Signs at Night – The Standard Alphabet

Nighttime overhead highway signs for I-95 and I-495 toward Richmond, Silver Spring, and Baltimore.

You are driving an unfamiliar highway at night. Rain beads up on windshield; the drops of water, tiny diamonds in the reflection off the road. Your exit is coming. The man at the station said it was ten miles, but it feels like you have driven too far. Did you miss it?

Before your map talked to you and told you where to go, before the little dot on the screen showed you where you are, before you gave up your instincts to the hegemony of your devices — there were signs — signs developed by highway engineers through decades of experimentation and rigorous testing using scientific methods. They were all you had and they had to work.

The rain picks up and you search the edge of your lights for anything but the wavering lines on the road. And there it is…a green and white blur far out ahead. As it gets closer, you read its message and respond to its imperative not thinking of how the design of the sign or the shape of the letters made this possible. You relax, signal, and exit the highway, secure you know where you are and where you are going.

A yellow warning sign for sharp curves and narrow miles photographed after dark.

Nighttime freeway signs mark left exits toward San Jose and Oakland.

A nighttime highway sign points toward Seventh Avenue and the airport.

A green street sign for San Jacinto Street photographed at night.

An overhead Belmont Avenue freeway sign photographed in nighttime traffic.

A green Exit 100 freeway sign photographed along the roadway at night.

A cluster of overhead route signs points toward Afton, Grand Lake, and Vinita.

A nighttime highway sign directs traffic toward Exit 271 and Route 147.

Nighttime interstate guide signs mark the approach to Exit 278A.

A dense stack of interstate and business-route signs photographed at night.

A highway guide sign points north on Route 61 toward Rolling Fork and Yazoo City.

Overhead interstate guide signs direct traffic toward Clifton Forge and Saginaw at night.

Black-and-white business route signs point drivers along U.S. 60 and Business 220.

Overhead freeway signs guide nighttime traffic through an urban roadway.

A yellow warning sign advises drivers to prepare to stop when the right lane is flashing.

School zone and speed limit signs photographed at night along a local road.

A U.S. Route 8 shield and roadside guide sign photographed at night.

A route sign appears beside a nighttime traffic signal and street traffic.

A green I-95 North guide sign points toward New Haven.

A yellow guide sign directs traffic toward Fulton Street and Van Ness Avenue.

A green highway guide sign lists Cleveland and Hartford destinations at night.

Four of the photographs above use a different font than the original Standard Alphabet used on most highway signs. Can you tell which pictures have the new font?