All photos courtesy Lou Corsaro.


Nearly-former signs at the former SB split of Highways 1 and 3 in downtown Ensenada, Calle Reforma SB at Cortés (still a street without the "Calle"). Combine Cortés (a.k.a. Cortéz), who conquered the natives in the name of Spain, and Reforma (reform), and you end up with someone who must be politically powerful and a Mexican hero. How about Benito Juárez? There he is.


NB at Calle Novena, 9th St. Highway 3 should be on this sign as well, but it's as if concurrencies didn't exist back then.


A couple more turns with 1960s signs from Calle Novena onto Calle 20 de Noviembre and then quickly back onto Bahía de La Paz, which leads out of the city and merges with modern Highways 1/3. It means Peace Bay, not any Bolivian reference.


Now Highway 3 does show up on signs, but it shows in the ugliest way. These shields seem to be hybridized with US Highway designs - compare to the older signs above. Also note how 1 was cleverly replaced with 1D to start tourists thinking about paying tolls before the opportunity arises.


Unique signal with round casings, uniquely ancient distance sign to the National Autonomous University of México (which is all mixed up in Spanish, and with a lot more syllables), predating green text on a white background. I bet this shield design is closer to the standard than even the 1960s overheads, which look more rounded.


An older SB sign along that stretch for a different university (Upper and Technical Training Center). This one's private, UNAM is public (and much larger, at 180,000 undergraduates and 135,000 graduates - the largest in this hemisphere).

Current Highway 1
Current Highway 3

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