Driving around Millwaukee, you might notice a number of intersections missing signage.
“This intersection is a mess,” Amy Carlson says. “We're standing on Clement and KK (Kinnickinnic.) You might catch Clement [but] you won't find a KK sign on this intersection at all. And it's a signalized intersection. It's a red light. So you would think that there would be a sign.”
Amy and I are a lot alike. We're both originally from Milwaukee. We both moved away and recently came back home. And coming back home, we both noticed missing street signs.
“I posted on Reddit,” says Amy. “What's up with the street signs in Milwaukee? Why are so many missing? And what can I do about it?”
Carlson asked Bubbler Talk to find out.
She wasn’t alone with her question. Dozens and dozens of people on Reddit responded to her post. A week later, a new post asking the same question popped up.
One of the comments came from someone claiming to work for the city’s Department of Public Works. They said that, in their time off, they drive around the city with their partner writing down the names of missing signs they spot.
I reached out to Milwaukee Common Council members on the public works committee. Only council member Robert Bauman got back to me. He was short, basically saying he’s never heard about or noticed this problem. And if people do notice a problem, they can report it to the city.
“I find that really humorous because I'm supposed to report a missing sign, but if the signs are missing, I don't know what street I’m on,” Amy says.
Wisconsin DOT standards say street name signs should be on all intersections, including in urban areas. But these are questions for municipalities. So, let’s ask the City of Milwaukee.
A trip to Milwaukee's sign shop
“This is Electrical Services, we handle all the city streetlights, all the traffic signals, all the long line paintings,” says Mark MacRae, the Department of Public Works operations manager here. “And then we have the sign shop, which actually makes… the majority of the signs in the city, and we install them.”
Drive by the DPW building on Canal Street and it looks never-ending — like a nondescript, block-long warehouse. Walking in, there’s an oversized bay with rusted out trusses, old brick covered by chipped paint, vinyl floors and harsh lighting. And still, pure magic.
Tianne "Ty" Hardman is the sign shop supervisor. She’s been with the city for over 25 years. I asked her if she’s seen an increase in demand for new street signs over the past few years, because of things like reckless driving. She said "absolutely."
“Especially on holidays, weekends, summertime,” Hardman says. “You know, when people are drinking…and accidents, icy road conditions. So yeah, an increase.”
“A sign might be down for a week and we just don't come across it enough," Electrical Services Manager Curt Campagna says. "If we come across it, we deal with it. If people don't call the 414-286-CITY number, then we don't necessarily know what's out there. So the 414-286-CITY is the way to report it. The quicker you report it, the quicker we can address it.”
If you do spot a sign down, you can call the number, or head to the city’s website, or bother your alderperson. Or you can post on Reddit, though you might not get the result you want.
When the sign shop gets word of a missing street sign, they say they should get to it within one to three weeks, depending on other jobs. It’s like a triage system — missing stop signs and one-ways are prioritized. Street signs come after.
When I asked specifically, what streets get signs? Should every main street and cross street have signage? Yeah, they should. And there’s a way the city even keeps track.
“Check the official record book. Is there supposed to be a sign there?,” Hardman says. “Yes? Then we replace it.”
The official record book is both digital and an actual book that tracks every intersection in the city and all the signs that should be in place.
The sign shop is the home for all of those signs. Calling the operation impressive wouldn’t capture just how much gets done here.
Just about every sign you see on the street — no parking, loading zone, temporary tow zone — all comes from here.
Here’s how it works. First, they design the signs on using software, then, they cure and print the material, next, they cut the signs out and finally they smooth and paint some signs.
Within the past two years DPW has gotten a lot of new tech: a brand new printer and cutter. Jobs that would’ve taken hours for a single sign, now take less than 15 minutes. And, they can bulk produce.
“I got a street name [sign] that I'm putting together if you want to see that,” Larry Jackson says, motioning me over to the sign press. He’s been working with the city for over 17 years and working with press equipment for 15 years.
Street signs are different from the bulk-produced signs. There’s still an art here. Jackson prints out the names of the street — today, it's Hampton Avenue. He lines it up on the cut and smoothed, blank metal canvas. And then he presses. Lining it all up with his eyes and hands.
“I do the same thing to the other side and we got street names on him,” says Jackson.
Jackson says it was an accident that took out the sign on Hampton. Without signage, it's an even more dangerous intersection.
Why street signs matter
This was something question-asker Amy Carlson and I talked about: Why good street signage matters.
“I think it's a real possibility for a traffic accident because somebody is looking for a street sign, and they're not paying attention to their driving,” says Amy. “Inattentive driving is when you get into the worst accidents.”
I talked with a few personal injury attorneys about this and asked: Is this something they’ve seen? Answers were mixed. But Ed Robinson, partner at Cannon and Dunphy, said basically, if you are in an accident while looking for a street sign, that’s on you, not the city. He thinks municipalities are over-protected and have a responsibility to do better.
But even though there might not be legal recourse, municipalities should still address missing signage as soon as possible.
The problem is when a city's budget is strapped — like Milwaukee’s — it can leave departments fighting for scraps. While the sign shop received new technology, they’ve also lost people.
Sure, they’re making certain signs more efficiently, but Larry Jackson was hand-pressing those street signs. There are no shortcuts there.
“I think that that's probably the biggest issue that Milwaukee's facing is it's an infrastructure problem, where a lot of these things in a newer, growing city would be replaced with good infrastructure and finances,” Amy Carlson says. “But here, I think Milwaukee struggles to get money for infrastructure and is dealing with old infrastructure. And these signs weren't probably designed to last real long.”
So, does Milwaukee have a signage problem? Depends who you ask. Does it have a team of skilled workers who can do the work? Absolutely. Could the city use more investment to become a safer and more welcoming place? Sounds like it.
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