Wayfinding signs are springing up all over town these days, pointing the way to downtown shopping, City-owned parks and other public facilities — and there’s more to come, Director of Engineering Micah Siemers said this week.
“This is a multi-phased project that began several years ago after the Parks Board recommended the City seek funding to install wayfinding signs as part of its General Obligation Bond program,” Siemers said.
First approved in the 2018 G.O. Bond Election, the project faced several delays during the pandemic but really took off last year.
“We installed the major park signs first and then moved to install pedestrian wayfinding signs around the downtown area,” said Siemers. “What people are seeing now are the vehicular wayfinding signs directing traffic to parks, downtown and other locations of interest.”
He said contract crews have a few more downtown wayfinding signs to install and then will move on to gateway signs.
“We have a few more downtown wayfinding signs to install that were in locations that did not have street lights available,” Siemers said. “We also have three vehicular wayfinding sign locations that need to be moved. Two were caught before they went up and have not been installed yet, but we need to move the one on Cherokee by First Baptist Church due to it obstructing the pedestrian crosswalk light. The last work remaining, other than those signs, is installation of the gateway signs on north and south Highway 75.”
Signs planned or already completed in the first phase include:
- 9 park entry signs – 1 each at Robinwood, Price Fields, Jo Allyn Lowe, Veterans’, and Johnstone; 2 each at Sooner and Lee Lake
- 6 pathfinder trailhead signs – Shawnee, Sooner, Comanche, Eastland, Johnstone, and Polaris
- 23 downtown pedestrian wayfinding signs
- 32 vehicular wayfinding signs
- 1 downtown gateway sign (community center)
- 2 gateway – 75 north and south
The total contract amount is $660,000, which includes funding from the 2018A and 2018C G.O. Bonds, sales tax, and $160,000 from the BRTA. Residual funds left in the 2008B, 2009, and 2010 G.O. Bonds were also used.
“Additional funding was approved for Fiscal Year 2024-25 for park entry signage at the remaining parks — Douglass, Civitan, Panther (Eddie Mason), Colonial, Smith, and Lyon,” Siemers said. “Funds were approved as part of the 2023 G.O. Bond for a second phase of vehicular wayfinding signs, which would likely include eight to 10 additional vehicular wayfinding signs. We won’t have those funds until later this fall but are working with the contractor on which signs to include.”