Take the 3.1 mile route from my Winchell neighborhood home to my downtown business. Along that route there are no less than 356 individual markers. That's 114 signs a mile. The signs point out where you are, where you are going, whether you should yield, where you can park, where you can't park, where you can park on Sundays and holidays, where you can park for 90 minutes, where you can park from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., where you can turn, where you should turn, where you must turn, where you must stop, where you must not stop, where the bus stops, where trucks can't go, where thru traffic is prohibited and where the road ends.
Words, pictures, symbols, numbers, lights, arrows and the infamous Bar-Through Circle P (the No Parking brand) provide us with reminders and warnings about speed limits, center lanes, traffic lanes, turn lanes, one-way streets, T-intersections, pedestrian crosswalks, bicycle lanes, railroad crossings, fire hydrants, detours and road projects. And my favorites: signs telling us that other signs are ahead.Of the hundred-and-some signs within a frisbee throw of Michikal and W. Main, roughly 35 are meant to be instructive to the northbound traveler who approaches that intersection near the Downtowner Motel. At the intersection, you're faced with 11 arrows pointing five different directions (down and left, down and right, up and right, right, and up). If the light is green, about the only way anyone but an Evelyn Wood speed reading graduate can safely "wayfind" is ignore all 35 signs. Besides, there's a nice billboard there.
Adding to the blur in and around downtown is the Business Loop (BL) and Business Route (BR) System, which was supposed to be America's urban planning answer to freeways. Designed, but no longer serving the function of, getting people off the highway and into one's downtown, these are the knickknacks and decorations of our urban culture. But as for directional tools, don't kid yourself. People just stop in the Shell station and ask for directions.Not that state and federal highway officials aren't determined to help. Various downtown groupings of BR-131 and BL-94 and M-43 markers have 10, 11, 12 and even 13 individual signs and arrows on a post. Unfortunately, if you tried to follow these signs, your chances of going in a four-block circle would be significantly greater than your chances of finding your way back to I-94.
And speaking of getting lost . . . If that's your thing, and you employ signs to do so, I recommend the green Bike Route signs. You'll find these Bike Route signs in cities all over America. The Bike Route system was put in place either to amuse bicyclists or as an economic stimulus for the metal fabrication industry . I love to bike and I love to find bike routes. But these green Bike Route signs -- the ones with the bike and the arrow -- originate nowhere. They go nowhere. If they were supposed to go somewhere, then where are the maps showing where they go? There is nothing distinctive about the roads along which they sit. Some of these roads have extra lanes, which is great, but, unfortunately, most do not. I saw one of these green signs in Salt Lake City which proclaimed "Bike Route Ends Here." It would be interesting to know if that was just for Salt Lake or for the entire United States. Because of the prevalence of these signs in American cities, one would presume we have a national bike path system, but the reality is that we have a National Green Sign System. Are signs a burning issue in our community? Heavens no.
But signs pile up like dirty dishes, old newspapers and undone laundry in an unkempt home. After a while, you hardly notice the clutter. Then, when you have to get ready for company, you look around and say, "My God, have we been living in this?"Kalamazoo's newest sign system is a "wayfinding" project for downtown Kalamazoo. The theory is that if you know you are in the Haymarket District, South Town, Arcadia, the Bronson Park District, the East End or the area referred to as "Kalamazoo Mall" (1959-1999), you will have less trouble "wayfinding," also known as "finding your way" in the central city area, also known as the downtown. Each district has its own logo, its own color, its own shape and its own letter (for instance, "Kalamazoo Mall" is a burgundy diamond with a gold border and a white "K" and black type). The "graphics standards" are published, and they're strict. One can't help but admire the design integrity of the downtown wayfinding system which, unlike the Bike Route Sign System, does have maps.Even if the new wayfinding system doesn't help people find where they're going, it might just represent an opportunity to examine and reflect upon what these new wayfinding signs will have to compete with. Keep in mind that there are literally thousands of existing directional and location-identification signs in and around downtown Kalamazoo and they are supplemented by street banners, business signs, billboards, awning signs, historical markers, construction signs, parking lot instructions and building identification markers. Maybe for every new wayfinding sign that goes up, two existing street signs should come down.
As for improving the appearance of the larger community, I offer a simple three-step approach:
1. Get Rid of America's Green Bike Route Sign System. This system leads nowhere and, if anything, detracts from the aesthetic pleasure of bike riding.
2. Secede from the national Business Route and Business Loop Sign System. This system was designed to lead nowhere.
3. Form a committee. No, wait. That may have caused this problem. Better to take a page out of the successful anti-litter, Adopt-A-Highway, campaign, although that program unfortunately spawned yet another national sign system. I'm recommending an Adopt -- Then Abandon -- A Sign program. Individuals, service clubs, churches and businesses could work to reduce the number of signs along our area roads. I'm not suggesting, of course, that private citizens actually take it upon themselves to physically remove these signs the way they would with other litter. No, the signs are way too deep in the ground for that, and many are embedded in concrete. I recommend working through channels, which includes your local government, the Kalamazoo Area Transportation Study (KATS) and the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). Although you could do this sign-abandonment work geographically, it would seem to make more sense to adopt-and-abandon signs by category. I would love to take the "No Parking" signs, for instance, and set a goal to have every third one removed. But, alas, with my heavy volunteer load, that may be too ambitious, as these signs are placed every few yards along some city streets. For the moment, then, I'll take something easier -- like "Stop Sign Ahead."
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