First came the new Columbia logo. Now, big welcome signs are coming. Check them out

Morgan Hughes
·2 min read
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Columbia is hoping to give important city gateways a fresh coat of paint by installing new signs to welcome travelers into South Carolina’s capital city.

Columbia has allocated $500,000 to place new signs, with the city’s new logo, at a handful of major gateways into the city.

The gateway signs will cost an estimated $70,000 each, and their locations are not completely set in stone. Some initial proposals for where to locate the signs include the Harbison area, Elmwood Avenue, Bull and Harden streets, and the Fort Jackson area.

The city is also working to identify secondary and tertiary locations for more signage.

“This is a work in progress,” Councilwoman Aditi Bussells said during a committee meeting Tuesday. “I would like to include as many of our neighborhoods and business districts as we can, but that also requires funding.”

The primary signs, initially planned for five yet-to-be finalized gateways, will stand almost 12 feet tall and nearly twice as wide, and they will be lit at night.

The city of Columbia is looking to spend $500,000 on new gateway signs. The primary signs, initially planned for five yet-to-be finalized gateways will stand almost 12 feet tall and nearly twice as wide and they will be lit at night.  This image shows possible locations for the signs.
The city of Columbia is looking to spend $500,000 on new gateway signs. The primary signs, initially planned for five yet-to-be finalized gateways will stand almost 12 feet tall and nearly twice as wide and they will be lit at night. This image shows possible locations for the signs.

Earlier this year, Columbia unveiled a brand new logo and tagline, meant to represent the three rivers that converge near the city’s center, the Congaree, the Broad and the Saluda.

That new logo cost the city $63,900, according to a city statement. But the city paid the Greenville-based Crawford Agency, which worked on the new logo, more than $90,000 in February for marketing and advertising, according to city spending reports. That work included work on the city’s new logo.

Bussells has led the charge to reinvigorate the city of Columbia’s brand in an effort to better tell the city’s story and to remind residents that this is a vibrant community to live in.

“I think one of the biggest reasons why we’ve seen a deterrent to some of the kind of growth of people wanting to come here, stay here, live here, play here has been our own sense of pride,” Bussells previously said.

The entire City Council will still be able to weigh in on the final locations of the new signs at an upcoming work session.