Weird or unusual Highway signs

[pitchleague]

Uecker beat me to it, but I've got a picture very similar to his, just with big boulders falling on your car. Every time I see this sign, I make a comment to my wife to "watch out, the mountain may be taking a dump" for the next 5 miles. She did a spit take the first time I ever said it. Wish I could find the picture.

[And That]

Someone has been to traffic school one too many times.... or something.

It was explained to me by a police officer friend of mine a few years ago. It makes sense if you think about how buses turn right.

 

[whizkid]

"It's Illegal to make a right turn in front of this bus". Why?

 

It means you can't turn right from a driving lane in front of a bus at a corner bus stop in the parking/turn lane. You have to stay behind the bus and turn when it pulls out from the stop.

[1992casey]

You'd have to find an old print copy of the Journal or Sentinel for a picture of this, but for a while, there was a green sign above US 45/I-894 telling drivers which lane to use to go toward Beliot.

[Mike Felder]

Huh. I always thought it meant that you couldn't turn in front of a bus that was sitting at a bus stop on a corner. I learned something new tonight.

[TheCrew07]

Someone has been to traffic school one too many times.... or something.

It was explained to me by a police officer friend of mine a few years ago. It makes sense if you think about how buses turn right.

 

True enough, but you are the first peson ever, and this topic has come up probably 40 or 50 times since the first time any of us saw a sign to know exactly what it meant. Which of course means I had to throw some grief your way.

[And That]

Someone has been to traffic school one too many times.... or something.

It was explained to me by a police officer friend of mine a few years ago. It makes sense if you think about how buses turn right.

 

True enough, but you are the first peson ever, and this topic has come up probably 40 or 50 times since the first time any of us saw a sign to know exactly what it meant. Which of course means I had to throw some grief your way.

Instead of grief, howsabout some Brewers tickets?http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/wink.gif

 

[whizkid]

Here's a good explanation of the bus sign and why. Turning inside of a wide-turning bus or semi is also illegal and incredibly stupid but not what the signs refer to.

[TracyThom]

...and of course if you were ever a teenager, you know exactly what exit number Mauston is.

[Crazyk1294]

...and of course if you were ever a teenager, you know exactly what exit number Mauston is.

 

I'm guessing 69...

[1992casey]

Janesville deserves a special mention for its Business US Hwy 14.

 

First, there are several of signs like these around town. City routes were phased out in the early 1960s.

 

http://www.fuzzyworld3.com/pictures3/us14/d-7983-cityus14white.jpg

 

http://www.fuzzyworld3.com/pictures3/us14/c-7992-cityus14yellow.jpg

 

And on the edge of town, there's this sign. Hwy 14 is a US highway, not a state highway.

 

http://www.fuzzyworld3.com/pictures3/us14/b-7986-businesswis14.jpg

 

This is the kind of sign you're supposed to see.

 

http://www.fuzzyworld3.com/pictures3/us14/a-1286-business14turn.jpg

 

But with all these different kinds of signs, it's still hit or miss when it comes to finding them or following them. They only pop up when they feel like popping up. You can't depend on them to lead you through town.

 

Source: Fuzzy World 3: The Many Faces of Business US-14 in Janesville, Wisconsin

[hawing]

I wonder if it might be easier to just drive to and around Janesville than to figure out how the heck to actually view those photos, instead of the irritating green boxes.

 

Fortunately (perhaps), I grew up in Janesville and so vaguely remember at least some of the signs in question.

[craigharmann]

I grew up in Janesville and I SOOOO remember the yellow signs. I thought they were kinda cool because they were yellow. The one picture of the yellow sign in the link is taken close by where I used to live because the hospital is in the background and I lived just down the street from the hospital. My dad was the pastor at the church right next to the clinic/hospital complex.

[Diskono]

OK, so say you're driving down a street, you pull up to a stop sign, and a bus just happens to be behind you. Its ok to turn right, correct? To me, the wording of those signs on the back of buses would indicate that you cannot do this (and to be honest, I can't really think of any other ways to interpret it that actually make sense).

[whizkid]

OK, so say you're driving down a street, you pull up to a stop sign, and a bus just happens to be behind you. Its ok to turn right, correct? To me, the wording of those signs on the back of buses would indicate that you cannot do this (and to be honest, I can't really think of any other ways to interpret it that actually make sense).

 

Of course you can turn right when you're already in front of the bus. If you're already in front of the bus you can't see the sign in the back, right? http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/happy.gif The signs are in back so when the bus pulls up to a corner stop, a car following it can see the sign and theoretically won't pull left into a traffic lane, go alongside the bus and then turn right in front of the bus. Seems very clear to me.

[zurch1818]

Do you go or stop at this light?

[DatHoser]

I remember back about 30 years ago when US41 had a railroad track crossing it - can't remember if it was near Oshkosh or Apppleton (sp). I still remember the railroad crossing sign with another sign saying "exempt" below it.

 

Also, Casey - I43 used to be US 141 along the lake.

 

I loved looking at road maps as a kid and still do. I guess I'm not alone.

[1992casey]

Using the Hwy 141 route to Green Bay was the compromise when objections were raised to building the new interstate in other locations. I believe the freeway was already completed between Milwaukee and Sheboygan.

 

The "Exempt" sign on railroad crossings means that vehicles that are normally required to stop at railroad tracks don't have to.

 

Another railroad caveat: I believe Madison's South Beltline is still considered a freeway, even though a railroad track crosses it somewhere between Todd Drive and Verona Road. I don't think that crossing is exempt.

[whizkid]

If there's an active at grade RR crossing, technically it's not a freeway but an expressway.

[DatHoser]

Thanks Casey!! I've been wondering since that time what the exempt sign meant. Thanks for the additional info on I43.

 

Also thanks to Mike Felder for the Wisconsin Highways link. It was fun reading up on highway 29, a road near and dear to my heart growing up.

 

I remember one place from my travels growing up.

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff144/DatHoser/accident.jpg

 

Plus, from just south of where I grew up.

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff144/DatHoser/embarrass.jpg

[jazzytrav]

When I was growing up there was a road that we drove on quite frequently called Triple Kay Rd. It turns out it used to be county road KKK, but that obviously wasn't gonna fly. So rather than change the name of it, they just decided to spell it all out.

 

DatHoser, there's an exempt RR sign just off US41 in Oshkosh on a side road. The interesting thing was that there was an actual stop sign at the crossing. So picture this, from top to bottom: railroad crossing sign, stop sign, exempt sign. I spent the next few hours trying to figure out the thought process behind this. Option 1: take the stop sign down...Option 2: put "exempt" sign under the stop sign...hmmm

[brewizard]

though I-97 is sort of ridiculous.

 

By the way, if you happen to be in Newburg, Maryland at 2PM, and need to make a 6PM flight out of BWI airport south of Baltimore, like I did recently, then I-97 is a godsend.

 

Also, futility.

 

http://home.neo.rr.com/intech/nogreen.jpg

[NeedMoreFans]

Another railroad caveat: I believe Madison's South Beltline is still considered a freeway, even though a railroad track crosses it somewhere between Todd Drive and Verona Road. I don't think that crossing is exempt.

That crossing is no longer there, thankfully. It was removed this summer when they resurfaced the Beltline from Fish Hatch to Verona Rd.

[uecker9]

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x296/uecker9/tanks.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x296/uecker9/drivecar.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x296/uecker9/kodak.jpg

 

 

[And That]

I was driving on 35W northbound into Minneapolis from St. Paul today (most of you will figure out the significance of this), and as I was approaching the final exit off of 35W North, I saw "Right Lane Ends Merge" and a "Left Lane Ends Merge" signs in the same place on a 2-lane highway. I'm debating whether or not to stop on the curb and take a pic, but it is funny, relatively speaking.

 

And then I drove by the scene on the 10th Ave bridge... it's still so shocking and mesmerizing. Almost all of the old bridge has been cleared, but just looking at the remnants if the piers at the end of the initial sections of the overpass is beyond words. I went down there about a week after the bridge collapse and it was terrifying. Now with the realization that a lot of our bridges could do the same thing, be weakened in the same way, is scary. I still have a hard time driving over the Mississippi to this day.