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Vote for as many as you like, then list them, and then pick one that's your favorite above all the others.
I voted for California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming.
If I had to pick just one, it'd be Kansas. The sunflower design is neat.
I always marvel at the uglieness of WI's every time I voyage over there.
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If you knew about the evolution of the Wisconsin signs, you'd have more appreciation of them. Wisconsin was the first state to number its state highways, in 1917, five years before the next state (Missouri). Originally it was just a triangle: http://images.wisconsinhistory.org/7...06000889-m.jpg
To improve readability, a rectangle was superimposed over it, making a composite shield with more space for the number: http://statetrunktour.com/96/wi96sign.jpg
Then, it evolved to the ugly thing that is now used, in an effort to add legibility without abandoning the traditional triangle/rectangle motif.
Before roads had numbers, a route from one city to another might be called
"The Red-ball Road" or "The Yellow Line Road". and when drivers came to a crossroads, they would need to look down all the roads for a telephone pole with a red ball or a yellow line painted on it, and then proceed that way.
US highway numbers were laid out in 1923 and fully implemented in 1926.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Wow, Kansas is actually leading a poll on something, that's a first. That was my 1st pick as it seems the most unique and very characteristic of the state.
Washington's is also really cool with George Washington's sillouette even though ironically the state/territory of is namesake was never on his radar.
I wonder why Utah is the beehive state as so many other images come to mind when I think of that state (like the natural red rock arch).
Also, I thought Montana had something akin to an arrowhead instead of the non descript rectangle, either that or I must have been driving on an Indian reservation while there.
Colorado and Minnesota get points for having the most colorful ones. Boo-hiss on Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine for the non descript rectangle. New Hampshires shield is no more, as the state symbol of the Old Man on the Mountain has crumbled and eroded away, so sad.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 06-07-2011 at 09:13 AM..
CA, MN, WY = all very classy, cool, uncomplicated design, just very distinctive and memorable. Kinda stunned anyone voted for North Carolina.
There are no county maintained roads in NC (everything is either a city street, or a state highway), so NC has state primary roads, which are signed, and state secondary routes, which are unsigned. This is a relic of the great depression, when many county governments (which had FAR more autonomy pre-1930) defaulted, and teh state had to do a lot of bailing out. In the decades since, the state has LONG needed to download all or some of those secondary roads back to local governance, as it eats up massive, massive amounts of state money to essentially maintain Joe Bob's driveway as a state highway. I doubt we'll see it happen.
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