Will freeway signs be removed?
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Q I recently attended an El Centro City Council meeting where Mayor Cheryl Viegas-Walker had spoken about her disappointment with the highway signage on the Dogwood Road overpass on Interstate 8. She appeared none too happy that the signage placed there by Caltrans detracted from the overall decorative fencing that was installed on the overpass. Not sure if someone messed up, but I was hoping Probe could look into the issue. – Sunday Driver, El Centro
ADuring the portion of the El Centro City Council meeting Nov. 21 when city officials provided reports about their recent activities, Mayor Cheryl Viegas-Walker shared her thoughts about the freeway signage that is currently found on the Dogwood Road overpass on Interstate 8.
Specifically, Viegas-Walker had said she was having an “absolute come apart” in response to a pair of freeway signs that she said obscure a considerable amount of the decorative fencing that the city had installed on the overpass as well.
The problem, Viegas-Walker tells us, is that the position of the freeway signs differ considerably from the positions they had occupied in a rendering that the state Department of Transportation had previously provided the city.
Those renderings had made it appear as though the position of the freeway signs, which include the typical green sign with white lettering and an electronic sign, would be positioned in a way that wouldn’t obscure much of the decorative fencing, Viegas-Walker said.
The council is expected to get an update about the matter from the city’s Public Works Department at its second meeting in January, explaining what, if anything, went wrong, and what, if anything, can be done about it.
In case the motoring public hadn’t noticed, the decorative fencing spanning the Dogwood Road overpass contains a sun at its midpoint with rays emanating from it. A mountain range can also be found on either side of the sun, as well as ocotillos in bloom.
The decorative fencing cost the city about $500,000 and is similar to the fencing one finds atop overpasses as they travel on the Interstate 10 through the Palm Springs area. Those Interstate 10 decorative fences are not obscured by freeway signage, Walker said.
Caltrans is well aware of Walker’s concerns and is also looking into determining whether any options exists that may help resolve the issue, she said.
One possible solution would be to transfer the freeway signage to the Imperial Avenue overpass extension once that is completed, Walker said. That proposed project had initially been scheduled to get under way in late 2017, but a lack of funding has pushed a potential start date to late 2018.