At least they are not flashing or glowing

Pioneer Press Sat, 17 Nov 2007 22:50:44 -0700
Cottage Grove/Woodbury / Going 'round and 'round on signs

Driving in circles sounds pretty simple. But Cottage Grove and Woodbury are finding it's anything but. The two cities have new roundabouts, but they want to put up very different signs - kicking off a debate about which is better. Cottage Grove has installed standard left-turn signage but wants to replace it with an "experimental" sign. "Roundabouts are unique and different, and people expect signs that are unique and different," said city engineer Jennifer Levitt. But Washington County Highway Department spokesman Wayne Sandberg disagrees. Woodbury is scheduled to open a roundabout on Bailey Road and Radio Drive on Wednesday, and the signs will be conventional left-turn arrows, as seen at any controlled intersection. "A totally different way of communicating seems counterproductive," Sandberg said. "Drivers will say, 'What does that mean?' If you look at (the proposed Cottage Grove sign) for a while you can figure it out, but it's not intuitively what you think it is."

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