by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
A proposed downtown sign plan has been derailed because of new guidelines released earlier this month in the United States Department of Transportation’s updated Federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
The City’s sign proposal, a step toward making downtown easier to get to and through, has been under review for months. However, intentions to color-code directional signs based on its 10 subdistricts — an idea agreed upon by the Downtown Development Authority, Downtown Vision, Inc. and the Jacksonville & the Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau — is now in direct violation of the new federal standard: white lettering on a green backdrop.
James Scott, a traffic operations engineer with the Florida Department of Transportation, explained the conflict.
“From what I understand, the federal manual was designed to create consistency from city to city, especially on State roads,” said Scott. “It just so happens downtown Jacksonville is heavily populated with State roads.”
Scott said Ocean, Main, Beaver, Union and State streets, the same streets comprising much of the proposed signage plan, all fall under State domain.
“I think the signage program is a good idea, but color coding goes against the federal manual and we can’t allow it,” he said.
Scott added the existing purple signs downtown were also in violation, but would likely not be removed.
“We don’t have any intention of asking the City do that right now,” he said.
City Council member Suzanne Jenkins, who has been leading project efforts for the Council since August, got caught off guard by the new standard.
“I was definitely surprised when I heard,” said Jenkins. “I can’t imagine that the people who put this together thought it would have this kind of effect.”
DVI executive director Terry Lorince, agreed, saying the rule made little sense.
“How can we be the only downtown in the country without way-finding signs?” she said. “This is something we need to address.”
The City can apply for a forgiveness policy, but Scott was unsure of the exact procedure or turn around time involved.
“There’s no way we can go about changing federal legislation. However, I’m sure the City of Jacksonville could at least make a direct appeal to the Federal Highway Administration,” he said.
DDA managing director Al Battle said the City may make an appeal, but regardless of the outcome, confirmed signage would still be updated in some way.
“It’s good we got this information before consultants hired by the Planning Department starting designing the new signs,” he said. “Having said that, we still have to acknowledge that what we have right now is inadequate. We have a concern for people coming here next year for the Super Bowl.
“There is a time crunch to think about and we want to do something, but we obviously don’t want to go against the federal manual. We’ve just got to find a way to do something without violating the rules.”
Jenkins said she’ll communicate with the Planning Department to let them know of the new standards.
“They need to be aware of this, but I’m hoping something can be done,” she said.