No binoculars needed for new street signs

LARGO - The dingy green street signs have lost their looks. Time for something bigger, brighter, bolder.

"Much more high tech," said the city's sign technician, Doug Hersey.

More than 5,000 street signs will be replaced during the next two years with a snazzy new design.

The new sign features the Central Park Clock Tower, its hands frozen at 1 o'clock. The new signs, 9 inches by 3 feet, are 3 inches taller and a foot longer than the old ones. The letters are two inches taller.

"You're supposed to be able to see it from a car without binoculars," said City Manager Steven Stanton, who said he's had trouble reading the old signs since he passed 40.

The new signs will cost about $500,000 and last more than a decade. City commissioners and staff debated the look for more than a year before reaching consensus, Stanton said.

"No one could make a decision, it seemed," he said.

They considered things like luminosity, reflectivity and something called "candle power."

The new signs have more than five times the candle power of the old ones, thanks to a diamond-grade reflective sheeting made of laser-cut prisms. That means they're easier to see.

One decision was easy.

"Of course it's Largo Blue," Stanton said of the sign background color. Largo Blue is the city's signature color, used to decorate the interior of municipal buildings.

Actually the city opted not to spend the extra money for a unique color. It chose a standard color called "sapphire blue," which is not quite Largo Blue but close enough.

The old signs, made to last about seven years, have been up at least 15 years, Hersey said. They are replaced only when they disappear or are mangled by cars or vandals. Signs at Jeff Road and Emily Court are replaced most frequently because they tend to get stolen.

Many signs have avoided disaster so long, they have literally lost their glow. They no longer shine in headlights. They get dirty. They fade.

"Oh, the letters fly off them," Hersey said. "It disgusts me."

Sign replacement will begin as soon as the city selects a contractor. Major street signs will be replaced first, neighborhood signs last.

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