Trail signage issues

[smallengineguy 88]

Went on a great ride today on the west side of the state. Thank God I had the NHSA Trail App. MANY trails were poorly marked, or not marked at all. The App was super stable and got me back to where I needed to be. Many signs did not annotate fuel which was close by, etc. or some intersections had no signage at all. And I appreciate having a trail named (ie, John Smith trail), but PLEASE tell me on the sign WHERE that trail goes! Coming to an intersection on an unfamiliar system and seeing Smith trail to the left and Jones trail to the right can be an issue.

[rivercat 119]

I suggested to the "Trails Committee" at NHSA that a STATEWIDE marking system be implemented,  Like the highway system in the USA, or the signage in VT, Maine,  Canada,   ,,,  maybe SOMEDAY... 

 

I will add that two neighboring clubs that for the most part copied the TLTD system got "sponsorship that COMPLETELY paid for the permanent signs installed by the Contoocook Snomads, and the Bow Pioneers

[smallengineguy 88]

I think a statewide standard is a great idea!

[rivercat 119]

anybody else have an opinion of having a State wide standardized signing system?

[classicdmax 58]

I would be for it.

I share same sentiments on signage and have used nhsa app quite a bit this winter due to poor signage. 
when I am studying maps to plan a trip I’m looking at trail/corr numbers. I as well don’t care to see Smith/Jones trail. If you want to dedicate a trail, great. Primary labeling should include associated number 

[gunmaker 29]

Like going into the Los Angeles area and hearing on the radio the Golden State freeway is backed up for miles, I WANT THE NUMBER!!!!!

[ossipeelake 0]

Well, IMO a statewide standard is one thing - but I believe we're missing a big root cause and that is getting signage out on the trails to begin with.  Many trails lack signage, or is out of date - so we need a solution to that.

[ljgomes 77]

The solution is called "volunteers".  Putting up and taking down signs is a thankless job and no one wants to do it.  I did it for the WMRR club for seven years.  2-3 days to put up the wooden directional signs at every junction and another 2-3 days to take them down.  Then there are hundreds of Bridge Ahead, Junction Ahead, Stop Ahead, Stop signs, etc.  Those took several more days.  How many people want to give up their riding days to do this? Not many.  To make it easier, I and several other volunteers installed several hundred  wooden sign posts throughout the trail system.  If you ride through there now, most of those posts stand empty because even with the posts in place, no one wants to trudge off the trail through two feet of snow to replace a missing sign.

[rivercat 119]

we put ours up 12 years ago,,,,,, they are still up ,, we have changed any that needed to be changed,,,  my last count was TWO bullet holes in about 70 signs

[ljgomes 77]

Due to the fact that many of the snowmobile trails are multi-use (snowmobile and ATV), all of the junction signs must come down every year.

[PolarisCobra 132]

I'm sure that is more important in your area, where there is lots of ATV usage. 

Maybe there could be a way to denote on signs that they are for snowmobile or ATV users. Or use the same route numbers for trails that are used by both user groups?

I was up in that area a few weeks back, and noticed multiple trail signs that were ATV focused, and that caused some confusion for me for sure, those signs are not all coming down for the winter. I can't say for sure which clubs trails I was on, so this may not pertain to your club specifically. 

I have to think that it is difficult to get volunteers to do all that work. Seems to me that routing signs, and stop signs are most important. Most of the rest could be lower priority, if necessary. I agree with the policy put in place a few years back where many of the arrow signs were eliminated, partly for the reason of volunteers. 

I would think that in the more northern clubs, where things are more spread out, vandalism could be a bigger issue, but the idea of permanent signs does seem to have some merit, if they can be left up all year. 

 

 

[Rock On 78]

I have suggested a number of time at the Trails Bureau level that all ATV signage needs to be a Lime green including stop signs just for that reason they are not being taken down. So your riding down an unfimiliar trail and you see a stop sign so you stop only to realize there was no reason to stop because it is an ATV trail that is not used in the winter, another mile down the trail another stop sign, you stop same thing no reason to stop so after doing this three or four time you start blowing through the stop signs and finaly run into another sledder or vehicle traffic becasue you had already stopped at 3 or more stop signs with nothing there. These sings are not being taken down because they are a lot of work to put up and take down so color them differently or something. As far as getting better signage on our trail systems I agree but it will not happen just with volunteers, it will need to be done at the state level by paid employees to get in done correctly and uniformly.

[ljgomes 77]

I like your idea about green trimmed signs.  I had been asking for green trail information signs for over 10 years and they finally provided those a couple of years ago.  I never thought about adding green to some of the other sign types but it makes sense.  Maybe we could get some green plastic an inch bigger than the current signs and use it as a backer so it shows green trim around the Junction Ahead, Stop Ahead and Stop signs.

[classicdmax 58]

I rode Maine last weekend for first time. Overall, signage was consistent always depicting trail designation # and direction of travel.....something I’ve mentioned here before that you don’t always find in NH

[gunmaker 29]

Color doesn't matter to someone who is color blind,,,, shape and wording is what matters.

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by gunmaker