Clearview Promises Road Sign Legibility

New font under interim approval by FHWA expected to replace “Highway Gothic” gradually, touts improved readablilty for senior drivers

A freeway sign in Michigan demonstrates the readability of the new Clearview font. (courtesy Wikipedia)

The currently-used standard font of US highway signs, informally known as “Highway Gothic” and officially known as FWHA Series A through F (from most condensed to most extended) is an American roadside classic, instantly recognizable but considered by some to no longer be the acme of readabilty at highway speeds. Developed from research done by the California Department of Transportation at the end of the first half of the 20th Century, it has been the undoubted king of the American road.

Recently, however, a new font has has recieved provisional approval by the Federal Highway Administration of the US Department of Transportation. Called Clearview, it is a collaborative effort between the Texas Transportation Institute and the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute under the aegis of the FHWA. It won interim approval as the highway standard in September 2004.

Current Use Limited, Expected to Increase

Currently, only a handful of localities are employing Clearview. According to Typographica, these include Texas, Pennsylvania, British Columbia, Toronto, Yukon, and assorted Canadian municpalities. Despite recognition by FWHA, the typeface is expected to be implemented very gradually over the next few decades, as individual states are not reqired to take up the new standard.

It seems reasonable, however to expect that states will eventually begin to implment the standard. It is already being considered for use in areas where senior population is high; the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times reported recently that amongst improvements for a district of greater St. Petersburg will be signs in Clearview. Jennifer Bablusky, writing in the Altoona (Pennsylvania) Mirror, also notes that the preeminent American senior citizens interest group, the AARP, finds Clearview a needed improvement:

The font itself is obviously different than the traditional FWHA Series fonts but still feels a bit like them. There is a more refined, developed quality to them; the font features touches, such as a curl at the bottom of the minuscule “l” and the tail on the minuscule “q” that recall DIN-Schrift and the Underground font. At the same time, there is more of a humanistic feel to them; they seem more like a print font than a purpose-made machine font.

Technical Information

More information on the Clearview font can be had from the FWHA at this URL, which connects to the Clearview Typeface Supplement, English version of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), the document which defines the Federal standards.