Talk:U.S. Route shield

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More details on shield development

In the reference section, page 25, of Richard Weingroff's IQ test, he gives more details about the development of the shield than he does in his "Origins" article used as a source multiple times in the WP article.

["At a board meeting" quote from page 10, which is cited in the WP article] – James, E. W., unpublished letter to BPR Design Engineer Frederic W. Cron, February 21, 1967, http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/ewjames.cfm. (Cron used the letter as a source for “Touring by Numbers – Why and How,” Public Works, February 1968). An article in the July 1956 issue of BPR’s The News in Public Roads suggested that Rogers may have seen a similar design, prepared at least a year earlier by Walter F. Brooks, a BPR engineer working in Michigan. Brooks proposed his shield to mark 11 Federal Aid Roads. His idea was circulated among members of the Mississippi Valley Conference in May 1924 and unanimously rejected “as officials felt that the State markers were adequate.” The article indicates that James did not recall seeing the earlier shield and summarized his recollection: “Frank Rogers ... sketched the outline of the shield now familiar to every driver and handed it to Mr. James. Mr. James filled in the State and route number. Thereafter T. L. Ainsworth, a master draftsman known to all oldtimers of the Bureau, developed the exact proportions of the markers.” “Origin of U.S. Route Markers,” The News in Public Roads, Bureau of Public Roads, July 1956, page 5. AASHO’s executive secretary during this period, William C. Markham added that “a southern delegate” had the idea of placing the State name on each shield as a way of reducing southern resistance to a “U.S.” number. The idea also helped overcome resistance from States that already had legislative authority to post State numbering signs. Markham, William C., The Autobiography of William Colfax Markham (Ransdell, Inc., 1946, page 154).

Would any of this be useful in the article, or does the status quo suffice? Mapsax (talk) 16:47, 8 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

New numbering font?

In some recent travels (September 2021) in the western half of Michigan I have noticed US highway signs that have the same shape but a much-narrower font for the number. This also appears on state and Interstate markers. Is this a new practice (it is entirely on newer signs) or is this simply a printing error in a highway sign shop?

Signs with the newer font seems to replace older signs. Is this temporary or permanent, and is this limited to Michigan?