There are about 5 sets of signs with numbers on the side of I-40 west of Asheville NC. The numbers run from 0 to 9 and are spaced about 30 feet apart , the signs are brown with white numbers. (1 number per sign) Even stranger some of the sets are reversed where the numbers face away from traffic.
Anyone know what these number signs are for? They have been there for a while and seem to have no purpose at all.
I’ve seen these too. Someone once told me that they were markers for catching speeders, perhaps by airplane, etc. Since you have these known distance marker points, if you timed how long it took someone to pass two of them you could calculate their speed.
They seem too small and too close together to be used for airplane speed checks.
Sometimes engineers testing striping paint or resurfacing materials just put a row of numbers to identify the location of whatever they are testing. But a brown sign with white letters on an an interstate sounds irregular as white on brown is usually used as background color for guide and information signs related to points of recreational or cultural interest
I’ve seen test paint strips on the road before , they normally just have 1 sign to let you know that the paint is just for testing.
The signs are only on the westbound lanes.
I can’t answer for your particular location, but some places along I-75 in Georgia have a setup with black numbers on white background. The signs are about that far apart. There’s a TV camera focused on the set of signs. It’s used to determine visibility in fog, and maybe rain as well. They can tell from an office miles away how think the fog is, and perhaps adjust electronic speed limit signs as well.
I think that is right GaryM because that area is known for fog.
I’ve wondered about those signs myself, and this was also my conclusion. Some sort of visibility gauge.
The I-40 area fog is partly due to a nearby paper mill that puts out a lot of stuff in the air. And it smells real bad too.
Next trip through, see if you can spot a TV camera. I Georgia it’s mounted a little high so it can see all the signs strung out in front.
Is that the Blue Ridge Paper Company in Canton, NC? They’re an evil paper company that cuts down trees.
My paper company harvests renewable resources, so I would know.
It is the company in Canton, not sure what their name is now. They used to be Champion paper.
That’s Blue Ridge. It’s largely owned by the employees now. Champion would have closed it in the late 1990s, but they purchased it and are now owned by Evergreen Packaging.
The Pigeon River runs near Canton and Champion used to put a lot of crap in there - it was called the “Dirty Bird”