. In the metro area, the only almost exclusive
holdout for white squares is Carver. Scott has converted most if its primary
county routes to blue pentagon.

It really isn't just a Metro thing any more.

Steve Riner
Pueblo West, CO
Minnesota and New Mexico Highways
http://www.steve-riner.com/mnhighways/mnhome.htm
http://www.steve-riner.com/nmhighways/nmhome.htm

Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I

[Carl]

North Carolina hasn't had county roads since 1935 at least. The roads
that would be county roads (called SRs) are numbered by county but
maintained by the state.

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).
Arthur Malkin
http://hometown.aol.com/artmalkin/home.htm

[Oscar Voss]

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).

Alaska doesn't have any numbered "county" highways (technically no
counties, but a bunch of boroughs, municipalities, and other county
equivalents). Most everything that could possibly be called a "highway"
is state-maintained; the exceptions I can think of are Federal, not
local.

Hawaii does have numbered county highways in three of its five counties,
but where the numbers are posted at all, they are signed exactly like
state highways, with only two oddball exceptions on Maui (neither of
which has blue pentagons).

[I-420]

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).
Arthur Malkin
http://hometown.aol.com/artmalkin/home.htm

Well the only states that don't have organized counties are in New
England, thus no county roads there, but the towns in turn keep them
up. PA does have ONE county that maintains roads, Allegheny. NC, WV
and DE do not have county roads at all, so the blue pentagon is not
used.

For non-standard county road signs, these are becoming relatively
rare. AL once had its own county route sign in a cutout or outline
triangle similar to TN's current secondary sign, but they now use the
standard marker exclusively. WV and VA use a circle, but these denote
county roads that are controlled and the responsibility of the state,
thus they are actually secondary state roads that only function as
local roads. WS (almost) exclusively uses its own version of county
road marker statewide in place of the pentagon and until recent years,
MN (according to Froggie) also exclusively used a square marker before
beginning to change over to the pentagon. MI uses a square sign for
county numbered routes not on the state-designated county route sytem.
GA in their oddness uses a green panel on the back of stop signs with
the numbers mounted vertically. SC also has a similar assembly to GA,
but the roads may have letter/number combinations.

Also, TN does use county route signs in two counties: McMinn and
Monroe. McMinn mounts them closer to standard, but the assemblies
still are rather shoddy and primarily only the county route signs
themselves actually meet MUTCD standards. Monroe also uses them and
mounts them on top of stop signs as mentioned as if they were a street
name sign. The Monroe signs tend to use white text and numbers in
lieu of the standard yellow. I have not seen them in any other county
in TN so far.

In most other states, some counties create their own style of county
sign, but generally the typical pentagon is used by many, if not all,
counties in those states. Anything else is a state secondary sign and
NOT a county route sign.

Here's a rough list I can give you:

Blue Pentagon Mixed Usage: NY, OH, MN (mixed with old-style), TX
Blue Pentagons Typical and Standard Statewide: AR, AL (most counties),
FL (special: mostly former state secondary routes), MS (some
counties), NJ (special system), IL, MI (state designated system only),
IA (special system), MO, KS, ND, WY, ID (special system), AZ, CA (used
for both special system and some local routes), NM, CO (some counties)

[AKirsc5653]

New York pretty much leaves county road signage up to the indivdual counties.
Some counties, like Nassau, Westchester, and Niagara don't post county route
numbers at all. (and Nassau may have killed any county route numbering system
it once had completely, even on paper.) Some, like Dutchess, Suffolk, Sulivan,
and more recently Rockland sign their routes meticulously, with some
exceptions. None of these counties are particularly shy about duplicating state
or US routes contained within, hence some sore thumbs like Suffolk CR 111 or
Dutches CR's 22 and 44. The anarchy is a far cry from neighboring New Jersey,
where there's almost never any route duplication anywhere, save for the 600
series county routes which repeat in different counties.

Some other counties, like Putnam and Warren, post route numbers somewhat, but
the signage is so spotty it might as well not be there.

Suffolk, Ulster, and Orange Counties used to use non-standard shields. Suffolk
used a blue rectangle with yellow letters until the late '70's. For a while
after they switched to the pentagon, they still signed it in a non-standard
fashion, for instance:

COUNTY ROAD
4
SUFFOLK

You can still see a handful of these relics here and there.

Orange and Ulster used to use a blue diamond with the number in yellow inside a
yellow county outline (and these two counties have somewhat similar outlines,
so the shields were quite similar to each other.) These were never done
particularly well, and the few shields you would see would almost never be seen
on appraoch roads, and very very rarely used cardinal directions (but then
Region 8 of the NYSDOT barely uses cardinal directions on route shields
either.) In the last decade or so, they switched to standard pentagons, but
signage is still pretty spotty.

Some non-standard county route signage styles remain on active duty. A
particularly pathetic example is Warren County, whose tiny little rectangle
thingies with numbers on them are barely recognizable as shields. (Though the
county roads are otherwise quite well maintained.)

The five boroughs of New York City are only counties in the barest sense of the
word, so they have no county highway departments. The city DOT handles almost
all roads. So presumably there will never be county route shields arround here.
Though one could fantasise about Richmond CR 501, filling the gap between the
two sections NJ secondary route of the same name.

:-) Andrew

[Pete from Boston]

Post by AKirsc5653
Orange and Ulster used to use a blue diamond with the number in yellow inside a
yellow county outline (and these two counties have somewhat similar outlines,
so the shields were quite similar to each other.) These were never done
particularly well, and the few shields you would see would almost never be seen
on appraoch roads, and very very rarely used cardinal directions (but then
Region 8 of the NYSDOT barely uses cardinal directions on route shields
either.) In the last decade or so, they switched to standard pentagons, but
signage is still pretty spotty.

In Orange a couple of weeks ago I saw an actual radial pentagon sign
someplace around Sterling Forest. Not the standard uneven pentagon,
but one with five more or less equal-length sides.

[Steve]

Post by Pete from Boston

Post by AKirsc5653
Orange and Ulster used to use a blue diamond with the number in yellow inside a
yellow county outline (and these two counties have somewhat similar outlines,
so the shields were quite similar to each other.) These were never done
particularly well, and the few shields you would see would almost never be seen
on appraoch roads, and very very rarely used cardinal directions (but then
Region 8 of the NYSDOT barely uses cardinal directions on route shields
either.) In the last decade or so, they switched to standard pentagons, but
signage is still pretty spotty.

In Orange a couple of weeks ago I saw an actual radial pentagon sign
someplace around Sterling Forest. Not the standard uneven pentagon,
but one with five more or less equal-length sides.

Like Loading Image... more or
less?

[Jellyfish Heaven]

"Steve" <***@hackmit.edu> wrote in message news:40872ef3$0$576$***@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu...
| Pete from Boston wrote:
|
| > ***@cs.com (AKirsc5653) wrote in message news:<***@mb-m22.news.cs.com>...
| >
| >>Orange and Ulster used to use a blue diamond with the number in yellow
inside a
| >>yellow county outline (and these two counties have somewhat similar
outlines,
| >>so the shields were quite similar to each other.) These were never done
| >>particularly well, and the few shields you would see would almost never
be seen
| >>on appraoch roads, and very very rarely used cardinal directions (but
then
| >>Region 8 of the NYSDOT barely uses cardinal directions on route shields
| >>either.) In the last decade or so, they switched to standard pentagons,
but
| >>signage is still pretty spotty.
| >
| >
| > In Orange a couple of weeks ago I saw an actual radial pentagon sign
| > someplace around Sterling Forest. Not the standard uneven pentagon,
| > but one with five more or less equal-length sides.
|
| Like http://web.mit.edu/smalpert/www/roads/ny/albany/cr_154.jpg more or
| less?
|
| --
| Steve
| GO YANKEES! GO KNICKS!
| Civil Engineering (Course 1) at MIT
|

No. If it's the standard sign in OrCo, it's a NYSDOT install, or very old.
There are some "normal" signs on OrCo highways in and around Pine Island,
but these are quite old and all the yellow has faded to white. OrCo DPW has
taken to posting "close enough" signs now adays. Maybe I should complain.

[Pete from Boston]

Post by Jellyfish Heaven
| > In Orange a couple of weeks ago I saw an actual radial pentagon sign
| > someplace around Sterling Forest. Not the standard uneven pentagon,
| > but one with five more or less equal-length sides.
|
| Like http://web.mit.edu/smalpert/www/roads/ny/albany/cr_154.jpg more or
| less?
|
No. If it's the standard sign in OrCo, it's a NYSDOT install, or very old.
There are some "normal" signs on OrCo highways in and around Pine Island,
but these are quite old and all the yellow has faded to white. OrCo DPW has
taken to posting "close enough" signs now adays. Maybe I should complain.

It wasn't like the one in Albany. It was a "close enough," as far as I
could tell. Like someone told somebody in the sign shop, "make a
pentagon" without any further instructions.

[michael d]

Post by I-420

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue

pentagon for

Post by I-420

Post by Arthur Malkin
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).
Arthur Malkin
http://hometown.aol.com/artmalkin/home.htm

Well the only states that don't have organized counties are in New
England, thus no county roads there, but the towns in turn keep them
up. PA does have ONE county that maintains roads, Allegheny. NC, WV
and DE do not have county roads at all, so the blue pentagon is not
used.

West Virginia does have county roads. Like Three Springs Drive in
weirton is Brooke County 13 but it is not signed. County roads in west
virginia are maintained by the State not the individual county. County
roads are like mentioned above a circle with the number inside.

[Rick Mattioni]

Oklahoma's county roads are generally signed with green street signs, although
there are exceptions (Washington County uses red signs).

Numbering is some variety of "NS 325" or "EW 49", North-South roads numbered in
miles from the Oklahoma-New Mexico state line, East-West roads numbered in
miles from the Kansas-Oklahoma border.
Roads between the main section line roads will typically have an extra digit on
the end representing the tenths of a mile from the section line "NS 2458" for
example. Diagonal roads will use a 'D' prefix "D345".

The more urbanized counties generally use a continuation of the city street
grids, rather than the county designations.

Rick Mattioni
Tulsa

[I-420]

Post by michael d

Post by I-420
Well the only states that don't have organized counties are in New
England, thus no county roads there, but the towns in turn keep them
up. PA does have ONE county that maintains roads, Allegheny. NC, WV
and DE do not have county roads at all, so the blue pentagon is not
used.

West Virginia does have county roads. Like Three Springs Drive in
weirton is Brooke County 13 but it is not signed. County roads in west
virginia are maintained by the State not the individual county. County
roads are like mentioned above a circle with the number inside.

If you read further, I said further down that these were county roads
in name only and were actually ALL state secondary routes. Indeed,
I'll say CR 13, CR 7-5, etc. but I am well aware that the counties
have not had anything to do with these roads since 1932.

Personally, I do find it a little aggravating that they call them
"county roads" since they are by no means a true county road. They
should just call them something like "Road 13" (like SC) or "Route 13"
(like VA) instead of "County Road 13".

[Michael G. Koerner]

Post by I-420

Post by michael d

Post by I-420
Well the only states that don't have organized counties are in New
England, thus no county roads there, but the towns in turn keep them
up. PA does have ONE county that maintains roads, Allegheny. NC, WV
and DE do not have county roads at all, so the blue pentagon is not
used.

West Virginia does have county roads. Like Three Springs Drive in
weirton is Brooke County 13 but it is not signed. County roads in west
virginia are maintained by the State not the individual county. County
roads are like mentioned above a circle with the number inside.

If you read further, I said further down that these were county roads
in name only and were actually ALL state secondary routes. Indeed,
I'll say CR 13, CR 7-5, etc. but I am well aware that the counties
have not had anything to do with these roads since 1932.
Personally, I do find it a little aggravating that they call them
"county roads" since they are by no means a true county road. They
should just call them something like "Road 13" (like SC) or "Route 13"
(like VA) instead of "County Road 13".

Around here, it is the Post Office whom insists on calling them 'County
Road (XX)'. Locals normally use 'Highway (X)', 'County Trunk (XX)' or
'County (XX)'.

[Chris Bessert]

Post by I-420
[...]
Blue Pentagon Mixed Usage: NY, OH, MN (mixed with old-style), TX
Blue Pentagons Typical and Standard Statewide: AR, AL (most counties),
FL (special: mostly former state secondary routes), MS (some
counties), NJ (special system), IL, MI (state designated system only),
[...]

Individual Michigan counties *do* use the gold-on-blue pentagon route
markers for their own independently-designated systems as well in some
areas, although it is more common to find them using white-on-black
squares or other markers in many areas.

Later,
Chris

[DanF]

Post by Chris Bessert

Post by I-420
[...]
Blue Pentagon Mixed Usage: NY, OH, MN (mixed with old-style), TX
Blue Pentagons Typical and Standard Statewide: AR, AL (most counties),
FL (special: mostly former state secondary routes), MS (some
counties), NJ (special system), IL, MI (state designated system only),
[...]

Individual Michigan counties *do* use the gold-on-blue pentagon route
markers for their own independently-designated systems as well in some
areas, although it is more common to find them using white-on-black
squares or other markers in many areas.
Later,
Chris

I've also seen white pentagon-shaped shields in West Virginia. What
are those? Are those county roads? In Ohio, there are county routes I
think, but I've never seen a shield for them, just "County Road 67"
(for example) on a BGS.

-DanF

[Paul S. Wolf]

Post by DanF

Post by Chris Bessert

Post by I-420
[...]
Blue Pentagon Mixed Usage: NY, OH, MN (mixed with old-style), TX
Blue Pentagons Typical and Standard Statewide: AR, AL (most counties),
FL (special: mostly former state secondary routes), MS (some
counties), NJ (special system), IL, MI (state designated system only),
[...]

Individual Michigan counties *do* use the gold-on-blue pentagon route
markers for their own independently-designated systems as well in some
areas, although it is more common to find them using white-on-black
squares or other markers in many areas.
Later,
Chris

I've also seen white pentagon-shaped shields in West Virginia. What
are those? Are those county roads? In Ohio, there are county routes I
think, but I've never seen a shield for them, just "County Road 67"
(for example) on a BGS.
-DanF

Some counties in Ohio DO use them (Summit Co, as an example)
Others use a square marker.
Others do not. (Cuyahoga Co. does not post ANY County route markers.)

[magyar]

Post by Paul S. Wolf

Post by DanF

Post by Chris Bessert

Post by I-420
[...]
Blue Pentagon Mixed Usage: NY, OH, MN (mixed with old-style), TX
Blue Pentagons Typical and Standard Statewide: AR, AL (most counties),
FL (special: mostly former state secondary routes), MS (some
counties), NJ (special system), IL, MI (state designated system only),
[...]

Individual Michigan counties *do* use the gold-on-blue pentagon route
markers for their own independently-designated systems as well in some
areas, although it is more common to find them using white-on-black
squares or other markers in many areas.
Later,
Chris

I've also seen white pentagon-shaped shields in West Virginia. What
are those? Are those county roads? In Ohio, there are county routes I
think, but I've never seen a shield for them, just "County Road 67"
(for example) on a BGS.
-DanF

Some counties in Ohio DO use them (Summit Co, as an example)
Others use a square marker.

Others use green rectangles with white text. That seems to be the popular
choice in Central Ohio (Delaware, Franklin, Geauga, Knox, Licking, Madison,
Marion, Portage)

Post by Paul S. Wolf
Others do not. (Cuyahoga Co. does not post ANY County route markers.)

Hey Sean, have you done a breakdown of the various types of signage done by
each county (you have photos of) in Ohio?

Post by Paul S. Wolf
--
Traffic Engineer, Traff-Pro Consultants, Inc.
Wickliffe, Ohio 44092
Member, Institute of Transportation Engineers

Sandor G
--
"I'ma low pay daddy singin' th' high price blues."
--Corey Harris singing Woody Guthrie

[Chris Holder]

Post by I-420
For non-standard county road signs, these are becoming relatively
rare. AL once had its own county route sign in a cutout or outline
triangle similar to TN's current secondary sign, but they now use the
standard marker exclusively.

<<<Begin shameless promotion>>>
I have pictures of both the old and new signs on my site. The pictures are
from Lauderdale county, Alabama, which currently has about 700 numbered,
county-maintained roads.

An example of both the old and new signs at the same intersection can be
found at Loading Image... and
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<<<End shameless promotion>>>

Chris Holder
Florence, AL
http://chris262.home.comcast.net

[Justin Priola]

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).
Arthur Malkin
http://hometown.aol.com/artmalkin/home.htm

Louisiana parishes (generally the rural ones) do use the blue pentagon
to mark their parish roads, but AFAIK, they are used sparingly. The
ones that I have seen look old and weatherbeaten. Very rarely, a
pentagon will appear on an interstate BGS.

More commonly, the parish road designations are found on regular green
street signs, the type you see at street intersections. For instance,
driving down a state highway, you might see an intersecting local
road, with a little green sign giving the name "PR 6-52" or something
similar.

Most parishes (mainly rural) have a numbering system, but there is no
common statewide standard. Alphanumeric or hyphenated designation
systems are sometimes used. Urban parishes rarely utilize (signed)
numbering systems for their local roads, though I have seen a few
pentagon signs in St. Bernard Parish.

Justin Priola

[Patrick Lee Humphrey]

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).
Arthur Malkin
http://hometown.aol.com/artmalkin/home.htm

They're used in Texas, in at least Fayette County. Harris County, where I
live, doesn't sign county roads, but to the south, Brazoria County uses square
white-on-green signage on their extensive county road system ...

[Shawn K. Quinn]

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA
is one).

Not exactly the answer you were looking for, but related: here in Harris
County, HCTRA uses purple pentagons with yellow type for its toll road
signage (there are no county-maintained numbered routes here).

[Matthew E. Salek]

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).

In Colorado, each county does their own thing regarding marking county
roads. Some use the blue pentagon, some use other kinds of markers,
some use urban-style street name signs. I've begun a page on my site
which will attempt to show the marking practices of all 64 counties.

http://www.mesalek.com/colo/countynum.html

[Pat O'Connell]

Post by Matthew E. Salek

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).

In Colorado, each county does their own thing regarding marking county
roads. Some use the blue pentagon, some use other kinds of markers,
some use urban-style street name signs. I've begun a page on my site
which will attempt to show the marking practices of all 64 counties.
http://www.mesalek.com/colo/countynum.html

IIRC some counties in NM use the blue pentagons, but not all
(Bernailillo doesn't).

The only blue pentagons I've seen in southern Nevada are the
non-standard ones marking Clark County 215 (expressway with some
interchanges and overpasses). Picture of the sign here:

http://www.co.clark.nv.us/pubworks/beltway/beltway.htm

[Steve]

Post by Pat O'Connell

Post by Matthew E. Salek

Post by Arthur Malkin
Does anyone have a list of which state use the standard blue pentagon for
county roads (in at least 1 county)? Which states use other markers
exclusively? Which states do not have county roads at all (I believe PA is
one).

In Colorado, each county does their own thing regarding marking county
roads. Some use the blue pentagon, some use other kinds of markers,
some use urban-style street name signs. I've begun a page on my site
which will attempt to show the marking practices of all 64 counties.
http://www.mesalek.com/colo/countynum.html

IIRC some counties in NM use the blue pentagons, but not all
(Bernailillo doesn't).
The only blue pentagons I've seen in southern Nevada are the
non-standard ones marking Clark County 215 (expressway with some
http://www.co.clark.nv.us/pubworks/beltway/beltway.htm

Cute. They tried to airbrush some I-215 BGS's into existence. Failed
miserably, of course.