Published: Monday, August 23, 2010
Road signs: Ask, and you may receive
Chase Nunes of Marysville writes: I travel a lot for work and tend to notice when signs change. One set of signs has changed, not once, not twice but, three times over the past year. It's on I-5 north at the exit for Mukilteo and the Whidbey Island ferry.
First, the group of signs leading to the exit said "Mukilteo -- Whidbey Island Ferry." It was then replaced by a sign of a different size that said just "Mukilteo," then it changed back to a larger sign that said "Mukilteo, Whidbey Island Ferry" with a symbol of a ferry. So what's the deal here? Why have we changed this sign so much? With the state a budget crisis, why are we changing signs that were just replaced over a year ago? Who pays for this?
Patrick Conrad, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, responds: We have, in fact, changed that sign two times in the last year. This is not something that happens frequently, but this particular case is an exception.
When we built the I-5 widening project in Everett, we changed the signs to meet current standards which required larger lettering and better night time visibility. This type of sign upgrade is typical for many of our larger improvement projects. We retained the primary, closest destination "Mukilteo" on the overheard signs and relocated the secondary destination "Whidbey Island Ferry" to a sign mounted outside the freeway shoulder.
Following the replacement of these signs a citizen brought the change to the attention of the mayor of Langley (Whidbey Island). He and others requested that the Whidbey Island signage be reinstated on the overhead sign structures providing a more noticeable reference to Whidbey Island given it is a prominent destination in the area. We are a customer service agency and we considered this a reasonable request. We installed the new signs. Each sign cost approximately $2,500.
I would like to point out that one additional signing change will be made in this same vicinity within the next couple months.
The Future of Flight museum at Paine Field has requested that we install guide signs on I-5. The older, shoulder-mounted Whidbey Island Ferry sign will be replaced with the Future of Flight destination. The museum will pay for this new sign.
New groups come to us each year and ask for signs on state highways. We follow specific federal guidelines for message and location of highway guide signs. That said, we try to work with local cities, agencies, businesses to find a good balance between good economic support and too many signs, using taxpayer dollars or asking the agency, business or city to pick up the tab.
We think we do a good job balancing signing needs and investments. In this case, we should have been more deliberate in evaluating changes prior to taking initial action. The second round of installation could have been avoided. We also could have done a better job of explaining the more recent change.
Sign changed back
Charlotte McCoy of Marysville writes: In May I asked about the directive to merge to the left as one goes west at the intersection of 41st Street and Rucker Avenue in Everett. It was an obvious error because the left lane is the one that ends, not the right, so it should have been left lane ends, merge right. Apparently, the city of Everett agreed, because they changed it ... for awhile. A couple of weeks ago I saw that they had reinstalled the original signs. Could you please have them explain why?
Dongho Chang, traffic engineer for Everett, responds: We made the change suggested by the reader but found it was creating safety problems. The reader suggested revising the signs to make the left lane merge into the right lane, giving the right lane the right of way.
A majority of the westbound drivers crossing Rucker on 41st use the left lane because drivers trying to turn right onto northbound Rucker often must stop to wait for pedestrians. Also, there a bus stop in the right lane of 41st on the west side of Rucker.
We decided to change it back to the right lane merging to the left and giving the left lane the right of way to improve safety and traffic flow.
E-mail Street Smarts at stsmarts@heraldnet.com. Please include your city of residence.
First, the group of signs leading to the exit said "Mukilteo -- Whidbey Island Ferry." It was then replaced by a sign of a different size that said just "Mukilteo," then it changed back to a larger sign that said "Mukilteo, Whidbey Island Ferry" with a symbol of a ferry. So what's the deal here? Why have we changed this sign so much? With the state a budget crisis, why are we changing signs that were just replaced over a year ago? Who pays for this?
Patrick Conrad, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, responds: We have, in fact, changed that sign two times in the last year. This is not something that happens frequently, but this particular case is an exception.
When we built the I-5 widening project in Everett, we changed the signs to meet current standards which required larger lettering and better night time visibility. This type of sign upgrade is typical for many of our larger improvement projects. We retained the primary, closest destination "Mukilteo" on the overheard signs and relocated the secondary destination "Whidbey Island Ferry" to a sign mounted outside the freeway shoulder.
Following the replacement of these signs a citizen brought the change to the attention of the mayor of Langley (Whidbey Island). He and others requested that the Whidbey Island signage be reinstated on the overhead sign structures providing a more noticeable reference to Whidbey Island given it is a prominent destination in the area. We are a customer service agency and we considered this a reasonable request. We installed the new signs. Each sign cost approximately $2,500.
I would like to point out that one additional signing change will be made in this same vicinity within the next couple months.
The Future of Flight museum at Paine Field has requested that we install guide signs on I-5. The older, shoulder-mounted Whidbey Island Ferry sign will be replaced with the Future of Flight destination. The museum will pay for this new sign.
New groups come to us each year and ask for signs on state highways. We follow specific federal guidelines for message and location of highway guide signs. That said, we try to work with local cities, agencies, businesses to find a good balance between good economic support and too many signs, using taxpayer dollars or asking the agency, business or city to pick up the tab.
We think we do a good job balancing signing needs and investments. In this case, we should have been more deliberate in evaluating changes prior to taking initial action. The second round of installation could have been avoided. We also could have done a better job of explaining the more recent change.
Sign changed back
Charlotte McCoy of Marysville writes: In May I asked about the directive to merge to the left as one goes west at the intersection of 41st Street and Rucker Avenue in Everett. It was an obvious error because the left lane is the one that ends, not the right, so it should have been left lane ends, merge right. Apparently, the city of Everett agreed, because they changed it ... for awhile. A couple of weeks ago I saw that they had reinstalled the original signs. Could you please have them explain why?
Dongho Chang, traffic engineer for Everett, responds: We made the change suggested by the reader but found it was creating safety problems. The reader suggested revising the signs to make the left lane merge into the right lane, giving the right lane the right of way.
A majority of the westbound drivers crossing Rucker on 41st use the left lane because drivers trying to turn right onto northbound Rucker often must stop to wait for pedestrians. Also, there a bus stop in the right lane of 41st on the west side of Rucker.
We decided to change it back to the right lane merging to the left and giving the left lane the right of way to improve safety and traffic flow.
E-mail Street Smarts at stsmarts@heraldnet.com. Please include your city of residence.
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