New street signs in Scranton make navigating neighborhoods easier

SCRANTON — It's a good sign for motorists navigating the city's neighborhoods.

The city has replaced over 2,400 missing or faded street signs in recent years and will do another 1,000.

New street signs populate intersections and courts in the Hill Section, Pine Brook, and South, North and West Scranton.

Earlier this month, the administration of Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti issued a public notice in The Times-Tribune seeking vendors to install up to 1,000 additional street signs throughout the city.

The city got a $333,955 state grant in March to fund this fourth phase of the ongoing program.

The grant will pay for sign replacements to continue in West Side. North Scranton and Pine Brook, and depending on how far the dollars go, possibly delve into the Plot and East Mountain, city Business Administrator Eileen Cipriani said. Along with hiring an outside vendor to install signs, the DPW also does some of the sign replacement program from city budget funds, she said.

“We're just going to keep going,” Cipriani said.

The impetus for recent ramping up of replacements dates to April 2017, when The Sunday Times published a letter to the editor from a Buffalo, New York, resident who frequently visited Scranton and said she hoped the city would replace missing and faded street signs.

That letter prompted Hill Section resident Norma Jeffries to go to the April 27, 2017, meeting of Scranton City Council and raise the issue of her neighborhood missing many street signs. She presented council with a list of 14 intersections in the Hill Section alone that lacked street signs.

At that time, the city’s street signs were a mix of colors, styles, materials and ages. A drive along most any street showed varying sign conditions from block to block. Many intersections had clear, vibrant street signs, but many others had unreadable signs bleached white from sunlight, or no signs at all.

Today, there is a marked improvement in street signs in neighborhoods that have gotten new ones in recent years, particularly the Hill Section, South Side, part of West Side and North Scranton. Intersections and courts are clearly marked .

The city's new streets signs have white lettering on green backgrounds. The city follows state Department of Transportation standards on sign materials, fonts and lettering, Cipriani said.

In an interview Monday, Jeffries said with a laugh that when her children visit from out-of-town they jokingly ask, 'Mom, did you get any more street signs put up?'”

Thanks to the new signs, Jeffries finds it easier to navigate the city's streets.

“I'm glad they're putting the street signs up,” Jeffries said.

Cipriani said the new street signs in the neighborhoods not only make it easier for motorists to know locations, but also first responders.

“It makes a huge difference,” Cipriani said. “It's a public safety issue, as well.”