Page:Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways, 11th Edition (December 2023).pdf/341

MUTCD 11th Edition Section 2E.13 

Guidance:

Interline spacing of upper-case letters should be approximately ¾ of the average of upper-case letter heights in adjacent lines of letters.

''The spacings to the top and bottom borders should be equal to the average of the letter height of the adjacent line of letters. The lateral spacing to the vertical borders should be essentially the same as the height of the largest letter.''

Section 2E.14 

Guidance:

''For guide signs larger than 120 × 72 inches, the border should have a width of 2 inches. For smaller guide signs, a border width of 1.25 inches should be used. On unusually large signs with oversized letter heights, route shields, or other legend elements, the border should be 2.5 inches wide and should not exceed 3 inches in width. In all cases, the width of the border should not exceed the stroke width of the lettering of the principal legend on the sign.''

Corner radii of sign borders should be approximately ⅛ of the minimum sign dimension on guide signs, except that the radii should not exceed 12 inches on any sign.

Support:

The “Standard Highway Signs” publication (see Section 1A.05) contains detailed information on border widths and corner radii for ranges of sign sizes.

Option: The sign material in the area outside of the corner radius may be trimmed.

Section 2E.15 

Guidance: ''No more than two destination names or street names should be displayed on any Interchange Advance Guide sign or Exit Direction sign. A city name and street name on the same sign should be avoided. Where two or three signs are placed on the same supports, destinations or street names should be limited to one per sign, or to a total of three in the display. Sign legends should not exceed three lines of copy, exclusive of the exit number and action or distance information.''

Support:

Where only one interchange serves a community, the intersecting street name is generally superfluous to the city name on the Interchange Advance guide and Exit Direction signs. Where a community is served by multiple interchanges, the city name is typically displayed on either a Community Interchanges Identification sign (see Section 2E.52) or a Next Exits sign (see Section 2E.53). Each interchange is then identified by its intersecting roadway name on the Interchange Advance guide and Exit Direction signs rather than by the city name.

Section 2E.16 

Standard:

The use of abbreviations on freeway and expressway guide signs shall comply with the provisions of Section 2D.07 of this Manual.

Section 2E.17 

Support:

Symbols are not normally displayed on freeway and expressway guide signs. One exception is the PARK – RIDE Supplemental guide sign (see Section 2E.51), which displays the Carpool symbol. In some cases, General Information symbols (see Chapter 2H) might be included in the legend of a guide sign to shorten an unusually lengthy legend on the sign.

Guidance:

''When a General Information symbol is incorporated into the legend of a guide sign, all components of the legend should be balanced in size and arrangement for maximum legibility. The General Information (I series) sign, rather than the symbol alone, should be placed as a sign panel within the guide sign so that adequate recognition of the symbol is provided by the border. The General Information sign panel should be positioned to the left of the legend to which it applies. The size of the General Information sign panel should be similar in size to that specified for a route shield for the type of guide sign on which it is displayed.'' December 2023