Standard street signs are small and difficult to read at a distance for pedestrians, bus riders, and car drivers – particularly after dark. To solve this problem, 34th Street Partnership designed, developed, and installed 200 self-illuminated street signs. The unique lighting system was based on LED technology; the background color for the sign ensures that the diodes within the frame of the sign light up the white font areas and not the background. Easily readable upper and lower case Frutiger 65 font was chosen because of its clarity and warm quality, which works well with the design of the light poles. The blade size was doubled from previous signs, greatly enhancing the visibility of the signs. Based on survey results, block numbers at the top of each sign replace the cross street names of the previous sign system.
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Design Team:
Ignacio Ciocchini (Principal in Charge), Dan Biederman, Herbert Kozlow, Norman Mintz, Don Bussolini, Charles Fremaint
Consultants:
Whitco Sign & Mfg. Corporation, Ron Whitaker, Mark Shugart
Fabricators:
Whitco Sign & Mfg. Corporation
Jury Comments:
"This LED technological innovation adds an important element of functionality to the ubiquitous street sign. The designers are to be commended for resisting the impulse to overdesign. Instead, they enhanced legibility with an excellent font choice and scale on a slightly larger sign blade, while retaining the basic character of traditional street signs."