Agenda - Public Works Committee - 02/16/1999

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Memo To: Dean Kapler From: Grant Riemer CC: Public Works Committee Date: 02/10/99 Re: New street signs The purpose of this memo is to describe my reasoning, and timeline for changing our street sign inventory. The reason we are embarking on this project is to bring the City of Ramsey into compliance with the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). These changes were included in the January 9, 1997,Federal Register. The changes are as follows: 1. All street name signs are required to be retroreflective. We have been using beaded, embossed street sign plates that are not retroreflective. 2. Recommended letter sizes for street name signs to (be) a minimum of 6-inch uppercase letters, 4-~ inch lowercase letters and 3-inch letters for street abbreviations (Avenue, Road, N.W.). Local roads with speed limits 25 mph or less may continue to use a minimum 4-inch uppercase letter size with a 2~inch lowercase size for street abbreviations. Our current street signs use 4-inch uppercase and 2-inch lower case. In my conversations with local vendors they recommend retaining the white border, we are currently are using, and mixing both uppercase, and lowercase letters in our signs. The white border catches your eye quicker, and using different size fonts on the same sign provides better esthetics and improves readability. The benefits to the people who live and work in our city would be substantial. Some of the groups benefiting would be older drivers, police and fire vehicles and visitors to our city. People over the age of 60 make up ~3% of the total licensed drivers in the United States today. This statistic has increased steadily from 1973 when the figure was14%. VVhy this number is significant is that a 59-year-old driver needs 8 times the amount of light to see a sign as a 20-year-old driver. Emergency personnel such as police, fire, and ambulance would benefit from the new signs. Drivers in these high stress jobs are often pre-occupied with what their response will be when they arrive at the scene. Eliminating the task of searching for street signs would be of great help, and improve response time and driver safety. · Page 1