U.S. Route shield

Development shield with embossed features The U.S. Route shield was developed during the first meeting of the Joint Board on Interstate Highways, a panel appointed by Howard M. Gore, the Secretary of Agriculture, for the purposes of establishing a nationwide highway system. During the meeting, held at the Bureau of Public Roads offices in Washington, D.C., on April 20, 1925, board member Lou A. Boulay of Ohio was credited with suggesting the use of a shield, inspired by that on the Great Seal of the United States, with the letters "U.S.A." and the route number as a route marker. The board carried the motion to use a shield as the marker. The Joint Board did not discuss the route shield further until the next day, April 21. At that time, E.W. James (Chief of the BPR's Division of Design and secretary of the Joint Board) and Frank F. Rogers of Michigan sketched a possible implementation of the shield. Rogers was also quoted as saying "Each state should have the right to insert the name of the state in the upper part of the shield to be adopted." James and Rogers presented their shield sketch to the board, and it was approved as a tentative design. Samples were sent for comment to all 48 states. The name of the state erecting the shield was displayed high in the crown, above the crossbar. Immediately below the crossbar were the letters "U S", also high. Below this was the route number, tall. A variant of the shield, intended for city use, measured slightly smaller at . This version of the shield featured a simplified legend, with "U S" moved to the crown of the shield and the state name omitted. The manual also allowed for the city variant of the shield to be stenciled on culverts and bridge posts. The 1948 MUTCD also included a specification for an "oversize" route marker, intended for major highway junctions in rural areas, as well as for special emphasis in urban areas. This shield was printed on a square blank, , twice the size of the cutout shield. This version of the shield was much simplified, with the crossbar, state name, and "U S" omitted. The portion of the blank falling outside of the shield outline was white. A supplemental AASHO publication outlining signage and pavement markings on the nascent Interstate Highway System, also published in 1961, included a variant of the shield intended for freeway use (such as for U.S. routes running concurrently with Interstates). This shield, the same size as the oversize marker, was a simplified cutout shield, containing only the outer border, "U S", and the route marker. Unlike the federally specified shields up to this point, this specification included a wider version, for three-digit routes. This version of the shield is still used in California, the only state to still specify a cutout shield. ==Current design==

The current design of the U.S. Route shield was introduced in the 1971 MUTCD. The shield outline is slightly modified from the 1961 version, allowing for more white space within the shield. For the first time, the federal specification also included a wide version of the shield for three-digit routes, eliminating the need to use the condensed fonts for many route numbers. The 1971 MUTCD also discontinued the cutout shield for reassurance purposes, leaving only the and markers for all purposes. In the 2009 MUTCD, the U.S. Route shield is assigned catalog number M1-4 and is discussed in Section 2D.11. The and sizes are specified as minimums. The MUTCD suggests that when used as components of guide signs, the black background of the shields should be omitted, leaving only the white shield shape. However, deviations are common, especially in New Jersey, which consistently includes the black background on both U.S. Route shields and state route markers on its guide signs, though inclusion of the background and thinning is being phased out on many new sign installations in New Jersey as of the late 2000s. ==Variations==

Several states have experimented with variations on the U.S. Route shield to aid in navigation. Some have used color to denote additional information besides just the route class and number. Arizona experimented with colors indicating the signed cardinal direction of the highway (orange for north, green for south, brown for east, and blue for west). Florida, too, used colored signs for its U.S. Highways beginning in 1956, with each highway retaining a single color for its entire length in the state. No two routes using the same color crossed, though an extension of US 192 took it to US 27 (both green). In the 1980s the MUTCD was revised so that these signs were no longer eligible for federal funds. On August 27, 1993, the decision was made to stop producing colored signs. In California, the design is more like the pre-1961 version. The design has no black background on their U.S. Highway shield. It is instead designed with a white shield with a black outline. Centered on the top are the letters "US". Some states that are part of the Appalachian Development Highway System feature U.S. Highway signs with blue numbers on a white shield, set against a blue background. During the era of the 1948 shield, states often modified its design. Several states omitted the letters "U S", leaving only the state name and route number. Other states moved the letters "U S" into the crown of the shield, along with the state name, which was often abbreviated. Many U.S. Highways have loop or spur routes sharing the same number, known as special routes. These routes typically use the same shield as the mainline route with a "banner" indicating the type of route above the shield. Some states will occasionally indicate the type of the route directly on the shield itself, often in the crown of the shield. Maryland uses green shields with the word "BUSINESS" in the shield's crown for U.S. business routes, reflecting a similar practice used nationwide for business Interstate shields. On some Business U.S. Routes in Illinois, mostly on Business US 51 in the Bloomington–Normal area, the standard black on white US Route shield is used but the abbreviation "BUSN" is included in smaller letters at the top of the shield. This is also the case for the markers used on signs on nearby Interstates. ==See also==