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Previous: GPS For Less terms and conditions page | Main | Next: Displaced Smarte Carte
December 7, 2005 12:03 AM
Broken: Route 95/128 sign in Massachusetts
Chet Milosh sends in a picture of a roadway sign:
This sign is on Route 95/128 just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Route 95 is splitting off Route 128, and the sign is supposed to be alerting you of this.
However, the sign appears to point to Route 95 which is branching off and becoming a dirt road. Even funnier, it looks like people have taken the dirt road. The actual split is about a mile up ahead, but you wouldn’t know it from the sign.
To make matters worse, there are a even few little cones that direct you into the dirt road.
You live in New England and this is the only road sign you could find a problem with? Boston has the most consistently shitty signage of any place I've been, including Mexico. You know something's wrong when your public works department can't compare to a third world country.
I would have thought about taking that road as well. I would have slowed down, said to myself, "What????" and the only thing that would have stopped me from taking it is the fact that it's a dirt road. I would have driven a little up the road because it just doesn't seem right.
But it definitely gives off the impression that if you want 95, you take the dirt road.
They should have put the sign just on the other side of the overpass so that people would know, for sure, that it's the next exit.
I would have sworn this sign was somewhere in NJ: they also have a 95, and they have signage which is equally bad. My recent favorite in NJ was a sign telling me where to go...on the exit ramp....wait for it....AFTER I've passed the exit ramp. Literally, the sign was ON the exit ramp, off to the right, not anywhere before the exit ramp. I called NJDOT, and they said that they were aware of the problem, but they couldn't find a suitable spot for the sign BEFORE the exit.
Michael: Interstate 95 runs from the northern edge of Maine where it meets Canada all the way down the East Coast to Fort Lauderdale, the southern tip of Florida.
As for the sign, I've fallen prey to this type of thing before, though in my defense I never turned onto a dirt road. It seems like the signs are put up at arbitrary distances away from the actual exit, without regard for misleading commuters onto the wrong road. So very broken.
I would think this is a temporary sign, because of the orange background... which gives the dirt road even more credibility.
I agree with Pat. It looks almost as if this is a temporary road, especially with the cones and orange sign- I definitely would have found myself half way up the dirt road thinking- "Son of a bitch, this just doesn't feel right, Ahh Crap- this isn't right! "
I drive on this road every day. The state is doing lots of construction in this area with signs and cones everywhere. I've seen many people (with out of state plates) slow down at this sign not quite knowing if they should take the dirt road or not. What else would you expect from the state that gave us the "Big Dig", aka The Giant Sucking Sound Of Taxpayers Dollars Going Away
Re: crappy signage
Try finding Logan airport after the closed bridge dumps me, an out of towner, into downtown Boston in the middle of the night and no one put up any detour signage.
You can follow the little green airport signs, but one set led me to some sort of civic center. Another set led me to some sort of dark, abandoned industrial whatsis that I'm sure was just packed with zombies, giant mutant cockroaches and renegade cyborgs.
The woman who rear-ended my rental car at a red light (true story... just a scratch on my rear bumper) directed me to the tunnel... which turned out to be closed. I was on the verge of hiring a cab driver to lead me into the airport when I ran across a different tunnel that the city was kind enough to have open.
Eventially I got into the airport, "forgot" to mention the scratch to Budget rentals and made it to the termional where people were in a state to riot becayse they all went through the same thing.
And this was all last year on September 11th. I thought someone had made a bomb threat against the airport. I think I found out later that they have to repair the Big Dig every night or the Atlantic Ocean will move into downtown Boston or something.
So thank you, Boston, and your pot hole laden roads that follow 7000 year old forest trails.
I work right next to that sign. The picture is taken to selectively favor one side of the story. The dirt ramp is obviously a "construction vehicle only" ramp for the ongoing road improvements being done. The real I95 onramp is just after, and clearly labled. His selective framing might fool some people, but in actuality anyone with half a brain can see where the road goes. This was just a half assed cry for attention by the poster. Try again.
People who have bought some huge SUV to drive to the office in think:
"Yes! Finally"
and consequently wind up nowhere NEAR the office, which will be unfortunate, as being near the office would also involve being near the gas station.
what this needs in a small sign under the main sign that designates the ramp is still a little ways ahead, something like this:
SOUTH 95
--->
(1 Mile)
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Previous: GPS For Less terms and conditions page | Main | Next: Displaced Smarte Carte
bet its fun to sit under the overpass and watch people try and decide.
Posted by: gmangw at December 7, 2005 12:24 AM