Highways in Canada

[esquire]

I'm sure NL has a standards manual for signage, I think every province must have one?! It's probably just that whoever orders up/makes the signs probably isn't paying much attention to it.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

I'm sure NL has a standards manual for signage, I think every province must have one?! It's probably just that whoever orders up/makes the signs probably isn't paying much attention to it.

I suppose.

There is a Canadian manual of uniform traffic control devices but since we don't even have a federal highway department it's put out by an association and compliance is voluntary.

Only New Brunswick has taken that guide and made it the law of the land for all of its roads. (It also happens to have bilingual English first, French second standards, so that makes it a natural for NB.)

Pretty much everyone uses the manual's standards to some degree, but there is still quite a bit of variation between the provinces. Warning signs and such tend to be quite harmonized across the country, with more variability found in guide and informational signs.

[Airboy]

Crane bases are being installed for the new bridge construction in the Kicking horse canyon.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Airboy

Crane bases are being installed for the new bridge construction in the Kicking horse canyon.

Nice.
One of my friends back in Vancouver made plans around the area, so I told him to pay attention to closures.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Yeah, it's jarring to me to have "ROUTE (highway number in shield)". Normally you'd just have the shield and that would be enough for people to know that's the highway number.

Then you also have overhead signs on the same road that just have the shield.

And you have signs on the same highway but that say TCH or T.C.H. with no shield or no number at all.

Newfoundland sounds like Mexico - route numbers exist but are not heavily used by the public, and don't always appear on signs.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Yeah, it's jarring to me to have "ROUTE (highway number in shield)". Normally you'd just have the shield and that would be enough for people to know that's the highway number.

Then you also have overhead signs on the same road that just have the shield.

And you have signs on the same highway but that say TCH or T.C.H. with no shield or no number at all.

NS and others do it for the TCH.

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Nice.
One of my friends back in Vancouver made plans around the area, so I told him to pay attention to closures.

The contractor has a facebook page for updates.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

NS and others do it for the TCH.

I was wrong... but somewhere I have seen it, and I know I have never been to NL.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

NS and others do it for the TCH.

They have separate shields for the TCH and whatever highway number it is, but the highway number is always consistently shown. You'd never have signage that indicates "TCH" only without the highway number. And then skip to highway number shield but no TCH just down the road.

Ontario and Quebec are hit and miss. They use the TCH sign (with no number embedded in it) next to their highway number shields, but often you just see the highway number shield.

The green TCH shield with the maple leaf is virtually non-existent on overhead signs in Ontario. Quebec uses it quite a bit more, but it's far from systematic.

Nova Scotia is extremely systematic, and always displays the green TCH shield alongside it's highway numbers.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.5701387,...ViyEHFKAY14MpnG6AzoqQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[Dengler Avenue]

Ontario and Quebec are hit and miss. They use the TCH sign (with no number embedded in it) next to their highway number shields, but often you just see the highway number shield.

Wait till you drive on Highway 69 between Nobel (north of Parry Sound) and Sudbury. There it's the opposite.

[ConundrumNL]

Originally Posted by esquire

I'm sure NL has a standards manual for signage, I think every province must have one?! It's probably just that whoever orders up/makes the signs probably isn't paying much attention to it.

There's probably some sort of manual with guidelines to ensure signage broadly conforms to North American norms, but I judging on the signs out there, the designers play it pretty fast and loose.

Here are some examples:

Prince Phillip Drive/Thorborn Road - https://maps.app.goo.gl/8Zx3wR2J2NDAtUwh9

Overhead signs use old shield design from the 70s/80s but the signs have been replaced/repaired in the last decade.

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Outer Ring Road (TCH)/Thorborn Road (Route 50) - https://goo.gl/maps/WxZ3cjo3vgzsJHbWA

Route number is completely omitted.

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TCH/Witless Bay Line (Route 13) - https://goo.gl/maps/52WJypteK6fZPhMJ6

Route number is included. BAY BULLS is capitalized for some reason.

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Peacekeepers Way (Route 2)/Long Pond - https://goo.gl/maps/Fkjo9kgtb7Y7bYvMA

Place name is placed on brown background for some reason.

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TCH/Salmonier Line (Route 90) - https://goo.gl/maps/hNwbkrG8eQcQurc98

A somewhat common design for NL, and includes a tourist route plaque. I like this design, it's simple and straightforward.

===

This use to the drive me nuts, but now I find it kind of endearing.

[JHikka]

I guess the snarky question would be to ask if NFLD has the funds to replace and harmonize all of their signs.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by ConundrumNL

There's probably some sort of manual with guidelines to ensure signage broadly conforms to North American norms, but I judging on the signs out there, the designers play it pretty fast and loose.

Here are some examples:

Prince Phillip Drive/Thorborn Road - https://maps.app.goo.gl/8Zx3wR2J2NDAtUwh9

Overhead signs use old shield design from the 70s/80s but the signs have been replaced/repaired in the last decade.

===
Outer Ring Road (TCH)/Thorborn Road (Route 50) - https://goo.gl/maps/WxZ3cjo3vgzsJHbWA

Route number is completely omitted.

===
TCH/Witless Bay Line (Route 13) - https://goo.gl/maps/52WJypteK6fZPhMJ6

Route number is included. BAY BULLS is capitalized for some reason.

===
Peacekeepers Way (Route 2)/Long Pond - https://goo.gl/maps/Fkjo9kgtb7Y7bYvMA

Place name is placed on brown background for some reason.

===
TCH/Salmonier Line (Route 90) - https://goo.gl/maps/hNwbkrG8eQcQurc98

A somewhat common design for NL, and includes a tourist route plaque. I like this design, it's simple and straightforward.

===

This use to the drive me nuts, but now I find it kind of endearing.

This is actually a good compilation of stuff that seems weird to road geeks from elsewhere in North America.

The caps for no reason is just bizarre.

The place name in brown would normally indicate it's a park, historic site or recreation area.

I notice NL also uses dashes a lot to separate two things on the same line, to save space I assume. There was another sign that had Paradise-Mount Pearl or Mount Pearl-Paradise.

Intuitively, that to me looks like it's a single municipality with a composite name, like Grand Falls-Windsor or Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Not two separate ones.

There are a few signs on Quebec autoroutes with two place names (also to save space I gather), but they're separated with a large white dot as opposed to a dash.

It still looks weird to me, but it's not really confusing.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by JHikka

I guess the snarky question would be to ask if NFLD has the funds to replace and harmonize all of their signs.

You already know we don't.

The capitalized BAY BULLS one I've actually noticed before this conversation.

The other one that's annoyed me is along Pitts Memorial Drive there are two signs with the same designation but different formatting:

St. John's (Downtown)

And:

St. John's (downtown)

Other than that, I've not really noticed anything unusual with our signs. Just used to it, I suppose.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by JHikka

I guess the snarky question would be to ask if NFLD has the funds to replace and harmonize all of their signs.

They had the scratch to build a pretty damn nice expressway network relative to population, so in that sense they're already winning. I'd happily trade Manitoba's generally MUTCD-compliant signage for a few kms of NL expressway!

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

They had the scratch to build a pretty damn nice expressway network relative to population, so in that sense they're already winning. I'd happily trade Manitoba's generally MUTCD-compliant signage for a few kms of NL expressway!

NL is the prime example of 'build it and they will come'. See how successful they are as a province thanks to their large expressway system?

[SignalHillHiker]

I’m going to hit you lol

[esquire]

Originally Posted by JHikka

NL is the prime example of 'build it and they will come'. See how successful they are as a province thanks to their large expressway system?

They certainly got that part right... good for them.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I’m going to hit you lol

Please keep it to seals Mr. Hiker.

[manny_santos]

BC seems to have standardized signage nowadays for provincial highways, but I can tell they didn't have much in the way of standards in the past. Older signs have no fewer than 3 different fonts: Helvetica (still used for numerical route shields), FWHA, and a font unique to BC that looks almost hand-painted but still pops up on some newer signs.