{"id":8295,"date":"2017-01-03T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartsignblog.com\/blog\/?p=8295"},"modified":"2025-03-11T04:26:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T08:26:41","slug":"highways-got-signs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/highways-got-signs\/","title":{"rendered":"How highways got their signs"},"content":{"rendered":"

We recently got an interesting inquiry from a customer asking, just how did street signs get that way? \u00a0Why are they shaped like they are?<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s actually an interesting question! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At first, signage on streets and highways wasn\u2019t standardized at all. \u00a0In the early 20th century, most long-distance travel was by rail or by ship, so there was much less need for road signage that could be seen at speed. \u00a0Government intervention was relatively minimal, and signage was instead posted by a wide variety of private car clubs. \u00a0No signage standards existed, and duplicate signage abounded on heavily traveled roads. \u00a0Many intersections were controlled either by policemen– raising the risk of human error– or by non-uniform signs that might confuse unfamiliar motorists.<\/span><\/p>\n

As cars became more and more common, state and local officials began to adopt uniform standards for road signage; first, with the 1927 American Association of State Highway Officials\u2019 manual for rural areas, and then with the National Conference on Street and Highway Safety\u2019s markers for urban areas.<\/span><\/p>\n

The federal highway manual, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, was written in 1935, and was meant to standardize road signage and make those uniform. \u00a0Signage gradually evolved through a combination of experience and research; by 1961, signage had largely evolved into its modern form.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then, relatively minor changes have occurred: the introduction of orange as a construction color in the 1970’s, and more recent changes to reflect new urban planning fashions, in particular, signage for bicycle, light rail, and pedestrian crossings.<\/span><\/p>\n

So in short, the answer is, because the government says so!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We recently got an interesting inquiry from a customer asking, just how did street signs get that way? \u00a0Why are they shaped like they are? Well, it\u2019s actually an interesting question! \u00a0 At first, signage on streets and highways wasn\u2019t standardized at all. \u00a0In the early 20th century, most long-distance travel was by rail or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"wpmdr_menu":0,"wpmdr_menu_extended":{"individualPostRemove":1,"individualPostRemoveDate":1,"individualPostRemoveAuthor":1,"individualPostYoastRemovePublished":1,"individualPostYoastRemoveModified":1},"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[632,469,654,601,635,463],"class_list":["post-8295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-driving","tag-highway","tag-highway-sign","tag-parking","tag-parking-sign","tag-road-signs"],"yoast_head":"\nHow highways got their signs | SmartSign Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We recently got an interesting inquiry from a customer asking, just how did street signs get that way? \u00a0Why are they shaped like they are? Well, it\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/highways-got-signs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How highways got their signs | SmartSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We recently got an interesting inquiry from a customer asking, just how did street signs get that way? \u00a0Why are they shaped like they are? Well, it\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/highways-got-signs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SmartSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/SmartSign\/220245064667579\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-03T18:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-11T08:26:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/shutterstock_312078200.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"664\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Paul Daniels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmartSign\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SmartSign\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com\\\/blog\\\/highways-got-signs\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/highways-got-signs\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Paul Daniels\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1f2a03ed93d54c9616b52210fdfd8670\"},\"headline\":\"How highways got their signs\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-03T18:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-11T08:26:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/highways-got-signs\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":271,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com\\\/blog\\\/highways-got-signs\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/shutterstock_312078200.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"driving\",\"highway\",\"highway sign\",\"parking\",\"parking sign\",\"road signs\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/highways-got-signs\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com\\\/blog\\\/highways-got-signs\\\/\",\"name\":\"How highways got their signs | SmartSign Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com\\\/blog\\\/highways-got-signs\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com\\\/blog\\\/highways-got-signs\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/shutterstock_312078200.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-03T18:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-11T08:26:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"We recently got an interesting inquiry from a customer asking, just how did street signs get that way? \u00a0Why are they shaped like they are? Well, it\u2019s\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com\\\/blog\\\/highways-got-signs\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com\\\/blog\\\/highways-got-signs\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com\\\/blog\\\/highways-got-signs\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/shutterstock_312078200.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/shutterstock_312078200.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":664},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com\\\/blog\\\/highways-got-signs\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How highways got their signs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"SmartSign Blog\",\"description\":\"Articles and resources on safety, security, and signs\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SmartSign\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/smartsign-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/smartsign-logo.png\",\"width\":188,\"height\":55,\"caption\":\"SmartSign\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/pages\\\/SmartSign\\\/220245064667579\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/SmartSign\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1f2a03ed93d54c9616b52210fdfd8670\",\"name\":\"John Paul Daniels\",\"description\":\"John Paul Daniels is the marketing director at SmartSign. He's an urban planning nerd, cycling enthusiast, and lover of tacos.\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How highways got their signs | SmartSign Blog","description":"We recently got an interesting inquiry from a customer asking, just how did street signs get that way? \u00a0Why are they shaped like they are? Well, it\u2019s","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/highways-got-signs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How highways got their signs | SmartSign Blog","og_description":"We recently got an interesting inquiry from a customer asking, just how did street signs get that way? \u00a0Why are they shaped like they are? Well, it\u2019s","og_url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/highways-got-signs\/","og_site_name":"SmartSign Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/SmartSign\/220245064667579","article_published_time":"2017-01-03T18:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-11T08:26:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":664,"url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/shutterstock_312078200.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Paul Daniels","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SmartSign","twitter_site":"@SmartSign","twitter_misc":{"Written by":false,"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/highways-got-signs\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/highways-got-signs\/"},"author":{"name":"John Paul Daniels","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1f2a03ed93d54c9616b52210fdfd8670"},"headline":"How highways got their signs","datePublished":"2017-01-03T18:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-11T08:26:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/highways-got-signs\/"},"wordCount":271,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/highways-got-signs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/shutterstock_312078200.jpg","keywords":["driving","highway","highway sign","parking","parking sign","road signs"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/highways-got-signs\/","url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/highways-got-signs\/","name":"How highways got their signs | SmartSign Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/highways-got-signs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/highways-got-signs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/shutterstock_312078200.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-03T18:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-11T08:26:41+00:00","description":"We recently got an interesting inquiry from a customer asking, just how did street signs get that way? \u00a0Why are they shaped like they are? Well, it\u2019s","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/highways-got-signs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/highways-got-signs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/highways-got-signs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/shutterstock_312078200.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/shutterstock_312078200.jpg","width":1000,"height":664},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/highways-got-signs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How highways got their signs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/","name":"SmartSign Blog","description":"Articles and resources on safety, security, and signs","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#organization","name":"SmartSign","url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/smartsign-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/smartsign-logo.png","width":188,"height":55,"caption":"SmartSign"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/SmartSign\/220245064667579","https:\/\/x.com\/SmartSign"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1f2a03ed93d54c9616b52210fdfd8670","name":"John Paul Daniels","description":"John Paul Daniels is the marketing director at SmartSign. He's an urban planning nerd, cycling enthusiast, and lover of tacos."}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11577,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8295\/revisions\/11577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}