Clear to partly cloudy. Low 51F. Winds light and variable..
Clear to partly cloudy. Low 51F. Winds light and variable.
Updated: September 2, 2022 @ 11:41 pm
Daniel Santos, of the Cumberland Highway Department, shows the table where the newly printed sign will be attached to a metal backing to be placed along one of Cumberland’s roads.
Daniel Santos, of the Cumberland Highway Department, removes a sign from a printer which will soon be posted on a road somewhere in Cumberland.
Daniel Santos, of the Cumberland Highway Department, shows the table where the newly printed sign will be attached to a metal backing to be placed along one of Cumberland’s roads.
Daniel Santos, of the Cumberland Highway Department, removes a sign from a printer which will soon be posted on a road somewhere in Cumberland.
CUMBERLAND – After many years of talk about how spotty and haggard Cumberland’s sign-scape is, with faded and missing signs everywhere, the town is now two weeks away from turning on its new machine that will start addressing the problem.
Highway Supt. Dennis Vadenais said about a half-dozen members of his team will take part in classes with Henry Mikiewicz, of New Hampshire-based URW America, who created the traffic sign and design system machine that will be used by the town, learning how to use it.
Staff have been building a new table to set the machine on at the Pascale property on Old Mendon Road, said Vadenais, and a computer database will be used to select each kind of sign to be made. All of the materials to create the signs, such as reflectivity material and laminate, have arrived, said Vadenais.
He said sign upgrades will be a “nice wintertime project” after many of the warm-weather jobs are completed, with staff working between now and then to create a complete list of what the town has and what it needs for a more attractive array of signage.
On the current small and hard-to-read street name signs that are long outdated, Vadenais said they make up most of what the town has for signs. He said his department will be creating a couple of prototypes for new street signs and will run those by Mayor Jeff Mutter and the Town Council for approval.
Asked about adding a town logo to the sign, as some have suggested should be replicated from Lincoln’s larger and more attractive signs, Vadenais said that’s still to be determined. While logo signs are nice, he said, the ones with the logos tend to fade more quickly in the sun and need to be replaced more often.
One capability that is likely to make some people very happy will be having the option to add new vinyl stick-ons or other coatings to existing stop signs, said Vadenais, products that would allow a worker to easily wash any graffiti off.
This machine, Vadenais told The Breeze, can make just about anything in terms of logos, from the Cumberland town seal to the New England Patriots emblem.
He said Cumberland staff visited West Warwick to check out how two employees there use the same machine to create all sorts of great signs. He said it was amazing to see its capabilities.
The Breeze reported in April that the town had agreed to purchase the new $18,799 sign-making machine, allowing town staff to design and produce signs in-house. The Town Council agreed to authorize Mayor Jeff Mutter to purchase a traffic sign and design system from URW America.
Mutter said at the time that Cumberland has needed this technology for some time, saying the town isn’t competitive with neighboring communities in terms of street sign aesthetics.
Councilor Scott Schmitt said at the time that he would like to see the town logo incorporated into at least some new signs around town, helping instill a sense of pride and creating a better overall look.
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