New road signs meant to make it easier to get around in Carthage are nearing completion after years of planning and some delays with the manufacturer.
Steve Willis, the chairman of the Carthage Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors, told the Carthage City Council on Tuesday, Jan. 8, that about 85 signs could be ready for installation around the city in just a few weeks.
Willis showed council members an example of one of the signs marking a parking lot at that regular meeting.
“We’re about three weeks away from having signs powder-coated, post-powder-coated vinyl stuck to the signs and us being able to install the signs that are within the city limits,” Willis told the Council. “I think we’re in a good position, unfortunately it’s taken us a little while to get where we are today, but we’re smarter than we were three weeks ago, and I think we’re on the verge of being able to see some signs.”
The Carthage Convention and Visitors Bureau and the city of Carthage have been working to plan and design new “way-finding” signs for a number of years.
In September 2018, the city signed a $187,000 contract with CDL Electric, Pittsburg, Kansas, to create and install the signs.
The way-finding program divides the city into a “square” district in the north end of town near the Carthage Square, and a “circle” district in the south end of town near the highway roundabout at Grand Avenue, Airport Drive and Fairlawn Drive.
The new signs will provide directions and distances to a variety of locations, including tourist attractions, parking lots, parks, city and county offices and other points of interest.
Willis told the Council that issues with the material that was to be used on the signs and the way the signs were to be designed and printed had caused a delay in delivery of the signs.
Willis held up a completed metal sign directing people to a city parking lot as an example of what the new signs will look like.
