Sign, sign, everywhere a sign: ODOT crosswalk program turns Vermilion yellow

VERMILION — When state workers came in to improve some of the city's downtown crosswalks, they brought along some new signs, too. A lot of new signs. The city was one of only three in the Northwest District to receive funding from the Ohio Department of Transportation to improve its crosswalks downtown, receiving more than $370,000 from the state for work done along Liberty Avenue, also known as state Route 6. City Service Director Tony Valerius applied for the money, and the state awarded it based on the number of traffic crashes that have occurred in the area with pedestrians. The city paid for the planning and direction of the project. Depending on the time of year, the area can be very congested. In season, monthly events like Third Thursdays bring in plenty of foot traffic, and annual festivals like the Woollybear — billed as the state's biggest one-day festival — clog the streets with pedestrians. This year, city officials are expecting many more visitors with the revamped and expanded Main Street Beach area. "The proliferation of large, yellow, luminous signage between Grand and Decatur is overkill. I counted 16 large signs just in that stretch. All relatively close to each other," Valerius told Council in his Feb. 5 meeting report. "My intention is to reduce the signage but I'm finding it's not that simple." The city needs a measure of safety for its growing popularity but it also wants to preserve the visual appeal of its historic district, Mayor Jim Forthofer said. He sent ODOT photos of what the project, now completed with the signage in place, looks like. "Even the ODOT supervisor was kind of like, 'Yeah, that is a little bit of overkill,'" Forthofer said. "They were very agreeable and receptive." ODOT officials have agreed to allow Vermilion to remove many of the pedestrian signs, as long as they are reused around the city. According to Kaitlyn Thompson, spokesperson for ODOT, the agency has agreed to allow the city to remove all pedestrian signs from the project except for those at either end of the work, and to remove the second signs at intersections with two crosswalks. The city will be responsible for removing and reinstalling them at their discretion, and the work should be done by beginning of summer. Contact Rini Jeffers at rinijeffers@gmail.com.