PRODUCTS / TRAFFIC SIGNS
Traffic Signs
Regulatory, warning and construction signs, custom lettering, posts and installation.
A sign is the cheapest part of a work zone and the part everything else depends on. Get the message, the placement and the retroreflectivity right and drivers slow down before they reach your crew; get it wrong and the rest of the setup is doing damage control.
A-1 Barricades stocks the sign types that Chattanooga contractors, municipalities and event organizers actually order — regulatory, warning, guide and temporary work-zone signs — along with the stands, posts and hardware that put them where they need to be.
We also make signs to order. If the message is letters and words — a street name, an event direction, AUTHORIZED TRAFFIC ONLY, a site rule, a parking instruction — we can fabricate it, supply the post, and put it in the ground. Where we stop is artwork: no logo reproduction and no custom graphics.
What's in this category
- Regulatory signs
- STOP, YIELD, speed limit, DO NOT ENTER, NO PARKING and turn restrictions. White or red backgrounds; these tell drivers what the law requires.
- Warning signs
- Diamond-shaped yellow signs for permanent hazards — curves, merges, pedestrian and school crossings, signal ahead.
- Temporary work-zone signs
- The orange diamond series: ROAD WORK AHEAD, FLAGGER AHEAD, LANE CLOSED, DETOUR, BE PREPARED TO STOP. Orange is what marks a hazard as temporary.
- Roll-up signs
- Fabric signs on spring-steel or fiberglass ribs that fold flat for transport and deploy on a portable stand — the standard for mobile and short-duration operations.
- Custom lettered signs
- Project-specific wording produced to your copy — site rules, parking instructions, AUTHORIZED TRAFFIC ONLY, restricted-access notices and company boards. Anything built from letters and words we can make.
- Street name signs
- Custom street name blades for new subdivisions, private developments, campuses and replacements, with the posts and brackets to mount them.
- Event signs
- Directional and wayfinding signage produced for a specific event — parking, entrances, routes, vendor areas and no-access points — sized for the distance drivers will read them from.
- Sign stands, posts and hardware
- Portable spring stands, U-channel and square-tube posts, breakaway bases, brackets and fasteners — stocked alongside the signs so a sign and its mount arrive together.
- Sign installation
- We set signs as well as sell them. Posts installed, blades mounted, and the whole assembly left standing where it needs to be rather than delivered in a stack for someone else to figure out.
HOW TO CHOOSE
Getting it right
Match the sheeting to the road, not to the budget
Retroreflective sheeting is graded, and higher grades return far more light to a driver's headlights at distance and at sharp angles. On unlit high-speed roadways, on long-duration setups, or anywhere the specification names a sheeting class, buy the class named. It is the difference between a sign that is legible at 500 feet and one that is legible at 150.
Rigid or roll-up depends on duration
Rigid aluminum signs survive weather and months on a post; roll-ups fold into a truck and go up in seconds. Short-duration, mobile and flagging operations lean roll-up. Long-term detours, closures and anything that has to hold its shape lean rigid.
What a custom sign can and cannot be
If the message is words — a street name, an event direction, AUTHORIZED TRAFFIC ONLY, a parking rule, a site notice — it can be made, in the size and sheeting the application calls for. What we do not do is artwork: logos and custom graphics are a print job, not a sign job, and sending them out defeats the point of buying locally. Bring us the wording and we will tell you what is practical, and how large it has to be to be read at the speed people will pass it.
Sizes are not cosmetic
MUTCD sizing scales with roadway speed and type. A 36-inch warning sign that is adequate on a residential street is undersized on a four-lane arterial. When a plan or a jurisdiction specifies a size, that size is the compliance requirement.
AREAS SERVED
Where we work
Southeast Tennessee
- Chattanooga
- East Ridge
- Red Bank
- Soddy-Daisy
- Signal Mountain
- Hixson
- Ooltewah
- Collegedale
- Cleveland
- Dayton
- Jasper
Northwest Georgia
- Fort Oglethorpe
- Ringgold
- Dalton
- LaFayette
- Chickamauga
- Trenton
Northeast Alabama
- Bridgeport
- Stevenson
- Scottsboro
FAQ
Traffic Signs questions
- What is the difference between an orange sign and a yellow sign?
- Color signals permanence. Orange with a black legend means a temporary condition — a work zone, an incident, a short-term hazard. Yellow with a black legend means a permanent condition drivers should expect every time they use that road, such as a curve or a crossing. Both are warning signs, but a driver reads orange as “something is different today.”
- Do traffic signs on a private site have to be MUTCD compliant?
- Signs on public roadways must conform to the MUTCD, adopted federally and by every state. On private property the legal requirement is looser, but using standard shapes, colors and legends is still the sound choice: drivers respond to the shapes and colors they have been trained on for decades, and non-standard signs invite confusion and liability. Any work touching a public right-of-way falls under the MUTCD regardless of who owns the adjoining land.
- How long do traffic signs last outdoors?
- Service life depends on sheeting grade and exposure rather than on the substrate. Aluminum blanks outlast their sheeting comfortably; the retroreflective face degrades first, losing brightness over years of UV exposure. Agencies typically manage sign replacement on a retroreflectivity-maintenance schedule rather than waiting for visible failure.
- Can I get a custom-worded sign made?
- Yes. Anything built from letters, numerals and wording can be produced to your copy — street name blades, event wayfinding, AUTHORIZED TRAFFIC ONLY, parking and access notices, site rules and project boards. What we do not produce is logo reproduction or custom graphic artwork. Call (423) 265-3054 with the wording, size and quantity and we will tell you what is practical.
- Do you make custom street name signs?
- Yes. Street name blades are routine work — new subdivisions, private developments, campuses, and replacements for signs that have been hit or have faded past legibility. We supply the blade, the post and the mounting hardware, and we can install them.
- Do you install signs, or only sell them?
- Both. Signs can be picked up or delivered for your own crew to set, or we can install them — posts in the ground, signs mounted, assembly standing and ready. Tell us the locations and the count when you call.
- Can you print a logo on a sign?
- No — logo reproduction and custom graphics are outside what we fabricate. Anything made from letters, numerals and wording is not: street names, event directions, access restrictions, parking instructions and site notices are all standard custom work here.
Need gear on site?
Call for a quote, to reserve rentals, or to check stock. The people who answer the phone know the equipment.