Ohio
Base Info

Front Plate Required: No

Area Codes: 216, 220, 234, 283, 330, 380, 419, 440, 513, 567, 614, 740, 937

License Plates:

2013 - 2021
Car
2001 - 2010
Car
2009 - 2013
Car
2021 - Present
Car

Windshield Stickers:

None

Road and Highway Signs:

County Roads:

Ashland
Henry
Henry
Noble
Scioto
Seneca
Trumbull
Williams

Highways:

Highway Adoption:

None

Historical:

None

City Symbols:
Vandalia
Transit
Buses
None
Bus Stop Signs
None
Bike Sharing
Cincinnati
Columbus
Tolley / Streetcars
Cincinnati
The Connector
Identification

Ohio doesn't have a lot consistencies statewide; many things changing from one county to the next. It does have a unique bridge marker with three letters corresponding to the current county at either end of bridges. It also has a unique mile marker on state and US highways measuring the distance from the county border. In more recent coverage, some highways have upgraded to a blue sign that includes a symbol for the current road.

Bridge Marker

County mile marker

Blue mile marker

The standard plate from 2013 to 2021 is mostly white with a red border on top, but you will still see a mix of the other previous plates. The red/white/blue bicentennial plate and the 2009 standard plate with the yellow splotch on blue are the most distinct. In 2021, Ohio released a new standard plate that also has a yellow splotch on blue, but the splotch is a paler yellow and is aligned toward the center.

2013 Red & white plate

2009 yellow splotch plate

2021 yellow splotch plate

Bicentennial plate (rare)

Many street signs in Ohio suburbs are mounted on infrastructure that already exists for other purposes instead of getting their own post. They are often mounted on traffic signals, bolted into wooden power poles, or banded onto metal power poles. Some also have flat metal reinforcements on the top and bottom, resulting in T-shaped outside edges. Indiana follows a similar rule, though street signs are more often mounted on top of stop signs at intersections. There is a lot of variation, and signs are mounted on their own pole if no other placement is available.

Sign over street and on pole

Support arm fastened to wooden pole

Banded to pole with T-shaped edges

Street signs above stop sign

Each county decides how they want to sign their county roads. Some counties use the blue national standard, some use the same pattern as other states, but a few counties use completely unique sign templates. Click here to see the complete map.

Similarities

White square county road signs can also be found in Minnesota, and occasionally in South Dakota and in older coverage of Michigan, especially in the north and upper peninsula. It is also used in Apache County, Arizona, but the landscape of the American southwest is very different from the heavily wooded upper midwest.

External Links & Credits

Many thanks to the US Geoguessr Professor for all the Ohio knowledge and the pretty street sign pictures.