Sign of the end times: Bill would require cities and towns to label streets
By adamg - 3/3/09 - 10:15 pm
Both streets at an intersection, even. Next thing you know, the Beacon Hill elites will want cities and towns to make the signs legible, too.
Comments
Request
Can they spell the names phoenetically, please?
Yes, please!
Yes, yes, yes.
I third that
I've lived here over 5 decades and it would help the natives as well. It's easy to get lost in Boston, for instance, ON FOOT!
Dear Lord!
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
But you'll still be lost...
...Because every sign will say "Thomas M. Menino, Mayor" with no room left for the street name :-)
... even the signs out in
... even the signs out in Williamstown? that wouldn't make sense, they don't even have a mayor, much less Menino.
Over in Connecticut, we made
Over in Connecticut, we made street signs mandatory and legible. It's really quite nice.
Good, now...
... please make the exit signs along I-84 around Hartford legible at night.
Why would you want to go to
Why would you want to go to Hartford at night? Consider it a safety measure.
That would be great! Ive
That would be great! Ive lived here all my life and never realized the names of certain streets until I started using Google maps for directions. Normally when people give directions its all about landmarks not street names because you know full well the streets wont be labeled. Problem is every town has 15 Dunkin Donuts, 10 Starbucks, and 3 McDonalds and not as many mom and pop stores so its much harder to give landmark directions now lol.
Classic directions once given to me for West Roxbuy
"...turn left at the nail salon on the corner..."
Even more classic would have been ...
Turn left at the corner where the nail salon used to be ...
Oh I have relatives like
Oh I have relatives like that. Well when you get to the place that used to be the restaurant where me and your uncle used to go every Friday take a left. You will see a yellow house, keep going. Then take a right when you can see the ocean, but not at the ocean.
Nevermind that the restaurant is now a 15 story condo complex or you can no longer see the ocean from that point because of trees planted 20 years ago. On the bright side the little house is still yellow.
Even I've done this
It took a while to stop using 'the Orson Welles Cinema' as a landmark after it burned down.
Wrong
You're thinking of the nail salon that was across from the Zayre's parking lot. What you meant was the nail salon that used to be across from the Caldor's parking lot.
yesssssssssss
I've been waiting for this since I moved here from a civilized part of the country that knows how to label roads 22 years ago.
Well, obviously
You don't need a street sign for the road you're on because you're already on it, innit?
Well, obviously
You've never gotten lost.
Also obviously
And of course since you're on it, you know what its name is, right? (Never mind that it was called something else a couple of blocks ago, and will be called a third something else again in a couple of blocks...)
Exactly
You got it. Street signs are for the weak, like turn signals.
Senator Jehlen for
Senator Jehlen for legislator of the year :)
I love this street sign bill, but...
...I can only imagine the fun & games that will occur in awarding contracts to the companies who make the signs. Do our correctional facilities still make license plates?
-In a cynical moment
Street signs
In many cities and towns, they make their own. I haven't surveyed all 351, though.
Seriously? That's the first
Seriously? That's the first thing you thought of? Anon above is correct.
Give me the signs.
Heck, I'm at loose ends for a little while. If the state prints them, I'll go put them up. You hear that Massachusetts?
"Both" streets?
How many intersections around here have just two streets crossing?
The intersections at either end of my block do
And, honestly, that's all that really matters.
I guess that depends on
I guess that depends on where you are. Its been my experience the neighberhoods are the places where you have traditional intersections, and those far out number 5 road cluster... you find in parts of Downtown or near the major routes in other cities.
What use is street names?
What use is street names? You still can't get there from here.
why not have the Legislature
why not have the Legislature supply a GPS unit for each household ?
A politician could go far with these ideas (?)
As I also posted on the WickedLocal post...
I moved to Cambridge 5 years ago and found myself perpetually lost for a long time - and still often do. I always wondered why in the world local governments decided not to put up signs on local roads - especially if there was already a sign post with the name of one street, why not post the other, too?
At one point, I even had the idea of running for office on this platform:
1. I will put up signs on the roads.
2. I will paint lane stripes on the roads.
Think that would be a winning proposition?
Cambridge spends over 50,000
Cambridge spends over 50,000 a year on creating squares at every intersection. Seriously every intersection is "Some guy who lived in that house square." That being said the lack of street signs in Cambridge is not as bad as in other areas.
You're right - Cambridge is
You're right - Cambridge is better than most areas. My angst is directed toward the greater Boston region in general.
I like the new trend of
I like the new trend of putting street names in the pavement at intersections for pedestrians. Only nice streets get these of course.
where's this?
I've never seen this.
Well you obviously dont live
Well you obviously dont live in a posh enough area!
I havent seen them either, where must I go to see them?
New Trend?
I've only seen that in neighborhoods built around 1900.
I think it must have been the thing to do when using this new nifty concrete stuff for sidewalks, since I've seen it all over the country - in Chicago, Portland OR, Pasadena CA and many other areas including Boston. As for "nice streets", most of the places I've seen it were in street-car subdivisions built for working-class and middle-class people.
Re: where's this?
I've noticed it on Stuart St. next to the Hancock tower.
On comm ave, from Kenmore to
On comm ave, from Kenmore to the BU bridge, and on boylston street from hynes to the public garden (not all streets)
Also, kenmore square now has signs centered by the lights with arrows showing which street is where.
Two new ideas
1) Text updates at every interection so those drivers on their cell phones who can't be bothered to watch the road know where they are.
2) Street names emblazoned on the neon yellow vests of the cops who just stand around idly at adjacent construction zones. Hey, they'll be getiing paid for something.
Geesh!
Next thing you know, they will start citing property owners for not displaying street numbers that are clearly visible from the street!
Did you guys catch this part of the bill?
In order to combat the unemployment in the state, the bill includes language to hire unemployed residents to hold the signs just like this. Woohoo, Go Stimulus!
Let's tweet
Perhaps someone should tweet the Governor to get him behind this. This is a definite transportation improvement.
How about one better and
How about one better and hanging the signs from the traffic lights? Then, in addition to knowing what street you're on, you can then know what cross street you're coming up to?
(Of course, that's completely ineffectual should the street name change at the intersection...... grr)