Oddly Designed Sign on I-87 in New York Raises Eyebrows

A sign on the New York State Thruway has many drivers scratching their heads.

The highways of New York go by many names. Southern parts of I-87 are informally referred to as the Thruway, while the interstate is known as the Northway above Albany. Route 17 also changes from the Southern Tier Expressway to the Quickway, and eventually (maybe) will be known simply as I-86.

Aside from these names, sections of highways also have special designations given to them as a tribute to different groups of people. These names can't be found on official maps and are not usually used by GPS software, but the ceremonial names can be identified by bright blue road signs in New York.

I-87 Road Sign Poorly Printed

One such sign has boggled New York drivers traveling through the Hudson Valley not for what it says, but how it says it.

A section of I-87 in Rockland County has been dedicated as the Jewish Veterans Memorial Highway. I don't think anyone would argue that this is certainly a group of brave individuals who deserve recognition, but the way the sign is printed is confusing at best.

The bright blue sign just before Exit 14B shows the word "Jewish" in all capital letters floating up in the right-hand corner of the sign. It's so far removed from the rest of the name of the highway that many drivers say they didn't even know it had anything to do with Jewish veterans.

Drivers Confused By Memorial Highway Sign

In a recent Facebook thread, some drivers admit they always thought the stretch of I-87 was called the War Veterans Memorial Highway and, for some reason, it was also recognizing that the road went through a historically Jewish area of New York.

It's not hard to blame anyone for being confused, especially since other War Veteran memorial highways in New York look nothing like this one.

A stretch of I-287 in New York is designated as Westchester County War Veterans Memorial Highway. That sign is properly formatted, with "Westchester County" capitalized to match the rest of the sign. There's no question what this highway is called.

One Facebook commenter says the sign on I-87 looks more like an area designation than a tribute to Jewish war veterans.

This kind of reads as “I-87 JEWISH” as though there’s a separate road. Like “I-80 BUSINESS” signs.

Comparing the two, it honestly does look like that.

Other critics say the Jewish War Veterans sign looks like it was an afterthought, with the word "Jewish" sloppily slapped onto a generic sign which, if true, would be terribly disrespectful.

My guess is that they renamed the highway and couldn't be bothered to make a new sign. They either didn't bother to check the font or they figured that all caps would take up more space.

Someone else commented that the sign looks as though it was edited in Microsoft Word and the operator couldn't figure out text wrapping.

We decided to do some editing of our own and quickly made a mock-up of what the road sign should actually look like.

I think everyone can agree that this sign is much more aesthetically pleasing, and leaves no room for confusion.

We want to know what you think.  Have you been confused or bothered by the way this sign has been designed? Let us know your thoughts by commenting on our Facebook page or sending us a text through our app.