Traffic Sign Replacement Program Receives City Council Approval

Most of the traffic signs around Maple Grove will likely be replaced in the next five to six years as part of the city’s new traffic sign replacement program.

The new program was recently approved by the Maple Grove City Council as a way to adhere to a rule by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for a minimum brightness level for traffic control signs.

“The proposed program will not only keep the signs on city streets in compliance with FHWA standards, but it will also maintain a certain visual quality to all signs such that we do not have faded, cracked and unpleasing signs on our streets,” Traffic Engineer Marc Culver said in a Feb. 6 memo to the City Council.

The city estimates it will cost about $50,000 a year for the next five to six years to bring existing signs up to the new federal standards. Funding for the traffic sign replacement program will come from Maple Grove’s street reconstruction fund.

The timeframe to bring existing signs up to the federal standard could change depending on a possible extended compliance date by the Federal Highway Administration.

The adopted the traffic sign replacement program at the Feb. 6 regular meeting on the consent agenda.