Circular highway shield

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A circular highway shield is a route marker consisting of a number superimposed on a circle. It is officially used for state highways in Delaware, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey, and was formerly used in Oklahoma[1][2][3] and Vermont (though some still exist in the latter in some conditions). It is also officially used in Virginia for state secondary and frontage routes, while West Virginia uses a circular design for its county routes. Maryland uses the circular highway shield for locally maintained sections of state-numbered routes, principally in Baltimore City. Many road maps of areas in the United States use a circular highway shield as a generic marker for all state highways, because other designs are difficult to print and read. This is the marker to be used in states which do not choose a particular symbol for their markers.^[1]

Since three-digit route numbers are often too wide to fit in a circle of the same size and shape as a regular shield, some states horizontally elongate the circle. Other states will condense the typeface used, giving the numbers a tall, slender appearance.

A circular highway shield for route 100

An elongated "circular" highway shield for route 100

An oval "circular" highway shield for route 100

[edit] Notes

1. ^ U.S. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, Section 2D.11

[edit] See also

• List of state route markers