PORT ANGELES — The delivery of the first of Port Angeles’ new directional signs will be about a month late.
The city expects to have 62 new signs to direct vehicles and pedestrians to nearby shops and attractions installed this year.
The first six, which would be used as a trial for the new way-finding system, were supposed to arrive next week.
Instead, they will arrive April 11, said Steve Zenovic, an engineering consultant on the project.
Zenovic attributed the delay to one of the construction materials for the signs not being available in time.
The city hired the Tube Art Group of Seattle to build the first six signs for about $12,000, he said.
The signs consist of light-green slats topped by a depiction of a tribal canoe pulling past the Olympic Mountains.
The public will be able to submit comments on the signs to the city for the first four to six weeks they are in place, said Nathan West, city economic and community development director.
West said it’s not clear how the delay will affect the installation of the other 56 signs.
The city has budgeted $225,000 for the signs.
Replace 103 signs
They will replace 103 directional signs that will be removed.
Zenovic said four sign-makers submitted bids to build the first six signs.
No local sign-makers submitted bids.
Last month, the city extended the deadline for submitting bids by a week — allowing a total of two weeks — in response to concerns from two local sign-makers, Jackson Smart and Mike Millar, that a week was not enough time.
Smart said he still didn’t have time to submit a bid.
Millar said he intended to vie for the contract but needed more information on the dimensions of the signs. He said he couldn’t get that information before the deadline.
City plan
The new signs are part of the city’s Waterfront and Transportation Improvement Plan.
The two-phased plan, expected to cost about $778,000 to complete, also includes the development of the waterfront development, a transportation study and two new entryway monument signs.
City consultants, led by Studio Cascade of Spokane, are developing three options for implementing the waterfront aspect of the plan, West said.
The options, to be brought before the City Council at its Tuesday meeting, will vary on cost and how much of the plan will be put in place.
The total cost of implementing the plan — which includes a boardwalk, a new park and a long list of landscape improvements — would cost up to $17.3 million.
The next phase of the plan will involve the consultants producing “construction-ready” documents for the waterfront improvements, West said.
The final design of the two new entryway monuments is on hold until the consultants can finish work related on the waterfront plan, West has said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
