MARQUETTE - The city of Marquette is partnering with Northern Michigan University and the Downtown Development Authority to make it easier for people to find their way around town.
City officials want to install "trailblazer" signs at strategic locations in the city directing visitors and people unfamiliar to the area to three specific spots in Marquette: Lakeview Arena, Presque Isle Park and the downtown area.
City Planner/Zoning Administrator Dennis Stachewicz Jr. said those three locations were chosen because they are the destinations most commonly visited by out-of-towners.
The city will pay Traverse City-based company Corbin Design $4,047 to study traffic patterns in the city - to determine where the best locations for the signs - and design the signs. The DDA will contribute $2,023 - one third of the overall cost of $6,070 - toward the project.
"There are a few wayfinding signs from long ago in the community and they are slowly being removed because they are ineffective, falling apart and they are no longer serviceable," Stachewicz said.
He said it will be up to Corbin Design to determine the materials to be used in the signs' construction.
NMU officials have an even more ambitious project in mind. They are completely redesigning almost all the signs on campus, including trailblazer signs, gateway signs, campus boundary markers, motorist signs, building signs and parking lot signs.
Jim Thams, associate director of engineering and planning/grounds, said trailblazer signs from Corbin Design would be put on main thoroughfares and direct visitors to either the academic campus or the athletic campus, which includes the Superior Dome.
The campus will also be split into districts, Thams said. Each district will be associated with a specific color that will be incorporated into the sign designs.
Thams said many first-time visitors to campus can't easily find their way around.
"We heard it from first-time visitors, we heard it from people on campus when we were doing the campus master plan and people that work with admissions," he said.
Another goal of the project is to get the signs higher off the ground.
"The problem we have is right now they're ground level," Thams said. "We pile snow around them, you can't see them, you don't know where you're at. So the intent is to get them up above the snow line."
The project is still in its design phase, so Thams did not know the total cost of the new signs or how many will be constructed. He said it is up to Corbin Design to determine where the signs will go and how many will be installed.
The company has designed signs for such college campuses as Purdue University, Ferris State University and Penn State, as well as communities like Sault Ste. Marie, Atlanta and Los Angeles.
