Vintage highway signs in 2027: 16 types to look for

What to take away

• This is a list of sign types, not named signs. Individual signs are removed, sold and repainted constantly.
• Sign type tells you the era and the authority that put it there, which is most of the story.
• The best surviving examples sit on bypassed alignments rather than on the current highway.
• Federal and state designations are the most reliable way to find corridors that still have old signage.

We do not publish a list of named vintage signs, and here is why. A specific sign can be taken down, sold at auction, repainted or replaced between the time a list is written and the time you drive out to see it. Types survive. Learn the sixteen below and you can read almost any old American road, including the ones nobody has written up.

Route markers and regulatory signs

• Cutout US route shields, where the shape itself is the sign rather than a shield printed on a square.
• State route markers in state-specific outlines, which changed shape over the decades.
• Porcelain enamel county and township markers, recognisable by their glassy surface and chipped edges.
• Distance and mileage posts, often the oldest surviving object on a stretch of road.

Commercial roadside signs

• Neon motel and cafe signs, especially the ones with an arrow or a moving element.
• Painted wall advertisements, faded but still legible on brick end walls in small towns.
• Figure signs, meaning the sign that is also a giant object: a fiberglass animal, a rocket, a coffee pot.
• Drive-in theater marquees, which frequently outlive the screen behind them.

Civic and public signs

• Town gateway arches and welcome signs, usually carrying a population figure from a specific census.
• Park and monument entry portals in routed timber, many built between the 1930s and 1950s.
• Historical marker plaques, cast metal on a post, which date the interpretation as much as the event.
• Interpretive kiosks at pull-offs, which are where the road tells you what it thinks it is.

Functional relics worth a stop

• Bridge plaques and date stones naming the year and the contractor.
• Railroad crossbucks and wig-wag mounts, sometimes left standing after a line closes.
• Filling station price boards and pole signs on closed forecourts.
• Button copy guide signs, where the reflective lettering is made of individual raised buttons.

Where these still survive

Old signage clusters where the road stopped being the main road. Bypassed alignments are the best hunting ground, and designated historic corridors are the easiest way to find them. Route 66 is the clearest example: the BLM Needles Field Office and 17 partners marked the first anniversary of the California Historic Route 66 Needles-to-Barstow Scenic Byway designation alongside the sixth anniversary of Mojave Trails National Monument, at an event held at a historic Harvey House hotel and train depot in Needles.

Designated corridors also tend to have official stopping points. The BLM's Historic Route 66 California Gateway Site, about two miles west of the Colorado River off Interstate 40, is a day use and picnic area with an information kiosk and a visitor log book that the agency says has become popular enough that local residents visit just to read the entries.

How to use this list on the road

Photograph the type, not just the object. A cutout shield means one thing on a state highway and another on a county road, and the mounting hardware often dates a sign better than its paint. Our two-day sign itinerary shows how to string several types together, and what first-time visitors miss covers the reading errors that make people misdate what they are looking at.

Common questions

Why not name specific signs? Because they move. A named list ages badly and sends people on long detours to empty poles.

How do I date a sign? Start with the shape and the mounting, not the paint. Repainting is common; hardware is rarely replaced.

Is it legal to photograph signs on private property? From a public road, generally yes. Stay off the property, do not block traffic, and stop if asked.

Where are old signs most likely to survive? On bypassed alignments, in small towns that never got a new highway, and inside designated historic corridors.