2 Del. Admin. Code § 2D.50

Current through Register Vol. 28, No. 5, November 1, 2024

Section 2D.50 - Community Wayfinding Signs

Support:

01 Community wayfinding guide signs are part of a coordinated and continuous system of signs that direct tourists and other road users to key civic, cultural, visitor, and recreational attractions and other destinations within a city or a local urbanized or downtown area.

02 Community wayfinding guide signs are a type of destination guide sign for conventional roads with a common color and/or identification enhancement marker for destinations within an overall wayfinding guide sign plan for an area.

03 Figures 2D-18 through 2D-20 illustrate various examples of the design and application of community wayfinding guide signs.

Standard:

04 The use of community wayfinding guide signs shall be limited to conventional roads. Community wayfinding guide signs shall not be installed on freeway or expressway mainlines or ramps. Direction to community wayfinding destinations from a freeway or expressway shall be limited to the use of a Supplemental Guide sign (see Section 2E.35) on the mainline and a Destination sign (see Section 2D.37) on the ramp to direct road users to the area or areas within which community wayfinding guide signs are used. The individual wayfinding destinations shall not be displayed on the Supplemental Guide and Destination signs except where the destinations are in accordance with the State or agency policy on Supplemental Guide signs.

05 Community wayfinding guide signs shall not be used to provide direction to primary destinations or highway routes or streets. Destination or other guide signs shall be used for this purpose as described elsewhere in this Chapter and shall have priority over any community wayfinding sign in placement, prominence, and conspicuity.

06 Because regulatory, warning, and other guide signs have a higher priority, community wayfinding guide signs shall not be installed where adequate spacing cannot be provided between the community wayfinding guide sign and other higher priority signs. Community wayfinding guide signs shall not be installed in a position where they would obscure the road users' view of other traffic control devices.

07 Community wayfinding guide signs shall not be mounted overhead.

Guidance:

08 If used, a community wayfinding guide sign system should be established on a local municipal or equivalent jurisdictional level or for an urbanized area of adjoining municipalities or equivalent that form an identifiable geographic entity that is conducive to a cohesive and continuous system of signs. Community wayfinding guide signs should not be used on a regional or statewide basis where infrequent or sparse placement does not contribute to a continuous or coordinated system of signing that is readily identifiable as such to the road user. In such cases, Destination or other guide signs detailed in this Chapter should be used to direct road users to an identifiable area in which the type of eligible destination described in Paragraph 1 is located.

Support:

09 The specific provisions of this Section regarding the design of community wayfinding sign legends apply to vehicular community wayfinding signs and do not apply to those signs that are intended only to provide information or direction to pedestrians or other users of a sidewalk or roadside area.

Guidance:

10 Because pedestrian wayfinding signs typically use smaller legends that are inadequately sized for viewing by vehicular traffic and because they can provide direction to pedestrians that might conflict with that appropriate for vehicular traffic, wayfinding signs designed for and intended to provide direction to pedestrians or other users of a sidewalk or other roadside area should be located to minimize their conspicuity to vehicular traffic. Such signs should be located as far as practical from the street, such as at the far edge of the sidewalk. Where locating such signs farther from the roadway is not practical, the pedestrian wayfinding signs should have their conspicuity to vehicular traffic minimized by employing one or a combination of the following methods:

A. Locating signs away from intersections where high-priority traffic control devices are present.

B. Facing the pedestrian message toward the sidewalk and away from the street.

C. Cantilevering the sign over the sidewalk if the pedestrian wayfinding sign is mounted at a height consistent with vehicular traffic signs, removing the pedestrian wayfinding signs from the line of sight in a sequence of vehicular signs.

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11 To further minimize their conspicuity to vehicular traffic during nighttime conditions, pedestrian wayfinding signs should not be retroreflective.

Support:

12 Color coding is sometimes used on community wayfinding guide signs to help road users distinguish between multiple potentially confusing traffic generator destinations located in different neighborhoods or subareas within a community or area.

Option:

13 At the boundaries of the geographical area within which community wayfinding guide signing is used, an informational guide sign (see Figures 2D-18 and 2D-20) may be posted to inform road users about the presence of wayfinding signing and to identify the meanings of the various color codes or pictographs that are being used.

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Standard:

14 These informational guide signs shall have a white legend and border on a green background and shall have a design similar to that illustrated in Figures 2D-1 and 2D-18 and shall be consistent with the basic design principles for guide signs. These informational guide signs shall not be installed on freeway or expressway mainlines or ramps.

15 The color coding or a pictograph of the identification enhancement markers of the community wayfinding guide signing system shall be included on the informational guide sign posted at the boundary of the community wayfinding guide signing area. The color coding or pictographs shall apply to a specific, identifiable neighborhood or geographical subarea within the overall area covered by the community wayfinding guide signing. Color coding or pictographs shall not be used to distinguish between different types of destinations that are within the same designated neighborhood or subarea. The color coding shall be accomplished by the use of different colored square or rectangular panels on the face of the informational guide sign, each positioned to the left of the neighborhood or named geographic area to which the color-coding panel applies. The height of the colored square or rectangular panels shall not exceed two times the height of the upper-case letters of the principal legend on the sign.

Option:

16 The different colored square or rectangular panels may include either a black or a white (whichever provides the better contrast with the color of the panel) letter, numeral, or other appropriate designation to identify the destination.

17 Except for the informational guide sign posted at the boundary of the wayfinding guide sign area, community wayfinding guide signs may use background colors other than green in order to provide a color identification for the wayfinding destinations by geographical area within the overall wayfinding guide signing system. Color-coded community wayfinding guide signs may be used with or without the boundary informational guide sign displaying corresponding color-coding panels described in Paragraphs 13 through 16. Except as provided in Paragraphs 18 and 19, in addition to the colors that are approved in this Manual for use on official traffic control signs (see Section 2A.10), other background colors may also be used for the color coding of community wayfinding guide signs.

Standard:

18 The standard colors of red, orange, yellow, purple, or the fluorescent versions thereof, fluorescent yellow-green, and fluorescent pink shall not be used as background colors for community wayfinding guide signs, in order to minimize possible confusion with critical, higher-priority regulatory and warning sign color meanings readily understood by road users.

19 The minimum contrast value of legend color to background color for community wayfinding guide signs shall be at least 0.70 (or 70%).

20 All messages, borders, legends, and backgrounds of community wayfinding guide signs and any identification enhancement markers shall be retroreflective (see Sections 2A.07 and 2A.08).

Guidance:

21 Community wayfinding guide signs, exclusive of any identification enhancement marker used, should be rectangular in shape. Simplicity and uniformity in design, position, and application as described in Section 2A.06 are important and should be incorporated into the community wayfinding guide sign design and location plans for the area.

22 Community wayfinding guide signs should be limited to three destinations per sign (see Section 2D.07 ).

23 Abbreviations (see Section 1A.15) should be kept to a minimum, and should include only those that are commonly recognized and understood.

24 Horizontal lines of a color that contrasts with the sign background color should be used to separate groups of destinations by direction from each other.

Support:

25 The basic requirement for all highway signs, including community wayfinding signs, is that they be legible to those for whom they are intended and that they be understandable in time to permit a proper response. Section 2A.06 contains additional information on the design of signs, including desirable attributes of effective designs.

Guidance:

26 Word messages should be as brief as practical and the lettering should be large enough to provide the necessary legibility distance.

Standard:

27 The minimum specific ratio of letter height to legibility distance shall comply with the provisions of Section 2A.13. The size of lettering used for destination and directional legends on community wayfinding signs shall comply with the provisions of minimum letter heights as provided in Section 2D.06.

28 Interline and edge spacing shall comply with the provisions of Section 2D.06.

29 Except as provided in Paragraph 31, the lettering style used for destination and directional legends on community wayfinding guide signs shall comply with the provisions of Section 2D.05.

30 The lettering for destinations on community wayfinding guide signs shall be a combination of lower-case letters with initial upper-case letters (see Section 2D.05). All other word messages on community wayfinding guide signs shall be in all upper-case letters.

Option:

31 A lettering style other than the Standard Alphabets provided in the "Standard Highway Signs and Markings" book may be used on community wayfinding guide signs if an engineering study determines that the legibility and recognition values for the chosen lettering style meet or exceed the values for the Standard Alphabets for the same legend height and stroke width.

Standard:

32 Except for signs that are intended to be viewed only by pedestrians, bicyclists stopped out of the flow of traffic, or occupants of parked vehicles, Internet and e-mail addresses, including domain names and uniform resource locators (URL), shall not be displayed on any community wayfinding guide sign or sign assembly.

33 The arrow location and priority order of destinations shall follow the provisions described in Sections 2D.08 and 2D.37. Arrows shall be of the designs provided in Section 2D.08.

Option:

34 Pictographs (see definition in Section 1A.13) may be used on community wayfinding guide signs.

Standard:

35 If a pictograph is used, its height shall not exceed two times the height of the upper-case letters of the principal legend on the sign.

36 Except for pictographs, symbols that are not approved in this Manual for use on guide signs shall not be used on community wayfinding guide signs.

37 Business logos, commercial graphics, or other forms of advertising (see Section 1A.01) shall not be used on community wayfinding guide signs or sign assemblies.

Option:

38 Other graphics that specifically identify the wayfinding system, including identification enhancement markers, may be used on the overall sign assembly and sign supports.

Support:

39 An enhancement marker consists of a shape, color, and/or pictograph that is used as a visual identifier for the community wayfinding guide signing system for an area. Figure 2D-18 shows examples of identification enhancement marker designs that can be used with community wayfinding guide signs.

Option:

40 An identification enhancement marker may be used in a community wayfinding guide sign assembly, or may be incorporated into the overall design of a community wayfinding guide sign, as a means of visually identifying the sign as part of an overall system of community wayfinding signs and destinations.

Standard:

41 The sizes and shapes of identification enhancement markers shall be smaller than the community wayfinding guide signs themselves. Identification enhancement markers shall not be designed to have an appearance that could be mistaken by road users as being a traffic control device.

Guidance:

42 The area of the identification enhancement marker should not exceed 1/5 of the area of the community wayfinding guide sign with which it is mounted in the same sign assembly.

Option:

42A (DE Revision) WELCOME TO (D3-2-DE1) and Development Name (D3-2-DE2) signs (see Figure 2D-18) may be installed on the approach to an intersection to identify a development entrance.

42B (DE Revision) Where WELCOME TO signs are not used, Development Name (D3-2-DE3) signs with a white legend and a green background (see Figure 2D-18) may be installed on the approach to an intersection to identify a development entrance.

Standard:

42C (DE Revision) The WELCOME TO (D3-2-DE1) and Development Name (D3-2-DE2) signs shall have a white legend and border on a blue background.

42D (DE Revision) If used, the Development Name (D3-2-DE2) sign shall be mounted below the WELCOME TO (D3-2-DE1) sign.

Option:

42E (DE Revision) A graphic depicting Delaware's beaches logo may be used with guide signs to direct motorists to Delaware's Beaches.

Support:

42F (DE Revision) The 142nd Delaware General Assembly, Senate Resolution Number 15 identifies the coastal area of the state as "Delaware Beaches" and directs DelDOT to modify signing guiding motorists to the coastal areas of the state to include the legend Delaware Beaches.

2 Del. Admin. Code § 2D.50