Alexandria: Online comments for proposed bike/ped Wayfinding signage

[Jonathan Krall]

Hi All,

Alexandria is working on new wayfinding signage for cyclists 
and pedestrians.  I am exited to see this moving forward as 
improved bike-ped access in tourist areas like Old Town has 
been shown to increase the capture of tourist dollars.  

Please learn about this and post comments by visiting
http://alexandriava.gov/Wayfinding

We are lucky to have political leaders in Alexandria that support
bike/ped improvements but they _do_ need to hear from Alexandrians 
on these projects so they know we are paying attention.

For more info, see below.  

Thanks!

Jonathan

----- Original Message ----- 
Sent: Wed May 19 15:17
Subject: Online comment board for the Wayfinding sign mock-ups is now available.
      
      The City of Alexandria Wayfinding Program is intended to create a complete
family of sign types designed to replace Alexandria's existing hodgepodge of
non-regulatory directional and informational signs used throughout the city for
vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. The objective is to remove the existing sign
clutter and replace it with a palate of readily recognizable sign shapes and
placements.

Sign types include: vehicular gateway, parking trailblazing & identifiers, and
attraction directional; pedestrian attraction directional, large and mini kiosks
w/  informational panel & map, pointers and historic interpretive; bicycle trails
and services; institutional/government services identifiers; and neighborhood
identifiers.

Although the family of sign types will be consistent throughout the city, the
colors and fonts used will reflect the character of different neighborhoods and
act as identifiers for visitors.

Currently, the City has installed temporary mock-ups of the signs proposed in the
Wayfinding program for the purposes of testing and gathering community feedback.
Feedback can be posted on the new online discussion board at
www.alexandriava.gov/wayfinding. 

Observations and input from the mock-up review will be gathered and evaluated,
and will directly inform the refinements made to the design concepts prior to
finalizing the Wayfinding Design Guidelines Manual, slated for Planning
Commission review in the Fall. 

A total of 9 temporary signs have been installed in the Old Town area using
temporary materials. Alexandria residents can download a map of the sign
locations so that they may tour the signs at their convenience during the ten-day
mock-up period and provide feedback online at: www.alexandriava.gov/wayfinding .

The purpose of full size mock-ups is to test and confirm appropriateness of the
concept related to design, color choice, scale, font, and overall style.
Other factors to be evaluated are location, mounting issues, ground plane
conditions, and legibility of the text.  Mock-up message content is intended to
be generally accurate, but is still subject to review and editing.

For more information about the Wayfinding sign program, and the process for
developing the design concept, please visit www.alexandriava.gov/wayfinding.  

For specific questions about the mock-ups phase, please contact Carrie Beach at
carrie.beach at alexandriava.gov.