DOT ANSWERS - Why did interstate signs change? The Providence Journal – July 15, 2012
Dana Alexander Nolfe
Q: Back in the mid
1960s the interstate highway signs included the name of the state just above
the highway number. Sometime around the 1970s this stopped. Can you tell
us why the name of the state is no long part of the signs?
— Jim
C.
A: Interstate
highway signs display a designated interstate number on a red, white and blue
shield. As a part of the original design, the state through which the
highway ran through also was included on the shield.
The
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), a federal publication put
out by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), governs the uniform
standardization of signing and pavement markings in every state.
Over
time the interstate shield sign has changed simply as a result of several
design modifications. The current MUTCD standard does not include state names
on the interstate shield.
Dana
Alexander Nolfe, chief public affairs officer for the state Department of
Transportation, answers questions of general interest posed by Journal readers
about state roads and other state transportation matters.
Questions are answered in the order they appear, and there may be a delay in
responding.
The DOT
is responsible for the state’s transportation infrastructure, which includes
highways, bridges, traffic signals and bikeways.
To ask
a question that would also be of interest to other readers, send a letter to
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Providence, RI 02902.
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Questions or complaints of a specific nature should be posed to the DOT
directly and will not be answered in this column.
