Holmes County now making own road signs
The Holmes County Engineer’s Office now has the capability to create its own county signs, which will save the county a great deal of money and expedite the creation of all of the new county road signs.
Have you ever been driving behind someone who doesn’t know where they are or how to get where they are going, only to have them slow to a crawl as they crane their necks to see the tiny county road signs to see if that is their road?
Situations like that can lead to accidents, but Holmes County is seeking to eliminate that kind of driving by creating new county road signage.
Holmes County roads are about to get a new look, and Chris Young, Holmes County engineer, couldn’t be happier.
For decades the county has paid a premium for all its county road signs, the white signs with black letters that denote what road travelers will be taking.
On Monday, June 13 at the Holmes County commissioners meeting in the Old Jail in Millersburg, Young introduced the new style of signs that will dot Holmes County’s byways in the near future.
After purchasing equipment that allows the county to create its own signs, Young showed off the engineer office’s new county road signs — a reflective, green background with letters and a white outline of the county around the county road number.
While the new signs appear larger, Young said they are the same size as the ones currently residing along county roads. However, he said there are major differences that will make the new signs look larger, more attractive and much easier for drivers to see while navigating Holmes County’s roadways.
Young presented the first sign off the assembly line, a sign for County Road 58, and said that is simply the first of many to come.
“It’s a beautiful design; you can easily read it,” commissioner Ray Eyler said.
Young said many of the signs will have large white arrows with a green background to further direct drivers on which way each road goes.
While everyone in the meeting thought the new signs were larger, Young said it is an optical illusion. He said the green background and larger white print on the signs make them seem larger, but they are actually the same size as the signs they will replace.
“The lettering is bigger, and the color scheme makes them stand out,” Young said. “Plus, our current signs with black writing on white background are not reflective, so they are far harder to see at night.”
Young expects the savings to the county to grow quickly, noting the new signs cost the county about $20 to create while the ones purchased elsewhere cost close to $50. In addition, he said there will be no waiting period to receive requested signs because they have the technology to create new ones at their fingertips.
“We are looking at savings of more than half,” Young said. “It’s going to be a really good thing for the county and for drivers.”
While eager to get the new sign project rolling, Young said the county will have to be patient with the process, noting it will be several years before all the signs are replaced.
He also said the county is looking forward to working with the township trustees in replacing their old, white signs.
“We have thousands of these signs to place,” Young said. “We are still discussing the most efficient way to do it. We might start at the state routes and do all the connecting state route roads. Then we’ll come back and work a whole road. It’s going to take a couple of years.”
Young said the new sign machinery can crank out a couple hundred signs in a couple of hours, making the process of supplying the county with signs more readily available.
He said once the county completes its sign-postage process, they will seek to connect with county township trustees to discuss the option of creating new signs for township roads. He said the signs would look the same, only they would not have the county outline around each of the road numbers.