An idea for revitalizing downtown Rockford? Signs like the prototype shown here would be part of a system to help direct visitors to downtown attractions in Omaha, Nebraska.~Amy Donahue
Signage Consultant
Signs would connect the spots
If you’re feeling lost in downtown Omaha, city planners and tourism officials want to help you find your way.
Instead of relying on an office worker’s directions to get you from the state wrestling tournament to an Old Market restaurant, the City Planning Department is working on a new system of street signs to point out major downtown attractions.
The idea is for color-coded signs to work almost like a trail of bread crumbs, using arrows to give people directions one or two blocks at a time.
If the plan moves forward, signs to route foot traffic would go in about 50 locations around downtown, while signs for vehicle traffic would go at about 20 key intersections.
The concept is still being refined, and the City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to spend $61,300 in tourism funding on the project. The city’s Urban Design Review Board signed off on the design concepts Thursday.
“It’s high time to think about how we’re helping people maneuver,” Dana Markel, executive director of the Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau, said in an interview.
The system being developed, she said, would make downtown more visitor-friendly.
Markel pointed to First National Bank’s pioneer sculptures as an example of something visitors may need to have pointed out to them. She said people may come upon one of the sculptures, but to fully appreciate a “tremendous story,” people need signs to connect all the pieces.
Officials have had a cohesive “wayfinding” plan in mind since 2005, when the city signed a deal with Philadelphia-based Joel Katz Design Associates to design the signs. But the design firm’s early work has sat on a shelf.
The council’s approval would keep the design work moving forward on a project that ultimately could cost $500,000.
If the council approves funds for continued design, the Convention and Visitors Bureau then would seek private funds to support the project.
Councilman Franklin Thompson said he sees the city’s funding as a further investment in downtown, the Old Market and the riverfront. Businesses as well as downtown visitors would benefit, he said.
It’s a case, Thompson said, where the city should “spend a little bit of money to make a whole lot more.”
Cathy Madison, who was in town from Kearney, Neb., on Thursday for the state wrestling tournament, said the directional signs would be useful. Madison and her companions said they took the Embassy Suites shuttle to get where they need to go while downtown.
But sometimes when you get dropped off, she said, “It’s like, where am I at? Which way do I go?”
The Eggleston family of Gothenburg, Neb., made it downtown without any problems thanks to a GPS system. And the trip from the Doubletree Hotel to the Qwest Center Omaha was an easy walk down Capitol Avenue.
The family planned to have dinner in the Old Market. Cody Eggleston said his plan was to “just start walking.”
“Based upon the map in our room, we need to go south and east,” he said. “That’s all I know.”
Jed Moulton, who is coordinating the sign project for the City Planning Department, said signs are meant to be easily recognizable and get people to downtown’s major destinations.
“You can have this kind of cacophony of competing signs,” he said. “You can create mayhem out there.”
