Surprise's street signs to be bigger, more legible

In the next few months, some Surprise residents will start seeing old street signs replaced with bigger, more legible ones.

This is the beginning of a 5- to 7-year "rehabilitation process" that involves maintaining signs to the latest national standards and increasing traffic safety, City Traffic Engineer John Abraham said.

A look at the major changes:

• The size of road signs where minor streets connect to arterial roads that have a 35 mph speed limit or higher will increase from 6 inches to 9 inches.

Reason: Vehicles traveling on minor streets on which the speed limit is 25 mph will drive more much slowly, so 6-inch plates are sufficient for motorist readability. However, drivers take longer to read signs if they are traveling at a higher rate of speed on major roads. Based on national research, bigger signs allow for better legibility from a greater distance.

• All street-name signs will switch to the "Clearview" font.

Reason: According to research, this font increases legibility and reduces "halation," a halo effect that surrounds letters at night or in poor lighting conditions. The spacing between letters is slightly more spread out than the previously used font.

• All signs that have capital letters will be in mixed case.

Reason: This will improve word-pattern recognition. It takes people longer to read a sign that is in all capital letters, as opposed to a sign with mixed case. Drivers can better recognize letters such as K, P, D and G, which either extend up or down, Abraham explained.

• Using diamond-grade sheeting, as opposed to the engineer's grade that was used previously

Reason: This was done to meet the Federal Highway Administration's mandate.

Abraham said the street-name signs have already been ordered and are expected in the coming weeks.

Once they arrive, traffic engineers will start working to replace signs at Sun City Grand and Coyote Lakes, communities that have been in line for replacements. This phase is expected to be done by late June.

Replacing signs is normal protocol as a result of wear and tear. Time degrades sign retroreflectivity, which is the ability to reflect light back to the driver's eyes to make the sign readable.