5.30.13 el paso street sign changes
El Pasoans may have noticed some street signs have changed.
And the ones that haven’t changed yet soon will.
The federal government says studies show they’re easier to read if they have capital letters and lowercase letters and they’ve mandated that the City change all 27,000 of its street name signs.
In Central El Paso, cars roll by with some drivers already noticing the difference. They said they like the change because the letters are easier to read.
City officials say it’s a safety issue, as well. They said it’s easier for first responders looking for an address to read signs with mixed letters instead of all capital letters.
The City says the federal government have given it until 2018 to change every one of the nearly 27,000 street name signs to mixed case. The deadline was originally 2015.
The City estimates that will cost about a total of $1.5 million and $500,000 has already been used on about a third of all the street name signs.
And even the newest ones – like the special brown ones in the Manhattan Heights Historic district – will have to be changed. When they went up in 2008, it cost the City about $25,000.
