When you replace the old shield, you're supposed to take it away. Except the new East banner is so ugly, maybe MassHighway was planning to swap out the new one and junk it. These are, or maybe were by now, just east of US 1.


You can see in the second photo especially that this sign uses the old Mass. DPW font (and you can see their name tattooed on that eastbound photo - the first one is the WB side). This sign certainly doesn't date to 1623, but it does predate most other white town border signs left in the state, and you can tell that because the bottom of the sign isn't flat, but flares into the pole, and also there's a little point in the top middle that's gone in newer signs.


For some reason, the pedestrian crossing signs in Essex are ALL peeling in amusing ways. People are losing arms, legs, heads, or in this case torsos. Sometimes, you can see the people hanging down off the sign. Needless to say, MassHighway's job on these isn't impressing me. Fire that contractor.


Old fonts on these two WB signs (the other sides of them look the same but for the arrow directions, and would be the EB signs).

Onto MA 1A and the MA 133/1A duplex

Onto MA 128
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