Hey you boring Americans!

[Kit-Ginevra]

Don't you have ANY other type of street sign apart from those white-on-green things stuck halfway up a pole?
Been working on a small project and that's the only kind of sign I've seen so far.In our county alone,I could find at least 10 times the number of different designs and varieties...

[Aria]

Don't you have ANY other type of street sign apart from those white-on-green things stuck halfway up a pole?
Been working on a small project and that's the only kind of sign I've seen so far.In our county alone,I could find at least 10 times the number of different designs and varieties...

Speaking as a boring Canadian, white/green signs are prevalent on the highways. Regular street signs are just white with black lettering. You have different designs on street signs?

[kaherbert]

I'm in greater Houston area. Different color signs generally mean you are in different cities that are smushed together some will have Red/blue because the city lines run down the center of the street. So the color of the sign tells you which jurisdiction you are in. Important pre 911 for calling emergency numbers, now important for calling non emergency numbers.

[Food Lady]

I don't know why, but some are blue. They are the same shape as the green.

[Kit-Ginevra]

Here we have normally the plain black and white signs that are on the ground,or they're actually attached to a house in some way.
Different areas have different types-Birmingham has wonderful flutey ornate signs, Exeter tends to go for letters-stuck-next-to-each-other.London has its own special design type.There are some wonderful handdesigned ones in Plymouth which I must try and get pictures of.Some are even the mediaeval finger post type ones.

For your pleasure,a dozen different street signs of types around the country that took me no more than 15 minutes to find

[Aria]

Here we have normally the plain black and white signs that are on the ground,or they're actually attached to a house in some way.
Different areas have different types-Birmingham has wonderful flutey ornate signs, Exeter tends to go for letters-stuck-next-to-each-other.London has its own special design type.There are some wonderful handdesigned ones in Plymouth which I must try and get pictures of.Some are even the mediaeval finger post type ones.

For your pleasure,a dozen different street signs of types around the country that took me no more than 15 minutes to find

Interesting. My city does not have anything like that. Our street signs are completely standardized, black and white on a metal pole. I should add that in the country, people have blue 5 digit numbers at the end of their driveway. A new system that's extremely useful for 911 purposes.

[Kit-Ginevra]

Some of ours date back to the 1700s-1800s if not further.. then a sign was stuck up and it tended to be left there,there was no standardization or anything like that,so different places did different things and now the old signs are very popular in keeping the feel of the area.

[Kanalah]

In OKC, most are green with white lettering. In Norman, OK the signs are red with white, the village has blue with white. I think they do different colors here for different towns/ areas. I think in Warr Acres the signs are black with white lettering.

[Kit-Ginevra]

Also,don't you do house names? Some of your addresses are like trying to decipher a code...

5214 W 38 S 700 #5 . Could be a knitting pattern for all I know...

[Aria]

Also,don't you do house names? Some of your addresses are like trying to decipher a code...

5214 W 38 S 700 #5 . Could be a knitting pattern for all I know...

That's a rural address. In my neck of the woods, the 'old' style ones would be like this: NW 23 35 9 W5. Or they might be 37 35 910875. The first is a legal land description, the second is a lot block and plan. As you might imagine, these are a LITTLE difficult for the ambulance to find.

That's why we're moving to a new system. An example of it would be, 51055 Rng Rd 270. That's a Range Road address, the 51055 being the bright blue sign at the end of the driveway and 270 being the road. MUCH easier to find. My mom goes into the country often and she says it's a vast improvement.

Edited: Apparently, I'm wrong, that's a city address in a grid format. Wow...

[firecat88]

Also,don't you do house names? Some of your addresses are like trying to decipher a code...

5214 W 38 S 700 #5 . Could be a knitting pattern for all I know...

In Grand Junction, where I used to live, there was a bit of both. The weirdest one I saw there was probably F 3/4 Road.

[cindybubbles]

White text on a blue background signifies major streets, I think. White text on a green background is reserved for the direction signs that you see while you're driving on a highway.

Black text on a white background is used to label other streets, though. In Chinatown, you'll see bilingual signs with text in both English and Chinese.

[MoonCat]

I think ours are mostly blue with white lettering. I only see them every day, why would I remember that?

But, see, in England you have all those really old places and a lot of the signage is probably Historically Significant

Here, we change things out frequently because we like the New Shiny!

[Kogarashi]

Also,don't you do house names? Some of your addresses are like trying to decipher a code...

5214 W 38 S 700 #5 . Could be a knitting pattern for all I know...

A lot of places will do street names, though I do know in cities in Utah many streets are frequently numbered rather than named, especially the main grid system in each city (check out the street layouts in Salt Lake City, Provo, and several other Utah cities, as well as Manhattan in NYC for examples). There, addresses are done on the grid where applicable, similar to what you presented as an example. Like an address that reads 665 N 500 E #36 would be on 500 East (actual street name) between 600 and 700 North, and #36 would be a unit number like an apartment or condo in whichever building was at that physical address.

Most other places, including parts of those same cities, will have actual street names in my experience, even in some rural areas. I grew up in farming country in upstate NY, and all the streets around us had names rather than numbers.

white text on a green background is reserved for the direction signs that you see while you're driving on a highway.

White text on green is also used at street-level for name signs in many places. It's the most common I've seen. I don't know the general rhyme or reason behind color patterns, though I think (don't quote me on this) that white-on-brown indicates scenic roads or is used in scenic towns like those built around ski resorts or in historic districts. Probably similar to how white-on-brown highway signs usually indicate historic landmarks or other points of interest.

Doing a quick search, it looks like colors really depend on municipalities. Blue sometimes means major arterial roads, but sometimes just means that's what that city likes to use. So basically it boils down to "what does this particular U.S. city want to use for its street name signage?"

[Kit-Ginevra]

They also decided a few years ago that all new street signs in Cornwall would be bilingual. Means you can learn as you travel.
I know now that Bre-hill,Eglos-church,Forth-road,Stret-street,Kew-close,Parc-park.
And some of the restaurants have gone bilingual too,so I now know if I'm heading to the Privedhyow that I want Gwer-Men and not Benynes-Women