City Entrance Signs, City of Manassas, VA
A WELCOMING PROJECT
Implementing Five City Entrance Signs, City of Manassas
INFORMATIVE GATEWAYS
“Just outside of Washington, D.C., lies a small city that feels like home – the City of Manassas,” says the City of Manassas Welcome Page at www.manassascity.org.
In an effort to boost community communications, the city recently contracted with Holiday Signs to provide city entrance signs for its five main gateway entrances. Once the signs become operational in a few months, area arts, entertainment and community events will be regularly and prominently shared with some 38,000 residents plus thousands of visitors passing through the city. The signs will not only be able to advertise local events but can also post important traffic and safety information.
POSITIVE OUTLOOK
Michael Martin of KMA Design designed the interesting signage system. Holiday Signs built the signage to the city’s specifications and installed the custom signs complete with electronic displays at designated median locations. Consulting with Daktronics, a leading manufacturer of outdoor electronic message centers, it was determined that full-color displays with 20mm pixel pitch and 64×144 matrix size would be the best fit considering the speed of traffic and viewing distances. Signage installation was completed earlier in July and once the signs are live, the city will operate the displays with Holiday Signs providing software installation and operator training.
“The city has already received many positive comments from the community and the displays aren’t even connected yet!” says Patty Prince, Coordinator of Public Affairs for the City of Manassas.
“I already have lots of people asking me to post things,” Patty said.
ONGOING INFORMATION
The winning contractor on this project had to be able to satisfy DBE requirements because VDOT is providing grant money. Holiday Signs satisfied the VDOT DBE requirements by using a DBE utility contractor to run power and signal conduit to each sign location. This required boring under the highway and implementing traffic and safety control while working in the highway medians.
Because of the new city entrance signs, citizens and visitors in Manassas will soon benefit from a higher level of ongoing information about local events, safety and community services making the city a more informed and safer place to live and work. I’ll be sure to write a follow-up article this fall highlighting the signage and its community impact once in full use.
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