City stop signs get a shiny update

Shiny new signs are popping up in Cedar Rapids and all over the country.

"People have called up and said, ‘That was a perfectly good stop sign...why are you doing this?'” Public Works Maintenance Manager Craig Hanson said.

The answer? Federal law requires all cities and states to swap out old, dull signs with reflective ones.

"We make them one day and go out the next day and install them,” Public Works employee Dan Dudley said, "They just need to be replaced so they can keep drivers safe."

Instead of paying for new signs, the city bought decals. Workers scrub down the old signs and attach a heavy-duty reflective sticker that makes the signs appear like new. Having staff attach those stickers saves even more money.

"It saves us energy, time, shipping costs, and quickness of speed,” Hanson said.

But, re-facing all the city's signs will still cost more than $100,000.

"That's why we're going to be doing it over multiple years. We do a portion of them every year,” Hanson said.

Within the next five years, just about every street sign in town will shine.

"A lot of them are in pretty rough shape, faded out from the sun,” Dudley said.

Once all the new signs roll out, experts argue they'll improve safety on the roads and cut down on accidents. Reflective signs are much more visible at night than older styles.

When crews remove an older stop sign, they immediately replace it with a reflective one to keep intersections safe during the transition.

Re-purposed signs should last about ten years. However, those that face South fade faster and wear out sooner because of the sun.

Mark Geary, KCRG-TV 9