Tampa to replace puzzling, obsolete signs downtown
Emily Nipps, Times staff writer
In Print: Saturday, November 8, 2008
A new directional sign points drivers to attractions in downtown Tampa. City officials are replacing old and outdated signs with more colorful ones. The city is also installing signs on downtown parking garages.
TAMPA — The old blue directional signs to local landmarks have been bamboozling downtown Tampa visitors and locals for years, with some pointing to destinations that no longer exist or have moved.
Some signs direct drivers to one-way streets that used to be two-way. A few have fallen off their posts, making the directions impossible to follow.
On Friday, city officials announced that they're finally taking down the 20-year-old relics and replacing them with snazzy blue signs that will help people navigate this modern-day downtown Tampa.
Just in time for February's Super Bowl, 166 signs will direct drivers and pedestrians to the Channel District, the St. Pete Times Forum, Riverwalk and other downtown landmarks that didn't exist 20 years ago. The city spent $760,000 on the signs, which were made by a Philadelphia firm that tried to incorporate themes of light rays and water into the design.
Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio said the new signs are designed to reflect a modern, vibrant downtown while directing walkers and drivers more efficiently. She herself once got lost trying to follow the old signs to the aquarium as an experiment.
"The fact is, our city has evolved more in the past five years than in the previous 15 before that," Iorio said at the unveiling. "We have so many great and exciting places here now, and if people don't know how to get to them, they won't be able to enjoy them."
The first sign, a more compact version for pedestrians, can be seen at the corner of Tampa Street and Kennedy Boulevard, near Lykes Gaslight Square Park. The other 165 will be installed by the end of the year.
The city also will be putting new eye-catching signs on all the downtown parking garages, because, according to Downtown Tampa Partnership transportation director Karen Kress, "30 to 40 percent of downtown traffic is people looking for parking."
Emily Nipps can be reached at nipps@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3431.
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