The agency is required to report back to the committee within 90 days of enactment. The report also requires FHWA to conduct a comprehensive review of prior research on Clearview as well as the safety and cost implications of FHWA’s 2016 decision to terminate its approval of the Clearview font. The bill report states that its provision on highway guide sign fonts “prohibits funds from being used to enforce actions terminating the interim approval of during fiscal year 2018.” The House Transportation-HUD Appropriations bill, released earlier this month, would allow jurisdictions to choose between using Clearview or Highway Gothic for their roadway signs in the FY18 fiscal year. Two proposals before Congress this year may resurrect this upstart font. According to an MIT and Texas A&M study comparing the two fonts, “ legibility of Clearview is superior, regardless of color combination, suggesting that its legibility arises from characteristics intrinsic to its design rather than extrinsic factors (e.g., type size and text contrast and brightness).” Side-by-side comparison of “Highway Gothic” and Clearview typefaces ( Meeker & Associates )įurthermore, the human brain recognizes words by remembering what the whole word looks like – not the individual letters. This blurring of letters is called halation, and is especially problematic for elderly drivers whose eyesight is deteriorating.įor this reason Clearview uses letters that are intentionally spaced and shaped to mitigate halation, as seen below. But when headlights shine off of highly reflective roadway signs, the chubby letters of Highway Gothic’s thicker font can sometimes appear to be a glowing glob of indistinguishable letters. When Highway Gothic was designed, the objective was to have big, bold letters that could be seen from a distance individually. Clearview had a brief stint as the only other accepted highway font for about a decade before the federal government informed states they could no longer use it for new signs.Ĭlearview is found to be more readily visible, especially for elderly drivers, for two reasons: design and the human brain. Since then, researchers developed another font, Clearview, which is designed to be more visible from a distance. This is the same font that has been used almost exclusively since it was developed in the World War II era. This summer, Congress is wrestling with the prospect of an as-yet unseen trillion-dollar infrastructure package, a contentious battle over privatizing air traffic control, partisan divisions over motor vehicle standards for emerging technologies, and – you guessed it – changing the font of highway signs.Ĭurrently, states and localities can choose whatever font they want for their signs… as long as it’s Highway Gothic. If nothing else, 2017 is a blockbuster year for transportation policy – that is, assuming you like to watch low budget reboots of old thrillers in slow motion.
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