Out with the old? Poplar Bluff commits to new style of street sign

Poplar Bluff is in the midst of a conversion, of street signs, that is.

The decades-old vertical concrete pillars are in the process of being replaced for the more common green and white reflective pole signs.

It will be a slow conversion, according to Jerry Lawson, street department superintendent.

The street department is replacing about 30-35 signs per year.

The replacements actually started in some areas of town in 2018, he said.

Work on Barron Road and North Main Street most recently caught residents’ attention, but other signs behind the Black River Coliseum and on PP Highway have been replaced, Lawson said.

The street department plans next year to do the areas of Highway 53 and South Broadway (also known as Ditch Road).

It takes a lot of manhours to maintain the concrete pillars, said city manager Mark Massingham, who said he directed the street department to start the transition in 2018.

“I think in the long run it will end up saving us some money,” said Massingham. “They have to scrape those down and repaint them, and they’re hard to read at night. They don’t have any reflection on them.”

The concrete pillars weigh about 200 pounds each, said Lawson. They are on a three-year schedule to be repainted.

The pillars have been made for decades by the street department using a wooden form. The wooden form was recently disposed of, Lawson said. The street department has enough pillars in stock now from those that have already been replaced. The ones in stock are used when a pillar not yet scheduled for replacement is damaged.

The reflective signs will make it easier for emergency responders and others to navigate Poplar Bluff streets, according to Lawson.

The street department has given away any excess concrete pillars they had, and the remainder are being saved to use as replacements for damaged signs, Lawson said. Future replacements will occur early in 2021. Members of the public interested in acquiring some of the removed signs should contact the street department in March 2021, he said.

Street department workers have also spent time in recent weeks repairing the bricks in the areas of Fifth and Main streets.

Workers have been divided into two crews of eight people each to provide separation and social distancing under COVID-19.

Reducing the maximum number of crew members on a job site has also presented scheduling challenges in completing some work, according to Lawson, for instance in situations where a larger crew would be required or help speed up the work process.