Botched Roadsigns

[Chris Bertram]

And of course this Summer we had to endure one lane of the Ring Road being an empty cycle lane.

A "wiser" expenditure of the public purse I have yet to witness.

Shipping contracts with companies that have no ships? World Student Games? They were going to "cost the people of Sheffield no more than £1m" but Clive Betts missed off the last word of the sentence: "each".

The added nonsense most readers won't be aware of is that the section of Ring Road is the same one the council had just finished spending millions of pounds on over 18 months adding lanes to and redesigning to increase vehicle capacity.

To get back on topic here's a patch for Twikker that fills the entire sign.

You want a patch that fills the entire sign? I'll give you a patch that fills the entire sign. But the thing is, I don't think it's a bodge. The context here is, we're approaching a junction on A435, which here is non-primary, and it's joining A40, which is primary, but at the junction the road straight ahead really *is* A40. There is no right turn at the lights, the angle at which A40 approaches is very acute, so there is no mention of it on the sign. All the same, I suppose it looks a bit strange.

[SteelCamel]

You want a patch that fills the entire sign? I'll give you a patch that fills the entire sign. But the thing is, I don't think it's a bodge. The context here is, we're approaching a junction on A435, which here is non-primary, and it's joining A40, which is primary, but at the junction the road straight ahead really *is* A40. There is no right turn at the lights, the angle at which A40 approaches is very acute, so there is no mention of it on the sign. All the same, I suppose it looks a bit strange.

No, I don't think it is right. As you say, the road ahead is the A40 - but it's signed as A435 and (A40). This is surely the wrong way round, A435 should have brackets and A40 shouldn't. Even though the A435 is the straight-through route it (understandably) disappears under the A40 for a couple of blocks.

Another thing at this junction - who are these signs for? Right turns off the A435 are prohibited, and you can't see them from any other direction.

[Bfivethousand]

You want a patch that fills the entire sign? I'll give you a patch that fills the entire sign. But the thing is, I don't think it's a bodge. The context here is, we're approaching a junction on A435, which here is non-primary, and it's joining A40, which is primary, but at the junction the road straight ahead really *is* A40. There is no right turn at the lights, the angle at which A40 approaches is very acute, so there is no mention of it on the sign. All the same, I suppose it looks a bit strange.

No, I don't think it is right. As you say, the road ahead is the A40 - but it's signed as A435 and (A40). This is surely the wrong way round, A435 should have brackets and A40 shouldn't. Even though the A435 is the straight-through route it (understandably) disappears under the A40 for a couple of blocks.

Another thing at this junction - who are these signs for? Right turns off the A435 are prohibited, and you can't see them from any other direction.

The advance direction sign approaching the junction from Charlton Kings treats the road ahead as the A40 with the (A435) bracketed. It seems the designer has treated the road ahead as an equally weighted multiplex dependent on the driver's approach which, in reality, it isn't due to the A40's overriding primary status. I can see the logic but it doesn't make it correct.

[ForestChav]

You want a patch that fills the entire sign? I'll give you a patch that fills the entire sign. But the thing is, I don't think it's a bodge. The context here is, we're approaching a junction on A435, which here is non-primary, and it's joining A40, which is primary, but at the junction the road straight ahead really *is* A40. There is no right turn at the lights, the angle at which A40 approaches is very acute, so there is no mention of it on the sign. All the same, I suppose it looks a bit strange.

No, I don't think it is right. As you say, the road ahead is the A40 - but it's signed as A435 and (A40). This is surely the wrong way round, A435 should have brackets and A40 shouldn't. Even though the A435 is the straight-through route it (understandably) disappears under the A40 for a couple of blocks.

Another thing at this junction - who are these signs for? Right turns off the A435 are prohibited, and you can't see them from any other direction.

Strikes me it might be for info or quite simply right turns weren't always banned and they didn't take the sign down.

[ForestChav]

Staying with Cheltenham, there's a rather interesting one on the A435 heading out of the centre the other way too.

Of course, we all know that here, the A40, A435, A46 and A4019 all come in and get tied up between each other on the city streets. We all know also that the A46 used to head out of Cheltenham to the north via Broadway and Winchcombe to Stratford, a and now disappears for a bit in this "web" without trace and presumably multiplexes with the A40 and M5 now to resurface on the old A436 at Tewkesbury before taking what was the A435 and A422 to Stratford.

So if you look around the one way system by the Holst birthplace museum (which I wanted to go in last time we were there but it was shut) on what is taking traffic on the old A46 (which becomes B4632) and current A435 towards Evesham, there's a sign which points ahead saying "Evesham A435 / Broadway (A46)". Interestingly Google's mapping shows this still as the A46 on the street view, but this is illogical enough to be an error, simply because if it was the A46 pre the renumbering, as the more important number in the multiplex, it'd be a bit useless now as there would be no reason for this to be anything but A435, as reflected in the actual signage. But I think the sign is a bodge anyway. If it was from the days when this was the A46 surely the brackets would be the other way round. And if it's not, why not just use the number which actually goes to Broadway? Round the corner it's definitely the B4632 in the street view maps too.

I guess we can let Google off somewhat though because the whole area is a bit of a numbering mess.

[the cheesecake man]

How could anyone think Snake Pass might be primary? And that the right hand side is the place to put a sign?

[Norfolktolancashire]

KORTILL VANSTER

https://goo.gl/maps/pVoFBTRYyH49ojbFA

Translates to Killer Hamster?

[Conekicker]

How could anyone think Snake Pass might be primary? And that the right hand side is the place to put a sign?

It'z an A road innit so der fore it'z green innit?
But on'y fore a short lenf:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.37474 ... 312!8i6656

You just can't get the staff these days.

I guess whoever sited the sign took one look at the rocks on the other side of the road and decided trying to dig the foundation might involve some effort, so bottled it and went for the other side. Anything for an easy life?

[SteelCamel]

How could anyone think Snake Pass might be primary? And that the right hand side is the place to put a sign?

No doubt whoever made the sign thought it was going on the other bit of the A57 in Sheffield - which is primary. Though goes nowhere near Strines.

As for it being on the right, it's on a bend. Looking from further back, you can see that if it was on the left you wouldn't be able to see it until you were practically on top of it. Though moving it back to where the junction warning sign is would allow it to be on the left and still be seen. Actually, are the two signs necessary? Surely having a directional sign for a junction provides a warning that there's a junction, so a separate warning doesn't add anything.

[Bfivethousand]

KORTILL VANSTER

https://goo.gl/maps/pVoFBTRYyH49ojbFA

Translates to Killer Hamster?

It's actually closer to translating as "there are cows to the left". Drive on the left should read "KÖR TILL VÄNSTER"

More pertinently, why Swedish? Why not Dutch? I know there used to be ferries to Esbjerg, Denmark, from Harwich long ago - is there a particularly heavily-used freight route from Sweden?

[AlexBr967]

Well these are "different":

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.38840 ... 384!8i8192

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.38940 ... 384!8i8192

Also it's not "J9" or "J10", it's just "9" or "10".

Apart from how wrong it is, I actually like how they have done the arrows. It is clear to understand what the sign means, even though it is wrong.
Also that cycle lane on the approach to the traffic signals in the first link, why is the dropped kerb after the stop line and not infront of it!
Also who is this sign for??

And... what is this?

That junction got remodelled after the street view came. Don't think it's much better though.

Edit: I am wrong. It is up to date.

[traffic-light-man]

That junction got remodelled after the street view came. Don't think it's much better though.

The latest GSV is September 2020, has it been remodelled again since then? I noticed there was a remodel at some point between summer last year and summer this year.

[Conekicker]

That junction got remodelled after the street view came. Don't think it's much better though.

The latest GSV is September 2020, has it been remodelled again since then? I noticed there was a remodel at some point between summer last year and summer this year.

The Streetview imagery is current.

[AlexBr967]

That junction got remodelled after the street view came. Don't think it's much better though.

The latest GSV is September 2020, has it been remodelled again since then? I noticed there was a remodel at some point between summer last year and summer this year.

You're right. It is up to date. I couldn't see the date on my phone and assumed it hadn't been updated since I last looked a couple of months ago. Sorry for this.

[Conekicker]

The route number is correct. Everything else is wrong.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.14339 ... 6656?hl=en

Mounting height is inadequate and if the arrow was above the route number, the sign would be narrower and could be brought forward more. I'm not convinced the 'x' height is right either.

The other direction is better but the sign would still be better with a 45 degree arrow above the route number

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.14196 ... 6656?hl=en

The Streetview imagery on the slip roads is years out of date as well.

[ellandback]

The route number is correct. Everything else is wrong.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.14339 ... 6656?hl=en

Crikey, that's pro-level botch spotting! I must have driven past that sign two dozen times and never noticed there was anything wrong with it.

(Excuse my non-pro numptiness, but what is the 'x' height, might I ask?)

[the cheesecake man]

(Excuse my non-pro numptiness, but what is the 'x' height, might I ask?)

And as an ex-mathematician how can you have an x height: x is across and height is y?!

[Conekicker]

The route number is correct. Everything else is wrong.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.14339 ... 6656?hl=en

Crikey, that's pro-level botch spotting! I must have driven past that sign two dozen times and never noticed there was anything wrong with it.

(Excuse my non-pro numptiness, but what is the 'x' height, might I ask?)

The height of a lower case letter "x" which then determines the overall size of the sign. A sign with an "x" height of 100mm will have the width and height twice that of a 50mm "x" height sign. So a 1m wide, 600mm high sign at 50mm will be 2m wide and 1.2m high at 100.

The idea is the bigger the "x" height, the further away it can be read. So you have larger "x" height signs on higher speed roads as you need to read them from further away due to your approach speed requiring a greater distance to be able to read it in the time available as you approach it.

See also:

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/ind ... rded_Signs

[Rambo]

A "wiser" expenditure of the public purse I have yet to witness.

Shipping contracts with companies that have no ships? World Student Games? They were going to "cost the people of Sheffield no more than £1m" but Clive Betts missed off the last word of the sentence: "each".

The added nonsense most readers won't be aware of is that the section of Ring Road is the same one the council had just finished spending millions of pounds on over 18 months adding lanes to and redesigning to increase vehicle capacity.

To get back on topic here's a patch for Twikker that fills the entire sign.

You want a patch that fills the entire sign? I'll give you a patch that fills the entire sign. But the thing is, I don't think it's a bodge. The context here is, we're approaching a junction on A435, which here is non-primary, and it's joining A40, which is primary, but at the junction the road straight ahead really *is* A40. There is no right turn at the lights, the angle at which A40 approaches is very acute, so there is no mention of it on the sign. All the same, I suppose it looks a bit strange.

made me think of this. There is so much green you would think there is no patch at all.

[Conekicker]

Shipping contracts with companies that have no ships? World Student Games? They were going to "cost the people of Sheffield no more than £1m" but Clive Betts missed off the last word of the sentence: "each".

The added nonsense most readers won't be aware of is that the section of Ring Road is the same one the council had just finished spending millions of pounds on over 18 months adding lanes to and redesigning to increase vehicle capacity.

To get back on topic here's a patch for Twikker that fills the entire sign.

You want a patch that fills the entire sign? I'll give you a patch that fills the entire sign. But the thing is, I don't think it's a bodge. The context here is, we're approaching a junction on A435, which here is non-primary, and it's joining A40, which is primary, but at the junction the road straight ahead really *is* A40. There is no right turn at the lights, the angle at which A40 approaches is very acute, so there is no mention of it on the sign. All the same, I suppose it looks a bit strange.

made me think of this. There is so much green you would think there is no patch at all.

Arrow in a patch = slapped wrist time.