# Blue vs. Green motorway signs



## Dominican2dacore (Feb 4, 2006)

WANCH said:


> As for US highways, all of them use green signs and have a similar font
> 
> Here's one I took in NJ


OMG this picture was taken in my hometown (elizabeth, NJ). Right before 1&9 turns into an expressway and by the airport. This must've been taken over the summer because the trees still look green and the construction is still going on.


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## eomer (Nov 15, 2003)

WANCH said:


> As for US highways, all of them use green signs and have a similar font


It's not exact: In USA and Canada, all signs are green on all roads.
But Motorways (Interstates) use small signs that are _blue_.








IMHO, both USA and Canada should be painted in blue.

Belgium is a bit strange: signs are blue on motorway, white and yellow on normally roads but green on normally roads if a motorway is concerned.
IMHO, Belgium should be painted in blue and green.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Dominican2dacore said:


> OMG this picture was taken in my hometown (elizabeth, NJ). Right before 1&9 turns into an expressway and by the airport. This must've been taken over the summer because the trees still look green and the construction is still going on.


I was taken in June during my NY trip. I stayed in Woodbridge, NJ. but spend my entire day in NYC.

Eomer I'm talking about highway markings or signs that tell where the road leads to


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

thainotts said:


> In Thailand, the majority of signs are green, except for expressway entrances


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## hkth (Sep 15, 2005)

AAMOF, HK also uses white signs, mainly used for the places or streets within the same district.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

hkth said:


> AAMOF, HK also uses white signs, mainly used for the places or streets within the same district.


Yes they do such as the ones in Causeway Bay near Victoria Park


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

coth said:


> They are all for motorways. Russia uses three colors - green, blue and white. Order and condition is defined by the GOST 10807-78. (section 3)
> 
> main are green and *white (roads within city boundaries, including motorways)*. blue signes on motorways contain information about directions (exits) to non motorways. plus there are some more conditions.


Which 'city motorways' exactly are you talking about? MKAD for example? But MKAD isn't true motorway/freeway, but expressway/fast road/road reserved for motor vehicles, with a speed limit of 100 km/h.


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## coth (Oct 16, 2003)

MKAD, 3TK, 4TK etc.

yes they are motorways. no matter what is speed limit (which is fictitious on MKAD).


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## mirza-sm (Jul 28, 2005)

*Bosnia & Herzegovina*

In Bosnia we kinda use both.. not only green as someone mentioned earlier 

here r some examples...


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

coth said:


> MKAD, 3TK, 4TK etc.
> 
> yes they are motorways. no matter what is speed limit (which is fictitious on MKAD).


We're talking about this:


NOT this:



And here (on MKAD - the Moscow bypass) we can see in the 107th second that it's the last sign.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

mirza-sm said:


> *Bosnia & Herzegovina*
> 
> In Bosnia we kinda use both.. not only green as someone mentioned earlier


But blue is used only on expressways ('brza cesta' in Bosnian), like Banja Luka - Klašnice, right? On freeways (autocesta/autoput) only green, as far as I know.


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## mirza-sm (Jul 28, 2005)

Verso said:


> But blue is used only on expressways ('brza cesta' in Bosnian), like Banja Luka - Klašnice, right? On freeways (autocesta/autoput) only green, as far as I know.


lol i dunno i gues... yea there r only blue ones on Banja Luka - Klašnice...
i guess ure right after all


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^ 


Btw, Nephasto, just one question for you (completely off-topic, hehe): where did you go from Budapest to Venice last year? =)


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## Maxx☢Power (Nov 16, 2005)

Norway uses blue signs on motorways. I think it's basically a copy of the German system; we have black on yellow for most other, "normal" road signs, and black on white for local signs.


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## coth (Oct 16, 2003)

Verso said:


> We're talking about this:
> 
> 
> NOT this:
> ...


this is sign #5.3 of Russia's rules - "Road for cars only". 









according to rule 16.3. Condition of this section (16. Motorways) is also relates to roads with the sign #5.3


MKAD shots. yes it's motorway.


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## aussiescraperman (Apr 5, 2005)

^^ ah good times....i've sat on mkad for hours on the free bhus to MEGA when will be the next upgrade for mkad?...off topic


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## ChrisH (Mar 7, 2006)

Updated map, thanks everyone:










I assumed that Montenegro won't have changed their rules since they became independent from Serbia!

Just missing a few countries now... any more info would be great


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## Nephasto (Feb 6, 2004)

coth said:


> MKAD shots. yes it's motorway.


This photo in particular clearly shows that it doesn't have motorway standards.


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## Nephasto (Feb 6, 2004)

Verso said:


> ^
> 
> 
> Btw, Nephasto, just one question for you (completely off-topic, hehe): where did you go from Budapest to Venice last year? =)



Hi! 
You remembered that! Hehe!

I went from Budapest to Italy through Austria. I took the Hungarian M1 to the Austrian border, then a bit of austrian A$ motorway and I exited to get the austrian road 50, and then I took the A2 all to way to the Italian border(near Villach).
I have many photo's of the that jouney.


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## coth (Oct 16, 2003)

Nephasto said:


> This photo in particular clearly shows that it doesn't have motorway standards.


i wonder what


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## Kampflamm (Dec 28, 2003)

Looks more like an American Parkway.


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## coth (Oct 16, 2003)

i'd rarther say this looks like typical moscow fast street


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

WANCH said:


> Yes they do such as the ones in Causeway Bay near Victoria Park


*All* street name signs are white background with black text. They're manufactured in the prisons.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Blue signs in Canada :


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## delahaye (Mar 12, 2006)

coth said:


> i wonder what


well, this road doesnt have a slip road for example. look how the gas station is situated - and connected to that road - that's not how motorways are built. 

it's not a motorway, it's just a fast road/express road. motorways have a controlled access - this is cleary not the case here!


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## www.sercan.de (Aug 10, 2003)

Verso said:


> 1. For the beginning we're interested in Europe.
> 2. We don't care, if you like green or blue.
> 
> 3. European countries that use green color: Russia, Turkey, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, I think also Norway, but I'm not sure.
> 4. Blue color: Belarus.


yes
Turkey is green









but you have to pay for it


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## delahaye (Mar 12, 2006)

coth said:


> i'd rarther say this looks like typical moscow fast street


you clearly have no idea what a motorway is. 

this road has everything a motorway needs. it is divided, has limited access and slip roads. in some countries like germany a road like this could be treated like a fast road, but only if the lanes are more narrow - many motorways look exactly like fast roads - there is only a difference in width...(and I dont mean number of lanes!)


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## coth (Oct 16, 2003)

delahaye said:


> well, this road doesnt have a slip road for example. look how the gas station is situated - and connected to that road - that's not how motorways are built.
> 
> it's not a motorway, it's just a fast road/express road. motorways have a controlled access - this is cleary not the case here!


controlled access is just financial option used in some countries. it's not necessary and it's not used in russia at all. there is no any one tollbooth in russia. petrol station is located behind of safe line. it's enough, considering moscow's necessity.


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

coth said:


> controlled access is just financial option used in some countries. it's not necessary and it's not used in russia at all. there is no any one tollbooth in russia. petrol station is located behind of safe line. it's enough, considering moscow's necessity.


In western european countries It is necessary
Germany France Italy Switzerland U.K Spain Austria Portugal Belgium Netherlands Denmark Sweden Irland Poland etc...


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## coth (Oct 16, 2003)

access is limited by road rules, not by tollbooths.


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

In France

Blue sign


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

coth said:


> access is limited by road rules, not by tollbooths.


Who said anything about tollbooths?:nuts:


Btw, does anyone know what in France green signs are used for (like for "Saint Maur" in the 71st post)?


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## mrmoopt (Nov 14, 2004)

Frog said:


> Is there any country that doesn't use blue or green?


In Melbourne, tollways are Orange and Blue.









Freeway signs are in Green.









Gantry version of Freeway









Information not related to directions such as merging traffic or emergency stopping lane info are in white.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^^ EUROPE, PLEASE!!!:bash: Other continents will come later!


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

obviously 
Austrialian freeway will be concidered at motorway in western europe

_the lanes driving in the opposite direction are separated by at least a crash barrier which is designed to resist the oblique impact of a car at up to 180 km/h _

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoroutes_of_France



Verso said:


> Who said anything about tollbooths?:nuts:
> 
> 
> Btw, does anyone know why in France green signs are used for (like for "Saint Maur" in the 71st post)?


It is for National highway (not all are expressway)


































and white sign are for local exit


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## elkram (Apr 1, 2006)

lopt said:


> Canada= Green


Canada≠Green.

Canada=Green & Blue


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Btw, just for information; in Italy they use both freeway signs, green and blue:

and this one too:

but freeways, designated with the green freeway sign, are better, and you can drive on them faster: 130 km/h on 'green freeways' (on some 6-lane freeways 150 km/h), whereas on 'blue freeways' the speed limit is only 110 km/h; so we can generally say 'green' for Italy, besides, there's much more 'green freeways' than the 'blue ones'.


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## Iggui (May 17, 2005)

*Blue* signs are better I think. Chilean highways use blue signs that resemble ones from western European highways, but there are also green signs, but these are used mostly for secondary roads (not the big freeways). 

Here are some *Blue *highway signs from *Chile*:


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

minato ku said:


> It is for National highway *(not all are expressway)*


Yes, actually by now I've seen them only on ordinary 2-lane roads. Thanks for the answer!


Btw, I say ban those who fill us (spam) with non-European stuff!


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

In Italy blue sign are used for national highway
and Green sign for motorway

exactly the reverse of France


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## www.sercan.de (Aug 10, 2003)

Nephasto said:


> That looks like an excelent motorway, but what really strickes me is the size of the toll both's area. Only 4 cabins. It's the smallests trunk tool both I've ever seen.
> Anyway, I guess the motorway won't have to much traffic in the first years, and then they will add more cabins if needed.



i think because it is drive out a near a samll city


the big cities have bigger ones

(Istanbul FSM Bridge has got 22 lines)


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Moldova doesn't have motorways. Kazakhstan does have some, it is one of the fastest growing economies of the world, and they are building a motorway from Almaty to Astana. Since Kazakhstan is partially in Europe, you can include this country too


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^^ But we still don't know the color; do you have any pictures, btw?



eomer said:


> *Monaco* got 2 km (a tunnel with toll): in blue
> *Ukraine* is green


Any pix?


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## ChrisH (Mar 7, 2006)

Verso said:


> ^^ Coth, let's just leave the decision to chrishillcoat (the starter of the thread), if (s)he's interested in this sign:
> 
> or this:
> 
> or both of them.


Only the first. Otherwise it gets too complicated! :lol:


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## Nephasto (Feb 6, 2004)

Chris1491 said:


> Since Kazakhstan is partially in Europe, you can include this country too


What?!?

Europe ends in the Urals and in the Caucasus. Kazakhstan is all in Asia.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^^ 


But let's not have a debate about what's Europe and what isn't. We need all countries in the world in this thread anyway.


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## Rebasepoiss (Jan 6, 2007)

There is a problem with Estonia. You see, it doesn't have any motorways :lol: so I think you can leave Estonia unpainted on the map.


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## LtBk (Jul 27, 2004)

Japan uses blue signs for surface streets and highways, green signs for their expressways.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Nephasto said:


> What?!?
> 
> Europe ends in the Urals and in the Caucasus. Kazakhstan is all in Asia.


The Ural river is the border between Europe and Asia, south of the Ural Mountains. That leaves a piece of Kazakhstan about the size of Portugal in Europe.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Rebasepoiss said:


> There is a problem with Estonia. You see, it doesn't have any motorways :lol: so I think you can leave Estonia unpainted on the map.


Are you sure? This pic looks like a motorway:


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## Nephasto (Feb 6, 2004)

Chris1491 said:


> The Ural river is the border between Europe and Asia, south of the Ural Mountains. That leaves a piece of Kazakhstan about the size of Portugal in Europe.


I thought it was the ural mountains, not the river.
But the caucasus mountains are border too, right? Or do you consider that Armenia and Azerbeijan for example are in Europe too??


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Nephasto said:


> I thought it was the ural mountains, not the river.
> But the caucasus mountains are border too, right? Or do you consider that Armenia and Azerbeijan for example are in Europe too??


Well, the Urals are the border actually, but they don't extend that much to the south (Caspian Sea), so south of the Urals, the Ural river takes over the border  

Well, i think, the Caucasus mountain range is the border between Europe and Asia, but sometimes, countries like Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan are included too. But i think it is culturally surely not Europe, however, these countries are quite connected to Europe politically, especially Turkey and Georgia. For instance, European organizations like the OSCE are working in these countries. 

As you can see, on that map posted above, Europe is much bigger as many people think. They think, that behind (east) of Moscow, Europe stops. But there is still a distance like Amsterdam - Madrid behind Moscow. Russia is so huge...


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

I found Romania!:banana: And it's green.:cheers: 


http://forum.autosnelwegen.nl/viewtopic.php?t=5750

What an asphalt!:lol:


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

lol, i couldn't find pics of Romanian signs, and now they are found on my "home" forum 

Romanian roads seems to be amongst the worst of Europe. Even in Ukraine or Russia, they have better roads.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Chris1491 said:


> Are you sure? This pic looks like a motorway:


I see you took this here. But on the next picture:

we can see that it doesn't fulfill the motorway/freeway criteria (if it's the same road, I believe it is).


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## cartez (Jan 5, 2007)

Verso said:


> ^^ EUROPE, PLEASE!!!:bash: Other continents will come later!


what the hell is your problem? the thread title doesnt stipulate "europe only"

Here some from Melbourne, Australia


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

maybe they have some different standards for a motorway in Estonia? I saw on maps some motorway-like roads around Tallinn. And considered the low amount of traffic, such a U-turns aren't any problem in Estonia. 

In Russia, there are very much motorways/expressways without controlled acces, just because the amount of traffic is VERY low.


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## Rebasepoiss (Jan 6, 2007)

Chris1491 said:


> maybe they have some different standards for a motorway in Estonia? I saw on maps some motorway-like roads around Tallinn. And considered the low amount of traffic, such a U-turns aren't any problem in Estonia.
> 
> In Russia, there are very much motorways/expressways without controlled acces, just because the amount of traffic is VERY low.


Motorway standards are the same in Estonia as in other European countries. You can call these roads motorways, but officially they're not motorways. We don't need motorways because the amount of traffic is not enough to compensate the price. But I don't know what colour would the signs be if we had motorways.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Chris1491 said:


> maybe they have some different standards for a motorway in Estonia? I saw on maps some motorway-like roads around Tallinn. And considered the low amount of traffic, such a U-turns aren't any problem in Estonia.
> 
> In Russia, there are very much motorways/expressways without controlled acces, just because the amount of traffic is VERY low.


Do you mean if they use one of these two signs:

I doubt that, but we can ask Rebasepoiss or some other Estonian. I know they don't have such signs in Latvia, cuz when you enter it, the speed limit sign doesn't show such road. On contrary, Lithuania has such sign (and Russia too). To be honest, in areas with low traffic, I wouldn't mind such roads, they are ok, but the problem is (like in Russia) that they have real motorways too, so you can clearly say that such a road isn't a real motorway; and the problem is of course with color of the signs; in Russia green is obviously used only on real motorways, on other motorway-like roads blue is used. When Estonia was in Soviet Union, you could clearly say it didn't have real motorways, as Soviet Union did have them (south of Moscow), so you could tell, what a real motorway was and what wasn't. And what if Estonia one day gets real motorways and colors them green; it would be stupid to say that the color of motorway signs changed from blue to green. :s Actually the quality of the road is the one that changed. I say, let's leave the decision to Estonians:


Rebasepoiss said:


> There is a problem with Estonia. You see, it doesn't have any motorways :lol: so I think you can leave Estonia unpainted on the map.


 

Another statement (oh, I just realized it's from the same forumer:crazy:


Rebasepoiss said:


> We actually don't have even 1km of highway in Estonia. There are some 4-line(about 100km in total) roads but these aren't highways.


I believe (s)he meant 'motorway/freeway', not 'highway'.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Rebasepoiss said:


> Motorway standards are the same in Estonia as in other European countries. You can call these roads motorways, but officially they're not motorways. We don't need motorways because the amount of traffic is not enough to compensate the price. But I don't know what colour would the signs be if we had motorways.


Man, you just beat me by 8 minutes.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Rebasepoiss said:


> But I don't know what colour would the signs be if we had motorways.


That's why I also don't agree with painting Montenegro green (if it doesn't have motorways; I don't think it does). True, Montenegro seceded from Serbia (and Montenegro), but you can't say its motorway signs are painted green, if there aren't any. :s Also Estonia and Latvia seceded from the Soviet Union, but it's funny to say their motorway signs are green, when in fact there aren't any. Liechtenstein has road signs and speed limits, identical to Switzerland, but it doesn't have any motorways, so no green signs in Liechtenstein.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

There aren't motorways in Montenegro, but they do have some new expressways or so.


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## spongeg (May 1, 2006)

in Canada its green but the airports use blue

apparently blue signs are the international standard or something


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

spongeg said:


> in Canada its green but the airports use blue
> 
> apparently blue signs are the international standard or something


I don't think there's a standard colour. It's either green or blue. Again, if you look at the US, all their freeway marking signs are in *green*. They don't use blue.


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## Gilgamesh (Apr 1, 2005)

WANCH said:


> I don't think there's a standard colour. It's either green or blue. Again, if you look at the US, all their freeway marking signs are in *green*. They don't use blue.


I think Blue is actually international standard for motorways, afaik few countries are actually changing from green to blue.


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## wafu21m (Dec 22, 2006)

green is better, it doesn't stress the eyes


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## FM 2258 (Jan 24, 2004)

WANCH said:


>



What is A2, 4, 35 and 3094? Are those types of highways. If they are what types of highways are they?


In Texas there are 7 different types of highways. Interstate, U.S., State(Texas) , Farm/Ranch Roads, Spurs, Loops, and Beltways which are designated by the state.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Gilgamesh said:


> I think Blue is actually international standard for motorways, afaik few countries are actually changing from green to blue.


Blue may be the international standard but the majority of countries still use green. Besides US and Canada, most Asian countries use green for motorway signs such as Japan, China and Thailand. It's the same with Australia and some Latin American countriesl like Brazil or Mexico.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

hkskyline said:


> *All* street name signs are white background with black text. They're manufactured in the prisons.


Yes all street signs in HK are white background and black text. But I'm talking about some road markings in the city use the same template instead of blue or green background. 

Honestly I think HK needs to reorganizes it's highway marking colour. It would be better if they adapt the same system most Asian countries use like green on highways/expressways and blue for main roads.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Gilgamesh said:


> I think Blue is actually international standard for motorways, afaik few countries are actually changing from green to blue.


What kind of an international standard are you talking about?:nuts: The world's biggest countries use green: Russia, don't know for Canada (I've seen blue, but also green), USA, China, Brazil, Australia, ...



FM 2258 said:


> In Texas there are 7 different types of highways. Interstate, U.S., State(Texas) , Farm/Ranch Roads, Spurs, Loops, and Beltways which are designated by the state.


But all types of FREEWAYS are painted green, right?


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## LtBk (Jul 27, 2004)

Gilgamesh said:


> I think Blue is actually international standard for motorways, afaik few countries are actually changing from green to blue.


Like what?


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Some Asian highway markings and yes they're green 

Japan









South Korea


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

WANCH said:


> Yes all street signs in HK are white background and black text. But I'm talking about some road markings in the city use the same template instead of blue or green background.
> 
> Honestly I think HK needs to reorganizes it's highway marking colour. It would be better if they adapt the same system most Asian countries use like green on highways/expressways and blue for main roads.


Do you know of a set standard for green or blue in Asia? In fact, as long as the signs can reflect the words to the driver, then they have achieved their purpose.

Hong Kong does not need to waste money to do such a standardization when it doesn't improve road safety.

In fact, there are even signs with yellow backgrounds in Hong Kong. They tend to appear on the side indicating lane movements, such as autopay areas at tunnel entrances / exits.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

WANCH said:


> Blue may be the international standard but the majority of countries still use green. Besides US and Canada, most Asian countries use green for motorway signs such as Japan, China and Thailand. It's the same with Australia and some Latin American countriesl like Brazil or Mexico.


Are you sure China uses green as a standard?

*Shanghai - mix of highway and road signs*


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## Thorin (May 8, 2006)

In Italy motorways are in Green. There are motorways standard, toolbooth and so on. But others important roads with more than two lanes have blue signs, the difference is that there are no toolbooths.

*Motorways*


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Italy and Great Britain have by the way the worst signs in the world in my opinion. It looks too messy.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

hkskyline said:


> Are you sure China uses green as a standard?
> 
> *Shanghai - mix of highway and road signs*


Does this look like a freeway to you?


This is (Chinese) freeway


null said:


>


:cheers:


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

They have green on real motorways in China, but blue on expressways/wide boulevards i think. 












> The signs on Chinese expressways use white lettering on a green background, like Swiss Autobahns and U.S. freeways, but unlike freeways in Germany, France, Austria and the United Kingdom.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Verso said:


> Does this look like a freeway to you?
> 
> 
> This is (Chinese) freeway:cheers:


*Read* the caption - mix of *highway* and *road* signs.

The ones above are from elevated highways in Shanghai.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

hkskyline said:


> Are you sure China uses green as a standard?
> 
> *Shanghai - mix of highway and road signs*


Urban highways such as the one in Shanghai or Shenzhen uses blue but expressways such as the one from Shanghai to Nanjing use green


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

I prefer Green...too used to the format.

If it wasn't said earlier (too lazy to check the whole thread), the Route 401 express lanes in Toronto use blue signs. That's the only NA example of blue signs I can think of.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

rotten777 said:


> I prefer Green...too used to the format.
> 
> If it wasn't said earlier (too lazy to check the whole thread), the Route 401 express lanes in Toronto use blue signs. That's the only NA example of blue signs I can think of.


I thought most of the signs on the 400-series highways through Toronto were blue? I remember seeing some green but not too often.


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

I think you are right, I'm not very sure about it myself...haven't seen them personally in a while.

Here's a pic I found, I believe it's the local lane that has the blue signs, with green in the express. 










It's Route 401 before the intersection with 427 near the airport, I remember going down here.


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## UD2 (Jan 21, 2006)

signs with green background are meant to be used for offical expressway/freeways.

Some of the motorways in Toronto (like the 401 Collector shown on the right) have too many enter/exits points to fit the offical defination of an expressway/freeway, therefore, uses blue signs.

Highway 401 Express (left side), however, does fit the defination of a freeway and uses green signs.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^^ So green freeway signs in the 6 world's biggest countries!:banana:


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

rotten777 said:


> I prefer Green...too used to the format.
> 
> If it wasn't said earlier (too lazy to check the whole thread), the Route 401 express lanes in Toronto use blue signs. That's the only NA example of blue signs I can think of.


I think Mexico also uses blue signs but mostly on main roads.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

UD2 said:


> signs with green background are meant to be used for offical expressway/freeways.
> 
> Some of the motorways in Toronto (like the 401 Collector shown on the right) have too many enter/exits points to fit the offical defination of an expressway/freeway, therefore, uses blue signs.
> 
> Highway 401 Express (left side), however, does fit the defination of a freeway and uses green signs.


But there are also a lot of frequent exits in Toronto's suburbs to the east and west along the 401, such as in Mississauga entering Toronto, which I believe is the location of this photo. It uses green signs :










This makes me think whether the blue and green standard is really a standard.


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## UrbanFanatic! (Jul 5, 2005)

Some of Mexican Signs.. It is not a standard, but most of the signs are like these:


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## sonysnob (Dec 12, 2004)

hkskyline said:


> I thought most of the signs on the 400-series highways through Toronto were blue? I remember seeing some green but not too often.


All signs on the 407 across the top of the GTA are blue, I guess to defferentiate that its a toll road. I seem to recall seeing purple guide signs on a tollway in texas, does this ring true or I have I lost my mind?










Cheers.


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## Onur (Dec 2, 2004)

chrishillcoat said:


> Updated map, thanks everyone:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I think you should make the map for worldwide.


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## OettingerCroat (May 24, 2005)

edit nvm


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## ChrisH (Mar 7, 2006)

Does anyone have a good blank map of the world which I can paint blue and green? Thanks


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^^ http://www.world66.com/myworld66/visitedCountries  

You just have to draw a line between Serbia and Montenegro.


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## Kiev30 (Apr 5, 2006)

Ukraine Highways Use Blue =)


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^ I thought so =) but can you give us some signs with cities (destinations) on them? That would be great!


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## Macius (Sep 8, 2005)

Poland is in blue team 


























































by Smar


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## jc84144 (Aug 31, 2006)

GENIUS LOCI said:


> I never understood why EU (at least) doesn't take a decision to have a homogeneous color in whole Europe
> Travelling by car across different states is nowadays very common and to have too different signals creates only confusion in drivers


Well there all inderpendant countries and probably like there system. Also there are so many other changes in road laws from country to country if you was going to make the signs the same, there would still be confussion, when travverling you have to learn the highway code for the countries you will be enetering, also how would you like to spend all that money on changing thousands of signs?


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## Maxx☢Power (Nov 16, 2005)

jc84144 said:


> Well there all inderpendant countries and probably like there system. Also there are so many other changes in road laws from country to country if you was going to make the signs the same, there would still be confussion, when travverling you have to learn the highway code for the countries you will be enetering, also how would you like to spend all that money on changing thousands of signs?


I don't really think it has anything to do with "what people like".. Standardisation is about safety. Having different standards in different places opens up a lot of room for misinterpretation and misunderstanding and creates a bigger risk of accidents happening. Standards are good. Some may think standardising everything is boring, but when the alternative is more people dying I think the choice is clear. This applies to signs as well as, or should I say not the least, the rules of the road. And anyway, I don't think that many people outside of this forum are that passionate about the colour of road signs


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## AltinD (Jul 15, 2004)

Here is Dubai both are used, and I'm not able to see a patern becouse both colours are used in highways, city streets or neighbourhood roads. There are even brown colour road signs. Has anyone seen them elswhere?


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Brown? Do you have any pics?


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## Nephasto (Feb 6, 2004)

There are brown signs here in Portugal too(and in other european countries too) for touristic places...
Those signs can be in the freeways for example, signaling some attraction nearby.

I'il post a photo of one when I have time.


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## AltinD (Jul 15, 2004)

Nephasto said:


> There are brown signs here in Portugal too(and in other european countries too) for touristic places...
> Those signs can be in the freeways for example, signaling some attraction nearby.


Thinking of it, that seams to be the pattern for brown signs here as well.


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## Fede_Milan (Oct 19, 2006)

Verso said:


> Btw, just for information; in Italy they use both freeway signs, green and blue:
> 
> and this one too:
> 
> but freeways, designated with the green freeway sign, are better, and you can drive on them faster: 130 km/h on 'green freeways' (on some 6-lane freeways 150 km/h), whereas on 'blue freeways' the speed limit is only 110 km/h; so we can generally say 'green' for Italy, besides, there's much more 'green freeways' than the 'blue ones'.


Freeway signs in Italy are GREEN (autostrade). The blue signs are not used for freeways at all: they are used for expressways (superstrade) where the speed limit is 110 km/h but they are not autostrade.


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## Kampflamm (Dec 28, 2003)

Germany also has these brown signs to point out landmarks, cities etc.


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

In France motorways we have also brown sign to point our landmark or our cities exactly like Geramy

We have those signs since the middle of the 1970's in our motorway


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## Nephasto (Feb 6, 2004)

You can see one brown sign in that bunch of signs at the exit - photo taken in Portugal:










And this one here is a peculiar example, in Spain... Yellow signs for northern african people returning home (written in spanish and arabic), signaling 2 cities with ferries to northern africa(they are made for the huge number of french imigrants who go to their native country in the summer vacations):


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## dallas (Jun 11, 2005)

Some freeway pictures from Perth (also use green)
IMG]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c270/jasondallas/Road%20signs/Frwy-dont-list.jpg[/IMG]


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## dallas (Jun 11, 2005)




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## dallas (Jun 11, 2005)

Sorry, I'll get this right in a minute! (Signs from Perth)

Freeway signs




































Future freeway sign









Plus a couple of suburban road signs



























Blue signs are used for areas such as business parks and industrial estates


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

dallas said:


>


I didn't know animals could read. Australian animals were always sth special...


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Fede_Milan said:


> Freeway signs in Italy are GREEN (autostrade). The blue signs are not used for freeways at all: they are used for expressways (superstrade) where the speed limit is 110 km/h but they are not autostrade.


Then Italy shouldn't abuse this sign:  because it's reserved for freeways AFAIK.:tongue2: Isn't the 4-lane road between Florence and Siena (which AFAIK is equipped with the above sign) called "Raccordo Firenze - Siena", not "Superstrada"? And how many (and which) Italian roads are called "superstrada"? I just know for the "Superstrada Merano - Bolzano" (but I don't know, if it's equipped with the above sign or not). Btw, what's the English expression for "superstrada"?


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## Nephasto (Feb 6, 2004)

Verso said:


> I didn't know animals could read. Australian animals were always sth special...


:hahaha:

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of text there is on road signage in Australia and the US for example.
In Europe we use images that everybody understands and that are much easier and faster to understand than a text! Which is undoubtedly 1000x better than wrighting it all down... besides the fact that everybody understands them, unlike the text, in which you have to know the language.




Verso said:


> Btw, what's the English expression for "superstrada"?


The litteral translation would be super-road.


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## Fede_Milan (Oct 19, 2006)

Verso said:


> Then Italy shouldn't abuse this sign:  because it's reserved for freeways AFAIK.:tongue2: Isn't the 4-lane road between Florence and Siena (which AFAIK is equipped with the above sign) called "Raccordo Firenze - Siena", not "Superstrada"? And how many (and which) Italian roads are called "superstrada"? I just know for the "Superstrada Merano - Bolzano" (but I don't know, if it's equipped with the above sign or not). Btw, what's the English expression for "superstrada"?


This sign and only this, is used in Italy for "autostrade" (freeways or motorways, choose the english term you like most) :


Honestly I never drove from Firenze to Siena but that highway with 4 lanes of traffic, a median between lanes of opposite traffic and access control is not a proper "autostrada" but a "raccordo autostradale" meaning a road connecting a city to the closest freeway (in this case Siena to A1 Milano - Napoli). Other examples of "raccordi autostradali" are the ones linking Perugia to A1 or Potenza to A3.
Aside from highways bearing the "Autostrada" designation, Italy has many four-lane roads called "superstrade" 
The speed limit in "superstrade" is 110 km/h and you don't have to pay to use them while you have to pay to drive in most Italian "Autostrade". The sign for superstrade is the blue one which is NOT reserved for Italian freeways.


Examples of Italian "superstrade":

- SGC Firenze - Pisa - Livorno
- SS1 Livorno - Grosseto
- SS38 Merano - Bolzano (the one you mentioned)
- SS131 Cagliari - Abbasanta - Sassari - Porto Torres 

I hope the difference is now clear enough.


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## ADCS (Oct 30, 2006)

Nephasto said:


> :hahaha:
> 
> In Europe we use images that everybody understands and that are much easier and faster to understand than a text! Which is undoubtedly 1000x better than wrighting it all down... besides the fact that everybody understands them, unlike the text, in which you have to know the language.
> .


When 82% of the population speaks English natively (as it is in the US, probably a higher percentage in Australia), it makes sense to have text signs since there aren't nearly as many people who do not speak the same language driving through your country at one time. In the EU, image-based signs are absolutely necessary, they're not just better. In the US, much more specific information can be displayed in text than in images that could possibly be misinterpreted.


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## Nephasto (Feb 6, 2004)

^Even for someone who speaks the language, signs with images are much easier and faster to understand, hence, they are better.


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## ADCS (Oct 30, 2006)

If one had not grown up his entire life knowing that this meant "DO NOT PASS", this would be as unintelligible to him as a sign saying "DO NOT PASS" would be to someone who doesn't know a word of English.



Once again, this would have very little meaning for someone raised in the American system, and might confuse them to the point of putting themselves into danger, while "Danger Cross Winds" would be perfectly apparent to anyone who knows some English (i.e. 90% of the US population, or around 270 million people)

The European system is only better if you have been raised in it and are intimately familiar with what the signs mean. If you know English, and have never seen a road sign in your life, the American text based systems would be better. That's why they all started out text-based. The US pretty much copied the image-based signs where it would be more easily understood, but kept the text where an image would not be as clear. That is simply not an option in Europe, where the international traffic demands universally understood signs. But let's not think for a moment that they are all universally understood without the reader having been educated in their meaning.

But we digress, let's see some more sexy big green/blue signs!


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Nephasto said:


> The litteral translation would be super-road.


Sounds like an international expression. 



Fede_Milan said:


> Honestly I never drove from Firenze to Siena but that highway with 4 lanes of traffic, a median between lanes of opposite traffic and access control is not a proper "autostrada" but a "raccordo autostradale" meaning a road connecting a city to the closest freeway (in this case Siena to A1 Milano - Napoli). Other examples of "raccordi autostradali" are the ones linking Perugia to A1 or Potenza to A3.
> 
> I hope the difference is now clear enough.


Naah, I knew the difference, it's just funny to me that Italy uses both signs, green and blue.

But that's not true that all "raccordi autostradali" are equipped with the blue sign! Some of them yes, but not all, and I guess that's because "raccordo" just means "connection". One example is R37 (also RA13?) "Raccordo A4 - Trieste", which I guess isn't called A4 just because A4 runs from Turin/Torino to Trieste, and if you wanna go to the center of Trieste, you don't drive the entire bypass, at least that's what signs suggest. But that "raccordo" is certainly an "autostrada" (green sign), although on many maps not.:weird: 

Another thing are "Diramazioni", which are in fact interchanges (to another motorway, not off the motorway), followed by a very short motorway. I don't know, how all of them look like, but I know that one of them is "autostrada" (green sign) D31 (also RA14?) "Diramazione Opicina - Fernetti", running from the previously mentioned R37 by Opicina to the border-crossing Fernetti with Slovenia. It's very short, just 2 or 3 km, but certainly "autostrada".

One thing I find interesting is that one of the so called "raccordi autostradali" is also the R16 (also RA17?) "Raccordo Villesse - Gorizia", running from the A4 by Villesse to the Slovenian border by Gorizia. It's called "raccordo autostradale", although it's equipped with neither green sign, nor with any of the blue signs! And the speed limit is only 90 km/h, the only thing that makes it look like a motorway or expressway, is that it's 4-laned (but without hard shoulders, only emergency stops, and sometimes it's not even divided) and with limited access. But on many maps it looks like a motorway, even more often than the R37!


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## x-type (Aug 19, 2005)

khm, how about this problem in Lithuania: green motorway sign, but blue direction signs on motorway?!?!


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Nephasto said:


> The litteral translation would be super-road.


In the UK we usually call them 'Dual-carriageways' ie two lanes but not a Motorway.

PS, We also have brown signs to point out attractions/local facilities. Sometimes the brown sign is incorporated into another sign, exciting!!!










Do other countries also use the system whereby you can be on any road but signs pointing to 'blue' Motorway routes are highlighted in blue?

Examples:


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## Nephasto (Feb 6, 2004)

Jonesy55 said:


> In the UK we usually call them 'Dual-carriageways' ie two lanes but not a Motorway.


The supperstrada would be a dual carrigeway with motorway characteristics.



Jonesy55 said:


> Do other countries also use the system whereby you can be on any road but signs pointing to 'blue' Motorway routes are highlighted in blue?


Yes, I think that happens everywhere. At least in Portugal and Spain I'm sure it's like that, but I'm quite sure it's the same all over western Europe.


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## Kampflamm (Dec 28, 2003)

In Finland they also have bus stops on motorways (at least on the highway from Vantaa airport to Helsinki)...well, actually it's not right next to the shoulder but there's sort of a mini exit.


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## Rebasepoiss (Jan 6, 2007)

Anyways....the Lithuanian motorways are a bit wierd, but they are still motorways.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Even if it is a bus stop, you can see that the motorway gets an extra lane (I'm not having in mind the bus stop itself), so it's very safe; you can see the same thing on the other (right) side, an extra lane, which disappears right before the junction (interchange). So everything is ok and safe.


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## milanxyz (Jan 31, 2007)

in hungary there are both green and blue sometimes you can see even yellow tables


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## x-type (Aug 19, 2005)

milanxyz said:


> in hungary there are both green and blue sometimes you can see even yellow tables


no. in Hungary blu means motorway/expressway, green means everything else


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

I've got two pix of Lithuanian motorways; I believe the color of the motorway signs there won't be a question anymore. 





_http://tinkle.miestai.net/showthread.php?t=378_


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## x-type (Aug 19, 2005)

:applause: :applause:


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^ Hehe, thanks.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

I'm confused; are signs on toll-motorways in Australia painted blue?


Trent800 said:


> Melbourne, Australia


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## Chibcha2k (Oct 19, 2002)

Colombia is Green

















Almost all "overhead" signs are green, in roads, motorways and urban streets; although within a city the signs leading to other cities or populations are blue.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Funny, i didn't know there were even motorways in Colombia


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## ZZ-II (May 10, 2006)

why shouldn't be highways also in columbia??


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^ Probably because there isn't many of them in Colombia (I guess), so he was thinking, if there was ANY.


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## Chibcha2k (Oct 19, 2002)

there ain't much, actually it wasn't until 10 years ago that we began building them...luckly due to the FTA with the States, we're building large infraestructure projects, including LatinAmerica's longest tunnels.

The pictures I showed you are from the Cali-Buga highway, in Valle del Cauca department, which is one of the most advanced in Colombia in this subject.


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## mrmoopt (Nov 14, 2004)

Verso said:


> I'm confused; are signs on toll-motorways in Australia painted blue?


Yes. Blue-Orange signs in Melbourne are tollways, Green is freeways (no tolls).
As for NSW and Queensland (the other states that have tollways), their way of labelling the difference is by means of using the word 'motorway'. If it is a free motorway it's labelled Freeway.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

ZZ-II said:


> why shouldn't be highways also in columbia??


Because, i have some maps of Colombia, which doesn't show motorways  :lol:


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## Maroon Grown (Dec 22, 2004)

cal_t said:


> Yes. Blue-Orange signs in Melbourne are tollways, Green is freeways (no tolls).
> As for NSW and Queensland (the other states that have tollways), their way of labelling the difference is by means of using the word 'motorway'. If it is a free motorway it's labelled Freeway.


^^ thats totally wrong mate.

freeway / motorway, it doesnt matter. they are the same thing across the country. the different naming of motorway standard roads throughout QLD is from the era in which they were constructed and named. im not sure about sydney.

our tollroads are represented in green like any other road, yet have a yellow and black sign stating that they are tolled. simple as that.

australia really needs a standard across the board when it comes to naming and signage. victoria have done it well whereas the rest of the country lacks the same consistancy. for example, brisbane has 'motorway standard' roads named by motorway, freeway, expressway, bypass, arterial, highway & deviation. confused. ****. so are we!


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## BL (Feb 14, 2006)

Considering Montenegro... I think that MNE should be painted green coz if you go to driving school you learn that the signs for highways are painted green. So it is logical that when MNE builds highways it will be green.


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## Paddington (Mar 30, 2006)

Here's some more pics from my country, a little place they call America. :banana: 

I picked out some nice sunny ones from deserts and urban jungles of Socal, for all you pale Euros out there. :cheers: 










Yay! Los Angeles, that's where I want to go. Good thing they've got four lanes going there. 










ZOMG! Hollywood! 










You better believe that's downtown LA.










Choices, choices.










Stack interchage. My favorite! /me does happy dance :banana: 










For you environmentalists out there.










The El Toro Y, the world's biggest interchange. 










The Inland Empire.










When I die, I want to be reincarnated as a stack interchange.










Some NorCal action.










Downtown San Fransisco.










And if you get tired of the Golden State, you can always head up to Las Vegas. :cheers:


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## Nephasto (Feb 6, 2004)

Paddington said:


> Here's some more pics from my country, a little place they call America.


America?! Where is that anyway? :colgate:




Paddington said:


> When I die, I want to be reincarnated as a stack interchange.


:nuts: 



Good photos! kay:


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Paddington said:


> Here's some more pics from my country, a little place they call America. :banana:
> 
> I picked out some nice sunny ones from deserts and urban jungles of Socal, for all you pale Euros out there. :cheers:
> 
> And if you get tired of the Golden State, you can always head up to Las Vegas. :cheers:


I drove through there from LA to Vegas. Did stopped by Barstow especially the outlet stores.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Paddington said:


> Stack interchage. My favorite! /me does happy dance :banana:


:rofl:


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## Jimmy81 (Jan 30, 2007)

In Canada, most are green.
In Ontario though, some of you may have seen pictures of the 401...I think the express lanes are blue signs and the collectors are green (This is to tell the lanes apart). Also, the toll 407 highway in Ontario is blue.


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## Chogmook (Oct 15, 2002)

The UK has the best font used on signs, other countrys fonts look a bit, well, 'simple'!!!


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Chogmook said:


> The UK has the best font used on signs, other countrys fonts look a bit, well, 'simple'!!!


You gotta be kidding, right?

UK and Italy has the WORST signage in my opinion.


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## x-type (Aug 19, 2005)

UK has quite ugly font. the only good thing on UK signs are large road numbers. bad thing about that is that they have even uglier font than destination names. and the worst thing are arrows - they are really extremely ugly. good thing is visibility - signs are not messed too much.
the worst are French, no further discussion: ugly, messy, to much understandabless information


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

German DIN 1451 is quite good, and the layout too. but i do not like the narrow "Engschrift".
The interstate font is also very good, but not so much on the US system, too large numbers and sometimes some very old stuff (around LA).
The Clearview font is another very good one, and also the ASTRA Frutiger (Swiss font). 
I don't like the French Charactéres font. all capital, and they seperate signs into 3 parts or so. That can be done better.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

I also find the UK road numbers very ugly. About the Swiss font, I think it's the same as (or very similar to) the ex-YU font, I think it's ok, but to me it's a little boring.


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## x-type (Aug 19, 2005)

Verso said:


> I also find the UK road numbers very ugly. About the Swiss font, I think it's the same as (or very similar to) the ex-YU font, I think it's ok, but to me it's a little boring.


i thought that it is boring, too, but when i looked little better, i realized that it is extremely clear, visible and organized. there's not a single word about mess. the best thing is that all words are centered!


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## Rohne (Feb 20, 2007)

Worst signage can be found in Austria (just ugly) and France. Best signage systems in NL (only the old, newer signs look like ugly German signs) and Hesse (no "Engschrift", only short arrows, clear + good looking design).


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Rohne said:


> Best signage systems in NL (only the old, newer signs look like ugly German signs)


That new font is called "redesign", and it is no good. It is only used on non-motorways, but it is harder to read with higher speeds (50mph) than the good old interstate font. Specially people who need glasses. 

The Dutch road network is detoriating fast, not in road surface quality, but hell look at the new road markings. You can find over 20 species of road markings - on one road! That in combination with the redesign font and our overcrowded motorways (but National road too!), it makes driving here less fun. I always love driving in foreign countries.


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## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

*Norwegian motorway signs*

Did not get the photos here, watch my next posts...


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## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

*Norwegian motorway signs*

Norway: Blue.


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## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

Once more...


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## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

And this one is at the exit (the blue one at motorways):

http://www.vegvesen.no/vegskilt/vegvisningsskilt/bmp/715.bmp

Please delete this post


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## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

And this one is at the exit (the blue one at motorways):


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## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

Sorry about all the mess, not used to post pictures here. These are the most common three Norwegian motorway signs, sometimes (at least in urban areas) we have overhead signs aswell, in those cases with simple arrows on the lower edge of the sign, pointing straight up for destinations further along the motorway, or at the exit sign a simple arrow in the upper right corner pointing ca. 45 degrees up to the right (towards the exit).


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## -Corey- (Jul 8, 2005)

I preffer the color green.


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## gronier (Mar 2, 2005)

In Chile we use blue signs, exits are in green


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

In France

Blue Motorway
Green national highway (expressway)

















And the best 
I agree France motorway sign are a bit :nuts:


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## Alex Von Königsberg (Jan 28, 2007)

I personally prefer blue colour for motorways and green colour for other highways (like in France). It's very convenient because whenever I see a blue directional sign, I know it will point to a motorway even before I am close enough to read what it says. 

What I don't like is the French mess of blue, green and white signs on autoroutes :nuts:


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Alex Von Königsberg said:


> I personally prefer blue colour for motorways and green colour for other highways (like in France). It's very convenient because whenever I see a blue directional sign, I know it will point to a motorway even before I am close enough to read what it says.


The same can be said for green. In fact, I think green is even more noticeable!


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## TheCat (Apr 21, 2006)

It is not such a big deal as long as there is consistency.


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## Alex Von Königsberg (Jan 28, 2007)

Verso said:


> The same can be said for green. In fact, I think green is even more noticeable!


Yes, as long as motorways and national highways have different corresponding colours. When it is all green or all blue, it doesn't help much


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Alex Von Königsberg said:


> Yes, as long as motorways and national highways have different corresponding colours. When it is all green or all blue, it doesn't help much


That's not the case with The United States which *only* use green markings.


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## Alex Von Königsberg (Jan 28, 2007)

Yeah, I know. I wasn't discussing the US signage either.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Alex Von Königsberg said:


> Yes, as long as motorways and national highways have different corresponding colours. When it is all green or all blue, it doesn't help much


Of course, I wasn't talking about everything being green.


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## ADCS (Oct 30, 2006)

Here's an idea... all signs are two phase, green on one side, blue on the other. Each car has a transponder, so based on the country you're from, if you want it to be blue, it's blue. If you want it to be green, it's green.


Hey, I never said it was a _good_ idea.


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## eomer (Nov 15, 2003)

ADCS said:


> Here's an idea... all signs are two phase, green on one side, blue on the other. Each car has a transponder, so based on the country you're from, if you want it to be blue, it's blue. If you want it to be green, it's green.


And the next stage: delete all signs.
All cars will get a GPS.


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## FM 2258 (Jan 24, 2004)

WANCH said:


> That's not the case with The United States which *only* use green markings.



True. I really don't see the point of changing colors for the type of highway you're on. In the United States we have "highways" that can be a freeway in one location but miles away it could be two lane road or street. 

I remember going on a camping trip in West Texas and realized that in Ft. Worth U.S. 377 is part of a freeway but where we were standing U.S. 377 was nothing more than a narrow two lane bridge going over the creek we were about to go down with canoes. 

I do like that we have different sign colors in reference to the type of information they represent. Green for guidance, neon yellow for schools, yellow for caution, orange for construction, blue for services, brown for recreation, red for restrictions, black/white for legal (speed limits, traffic flow..etc) signs.


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

eomer said:


> And the next stage: delete all signs.
> All cars will get a GPS.


Paris it is almost the case with TOM TOM.


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## Alex Von Königsberg (Jan 28, 2007)

FM 2258 said:


> True. I really don't see the point of changing colors for the type of highway you're on.


Same for yellow central line - can you live without it? Yeah, sure. Would it be still more convenient to have it? I guess so.


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## AmiDelf (Jun 9, 2004)

Norway got less than 200km with A Class highways. Most of the highways got 90km/h as speedlimit, while some testparts is beeing tested with 100km/h at the moment.

Also another note is that most of the stretches which was 80km/h before, have been cut to 70km/h for safety reasons.

Driving by car from Oslo to Trondheim, which is arround 555km in distance. You have highway class A from Oslo to Gardermoen and then it shrinks to highway class B right after the airport. Then its 2 lane road all the way until Trondheim which dosent have any A class highway.


Btw, how is the Icelandic highways? Forgot them?


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## unixer (Feb 10, 2007)

green,
Chinese expressway distance sign


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## Maxx☢Power (Nov 16, 2005)

AmiDelf said:


> Norway got less than 200km with A Class highways. Most of the highways got 90km/h as speedlimit, while some testparts is beeing tested with 100km/h at the moment.
> 
> Also another note is that most of the stretches which was 80km/h before, have been cut to 70km/h for safety reasons.
> 
> Driving by car from Oslo to Trondheim, which is arround 555km in distance. You have highway class A from Oslo to Gardermoen and then it shrinks to highway class B right after the airport. Then its 2 lane road all the way until Trondheim which dosent have any A class highway.


All true, but what's it got to do with signage? 

While we're off topic.. It's bad enough that Oslo and Trondheim are only connected by winding, narrow two-lane roads, a lot of which isn't even wide enough to have the yellow divider line (because there's nothing to divide), but even Oslo and Gothenburg, two metros of around 800k people, aren't fully connected by motorways.. This is also the main route going south from southern Norway, and a lot of goods traffic uses it. True, it tends to be washed away by massive rainfall, but that shouldn't stop them 

Edit: Just to bring myself smoothly back on topic: Although Norway uses the yellow divider line, it's not used on the few kilometres of motorways we have here. In the US, at least, the "yellow means traffic flows in the opposite direction on the other side" is also apparent on divided roadways, but motorways here will look just like any other european motorway, markings-wise..

Edit 2: Obviously I forgot which thread this is


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## DanielFigFoz (Mar 10, 2007)

Portugal:

Motorways: Blue
Expressways: Green
Everything else: White


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## Nephasto (Feb 6, 2004)

^^Just to clarify, expressways would be roads with 2 or 3 lanes, and 2 directions, but with limited access.


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## DanielFigFoz (Mar 10, 2007)

Nephasto said:


> ^^Just to clarify, expressways would be roads with 2 or 3 lanes, and 2 directions, but with limited access.


They can be have only 1 lane in each direction ex: IP3


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

A little off topic but this is the only photo I can find with HK using white markings


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## DanielFigFoz (Mar 10, 2007)

WANCH said:


> A little off topic but this is the only photo I can find with HK using white markings



:lol: lol well it's better than nothing


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## blue_man100 (Apr 17, 2004)

i like both


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## Maply (Mar 13, 2007)

In Chile are Blue in Motorways and some Highways in the country, and green for the normal ways whit only two lanes.


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## busdriver (Jan 26, 2006)

hkskyline said:


> No. The blue signs shown in those photos were from expressways that are part of the HK highway network.


The roads in your photos - 2 are in tunnel controlled areas and the third in an old section of route 4 in the central district - do not meet motorway standards and so have blue signs. If you look at the sections of these highways which do meet motorway standards (such as the IEC section of route 4 east of Causeway bay), you'll find green signs.

The roads which meet motorway standards are shown in double line in the following map and should all have green signs.


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## Realek (Mar 19, 2006)

--edit--


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## auckland16 (Nov 13, 2006)

i made some pics of road signs,but it's not from hight ways !!Lithuania,Vilnius and out side city.


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## Alex Von Königsberg (Jan 28, 2007)

Lithuania looks the way Russia could have looked if it suddenly became civilised :lol: Anyway, the road signs look exactly like those in Kaliningrad district where I learned driving. These signs are just maintained better. Nostalgia...


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

What kind of software did you used? It looks kind of unreal.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Alex Von Königsberg said:


> Lithuania looks the way Russia could have looked if it suddenly became civilised :lol: Anyway, the road signs look exactly like those in Kaliningrad district where I learned driving. These signs are just maintained better. Nostalgia...


Is that road leading East from Kaliningrad a motorway-(like) road? I see it on various maps, and it looks like some fast road.


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## Izman (Jan 5, 2007)

In Morocco are blue.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

busdriver said:


> The roads in your photos - 2 are in tunnel controlled areas and the third in an old section of route 4 in the central district - do not meet motorway standards and so have blue signs. If you look at the sections of these highways which do meet motorway standards (such as the IEC section of route 4 east of Causeway bay), you'll find green signs.
> 
> The roads which meet motorway standards are shown in double line in the following map and should all have green signs.


I kinda noticed that as well. But the end of the route 3 approaching the West Harbour Tunnel has blue signs.


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## Alex Von Königsberg (Jan 28, 2007)

Chris1491 said:


> Is that road leading East from Kaliningrad a motorway-(like) road? I see it on various maps, and it looks like some fast road.


No, E28 is not a motorway. It varies from a 4-lane divided highway to a 2-lane ordinary road. Some parts of it may look like motorway but only for a short time. 

In fact, there are no real motorways in former East Prussia. Man, Russia cannot even build a continuous motorway connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg even though it is badly needed! It is a shame that two biggest cities in the largest country in the world don't have a motorway connection. It is unimaginable in any civilised country. Even Ukraine build a motorway connecting Kiev and Odessa. Oh well, Russia always had two problems - roads and fools. You can't fix the earlier without taking care of the latter :bash:


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## ChrisH (Mar 7, 2006)

Thanks everyone for the updates to this thread! I will try and make an updated (world) map soon with all the countries that have been mentioned.

Chris


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## radi6404 (May 13, 2007)

chrishillcoat said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I'm trying to put together a map of Europe (to start with) showing what colour your motorways are signed with. For example, in the UK motorway signs are blue, but in Switzerland they are green.
> 
> ...


all the eastern european countries don´t have signs on their motorways?

In bulgaria they are green.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^^


chrishillcoat said:


>


 Btw, the grey-painted Ukraine and Romania for example, doesn't mean they don't use signs (or that the signs are grey:lol, but that we just didn't know the color yet.  (well, now we already do) Iceland, Estonia, Latvia (and Moldova) on the other hand don't have motorways at all, so they were left painted grey. :cheers:


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## ChrisH (Mar 7, 2006)

Verso, I missed the Ukraine and Romania signs. Which colour are they?

(I'm also still looking for a good outline map of the world that I could use to expand this project. It needs to have coastal and border outlines, like the European one above.)


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

something like this?


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

chrishillcoat said:


> Verso, I missed the Ukraine and Romania signs. Which colour are they?


Ukraine is supposedly blue (but we still have no proof/photo), Romania - green:


Verso said:


>


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## dl3000 (Aug 7, 2004)

Would you look at that? Metric on a US sign in California, they are few and far between but they exist, if only there were more.


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## Alex Von Königsberg (Jan 28, 2007)

Ukraine is blue. I am absolutely positive of that. I drove there several times to visit my grandma who lives in Kiev.


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## Alex Von Königsberg (Jan 28, 2007)

dl3000 said:


> Would you look at that? Metric on a US sign in California, they are few and far between but they exist, if only there were more.


If only the CalTrans did not switch back to the archaic system... hno:


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## wyqtor (Jan 15, 2007)

radi6404 said:


> Some Bulgarian roads have beautiful yellow signs but they are very rare, I don´t know why, for nationalroads they prefer blue but I don´t know why somewheere they use yellow.


Maybe they are temporary direction signs? You know, the ones they use when there are road works and there is a detour? That's the case in Romania (and other countries too as far as I can remember - Austria for instance uses very beautiful reflective yellow temporary signs).


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## radi6404 (May 13, 2007)

wyqtor said:


> Maybe they are temporary direction signs? You know, the ones they use when there are road works and there is a detour? That's the case in Romania (and other countries too as far as I can remember - Austria for instance uses very beautiful reflective yellow temporary signs).


No man, look at this pic, here you can see the beautiful yellow sign, there´s one at the end of the Struma motorway, too but there aren´t many red signs at all there.


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## RawLee (Jul 9, 2007)

You are talking about 2 different things...one is the yellow marker which is used when there is a detour(overriding the normal white one),and the yellow sign on which there are text. I suppose those mark temporary directions.


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Hi all,

Motorway signs in Israel are blue. Most other intercity roads are green, as are motorway exit signs to lesser roads. All signs are in three languages (see the "Israeli motorways" thread for a detailed discussion of this issue)


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## FM 2258 (Jan 24, 2004)

^^

It's interesting to see that they are all in English, Hebrew and Arabic.


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## davidmkelly (Nov 30, 2007)

*Table of roadsign colours for various European Countries*

This website http://www.geocities.com/marcelmonterie/EUcolors.htm#euc5 presents a very nice table of roadsign colours for various european countries. As well as signs on motorways it gives details of the colours of signs on other road classifications too.

Regards, Dave


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## wyqtor (Jan 15, 2007)

Yes, about the signs being in Arabic too, I think this tells a lot about Israel and its values... too bad there are other kinds of people near its borders who don't share these values.


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## radi6404 (May 13, 2007)

davidmkelly said:


> This website http://www.geocities.com/marcelmonterie/EUcolors.htm#euc5 presents a very nice table of roadsign colours for various european countries. As well as signs on motorways it gives details of the colours of signs on other road classifications too.
> 
> Regards, Dave


Not all on this side is true, in Bulgaria they mostly use E numbers AND they use latin alphabed, TOO, why is this wrong information there?


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## Muttie (Aug 16, 2007)

wyqtor said:


> Yes, about the signs being in Arabic too, I think this tells a lot about Israel and its values... too bad there are other kinds of people near its borders who don't share these values.


Its not that special actually, most Arabic countries have multilanguage signs too. :nuts: Doesnt say poo about values.

Morocco uses blue signs mainly:










But we also have brown signs:










Although brown is only used on N-roads. Blue for Highways.


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## BND (May 31, 2007)

wyqtor said:


> On the other hand, Hungary is also supposed to be using blue direction signs on motorways. But on the M5 section Budapest - Kiskunfelegyháza they are green like on national roads! This changes after Kiskunfelegyháza towards the serbian border on the newly-built section... I always wondered why they didn't go with the standard...:wtf:


This is because we used to have green signs on all kinds of roads, and a few years ago we started to change them blue on motorways and expressways. So since then the new and renovated motorways get blue signs, and the green ones are used till they last. When they have to be replaced, they are replaced with blue ones. We just don't have the money to change all of them suddenly


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## Gag Halfrunt (Jun 25, 2006)

FM 2258 said:


> ^^
> 
> It's interesting to see that they are all in English, Hebrew and Arabic.


According to a post by *RoadUser* in Israeli Highways:


> Following a court ruling at the beginning of this century, all intercity signs must be in Arabic. This is indeed the case - all junctions have Arabic signs, even if every sign is not in Arabic. It appears that if a sign does not have Arabic, then it is an old sign.
> 
> [...]
> 
> ...


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## FM 2258 (Jan 24, 2004)

^^

Thanks for the information.


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## KIWIKAAS (May 13, 2003)

Green and Blue 

Green = Highway 
Blue = Local Route


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## wdw35 (Dec 12, 2008)

Edit


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

wdw35 said:


> Edit


Great post after more than a year. :lol:


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## Schweden (Jan 5, 2008)

why is svalbard and norway in different colours :lol:?


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## rosn19 (Oct 10, 2008)

HERE IN MEXICO, THE STANDARD IS "MULTI-COLOUR HIGHWAY SIGNS", BUT MOST ARE GREEN. I PREFER BLUE ONES THOUGH. 

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF SOME HIGHWAY SIGNS IN THE CITY OF MONTERREY, NUEVO LEON (I got them from skyscrapercity)

THE FIRST ONE IS AN EXAMPLE OF A WHITE HIGHWAY SIGN








THIS ONE IS EXAMPLE OF A BROWN HIGWAY SIGN








AND THIS ONE IS AN EXAMPLE OF BLUE HIGHWAY SIGNS, ALTHOUGH THEY ARE HARD TO SEE BECAUSE THEY ARE IN THE BACKGROUND, AND THE MOST VISIBLE ONE IS AT THE LOWER RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE PICTURE. THE PLACE IT WAS TAKEN IS OF AVENIDA CONSTITUCION.








CONFUSING, ISN'T IT? WELL AT LEAST FOR FOREIGNERS IT IS. I'VE ALSO SEEN ORANGE AND YELLOW ONES:nuts:


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## Ron2K (Dec 28, 2007)

Well, you guys just made me read the entire thread from start to end.

Whoever did the world map did get South Africa correct - blue signs on freeways, green just about everywhere else. There are a few exceptions: tourism related signs are brown, a few information related signs are white (such as town names, river crossings - that kind of thing), and ALL temporary signs (such as the sort you'll see when road construction is going on) are black on yellow.

Many of you have probably seen our signage before; for those who haven't, I'll dig some photos up when I get some time to do that.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Ukraine and Albania should be green, not blue.


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## BoSol (Feb 18, 2009)

Greece 

Green and Blue 

Green = Motorway
Blue = Local Route and Town signs


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## rosn19 (Oct 10, 2008)

ANOTHER PICTURE FROM MEXICO.

THESE ARE COMMON STOP SIGNS, WICH READ "ALTO" (THE EQUIVALENT OF THE ENGLISH WORD "HALT") MEXICO IS THE ONLY SPANISH SPEAKING COUNTRY THAT USES THAT WORD (THAT I KNOW OF), BECAUSE ALL OF THE OTHER SPANISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES USE THE WORD "PARE" (STOP), WITH THIS ONE BEING IN THE FEDERAL DISTRICT.


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## rosn19 (Oct 10, 2008)

rosn19 said:


> HERE IN MEXICO, THE STANDARD IS "MULTI-COLOUR HIGHWAY SIGNS", BUT MOST ARE GREEN. I PREFER BLUE ONES THOUGH.
> 
> THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF SOME HIGHWAY SIGNS IN THE CITY OF MONTERREY, NUEVO LEON (I got them from skyscrapercity)
> 
> ...


JUST BROUGHT THEM TO THIS PAGE.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^^ We're talking about through signs on motorways (autopistas), not STOP signs (which have nothing to do on motorways anyway).


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## Billpa (Feb 26, 2006)

rosn19 said:


> ^^ This is a Nuevo Leon state route sign? Very cool. The mountains are great on that sign.


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## rosn19 (Oct 10, 2008)

Billpa said:


> rosn19 said:
> 
> 
> > ^^ This is a Nuevo Leon state route sign? Very cool. The mountains are great on that sign.
> ...


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## Billpa (Feb 26, 2006)

Well, that's a great route marker. A very nice design AND it keeps the numbers large enough to read from a distance- very good indeed. :cheers:


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## rosn19 (Oct 10, 2008)

Billpa said:


> Well, that's a great route marker. A very nice design AND it keeps the numbers large enough to read from a distance- very good indeed. :cheers:


:cheers::cheers:thnaks, but my favourites will always be the german signs, i think they look so cool.


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## eskandarany (Oct 15, 2008)

*Arab Countries*

Motorway signs in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Arab Gulf Countries, Iraq, Syria and Jordan usually are in Arabic and English.
Motorway signs in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia are usually in Arabic and French.

All the above countries use blue on their motorways, including Egypt (I am Egyptian). The sign in Cairo was an anomaly and refers to a regional motorway anyway - but on the national motorways you would only see blue (examples below)
*Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road*








*Cairo-Fayoum Desert Road*








A curious feature of egyptian motorways is that to save money the government often doesn't construct bridges so turning round is by making a U-turn at specific locations (take a closer look at both signs)

Not sure about Libya, but their motorway network isn't that extensive yet. We'll see what the Italians do when they start to build it in the next couple of years..


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## Billpa (Feb 26, 2006)

^^Nice signage. Does Egypt have to work at all to keep the sand from encroaching upon the roadway?


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## bozata90 (Dec 8, 2008)

That that these roads have U-turns, makes them not motorways, but just dual carriageways. That's why they are not marked as motorways, and do not have the appropriate signs. Most of them do not even have an emergency lane.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

The first picture shows a motorway sign. (in an unusual triangular sign). 

I think a bridge or tunnel is too expensive, and if you want to cross the freeway, you turn right onto the freeway, then make a U-turn at the nearest spot, and then head back and exit at the first offramp. You see this in Baltic countries too.


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## wyqtor (Jan 15, 2007)

ChrisZwolle said:


> The first picture shows a motorway sign. (in an unusual triangular sign).


That motorway sign in the red triangle, believe it or not, means "checkpoint" (usually military checkpoint, I guess).

I saw it on a video made by my family on their trip Aswan - Abu Simbel (which isn't a motorway). Unfortunately I can't post it because it's in a very weird format. Those signs was clearly just before military checkpoints.


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## Mateusz (Feb 14, 2007)

GENIUS LOCI said:


> I never understood why EU (at least) doesn't take a decision to have a homogeneous color in whole Europe
> Travelling by car across different states is nowadays very common and to have too different signals creates only confusion in drivers


Slovakia, Balkans, Scandinavia, Ukraine, Russia... green


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## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

^^ 
Norway is blue. (Look at p. 12 of this thread).


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## K3 (Aug 2, 2007)

ChrisH said:


> Darker grey signifies countries with no motorways (Greenland, Iceland etc.). If you can rule out any more of these countries, they can be added to the map.



Danmark is green !!!

Blue is only for exits....


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## cazswell (Apr 13, 2006)

To clear up some confusion regarding Canada (in Ontario), in general...

-Almost all new regional or city roads are signed with a BLUE sign, ie. major streets that are NOT provincial highways. Green street signs are usually older and haven't been replaced. However, regional/city owned highways are signed in GREEN (ie. the DVP)
-Almost all private roadways, including airport access roads and Hwy 407, are signed with BLUE. This is to distinguish that they are NOT a publicly-owned road. However, while this is generally the accepted rule, it is up to the discretion of the road owner.
-In parking lots (ie. at malls), most signs are usually GREEN, though malls do not follow any particular standard.
-All Ontario provincial highways (except collector lanes) are signed with GREEN directional signage, BLUE information signage, and WHITE emergency/old informational signage (ie. the ones with the brown lettering).
-Collector lanes are signed with BLUE signage to visually distinguish the difference between the collector and express lanes on the highway, so it's easier for a driver to tell what signs apply to the express and what ones apply to the collector lanes.

These are the generally practised rules, however no strict standards actually exist regarding these types of signage, except for construction signs (which are always orange).


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## Mateusz (Feb 14, 2007)

Where I can get such map to edit it ?


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Just use the upper map.


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## Hobgoblin (May 27, 2004)

Thailand, all overhead motorway signs are green. Distance signs on highways are white, and are green on motorways.

Put Thailand in the green pile.


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## ChrisH (Mar 7, 2006)

If anyone (Mateusz) wants to take over this project please feel free. You can use the map above or get a new one from Wikipedia to edit.


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## paF4uko (Jul 12, 2008)

radi6404 said:


> No man, look at this pic, here you can see the beautiful yellow sign, there´s one at the end of the Struma motorway, too but there aren´t many red signs at all there.


Radi, signs with yellow background in Bulgaria are temporary.

Article 39 (4) from the Bulgarian Road Code says:


> Чл. 39. (4) Пътните знаци от групи "А" и "Ж", използвани при временна промяна на организацията на движението по пътя поради строителство или ремонт, дейности по поддръжката, аварийни ситуации и други подобни, имат жълт фон.


in English it would be:


> Art. 39. (4) Road signs from groups "A" and "G", used for temporary traffic organization because of construction or reconstruction, maintenance activities, emergency situations and so on, have yellow background.


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## diegogalban (May 31, 2006)

By the way: in Spain we use STOP, not ALTO or PARE for our STOP signage.


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## rosn19 (Oct 10, 2008)

diegogalban said:


> By the way: in Spain we use STOP, not ALTO or PARE for our STOP signage.


that is so ironic


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## paF4uko (Jul 12, 2008)

Bulgarian motorway exit signs colour depends on the type of road after the exit, so they can be either green, blue or yellow respectively for motorway, national road or temporary itinerary.

Here's an example of exit to a national road with blue signs on the Hæmus motorway (A2):








Original picture at Panoramio


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## rosn19 (Oct 10, 2008)

paF4uko said:


> Bulgarian motorway exit signs colour depends on the type of road after the exit, so they can be either green, blue or yellow respectively for motorway, national road or temporary itinerary.
> 
> Here's an example of exit to a national road with blue signs on the Hæmus motorway (A2):
> 
> ...


awesome scenery:banana:


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## rosn19 (Oct 10, 2008)

*ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF MULIT-COLOUR SIGNS IN MEXICO*

THIS IS IN SANTIAGO DE QUERETARO IN CENTRAL MEXICO, THE EXPRESSWAY IS PASEO CONSTITUYENTES; WITH BLUE SIGNS. I DON'T EVEN THINK MEXICO SHOULD BE PUT GREEN ON THE MAP, THERE IS NO STANDARD COLOUR, IT IS MULTI-COLOUR. THERE SHOULD BE ANOTHER COLOUR IN THE MAP FOR COUNTRIES THAT USE MULTI-COLOUR SIGNAGE. EVERY MEXICAN FEDERAL ENTITY (STATE) HAS THEIR OWN STANDARD OF SIGNAGE, AND EACH OF THEM HAVE THEIR OWN TRANSIT LAWS AND REGULATIONS. IN MEXICO, ONE DOES NOT HAVE A "MEXICAN DRIVER'S LICENSE" THEY ARE DIFFERENT IN EVERY ENTITY, AND TO GET ONE IS A DIFFERENT PROCEDURE DEPENDING ON WHICH STATE YOU LIVE IN.


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## Dan (Jun 16, 2007)

diegogalban said:


> By the way: in Spain we use STOP, not ALTO or PARE for our STOP signage.


There aren't any European countries that use something other than stop, no? All have that in English, at least all I have seen.


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## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

^^

In Turkey they use "DUR" on their stop signs.


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## Vencedoresdesierto (Aug 11, 2006)

* Green Signs on Freeway "Camino Real" de Cd. Juarez, Mexico*

​


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## rosn19 (Oct 10, 2008)

Vencedoresdesierto said:


> * Green Signs on Freeway "Camino Real" de Cd. Juarez, Mexico*
> 
> ​


another example of no uniformity in my countryhno: nice signs by the way in periferico de ciudad jaurez


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## rosn19 (Oct 10, 2008)

more blue and green signs from monterrey, mexico


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

So Mexico is green; next.


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## rosn19 (Oct 10, 2008)

Verso said:


> So Mexico is green; next.


for the most part, but its as if every city did what ever they want with the signs


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## Dominican2dacore (Feb 4, 2006)

You sure its not brown because its a recreation site? It works that way here in the US.


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## Albaneren (Oct 11, 2008)

Albania has green, not blue.


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## karim123 (Mar 28, 2009)

*Lebanon*

In Lebanon motorways have green signs and main routes (and exits) have blue while highways in beirut have white signs.
































in beirut


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## shpirtkosova (Jun 7, 2009)

Quite annoying Albania having green signs, I am pretty sure Kosovo will go for blue to differentiate from Serbia, which means Kosovo and Albania contradicting eachother at the other end.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

So? Many countries don't have the same color... Germany has yellow signs, while the Netherlands have blue signs, and Czech Republic has green signs...


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## shpirtkosova (Jun 7, 2009)

^^
hmmm, really I would prefer Albania and Kosovo to be the same color signage. Green I don't really prefer either...


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## sallae2 (Feb 7, 2008)

so, it seems this is at the moment ...


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

I have seen pics with green Ukrainian motorway signs (Dnipropetrovsk - Kharkov)


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

There's no motorway in Montenegro.


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## Foolish Farmer (Jun 6, 2006)

Once again: Kosovo misses in this map and i'm not talking about an political issue! Kosovo will get blue motorsigns and not green ones like Serbia has.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Probably 95% of the maps on the internet do not show Kosovo, so please don't bring this up every time you see a map without Kosovo. Hell, some maps even feature Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia...


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## sallae2 (Feb 7, 2008)

ok ... so here is a picture of Ukrainian highway ...











http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=36250594&postcount=306


.. and MNE is corrected (btw. there are rumors of a soon start of construction of first hwy section Smokovac-Malesevo in MNE) ...


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Funny thing about Belgium: signage on regular roads giving directions to freeways are green, but the freeway signage itself is regular blue. I kinda get the idea there were plans at some point to implement green signage for freeways in Belgium.


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## -Pino- (Aug 12, 2007)

Not sure whether Belgium ever intended to switch. It can be argued that, on non-motorways, it is convenient to easily identify the route to the motorway. Hence the use of a colour like green (in a nation where signs are otherwise blue) serves the purpose to highlight a feature that is considered important. On the motorway itself, it was considered that there was no particular need to highlight anything, hence the use of uniform blue.

On this point, the Belgian signage is quite close to the German signage. On non-motorways, an outstanding colour is used to refer to motorways. On the motorway, the exit signage is blue - whether the intersecting road is a motorway or not.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

> It can be argued that, on non-motorways, it is convenient to easily identify the route to the motorway. Hence the use of a colour like green (in a nation where signs are otherwise blue) serves the purpose to highlight a feature that is considered important.


I really like that. It's always easy to get on the right motorway in Germany (but also France), while in the Netherlands, you don't see the motorway symbol unless you're like 5 km from the motorway, sometimes not until you get to the last intersection before the motorway.


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## AL-KS (Oct 21, 2008)

shpirtkosova said:


> Quite annoying Albania having green signs, I am pretty sure Kosovo will go for blue to differentiate from Serbia, which means Kosovo and Albania contradicting eachother at the other end.


I don´t think that Kosovo will get blue signs because there are already the blue signs for the expressways( Prishtinë-Lipjan). But let´s see.


----------



## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

It should be noted there're still a few old green signs left on Hungarian motorways.


----------



## x-type (Aug 19, 2005)

Verso said:


> It should be noted there're still a few old green signs left on Hungarian motorways.


:?
really? where? i hear for that first time!


----------



## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^^


Qtya said:


>


----------



## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Given the fact there are also motorway signs, I think this pic was taken on a non-motorway status road.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^ Lol, it's as good as it can get, 6-lane M1+M7 section. Those blue motorway icons were the same as they're in CZ and SK.


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## wyqtor (Jan 15, 2007)

There are also green signs on M5 between Budapest and Kiskunfelegyhaza. But I think they are slowly being replaced.


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## x-type (Aug 19, 2005)

so H used to have green motorway signs earlier before redisigning? i thoughtg those were blue from allways


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## BND (May 31, 2007)

^^ Actually that sign posted by Qtya and then Verso is already replaced with this one:









There are still some green signs on M5 around Kecskemét and on the old, southern section of M0. The blue signs were introduced in 2002 on the reconstructed M7 first. Before that all signs were green on all road types.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Ehm, where did the sound wall go?


----------



## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

BND said:


> ^^ Actually that sign posted by Qtya and then Verso is already replaced with this one:


This particular one already existed:


Qtya said:


>


Anyway, there're obviously a few left on M5, as you say.


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## BND (May 31, 2007)

^^ You are right, the green one is located just before the motorways split (or rather 500m before as you can see one more sign in the distance, in the curve, where the motorways actually split), and the one by me is 1km before. But the green one is already gone, next time I go there I'll take a photo 

So no worry Chris, the sound wall is not gone


----------



## Peines (Aug 13, 2011)

*Spain/White on Blue/Black on White/Black on White/Black on White/Black on Yellow*

Also, *White on Green* for the streets/squares names (only the name), *Black on Yellow* for public services (Airports or Car-parks or Train/Bus Stations or Shopping Centers), *Black/White on Orange* for sports and recreation (not very usual), *White on Brown* for Natural Spaces and Beach, *White on Magenta* for Cultural services (universities, schools, convention Centers, Museums…), and last, *White on Grey* for industrial zones


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## DanielFigFoz (Mar 10, 2007)

==


----------



## DanielFigFoz (Mar 10, 2007)

Nima-Farid said:


> Are you sure it is a motorway? What road is it? You know that countries without motorways may not be represented in this forum as mentioned in the title. :cheers:
> But good to see the foirst pic from an Angolan road :banana:


I am sure


----------



## shpirtkosova (Jun 7, 2009)

I think Kosovo will be Green as the dual carriageway magistrales are blue as seen here.... (BTW the central reservation is on the left of the picture, the two right lanes are for local acess.)










The first stretch of motorway will open October this year so we will see.


----------



## Next Exit (Aug 26, 2011)

In Australia, whilst generally highway and motorway (freeway) directional signs are green (brown for tourist signage), there is an exception which is for tollways in Victoria (such as the M1 CityLink and M3 EastLink in Melbourne) which are blue, with yellow lettering. This is to differentiate tollways from freeways.

A similar case exists in Ontario, Canada where tollways such as metro Toronto's 407 ERT signage is also blue. Blue signs are also used to differentiate between express lanes (green signs) and collector lanes (blue signs) such as on the 401 and 427. Both the express and collector lanes form part of the motorway/freeway but are different colours to assist drivers in differentiating signage applying to the respective lanes. There has been some comment that collector lanes are not freeway standard, which is incorrect. They form part of the freeway and are fully access-controlled with grade-separation.


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## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

zsmg said:


> Heh, I always assumed blue was the most common for motorways surprised to see that isn't the case. Is there any reason why a country picks blue over green or vice versa? Is it better visibility or is it simply because they're copying it from another country?


This whole conversation is actually somewhat inapplicable to the U.S.; all directional signage is white-on-green here, regardless of the type of road (with minor exceptions like brown used in the National Park system, which includes some roads like the George Washington Memorial Parkway in the Washington area). White-on-blue is used for services, white-on-brown for tourist information....

We don't use the chopsticks symbol either.


----------



## bogdymol (Feb 4, 2010)

shpirtkosova said:


>


Is that truck on the right going in the wrong direction? :nuts:


----------



## DanielFigFoz (Mar 10, 2007)

I think so :lol:


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## Attus (Jul 9, 2010)

In Hungary 20 years ago every road directional sign was white on green. 
In the 90's motorway and expressway signs were replaced to white on blue, local roads to black on white while all other roads remaind white on green. 
New touristical signs were introduced, using the usual white on brown scheme.
Note that in mixed signs, e.g. in a sign has information about local destinations and a motorway as well, this sign has a white background but the part that informs about the motorway is white on green.


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## shpirtkosova (Jun 7, 2009)

bogdymol said:


> Is that truck on the right going in the wrong direction? :nuts:


No no, read my post first, I explained that the central reservtion is on the left hand side, those two tracks where the truck is are loacal acess lanes and are devided from the expressway.

This is how the road is built..
-------------------------
>>>>>>>> - Local Acess
<<<<<<<< - Local Acess
---------------------------
<<<<<<<< - Expressway
<<<<<<<< - Expressway
=====================
>>>>>>>> - Expressway
>>>>>>>> - Expressway (Photo is taken from this lane)
----------------------------
<<<<<<<< - Local Acess (Truck is here)
>>>>>>>> - Local Acess
---------------------------

It has a total of 8 lanes.

I hope my visualisation makes sense.


----------



## Attus (Jul 9, 2010)

shpirtkosova said:


> No no, read my post first, I explained that the central reservtion is on the left hand side, those two tracks where the truck is are loacal acess lanes and are devided from the expressway.
> 
> This is how the road is built..
> -------------------------
> ...


OK, but in the photo there's a sign just above the "local access" road, having TWO arrows upwards. What does it mean then?


----------



## sallae2 (Feb 7, 2008)

Can it be considered as expressway with roundabout on it?


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## Nima-Farid (Jul 13, 2010)

> I think Kosovo will be Green as the dual carriageway magistrales are blue as seen here.... (BTW the central reservation is on the left of the picture, the two right lanes are for local acess.)


This thread will only cover countries which have freeways right now. if we consider a color for Kosovo we have to also consider a color for all of the central asian republics and african countries!


----------



## Nima-Farid (Jul 13, 2010)

Attus said:


> OK, but in the photo there's a sign just above the "local access" road, having TWO arrows upwards. What does it mean then?


If you look closely it is only above the car!:tongue3:


----------



## Durin (Oct 15, 2010)

zsmg said:


> Heh, I always assumed blue was the most common for motorways surprised to see that isn't the case. Is there any reason why a country picks blue over green or vice versa? Is it better visibility or is it simply because they're copying it from another country?


I think the colour used on national road/highway signage before motorways were built plays a big part. In Sweden's case I assume blue was always used on highways and therefore, when motorways were built, it was natural to go for green on motorway signage.

This recently happened in Russia. They went for green when they started building proper motorways, as the national network already uses blue. Not much choice there as it basically comes down to cost.


----------



## Aphelion (May 29, 2010)

^^ Sweden used black on yellow before 1962, when a major road numbering reform took place. At first, motorways had a dark blue colour, but this was changed when an international treaty was signed. The treaty declared that motorway signs were to have a colour different from those of regular roads.


----------



## Ron2K (Dec 28, 2007)

-Pino- said:


> I do recall having driven on one or two dual carriageway N-routes in South Africa that were signposted in green. In Swaziland, also on South African style, I encountered the same. MR3 between the SAn border and Mbabane is dual carriageway and blue, MR3 between Mbabane and Manzini is dual carriageway and green.
> 
> But it may just be that signposting in those areas was just wrong, e.g. that they had just upgraded the road but not yet exchanged the green signs for blue ones. Any Saffers to enlighten us?


OK, as promised earlier today, here comes the long explanation...

Basically, for the road to have blue signage, it must be a dual-carriageway, limited access freeway (i.e. divided, full control of access, no at-grade intersections) . Most freeways across the country qualify - but you do get a few oddballs...

Firstly, in some rural areas, we get what's officially termed a "single-carriageway freeway" - it's an undivided road that meets all the other freeway criteria. Because these roads don't strictly follow the proper definition of a freeway, they have green signage:










Most of these such roads are 2x2 (such as this section of the N2, around 80km north of Durban), although sometimes they're alternating 2x1.

Then, you get dual-carriageway roads that aren't classified as freeways for whatever reason - most likely, at-grade intersections. The N1 route through the Molenaars River Valley (eastern side of the Hugenot Tunnel) is an example of this: it's a dual-carriageway 2x2 (3x2 in a few places) - but, because of this little at-grade intersection on it, it doesn't satisfy the freeway criteria and hence receives green signage:










Another good example of this is the N12 between Klerksdorp and Potchestroom. It's a dual-carriageway road (2x2), but it definitely is not limited access. There's also a few cases where mountain passes are made dual-carriageways only for the duration of the pass, and these short sections aren't classified as freeway either.

And then, you get the screwups. The N7 through Springbok has blue signage when it should definitely have green signage (but for a town so small as Springbok, I suppose they're proud that they actually have a grade-separated interchange - although the purpose would be to keep traffic between Cape Town and Namibia separated from local traffic):










And to end off: we also have signs with brown backgrounds, which are used for anything tourism related:










Hope this post clears up all the confusion. 

(Just for the record, I haven't visited either Namibia or Swaziland, so I can't comment on the way that they do things.)


----------



## Durin (Oct 15, 2010)

Aphelion said:


> ^^ Sweden used black on yellow before 1962, when a major road numbering reform took place. At first, motorways had a dark blue colour, but this was changed when an international treaty was signed.


I didn't know that, but I can imagine as it is how the Germans still do it. 
A general cultural shift must have taken place in the Nordics post-WWII as we gradually shifted from being quite German-orientated to becoming very Americanised. Funnily enough, Norway still uses black on yellow and blue for motorways. I actually prefer blue. :cheers:

Sweden has and still uses black on yellow for local direction signage though.
Was there no differentiation between highway and local road signage before 1962?










I do remember however, blue highway signs in Sweden having a much darker tone of blue. 
Still a few of them around. Must have changed during the mid-80's?


----------



## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

^^Norwegian _motorways_ are white on blue, all other roads are black on yellow. A complete copy of the German system to be frankly.


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## Aphelion (May 29, 2010)

Durin: I think the difference was that private roads had a red border instead of black, like on your picture. Private roads still have black on yellow with a red border.


----------



## Uppsala (Feb 26, 2010)

poshbakerloo said:


> Apparently the UK uses blue for signs...


Blue for motorways in the UK and green for other roads. Thats the same in Hungary and Poland too.

I think the signs in the UK look quite similar to the signs in Germany.


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## DanielFigFoz (Mar 10, 2007)

^^ Blue for motorways, green for primary A-roads and white for others


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## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

DanielFigFoz said:


> ^^ Blue for motorways, green for primary A-roads and white for others


As in France. (The equivalent of primary routes being the so-called réseau vert - green network.)


----------



## Haljackey (Feb 14, 2008)

Blue/green mix in Ontario, Canada:


----------



## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

^^Do they use blue anywhere other than the 401?


----------



## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

Uppsala said:


> Blue for motorways in the UK and green for other roads. Thats the same in Hungary and Poland too.
> 
> I think the signs in the UK look quite similar to the signs in Germany.


Pardon??? How???


----------



## Nima-Farid (Jul 13, 2010)

Anyone knows about Freeways (Expressways) in Vietnam? Is the blue shown for Freeways or for normal roads?


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## Nima-Farid (Jul 13, 2010)

Penn's Woods said:


> ^^Do they use blue anywhere other than the 401?


Yes all the signs in 407 ETR are blue but thats it!


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Green on expressways:


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## Nima-Farid (Jul 13, 2010)

^^ ThanksChrisZwolle for the pictures!


----------



## SeanT (Sep 14, 2008)

Road_UK said:


> Pardon??? How???


 ...Yes but I think that hungarian "darkish" green is not that usual in other countries...


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

SeanT said:


> ...Yes but I think that hungarian "darkish" green is not that usual in other countries...


Not that, I'm wondering how he worked out that UK signs look simular to German ones.


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## Nima-Farid (Jul 13, 2010)

Road_UK said:


> Not that, I'm wondering how he worked out that UK signs look simular to German ones.


Probably he meant the color for motorways


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

Nima-Farid said:


> Probably he meant the color for motorways


Most of western Europe use blue ones. That doesn't make them look simular. Does a blue BMW 5 series look simular to a blue Fiat Ceicento?


----------



## shpirtkosova (Jun 7, 2009)

Road_UK said:


> Most of western Europe use blue ones. That doesn't make them look simular. Does a blue BMW 5 series look simular to a blue Fiat Ceicento?


Yes.


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## Nima-Farid (Jul 13, 2010)

Road_UK said:


> Most of western Europe use blue ones. That doesn't make them look simular. Does a blue BMW 5 series look simular to a blue Fiat Ceicento?


Even Iran's Freeway signs are blue and normal roads are green! :|


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

What's the road disclipine like in Iran? One might be forgiven to think that's complete anarchy?


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## Nima-Farid (Jul 13, 2010)

^^
Iran has 80,000 km of roads. 65,000 km are paved and there is 1,800 km of Freeways in Iran. The road signs for Freeways are blue and they are numbered 1, 2, 5, 7 and 9. There are also a few unnumbered freeways.National roads in Iran use green signage and they are numbered from 11 to 99. odd numbers for NS roads increasing from west to east and even numbers are for EW roads increasing from north to south. Iran also has lots of Expressways. Some of them are part of National Roads and some others are part of Municipalities. They also use green signs. Iran also has secondary roads which have 3-digit numbers but they are not marked frequently in the country.
This is the link for Iranian thread http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=426574
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=406966


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## BND (May 31, 2007)

This is the official colouring scheme for direction signs in Hungary:










Road numbers and settlement names are fictional (ok, M9 exists in reality), unfortunately I couldn't find a bigger image.


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## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

^^
BND
Where did you find this?


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## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

Road_UK said:


> Blue = motorways
> 
> Green = Route Nationale (National roads)
> 
> White = Route Departementale (Regional and local roads)


Not quite, I think. Green is the "réseau vert" or "green network," very like British primary routes in that they're meant to connect certain key points. I *think* it's possible for a national route to be off the réseau vert. At least that was the case when I started paying attention to this stuff around 2004. Since then, the central government has offloaded a lot of national routes to the départements, though....


----------



## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

OulaL said:


> What about Italy? The superstrade have a symbol similar to that of a motorway in the "blue" countries. Also the roads look pretty much like motorways in many countries...
> 
> In other words, a question arises about how to define a motorway in countries that use a language other than English. In many cases this is pretty clear, but not in all.


For that matter, there's the problem of terminology *in* English. That's why I'm using "motorway" on this forum, even though most Americans probably don't know it and never use it: avoids the whole freeway/expressway thing.


----------



## x-type (Aug 19, 2005)

Road_UK said:


> Same as in Switzerland. Worse: they also carry a motorway sign, even though there's only one lane in each direction.


the weirdest thing in Switzerland is green expressway sign actually


----------



## MattiG (Feb 11, 2011)

OulaL said:


> But still the superstrade have the same "motorway" sign.
> 
> On the other hand the colour doesn't always tell - for instance in Finland and Sweden also expressways (moottoriliikennetiet, motortrafikvägar) have the same green as motorways - just without the "motorway" sign but with a "car" sign instead. Despite being usually single carriage roads.


This is the most natural interpretation of the text of Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals. It posts similar rules for both motorways and "roads for motor vehicles". The signs should be either blue or green.

The text is open to other interpretations, too: It does not state that these signs must be of the same color. Thus signing motorways on green and roads for motor vehicles on blue is acceptable.


----------



## Autoputevi kao hobi (Jan 8, 2014)

In Serbia blue signs are for expressways.


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## Kanadzie (Jan 3, 2014)

Penn's Woods said:


> Just like it's always (well, usually) green here. We don't use the chopsticks symbol or any other at all, by the way.


California does have those green "FREEWAY ENTRANCE" signs though, that seem to be used in the exact same way as the chopsticks one... it's odd since you are basically screwed once you pass it if you can't or don't want to be on freeway (same as chopsticks)


----------



## Kreicherisch (Sep 13, 2010)

In Thailand, on normal highways, we normally have green signs. Blue signs are used on normal highways to indicate the entrance to expressways (toll roads). Once you get on expressways, the signs turn back to green.

Personally I prefer blue signs.


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## ElviS77 (Aug 3, 2007)

MattiG said:


> This is the most natural interpretation of the text of Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals. It posts similar rules for both motorways and "roads for motor vehicles". The signs should be either blue or green.
> 
> The text is open to other interpretations, too: It does not state that these signs must be of the same color. Thus signing motorways on green and roads for motor vehicles on blue is acceptable.


In Norway we actually changed our approach. "Motortrafikkveger" now have yellow signs. They used to be blue like the "motorveg" ones. Earlier, they were even referred to as "motorveg klasse B" - i.e. B-class motorway.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

ChrisZwolle said:


>


Portugal to Belarus = Blue Banana


----------



## OulaL (May 2, 2012)

ElviS77 said:


> In Norway we actually changed our approach. "Motortrafikkveger" now have yellow signs. They used to be blue like the "motorveg" ones. Earlier, they were even referred to as "motorveg klasse B" - i.e. B-class motorway.


Seems logical, the Norwegian colour scheme is copied from Germany anyway


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## MattiG (Feb 11, 2011)

ElviS77 said:


> In Norway we actually changed our approach. "Motortrafikkveger" now have yellow signs. They used to be blue like the "motorveg" ones. Earlier, they were even referred to as "motorveg klasse B" - i.e. B-class motorway.


Yes. Nothing is easier than to deviate from the articles of the Vienna Convention. Just send a letter to someone telling we are not any more bound by certain articles.

I am not completely happy with the Vienna Convention gradually turning obsolete, because it encourages the member states inventing new traffic signs and rules. Norway has invented a number of new signs related to toll roads, as well as a sign for a HOV lane. Sweden has this very interesting sign:









Estonia list a number of car accessories mandatory even for the foreigners. German has almost lost their sense around the local environment zones. If you drive into France, you have to carry an alcometer, etc.


----------



## MattiG (Feb 11, 2011)

OulaL said:


> Seems logical, the Norwegian colour scheme is copied from Germany anyway


German follows kind of a hybrid model: The entry and the exit signs for a Kraftfahrstraße are blue (like a motorway) but the direction signs are yellow (like a non-motorway).


----------



## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

Ausfahrt signs are in yellow as well.


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## Kanadzie (Jan 3, 2014)

MattiG said:


> Yes. Nothing is easier than to deviate from the articles of the Vienna Convention. Just send a letter to someone telling we are not any more bound by certain articles.
> 
> I am not completely happy with the Vienna Convention gradually turning obsolete, because it encourages the member states inventing new traffic signs and rules. Norway has invented a number of new signs related to toll roads, as well as a sign for a HOV lane. Sweden has this very interesting sign:
> 
> ...


whaada xxxx is that sign?

you need an alcometer in France? The vin is good but not so good!


----------



## xrtn2 (Jan 12, 2011)

In Brazil they're green:

Blue for road numbering.


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## 88keys (Sep 13, 2009)

South Africa has both blue and green. Blue for motorways and green for smaller roads:



88keys said:


>





RODDAS said:


> driving through
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Gil (Mar 11, 2005)

Verso said:


> Portugal to Belarus = Blue Banana


Are Norway and Austria-Hungary the peel on the banana? :banana:


----------



## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

Kanadzie said:


> whaada xxxx is that sign?
> 
> you need an alcometer in France? The vin is good but not so good!


The wine is great.


----------



## Autobahn-mann (Mar 1, 2013)

88keys said:


> South Africa has both blue and green. Blue for motorways and green for smaller roads:


Like UK....


----------



## riiga (Nov 2, 2009)

Kanadzie said:


> whaada xxxx is that sign?


It's a supplementary sign used with the general warning sign or crosswalk sign. It means blind people or people with bad eyesight are common near the sign.










There's also this one, which means deaf or people with hard of hearing.










They're very rare signs though, I only know of one, which I saw in the neighbouring city.


----------



## devo (Jun 24, 2011)

Or you could solve this problem by averaging all colors:









(average of eight most used green and blue sign colors)


----------



## -Valentino- (Feb 13, 2015)

Kanadzie said:


> The pictogram sign is universal in Canada and very common in the USA but the "lane ends" text sign is pretty common in the US too, maybe not with the "change lanes" adder, even Americans are not _that _stupid :lol:
> 
> The funny one is in Maryland I've seen, lane ends, merge left, with two crazy arrows... I can't find a pic but they're all over 495 if you look...


Maryland uses this sign on highways...


----------



## PovilD (Dec 26, 2011)

Uppsala said:


> But maybe Lithuania want to change for political reasons? Poland is blue and Russia is green :?


Most of our signage is Russian-design and changing the design for political reasons would be absurd. I think that the main reason is that Lithuania pops out in the region with its green signage: Kaliningrad Oblast and Belarus doesn't have green avtomagistrales (doesn't heard about plans nether), Poland uses blue and Latvia doesn't have motorways at all. Being more "European" is the government decision and they meant that Lithuania will use the same signage as the most of the biggest European (& EU) economies: Germany, France, UK (German Autobahnen might influenced the most for this change) and might apply new directional signage in motorways.


----------



## PovilD (Dec 26, 2011)

NFZANMNIM said:


> ^^ Does that mean that they will change their "other roads" signs from blue to green as well? And the 50%+50% is number of countries, population-wise, blue has a huge advantage in Europe while green has that advantage worldwide, counting China's extensive motorway network in especially


I meant that other roads will remain blue. (It would cost too much to change all the signage)


----------



## PovilD (Dec 26, 2011)

devo said:


> Or you could solve this problem by averaging all colors:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


We will average everything to blue anyway: motorways will be blue as the other roads are blue now.


----------



## Losbp (Nov 20, 2012)

*Indonesia*

Renewal on regulations regarding Traffic Signs in Indonesia last year led expressways to have both green and blue sign on their directional signs :nuts:



Losbp said:


> Another development in PM.13 implementation...
> 
> *JORR*
> 
> ...


----------



## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Blue is for toll roads?


----------



## Losbp (Nov 20, 2012)

^^ Both of them are toll roads 

It is the result of the interpretation of the new regulation in which all arrow per lane directional signs depicted are signed in blue, but the rest of the signs such as the toll road exit and distance sign are signed in green..


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## aswnl (Jun 6, 2004)

Fortunately those signs are still in Highway Gothic and not in the imperfect Clearview font.

However I don't understand the difference in colour right now. Maybe it becomes more clear when more new signage will be installed.


----------



## 54°26′S 3°24′E (Oct 26, 2007)

Kanadzie said:


> ^^ heaven is blue and hell is... green :lol:
> 
> Blue seems very Europe... maybe just because of the EU-flagge...





coth said:


> But EU covers less than a half of Europe, so not really very European.


I do not really see the link between the flag and motorway signage, but would like to point out that although now adopted by the European, the blue flag with 12 stars is a symbol for all of Europe, and it was originally, and still is, the flag of the Council of Europe, which pretty much includes all of Europe. 
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Europe


----------



## Losbp (Nov 20, 2012)

aswnl said:


> Fortunately those signs are still in Highway Gothic and not in the imperfect Clearview font.
> 
> However I don't understand the difference in colour right now. Maybe it becomes more clear when more new signage will be installed.


It is not long until finally the Clearview version of the sign installed. This one is in the Palimanan - Kanci Toll Road



rilham2new said:


> Rambu2 penunjuk arah dengan background biru
> 
> Tol Palimanan Cirebon by AnakMelayuRiau, on Flickr





rilham2new said:


> Menjelang ujung tol Palimanan....Rambu2 menunjukkan sambungan tol ke Jakarta sudah dibuat...
> 
> Tol Palimanan Cirebon by AnakMelayuRiau, on Flickr


----------



## sirfreelancealot (Jul 26, 2010)

Losbp said:


> It is not long until finally the Clearview version of the sign installed. This one is in the Palimanan - Kanci Toll Road


Looks more like Transport font than Clearview.


----------



## miumiuwonwon (Jan 15, 2014)

Blue or green, Switzerland has its own solution.:lol:


By me.


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## Pink Jazz (May 12, 2015)

Green is the standard color in the United States for guide signs, while blue generally indicates services, usually logo signs when used on freeways:









However, blue is permitted for street name signs as of the 2009 MUTCD alongside green, brown, and white.

As for why green was chosen for guide signs in the United States may be due to the fact that the human eye is most sensitive to green and yellow wavelengths, rather than red or blue wavelengths.


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## marmurr1916 (Feb 3, 2010)

GCarty said:


> *UK and Ireland*
> 
> Motorways - White on Blue (route numbers are in taller type)
> Primary Routes - White on Green (route numbers are Yellow on Green)
> ...


Ireland is slightly different to the UK.

Ireland: 

Motorways - White on Blue (route numbers are in taller type)
National Routes (including National Secondary routes) - White on Green (route numbers are Yellow on Green)
Regional and Local Routes - Black on White (route numbers normal type)
Detours - Black on Yellow
Tourist Attractions - White on Brown

You also get black on white signs in the UK with red borders for military bases.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Pink Jazz said:


> As for why green was chosen for guide signs in the United States may be due to the fact that the human eye is most sensitive to green and yellow wavelengths, rather than red or blue wavelengths.


Road signs usually have a green background setting (trees, pastures, etc). Blue signs stand out better in the background clutter.

Which is probably why blue and green are by far the most used sign colors in the world. 

Last Sunday I was driving through the city of Bordeaux in France. They had these long straight tree-lined boulevards with a quick succession of signalized pedestrian crossings and cross-streets. It's easy to miss a green light between the trees. Although missing a green light is not as bad as missing a red light, I like to know where the crossings are. 

Another thing I noticed is that when you have 4 nearby traffic signals, the far three of them green, but the first one red, it's easy to overlook the first one, as drivers could focus too much on the signals farther ahead. Especially if they're mounted on the side of the road instead of overhead, where there is a lot of visual distraction (trees, buildings, signs, ads).


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## -Pino- (Aug 12, 2007)

ChrisZwolle said:


> Road signs usually have a green background setting (trees, pastures, etc). Blue signs stand out better in the background clutter.


Though arguably much less so at night. At least before Diamond Grade retroflection was introduced, green must have performed better than blue at night.


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## Kanadzie (Jan 3, 2014)

ChrisZwolle said:


> Another thing I noticed is that when you have 4 nearby traffic signals, the far three of them green, but the first one red, it's easy to overlook the first one, as drivers could focus too much on the signals farther ahead. Especially if they're mounted on the side of the road instead of overhead, where there is a lot of visual distraction (trees, buildings, signs, ads).


This always happens to me in one specific place near my house, you pass over a freeway so are relatively high and can see far, and frequently red light is the first and then two or three green, and I see only green and never the red :lol:


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## ukraroad (Jul 18, 2015)

i guess it would be better to make green signs as they are rather more visible in the night. Ukraine does that on all of 192 km of motorways, and IMO green makes you react more than blue.
The best thing on the motorway could be yellow orange or red. These colours disturb the eyes during nighttime, and they are better noticed then green or blue. And you won't count sheep while speeding 150 km/h


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## PovilD (Dec 26, 2011)

ukraroad said:


> i guess it would be better to make green signs as they are rather more visible in the night. Ukraine does that on all of 192 km of motorways, and IMO green makes you react more than blue.
> The best thing on the motorway could be yellow orange or red. These colours disturb the eyes during nighttime, and they are better noticed then green or blue. And you won't count sheep while speeding 150 km/h


I think the best way to prevent drivers from falling asleep in motorways are electronic signage (with a warning sign) text, saying that you should keep your eyes on the road, etc.

Red motorway signs? It can be confused with warning signs. Blue or green are more neutral colors. E.g. Warning sign on blue background is less noticable and that makes it better for using for destinations, etc.

And  Blue is German autobahn and green is Italian autostrada : East and Southeast Europe (+Denmark (influenced by U.S.?), Sweden and Finland) taked green for motorways, while West Europe (+Poland, Hungary, Lithuania from 2020) prefers German autobahn blue.


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## Eddy Nicolay (Apr 17, 2009)

ukraroad said:


> I guess the last three are not angolan


Yeah, no, those are in South Africa.


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## NFZANMNIM (Jul 6, 2012)

hammersklavier said:


> The (urban legend?) story I've heard is that back in the days when we were first planning the Interstate system the plan was to have the signs blue like the Autobahn...
> 
> Except what happened was that the guy who tested the visibility and made the final decision just so happened to be blue-green colorblind and thought the _green_ sign was more visible at speed.
> 
> So American highway signs have been green ever since. :lol:


lol such a sad story if you're a fan of german standards :lol:


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