New blue highway signs

Nearly all of us have driven with someone who incessantly asks, “Is there a restaurant nearby or where’s the closest bathroom?” The Colorado Department of Transportation hopes to help you more easily answer those all important questions.

Legislation passed last year to allow those big blue info signs in larger metro areas including Colorado Springs. There will be six panels on the highway on each sign that will help guide you to the nearest food, lodging, camping and attractions at the next exit. Businesses will have to pay between 500 to 1500 dollars per year so you can read their sign logos. CDOT’s Jerry Miller tells me that the Colorado Springs area will see 35 new signs with 6 sign logos on each one. It’s a money maker that will net 200 thousand per year for CDOT programs. Sales of the sign logos are already ramping up.

Pueblo already has the big blue info signs but will also now get the signs on its expressways and freeways.

Jerry Miller also talked to me about the future of info signs. He said, “My guess is that in the future you will see these blue signs on your dashboard. However that’s a few years down the road.”