Lynn sporting new street signs

LYNN – New blue and white street signs have been popping up all over the city as part of a project to replace outdated signage with larger and easier to read styles.Department of Public Works Commissioner Jay Fink said the street sign conversion began last summer and is roughly 20 percent complete.”There were an awful lot of old signs in the city that weren’t up to standards and needed to be replaced,” he said. “So last year we decided on new street signs with a blue color scheme.”Fink said there are approximately 600 street signs within the city, and, depending on the size, they cost between $25-30 apiece to replace.Street signs situated near major corridors have the city seal imprinted on them to inform drivers when they have entered the city, which cost an additional $6 for each side of the sign.”It does help to have the seal on signs when you are navigating through the city, but I don’t see it as cost effective to be on every sign,” he said. “Especially not on side streets or in residential neighborhoods.”According to Fink, the new state standard for street signs is six inch lettering, which means the old signs would have had to be replaced anyway.Aside from the new blue signs, Fink said the downtown section of the city has all new black and white signs, which were intentionally selected to go with new ornamental street lights and overall character.”We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback so far about the black and new blue signs,” he said. “When I first moved to Lynn, I couldn’t find my way around the city, so it has been a priority of mine ever since to make them bigger for people.”Fink said the cost for sign changes are included in a section of the budget that also targets stop signs, one-way signs, parking signs, brackets, screws and other miscellaneous items.”We don’t really have one specific person dedicated to changing all of the signs, so it will probably take at least another year to complete,” he said. “We’re just going to do the project as time permits.”