City official acknowledges ‘redundancy of signs’ on Edmonton’s 106 Street

Weeks after residents of a south Edmonton community began raising questions about the usefulness of hundreds of street signs that currently line a stretch of 106 Street, a city official confirms that there is indeed “a redundancy of signs, that we could eliminate some of these signs.”

“We had an opportunity to review the corridor at 106 Street from 76 Avenue to 62 Avenue I believe,” Olga Messinis, the city’s director of network operations, told reporters on Tuesday. “One of the things we did identify is we do have three specific facilities: we have playground zones, we have school zones and then we also have the separate and protected on-street bike facilities — so with all those three facilities came a plethora of signs.”

READ MORE: Residents and drivers question massive amount of traffic signs on south Edmonton street

Watch below: (From Nov. 14, 2018) Go-Pro video of a 15-block stretch of 106 Street from about 63 Avenue to 70 Avenue where there are hundreds of signs.

2:40 Hundreds of signs line Edmonton’s 106 Street

Messinis said while the signs did adhere to national signing standards, “there are a lot of signs” in the 14 blocks. She said some of the signs will begin coming down in the New Year.

Councillor Michael Walters indicated on Tuesday that he was happy the signage issue was being addressed.

“I’m glad to know some of those signs are going to be removed,” he said. “I think I used the quote before: ‘That number of signs is fodder for mockery,’ and it was.

“That was an absurd number of signs and fortunately our administration has looked at that, will take some down, and make it simpler for folks.”

Watch below: (From November 2018) In a 15-block span, there are about 220 traffic signs along 106 Street in south Edmonton. Why so many signs? Kent Morrison spoke to residents, cyclists and the city, hoping to find out.

2:16 Edmonton road renewal leads to lots of street signs

Within a 15-block distance, Global News counted about 220 different signs on the stretch of road that connects the communities of Pleasantview to Allendale. They include playground zone notifications, speed limits, bike lane advisories, traffic advisories and more.

“Considering the distance between school zones and playground zones and the criteria of being very much the same, the speeds are very much the same — we found opportunities to reduce some of the signing,” Messinis said. “We’re constantly reviewing a lot of these practices.”

Last month, several people in the area told Global News there were so many signs it was hard to pay attention to them all.

“Aesthetically, it’s overwhelming to see the signs for the first time,” said Ray Cislo, who cycles down the street often.

Walters said he believes council and city administrators need to be up front and take action when they “didn’t get something right.”

–With files from Global News’ Vinesh Pratap and Emily Mertz