Hey you boring Americans!

[EricKei]

Some areas at least have fun with the names. There's a community outside of Baton Rouge called "The Shire." Three guesses where all of their street names come from

[bhskittykatt]

On our highways, most are white on green. White on brown indicates a park or historical marker.

Where I lived growing up, it was a private community that had street signs that were white on green, black on white, black on yellow, white on red, and a few red on white. Supposedly there was at some point some sort of color coding system to help you navigate (the place was a labyrinth)...a white on green indicated the road would lead you out to the main gate, a black on white was a major road that connected to a road that would lead you out, a black on yellow was a dead end side street....the ones that had red I have no idea since they were specific to inside one gate.

[Jay 2K Winger]

You could always try Atlanta....When I lived there in the late 80's -- at the time, anything outside of the 285 loop might as well have been rural New York -- every-fucking-thing was Peachtree. Peachtree St, Peachtree Dr, Peachtree Circle, Peachtree Circus, Peachtree Battle, to say nothing of the ones like "N Peachtree Way SE" types of streets. Streets changed names every 10-20 blocks in some areas, too, so you could wind up on (e.g.) PT St, which became PT Way, which became E PT Battle all within a ten-minute drive x.x

Reminds me of when I lived in Plano, TX. So many of the streets around us started with P. And there were any number of combinations of "Preston" and "Park" in there as well. Park Rd. Preston Rd. Preston Park Rd. etc.

ETA: Bear in mind, this is my recollection some twenty years later.

[paperfiend]

Here in Upper Snowsalot Land, a particular color of street sign (different from the standard) means that road is a snow plow priority route. Don't park your car on that street the night of a big snowfall, because you WILL get towed before the plow comes through.

[KuariKaydrith]

I've seen white on green, white on blue, white on black, and black on white street signs here in St. John's. I think it depends on when the street sign was first posted in some areas, but I haven't looked that deeply into it. Yet.

[mathnerd]

Interesting historical fact about Atlanta: all the streets change names as you cross Ponce de Leon. This has to do with the Reconsteuction era and recently freed slaves settling on one particular side is that street.

As for unique street signs, google images of the markers in Coral Gables, Florida. The names of the streets in the older part of the city are carved into a hunk of coral rock that's set onto the corners.

[Kogarashi]

You could always try Atlanta....-snip-

Oh my goodness, YES. We just moved to GA this past summer, and that seems to be the case everywhere. Cities love constantly reusing names, and seem to dislike consistency. There's one street in the city where we live that does this huge zig-zaggy movement all over the map. Oh, sure, the road continues in a straight line, but it changes names five times in the process, and the name itself goes on the zig-zag route through several different intersections at right angles (or tighter at times). And our neighborhood alone has some five to eight different streets that all are some variation on one type of tree.

[Javarod]

Where i grew up the street signs (i'm assuming you're talking the ones at the corner) were black on a greyish-silver background, while most of the ones i've seen are white on green. I assume both of those colour schemes are derived from DOT signage, the former matches speed limit signs and other regulatory signs, the latter informational signs, and i assume those were chosen as the materials are readily available.

That said, i remember it being big news when Bradley Beach NJ (i lived in the area at the time) changed their signs to ones done in the city's colour scheme, since its not much more expensive, yet makes the city stand out a bit.

Wiki has more info about traffic signs

[EricKei]

You could always try Atlanta....When I lived there in the late 80's -- at the time, anything outside of the 285 loop might as well have been rural New York -- every-fucking-thing was Peachtree. Peachtree St, Peachtree Dr, Peachtree Circle, Peachtree Circus, Peachtree Battle, to say nothing of the ones like "N Peachtree Way SE" types of streets. Streets changed names every 10-20 blocks in some areas, too, so you could wind up on (e.g.) PT St, which became PT Way, which became E PT Battle all within a ten-minute drive x.x

[Ironclad Alibi]

And don't get me started on Arlington, VA, where things get even more crazy.

What's crazy about Arlington, VA streets? East to West there are alphabetical, first one syllable, then two syllables and finally three syllables. North and South of Rt. 50 they are numbered, although you will have a street, avenue, road, court, drive, or other designation with the same number. Of course many streets are discontinuous. When we were looking for a house many years ago, there was one address in North Arlington our realtor could never find.

Now DC has crazy streets. All of those angled streets on top of a rectangular grid, with traffic circles designed for horse and carriage traffic. DC roads will drive you nuts.

[Jay 2K Winger]

In the US, at least, it seems to vary by municipality.

Back in New Orelans, for instance, we had white-on-green in many areas, with white-on-blue in the city proper, and these fancy dealies for the French Quarter: http://www.signhub.com/stock/design/maximum/7668.jpg

It absolutely does vary by municipality, based just on reading this thread and what I've seen personally.

I've seen white-on-green, white-on-blue, white-on-brown, black-on-white just off the top of my head.

Plus, in Northern Virginia, some roads have multiple names. Fairfax County Parkway, for example, is frequently referred to as such by locals, but it is also known as John F. (Jack) Herrity Parkway, and State Route 286.

And you have to consider that some roads around where I live turn corners. As in, a road-- let's call it Bison Road-- comes to an intersection. The road itself continues forward, but Bison Road turns a corner. The road itself continues for about a mile under a different name (let's call it Barristers Road), at which point, Barristers Road turns a corner. The road itself keeps going, and now it's called something else. (let's call it Simon Parkway)

And don't get me started on Arlington, VA, where things get even more crazy.

[EricKei]

In the US, at least, it seems to vary by municipality.

Back in New Orelans, for instance, we had white-on-green in many areas, with white-on-blue in the city proper, and these fancy dealies for the French Quarter: http://www.signhub.com/stock/design/maximum/7668.jpg

[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

[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?"

[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!