Confluence will be bringing back initial designs for wayfinding signage at a meeting in late June.
Patrick Alvord, engineer with Confluence, said that was the timetable after getting some initial input from citizens about what wayfinding signs in Mount Vernon should look like.
During the hour and a half meeting Tuesday, May 17, Alvord showed a number of different designs of signs to gauge people’s interest and explained why members of the community liked different signs.
Roughly 10 community members were in attendance to weigh in on the signage.
The signs presented were some that would be seen at the highway level at the roundabout and Business 30 to potentially entice people to the city, and down to the pedestrian level in the uptown business district.
The goal of the signs is to help direct traffic coming from Business 30 to the uptown businesses, as well as other points of interest in the community, including Cornell College and the school systems.
The study will be completed in August, with Confluence providing signs that can be constructed for different portions of the community.
Alvord said the actual creation and installation of signs could take until 2023, noting the cost for materials post-COVID has been significant.
When it came to anything placed in the center of the roundabout, Mount Vernon city administrator Chris Nosbisch said that signage would need to be able to withstand the amount of salt used by the DOT in the winter. The city will be on the hook for any maintenance to that signage as well.
A lot of the designs chosen focused on natural elements and classical designs.
Nosbisch was asked how the signage would work with the elements completed for the Mount Vernon streetscape project.
“They’ll tie in with the work that’s been completed on the streetscape projects and we’ll look for areas where these all overlap,” Nosbisch said.
Alvord said that he will bring back designs that will highlight Mount Vernon history and other ideas for potential signs and will collect more data at that signage study that will cement the direction of the signs.