Botched Roadsigns
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
Where?
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
I didn't think it looked like a Moto services, but I have seen the same sign at several of those. Stopping prohibited!
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
Steep hill upwards. Granted, there is a 16% climb some distance forwards, after a pretty steep drop, but it has its own sign. So have Bath just used the wrong sign here? There was another similar one elsewhere locally, but I can't find it at the moment.
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
Hi!I do not know if is technically botched, but trying to make sense in the two seconds as you approach it before reaching the roundabout is quite a challenge.
https://goo.gl/maps/ea9DJiAqeZ62
The sign is clearly not new - a modern version would have a larger green patch to include Bury St Edmunds as well as the route number.
I know that location, and can quite appreciate what it's trying to say, though one feels that there ought to be the regulation gap in the roundabout, at about 5 o'clock in the circle. Sudbury has a large gyratory system around its town centre, I think it takes about 10 minutes to do a complete circuit. This is at the SE corner, where traffic coming in from Great Cornard (I'm sure that should be a breed of bird) meets the circulation, and is more-or-less forced to head via the market place. The roundabout is there to enable traffic from the minor road on the left to turn right, and for traffic from the north to reach said minor road, while traffic already on the gyratory is given a cut-off that avoids the roundabout altogether.
I think the correct method now is to use one green patch for each number with the number in brackets in each patch. I've seen this idea depicted on the Sudbury sign in a number of places, it was common in the transition period of late 1980s to the late 1990s when the Guildford Rules were coming into general use – for a few years after the 1994 TSRGD made Guildford design principles law, it was common at primary/non–primary junctions to use Guildford Designs on the primary route, and a non–Guildford Rules design on the non–primary side roads with number patches like the example shown!
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
Also the "M6" at the top is in the wrong font and "North West" should be in capitals.rw93 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 11, 2018 14:39 I pass this sign everyday on the way back from work and it irritates me, just after J12 on the M6 northbound.
https://goo.gl/maps/HtBtg4WMa9N2
The "8" is upside down, the "4" of "24" is on a plate, as is "64". "Stoke-on" and "Manchester" are the same.
I can only assume that the sign was in a different location at some point and had to be adapted for it's new location? Bit weird.
But at least it's mostly the right colour...
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- ellandback
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
I kind of get why this is here (it's where the M53 becomes the A55) but it still seems a bit unnecessary.
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
Surely the M53 IS a dual carriageway?ellandback wrote: ↑Wed Oct 24, 2018 13:06 I kind of get why this is here (it's where the M53 becomes the A55) but it still seems a bit unnecessary.
What a completely pointless sign.
Re: Botched Roadsigns
Surely a "motorway end" sign or something indicating the end of the motorway however far ahead would have been better?ellandback wrote: ↑Wed Oct 24, 2018 13:06 I kind of get why this is here (it's where the M53 becomes the A55) but it still seems a bit unnecessary.
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
"I associate myself with the comments of the previous speaker" - deffo an EoM sign would have been better and less prone to incurring scorn or derision.Euan wrote: ↑Thu Oct 25, 2018 21:51Surely a "motorway end" sign or something indicating the end of the motorway however far ahead would have been better?ellandback wrote: ↑Wed Oct 24, 2018 13:06 I kind of get why this is here (it's where the M53 becomes the A55) but it still seems a bit unnecessary.
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
Google hasn't been updated yet but the brand new half-mile gantry ADS on the northbound M1 approaching junction 25 are missing their arrows.
It's a sign designing error at its most basic, and an overseeing organisation that seemingly only cares when it suits them about what's being installed on their network... but what really gets me is the fact that similar signs at 1 mile and the diverge do have them, and sign plates are ordered in together, so surely somebody must have noticed that one gantry is not like the others?
I've been able to design signs for 11 years and could spot glaring omissions like this at a glance.
Does nobody in Highways England (or their Major Projects design contractors, come to that) even care any more?
It's a sign designing error at its most basic, and an overseeing organisation that seemingly only cares when it suits them about what's being installed on their network... but what really gets me is the fact that similar signs at 1 mile and the diverge do have them, and sign plates are ordered in together, so surely somebody must have noticed that one gantry is not like the others?
I've been able to design signs for 11 years and could spot glaring omissions like this at a glance.
Does nobody in Highways England (or their Major Projects design contractors, come to that) even care any more?
"Accuse the other side of that which you are guilty."
- some extreme-right nutcase
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
It also seems odd to me (your second example) to have "Keep in low gear" on the upward slope.Big L wrote: ↑Thu Oct 18, 2018 20:06 Steep hill upwards. Granted, there is a 16% climb some distance forwards, after a pretty steep drop, but it has its own sign. So have Bath just used the wrong sign here? There was another similar one elsewhere locally, but I can't find it at the moment.
Re: Botched Roadsigns
There's a very simple misunderstanding associated with that - the type of gantry used. The gantries currently being installed are smart motorway ones supporting VSL and MS4 systems. These new ones have only the lane control signals on the gantry itself and the lane arrows are supposed to be on the ADS above the actual gantry beam and ABOVE the lane control signals, like here on the M1 at J19 where the ADS are properly done.
But on older-style, non-smart gantries with MS1 signals, often the lane arrows are BELOW the lane control signals on the actual gantry beam. An example is here on the M1 near LFE.
They've probably just mixed up which gantries are used with where the lane arrows need to be. The funniest thing will be seeing lane arrows below VSL signals, like on the M4 in Wales. The same mistake has been made on the M25 at J16.
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
These are offset stack-type signs, the ones with the arrows on the sign itself off to the side. The space is obvious where the arrows should have been printed. The other gantries are of exactly the same design; a copy-and-paste is all that was needed.EpicChef wrote: ↑Fri Oct 26, 2018 15:15There's a very simple misunderstanding associated with that - the type of gantry used. The gantries currently being installed are smart motorway ones supporting VSL and MS4 systems. These new ones have only the lane control signals on the gantry itself and the lane arrows are supposed to be on the ADS above the actual gantry beam and ABOVE the lane control signals, like here on the M1 at J19 where the ADS are properly done.
But on older-style, non-smart gantries with MS1 signals, often the lane arrows are BELOW the lane control signals on the actual gantry beam. An example is here on the M1 near LFE.
They've probably just mixed up which gantries are used with where the lane arrows need to be. The funniest thing will be seeing lane arrows below VSL signals, like on the M4 in Wales. The same mistake has been made on the M25 at J16.
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- Conekicker
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
No one at HE checks contractor designs because that's what the contractors are paid to do - provide a conforming design that has been designed and checked by staff with the appropriate skill level. If the contractor is incompetent, which sadly is becoming more likely these days due to the ever-worsening skills shortage, then they should be brought to task.Arcuarius wrote: ↑Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:37 Google hasn't been updated yet but the brand new half-mile gantry ADS on the northbound M1 approaching junction 25 are missing their arrows.
It's a sign designing error at its most basic, and an overseeing organisation that seemingly only cares when it suits them about what's being installed on their network... but what really gets me is the fact that similar signs at 1 mile and the diverge do have them, and sign plates are ordered in together, so surely somebody must have noticed that one gantry is not like the others?
I've been able to design signs for 11 years and could spot glaring omissions like this at a glance.
Does nobody in Highways England (or their Major Projects design contractors, come to that) even care any more?
Allowing that I haven't seen the sign in question, note also that TSRGD does not show what gantry signs should look like these days, so legally speaking the sign probably isn't unlawful, unless there's some other aspect of the design that makes it non-prescribed. I doubt that would be very likely to be the case here though.
Having said that, someone in the chain from designer, through manufacturer to installer should perhaps have at least queried matters. Which raises a different set of issues entirely.
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
The TSRGD should make it clear where lane arrows should go. Below lane control signals or above them?Conekicker wrote:
Allowing that I haven't seen the sign in question, note also that TSRGD does not show what gantry signs should look like these days, so legally speaking the sign probably isn't unlawful, unless there's some other aspect of the design that makes it non-prescribed.
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
The preference these days is for the arrow to be included within the sign face, much like the old Diagram 2021.1. See IAN 144.EpicChef wrote: ↑Sat Oct 27, 2018 00:31The TSRGD should make it clear where lane arrows should go. Below lane control signals or above them?Conekicker wrote:
Allowing that I haven't seen the sign in question, note also that TSRGD does not show what gantry signs should look like these days, so legally speaking the sign probably isn't unlawful, unless there's some other aspect of the design that makes it non-prescribed.
http://www.standardsforhighways.co.uk/h ... IAN144.pdf
Although quite where that advice will end up when DMRB is rejigged over the next year or two I'm not aware.
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Re: Botched Roadsigns
You know, for all my time spent on the M4 near The Coldra I had never noticed the contraflow AMIs on the eastbound side of that gantry. That's some expensive and mostly completely useless provision for a crossover. I've never even seen a contraflow used on the Newport Bypass as widening works have never and will never be seen there. If there was a total closure the diversion would be via the A48 SDR through Newport. Anyone know what the point of those AMIs is?EpicChef wrote: ↑Fri Oct 26, 2018 15:15
They've probably just mixed up which gantries are used with where the lane arrows need to be. The funniest thing will be seeing lane arrows below VSL signals, like on the M4 in Wales
Re: Botched Roadsigns
So this is wrong, even though it has been the design for so many years, and this is right? Even on non-smart motorways?2.28 Gantry arrows must not be shown beneath matrix or variable speed limit indicator
signs mounted on the fascia of gantries.
But the M4 in London has the weirdest solution: BOTH above and below!
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