This ongoing signage project has focused my attention on some of the signage “bloopers” showing up all over the city as the DPW swaps out older signs for newer ones.
My husband and I spotted “Godard Memorial Dr” a few years ago, but when Worcester Magazine published a picture of it, the sign quickly came down and was replaced by one that has the extra “d” put back into “Goddard”.
About a year ago or so, Paris Avenue was made a public way — it intersects Wescott Street (which remains a private street). At the beginning and end of Wescott St., you’ll see these signs:
However, where Wescott intersects with Paris Avenue, the Street gets “upgraded” to Avenue:
Drive out along Main Street toward Leicester and you’ll pass by Grandview Avenue — at least that’s how it’s written on maps, and in three places in the city’s Street Listing. But it’s also listed there as “Grand View Ave.”, so the newer sign they’ve just put up may or may not be an error.
I’m not sure if this road is named for a ChaRles DicKens character, or if a famous magiCian named DaVid used to hang out here:
I think this sign may have started out as some sort of blooper and they tacked on “AV” (in a sans-serif font) to cover up some boo-boo or omission:
Somebody doesn’t understand the “Mc” prefix on certain Irish & Scottish names:
This sign may contain no factual errors, but totally disregards the MUTCD guidelines for signs with number ranges appended:
Here’s how the MUTCD wants us to do it:
To finish off my collection, here’s a small batch I like to call “Descenders? FIT ‘EM IN THERE!”:
Do you know of any erroneous Worcester street name signs that we’ve missed here? Let me know — or better yet, send me a photo of it, and I’ll post it here!
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Thanks to commenter Brian Nelson for reminding us about this misspelled version of “King Philip Road”:
Got any more Worcester signage “bloopers” for us, folks?
Nicole, Worcester 
On King Philip Road are at least two signs–one at Mellor Avenue and the other at Leeds Street–with the misspelling “Phillip.” At least the signs at each end have it right!
Thanks, Brian! King “Phillip” Rd. has now been appended to the bottom of the post.
MUTCD should be guidelines, the city should adopt best practices but not necesssarily comply with federal requirements
What a waste of time Nicole.
Come on Nicole, admit that blogging really is a waste of time. Imagine the quality time you could share with your family and friends instead of with strangers. Start a family, get a job, or take a hot bath. But spending it with strangers is a waste.
I suspect your life must be rather empty if you spend so much time on this nonsense.
American Association for the Banning of Blogs